Archive for the ‘Why We Stopped Calling Ourselves Virtual Assistants’ Category

What’s In a Name, Part 3

One thing that interests me about marketing is that so much of it involves psychology, which I find fascinating. Being a student of psychology definitely will aid you in your marketing.

I’m sure many have heard the coffee comparison example:

Essentially, that people will pay many times more for a cup of coffee at Starbucks than they would for the same coffee at 7-11.

A lot of that has to do with the “experience” of getting coffee at Starbucks, which might include (among others):

  • more quality coffee (real or perceived)
  • better tasting coffee (real or perceived)
  • hip/comfortable atmosphere
  • place to hang-out, to see and be seen
  • status

All of this is related in many ways to “connotation,” which is the underlying (conscious and subconcious) thoughts, feelings, perceptions, prejudices and preconceived ideas and associations that are conjured up and evoked from a word, term or experience.

Just as context, environs and experience have much to do with how people buy and the perceptions they bring to the table, the words and terms you use in your marketing are relevant in this respect as well.

While some lofty, high-minded conversation about your title should NEVER be part of your marketing message nor your conversation with clients, the term, title and brand words you use to identify yourself to clients does matter. It will evoke certain perceptions and understanding (or misunderstandings as the case may be) in your potential clients.

You can make things easier and work more in your favor or more difficult (paddling upstream) all depending on the words and terms you use.

For more on this topic, see these blog categories as well:

What’s In a Name?

Why We Stopped Calling Ourselves Virtual Assistants

Dear Danielle: How Do I Transition from Virtual Assistant to Administrative Consultant?

Dear Danielle:

I’ve been following you for a long time and am a big fan of what you are doing!! I realize that after two years of “just barely” making it, that it’s time to make some changes to my business. I was considering changing to an OBM, but that doesn’t really fit what I do either. I can see that being an Administrative Consultant more clearly defines what I am and what I really want to be doing. So, how do you make the transition from a virtual assistant business to an Administrative Consultant business? MD

Rather than having this question languish any longer in my To-Do list, I thought I would do a quick video for my answer.

Okay, I knew I had more to say on this, lol.

To summarize, the quick answer is that there’s nothing complicated or involved about transitioning from virtual assistant to Administrative Consultant. You don’t need to go through anyone’s course or buy “certification” from anyone’s diploma mill. It has more to do with definition and mindset.

Obviously, just changing your title isn’t going to turn things around in your business. It’s the attendant thinking patterns and changes in self-perception (as well as the changes in perception by clients) that go along with this new way of thinking and operating an administrative support business that have the most significant impact. How you see and understand yourself greatly affects your professional self-esteem, your marketing message and how you operate and go about the process of helping clients. Those shifts in perception, even if subtle and underlying, have a HUGE direct link to your business success.

There are many problems with the virtual assistant term that have very real negative impact on people’s businesses and marketing:

  1. The word “assistant” is a term of employment. There are both legal and practical implications in using that word.
  2. It focuses on a role, rather than an expertise. And when you are in business, you aren’t anyone’s assistant and you can’t be.
  3. People using the VA term view themselves more as assistants and have a much more difficult time getting over employee mindset. Consequently, they end up operating and working with clients in employee-like ways that aren’t sustainable, that prevent them from growing and earning better, and that actually keep them from helping clients better.
  4. People only understand the word “assistant” one way—that of employee. So, potential clients come to the table right from the get-go misunderstanding the correct nature of the relationship.
  5. Every day we see examples of just how prevalent the idea is that VAs are remote employees, which is why they only expect to be paying them the same wages as an employee. This is the disconnect the word “assistant” causes in the marketplace.
  6. The word “assistant” automatically puts you in a subservient position. It why you have such a hard time getting clients to see and treat you as a business owner and independent professional, not their personal assistant.
  7. It instantly creates wrong or misaligned understandings and expectations in clients and prospects that you then have to spend time correcting and setting right.
  8. It’s a vague, generic, ambiguous term that doesn’t impart any kind of clarity or helpful, proper connotations, understandings or perceptions whatsoever. It actually creates more  difficulty in your marketing, consultations and conversations overall.
  9. The VA term has become the generic, garbage dump term for anyone doing anything and everything. It has absolutely no meaning or definition. It’s why clients constantly come to the table thinking you are going to be their do-anything-and-everything-at-my-beck-and-call assistant. That’s a big problem because when that’s the perception, people only see you as a gopher. And people do not expect to pay someone they view as merely a gopher or lackey the “big bucks.”
  10. The VA industry has become branded as the cheap labor pool of flunkies, and this is the expectation it is setting out there in the marketplace. This makes your job marketing your business and expecting to be paid as a professional doubly difficult because it is juxaposed against everything prospects have overarchingly come to associate with the term. Why align with a term that only makes it that much more difficult to attract properly educated, well-paying clients to your business?

So, when it comes to definition, what we’re saying is that administrative support as a business is a specific expertise and specialization in and of itself, not a role. It’s also not “anyone doing anything and everything.” It is a very clear and distinct category of business. If you are specifically in business to provide the art and expertise of administrative support, you and your business are better served marketing-wise and income-earning wise by using the term of Administrative Consultant.

There are entirely different connotations and mindsets created when you use the term Administrative Consultant, for you and your clients. This has huge positive impacts on your view of yourself (“I’m an expert in the art of administrative support. I’m not some mere assistant; I have EXPERTISE!”) that will show up in your marketing and how it creates more positive and aligned understandings and expectations in clients. AND because they aren’t seeing you as merely an assistant, but someone with real and specific expertise, they are much more willing (and even expect) to pay professional level fees.

I hope that helps provide some clarity to things for you! Feel free to keep the conversation going in the comments. :)

Dear Danielle: How Does the Shaky Economy Affect Us?

Dear Danielle:

What do you perceive will transpire within the VA scene with the upcoming shaky global economy? What would you suggest, especially to new VA’s such as myself? We have not acquired an established clientele yet, we are scratching to get a first client! Thank you. –Marie-Brigitte Souci

Thanks for the question, Marie-Brigitte. :)

First, I do want to gently remind that we use the term Administrative Consultants here. I’m not concerned with the VA industry. I answer questions related to those who are in the administrative support business and for many reasons, we do not use the VA term.

I want to encourage you not to be concerned about the economy. First, because things really are on the upswing, and second, because it really doesn’t need to have anything to do with you. You’re looking at things from the wrong angle, and if you’re worrying about clients who are worried about the economy, you’re focusing on the wrong clients.

Here is a post I wrote in 2011 on this topic that I think will help you see that there is a different approach and why the “shaky” economy doesn’t have to relate to your business in any way:

Dear Danielle: How Is the Economy Affecting Out Industry?

Let me know if that helps!

What’s In a Name, You Ask?

It’s interesting how many administrative assistants are confused about the difference between them and a Virtual Assistant. Someone sent me something from some administrative assistants listserv (those who are working in jobs) and it’s very clear they do not understand that a VA is NOT someone who is telecommuting, but is in business. They don’t seem to understand that an administrative assistant and a VA are not the same thing whatsoever.

Here again, this is due in large part to the vague and idiotic “virtual assistant” term. People who are running businesses are not assistants, much less employees. They are providing a professional service, and the way they operate and work with clients is by necessity very different from how one provides administrative support as an employee.

This mass delusion and confusion never ceases to astonish me. And underscores the point that words educate (or miseducate, as the case may be), and that’s why what you call yourself is important to your marketing and educating of clients. It is either going to set a tone for the right understandings, expectations and preconceptions or it will do the opposite.

Ignore the morons out there who are always shrilling about “it’s the name of the industry” blah blah blah. Your business and marketing has nothing to do with that at all. It’s about positioning and how you want your market to view you. Do you want to be viewed as an assistant and gopher who they think should be at their beck and call and doing whatever they throw at you (and expect to pay you peanuts for at the same time), or do you want the kind of clients who clearly understand the expertise you are in business to provide, view you as a skilled professional and administrative expert who can really help them improve their businesses, and therefore are more willing to pay for that valuble support and expertise?

If so, then you must understand that this is about shaping perceptions, expectations and understandings and positioning yourself as an expert, not a gopher.

By the way, the morons out there shouting that are the also the ones who don’t know how to do it any differently. ;) And listening to people like that is keeping you in the poorhouse. Let them keep their idiotic industry. Worry about the financial wealth and success of your own business.

Consider this, too…

How many times have you followed a coach or business expert and all their business building and financial success advice seems to apply to everyone–until it comes time to pay their VAs. It’s such a clear example of how they devalue VAs because they don’t put them on the same level as other business professionals and expertse.

And guess why? Guess who did that to you? Yup, the “industry.” That’s because it has  branded itself as the cheap labor pool of flunkies and gophers… as assistants, not experts.

The industry at large is not doing you any favors whatsoever. So who cares if “the industry” wants to be called “virtual assistants.” That doesn’t mean you have to call yourself that if you want to do better financially in business and attract better clients, clients who aren’t cheapskates, clients who happily pay, clients who “get it” and view you as important to them and their business as their attorney and their accountant and their web designer, etc.

See, the “industry” has spoiled those people and certain marketplaces. They have been trained to think they are getting what basically amounts to employees they don’t pay taxes on.

But if you want to do better financially in your business, not to mention to actually create a business and not merely a telecommuting job, you have got to do things differently. And that really does start with what you call yourself because it affects not only their perceptions and understandings, but your perceptions about yourself as well.

You Are Not an Assistant

From both a legal and practical standpoint, the fact is when you are in business, you are not anyone’s assistant.

The term “assistant” is a term of employment, not business, and shouldn’t ever be used in your business relationships and conversations.

When you stop calling yourself an assistant, you’ll get less pushback from clients when it comes to your fees.

People automatically equate “assistant” with employment. So when you call yourself an assistant, you predispose clients to balking at your fees because they don’t understand why they would pay you more than they would any other in-house employee/assistant.

You can talk until you’re blue in the face about your standards and boundaries and that you are a biz owner, that you have your own taxes and expenses to pay, yada yada yada–but you negate all of that when you call yourself an assistant.

It’s all about positioning and using the right words to pre-set proper expectations and mindsets–all for vastly easier conversations and more successful relationships with clients. You’ll always have more problems when you call yourself an assistant.

When you frame yourself instead as an expert in the art of administrative support, it’s a whole other ballgame. People EXPECT to pay experts professional fees. Instead of looking at you as an employee they don’t pay taxes on, they view you as a professional who is hired for a particular expertise that will help them meet a solve, solve a problem and move forward and improve their businesses–in our case, that’s the expertise of administrative support and guidance.

Another reason to stop calling yourself an assistant is to reduce the likelihood of the IRS (or your country’s similar governing agency) determining you are an employee and going after the client for back taxes and penalties for misclassification of employees.

This is one of the many, many reasons we as an organization moved to the term Administrative Consultant.

If you’re not comfortable with the word “consultant,” call yourself an administrative partner or administrative expert or administrative specialist… ANYTHING but assistant.

What’s In a Name?

I was sharing with my dad recently about how we are converting over to the term “Administrative Consultant” and how the organization will be getting a new name and a new site and all the reasons why… chiefly, the fact that the Virtual Assistant term creates wrong expectations and understandings in clients and makes our conversations with them more difficult than need be.

And he shared a story with me about one of our family friends that really illustrates how important a name or term is in educating clients about what you are and what you do and how it can hurt or help in your educating and marketing efforts.

So this family friend is a financial planner and lifelong master sailor. Many moons ago, when I was still a little girl even, due to his love of sailing, he decided he wanted to start a side business teaching beginnner’s how to sail.

One of the very first principles in sailing he’d teach on, because it was the foundation of everything else, was how to clean your boat. Having a crusty bottom, apparently, could literally affect your speed and navigation and in teaching all this, it was the natural segue to all the higher parts of the learning involved.

It’s sort of like with other skills where you don’t start out learning how to do the actual thing, you start by learning the most simple, seemingly unimportant tasks related to the thing. Trying to think of a good example and the movie, Karate Kid comes to mind. It’s been so long since I’ve seen that movie that I can’t remember it exactly, but you know how the teacher dude had the Karate Kid doing basic tasks that didn’t seem related or important at all, but which were really the foundation and shaped the character of everything else? It’s that kind of thing. It’s the crux of all the learning that follows.

So because the cleaning and care of the boat was the crux of everything else when it comes to learning how to sail, he decided to call this business venture Swabbies.

Can you see the problem already?

Now in the sailing world, this is a very understood nautical term, in all its full, nuanced meaning. And this is why he felt it would be perfect for the business name.

The problem, however, was that not only did he fail to understand his market, he used a term that only a select group of people would even remotely understand it’s real meaning. Which meant that it was esoteric jargon to everyone else. And this “everyone else” were who his would-be students were.

So he was getting all these calls and inquiries from people who only understood the term as any layperson would understand it–a swabbie is someone who cleans the deck. Instead of getting calls from people wanting to learn how to sail, he was only getting calls from people who wanted to have their boats cleaned!

As you can see, even super smart people like our friend the financial planner can make such basic branding errors when it comes to what they call their business or what title they use. His very name prevented him from connecting with the customers he was seeking. In fact, it completely miseducated them and made them think he was something he wasn’t whatsoever.

This is the same problem with the term Virtual Assistant. When you are in business, you are not anyone’s assistant and you can’t be.

On top of that, people only understand the word “assistant” one way. No matter how much you try to educate them until you are blue in the face, they just can’t seem to understand that you aren’t an assistant at their beck-and-call.

And why call yourself something that causes that much difficulty in aligning expectations and understandings in the first place? Business conversations are so much easier with a name that better reflects what you are in business to do and better educates clients as to the correct nature of your relationship.

This is why I have moved on to the term Administrative Consultant… because I’m not an assistant, I’m an administrative expert. I’m not hired to be anyone’s flunky or gopher. I’m hired because I have a valuable expertise that helps clients get things done and move forward in their businesses. It’s a term that more clearly reflects what I’m in business to do, it garners INFINITELY more professional respect, and it better educates and aligns expectations and understandings with the kind of clients I work with before we ever even speak to each other.

Dear Danielle: How Is the Economy Affecting Our Industry?

Dear Danielle:

I am considering starting a virtual assistant business.  I have been self-employed for 10 years and know about the hard work and research which goes into embarking upon entrepreneurship. I would like to know how the economy has impacted this business. On one hand, I can see businesses downsizing employees and benefiting from hiring administration support without the extra costs of taxes and providing benefits, which is more cost effective to their bottom line. On the other hand, I can also see how some businesses would think hiring a virtual assistant can be another added expense to their bottom line. Any feedback from you would be greatly appreciated DA

Thanks for the question and I’ll do my best to help shed some light so you can look at this another way.  You see, I always struggle with questions like this (which is why it has taken me this long to answer) because… well, how do I say this… it’s not the right question to ask. Not that you are wrong for asking. I’m here to help. :)

So let me try to explain…

The first thing I want to help you get a clearer understanding about is the fact that virtual assistants are not “outsourced help,” replacement staff or contract workers (a contract worker is a legal term for someone who is an employee of a staffing company). In fact, if you read any of the back posts on my blog, you’ll see that I don’t like the term “virtual assistant” at all as it miseducates clients and industry newcomers alike and sets wrong expectations and perceptions right from the get-go (this is why we use the term Administrative Consultant).

On top of that, when you are running a business, you are not anyone’s assistant any more than, say, an attorney is an assistant to their clients or a coach is an assistant to their clients and so on. Just because you “assist” people, doesn’t make you an assistant. You see?

As someone in this profession, you are providing a skilled professional service, no different than an attorney, an accountant, a bookkeeper, a coach, a designer or what have you. All of these professions, ours included, requires a high degree of specific skill, experience and expertise. We aren’t replacement workers. As administrative experts, we are providing an expertise—the expertise of administrative support—to businesses that require our particular skills and knowledge.

Once you understand things from that perspective, the question isn’t about how the economy is affecting companies that are downsizing. Those aren’t your clients. Because anyone who is simply looking to replace employees at a cheaper cost is not looking to value the skills or the relationship and is only interested in saving money. If you make those folks your clients, you can bank on always being on a hamster wheel trying to fend off competitors willing to work even cheaper than you.

Which leads me to my next point. You will need to educate yourself about who you are seeking to work with and what their motivation is in hiring you. When you seek the right clients, the economy has no bearing on anything at all. You want to focus on a market that truly has a need for the expertise you offer, not the ones whose initial motivation is looking for cheap right from the get-go. So let me walk you through this thought process…

Who is going to truly need and value having an administrative partner? Is it the big company who can afford their own employees or who is only looking to reduce their bottom line? Or is it the solo and boutique companies who run smaller scale operations, often from home offices of their own, that don’t warrant employees  or don’t have anywhere to put them even if they wanted them, but who still need the support and understand how it will help them run a more profitable business and make faster progress? Who do you think has the greater need for what we do and will therefore place a higher value on it because it has more meaning to their business success?

This is why the economy has no bearing once you understand who your market is. Those who need and value what you are in business to do will pay because people who want or need something, prize it more highly and place greater importance on paying well for it. Which again, makes the whole question about the economy irrelevant because you are going to seek only markets who need and value the expertise and are able and willing to afford it.

So your task as a new business owner in this profession is to find a target market who a) has the highest need for what you are in business to do, b) can be found easily enough in order to market to them and fill your practice, and c) earns enough money to pay for professional level fees.

Always remember, you can’t afford to work with anyone who can’t afford you (not my quote, but one I love a lot although I’m not sure of its origins).

Hope that helps!

You Are an Administrative Artist

I recently saw some Internet marketer use the phrasing “must have the heart of a servant” in reference to virtual assistants.

Give me a freaking break. Can you believe the condescension? Ewww.

That kind of thinking is just more evidence about how many in the marketplace view us:  as underlings… servants. And that’s because a lot of these people really think of us as assistants rather than as business peers and independent, professional service providers.

When I hire a professional, whether it’s an attorney or a coach or a bookkeeper or whatever, I don’t sit there and go, “… and they should have the heart of a servant…” When you hire a professional of any kind, do you say, “Oh, and they must have the heart of a servant.” Yah, right, LOL. No one does. And you’d be politely shown the door by any of these people if you did.

ANY professional should be service-oriented if they are going to succeed in business. That’s not the same thing as someone saying that you as a virtual assistant in particular need to have a servant’s heart. That’s just patently offensive. Do you get the difference?

But this is exactly how so many view the term “virtual assistant.” They think that we’re some kind of servants and lackeys.

Yet another reason why the term “virtual assistant” doesn’t serve us (at least, those of us who are in the administrative support business). It generates disrespectful attitudes like that.

If you want to talk about hearts, I say have the heart of a craftsman, an artisan. Our work is no less an art form and craft than any other kind of skilled trade.

People who have pride in their business and their skills and love exercising and honing them are the ones who care more deeply about their client relationships and doing great work. You certainly aren’t–and don’t have to be–anyone’s freaking servant to do that. You are an ADMINISTRATIVE EXPERT!

Another Word to Delete from Your Biz Vocabulary

I’m not a fan of the word “fair” (a cousin of “reasonable”) when used in relation to our fees because it’s usually code for “cheap” and “work for free” and “I’ll give you my skill and expertise for practically nothing.”

What is fair about that? Fair means fair to both parties, not giving something away of value to the other party while sacrificing your own needs and worth.

But the way it’s typically used, especially in Virtual Assistant circles, it’s about giving away far too much to clients for nothing. I have never in my life come across an industry so completely entrenched in devaluing itself and earning poorly. It’s so completely insane.

So let’s look at what’s really fair…

If your expertise costs a client several hundred dollars a month (for example, I get paid $1200-1600 a month for what roughly amounts to a 20-hour retainer) and as a result of working with you, that client:

  • gains X number of hours back in his pocket to focus elsewhere and enjoy more life and freedom;
  • has his business run more smoothly, thus reducing administration and increasing profitability;
  • gets more done and makes faster progress;
  • makes more money above and beyond what he pays you each month due to your support…

Wouldn’t you say that’s “fair?”

And I’m on the higher end of the scale. If a client paying you even between $9600-16,800 a year ends up increasing their annual income by $10,000, $15,000, $20,000 or $50,000 and beyond as a result of your skill and expertise helping them accomplish more, achieve goals, and move forward, I’d say that was a bargain.

It’s certainly a far more equitable (fair) exchange and it’s what is meant when we use the term “value.” Value does NOT mean coupons, discounts, two-for-one sales or otherwise devaluing your service and giving work away for free.

This is all the more reason we need to stop calling ourselves “assistants.” (I prefer Administrative Consultant, myself). We are experts in our own right–that of administrative skill and expertise. The word “assistant” inherently puts you in a subordinate role and lower perceived value ranking. People don’t consider “assistants” as experts.

A simple change in terminology can have a dramatic effect on your professional self-esteem and how prospective clients view you:  as an administrative expert whose skill and insights can help their business move forward, not a flunky who’s just there to order around.

And remember, just because someone is new in business doesn’t mean their skill and expertise is any less valuable. And that’s what clients should be paying for… not your time.

Dear Danielle: How Do I Answer Phones for Clients?

Dear Danielle:

I live in New York and have been a VA/Administrative Consultant for a client in Texas for approximately five months now. Everything is going well. I answer the phone with her company’s name right now. However, I would like to expand now and take on at least another two more clients. How would I possibly handle three clients at once with just one phone line and how would I answer the phone for each client. I recently just began saying my name. What do you suggest? –PC

Ah, you are getting an inkling of what a dead-end it is trying to be a receptionist for clients. This kind of work will turn your business into a J-O-B… a prison cell that forces you to become chained to your phone for certain hours a day. Is that really what you went into business to do?

Plus, think about how you’d have to charge clients. If they expect you to be available for certain hours to answer the phone, they should be charged for those hours, not by the call.

And how will answering phones affect your concentration when you are trying to carry out administrative work for your other clients? What about your own business’s phone calls and consultations with prospective clients?

What happens if you need to step away from the office? Are you really going to appreciate having to check in and out with clients? And even if you took the phones with you, how long are you going to like having that intrusion upon your life? When do you think it will eventually take a toll? Would clients appreciate their calls being answered unprofessionally such as if you are in a noisy space or sounding like you’re out shopping?

If you are intent on answering phones, I don’t have any insight for you as I have never provided that service for clients in my practice. However, if you’re open to it, I want to invite you to explore some different thinking:

There is an infinite difference between going into business to bring your administrative skills to clients who need that expertise in their business and going into business to be an assistant. That doesn’t mean you can’t be an assistant as well if that’s what you want to do. I just want you to know that being an assistant and being an administrative expert are two separate things. You don’t have to be an assistant (or a receptionist) if that’s not what you want to be in the business of doing. Your value is NOT dependent upon also being an assistant. Because providing administrative support and expertise is a big enough role and valuable enough work in and of itself.

You may want to do some heavy thinking about what you really want to be in your business because one will enslave you and limit your income potential and one will allow you to be an expert providing skilled, strategic support while still leaving you with lots of freedom and flexibility in your business and your life. Guess which is which?

Likewise, there’s a complete difference between being an administrative expert and being a receptionist. You get to choose which one you want to be. I just want you to be aware that you don’t have to be a receptionist if you would prefer to focus exclusively on being an administrative expert.

What happens is that newcomers to our industry get hit with the idiotic message that they are supposed to be an assistant to clients, a secretary just like they were in the workforce except virtually. It’s a big, fat farce, and it doesn’t work.

That’s why we see so many Virtual Assistants struggling. They create these businesses that have them operating and working with clients in ways that prevent them from earning well and don’t leave them any room to grow, much less think. They don’t know any other way to earn well and so they fall prey to the thinking that the only way they can increase their income is to create a bigger business or go into something else entirely. I see it over and over and over again.

It never needed to be that way for them in the first place, and that doesn’t need to be your lot either. All it takes to change things around or prevent yourself from falling into the same trap are some simple mindset shifts.

If you are running a business, you are not–and can not–be anyone’s assistant. It is absolutely impossible for you to work and be just like that secretary/administrative assistant you were back in the workforce to clients. It will turn your business into a prison and keep you working with clients in ways the absolutely prevent you from making any kind of real money–at a level you could actually live and thrive on just with the business alone.

You can’t be everything to clients. And you have to understand that when you’re in business, how and when you work with clients and what work you do for them is necessarily going to be much different from how they would work with an employee.

Like I say, you can be an assistant or a receptionist if that’s what you want to do. You can also simply choose to be an administrative expert and say “no” to any kind of on-demand, instant assistant type work that requires you to be chained to a phone or desk or checking in on a daily basis.

If clients need a receptionist, you could do what I do and refer them to a virtual receptionist service like Ruby Receptionists. Because this is specifically and exclusively what they’re in business to do, they can provide this service far better and more economically than you ever could. You are then free to focus on being the best administrative support expert you can be to clients–without being chained to a phone.