What’s the Difference Between an Executive Assistant and a Personal Assistant?

The roles of executive assistants and personal assistants often get confused, with many people unaware of the differences between these two key positions. One reason people do not understand the difference is that both the executive assistant and the personal assistant require a very similar set of skills.

This short article aims to detail both the personal assistant and the executive assistant's roles, thereby highlighting the differences between the two.

The Role of the Personal Assistant

A personal assistant can work for anyone that requires their skills. Typical individuals who often need a personal assistant are successful actors, sportspeople, entrepreneurs, and other high net-worth people.

The main reason why these people need a personal assistant is that they are so successful in what they do; all their time is taken up doing it. It means they do not have time to fully organize their personal lives and need someone to assist them.

A personal assistant (PA) will be embedded in their employer's personal life, arranging their travel, meetings, social activities, and even errands such as shopping. The PA has to be ready to deal with no-notice changes to their employer's plans and anticipate what the employer wants.

PAs will also provide administrative support to their employers, such as renewing personal and household documentation. PAs are also expected to attend meetings with their employers and take notes or minutes as required.

Skills required by the PA include excellent written and verbal communication, attention to detail, and organizational skills.

The Role of the Executive Assistant

Whereas the PA generally works for an individual, the executive assistant (EA) works for senior management within a business or corporation. A successful EA will have a firm understanding of what their senior manager's job entails and what the business' goals are.

Like the PA, the EA is responsible for organizing their boss' appointments and meetings. Unlike the PA, they tend to have an active role in such meetings, prepare presentations, analyse data, follow up on actions from the meeting, etc. EAs will often be responsible for delivering projects, and they may even have their staff in larger organizations.

EAs tend to have a higher level of responsibility than PAs, and their role is based around the organization rather than the individual. For instance, if a CEO were to leave the organization, the EA would still be employed by that organization. Of course, there needs to be an excellent working relationship between the EA and the executive officer, so the EA may also be 'poached' if the CEO were to move companies.

Summary

The roles of the personal assistant and executive assistant are often confused. Although there is overlap in what they both do, and similar skillsets are required for each, there are key differences. Hopefully, this article will have established these differences, and you now appreciate the different nature of these two essential roles.

Owned Media Properties and How a Virtual PA Can Help You Manage Them

Maximizing your online presence to promote your brand is essential for any business to succeed in today's commercial environment. No longer is it sufficient to have just a website for your business. You need to have as many owned media properties as possible.

But, just what are owned media properties? Also, how are you going to find the time to manage them? This short article aims to explain what owned media properties are and how a virtual PA can help you manage them.

What Are Owned Media Properties?

Owned media properties are those internet and online properties that you own, control, and are unique to your business or brand. A website is one of the most common forms of owned media property, and it also includes blogs, social media channels, and other online presences.

Your website should be the central aspect of your online branding and the others extensions of that. In turn, your website should be an extension of your brand, so all of your owned media properties are unified with your brand.

The more owned media properties you have, and the more they are aligned with your brand, the greater your chances of success will be. However, there is an issue with having a host of owned media properties, and that is having the time and energy to manage them.

How a Virtual PA Can Help Manage Your Owned Media Properties

As you may well have experienced already, managing your owned media properties is time-consuming, and you could spend all day and night on this aspect of your business. As essential as managing your online media is, any of the tasks involved are repetitive and straightforward, which means that they can become tedious. Completing such work might not be the best use of your time.

Outsourcing such tasks to a virtual PA means that you can get them completed at a more cost-effective rate, and by someone more specialized in this line of work. Owned media property management tasks that can be done quickly and effectively by a virtual PA include the following:

Blogging.
Website content writing.
Comments on social media.
SEO
Optimizing images.
E-commerce product management.
Online customer service.
Updating homepages.
Marketing online products.

While you are still a fledgling business and you have time to do these tasks, it is good to understand what is involved and how much time it takes. With this knowledge, you will be in a better position to manage your virtual PA when you take one on board.

Bringing in a virtual PA will help you grow your online presence, and if you have an e-commerce aspect to your business, they can help generate sales.

Overall, a virtual PA can help you manage your owned media properties. As your business grows, and so do your online activities, you can increase the amount of time you use your virtual PA or employ more for the additional support.

Travel PA - Have The Perfect Holiday Arranged For You

Holidays are a time to look forward to, and their expectations can be the driving force to maintain people through the cold winter months. However, organising a holiday takes time, energy, and a lot of searching to find the best accommodation, travel, and facilitates for your holiday at the best prices.

Your time is limited, as too is your energy, and it is easy to put off making arrangements until the last moment. By this time, you'll likely have missed out on your dream location and the best deals.

Using a travel personal assistant takes the strain out of organising your dream getaway, meaning that you and your family can concentrate on the important stuff - like getting excited about your upcoming trip.

But, just what is a travel personal assistant (PA) and how can they help you arrange your perfect holiday?

What Is A Travel PA?

Working with a travel PA to arrange your perfect holiday means that most of the administration that goes into your holiday will be done for you. Your travel PA can create your holiday itinerary, make bookings and reservations, arrange travel, make sure any special access or dietary needs are catered for.

An experienced travel PA might even be able to help you choose your perfect holiday destination based on their knowledge from previous assignments. While you are away, you might even retain your travel PA to look after some of your affairs until you return home.

Benefits of Using a Travel PA

One of the most significant benefits of using a travel PA is removing stress from the booking process. Although it has never been easier to book a holiday than it is today, with the internet providing an enormous amount of booking options, there is still plenty of stress involved in doing so.

You need to think about which resort you will choose, how to get there, and what to do when you get there. This aspect can be time-consuming and stressful to the point that you need to take a break to get over the effort of organising it all.

Giving your travel PA an outline description of your requirements, budget, and type of holiday you want will allow them to take on the arrangements' burden. If you are traveling with children, it is more important to have activities and arrangements tightly in place. The kids will want to 'hit the ground running,' so having plenty for them to do pre-arranged will reduce stress when you arrive at your holiday destination.

Many families take a travel PA to the next level, and they travel with the family on holiday. This option means that anything that crops up on your holiday will be taken care of for you.

Conclusion

Wherever your holiday destination is, using a travel PA can remove the administrative burden of arranging it. With this burden out of the way, you and your family can look forward to enjoying your perfect holiday.

How Can a Virtual Receptionist Help Your Home Business?

If you are a home business owner, the chances are that you are operating it alone or with a small team. The idea of working from home on your own business might sound appealing, but, as the one person running the show, things can soon get on top of you.

Going down with a sudden illness or taking a day off, and your business ceases to function. The result, no calls answered, no lead follow-ups, no customer service support.

Of course, it's not just when you get ill or want a day off that will make these things cease. What happens when you are doing production, fulfilling orders, or whatever other business operation you need to perform? You will have a gap in the communication and service you can provide to customers.

It is these occasions that a home business owner needs the services of a virtual receptionist. This short article aims to inform you of how a virtual receptionist can help your home business.

Here are some of the essential tasks that a virtual receptionist can do for your home business:

Handling Urgent Calls

You can give your virtual receptionist detailed instructions on how you want them to handle any urgent calls that your home business receives. For instance, calls from high priority customers or key suppliers can be re-routed to your private number.

Capturing and Qualifying Leads

One of the disadvantages of running a home business is that it is challenging to continue generating new customers and clients while serving present ones. A virtual receptionist can help with this by being available to deal with leads while otherwise occupied. Using a virtual receptionist on this task will also mean that you don't waste time in dead-end leads.

Managing Your Schedule and Appointments

Sharing your calendar with your virtual receptionist means they can manage your appointments and make sure they fit into your schedule.

Twenty-Four-Seven Answering

Many home businesses operate online selling their products worldwide. A virtual receptionist service can cover you 24/7, meaning that none of your customers need to wait for a query to be responded to.

Flexibility of Response

You can give your virtual receptionist instructions as to when they should forward calls or messages to you immediately or when they should hold off until the next working day. Your business will get 24-hour cover, but it doesn't mean you have to be awake for it.

Managing Orders

If your home business has an e-commerce aspect, your virtual receptionist can help customers if they experience any problems with their orders. Having such support available will give customers much more faith in your business and generate more sales.

Conclusion

Running your own business from home is an exciting prospect, but it can be a challenge as a sole operator or with a small team. A virtual receptionist can help your home business in many ways, assisting both you and your customers.