| The story goes that Thomas Leonard (known as | | | | Secretary or Administrative Assistant who sits |
| the father of life coaching) was going to be | | | | outside the boss's office providing him or her |
| travelling the country in his RV on sabbatical and | | | | administrative support with day to day tasks and |
| he wanted his assistant to run his life and business | | | | special projects. Now, picture that same |
| for him while he was away. He was the first one | | | | Administrative Assistant in a different location, but |
| to coin the term, "Virtual Assistant." | | | | still providing the same support. Communication is |
| A Virtual Assistant is an independent business | | | | accomplished through email and the phone instead |
| owner who supplies administrative/secretarial | | | | of face to face. Because of the tremendous |
| support to others remotely or virtually. A Virtual | | | | advances in technology, what once had to be |
| Assistant is a mostly home-based independent | | | | done in a traditional office can now effectively be |
| contractor, a "solopreneur", who is an | | | | handled remotely, through e-mail, telephone, fax, |
| administrative expert, and partners with other | | | | overnight mail and on-line communications. All this |
| business owners to accomplish their administrative | | | | virtually eliminates the traditional overhead |
| tasks. | | | | associated with conventional office support. |
| Picture a corporate or small business office with a | | | | |