Misrepresentation of Virtual Assistants

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Misrepresentation of Virtual Assistants
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Rita J. Cartwright Southern, Founder

About a week ago, ABC News did a story titled “Virtual Assistants: Do They Make Life Easier.”  However, it did not accurately represent the Virtual Assistant industry.  Click here to view it.  First of all it focused on tasks that a personal assistant performs.  Secondly, the virtual assistants’  fee was $2.00 per task.

The story did not point out the different expertise (specialty) services that virtual assistants (VAs) perform.  My colleague, Tina Hilton, wrote an interesting post where she questions is the mainstream news media hurting VAs’ businesses.  They are presenting virtual assistants as someone who does personal assistant tasks, at a very low cost, which does not require being an expert.  Click here to read Tina’s post.

There are virtual assistants who provide the personal assistant services that are presented in the video, but not at $2.00 per task.  The media is painting the Virtual Assistant industry with a limited brush stroke, says Tina, which I agree with.  They are not shining the light on the rest of the industry.

According to a post in Huffington Post written by Grant Cardone, there are over 26 million people either unemployed or underemployed, and they are choosing to become entrepreneurs.  These new entrepreneurs will eventually need a Virtual Assistant.  This type of news story can give them the wrong impression.

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About The Author

Rita Cartwright

After graduating with a degree in marketing, Rita knew she wanted a career in the marketing industry. However, she took a detour and worked for Sears as a retail manager. When that didn't work out, Rita decided to launch her own business offering word processing services. These services eventually morphed into digital marketing services. Her desire to be a provider of professional digital marketing services led her to earn an Internet Marketing certificate from Art Institute, which reinforces her marketing degree from Arizona State University. Twenty two years later by the grace of Father God, Rita is still in business assisting her clients with their digital marketing. She also shares ideas and advises them on digital marketing, social media marketing and business operations.

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2 Comments

  1. July 13, 2010
    Reply
    Brad Harmon

    Rita,

    It’s sad that news organizations do not take the time to really understand the stories on which they are reporting. There is certainly a bias in the news today (which way that bias swings depends on who you ask), but I think too often they simply do not dig deep enough into their stories.

    I’m sorry to hear that the virtual assistants have fallen victim to this. To be completely fair, I don’t think there are many out there that truly understand everything a virtual assistant can do. There just aren’t enough voices like yourself available to educate the business community.

    Of course, there are many people who only do the simple tasks that call themselves virtual assistants as well. Until I found you, I was pretty ignorant on the tasks a virtual assistant could assist businesses with myself. You opened my eyes.

    Keep on spreading your message. You may have to convert all of us one at a time.

    Brad

    • July 14, 2010
      Reply
      Rita Cartwright

      Well said, Brad. One of the purposes of my blog is to educate the business community about who are virtual assistants, as well as what they do.

      I totally agree with you that the news media is bias. They always have been. Not just today. Thank you for your comments. Once again, well said.

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