What do you think of when you hear….?

Virtual Assistant or VA? What does that term conjour up for you?

I ask this because my team and I were discussing the recent posts by a couple of business operators who had been promoting the use of admin and secretarial support through sites such as elance. Both these particular people know our industry and also know several VAs personally but they still promote getting a VA through elance via their websites and blogs.

So it makes me wonder what it is they think of when they hear the term ‘Virtual Assistant’ or ‘VA’? Why is it that they promote going to a site that doesn’t have proven professional VAs providing support, but rather anyone who has a computer and internet connection? I know that some professional VAs are members at elance, guru, etc but it’s not where I would think of going first when seeking professional support. However, perhaps it is the first place they think of and if so, why?

Is it the low rates that are charged or is it something else? Is it a lack of promotion by the VA industry itself? Tim Ferriss’ book on the 4 Hour Work week and related media articles haven’t helped the industry at all – many people now think they need to go through these sites to source VAs, not realising or knowing there are Virtual Assistant organisations they can approach instead. The trouble with that thinking is that they might not get the type of service they were planning on either.

So, what is it you think of when you hear of the term ‘Virtual Assistant’ or ‘VA’? And where is the first place you think of to search for one? Elance, guru, a VA network or Google?