What that means is that by displaying the badge on your site, you will earn 25% commissions on all purchases if someone clicks on your badge and ends up making a purchase from us at some point, whether it’s the same day or six months down the road.

What’s cool about this is that you don’t have to directly promote the products sold on our site in order to earn commissions. Just by referring people to our site via your survey badge, you can earn commissions on any purchases those folks make now or later.

I know some people don’t like to blatantly “hard sell” product referrals and would rather refer to the organization rather than the products directly so this is a nice option. Not only will you be helping to increase survey participation, you’ll also benefit from the earning potential. You can even swap out your membership seal link with your affiliate link in this way as well.

It’s super simple to get started. Here’s the link with the 3 simple steps:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/surveyflair.htm

Thanks for all your enthusiastic participation! Keep up those reminders about the survey. We’re at 504 participants as of today–the half way mark to our goal of 1,000.

I do have a favor to ask you in the meantime…. Whether you’ve participated in previous years or are taking it for the first time this year, please tell me what your interest is in the results. What are you hoping to learn? What do you see as the value/benefit of the survey to your business?

You can either email me privately or post a comment below. Many thanks!

Virtual Assistants and Administrative Consultants who participate get the results report absolutely free!

Judging from past years, we expect the report to be around 75-100 pages. It will definitely be chock-full of helpful, fascinating, eye-opening data. If you’ve participated before, there are some new questions, and I’m sure you’ll find it really interesting to compare with previous years’ results.

Our goal this year is to get 800-1,000 responses. We’ll need all the help you can give in getting the word out and encouraging all the solo Virtual Assistants and Administrative Consultants you know to participate. This survey is for you guys after all! So don’t delay–the sooner we hit the mark, the sooner YOU get your copy!

Take the Survey! >>

Let’s get one last really great burst of participation by each of us taking one quick minute to post a reminder on Twitter, Facebook, our blogs and in the forums and we listservs we belong to. Remember, once the results report is compiled, you get a free copy. A lot of time, energy and hard work goes into orchestrating the survey each year. What could be an easier way for you to give back as a small gesture of thanks than to help us reach that goal for everyone?

So won’t you please take a small minute to help? Feel free to borrow any survey graphics or text you like from the survey page. Basically, you just want to let all your fellow VAs know that we’re almost there, we only need roughly 200 more participants and remind them to take survey if they haven’t already (and that they can get a free copy if they do). Here’s the link:

http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/survey.htm

Thanks so much for all your help and participation!

This is where your continuing help and promotion will be critical. As you know, all Virtual Assistants who participate will get a free copy of the survey results report. That report will not be compiled until we’ve reached our participation goal. Now that September is over, I’ve got to get back to other things. I will continue to give periodic updates (mostly via Twitter), but not every day like I was. So I’m depending on you all to keep spreading the word so we can reach goal and get the report out to everyone as soon as possible.

I also wanted to say “thank you!” once again to everyone who has continued to send out those mission critical reminders and updates about the survey. Your help has been instrumental in making this huge task such a great success! Keep’em going and feel free to use any verbiage you need from the survey page or press release to remind all your VA buddies and colleagues to take the survey and spread the word.

Luv you, guys!

As you may recall, we’re shooting for an ambitious goal of 1,000 participants (last year we had 604). To get there, we’re calling on all Virtual Assistants to set aside a half hour (and actually, survey results show us that it takes the average respondent only 18.39 minutes) to complete the survey. Your input is vital to pull it all together–the survey is for you guys after all!

So we’re leaving the survey period open until we get there. The sooner we hit that 1,000 mark, the sooner YOU get your complimentary copy of the results report for participating. That means, not only do we need you to participate, we also can use all the help you can give in continuing to get the word out and remind folks to get in there.

Feel free to borrow any text or images you need from that survey page and put those shout-outs on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn accounts and on the Virtual Assistant forums and listservs you participate in.

If you’re a Virtual Assistant, you simply must take part in the 2009 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey. Stand up and be counted!

Impossible? No way! We’re gonna reach our goal even if it kills me in the process, LOL. But come hell or high water, we’re going to get  those participants so that this is the best year yet for the survey results report for you.

You can help… I’ve been posting a steady stream of Twitter updates on the survey’s progress. All your retweets help tremendously so please do continue doing that at every chance you get.

I thought it would also be fun if all of us who have blogs posted about the survey today. I challenged all our VACOC members to do so and so I’m challenging you as well–will you join the effort?

Make a post today about the 2009 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey. Feel free to use our press release or borrow any language from the survey page (yes, you have my permission–copying is always okay when you have explicit permission from the author).

I’m looking forward to seeing those numbers spike! I’ll keep you posted!

Oh, and if YOU haven’t yet, don’t forget to take the 2009 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey yourself! Your input is very important

Contact: Danielle Keister, Founder & Virtual Assistant Expert
Email: thevacoc@hotmail.com
Phone: 888.648.0566

TACOMA WA, September 1, 2009–The month of September 2009 marks year four of the annual Virtual Assistant Industry Survey, conducted by the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce (VACOC). Over 10,000 Virtual Assistants from around the world have been invited to participate. Participants receive the compiled results report at the end of the survey period.

The goal of the annual Virtual Assistant Industry Survey is to take a representative, group snap-shot of those who are in the business of providing ongoing administrative support, how they’re operating, earning, marketing and where gaps in training and support might show up. The in-depth survey leaves no stone unturned, covering the categories of:

• Individual Demographics
• Education/Experience/Credentials
• General Business Demographics
• Employees & Subcontractors
• Clients
• Hours
• Services
• Marketing
• Pricing
• Success, Profitability & Entrepreneurship
• Training & Continuing Education
• Industry Organizations & Training Programs

Each year the survey has a different focus. This year’s theme focuses on social networking. Past years’ have focused on Virtual Assistant training and ethics and standards in the industry.

“Our annual survey lets Virtual Assistant see what others are doing, compare results and, hopefully, see where they might make changes in their own practice to improve profitability, make more money and better serve clients,” says VACOC founder, Danielle Keister.

There are 100 questions on the online survey with two additional free-form responses at the end. Questions are multiple-choice, making participation quick and easy. According to the software used in the survey, it is taking respondents on average only 14.23 minutes to complete the survey in full.

“Participation and support in the Virtual Assistant Industry Survey in past years’ has been tremendous. This year we’re shooting for 1,000 participants!” adds Keister.

Virtual Assistants are invited to spread the word and take the survey at http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/survey.htm. Survey period ends September 30.

ABOUT THE VACOC: The Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce is a professional association dedicated to helping Virtual Assistants and their clients grow smarter, more financially successful practices. Anyone interested in learning more about Virtual Assistants is encouraged to visit the VACOC at http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com

Hey, Virtual Assistants! It’s that time of year again!

Each year, the VACOC conducts an industry-wide survey with the purpose of taking a representative, group snap-shot of those who are in the business of providing ongoing administrative support. Virtual Assistants who participate get the survey results report absolutely free!

The theme for this year’s survey is social networking. Our goal is to have 1,000 participants by September 30. If we haven’t met our target by that date, we plan on leaving the survey open a bit longer. We’ll need all the help you can give in getting the word out and encouraging all the VAs you know to participate. This survey is for you guys after all! And the sooner we meet our goal, the sooner YOU get your report.

Once the official survey period has closed and the report has been compiled, we’ll email you a link to download your complimentary copy of the survey results. Judging from past years, we expect the report to be around 75 to 100 pages. It will definitely be chock-full of helpful, fascinating, eye-opening data. If you’ve participated before, I’m sure you’ll find it really interesting to compare with previous years’ results.

Here’s the skinny: This is an online survey (you take it right on your computer screen). There are 100 questions with two additional, optional questions at the end. But not to worry… everything is multiple-choice and it’s a total breeze running through it. In fact, in testing the survey, we show that for the average person participating, it will only take about 14 minutes, 52 seconds to complete. How’s that for being exact? LOL

Now here’s the caveat: Due to the in-depth nature of our survey, we use a special survey provider (not one of those free sites). The thing is, you must complete the survey in one sitting. You can’t start it and then come back later as it will think that you’ve already completed it. This is to help prevent duplicate submissions. No survey is 100% fool-proof, but we do our best to provide you with the most accurate results we can. Using this special provider is key in accomplishing that. So before you take survey, just make sure you can sit down and complete it all in one shot.

SUPER-DUPER IMPORTANT STUFF: You MUST follow the link provided at the end of the survey and sign up to the list in order to get your FREE copy of the results report. The survey itself is completely confidential because we want you to be totally candid in your responses. Since we don’t collect any identifying information in the survey, this is the only way we have to get the report to just those who participate and manage the huge task of disseminating the reports once they’ve been compiled. We really, really want you to get your copy so don’t forget that last step.

Be sure and blog, Twitter, Facebook and whatever else to encourage all your Virtual Assistant buddies to participate as well: http://www.virtualassistantnetworking.com/survey.htm

I’d would like to find some hourly rates/pricing tables for Virtual Assistants by state. I would like to know comparisons so I can be better prepared. Do you have anything like that? –AC 

This is a great question, not because I’m going to answer it in the way you might expect (although I think you’ll still find my response helpful), but because it gives me another opportunity to discuss value and Virtual Assistants.

Every year since 2006, the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce conducts an in-depth annual survey of Virtual Assistants… not secretarial services; not virtual staffing agencies/VA teams; not web designers; not transcriptionists; not bookkeepers; and not every other kind of business out there that insists on calling themselves a Virtual Assistant when in fact they are not.

Ours is the ONLY Virtual Assistant industry survey to do that. You will find a couple others out there purporting to be “Virtual Assistant surveys” that in my opinion are meaningless crap. They’re crap because they include anyone and everyone who calls themselves a Virtual Assistant, regardless of the fact that they may not be actual, true Virtual Assistants and may only be telecommuters or some other completely different kind of business.  Our survey is strictly and specifically for those who are intentionally in the business of continuous (not transactional), collaborative administrative support.

How on earth could results collected from literally anyone and anyone without any kind of discernment whatsoever yield any kind of meaningful, relevant, representative, helpful information for Virtual Assistants? They can’t, and that’s why they are crap. And they are especially crap when they are conducted by industry outsiders and those who aren’t even Virtual Assistants who don’t understand what Virtual Assistants actually are and are driven purely by financially motivated self-interests.

Those surveys don’t help anyone in our industry, especially when the information is skewed or doesn’t accurately represent the real industry of Virtual Assistance. How is including in the survey someone’s part-time telecommuting subcontractor who isn’t running a business of their own and who charges $7 an hour reflective of Virtual Assistance? How does including web designers, bookkeepers and all kinds of other non-Virtual Assistant businesses that are project-based with completely different business models help the solo Virtual Assistant who works in a monthly, relationship-based model? They don’t!

Those other so-called Virtual Assistant surveys also don’t help our industry because they give out incorrect data to the media and others who are in a position to educate (or miseducate as the case often is) our marketplace. Why any true Virtual Assistant would participate in them is beyond me as they are only contributing to the very problems and misunderstandings with clients they constantly complain about. 

So, that’s why the VACOC endeavored to conduct a legitimate, meaningful, specific and relevant annual study that would not only give our industry real, more accurate, professional and representative results, but also yield clues to where business knowledge is lacking in the our industry compared to other service professions and how Virtual Assistants might step up their game.

You can get each year’s full survey report at our Virtual Assistant Business Forms Store, or you can download the 2008 Virtual Assistant Industry Survey Highlights Report from our home page which gives you the important meat and potatoes information (it contains about half the information included in the full survey results reports).

Now, once you get one of the surveys, you will find information about what rates Virtual Assistants are charging, how much money they’re making annually, where they are from, etc. However, we don’t extrapolate results based on who is charging what in what state, and I’ll tell you why.

We don’t do that because it doesn’t matter. First and foremost, the VACOC, the organization I founded, is committed to helping Virtual Assistants be better business people. If something isn’t consistent with that core tenet, then we aren’t going to talk out of both sides of our mouth and provide information that we think isn’t helpful to Virtual Assistants, or worse, may harm them or lead them down paths that aren’t going to be successful.

Specifically, your rate should not depend on what state you live in. You have no geographic boundaries when it comes to finding and working with your target market and ideal clients. Your value is your value. It doesn’t change because you or they live in Timbuktu, Ohio. Your value is based on the need you fulfill for those clients in your target market, the problems you solve for them (and what that’s worth to them), and how your work allows them to move ahead in their businesses.

Look at it like this: If your work allows a client to write that that book, create those passive income streams, get more speaking gigs and ultimately make more money, that’s your value. So don’t shortchange yourself!

Geography and what others are charging is of no relevance to you or your business. It has no bearing on how to smartly price your service. You, your business, and what you offer to your target market is going to be a unique value different and separate from any other Virtual Assistant. That value is going to be the same no matter what the geographic location so never use that as an indicator in setting your fee.