Take Charge of Your Time and Life and Enjoy Success Beyond Your Wildest Imaginings As a Virtual Assistant

This review originally appeared in The Changing Course Newsletter.

By Valerie Young

How many times have you said, "I wish I had a more flexible work day and more control over my time... and life." If you want to work from home, have great organizational skills, like managing projects of all sizes, genuinely enjoy helping others, and have the desire to be your own boss, then allow me to introduce you to the fascinating world of virtual assistance.

Virtual assistants (VAs) are essentially personal assistants but with two important differences. For one, VAs have made the hugely life and status changing shift from "working for a boss" to serving their own clients. The relationship is more one of partners than boss-employee. And two, VAs work from home. That's because a VAs client – or often multiple clients – live and work in another city, state or even country.

So what do VAs do? VAs help their clients by doing anything from creating PowerPoint presentations, sending out holiday cards, managing marketing projects, researching, proof reading, making travel arrangements, organizing events, and more.

As with any new business idea the first step is to do your homework. When I did a Google search for "virtual assistance" I got a deluge of nearly two million links. That's when I remembered an article I'd read a few years back in Business Week. The article talked about AssistU, the company invented this in-demand profession. That was over three years ago. Today AssistU is widely considered to be the premier VA training and coaching company.

But before I tell you more about AssistU or the intriguing world of virtual assistance, I want to share the inspiring story of how one woman took a small idea and turned it into a Big Dream... and in doing so has allowed hundreds of people to fulfill their dream of working from home doing work they really enjoy.

Listen in as Stacey answers frequently asked questions about being a Virtual Assistant:

Part 1:

Part 2:

How to Turn a Small Idea into a Big Dream

Back in the early 80's, Stacy Brice was working in her mother's travel agency. She soon discovered that not only was she good at organizing travel plans but she also enjoyed handling all the details – especially for her business clients. That's when Stacy got the idea to re-invent herself as an Executive Travel Planner and began specializing in providing personalized travel planning and related services to busy corporate executives, physicians, and consultants.

Stacy says it didn't take long to realize that her clients could use more help than just travel planning. What they really needed was someone to take of all the administrative work so they could be more productive, generate more income, and be less stressed. Soon her travel clients began asking her to do additional tasks like preparing mailing lists, arranging meetings, laying out brochures, and creating seminar handouts.

Despite the fact that she rarely (if ever) interacted with her clients face-to-face, Stacy could see she was having a huge impact on their businesses – and lives. That's when she began to formulate an idea for how this same kind of remote assistance could benefit busy people everywhere.

In 1992, Stacy decided the time had come to make a bold change. At a time when few employees worked from home, she decided to make the leap from full-time on-site employee to full-time home-based contractor. Her new role allowed Stacy to provide her international client base with the broader range of travel planning and personal assistance they so desperately needed.

A Whole New Career Track is Born

A few years later Stacy received a newsletter from Coach U. It seems Coach U founder Thomas Leonard (who some of you know later went on to found Coachville), was looking for someone to run things for him while on sabbatical. Knowing an opportunity when she saw one, Stacy decided to test her concept of assisting someone from a distance – and who wasn't also one of her travel planning clients.

It was Leonard who first introduced Stacy to the term "Virtual Assistant." It turned out to be a pivotal moment. Finally Stacy had a name for the job she'd been performing for nearly a decade! Within months, coaches and other professionals approached her about providing these same services for them.

Stacy's practice was a virtual laboratory. With every new client experience, she learned more about for example, what it took to be successful, what it meant to really partner with someone in this kind of remote relationship, what clients wanted in a virtual assistant, and as importantly, how to design her practice – and life – to best meet her own needs.

How Do You Build a Successful Practice?

In November of 1996, Stacy was approached by a journalist doing a piece about her work as a VA. When that article was published in The Secretary a few months later hundreds of women contacted Stacy, anxious to learn more about how they too could work from home using the skills they'd honed in the corporate world.

That's when Stacy realized how great the need was for a training program that wouldn't just tell students how to do the work of VA, but would help them start and sustain dream of running their own small business. So she decided to sit down and design a comprehensive training and support program that would enable other aspiring self-bossers to step out of their corporate boxes and help them create the kind of independence and self-determination that she'd long enjoyed. So,

in 1997, with 10 years of experience under her belt and tons of information gleaned from research conducted with scores of women who ran local office support businesses, Stacy founded AssistU.

To have started an organization widely considered the leader in its profession is impressive enough. But how many people can say they've revolutionized the way people work by shattering of the traditional boss/assistant paradigm? Fast Company magazine was so impressed with what Stacy's accomplishments as her company's Chief Visionary Officer, that in 2001 they nominated her for their Fast 50, under the category of "Change Agents" – people who are determined to challenge the status quo and to make a positive difference for the future.

In a few short years AssistU has trained hundreds and hundreds of people to succeed in this growing profession. People like Dawn Goldberg. When her daughters were born Dawn decided to be a stay at home Mom. But, she says, something was missing. Then she read Cheryl Richardson's book Take Time For Your Life. In it Richardson talked about how VAs can help busy people find more time to do what they love. "When I read that," says Dawn, "I decided I wanted to spend my time doing what I love!"

As a former English teacher and administrative assistant at Johns Hopkins University, Dawn says she knew she had skills it took to add help other business owners. After completing her training and graduating from AssistU, she launched Virtual Angel. That was two years ago. Today Dawn enjoys a full practice working with clients she loves.

"Today, I have wonderful clients who appreciate me and give me the opportunity to truly collaborate with them on their businesses and let my gifts shine. I have more confidence and I truly feel and know that I am a strong business woman. Frequently, my clients will call me their ‘Angel,' and tell me how much they appreciate me. As my clients' Virtual Angel, I have helped them make their business dreams come true. Just as importantly, so have mine."

Dawn is just one of the hundreds of AssistU graduates who are now living a life they'd only dreamed of. As I talked with Stacy and Dawn, read more about AssistU and saw how their training program is structured, it became clear why they've earned the reputation as the industry leader.

If you've been a subscriber for any time you'll know that I'm very picky about what resources I'll endorse. So let me spell out for you why I've decided to give AssistU the Changing Course Seal of Approval and thereby recommend this program highly and without reservation.

Seven Reasons Why I Really Like AssistU

1. Excellent Training

The 20-week training program provides all of the tools VAs need to be successful. Students are introduced to advanced technologies, have the opportunity to connect with experts, receive ongoing support via advanced classes, resources, and are able actively to network with other VAs.

The complete and intensive 20 week program is designed to add to your already existing skills, preparing you to work virtually. The AssistU instructors work closely with students to guide them through the creation of their virtual assistance practice and move forward into working with clients. Graduates leave knowing they're well prepared to move forward into a new career doing work they love.

2. High Standards

One reason for AssistU's phenomenal success rate is their rigorous quality guidelines – the highest in the industry. The fact that AssistU accepts less than half the people who apply to their training program is a good indicator that they value quality over making a fast buck. They want their students to succeed and so seek out students for whom the virtual assistance business is a good fit.

3. You Can Train From Home... In Only an Hour a Week

Part of the beauty of acquiring the skills needed to work virtually is that you get to learn from home. All you need is a telephone and the sincere desire to become the best VA you can be. Classes meet for one hour a week via telephone in either a small group or a one on one format.

4. Small Classes Mean You Get Lots of Personal Attention

AssistU only accepts 45 people into each training group. This ensures there are never more than six people per class. As Stacy puts it, "A small class size ensures you'll have a great experience, not just an experience."

5. Their National Reputation Benefits Your Future Business

As students begin to develop their own businesses, they benefit greatly from the national and regional media coverage enjoyed by AssistU, Stacy, and the virtual assistance profession in general. Virtual assistance has been featured on National Public Radio as well as in Time magazine, Business Week, Woman's Day, Inc., Fortune Small Business, Monster.com, MSN.com, and in dozens of regional publications.

6. You Get On-going Support So You Never Feel Isolated

In addition to classes, group and one-on-one coaching sessions, AssistU offers graduates a community of peers. Their comprehensive members-only area features vast resources including a proprietary, searchable knowledge base. The ongoing support ensures that working at home never has to mean working alone.

7. It's an Ideal Business for Stay at Home Mothers and Fathers

Since VA's can work at many or as few hours as they like – and have a tremendous amount of flexibility and control over their schedules, it's the ideal business for a stay at home parent.

If you think you'd like to learn more about the world of virtual assistance I suggest you sign up for their free monthly telediscussion. These one hour discussions (there's one for people in North America and another for those outside of North America) are designed to answer any questions about this exciting new profession and whether it's right for you. Click here to register or learn more.

Ask the Expert

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About Stacy Brice

Stacy Brice is the founder and Chief Visionary Officer of AssistU -the premier organization committed to training, supporting, and coaching Virtual Assistants, and providing referrals to those business owners who want to work with them. As a pioneer and leader of this new profession called Virtual Assistance, Stacy loves her role as advocate, and works tirelessly to blaze a trail for all those interested in this new way of working.

Additionally, Stacy is a widely recognized expert in the fields of Virtual Officing and Virtual Relationships, is the Virtual Office columnist for OfficePRO magazine, is widely quoted nationally in magazines and newspapers, and is a frequent guest on talk radio shows.

Stacy lives in Baltimore, Maryland with the love of her life, Dominic, and their two cats.