A Virtual Assistant Can Relieve Your Stress

Diana Fulbright is a leadership and change consultant working with large corporations. She has just contracted her services to the CEO of a well-known corporation going through a merger. This project will require many long hours of Diana as she travels around the country with the CEO. Diana is a sole proprietor - she owns her own company and handles everything related to her business. She is her own administrative assistant, bookkeeper, marketing associate and purchasing agent. Working over sixty hours a week, she has been able to do it all, but Diana knows that she cannot do her best work on this new contract while juggling everything else that needs to be done.

Two weeks before her new project begins, Diana attends her regional IMC meeting. She is thrilled to tell her colleagues about her new contract but is afraid to admit that she is already feeling overwhelmed by the additional work. She scans the room pondering how other consultants manage their workloads when she notices the sign advertising the speaker, David Front. David is a successful consultant, and is delivering a presentation today about working with a Virtual Assistant. Diana has never heard of a Virtual Assistant (VA) and is curious as to how David keeps up with his hectic schedule while running his business from the road.

David steps up to the podium and begins to speak. He explains that a Virtual Assistant is someone who works remotely handling the day-to-day tasks of their clients leaving the client to spend all of their time doing the work they love. Virtual Assistants, David points out, are usually individuals who have a strong secretarial, administrative and/or office management background. VA's usually owns their own business and operate as an independent contractor paying their own taxes and providing their own benefits while charging their clients only for the hours they work.

In the past, David told the audience, he had hired full-time help for his home office. He talked in detail about having to follow certain costly laws because he had an employee on-site. Additionally, David had to pay half of his employee's Social Security tax and provide benefits such as health, dental and sick/vacation leave. By the time David tallied these costs he discovered that he was spending three times the actual salary he was paying. After a few weeks his employee started calling in sick and taking long lunches. David had to go to the expense of hiring an attorney to guide him through the actual process of firing his employee.

David had lost a great deal of hope and money during this experience. What saved him was a phone call from another consultant who mentored him during the early days of his career. His mentor introduced him to the idea of using a VA to handle his administrative tasks. He guided David through the process of contacting the International Association of Virtual Assistants (http://www.ivaa.org/) to find a VA. David found a VA that he keeps on retainer to handle his telephones, bookkeeping, secretarial and administrative tasks. He uses another VA periodically to handle marketing tasks and to update his website. David found his business growing at a rapid pace once he freed himself up to concentrate on consulting. Even better, he learned that his main VA, Dorie, had a colleague who would step in to help David when Dorie went on vacation.

Diana is excited to learn about hiring a VA to help her in her business. She speaks privately with David after the meeting is over and he offers her practical suggestions for choosing the right VA. Diana rushes home after speaking with David and visits the IVAA site and fills out an RFP. Within a few hours, she is receiving resumes and responses from talented and highly qualified VA's and begins interviewing right away. She chooses a VA to handle daily tasks and another to handle bookkeeping. In just two weeks, before the new contact begins, Diana is completely organized, her desk is emptied of piles of paper and she is in the process of signing another major contract and hiring another consultant to staff that project. Diana now works less than forty hours a week, enjoys a regular massage and has time to begin playing tennis with her friends. Her stress level is non-existent and she can finally enjoy doing the work she loves.

Are you in the same position as Diana was at the beginning of this story? If you find yourself constantly worn out and working too many hours then you need to visit http://www.ivaa.org/ today. There are thousands of qualified VA's who can make a difference in your life and in your business and all you need to do is take the first step.

(c) 2007, Davis Virtual Assistance. Reprint rights granted to all venues so long as article and by-line are printed intact with all links made live.

Bonnie Jo Davis is Virtual Assistant to fun, savvy, sensational women. If you would like more information about her services please visit http://www.DavisVirtualAssistance.com