New Association Formed to Support Small Businesses in the Golden Horseshoe

HAMILTON, ON – After several meetings with her local colleagues during the past year, Janet Barclay saw the need to form an association for Virtual Assistants in the Golden Horseshoe area. She recognized that Virtual Assistants who attended could better serve their clients from ideas shared at the meetings. Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistants Group was formed and a web site launched.

The GHVA Group cross-promotes their skills and expertise to potential clients, and clients benefit by ensuring the right fit for their needs. Building relationships through the networking events can lead to referrals and sub-contracting opportunities for member VAs.

“We offer a solution that will make being a business owner the rewarding experience it should be, resulting in more freedom and less stress,” says GHVA member Erika Martlew.

On May 16 of this year, Virtual Assistants (VAs) throughout the world will celebrate International Virtual Assistants Day.

Since Virtual Assistants work remotely from anywhere in the world, they don’t often get a chance to meet face-to-face. In Toronto, a weekend long conference has been organized for VAs all over North America to network, attend workshops and share knowledge and experiences, as well as make friendships. The event runs from Friday, May 2 to Sunday, May 4 at the Delta Toronto East Hotel.

Business owners are beginning to realize the advantages of retaining the services of a Virtual Assistant. The Virtual Assistant industry has been growing rapidly over the past ten years as companies begin to understand the benefits of retaining a VA. Each VA is an independent business owner offering his or her own unique skills and talents, but one thing they all have in common is caring for the clients they work with. Ideally, a VA develops a long term partnership-type relationship with their clients, becoming familiar with the client’s business and understanding their challenges and overall goals.

Previously, companies would need to hire part-time staff or temporary workers to fill short term needs. This would require the necessity of providing work space, equipment, and training. Through the versatility of a professional Virtual Assistant, who works from their own office environment, savings can be realized as the client does not cover any of these costs and only pays for the time to complete the project or task performed by the VA.  Business owners are taking a second look at this new outsourcing alternative which has recently been mentioned in:

• National Post
• The Wall Street Journal
• CNN
• Reader’s Digest May 2007 issue
• NBC Today Show
• Time
• Dr. Phil Show

Plus numerous regional magazines and newspapers

“In today’s business environment, the pace of keeping up with information and trends, while maintaining an edge in the marketplace, requires new ideas.  Hiring a Golden Horseshoe Virtual Assistant may just be that idea.”

For more information and to see a listing of services offered, please visit https://ghva.ca or email info@ghva.ca.