Virtual Assistant or Remote Professional? Which are You?
What title do you go by?
Or, if you are the potential client of a VP or RP, which job title would you say you might better understand?
The conventional wisdom (at least between my friend Jodi Diehl at Sun Frog Services and myself) is that the title “Virtual Assistant” implies that the services provided are support services in the vein of what on-site administrative assistants do. So, word processing, live answering services, scheduling tasks, etc. Many in this industry started their self-employment journey by offering secretarial services.
“Remote Professional,” then, might include people who provide more technical, or specialized services, such as programming, web design, copywriting, etc.
When I first joined the International Virtual Assistants Association, I had to work very hard to be able to pass the Certified VA exam, because I did not come from an admin background. I found other colleagues with more technical backgrounds, or, like myself, those with training and facilitation backgrounds, kind of lurking on the sidelines since were weren’t Word and Excel aces.
I straddle the fence today, as both a long time member and supporter of IVAA and a member of Remote Professionals.
What both have in common is that the services are performed off site; thus they are “virtual” and “remote.”
It goes without saying that the luxury of working offsite is that you can do the work for which you are best suited in an environment of your own choosing. Maybe I don’t actually live in a cottage in Big Sur California (pictured above right), but where I DO live and work is pretty darned nice, and a far cry from the type of brick plant where I started out in the workforce.
But back to the topic:
Jodi says that neither term is likely to be understood by a client hearing it for the first time, so she feels that, regardless of which camp you see yourself in, you first must describe the kinds of tasks you perform, and then you can educate your client about your broader industry.
Where I am on this:
(1) We don’t want to offend our colleagues (such as implying that one title connotes advanced skills as compared with the other).
(2) We want to use industry titles that our clients “get.”
Do you feel one title encompasses the other?
Should their be some sort of distinction?
Pingback // September 1st, 2007 // 12:23 pm
[...] Katie Baird emailed me not too long ago to ask how I introduced myself to new clients. My response to her was, “I say I am a website developer / web programmer. “ I went on to explain I did not feel clients understood the term “VA” and that it wasn’t an accurate representation of my work. Katie agreed and we both feel the term “virtual assistant” is perceived as clerical services while “remote professional” lends itself to more specialized/technical services like website programming, marketing and copywriting. You can read Katie’s thoughts on this topic at her blog: Loosely Speaking. [...]
Comment // January 30th, 2008 // 11:27 am
Hi there. I found this article to be very interesting. I had no idea that there were other professionals out there that might prefer the term “Remote Professional”. I am still fairly new at the VA industry, but one thing I have found is that you can’t plug a VA (or the term VA) into one hole and expect it to fit. What I have found is that most VAs have a very wide range of skills which can include general administrative skills, but can also do much more complex tasks such as programming and website design. That is the one great thing about VAs. They are so skilled in so many different areas! I appreciate this article though, because it does open my eyes to the realization that not everyone views the term in the same way. Thanks!
Comment // January 30th, 2008 // 3:09 pm
Hi Beth,
Thank you for your perspective.
To me the VA profession is so encompassing that, from a client perspective, it becomes very confusing. t’s like if someone you meet says, “I work with computers.”
Our prospective clients have a lot of trouble figuring out what we do (and do not do), so our job title may be secondary, other than making sure it conveys that we are off site and professional.
Beyond that, we all have to work to make clear what each of us does do and help clients find the right VA for their needs.
Pingback // January 19th, 2010 // 9:56 pm
[...] Diehl of Sun Frog Services by way of one of my frequent visits to Katie Baird’s blog post at Loosely Speaking regarding the same topic. While I prefer the term Remote Professional, I have to agree with both [...]
Pingback // January 20th, 2010 // 5:15 am
[...] Katie Baird emailed me not too long ago to ask how I introduced myself to new clients. My response to her was, “I say I am a website developer / web programmer. ” I went on to explain I did not feel clients understood the term “VA” and that it wasn’t an accurate representation of my work. Katie agreed and we both feel the term “virtual assistant” is perceived as clerical services while “remote professional” lends itself to more specialized/technical services like website programming, marketing and copywriting. You can read Katie’s thoughts on this topic at her blog: Loosely Speaking. [...]