Congratulate me! Today, I am officially an LLC (Limited Liability Company). Well, E.Webscapes is.. err.. E.Webscapes Design Studio, LLC, to be official and exact. It doesn’t really change much except some tax issues and, mostly, personal liability issues – - but its done and dusted, and something that has been needed for quite some time.

I’m considering the idea of hiring a Virtual Assistant (VA) to assist me with some of the secretarial type tasks that I’m running into with my business. I feel like if I can hire on an assistant to delegate those tasks to, it will free up more of my time to complete projects, provide technical support and write my book – - without feeling like I’m stretched so thin I’m about to split open.

Has anyone ever worked with a VA? If so – - any pros, cons, advice you can offer would be a super help. My issue with it is this — much of the work I do depends on my communication with clients. For instance, with design clients. When new requests come through, I do have a ‘stock’ answer for them, for the most part – - however, some of the details of their order are individual to what they are seeking for their site. “I want this.. can it be done?”… “Are you able to do…this?”… or they seek recommendations… “I’m looking at using either Movable Type or WordPress… can you give me your recommendations and why you recommend one over the other?”

Those types of emails I feel like *I* need to answer – so not really something I can delegate to an assistant… or is it? I”m not sure if its a good idea — but I do spend good deal of my time during any given week processing new requests, answering emails.. administrative stuff. It’s just that administrative stuff that I’m wondering how.. or if.. I could delegate to an assistant.

I guess I couldn’t really employ a generic Virtual Assistant (there are VA services on the web that you can hire and retain)… I feel like the assistant I would hire would need to really know me… my work, my style and a good knowledge of the business I work in. My other issues are ones of trust. Lord knows, I’ve had my fair share of experiences with freelancers and employees that I found out later I couldn’t trust like I had hoped I would be able to – - a few of those experiences enough to really put me off the idea of hiring ever again permanently! I’m also, however, realistic enough to know that I cannot allow the experience with one (or two… or three?) untrustworthy individual color my actions for the rest of all time… though, that is easier said than done, sometimes. I do have to add that it is the experiences I’ve had with certain other folks that have been absolutely wonderful is what keeps my faith and makes me a firm believer in the concept that one bad apple certainly does not spoil the whole darned bunch.

I toss around this same idea every couple of months. Mostly, when the administrative stuff piles up as high, or higher, than the actual work I enjoy doing so much. I wonder if I’ll ever really take the leap and try the assistant route – - or continue to push myself in order to hit those deadlines. I’m just musing out loud here… like I do every once in awhile on this topic.

Have you had experiences with Virtual Assistants at all? Did you find it a good experience? Or one you’d rather never repeat again for the rest of your life?

Of course, a better answer is this: Why did I take this break to write this post when I have piles of stuff to get done? Answer: A break! I needed a break! :D