Today, it has 315 members, and 800 ask for advice on a casual basis. There is, she concluded, a vast underswell of PAs on the move, building up part-time VA businesses as they prepare to leave the safety of the paycheque behind. Everyday administrative work is at the heart of the industry, but the average VA can handle anything, from anywhere. Internet research and website maintenance are becoming big earners, reports Chris Durst. This is a fair average.
Location is irrelevant.
From a Channel Islands base, Postlethwaite can work for clients anywhere. Kathie Thomas in Australia gives a classic example. She heard an American client complain about the time taken by transcribers in Paris, and taught him to email his dictation as an audiofile overnight from France to Australia. Because of the difference in time zones, he can now send a day's work off around the world, and by the time he wakes in the morning, the transcriptions are back on his desk. Many think of us as a finishing school.