Poll: Would you find a personal assistant useful? Thread poster: ProZ.com Staff
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This forum topic is for the discussion of the poll question "Would you find a personal assistant useful?".
View the poll results »
| | | | neilmac
Spain
Local time: 01:12
Spanish to English
+ ...
If by "personal assistant" the query means a person to help with my admin work and dealing with clients, then the answer would be a resounding yes - in fact, I already rely on help from a colleague to mitigate and tone down my own very direct approach when writing to clients in Spanish.
However, if it refers to some sort of gadget or software, like a 21st century filofax, then I'm probably not interested.
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That's exactly what I need and I've been thinking of hiring someone.
[Edited at 2018-08-24 08:20 GMT]
| | | | DZiW (X)
Ukraine
English to Russian
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| No delegation | Aug 24, 2018 |
I'm not that busy as a bee to hire a secretary or outsource my work, and while sharing the workload, duties, and communication may look promising, I still can't rely on others
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| No, not any more... | Aug 24, 2018 |
I had one for a few years, but now my only associate (one of my daughters) deals with the administrative side of things…
| | | | Angus Stewart 
United Kingdom
Local time: 00:12
Member (2011)
French to English
+ ...
| A resounding "YES"! | Aug 24, 2018 |
I had a secretary in my previous career and she was great at freeing me up from doing the admin to concentrate on my core task. She was also a whiz at chasing up non-paying clients, as she had a background in debt collection and was very methodical in pursuing them. If possible I would like a multilingual version of her, but I doubt my budget would stretch that far.
In common with Neilmac however I am not interested in digital assistants, as I find that gadgets and software add an e... See more I had a secretary in my previous career and she was great at freeing me up from doing the admin to concentrate on my core task. She was also a whiz at chasing up non-paying clients, as she had a background in debt collection and was very methodical in pursuing them. If possible I would like a multilingual version of her, but I doubt my budget would stretch that far.
In common with Neilmac however I am not interested in digital assistants, as I find that gadgets and software add an extra layer complexity rather than simplifying things. For instance, I find the self-service check-outs at the supermarkets an absolute nightmare and I have stopped shopping at a couple of stores that have gone self-service only. Recently I had to call for assistance from the store staff three times despite the fact that I was only purchasing five items! ▲ Collapse
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I sometimes wish I had a human assistant, but it never lasts long.
I can usually painlessly manage my admin overhead and business communication through:
*priorising tasks
*sub-contracting accounting/tax returns,
*scheduling to-do chores and appointments in Outlook with reminders,
*customising generic templates for various prospective offers,
*speeding up invoicing/quoting/status viewing through business management software,
*striving for a paperless ... See more I sometimes wish I had a human assistant, but it never lasts long.
I can usually painlessly manage my admin overhead and business communication through:
*priorising tasks
*sub-contracting accounting/tax returns,
*scheduling to-do chores and appointments in Outlook with reminders,
*customising generic templates for various prospective offers,
*speeding up invoicing/quoting/status viewing through business management software,
*striving for a paperless activity,
*organising files, translation resources, business information and records for easy retrieval of everything,
*no-maintenance and small customer base...
Philippe ▲ Collapse
| | | | Debora d'Amato (X)
Italy
Local time: 01:12
English to Italian
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I don't have such a big amount of work, now at least, so I don't need someone who helps me in managing my work.
Anyway, I'm quite sure that I would not hire an assistant even if I had lot of work.
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Mario Freitas
Brazil
Local time: 20:12
Member (2014)
English to Portuguese
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No place for that
I wouldn't like a stranger in my house all the time with me.
Not worth paying for that
Not enought work for an assistant
Unless that person would do some cooking, washing and... forget it.
So thank you, but no thank you.
| | | | EvaVer (X)
Local time: 01:12
Czech to French
+ ...
Especially when I am submerged and more enquiries are coming in. Saying no is difficult, especially when people won't take "no" for an answer and respond by extending the deadline or increasing the rate, and I have to write yet another e-mail explaining that it is still no... Or for arranging travel - everything online, OK, but still it takes plenty of time. One of my banks offers assistance for that, I said I didn't need it, but after my latest experience - a trip that took a lot of time to arr... See more Especially when I am submerged and more enquiries are coming in. Saying no is difficult, especially when people won't take "no" for an answer and respond by extending the deadline or increasing the rate, and I have to write yet another e-mail explaining that it is still no... Or for arranging travel - everything online, OK, but still it takes plenty of time. One of my banks offers assistance for that, I said I didn't need it, but after my latest experience - a trip that took a lot of time to arrange, I am thinking of using that service. In the past, when I worked more than now, I was thinking of hiring an assistant - but employing someone creates such an amount of red tape here that you would need yet another person to deal with it. ▲ Collapse
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I have tried 3 times, and every time found out that a lot of my work is so un-typical and different every time that it took me longer to explain how it should be done, than it would take me to do it myself (apart from invoicing and chasing payments for less than 2 hours a month).
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