Stacy Brice is hard at work tackling a list of projects for Cheryl Richardson. She is locating information for a book Richardson is writing, researching certification requirements for various organizations, arranging a conference call, answering voice mail, making travel arrangements, and even determining if Richardson's favorite harpist will be performing locally.

Richardson trusts Brice with many aspects of her business and personal life, secure in the knowledge that they will be handled professionally. Theirs is not a unique working relationship, unless you consider that Richardson works from home in Massachusetts while Brice does likewise in Maryland. And they never have met in person.

Brice is Richardson's virtual assistant.

"A virtual assistant works closely with a successful person without needing to be physically present," says Brice, who has worked in this capacity for the past two years. "The virtual assistant creates value for the busy person through a dynamic learning process. The more the assistant learns about the client, the client's business, and the client's life, the more the assistant can support. The relationship is rewarding to both."

According to Brice, virtual assistants differ from home-based secretaries in the relationship they establish with the client. "Home-based secretaries don't get to know a client's business well because there is no need. Only task-oriented work is given to them, so the level of trust doesn't need to be high." On the other hand, virtual assistants quickly become indispensable to their clients. They become familiar not only with their client's business, but also with their client's life. "The virtual assistant becomes, literally, a partner in the client's success," Brice says.

There are many reasons why home-based business owners are hiring virtual assistants. Zoning requirements may forbid them from having employees, or they simply may want to work alone. Also, they may not have the physical space to accommodate an employee, nor the necessary office equipment. Finally, they may not want to concern themselves with direct employee supervision and administering a payroll and benefits.

Two years ago Brice was training to become a personal and professional coach. Her mentor, Thomas Leonard, was preparing for a sabbatical leave and mentioned he needed someone to run his life in the interim.

Brice volunteered and wound up assisting Leonard virtually for the next four months. Her background in education combined with her insatiable curiosity and love of learning made her ideal for the position. "I began to envision a 'cyber-concierge' making people's lives easier at a distance."

The idea of virtual assisting caught on as other busy individuals acknowledged needing more time for themselves and their families. "They were tired of being boxed in," Brice says.

Today, Brice not only supports three clients from her Baltimore-area home, but she also presides over AssistU, a year-old "distance learning program" that teaches people to become virtual assistants. Group classes are limited to 15 participants and are held on a telebridge, an advanced version of the conference call where the participants phone in and are connected simultaneously.

During these interactive one-hour sessions, participants from all over the country "meet" to learn from one another as well as from the instructor. "We're told the experience is a powerful one," Brice says.

Twelve weeks of the program are devoted to building skills and enhancing an understanding of virtual assisting. The remaining four weeks emphasize creating and sustaining a virtual assistance practice. Individual classes, which focus on the particular type of practice the student hopes to build, also are available. Before Brice endorses a student, she requires tangible evidence in the form of a final project, which can take up to six weeks to complete.

According to Brice, people who are quick, intuitive, proactive, focused and confident are excellent candidates for the profession. Limitless curiosity and a lifelong love of learning also are essential. Still, she stresses the need for the kind of training AssistU provides. "We are certain that people who get great training and really understand the power created in the relationship between the virtual assistant and the person assisted, will get their practices up and running much quicker than those who do it on their own."

None of this matters, however, if there's a lack of trust. Therefore Brice specifically teaches her students how to cultivate it quickly. "The element of trust builds strong partnerships. Then magic and power are created in the relationship," she says.

Edwina Adams, a Plano, Tex., resident with an MBA in systems analysis and finance, is a graduate of AssistU. "After being downsized, I did not want to return to a corporate environment," she says. "I evaluated several home-based opportunities and felt virtual assisting provided the best opportunity to utilize my skills and knowledge."

Adams works an average of 40 hours a week supporting eight clients.

"The reality of the position has exceeded my expectations," Adams says. "Working with individuals who do all different things has been challenging and a lot of fun, although I do the same things for many of them. And I work with people I like and admire, all of whom have a great sense of humor and terrific personalities."

Adams appreciates the opportunities she has to interact with other virtual assistants through a password-protected area on the AssistU Web site [http://www.assistu.com]. There she can chat with or obtain information about other virtual assistants and download a library of files for her practice.

"Virtual assisting is a wonderful opportunity for those individuals who want to work at home and enjoy working alone," Adams explains.

A virtual assistant with a new practice can expect to earn a minimum of $25 per hour. With an established practice, those who are able to provide highly specialized services such as business planning, ghost writing or Web design often charge as much as $70 per hour.

Julie Winter of Newark, Calif., was unhappy working in the accounting field and wanted to go into business for herself. She learned about AssistU from her father, who knew Brice.

Winter admitted it was scary to have to count on herself to generate income after leaving the corporate world but now she says she is confident she can as she works about 30 hours per week supporting 10 clients.

There have been a few times when I have been asked to do things that I had no experience doing," Winter says. "In some cases I helped the client find someone else to do the project. In other cases the clients simply wanted me to give it a shot anyway. These were learning experiences and challenges I enjoyed as long as the client knew where I stood. Virtual assisting has met all my expectations in terms of freedom and the ability to choose who I work with and what I work on."

Judy Feld, a Dallas business coach and consultant, has worked with her assistant for more than a year. "I operate a virtual business. There's no need to have anyone on site in my office," she says. "It's possible to get many functions performed well remotely with computers, faxes and phones, all with someone else's equipment and facilities."

According to Feld, the only disadvantage to virtual assisting is not having someone to shuffle paper. "But then again, I'm trying to eliminate paper," she says.

Feld often recommends to her clients that they hire such a "magician" when overload threatens. She suggests clients keep a log of all their activities for a week and decide which ones are "genius-work" and which they can delegate. This allows them to see the benefits to their business of freeing themselves to do the work they love.

"Virtual assistants," says Feld, "are definitely one of the great new professions invented in the late '90s."

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