Hiring A Personal Assistant Is Virtually A Breeze

June 9, 2007 - PRLog -- One way many have streamlined is by letting go of full-time support staff: this results in savings of not only salaries, taxes and benefits, but also of residual costs associated with employees, such as workers insurance, office space, furniture and the like.

In addition, it eliminates problems associated with management: in a tight economy, professionals want to spend their time doing what they do best rather than managing a staff of employees or training new hires (who may take training and be off to another position.)

But while foregoing full-time, on-site staff can mean savings, it also has a cost: the manager now has to perform support tasks, from proofreading documents to making travel arrangements to reminding oneself about important appointments. Not necessarily the best or most cost effective use of an executive’s time.  Into the breach comes a new breed of professionals like Lynette Venable-Sledge, “Virtual Assistant.”

The only virtual thing about Venable-Sledge is that she assists businesses from her home, rather than their offices, staying in touch through phone, fax, computer network, internet and e-mail. For VAs like Venable-Sledge, being a virtual assistant eliminates the cost of commuting and cuts down on expenses like childcare.

For employers, hiring on a VA like Venable-Sledge means getting top-quality, experienced support for specified terms (for one project or for a defined time period) without the expense of a full-time employee when one isn’t needed.  A former Executive Secretary, Venable-Sledge says she’s fulfilled the functions of “salesperson, personal assistant, office manager, hiring manager, IT assistant and more,” all functions that can be fulfilled in the virtual as well as the physical world. She offers additional services such as writing, editing, proofreading and submitting documents to online shopping, event planning and data entry.  

“Some managers think it’s faster to do everything themselves, or they can’t afford to hire anyone,” Venable-Sledge says. “Others feel if they give up control, especially to someone who is not physically in the office, things will start to fall through the cracks.”
That thinking can be misguided, she says: “Sometimes you can’t do it all yourself. Delegate!”

Taking advantage of a seasoned professional like Venable-Sledge can save money, not to mention headaches, in the long run, she says. In modern offices, even people in the same room communicate through computer networks, e-mail and voice messaging: the process works just as well whether the administrative or personal assistant is on the other side of a divider, the other side of town, or the other side of the world.

“If you need relief from administrative tasks, then a VA may be for you,” says Venable-Sledge. She offers a complete list of services and hourly rates (nonprofits get a break), as well as upfront agreement on associated costs such as travel and specialized software.

For more information or for rates, contact Lynette Venable-Sledge at 951-275-2361, email virtualpersonalassit@earthlink.net or visit http://home.earthlink.net/~virtualpersonalassist.

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