Over the years, there have been many terms coined to describe individuals working from home. Some of these titles include telecommuter, outsourcing provider, freelancer and virtual assistant. None of these ever felt quite “right” to me. While freelance is the closest, I knew there had to be a phrase that more accurately represented not only what I do but how I do it.
After batting around many terms and phrases, I settled on Remote Professional. I felt it best represented the fact I worked from my own location (remote) yet reflected my high level of service (professional).
Being a Past President of IVAA it was a difficult decision to leave the term virtual assistant behind. I had spent many years marketing the term and my website was fairly high in the search engines for both “virtual assistant” and “virtual assistance”. But, I knew I had outgrown that title and needed to really focus on advertising my services to their full potential. And so I did.
That was a little over two years ago and I have been rewarded with new potential clients contacting me for my niche services rather than general clerical work. I have seen my projects transition from paperwork to programming, the latter of which I enjoy SO much more. I wondered if I was the only one who had undergone this transition, this outgrowing of the term “VA”. I discovered I wasn’t.
Katie Baird emailed me not too long ago to ask how I introduced myself to new clients. My response to her was, “I say I am a website developer / web programmer. ” I went on to explain I did not feel clients understood the term “VA” and that it wasn’t an accurate representation of my work. Katie agreed and we both feel the term “virtual assistant” is perceived as clerical services while “remote professional” lends itself to more specialized/technical services like website programming, marketing and copywriting. You can read Katie’s thoughts on this topic at her blog: Loosely Speaking.
With the increased competition in the virtual career industry, I am pleased to see more providers offering specialized services. In my opinion, a provider without a niche will have a harder time being successful. My advice to anyone just starting out in the freelance industry is to hone your skills on what you enjoy and market yourself accordingly. Don’t use a bandwagon phrase just because it is popular today… it may not be accurate for you tomorrow.
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I like the term “remote professional” as it embraces what I truly am — the term “virtual assistant” has always seemed too narrow for someone with my background. And what I do for my clients is so much more than the term virtual assistant seems to imply. While I enjoy being a member of the fast-growing community of VAs, I too have sought a designation that was a bit more precise. People are finally coming to realize that virtual assistants come in many flavors and do many things — but the initial impression still is, I believe, that of a secretary or the requisite “go-fer” who mindlessly runs errors all day long. That definitely is not MY job. I love what I do and what I do is use my professional skills and experience to help people be successful at what THEY do. I hope your term catches on.