The Future of the Virtual Assistance Industry - An Open Conversation

August 21, 2008

(I want to preface this blog post by saying that this entry today is not to put fuel to any fires, it’s not to stir anything up or to be a general trouble-maker but rather to really start an open conversation about the virtual assistance industry and where we’re headed into the future.)

As most of you know, I teach and coach virtual assistants on building businesses, taking those businesses to six-figures and creating multi-VA practices. I take immense pride in what I do and couldn’t imagine not having the opportunity to encourage and inspire others.

On one of my last mastermind sessions, I was asked about the virtual assistant industry survey that is put out by the Virtual Assistant Chamber of Commerce. The issue was raised that the survey was really, really long IF you answered the first page of questions “correct” but really, really short if you didn’t. There was concern that the survey, which calls itself “the largest, most comprehensive, in-depth and representative survey in the industry”, automatically excludes people right away if you don’t meet certain requirements.

It got me thinking… what are the requirements? One of them was that you couldn’t be a multi-VA team and still be a virtual assistant. Another was that you couldn’t provide additional services outside of administration and still be a virtual assistant. There were other things too which I can’t think of right now because I failed out on the first two strikes.

So, does this mean that all of this time my business (four years, fourteen plus hour days, blood, sweat and tears) has been a lie? I don’t think so. Instead, I think that we need to realize (and come to terms with) the fact that we are such a new industry that we can’t define or box in what constitutes a traditional virtual assistant practice yet. We are ever-changing and we’re growing in leaps and bounds.

Instead, I think we should be opening up these surveys and forums to ALL virtual assistants regardless of whether they have a team or provide some web design services on the side. I don’t believe in discrimination or exclusion - we are all working TOGETHER to create an industry that can be proud of what we stand for and proud of evolution. Otherwise, there is no way that the words “comprehensive” or “representative” or “in-depth” can be used. Instead, it should be defined as the survey that only includes insight from a very small subset of virtual assistants.

I’m not trying to be catty here but I really get fired up when we encounter people, organizations, etc. trying to box in something that has the ability to be so wide open. Part of what I do in my daily business is I try to inspire people to reach beyond their abilities, beyond their dreams and beyond anything they ever thought possible. I wish others did too.

I wish I could have participated in the survey for my industry but I can’t. I don’t fit the requirements and to be quite honest, I’m happy that I don’t. It means that at least what I am doing is trail blazing a new path for people who prefer to live out their dreams and reach for the stars - requirement free.

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