As a Virtual Assistant, I couldn’t pass the letter ‘V’ without going with Virtual!
What does the word Virtual mean to you? It has various meanings depending on the context in which it is used. If you’re a gamer, or possibly an architect or designer, you’d be in the Virtual Reality arena where it creates an artificial environment, representing or replicating the real world. Estate Agents also use 360° cameras enabling buyers to see houses virtually without the need to visit in person.
In the website building sector, a Virtual Assistant is often used for the Chatbot which allows visitors to the site to ask questions about the business using an automated chatbox.
But in my world, and many others, a Virtual Assistant is someone who provides admin support remotely, through digital means rather than being based in company’s office.
Virtual Assistants provide a variety of services to support business. There are the traditional VAs (PAs as you would know them) who support businesses with diaries, inboxes and all the things that keep an office working, and there are VAs who’ve embraced and love the modern technical world by offering services such as funnels, complex CRM systems, automation of systems, processes and more.
To be completely honest, I’m a bit old school and a lot of this baffles me! So, I would describe myself as a traditional VA.
Since Covid, the virtual world has changed a lot. Technology has evolved hugely – with some things having accelerated because of the pandemic – such as Teams and Zoom (to name just a couple). It has enabled the virtual world to grow exponentially and open a whole new experience up not only for businesses, but for everybody.
During the lockdown months (years!), if we wanted to stay in touch with family and friends and if we wanted to keep our businesses running, we were ‘forced’ to use the technology available and embrace the virtual world. I believe this opened a lot of eyes to what was available out there, by showing us how it worked and what its benefits were.
It just doesn’t bear thinking about if we were all, across the world, in lockdown without the virtual world available.
I also believe the VA industry has been given a helping hand due to the pandemic. It has shown businesses how working virtually works, and while the number of VAs is increasing, so too are the number of clients.
If you would like the virtual assistance of a traditional PA, then email me and let’s have a chat.
