Life as a VA – An interview with Marianne and Sarah

Looking to start a career as a Virtual Assistant? Want to know what being a VA is like?

I recently had the opportunity to sit down with two individuals and talk to them about what it's like being a VA, the challenges they face, and the rewards that come with the role.

Both Marianne and Sarah work as Virtual Assistants, and entrepreneurs managing their own administrative businesses.

Marianne is a VA and business owner of Time Flies Administration with over 30 years of experience and specializing in executive level support, marketing assistant, communications administration, and continuous learning (https://timeflies-adminservices.ca/about-me/).

Sarah is a VA and founder and principal of Canadian Virtual Assistant Professionals (CVAP) with over 20 years experience supporting executives and C-suite members (https://www.cvap.biz/about).

Below are highlights from our discussion.

Q: What are the main duties or responsibilities within your role as a VA?

A: Creating new letter setup's, opt-ins, landing pages, writing website and blog posts as well as social media posts. Being a VA requires 1-part confessor, 1-part best friend, and 1-part bartender or barista.

Q: What aspects of your job do you find the most satisfying? what about least satisfying?

A: The most satisfying part is getting paid to tell people what to do. Also, when clients appreciate and value me for what I can do for them. The variety of work and being able to work from home is also very satisfying.

Least satisfying is having to do my own paperwork, taxes, and social media posts.

Q: What made you decide to pursue a career as a VA?

A: Was looking to do something part-time for added job security in the event that my corporate job disappeared. Having family in the industry played a major role in wanting to pursue a similar career. I didn't consider the role to be limiting in terms of career advancement.

Q: What skills do you think are critical to success in your role?

A: Managing self by being organized, having strong time management skills, and being open to learning. Having varied technical skills as each client may use different technology and be willing to look for the new technology or technical skill to learn.

Q: What technical skills do you think are most critical to achieving success in your role?

A: No technical skill is more critical than any other, though my personal preference is using MS Suite over Google docs. It’s most important to keep things secure using multi-factor authentication. Mail chimp has also become important in the role.

Q: What cognitive skills such as perception, attention, memory, learning, and decision making are most critical to achieving success in your role?

A: All are critical for success but learning above all is important. Strategic planning is also very important as well as the ability to ne in service to others.

Q: What sort of changes have you seen within the industry?

A: A lot of people becoming VA’s without knowing what a VA does. Without experience and sufficient knowledge about the role, you may not be good at it. A problem occurs when inexperienced and unknowledgeable VA’s end up diluting the talent pool and creating a negative image of the industry as a whole.

Q: What advice could you give to someone looking to become a VA?

A: Enjoy it! Don't let anyone tell you that you are just an assistant. The only limits you have are the limits you put on yourself. Take all the advice you can but take it with a grain of salt. Above all, network.

Q: What made you decide to become an entrepreneur and establish your own administrative business?

A: Desperation because I needed to do something different. I wanted to give back to the world in a quiet and subtle way by being the secret behind the magic as well as supporting marginal groups such as women and LGBTQ+. The extra income, ability to work on my own time and at home, and to see if I liked it.

Q: How does your organization differ from its competitors?

A: 30+ years of experience as an EA in a corporate environment, and a speciality in marketing and communications. Being a smaller team agency, which is not the norm, having males within the organization as the industry is predominantly women, and being nerdy. We don’t like boxes, we like out-of-the box thinking.

It was a pleasure getting to know Marianne and Sarah and learning about what it's like being a VA and entrepreneur. The information they shared gives insight into what it takes to be a good VA, some of the major responsibilities involved, and the rewards that come with the role.

For more information about the services each of them offers, check out their websites: https://timeflies-adminservices.ca/

https://www.cvap.biz/