I stumbled across an entrepreneur’s blog over the weekend who happened to be looking for a virtual assistant as a way to help streamline her business.  She is completely aware of all of the benefits of working with a VA (no benefits to pay, no office space to lease or equipment to purchase, not paying for downtime, etc.)  She also realizes that we are administrative professionals who focus only on what we’re good at without having to deal with office distractions that can take away from the tasks at hand. 

This entrepreneur set out on the world wide web to find a VA to work with.  Unfortunately she found it much more difficult than she had hoped.  She found that the majority of the VAs whose sites she visited only offered project quotes instead of flat rates (aka retainer) for ongoing work. 

I found this kind of strange because of the VA sites that I’ve visited, all of them offer retainer agreements.  It makes me question where she found these VAs websites.  For those of you who are looking for a qualified VA, there are many reputable avenues that you can travel.  First and foremost I recommend the Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce (VACOC) at www.virtualassistantnetworking.com.