One of the questions that I get asked about working with a virtual assistant is, “What can she do for me?” The answer is that she can do a lot for you; however, she can’t do everything, no one can. The role of an assistant can be broad, and consist of a lot of tasks, and one of those tasks is research. If you need something that goes beyond the scope of your assistant’s work, she can find someone else for you who has the specific skill set/talent that you need for your project or task.
Let’s say that you need to have a website designed. Your virtual assistant may not have web design skills, but she can do the research to find vendors who can handle this for you. She can obtain pricing, project completion estimates, etc. and present this to you in a nice report to help you make an easy decision, saving you a tremendous amount of time by not having to do this yourself. She can take it a step further and manage the project from start to finish, saving you the headache of having to do it yourself. If you need some web graphics done, your virtual assistant can repeat the steps and find vendors who can do the work. She can then follow the same process of managing the project. As she’s doing this, she will create your vendor list and will be able to use it going forward for any project/task that you need to be done in the future.
Your virtual assistant is there to help you with anything that you need. If you’ve ever worked in the corporate world, your company most likely had a secretary, administrative assistant, or executive assistant. A virtual assistant is no different from these positions, with the exception of not being onsite. The names are all different; however, the premise is the same – they all assist with administrative tasks.
All that said, keep in mind that you most likely will not be able to find a virtual assistant who can do it all. We all have limitations to our abilities. However, remember that if she can’t do it herself, she can find someone for you who can.
