I just read Tina Marie Hilton’s post over on Home Office Virtual Assistance regarding trying to come to agreement about what a Virtual Assistant really is.
My preferred definition is this one, but really they all do a reasonable job of defining what a va is, I think. And I’m pretty much in the “Factor B” group as defined by Tina – I think a professional va should have some real world admin experience and behave as a business owner, not an employee.
I don’t think the entire industry will ever wholeheartedly agree though, and even if they do their will always be people providing similar services for lower rates (just maybe not on a truly professional level).
Truly said, Virtual assistants needs to work as if they are a business owners. A virtual assistant can help you grow your small business or home based business by handling your administrative support tasks, so to do these they at least require minimum administrative skills.