Oh come on..that won’t work! At least not here. I meant to get your attention, whether you be a client or a virtual assistant.
I’ve been a virtual assistant (that name doesn’t really fit what I do these days) since 2003. The field was really a ‘smirk catcher’ in those days and it still has a long way to go before everyone ‘gets’ what we are talking about and the term virtual becomes embedded in the every day vernacular.
So, sometimes virtual assistants find themselves in the ditch that Karri Flattla of Snap Virtual Associates, Inc. seemed to be in when she wrote a piece, entitled “Public Service Announcement: Virtual Assistants Really Hate It When…” over at the blog for VAnetworking.com, Partnering with a Virtual Assistant. venting on clients who don’t ‘get it’. Clients who request a quote as part of the pitch for the ‘first date’.
This is only my opinion, but when we (virtual professionals) are the leaders in a new field, we’re going to be on the education end of the business stick; maybe for the rest of our lives. When you ask me about rates first, it indicates to me that you are struggling for a good pickup line because that’s like asking the person who answers the phone if she is home. Maybe you aren’t sure you even want a date; or where you would go from here.
My job is to stay calm, assure you that I’m not trying to be coy by answering a question with a question, but I really need to know more about you and your task. You need to know more about me and my skills.
We both need to know more about the work patterns of the other; this point was a recent recommendation from USDA Extension Agents for farmers hiring help. You need to know that I am a skilled, capable, professional person who can take a leadership position and will settle for a partnership position with you for the benefit of your projects IF they are within my skill set. If you called me seeking certain levels of rocket science, we’re both going to be disappointed. I do websites, but I am better at the art side; if you need a shopping cart and work with me, I’m going to sub that out instead of wrecking your business. I need to know that you have a nice, dry sense of humor, can read, especially a contract and that you will pay me. I’m not defined by what bugs you; when I send you some copy, you are welcome to change it and change it and change it, within the parameters of our contractual agreement.
I expect you will read my website, my blogs (@ Bar JD Virtual Professionals and Particularly Virtual), my Twitter feed and my FaceBook feed and still ask me to set up a shopping cart or build a space ship for you. Go ahead, that won’t make me angry. But, I’m going to give some answers you didn’t expect. Because of networking since 2003, especially VAnetworking.com (2005), I know someone who can build you the shopping cart. Give the space ship idea away…you will have more fun partnering with me for your business. And, those suits don’t do a single thing for you.
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I really like your post, JudyAnn. The sentence that says, “. . .I am a skilled, capable professional person . . . ” is going to get copied down and placed on my bulletin board. It just says it all.