A virtual assistant, whom you hire on a contractual basis, can offer a wide-range of services that will aid you in your own business. It is not uncommon for you to at several times to expect more than what should be reasonably expected from your virtual assistant. This may be attributed to failure in communication between both parties. To make certain a more pleasurable and more importantly, a more productive business transaction, you must ensure that you are able to fully communicate your expectations and what you think should be your virtual assistant’s function in the process.



You must be aware that a virtual assistant may either be someone who gives clerical, technical, industrial or artistic support while maintaining his/ her independence from your company. Generally, small-scale businesses or corporations hire virtual assistants to finish work that are clerical or in the ordinary course of their businesses, mundane or with minor consequences. On the other hand, a bigger company seeks virtual assistance for more specialized tasks, more skilled work that should be outsourced for efficiency. Logically speaking, the larger the company, the greater is the need for virtual assistance to be fulfilled by more than one virtual assistance firms.

Unfortunately, business owners like you who transact with virtual assistants at times forget to keep in mind the specific functions that a virtual assistant is hired for. This may be demonstrated if you, for example, persist on requesting for work to be done in an area that is beyond the scope of your contract with the virtual assistant or is unreasonable due to its impossibility and/or being excessive. Both parties, the employer and the virtual assistant, should be well aware of where to start, what the boundaries are and where to stop. Setting the right standards, especially in the contract-making process is one of the key solutions to that tendency to go “overboard" or even “under board". If from the start, the rules have been clearly set and communicated, it preempts possible issues or conflicts in the future for you and your virtual assistant. This thus prevent work disruptions resulting to inefficiency or decrease in productivity, or not getting your money’s worth according to your expectations.

One misconception about a virtual assistant is that he / she is someone who basically stays and works at home. You have to keep in mind that a virtual assistant doesn’t necessarily work solely at home because there are certain skills and certain jobs that require technical skills. More often, these virtual assistants that may only work at a designated office that is not his / her home to ensure that he / she has maximum productivity. A separate workplace oftentimes provide for the machines, gadgets and other supplies that a virtual assistant needs to fulfill his obligation as such.

In addition to virtual assistants not necessarily working at home, virtual assistants may also make it clear that they want to maintain their independence from the company. This is also synonymous to saying that they do not engage in the fulfillment of specific functions within the company’s organization. As a result, it will be unsuitable to expect them neither to become your company’s consultant nor to ask them about a job that they did not specifically declare to be one of their services. It will not be beneficial for you to designate work that in the first place, were not offered by the virtual assistants to you because even if they do agree, if this work is not within their expertise, chances are, it is your company that will be negatively affected. You have to learn to listen to you virtual assistants too because communication, as mentioned earlier, will still be the best solution or method of conflict prevention.

At the end of the day, you have to remember to respect your virtual assistants too. You should not push them to fill in roles that they are not prepared to play. Remember that even if they are contractual employees, their obligations as such should be well-defined. There must be, as much as possible, no vagueness or ambiguity in the contract or even in your negotiation or discussion of what you expect from him. Constant communication, a well-written contract and understanding between you and your virtual assistant will ensure a flawless execution of the work that should be done.