Online PAs provide the personal touch

By Tony Stevenson, GameSpot Europe, 2 August, 2002 14:32

NEWS

The owners of many small to medium size business can't afford to hire a full-time personal assistant. But instead of valiantly trying to struggle on alone, a new, flexible alternative is now available. And that's to hire a Web personal assistant. As the name suggests, a Web PA is a real person who steps into help when necessary, but who doesn't have a permanent position or office within a company. That's because they carry out their designated tasks online. In fact, because of how they work, Web PAs can successfully complete their jobs, even if they live on the other side of the world. Meryl Hunt runs a successful Web PA business called Business Extras Online. It won the Best Home-based Business category (Western Australia) in last year's Australian Micro Business Awards. Hunt used to work as a personal assistant, and in 1994 when the Internet was still fairly new, she thought it would be a great medium to use for providing secretarial services such as word processing and desktop publishing. Then in June 2000 she was a discontent stay-at-home mum but not ready to return to the workplace, so it was a good time to investigate starting up her home secretarial service. Hunt launched the business by initially working with a friend in partnership, and together they brainstormed ideas for the start up, pooled their resources and began investigating possibilities. They started with the Small Business Development Corporation and worked their way from there, learning about business associations and the power of networking. It took a year to really get going, and by that time Hunt's partner had decided that she didn't really want to run a business. After dissolving the partnership she renamed the business, changed her strategy slightly and found her first 'big' client. Examples of the sorts of services supplied include general administrative functions such as word processing, filing, bookkeeping, event management, etc, as well as desktop publishing, writing and editing. Hunt also designs basic Web sites but prefers to leave that to the experts. And because she has a global network of reputable and reliable service providers, she can access almost any business service under the sun, including accounting, technical writing, graphic design, coaching, marketing and so on. Most of Hunt's clients have been from Australia. However, she has done editing work for resume writers in the US and has colleagues in the UK who she has assisted on projects. When asked about her most unusual business request from a client, Hunt responded: "I once had to edit and reformat a tender document for a client in Melbourne and get it couriered to a government department here in Perth. It was an urgent job with less than 24 hours turnaround. If he'd used traditional methods, i.e. an air courier, it would have cost him an additional AU$200". And the feedback from clients? "Most clients appreciate the flexibility and ability to meet deadlines. Overseas clients rest easy knowing that I can be editing a document for them whilst they sleep, and it's waiting for them in the morning. For that matter, because I do a lot of my work at night, my Australian clients also like having the work completed and in their inbox first thing". There are obvious advantages with the services available from a company like Hunt's. For example, small businesses can access a broad range of executive level services which are usually only affordable to large organisations. They don't have to worry about paying overheads such as taxes, superannuation, sick leave and holiday pay, and they don't need to worry about equipment and office space. Hunt adds that by "being multi-skilled and able to access a range of other service providers, I can virtually manage the day-to-day tasks for them whilst they concentrate on the core aspects of their business". When marketing her business, Hunt relies mostly on networking -- both online, for example, email discussion groups and forums, and onsite. She states that advertising was a waste of time and money. "In my line of work, trust is imperative and this can only be established by developing a relationship first. Referrals also come from networking, which is another form of trust -- the person doing the referring must trust you and be trusted". Tony Stevenson is the author of the two best selling Internet books, "The Australian Guide to the Internet" and "The Australian Guide to Online Business".

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