When I left my post as a college dean to found my private ADR practice almost a decade ago, I was thrilled not to have staff anymore. I’d worked with a large staff of fabulous folks over the years, yet I yearned for freedom from hiring, training, supervising and occasionally, firing. Frankly, I’ve never looked back. I still don’t want employees. But as business grew, I found myself yearning for the terrific executive support provided by my former assistant, Ann.

At some point you may find your practice has grown sufficiently that you start to yearn for quality administrative support, too. But, you may not want an employee, have the space to accommodate one, or the steady income stream to support that kind of commitment.

A virtual assistant is an excellent option for independent service professionals like mediators. Virtual assistants are highly skilled administrative and executive assistants who provide their support to your business via telephone, computer and fax. Like you, VAs are micro-business owners with their own home or private office.

AssistU, one of the leaders in training VAs in the U.S., has an excellent FAQs page where you can get more information about how VAs work and the benefits of contracting with one. They’re also a source for locating a VA, as is the International Virtual Assistants Association.

Making Mediation Your Day Job by Tammy Lenski is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-No Derivative Works 3.0 United States License. Based on a work at MediatorTech.com.

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