June 23, 2014
Our virtual assistant Emma Smith is a tech and digital communications whiz and has over 20 years experience in PA, VA and administrative roles in London. She tells us more about being a virtual assistant in our two minute VA questionnaire.
Q. What clients are you currently working with as a virtual assistant?
A. My core clients include Yourvine, a vibrant youth brand advocacy agency, and Freemavens, a creative marketing technology company.
Q. What are the top 5 virtual tasks you do for your clients?
A. Diary management, travel bookings, booking restaurants, arranging driving lessons(!) and keeping project calendars up to date for the whole of each team.
Q. Give an example of where you’ve gone above and beyond to help a client in the last month?
A. I did spend four hours of my Sunday night on the phone to a hotel in Brazil as some of the team were struggling to check in – not very exciting but it was good to help them get to their beds.
Q. How did you get into being a VA? What’s the best thing about being a VA?
A. I met up for a coffee with former colleague at Kinetic, Sally Pallaris, PS Virtual’s MD. She sold me the concept of working as a virtual assistant and I had my first client by the end of that same day!
The best thing about being a virtual assistant is that without traditional working time constraints and the need to commute to the office, my working day is very flexible. Once I got to know my individual clients, I got into a good working rhythm with them and know when they’re likely to have a quiet period. In those times I can be on call but focus on the home, family or other projects.
Q. How do you juggle your time and fit work in with family life?
A. When I started out working virtually it took some adjusting, especially during holiday’s when I was with my children but needed to make an important business call or follow up and urgent request, but all in all it works really well. The beauty of having iphone/ipad/macbook is I can literally get online and work anywhere in the world, at any time.
Q. What are your main interests/past times/ hobbies besides being a PS Virtual Assistant?
A. I like to exercise/run although these days I find myself working from my phone even when I’m out on a sprint. I’m running my first half marathon in October this year so will be hounding everybody for sponsorship money soon. I also love to cook/eat out – hence the reason I need to exercise!
Meet more of the PS Virtual Assistants team or contact us for more information.
