Using a Virtual Assistant (VA) - The Benefits
Author: Lyn Prowse-Bishop, MVA

What do you do if you’re a sole operator or independent professional/executive in need of professional, confidential admin support, but don’t want to go to the expense and hassle involved in hiring your own staff?
What if you don’t have the space for staff, or necessary expertise to complete a particular job?

Your best office support staff member goes off on maternity leave and you think your only alternative is to hire an expensive temp?

Think again! Virtual Assistants (VAs), also known as Virtual Office Professionals or Virtual Business Associates, provide an alternative, cost-effective staffing solution for businesses of all sizes, including sole operators. They are not temps, but small business operators with a vested interest in their clients’ success.
Lyn Prowse-Bishop, MVA, owner and operator of Brisbane-based small business Executive Stress Office Support (eSOS) and Australia’s first certified Master Virtual Assistant, says VAs provide profound cost-saving benefits to the businesses and individuals they partner with, and have an important role to play in today’s business environment, as they form a large part of the growing trend towards home-based business.

“VAs can perform the same services as office-based employees but without the associated costs such as payroll tax, worker’s compensation, superannuation, sick and other leave, or training. In addition, the VA is available out of normal hours, on weekends, and public holidays, and has a vested interest in helping the client’s business grow.”

VAs offer a wide variety of office support services including secretarial support, personal and executive assistance, word processing, database management, transcription services, mail outs, bookkeeping, web design, desktop publishing, presentations, spreadsheets, and office services such as faxing, email and scanning.

With clients across three States of Australia, and both coasts of the continental USA, Lyn says that her clients rarely see her. “But with the technology available today including email, fax, instant messaging services, digital transcription technology, and internet-based file sharing facilities, I’m as close to my clients as if I was in the next room.”

For more information on virtual assistance, contact Lyn Prowse-Bishop on email: execstress@ourbrisbane.com, or visit: www.execstress.com.






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In 1985, after graduating DUX from the Metropolitan Business College with a shorthand speed of 120 words per minute, Lyn Prowse-Bishop was being encouraged into a life as a Court Reporter, but opted for 7½ years as, first, a Legal Secretary, and later as PA to a criminal lawyer in East Sydney. In 1993 she moved to Brisbane where she secured a job as Executive Assistant to the GM of the Brisbane Convention & Exhibition Centre. 6½ years later her entrepreneurial spirit took over and, motivated by the birth of her daughter, decided to start a Virtual Assistant practice in order to utilise her skills in a home-based environment. That was nearly five years ago, and now Executive Stress Office Support (eSOS) has clients in three States of Australia and on both coasts of the USA. Australia’s first Certified Master Virtual Assistant, and second Certified EthicsChecked VA, Lyn now mentors other new VAs as well as running her own busy practice.

For more information, visit www.execstress.com or email execstress@ourbrisbane.com

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