Local Business Owners Embrace Hot Virtual
Assistant Trend
Abandon Distance Issues to Discover Outsourcing
as the Key to Solving Office Woes
CHICAGO, IL, August 11, 2003 - Kelly
Kalmes of Project Knowledge, LLC, an Evanston-based
project management-training firm, sits at her
office desk jotting down all of the projects that
executive assistant, Carolyn Moncel, must complete
this week. Although the tasks list seems ordinary
- returning phone calls to printers, editing training
manuals, and drafting sales letters - the work
relationship between the two women couldn't be
more unusual because Moncel works 4,000 miles
away from her home office in Paris.
Carolyn Moncel is a virtual assistant and president
of MotionTemps, LLC. She services clients in Paris
as well as throughout the greater Chicagoland
area, including Bartlett-based Nancy Moran & Associates,
Villa Park's CompUCoach (www.compucoach.com) and
the Recruiting Network, Inc. (www.recruitingpipeline.com),
in Schaumburg. Her company, along with hundreds
of others like it, is part of an exciting trend
sweeping the small-business world - outsourcing
administrative services to virtual assistants.
A Virtual Assistant or (VA) is a highly skilled
professional who works as an independent contractor.
When businesses partner with them, they only pay
for the time actually spent working on a project
rather than an employee salary or an expensive
staffing agency retainer fee. The VA is a business
owner also and is responsible for taxes, training,
healthcare, insurance - overhead costs that make
hiring an employee expensive. The "virtual" part
means that the VA doesn't have to be present on-site
in order to oversee projects. VAs work from their
home offices and projects can be handled over
the phone, by fax or even over the Internet via
e-mail.
Moncel, a former marketing manager, originally
conceived the idea for her business in July 2001
while living in her hometown, Chicago. She decided
to work for herself to spend more time with her
pre-school-aged daughter. When her French husband,
accepted a job offer in October 2002 and moved
the family to Paris, Moncel decided to expand
her company rather than close shop.
"When Carolyn told me that her family had to
move to Paris, I was in shock!" said Kalmes, whom
Moncel met back in December 2001 through client,
Nancy Moran. "However she's my right arm and leg,
and after talking to some of my other clients
and vendors about my dilemma, they all suggested
that I give it a try because Carolyn and I worked
so well together."
Despite the trans-Atlantic move, the work relationship
between Kalmes and Moncel remains largely unaffected.
From Paris, Moncel completely runs the Project
Knowledge office -- from dealing with sub-contractors,
to editing company web content, to training manual
editing, layout and design. Improvements in technology
allow the two businesswomen to integrate projects
seamlessly, swap and download files, chat by Instant
Message and even talk by Internet phone - still
at a fraction of what it would cost Kalmes to
hire a full-time employee to work in her office.
"Even though the VA industry is still in its
infancy, some reports suggests that outsourcing,
in general, can cost 50 percent less than hiring
a full-time employee," said Angela Allen, president
of the International Virtual Assistance Association
(IVAA), a non-profit organization devoted to educating
the public on the role and function of Virtual
Assistants.
"If you couple the savings with superior back
office-administration, affordable pricing and
professionals with distinctive backgrounds, then
you can see why a small-business owner would risk
working long distance with a valued assistant
- even if she now lives thousands of miles away
from the office," commented Allen.
For $35 per hour on average, VAs can perform
everything from data entry to desktop publishing,
copywriting and marketing research. They are also
extremely computer savvy, often certified and
come from established careers in a variety of
different industries - from accounting and event
planning, to theater and graphic design. Moncel,
herself, left a career in marketing communications
to start MotionTemps. She, along with 16 other
Chicago-area VAs, is also an IVAA member, and
now spends 10 months per year in Paris and the
other two months working from Chicago. Her part-time
status in the city allows her the chance to attract
new business as well as maintain face-to-face
contact with her existing clients.
"We will return to Chicago permanently in a few
years and when I do, I don't want to miss a beat
during the transition," said Moncel. "In the meantime,
it gives me great pleasure knowing that by the
time my Chicago clients awaken and have their
first sips of coffee at their computers, my completed
projects await them in their e-mail inboxes."
About Project Knowledge, LLC
Kelly Kalmes is president and founder of Project
Knowledge, LLC, a training and project management-consulting
firm based in Evanston, Illinois. For 25 years,
Kalmes has been using a proven methodology, best
practices, teambuilding and communication, to
help organizations seek an edge in performance
through project management. Contact Kelly Kalmes
at (847) 328-2700, by e-mail
or visit the Project Knowledge web
site.
About MotionTemps, LLC
Launched in 2001, MotionTemps, LLC is a virtual
assistance and communications firm with offices
in Chicago and Paris. The company specializes
in providing complete project coordination, administrative
assistance and marketing communications support
to home-based professionals, small-business owners,
non-profits and small-to-midsize consulting firms.
The company has further expanded its presence
into the European marketplace by providing an
emergency service to English-speaking business
travelers in need of administrative support during
their stay in Paris. Contact Carolyn Moncel toll
free at (877) 818-3864, by e-mail
or visit the web site's newsroom.
About IVAA
The International Virtual Assistants Association
(IVAA) is a nonprofit organization dedicated to
the professional education and development of
members of the Virtual Assistance profession.
Founded in 1999, IVAA holds the distinction of
being the only organization offering the comprehensive
IVAA Certified Virtual Assistant (CVA) exam, recognized
internationally as the standard that Virtual Assistants
strive to attain. Today IVAA supports over 600
members and affiliates in over 15 countries worldwide.
IVAA's second annual VA Summit convenes in Orlando,
Florida from October 22 -24, 2003. For more information,
contact Amy Clifford by
e-mail or visit the IVAA web
site.
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