Virtual Assistance and You

It’s interesting that the internet is rising to such ascendancy during one of the worst times, economically speaking, that the world has seen. While we are struggling with everyday survival, the internet is taking us to unprecedented heights of thought and societal awareness.

Whether one is the result of the other, I don’t know and won’t attempt to explore here. But because the juxtaposition is so startling, it demands notice. Somehow, the technologies, practices, and cultures of the web are involved in our happy future. The omnipotent and largely free internet suggests possibilities for not only coping but succeeding in major ways despite our material and ecological woes.

But there’s no denying that establishing a strong presence online is an acquired skill, gained through patience and humble learning. The norms of the ‘net aren’t easy to describe to the uninitiated. How often, when discussing social media, have you heard someone sneer, “Reading what kind of sandwich you had for lunch is not interesting to me. What a waste of time!”

Yet, online branding being the multi-faceted dragon that it is, your lunchtime ham on rye can actually be a not-insignificant part of it.  That is,  internet protocols are a new mixture of work and play; and mastering the mix makes artists of us all.

As he so often does, Mitch Joel nails it.

From gossip and soap operas to professional wrestling and reality television, we love following and burrowing ourselves in the lives of others. So, why is it any shock that Facebook has over 500 million accounts?

(You’ll really enjoy Mitch’s post. Go ahead and check it out. I’ll wait.)

Mitch points out that the internet plays well to our natural propensity for being seen. We have a natural need to be recognized by others, and online participation allows that in a big way. Of course, if I’m to be seen, I must also see others; and it’s been observed that success online is proportional to your genuine interest in others. So the 80/20 rules applies here as in so many other places: 80% listening, 20% talking.

Amazingly, the internet takes us back, in a way, more than forward. It demands old-fashioned manners, and it judges a business more by its reputation than by its looks. Its terrain feels like a frontier, and its laws have yet to be created. It seems like an adolescent: lithe, pimply, emotional, self-righteous, hopeful, and ripe with all the glories of young adulthood.

But whatever else it may be, the web lets us share in enormous amounts compared to just 20 years ago. That’s what’s really new about it. And when we share this way, our ideas about work and play and  mission and branding and purpose are profoundly affected. Your ham-on-rye-ness may or may not be attractive to my grilled cheese-ness. Keeping this data in proper perspective and order is the challenge: but it’s data we need (even crave!) and use nonetheless.

If you’re still waffling, not wanting to tackle the internet’s challenges, consider how it is bringing us closer to our true selves. Why deny yourself, or your business, such a pleasurable profit?

It was fun reading through this case study by Inc. magazine about virtual working. The participants, on the whole (if you believe the article’s author), preferred the routine of going in to the office every day, vs. working from their homes. In short, they were creeped out by the virtual work experience.

Employees missed the office, saying they felt their lives became less dynamic; rather than clear delineations of work and non-work environments, they felt as though they were at work all the time.

However, the author of the article does admit that, given the right circumstances, virtual work can be entirely satisfactory. Allow me to quote him:

“… most virtual companies build their cultures from scratch, hiring the sort of people who want to work remotely, who don’t want to be friends with their co-workers, and who like being a long distance away from their bosses. Virtual companies are also, crucially, run by CEOs who are able to derive a sense of personal fulfillment from this arrangement. Many entrepreneurs speak of the flush of pride they feel when they walk into their offices and see the people they have created jobs for and the culture they have fostered; Matt Mullenweg gets that same rush from looking at a map and seeing his employees scattered across the world.”

I’m tempted to suggest to you that those who prefer the commute and the water cooler are simply afraid of change. They’re just sad lemmings rushing toward their demise rather than choosing new alternatives. But that would be entirely unfair. The workers in this particular case were located in comfortable uptown digs, and they clearly benefited from the social and intellectual rewards of their daily interactions.

So we have to face the fact that some will be nurtured by an brick and mortar office environment and others will live more happily in their home workplaces. Who’s surprised? The world was ever thus divided in two.

The dichotomy points to the need, however, to apply caution when hiring employees or when contracting for virtual assistance. Does the person you are considering have a well-developed awareness of their best working habits? Are they happiest when working as an employee, or are they more suited to independent work? Which type is most appropriate for your needs?

It pays to be aware of this burgeoning dichotomy in the business world, because confusion can be costly. Your in-house employees should naturally thrive on their routines, and your virtual contract partners should perform best via their chosen MOs. But when you cast a contractor in an employee position, or an employee in a contract job, you’re asking for trouble.

In the field of virtual assistance, some service providers approach the work from an employee mentality, even to the point of offering to spend set hours ‘in the office’ each week. On the other hand, a great many VAs are remote operators, and your relationship with them is that of a vendor or B2B supplier. Know which type you need when seeking a VA and you’ll greatly speed your process.

An especially savory triumph of the internet is that it allows us to expand our existence into a larger definition of self; it is a more expansive set of accepted tools for work and self-expression.  Whether office workers or independent agents, we can each choose our preferred way of working.

The web makes it more obvious than ever that we are authors of our own destinies.