I was looking for a particular blog post to print out, and I came across this posting that for some reason, I never published. I think it's actually pretty good so I'm publishing it now. Enjoy!
I am so thankful for choosing a profession that has introduced me to so many wonderful women! When I interviewed with AssistU I was told by Laura that the Virtual Assistants of AssistU operate under a belief in "collaboration" not "competition". It wasn't until much later would I really understand what she meant.
VAs really don't compete for business. Sure we all try to position ourselves to highlight our skills and talents in the best possible light, but if we lose out on a new client to another VA we don't grieve, we celebrate. Why? Because we know that the match made between client and VA was the right fit. There is plenty of business out there for us all.
While studying at AssistU, my classmate Laura Jo mentioned in class that she had read that there are around 23 million small businesses in the US (75% without employees other than the owner), and only around 4,000 VAs. Lots of potential business out there (if anyone out there has more up to date statistics I'd love to hear them)!
So instead of competing we unite for the benefit of us all. When one VA learns a new tip or trick, or better way to operate, she doesn't keep that tidbit to herself. She shares it with the VA community. And when one VA has a question on how to do something or needs to find a resource, she throws the question out to her VA group and almost always gets one or multiple recommendations.
So if you're thinking about working with a VA - look for someone who is affiliated with a VA community such as AssistU, or others. You'll benefit by working with someone with the combined resources of possibly hundreds of other VAs. After all, VAs can't always do everything, we just know how to get everything done!
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