AssistU
Founded in 1997 by Stacy Brice, President, and Chief Visionary Officer, and headquartered in Baltimore, Assist University (AssistU) offers training for Virtual Assistants (VAs). AssistU was the First Virtual assistance training organization. Stacy has been awarded the VACOC InnoVAtive Award for the past 2 years (2006 and 2007) for her pioneering work and leadership in the virtual assistance profession. Additionally, the VACOC, an international membership organization for virtual assistants, recently named AssistU as their preferred educational provider.
AssistU does not grant diplomas or degrees, so it is not an accredited university. However, its Virtual Training Program (VTP) is one of the most rigorous in the industry. To successfully graduate from the VTP, students must write and pass a comprehensive exam and have their performance over the life of the VTP evaluated by both their trainer and AssistU. Once experienced in the field and in their own VA practices, graduates may seek the Certified Professional Virtual Assistant (CPVA) certification, and beyond that, the Certified Master Virtual Assistants (CMVA) certification.
AssistU was the first organization to create an online community for VA’s, and the first organization to train, certify, and coach VAs. It was also the first institution to offer a referral service to prospective clients. AssistU is written up in several publications1, and New York Times Best Selling author Timothy Ferriss mentions the organization as a place to find well-trained VA's.2
The goals of AssistU and the VTP are to produce virtual assistants who partner with entrepreneurs, solo-entrepreneurs (solopreneurs), business owners, and busy people. To be fully prepared to assist their clients, AssistU students communicate with their trainers in their distance-learning classrooms through both synchronous and asynchronous learning, using a variety of virtual technologies. The in-the-moment technology includes instant messaging (IM), traditional business tools such as the phone, fax and e-mail, and collaborative software such as Groove, BlueTie, and others.
Successful VA's know that maintaining a thriving practice takes a lot of work and planning3, but can be immensely rewarding. Since its founding, AssistU has trained nearly 1,000 graduates, over half of whom continue to this day to be supported in their Virtual Assistant businesses by AssistU.
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References
1. Books That Have Featured AssistU
2. Timothy Ferriss discusses AssistU in The 4-Hour Workweek
3. Start Your Own Admin Business (a Monster.com article by Anya Martin)
External links
1. AssistU
2. MSNBC© mentions AssistU in its Web Site of the Week feature
3. Virtual Assistance Chamber of Commerce (VACOC)
4. Virtual Assistant Networking Association (VANA)