Essential Admin - Amber Drake - Professional Virtual Assistant - What is a VA - Virtual Office Assistant

"A Virtual Assistant (VA) is an independent entrepreneur providing administrative, creative and/or technical services. Utilizing advanced technological modes of communication and data delivery, a professional VA assists clients in his/her area of expertise from his/her own office on a contractual basis." ~ International Virtual Assistants Association

In the traditional office we are known as Executive Secretaries, Administrative Assistants, Administrative Specialists, and Personal Assistants. In the on-line community, we are known as Virtual Assistants, and we provide professional administration and business services from our own fully equipped offices. Many VAs "niche" in a specific area such as bookkeeping, web design, marketing, real estate transaction coordination and more. Essential Admin specializes in Real Estate Listing Marketing Coordination.

Your VA is not an employee of your company; instead he/she is a small business owner whose primary purpose is to help you succeed.

Working with a VA is simple! With today's advanced communication technology, VA's can work locally and world-wide. You and your VA communicate via phone, fax, voicemail, or email, and work is delivered via email attachments, fax, courier or mail services.

No benefits to pay.

Complete confidentiality (no office grapevine or gossip to contend with).

No need to purchase, maintain or continually upgrade costly equipment and software.

No governmental red-tape -- We are self-employed and therefore responsible for our own tax and insurances.

Not paid for holidays, sick time, vacation, down-time, leaves, breaks or between projects.

We provide our own space "rental", furniture, phone lines, internet services, electricity, office supplies.

No training expenses -- We continually upgrade our skills on our time, at our expense.

No costs for recruitment, hiring, records maintenance, severance pay.

Not only are you paying for the above mentioned overhead costs, does an onsite employee bill you by the minute ... and only when working directly on your projects? No way!

I'd bet you'd be shocked to learn that:

The average employee spends between one and five hours per workday on personal or non-work related activities according to a study by Websense and Harris (1).

According to a Gallup organization report, employees use office computers for an average of 75 minutes per day for non-work related activities (2).

A July 2005 study by Salary.com and AOL revealed that workers admitted to wasting more than two hours per eight hour workday on average, not counting scheduled breaks or lunch! (3)

This costs businesses an average of $9,948 per year for each employee in lost productivity based on an average US salary of $39,795.

Essential Admin only charges you for actual time worked, and we provide detailed time sheets showing exact dates, time periods and projects worked on during that billing.

When we break from your task, your charges stop.

What employee can say that?

We are everywhere . . . and we are networked . . .

Most VA's, including Essential Admin, network with other VAs, which is vital to developing and growing our business, your business, and the VA industry. We do not consider other VAs as competition; rather, we consider them as colleagues and associates ready to collaborate, offer advice and resources, learn, grow and improve our skill bases to better assist our clients. We can post a question to our VA community and within minutes, have numerous responses of expertise (Essential Admin is a proud member of the IVAA, RemoteProfessionals, IREAA, and REVANetwork).

So, when you hire Essential Admin, you've teamed with a network of experts!

Employees are complicated -- With Essential Admin, there is no need to experience the legal nightmares associated with hiring, managing and terminating. No policies and procedures manuals. No performance reviews. No discipline procedures. No sexual harassment cases. No requirements to wade through, learn, administer, or comply with the Rehabilitation Act, Pregnancy Discrimination Act, Age Discrimination Act, Civil Rights Acts of 1964 and 1991, Americans with Disabilities Act, Equal Pay Act, Fair Labor Standards Act, Family Medical Leave Act, Occupational Safety and Health Act, Immigration Reform and Control Act, Federal Unemployment Tax Act, Employee Retirement Income Security Act, Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act, or Consolidated Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act. Whew!

And, no need to waste your valuable time, or pay another administrative employee's salary, to administer all this!

And most important: EXPERIENCE! Not only is Essential Admin better for your pocketbook and financial sanity, but we are industry-leaders in Real Estate Listing Marketing Coordination and bring a wealth of experience, ideas, training, technical knowledge and business experience to the table.

A Temp is just that . . . a temporary employee.

You invest in training and precious time, and that temp can just leave at any time. People temp for a variety of reasons, but most are hoping to find a permanent position. If that position isn't with you, they will still be looking on the side, and their loyalty ultimately isn't to you.

It takes time and trust to build a beneficial and cooperative relationship. We aren't a temp service -- we're your virtual partner, loyal to you and your success.