Win $1,000 Cash from Nielsen//NetRatings Join the Nielsen//NetRatings Research Panel
Give your opinion and you could win!

Folks,

With the growth of the VA industry have come some misrepresentations as to the origins of the field, some by mistake, others by intention. Chris and I would like to thank the people who have helped keep the facts clear, and I'd like to take a moment here to reaffirm the historical record (a good thing to do every few years), and Chris's role as founder of the industry.

(Ironically, some of the intentional misrepresentations have come from people who were expelled from the Staffcentrix online incubator for VAs in the early 2000s, but that�s another story.)


HISTORY OF THE VIRTUAL ASSISTANCE INDUSTRY -- BIRTH AND EARLY YEARS

1993 -- Chris is referred to as a "Virtual Assistant"

Detail: In 1993 -- years before Stacy Brice (with all respect to Stacy, who is a bona fide pioneer in the industry) learned of Thomas Leonard of Coach U, and had contacted Coach U not to become Leonard�s VA, but to sign up for a coaching newsletter (I will quote from Stacy's blog entry in a moment) -- Chris was already being referred to as a Virtual Assistant, working remotely with Karen Stanley, CEO of Stanley & Associates, a Priority Management franchise firm in Stamford, CT.

Just to keep the record straight, here are Stacy's blog remarks:


To resume, in 1993, Chris, 120 miles away from Karen Stanley's Stamford office, in rural Woodstock, CT, was being referred to by Stanley as her "Virtual Assistant" (functioning as Stanley's virtual business manager via phone, fax, etc.), and in 1994 began to use the Internet in her work with Stanley.


1995 -- CHRIS LAUNCHES THE FIRST VA PRACTICE, My Staff (at MYSTAFF.COM). (Chris's explanation of Virtual Assistance, and many other aspects of this history-making site, would ultimately wind up on many early VA websites across the Internet.)

Detail: In 1995 (again, approximately when Stacy Brice, as Stacy herself notes in her blog, was just learning of Thomas Leonard, to subscribe to his newsletters, because she was interested in coaching, not to serve as his VA), Chris launched the first denominated "Virtual Assistant" practice, My Staff, at www.mystaff.com, from the basement of her home in Woodstock, CT.

Oddly, some websites give the My Staff launch as 1998. However, this is simply -- intentionally or unintentionally -- wrong, by a full three years.

(For history buffs, and for any skeptics, Chris has ample proof of the year when My Staff began, and if anyone is interested, please simply write me at mhaaren (AT) staffcentrix.com. The Woodstock Town Hall, which has been contacted by researchers -- researchers who, surprisingly, have never contacted us to learn the facts -- does not have a registration for My Staff for 1995, because Chris was told by the town office at that time that she wasn't required to register as a "DBA" under town regulations. Several years later, Chris re-formed My Staff as an LLC, and registered with the town office.)

Resuming, in 1995, continuing her Virtual Assistant relationship with Chris, Karen Stanley becomes the first client of My Staff, quickly followed by other Priority Management franchisees from across the US and around the world -- the UK, Canada, Australia, Singapore, etc, and ultimately the franchisor itself, Priority Management corporate, headquartered in Canada.

Also in 1995, soon after Chris's My Staff website launched, and the word got out, she began to be bombarded with queries from people wanting to "do what she was doing," and to be a "VA" too, and she began to advise interested individuals on how to become a VA.

In 1997, Stacy Brice (according to her website, and we have no reason to disagree) launches VA training firm AssistU.

In 1998, the Global Association of Virtual Assistants is in operation (GAVA is a for-profit organization of VAs, run by sisters Amy Sarai and Julie Hewitt). However, GAVA disappears from the Internet within the next few years.

In 1999 Chris and I simultaneously launch Staffcentrix -- which quickly becomes the largest VA training company in the world, ultimately with clients like the US Air Force, US Army, US Department of State, etc., and continues to host the largest online community of VAs -- and the International Virtual Assistants Association, the VA industry's first nonprofit parent organization.

(Chris and I launched IVAA because we knew that the new industry might not survive without at least one nonprofit organization to see to its ethical evolution and professional standards. Soon after getting IVAA up and running, we turned it over to its members, as planned from its inception.)


OTHER DATES AND EVENTS OF INTEREST

In 1998, Chris appears in a Business Week article on virtual outsourcing. (Chris and I realized early on that the industry might not survive without solid media coverage. For more on our media record, please see www.ratracerebellion.com/inthenews.htm . The '98 Business Week article is still online, at www.businessweek.com/smal...595059.htm )

In 1999, Chris and I address the United Nations on how the Virtual Assistant model can help people with disabilities work from home.

In 2000, Chris and I author the first published instructional manuals for Virtual Assistants (still listed on Amazon, though out of print).

In 2005, Chris and I write the first mainstream (non self-published) how-to book for Virtual Assistants, "The 2-Second Commute -- Join the Exploding Ranks of Freelance Virtual Assistants," brought out by independent publisher Career Press.

Much has happened since the early days, and many others have joined in accelerating and leading the movement. However, despite all that has developed, and all the beautiful changes in the lives of individuals and families that the VA career choice has brought, Chris and I believe that the "Glory Days" of the VA industry are still to come -- and we can't wait to see them, and, with the thousands of wonderful VAs all over the world, continue to help them dawn.


Best,

Mike