Career Choice: Virtual Assistant

Akso Ahokas, S&A Administrative Professional Magazine (Finland)

FINLAND, May 2007. Danielle Keister is a pioneer in the field, and she built her own business in 1997. "The Relief" is the name of the business, and it is a secretarial and Virtual Assistant business.

Keister has determined that Virtual Assistance is a service occupation with great value because Virtual Assistants have advanced knowledge and customer relationship skills. Some of the services she provides are scheduling and meeting management, principally secretarial and administrative assistant duties.

The Work Week

Keister's organization shows in her weekly routine. Mondays she is involved in her own upkeep and activities. Tuesdays are reserved for telephone contact and meetings and consultations. The rest of the week is for customers' work, and it is all done from Keister's own office. She says it's easy to be organized if you do work you like and you take your work seriously.

"The money the customers invest in you has to give something in return. If you take their hard-earned money, you must be ready to give back a valuable service."

Danielle works specially for lawyers and communications businesses. "It would take too much time for customers to understand their own needs, and you would be lucky to be able to offer everything for everybody. With new customers we do an analysis and the customers book two weeks of time to use to give me a good picture of their situation. This gives me valuable knowledge of their business."

Organization of the Trade

A few years ago Keister founded a Virtual Assistant organization so that the field would become better at providing services. The organization offers instructions to the trade and how to start your own business. "Distance is no matter to making money," she says,"in this organization there are about 320 members and it's international with members from every English speaking country plus Romania, Philippines, Germany and Spain." This has many positive returns as it applies to critics.

"People who buy this service, the biggest critics think that the Virtual Assistants aren't really working most of the time. But they are working and people must change the way they think of it. They must see themselves in these roles."

Customers, most of the time, are just as lost as you so you have to be able to be active and find solutions for yourself instead of waiting for instructions. Your customers are waiting for your advice and help during the whole process. When the customer is involved in the process, Virtual Assistants have plenty to offer.