What is a Virtual Assistant?
A. A Virtual Assistant is a highly-skilled individual who works from their own office. They are employed to perform tasks that you would expect employees to do, without working from your own premises. They are slaves to technology - they work via the Internet and communicate with you via e-mail, telephone, Skype and fax.
Q. What would I do with one of these Virtual Assistants then?
A. It all depends on you! If you are an SME (small and medium enterprise) or sole trader/partnership then you may want to use a VA to cover what you would normally hire a temp for, as and when you need them. If you are an individual, maybe you are just looking for someone to type up a novel that you've written in longhand or to write a professional letter for you. For people who do a lot of travelling, consultants, busy entrepreneurs etc. may wish to have someone keep an eye on their email and mail while they are away on business, ensuring everything is up-to-date when they return. Students also find VA's useful for typing up their dissertations and theses, or requesting editorial services. Almost everyone - and almost every organisation - at some time or another has had a need which could usefully have been performed by a VA to take the pressure off them.
Q. This sounds like "outsourcing" to me.
A. Yes, it is - exactly that. A definition of "outsourcing" is: "The concept of taking internal company functions and paying an outside firm to handle them. Outsourcing is done to save money, improve quality, or free company resources for other activities. Outsourcing was first done in the data-processing industry and has spread to areas, including telemessaging and call centers. Outsourcing is the wave of the future."
News Article: Overworked? Try a Virtual Assistant
Using our services
If you have technical issues, please refer to our Standards page where you may download Adobe Reader, PowerPoint Viewer and Microsoft Reader for free.
Q. We have an inhouse style for documents. Will you format your documents to our style?
A. In most cases, the answer will be yes. Please do contact us to confirm this is the case.
Q. I would 50 printed copies of my document. Are you able to supply this?
A. Moonpoppy Enterprises only supplies documents electronically, with completed work sent on CD by mail. However, we may be able to provide recommendations of good companies who would be able to accommodate your printing needs.
Q. I have seen a few services of yours that I'd like to use. Am I limited to just one service?
A. Not at all. The very nature of a Virtual Assistant is to be flexible. Many of the projects contain multi-tasks. Even if a particular service is not listed on our website, do please ask us - it is highly likely that we will be able to help you.
Q. I've got a really tight deadline. Can you help?
A. Absolutely. All that we ask is that you give us as much notice as you reasonably can. Please always ensure that you have spoken with us to confirm deadlines.
Q. I have different types of documents that I need to send to you. How can I do this?
A. If you wish to send them to us digitally (by email), do let us know in advance. Alternatively you may wish to upload your digital documents by 'SendThisFile', no software is needed on your computer. Hard copy (handwritten or typed) can be sent by fax, digitally (scanned-in) or by post. CD or DVD's may be mailed to us. For your own security and peace of mind, please use either a courier or registered post when sending hard copy and CD's/DVD's.
Q. I have a word-processed document that needs to be converted into PDF format. Can you help?
A. Yes. We can convert them into PDF's which also help reduce the file size quite significantly.
Q. I need my photos resizing before I can upload them. Are you able to help?
A. Yes, just let us know which size resolution you require and send us your digital photos.
Q. Help! I've lost an original word-processed document and only have a PDF version. What can I do?
A. Rather than retyping, just send us the PDF file and we will use special OCR (optical character recognition) software that will convert it back into an .RFT (Rich Text Format) or Word file for you. Warning: OCR software can occasionally give rise to strange spellings! Please note that there is usually some loss of data by using this method of retrieval and so careful proofreading will be needed.
Q. If we hire you do a particular project for us, who owns the copyright?
A. As you have commissioned us, the copyright is yours (subject to third party rights).
Payment, terms & conditions
Q. I have not used your services before. Do I have to pay for the project up-front?
A. Yes - and no! For new clients, or for those who wish us to perform an ad-hoc task, we do ask that part-payment be made before we commence with the work. Please refer to our Terms & Conditions.
Q. I would prefer to pay you by cheque, is that OK?
A. Of course. Please remember that payment by cheque is subject to standard clearance procedures (usually up to 5 working days from deposit). Only sterling cheques drawn on a UK bank are acceptable.Q. I am located in Jordan - how do I pay you?
A. For all International and European clients, you can make payment in sterling by depositing in our account by bank transfer. Alternatively, you may elect to pay by credit card through PayPal, subject to our Terms and Conditions.
