Pattie Mason works as a PA for several London companies from her home in the middle of rural New Zealand. She tells Adele Jarrett-Kerr why virtual assistants are the future.
The Internet is constantly changing the way we shop, keep in touch and stay up to date, but arguably it is most profoundly altering the way we work. In fact, many people are now choosing to work virtually – literally. Virtual assistants and those who work with them understand this trend better than anyone.
With online tools like Google calendar, Skype and Popfax.com readily accessible, VAs are now accomplishing the work of traditional PAs, sometimes from miles away.
“I could do for somebody virtually pretty much what I could do if I was sitting in their office," says Pattie Mason, a VA, freelance writer on digital living and founder of VA team One Hour PA.
Pattie left her Putney office as an established VA and moved to “the middle of nowhere” in New Zealand. She still works for London clients. The only difference is that she has now reduced her number of clients and feeds chickens in her backyard.
Like Pattie, many VAs choose to work this way as a lifestyle choice. Virtual working makes hefty travel expenses and formidable commuting times a thing of the past and allows you to work only as much as you need to.
“It’s very popular with women because it’s very flexible," says Pattie, " so you can work as a virtual assistant and you can work that around your family or domestic commitments.”
But its flexible nature does not mean that virtual work is for slackers. People who think working from home equates to spending the day in pyjamas and starting work at eleven ‘o’ clock will be disappointed, says Pattie. To survive as a VA, a strong work ethic, paired with sharp organisational skills, is key.
Even so, why would clients choose to go along with a VA? Pattie admits that some simply won’t. “Basically they want a bum on a seat outside their office to do their typing and make their coffee,” she says.
Sometimes they need to operate this way due to a last-minute culture. “That’s not a great way for anybody to manage their workload but it especially doesn’t work for virtual assistants because we are dealing with other clients at the same time,” says Pattie.
Perhaps no surprisingly, technology companies are among the most forward-thinking when it comes to virtual employment. But any company that is clued-up and organized enough to take on a VA will soon be reaping the rewards. By contracting a VA on a pay-as-you-go basis, small businesses can get the support of a competent and experienced assistant, who would usually make around £30-35K a year, without the price tag.
However, the Society for Virtual Assistants warns potential clients against contracting unqualified VAs who may view virtual work as an easy way to make a few extra quid, some of whom are students. The society only lists VAs with professional websites and threatens to remove those who do not meet its standards.
Establishing your career as a VA is certainly not a get-rich-quick scheme. It has all the characteristics of a small business even if you are the only VA you are managing. “You have to be a really good all-rounder,” says Pattie, “because not only are you dealing with your clients but you’re also running your own business so you’ve got your own marketing to do and your own website to build and your own blog to update and your own invoices to send out.”
It also does not suit everyone. Some people find virtual work isolating. Of course, good communication is the antidote - the One Hour PA team carefully keeps in touch with its members as well as its clients.
Here’s where the time difference between New Zealand and England offers advantages. It means that a colleague can finish typing reports and answer telephone calls in Pattie’s out-of-office hours while she is sleeping, and vice-versa. The time difference also allows clients in a mad rush all day to call Pattie at night, when she has just got to her desk.
Virtual working has gained popularity in the US and is quickly on the rise on this side of the pond. As Pattie predicts, soon businesses won’t be asking each other what a VA is but which VA they use.
For more information about Pattie Mason and her team, visit www.onehourpa.com
