I have a consultation on Friday with a Financial Advisor. The original consultation was just for organizing his office, but it has expanded to needing an assistant.

The thing that he hates most about his job is ALL of the paperwork. He used to have an in-office assistant at his last office which did all the stuff that he hates. In the new office he has someone that has filled in, but it is another person in the office and they are not as thorough as he would like. His office is 50 miles away.

I have worked as an office manager for a financial advisor in the past and there is a lot of paperwork that needs to be filled out and then signed and entered into the computer. I know I could help him out on some things virtually, but I do not know about the paperwork. One of the recommendations that I made is to have a file that has the majority of his applications and access to his database and when he gets a client to give me a call (I reminded him that I am an Entrepreneur, so he would have to give me time, not an employee), I could then get the paperwork done and either messenger it to him or deliver it to him if it is close by. I also brought up the possibility of working in his office for a couple of hours a week or something on that order (I am not big on this idea)

Are there any of you that provide administrative support to financial advisors that have tackled this situation? Is there anyway that I could do this virtually or would I have to charge him more to go into his office do some of the jobs he needs done? This could become a long term partnership and could lead to more clients (he is in my networking group and he deals a lot with outside Entrepreneurs and MLM's)

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

I am sorry, but there have been so many posts in the past couple of days that I think this post got lost and I really need advice on this PC and how to handle it. So I am posting this to raise it up on the posting board. Please forgive me, I just really need all of your thoughts before Friday morning, especially if you have had a Financial Advisor as a client.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

First, congrats, and secondly, I worked primarily in the financial industry and you are correct about there being a ton of paperwork. Is your dilemma with driving to his office or this one client monopolizing your time? Personally, I would make sure to calculate the cost of the job, distance, and time. If you think the opportunity has the potential to attract more clients, then you might want to decide if this is the direction you want to grow your business. On the other hand, because of your experience your clients might be virtual and off-site.

If you decide that you prefer to work virtually, ask for password access to voicemail, email, systems that he uses. If he uses a company intranet then it's a matter of company privacy. In this case, you most likely will have to work out of his office.

I hope you find a balance that amicable to you both.

Good luck!

I am not worried about him monopolizing my time, it is just more about having to drive 50 miles one way to get to his office. I was thinking that I could charge an additional $5 per hour when I work at his office. If we limit it to once a week or every other week for a few hours it might not be so bad. He has no problem with giving me his information and he we already discussed the confidentiality issue. I also mentioned that I would not have a problem with a background check. (I had a thorough background check when I worked with another Financial Advisor)

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

You can use a program like BaseCamp for file and message sharing, and one like LogMeIn to access your client's desktop. As long as he's not using a company intranet, the only hangup in delivering his paperwork would be the signatures, right? Can he sign the finished product, which you can deliver to him via express mail?

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Mary H. Ruth/Virtual Writing & Communications
http://www.writingVA.com

I have an account with LogMeIn and I plan to mention that to him as well. As for the signature aspect, he did mention the mail as well. I figured I would bring up to him the idea of a messenger service as well. He does not have a lot of space at his office so he is very open to do anything we can virtually as long as it does not cost him a fortune to do it.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

It sounds to me like you have all the answers you need here. The posts that people have made seems to have helped you answer your own questions lol

Good luck,
Andrea

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Action Jackson Virtual Assistant|

Thank you to all of you, I have said it before and I will keep saying it, this is the BEST forum. I am completely addicted to this site! The people on this site have helped me out so much. My business and sanity would not be what it is today with out all of you! So thank you again.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.

Originally Posted by AdvantageAdministrativeSltns

Thank you to all of you, I have said it before and I will keep saying it, this is the BEST forum. I am completely addicted to this site! The people on this site have helped me out so much. My business and sanity would not be what it is today with out all of you! So thank you again.

Erika, This is last minute but if you have time before your consult tomorrow take a look at Google Docs and Google Apps. It allows you to share documents with other users (collaboration) create presentations and spreadsheets. I tested it very easy to use.

Originally Posted by Optimum Business

Erika, This is last minute but if you have time before your consult tomorrow take a look at Google Docs and Google Apps. It allows you to share documents with other users (collaboration) create presentations and spreadsheets. I tested it very easy to use.

Thank you, I will check it out before my meeting tomorrow.

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Erika Glem
www.advadminsol.com Let my administrative solutions be to your advantage.