Virtual Office

The ultimate in learning on the job? Business ownership.

By Stacy Brice

Question: I’m a terrific assistant, but I’m not sure I’d be a great business owner. How much of being a vir-tual assistant (VA) is doing the work, and how much of it is doing ownership things?

Answer: To be successful in your own business, you have to be equally adept in both arenas. Most of your time will be spent being the technician—the person actually doing the work for clients, and that’s clearly a role you’re comfortable in and feel adept at handling.

You also have to spend adequate time as the owner of the business, planning, strategizing, marketing—working on the business rather than in it. And while, right now, all of that might make you uncomfortable, I can tell you that, for most people, it’s simply because they’ve had no experience doing the things an owner does. The more experience you get, the easier it gets.

It’s like learning anything new. It just takes a while to get comfortable. What you need is the willingness to do what it takes and to learn what you don’t know. Are you willing to do whatever it takes?

Respect Yourself

Question: As an executive assistant, I’ve always felt like the expectation was for me to learn more, do more, be more, and always with the ultimate “carrot” that when I’d done all that, I would end up being respected by those I work for. I’ve tried, and I don’t feel any more respected, really, than I did when I was in an entry-level position. You always seem to say that VAs are respected by their clients, and yet there’s not, in my opinion, a vast difference between what a VA does and what I do. How can that be?

Answer: Being someone’s employee is radically different than being the owner of a business who has agreed to work with another business owner. Being an employee is what I call a “one-down” position. If you have a “boss,” then you are in that position. You may well be every bit as professional, educated, and good at your job as your boss is at his/hers, but as long as there’s a “boss,” with ultimate say about what you do and don’t do, you’re simply not an equal in the relationship.

So your boss behaves however your boss behaves—and that is often driven by the culture of the company you both work for. If your company culture doesn’t show that the admin staff is to be respected and valued highly, then chances are your boss doesn’t respect or value you highly. You could flap your arms and fly to the moon, or find the cure for cancer, and if the company culture doesn’t make respecting you as an administrative professional a priority, respect is something you’re never going to get.

Now you can stand up straight demand the respect we all know you so richly deserve, leaving and finding another job if you still don’t get it, but it’s rare that an employee will take that risk. For most, a job, even one where respect isn’t present, is better than no job at all, and risking losing it over something like respect? In today’s world, being able to pay the mortgage seems more important.

Being a business owner levels the playing field. You own your own company, and your clients own theirs. You are absolutely equals in the relationship. You each have your own business standards, and call your own shots. You work with people where there’s a fit for what matters most—and very often, respect is high on the list. In a relationship between equals, disrespect is rare. It just doesn’t happen, generally speaking, and when it does, the relationship ends fairly quickly. A business owner with many prospective clients simply doesn’t tolerate the same kinds of things that an employee generally would.

So if you want to be respected for who you are, what you do, and the value you create, consider whether using your valuable skills in service to clients who see you as an equal makes more sense to you.

Stacy Brice is a nationally recognized expert on “virtual assistance” and president of AssistU, an organization that trains and coaches virtual assistants. Reach her at stacy@assistu.com.