5. Pride in their work. If you are hiring a VA for tasks such as web design, you can easily preview their work. Often the VA service will place testimonials on their site or examples of web pages they have designed. Examine their portfolio pages to determine the depth of their skills and experience.

6. Virtual freedom. No on-site employees means no liability, no worker's comp insurance, and no payroll taxes to calculate. Everyone is an independent contractor. You can utilize a virtual assistant for either ongoing work or on a per-project basis.

7. No strangers in the house. If you have a home office, hiring employees to work on-site could be intrusive. If you have children at home, or a spouse who works odd hours, or you just don't care to open up your private space to others, a virtual assistant is ideal. Most likely, your VA will never darken your doorstep.

When you hire your Virtual Assistant, be sure to ask them to furnish a detailed list of the types of services for which you will be billed. Some VA's will charge to accept your phone calls, read your email instructions, or the time it takes to download a file. There should be no surprises if you have good communication with your VA. Remember, you cannot see your potential VA to evaluate their credibility, nor they you. Consider several exploratory conversations prior to signing on the dotted line. This will ensure that you and your Virtual Assistant will have a productive partnership.

Copyright 2005 by Laura Gillson. All rights reserved.

Laura Gillson is a speaker, author and educator specializing in disability awareness, advocacy, accessibility and assistive technology. For corporate, community or caregiver training, visit Eloquent Insights at http://www.eloquentinsights.com/. If you need help with in-home care, you'll find it at In-Home Insights at http://www.inhomeinsights.com/. Finally, you'll discover a site for sore eyes at Accessible Insights at http://www.accessibleinsights.com/. The author's email address is lgillson@eloquentinsights.com.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Laura_Gillson

Become a Virtual Assistant hopes that you found this article not only useful, but for clients an eye opener in the way a VA can support and bring your business under your control whilst allowing you to increase your business while the administrative tasks are taken care of. For Virtual Assistants it should give you some idea of  how you can support a client and what they will expect of you.