Virtual Assistant: A Day in the Life. Part 1

This post is dedicated to my friends and family who had never heard of a “virtual assistant” before (which pretty much includes all of them).

vir•tu•al adj.
Computer Science. Created, simulated, or carried on by means of a computer or computer network.

as•sis•tant n.
One that assists; a helper.

So, thanks to our friends at thefreedictionary.com, we can gather that a virtual assistant is one who assists, or helps, by means of a computer or computer network. Pretty straightforward, huh? And I guess if I wanted to write an extremely short blog post, I could leave it at that.

But I’m not one for leaving things, so go grab a cup of coffee (or perhaps something stronger to make this even more interesting) and welcome to the Captivating World of Kristina Leroux: Virtual Assistant! (I really want to add a “kapow” picture or something here, but maybe that’s pushing this a little too far.)

First, I tumble out of bed and stumble to the kitchen. Pour myself a cup of ambition and yawn and stretch and try to come to life. OK, OK…not really. I don’t drink coffee and 9 to 5 isn’t really how it works in the virtual world as many of you know.

On a typical day, I already have a few emails waiting for me first thing in the various inboxes I have. One of my client’s customers is having trouble logging into her account. It’s a simple fix usually, involving resetting her account in WishList, which is a plugin for WordPress my client uses that allows you to easily create and maintain online membership lists. I fire off an email telling her it’s all fixed. She now thinks I’m awesome.

My client is also giving a webinar today, so I need to download the registration report from GoTo Webinar and grab the registrants’ zip codes. I will use them to create a map that pinpoints all of their locations. A slide with the map will be added to the webinar’s Power Point presentation. I have to say I think it’s pretty cool when one of those markers in Google Maps pops up in some place like Belgium or Africa. What can I say? I’m a geek. Things like that amuse me.

Meanwhile, I receive an email from another client who needs me to do a quick project for her. She is transferring her website from TypePad to WordPress and some of the links are broken. I go into her account and fix those. She also needs to me to transfer all of her photos from the old site to the new site. And she needs it done ASAP. No problem for Kristina Leroux: Virtual Assistant! (again…fighting “Kapow” pic urge)

Seriously though, I always try to find a way to make my work interesting even when it doesn’t require a lot of thought. In this case, I found it very cool to track the trends in marketing over the years. This is one thing I love about being a VA, I learn something new every day. Whether it’s actually learning a skill so I can do a better job for my clients or some random tidbit of information, it’s knowledge I didn’t have before – and wouldn’t have if I wasn’t doing this type work.

I really, really, really love what I do. But this post is getting really, really, really long, so we will pause for now. (In case you’re wondering, no, I’m not even to lunch yet)

Thanks,
Kris

Have a topic you would like me to blog about? Recommendations? Think this post was great or awful or just so-so? Let me know in the comments section.

You can subscribe to my blog in the sidebar under the section strategically named “email subscription.”

Want to know about my work as a Virtual Assistant? Check out my website.