Article: PA or VA? - that is the question....

By: Jane Truscott, Director, Truscott Hobbs PR Ltd, PR Consultant to Tirebuck Career Solutions

In acronym city we all know what a PA is and what a PA does but we’re probably not so sure what a VA is.

VA stands for Virtual Assistant and quite simply it is a person who can provide total business support for a company from her own home without ever having to step foot into that company’s office. In fact it’s quite likely that the VA has never actually met the person she is working for! Despite all this the VA can have an excellent relationship with her client, effectively combine home and work responsibilities without the confines of a 9 to 5 regime and can probably earn around twice as much as her former PA’s role paid.

You can be forgiven for not knowing that this system of working is in existence as it is a relatively new industry and the majority of its marketing is done solely via the Internet. However it is gaining momentum and the industry is growing at an incredible rate as people realise the many advantages of working as a VA and the equally good benefits to the companies who use their services.

Like many good business ideas the Virtual Assistance industry started in the US just ten years ago and was founded by Christine Durst from her home in rural Connecticut. She originally started it for the wives of the US military who had time on their hands to put to constructive use. Christine persuaded these women to work from home and provide administrative support to companies remotely. The idea took root and soon had widespread appeal far beyond the military sector and today membership of the International Virtual Assistants Association has spread to 16 countries – including a very significant number in the UK. The UK also has it’s own organisation known as the Alliance of UK VAs.

Mel Cowley from Sutton Coldfield was one of the original members of the alliance when she set up her company Dataplus Solutions in 1999. At that time you could count the number of members on one hand and they worked as a small collaborative team helping each other out when workloads got heavy. Today, according to the 45-year-old mother of two, membership has grown and interest in becoming a VA has mushroomed.

Equipped with computer, broadband connection and a digital transcription machine Mel set in motion her company, which today employs 15 freelance VAs and had a healthy turnover this year of £50,000. She is hoping to double that next year. The system works by the client dictating all the work to be done onto a sound file. This may be letters, reports, interviews, minutes of meetings, conferences etc that are sent via email to the VA to transcribe and sent back by email. In addition to transcribing the VA can provide a telephone messaging service, schedule appointments, undertake research – in fact practically any service provided by a PA can be provided by a VA.

Mel has worked with hundreds of clients since setting up and the majority of her work is repeat business with clients using her services either on a regular weekly basis or on an ad hoc basis every few months. Despite working with the same clients for many years Mel admits to having only met one of them: “ I rarely meet clients or even talk to them on the phone. Everything is done via the email, which for me is the quickest and most effective way to communicate. For example one of my clients is Masterfoods part of the Mars Group and based in Brussels. My client regularly organises teleconferences for his team who are spread across the world. He then emails me the sound file, which I transcribe and email back to him and his team within hours. That really is efficient business practice on a global scale and all made possible thanks to my small office in Sutton Coldfield!”

Distance is no barrier to Mel and many of her clients are based in the US, Switzerland, Germany and Belgium. Among her impressive list of clients is a Dusseldorf based Patent and Trademark Attorney. Why should a German businessman employ Mel who speaks no German and is based hundreds of miles away? She answers: “Because of the nature of the work he needs a completely confidential quality service with a quick turnaround. That is exactly what he gets. He also pays just for the work done saving himself money on employing a PA and the incumbent costs such as sickness cover and holiday pay not to mention saving costs on accommodating a PA in an office and paying for the necessary equipment needed so she can do her job.”

Typically the VA is extremely well qualified and experienced in all aspects of secretarial and office work. Mel was an office manager when she decided to become a VA. This means the service provided to clients is of the highest quality.

In Mel’s opinion it is the smaller firms which can really benefit from the skills and talents of a VA: “Many firms are having to downsize and keep to just a core staff. In this instance it makes complete sense to outsource the admin function to quick and efficient VAs who normally work from home so have no real overheads and can keep their prices very competitive. Ironically it is the larger firms who tend to use us more because they are more in tune with the idea of outsourcing various functions to get the same results with reduced staff overheads.”

Mel’s network of VAs whom she works with on a regular basis include those based in the US and Canada. She has been working for two years for Birmingham University on a key project called the National Evaluation of the Children’s Fund in conjunction with Tracey Lawton - a Birmingham born and bred VA who now lives in Ohio. Tracey launched her business in Birmingham in 2001 and moved to America in 2002 and continued to service the same clients! “It is completely straightforward working for UK companies when based in the US because technology means our clients can be located anywhere in the world. Three years after leaving the UK I still have a number of original Birmingham organisations on my client list. “

Tracey does recognise that there is still an educating job to be done for virtual assistance and comments: “The biggest stumbling block is getting clients to accept the idea that you can work for them just as efficiently whether you’re sat next to them in the office or sat in your office on the other side of the world. Once they see it works – they’re sold on the idea!”

Karen Tirebuck, managing director of Tirebuck Career Solutions in Knowle which has an Executive PA Division believes the rise of the VA is a very exciting development: “The virtual assistance market provides a win/win situation for all involved. A VA can work as much or as little as she chooses and has the flexibility to arrange her work around her lifestyle whether that is having more time for her children or simply to have more time to do what she wants to do. If she chooses to she can also turn it into a very profitable business and have all the mental stimulation that running a business involves.

“The client receives a quality service from a talented and experienced operator and pays just for the work produced without any of the hassles of having office-based staff. The VA can also work much more productively in the peace and quiet of her own office without the disturbance of phones ringing, internal meetings, chattering colleagues and other office activities that daily eat into productivity.”

For more information on the VA service log onto Dataplus Solutions at www.audio-digital-transcription.co.uk or Tracey Lawton on www.traceylawton.com. Tirebuck Career Solutions can be contacted on 01564 776669.