I wrote this blog in response to tweets my fellow Virtual Assistants (VA's) and I were exchanging regarding the misconceptions of Virtual Assistants. It seems that there is a great disparity between what we believe a Virtual Assistant to be and what the public perceives a Virtual Assistant to be.

While starting my business I repeatedly stumbled upon the term Virtual Assistant and found that the description matched the core of what my business was about. However, I was skeptical about using the term and finally decided that I was doing The Virtual Assistance Community an injustice by not using the term. Just because the terms "virtual" and "assistant" may be misleading to our field, my fellow VA's will prove with their expertise and skill sets what a Virtual Assistant is truly meant to be.

The term "virtual" may lead one to believe that the business relationship will be "impersonal." This is totally false and in fact, the business relationship between a VA and her client may be better than most. Just because you are off-site does not mean that you haven't gotten to know your client and what they need and want for their business. In fact, many VA's have better communication with their clients because they have established how and when the best time to communicate will be and continue to do so on a regular basis.

I believe that many VA's actually work harder to maintain open and thorough communication avenues with their clients than other B2B relationships. VA's work hard to make sure that the customer knows we are there and that we are genuinely interested in helping them succeed.

The term "assistant" may be misleading because it's usually implies that one is just an administrative assistant or secretary. While this may be true in some respect, as we are certainly not above answering phones and typing correspondence, it's misleading because many of my fellow VA's demonstrate experience, education and skill sets that are far more advanced than just the typical job description of the Administrative Assistant.

The term "assistant" in the Virtual Assistant Community implies that the VA offers assistance to you and your business in many ways and in many areas such as accounting, payroll, website design, social marketing and yes, even administrative support functions. The VA is an extension of your business and usually has a high-quality and varied skill set.

I personally have 15 plus years experience in Human Resources. I am adept at reading, creating and explaining accounting and financial statements. I am the unofficial on-site IT person. I can set-up and train users on various popular software and accounting programs. I can write budgets, business plans and manage staff. I can build websites and learn social-marketing and you will find that most of my fellow VA's offer the same, or substantially more business management and development skills.

A Virtual Assistant is that outside contractor that you need to assist you with higher level business issues that you need help with. And yes, you do need help! You cannot continue to do it all! With a quality VA you can get back to doing the things you enjoy about being a business owner. We've taken the term "Girl-Friday" to a whole new level. We are multi-taskers, bred in multiple business concepts and skills, and if we don't know it, well then, we are just smart enough to figure it out.

So, when you hear the term Virtual Assistant, you shouldn't picture an unreliable temp that you will never be able to get in touch with; let alone understand your business. Instead, you should picture a well-polished, experienced, business professional that wants to assist you in taking your business to the next level. A VA is the consultant that you feel you cannot afford to hire, when in reality, you cannot afford not to hire one. Virtual Assistants can be affordable and yes, some of us may not even charge what we are actually worth, but there is a trade off to being your own boss and enjoying the work you choose to do.

One way to put the misconceptions about VA's to rest is to let our potential consumers see our résumés. Not our VA résumé, but our real-life résumé with well-known and/or well-respected companies with complex business procedures and politics. We can play with the big-dogs, but we just choose not to on a daily basis. We want to do what we enjoy on our own terms.

To summarize, it may be a poor business decision not to hire a qualified VA to help you grow your business. I think you will be pleasantly surprised by the value you will get from a VA and how they can assist you in making your business goals and dreams come true.

As for my fellow Virtual Assistant's out there, I think the public perception will change slowly with time, experience and interaction with the VA community. I encourage you all to continue the level of professionalism that you have always shown in the past and the day of the Virtual Assistant will come and will stay and will advance as other professions have.

I encourage you to post your thoughts on this subject.

Actual blog on http://esavvysbs.blogspot.com/