Saw another idiotic post about Virtual Assistants come through on my Google Alerts. Articles like these are responsible for miseducating the marketplace into thinking Virtual Assistants are some kind of substitute employee–which they are not.
It’s also why we have so many new VAs coming into this profession thinking they are substitute employees filling a position. Just about every freaking article they read anymore talks about Virtual Assistants as if they were still working for bosses. They use terms like job, position, interview, resume, manage, train…
These people are such morons. Once and for all–Virtual Assistance is NOT a job. It’s not a “position” on your “team.” It’s a business. And it’s not any client’s place to be providing job descriptions. If that’s what they’re doing, then that person is an employee–a telecommuter–not a Virtual Assistant. Virtual Assistants are service providers who run their own businesses and specialize in administrative support. They tell clients how they can help them and what they can and will do for them (as well as what they can’t or won’t), not the other way around.
And Virtual Assistants and clients had both better get it straight because the IRS will get to you sooner or later if you don’t. (I’ve known about this coming and have been telling people so since 2005.) Getting people to work for you from home is not a license to misclassify employees and be tax cheats. Virtual Assistants: run your business like a business.
And by the way, contractor, subcontractor, independent contractor… those are all terms that mean the same thing–business owner. There is absolutely NO third classification where an employer gets to hire someone to work like an employee but not report them as such nor pay taxes on them. NO SUCH THING whatsoever. Someone is either an employee or they are a business owner, regardless of the term they use (e.g. freelancers, independent contractor, subcontractor). And any business that farms out workers, virtual or otherwise, is called a temp agency or staffing agency and those workers they loan out to people are employees.
Thanks for commenting. Yeah, the virtual assistant term is really completely idiotic to...
9 Comments
I have to completely agree with you. There are many people who have tried to contract with me who have the “replacement employee” mindset.
I’ve had to refund money, cancel relationships, and make a few people mad when I refuse to account for my time by the micro second, or worse, stay signed on all day long during specific hours, or answer my phone at 3am.
I do think the article has some good points in terms of being clear about expectations but the VA should be the one doing this with the client. The moment the client tries to micro manage me is the moment I decide that I was not clear enough with MY terms.
While you and I have long disagreed that a VA only provides “administrative support” I completely am on board with you regarding these VA companies which are really TEMP companies. They will be caught and they will need to pay up.
I know someone who is so proud of himself for hiring a VA out of Texas for 3.75 an hour, and she works for him “essentially 24/7″ and answers her phone 24/7.. (implying why can’t you?), I informed him that this person is an employee according to the IRS and she’s very under paid, be ready to be sued.
Thanks for your hard work with these issues!
Danielle:
Your opinions on this article really helped highlight and crystalize formative concepts. It is thought provocating and is very well timed as I refine my marketing plan. Thanks for reemphasizing that the client-VA relationship is business-to-business.
Joanna Malvino
Good comments about an obnoxious article. Thanks for providing this information.
Hi Danielle,
I saw this article as well and shook my head in dismay. I’ve been given job titles and job description by clients in the past and questioned this practice.
I have a few questions…I’d like to know your thoughts.
My business name is part of my domain as are many/most virtual assistants. It is who I am and the company I represent (uniquely, me!).
What is your take on clients who ask VAs to use their own client domain email to correspond with them (the client)? Do you have any thoughts on clients asking virtual assistants to use their own email domain to contact their own clients? When is it/is not appropriate to change a virtual assistant’s email address for a client?
Thanks,
Janine
So if I’m understanding your question correctly, you mean if a client wants to set you up with an email address on their domain and have you correspond with them using that email address instead of your own?
If that’s the case, that could signal that the client isn’t understanding the nature of the relationship (which could also maybe indicate that the way things are presented or explained on your website/in your marketing/in your conversations could be improved). I would be curious and ask them why they would want me to do that, but ultimately I would tell them that no, that’s not how we are going to correspond with each other. I will use my own email address and they will use theirs. And we’d probably have some more discussion about what our relationship is and what it isn’t.
On the flip side, however, I have often had or asked clients to set me up with an email on their domain so that if/when I correspond with their clients on their behalf, the interaction is seamless. People can sometimes be confused if they are dealing with The Law Firm of X and they get an email from Jane Doe of Jane Doe Administrative Consulting. For me, it just eliminates the unnecessary questions and explanations which is helpful to me and to the client. But when it’s between me and the client, I use my own email and they use theirs.
Hi Danielle,
Thank you for your response.
I think some clients who create virtual teams like to use a common domain email addresses to create a team-like environment.
But I also believe (as it pertains to your original post) that the IRS may find that using the client domain may look as if the VA does not operate a separate business.
Janine
I agree. Personally, I don’t deal with clients who are using “virtual teams” and I tell them flat out I’m not part of their team. I steer clear of that term and I explain that while there are often occasions where I would be dealing with other of their vendors in my work on their behalf, that doesn’t make me part of their “team.” I am still an independent business and for the same reasons, my response to them would be the same regarding the email thing–you will use your own email address and I will use mine. It’s absolutely unnecessary to do otherwise, and, like you point out, doing so could create the appearance of a misclassified relationship. I mean, do they expect their attorney or bookkeeper and everyone else they do business with to use an email address on their domain? When you get them to look at it from that perspective, they should be able to see how ridiculous that idea is. But here again, I think all this is symptomatic of the wrong perceptions and marketing our industry as a whole has put out there in the first place. It’s our own industry that has miseducated clients and allowed them to continue on with these ideas. I for one am done pussyfooting around. As an industry, we’ve got to stop being so oblique and be very firm, clear and direct about setting people straight–both clients and new VAs–and dispelling this ignorance. Because it’s not a matter of it being their choice how they view it. They don’t have a choice. This is just the way it is, it’s the law–you are either a business or you are an employee. Period. It’s also one of the reasons I have moved onto the term “Administrative Consultant/Administrative Support Consultant.” The term “assistant” is in large part responsible for causing and perpetuating these wrong perceptions in the first place. If you are running a business, you aren’t anyone’s assistant.
Hi Danielle,
I am in total agreement with your response. I’ve used the IRS definition of a business owner v an employee when approached with terms such as ‘trial period’, (I was asked this just yesterday by a referral that came to me) ‘probation period’, ‘resume’, ‘job description’ and use of client domain email for purposes other than corresponding with the client’s clients. I have actually found that to be the one argument that people understand because no one wants to be audited by the IRS.
One more question about the original post. You state, “They tell clients how they can help them and what they can and will do for them (as well as what they can’t or won’t), not the other way around.” I get this but it seems that not all clients come to me initially wondering what I can do for them They know my skill set but some simply come to me with a list of items they want accomplished. From there, once those are complete and I’ve established trust; it is here I tell them more about what I can do for them. So I’m just wishing for clarity from you as to what you mean by VAs telling clients what we can do for them if the initial contact can be (not always) that the client has items he/she wishes to accomplish first.
Thank you…great discussion!
Janine
Sorry it took me so long to answer this, Janine. It’s not a simple answer so I had to find a free moment to really respond.
In order to really answer this question, ideally I’d want to know some specifics… like, what is your intention for being in business? Is it just to earn some side money or is it to really create something that could really support you and be self-sustaining and profitable? I’d also want to know whether you felt you were earning well right now or if you wish you were doing better? And the reason I’d want to know this is because for those who are in hobby businesses, who are just really only trying to earn a little side income and don’t really need or depend on the business, none of this matters. They can be as unintentional as they want and do whatever they want and take on whoever and whatever they want. It really doesn’t matter.
But for those who are really trying to get somewhere in their business… trying to earn better, trying to create a self-sustaining, profitable business they can actually live off of, trying to find better clients, and trying to operate and work with clients in ways that they aren’t imprisoned by the business and never have a free moment… how they do things and what they do–ALL of that matters very much indeed.
So what I might glimpse in your question is that there might not be any intentional consultation or client qualifying process going on in your business. You, of course, are free to take on clients and work willy nilly. But that seldom leads to the creation of a dream business because it’s haphazard, it’s unintentional and those clients and that work distracts you from paying attention and doing the things that lead to a more intentional, profitable, thought-out business.
Now, that’s not to say that you shouldn’t help clients with things to-do lists they might have up front. But you do want to get intentional about whether ad hoc clients are really “doing it” for ya in your business. Is that money really making any kind of difference other than just treading water until you can chase down the next project?
Now, let’s say you instead realized that you wanted more steady income and the kind of cash flow that you could anticipate and budget against each month. Then you’d want to get retainer clients. This is really where the money is at. But because it is a bigger ticket item, it requires a lot more conversation. That’s the purpose of the consultation. But you don’t want to be talking to anyone and everyone. This is where you have to get clear about a target market as well as an ideal client (they are not the same thing). This will help you create a more compelling message and better attract just those folks you are interested in working with. And once you get into a consultation with them, that’s where you should be finding out all you can not just about their to-do list, but where they are trying to get to, what bigger purpose are these to-dos for in their business, stuff like that. This does require more intention, more conversation, more up-front work. But it also leads to far more rewarding (professionally and financially) relationships that are based on intention, not hoping that the work will lead to more business. But this is really a whole field of study in and of itself. I’d really, really recommend you get my client consultation process guide, Breaking the Ice. I think it would open your eyes to all of this soooo much. Here’s the link:
http://virtualassistantbusinessforms.com/client-consultation-process-gde-03