Whether it is tracking
and following up on leads from your REALTOR.com®
site, helping your listings to stand out, or
beating your competitors to the punch with custom
HomeGain.com lead responses, Elaine Stewart of
eOfficeVisions.com does it all. Here is the
inside skinny on this very enthusiastic and
talented
MSVA.
MI: Elaine, you
are a graduate of the StaffCentrix MSVA program,
the REALTOR.com® VA Training Program, and now as
a very busy
PREVA (Professional Real Estate Virtual
Assistant). What background helped you prepare
for your virtual career?
ES: I would have to
say…the Military! My Military ‘Brat’ and
Military Spouse lifestyles led me to the
Administrative Support field because of its
diversity, growth potential, and position
availability at most duty stations. I have
developed excellent organizational,
multi-tasking, communication, and problem
solving skills which allow for adapting to any
given job or task at any given moment, even
without previous training. As a result, I have
over 14 years experience providing executive
administrative assistance to senior management
and general staff in the Banking, Department of
Defense, Retail, Tourism, Human Resources and
Accounting fields. Finally, it was the Military
that provided the Military Spouse Virtual
Assistant training through Staffcentrix.
MI: Why is
having this "Virtual Career" so important for
you and your family?
ES: My ‘Virtual
Career’ has brought my family together and
helped me realize my visions for my family. As a
military family, we have the added stress and
expense that comes with relocating every three
years and leaving family, friends and jobs
behind. Because my business/career is
home-based, it relocates with us. We are able to
eliminate all the pressures of how to supplement
our income in remote areas or after countless
interviews only to settle for any job at any pay
level. I am able to raise our children, support
my husband and keep my family together by
adapting to my husband’s unpredictable military
work schedule. The civilian community at every
duty station with their incredible support for
the Military is part of our family and as MSVAs
we now have the opportunity to contribute to our
local and nations economy.
MI: In your BIO
you mention you have a gift and love of
technology, tell us a bit about that.
ES: As you know,
technology has totally revolutionized the way we
live and work. I love all the opportunities that
technology has afforded me from my virtual
career, to keeping my family ‘together’ during
deployments, producing high quality projects in
record time, and saving me time with work tasks
to provide more attention to my family and
clients. I am fortunate to have the gift of
learning software from scratch with or without a
manual, in a short amount of time, and with
outstanding results. I love the challenge and
the satisfaction of successfully accomplishing
the objective. Being an MSVA affords me the
luxury of helping my clients implement these
technologies - whether hardware or software- to
achieve their visions of success in business. My
work causes a ripple effect of success that
reaches beyond their business and affects their
personal and family life as well.
MI: What are
some of the main functions that you are
currently specializing in for your REALTOR®
clients?
ES: In this time and
age, every Real Estate Professional needs an
online presence to ensure survival. Currently, I
am providing Realtor.com®, HomeGain.com, and MLS
maintenance support services to my clients. I
should point out that my clients include fellow
PREVAs for which I subcontract these same
services for their clients. In addition, as a
team member of
eClosingCoordinator, which provides Online
Transaction Management services, I assist with
setting up the client’s transaction lists. For
Realtor.com® clients, I start my services with a
detailed review containing recommendations to ‘Maximize
Account Value’ along with a ‘Review
Results & Responses’ report for the
Client/VA to notate details during the consultation.
Once the recommendations have been implemented,
maintaining the site consists of listing
enhancements, showcase pages, XLerator®
prospecting, etc. as these requests occur. The
HomeGain.com clients receive similar reports on
recommendations for customizing their proposals
and Marketing Plan with maintenance consisting
of adding/removing listings, submitting
proposals during busy or vacation time. (CLICK
HERE for sample XLerator Results Report)
MI: I noticed
that you also speak Spanish, how do you envision
this being useful to some of your REALTOR®
clients?
ES: Now that the
largest minority in our nation is Hispanic, the
need for marketing to the Hispanic community in
English and Spanish is critical. I envision
assisting them with translating websites,
flyers, brochures, presentations, and email
communications to name a few.
MI: What do you
find most frustrating when you first start
working with some REALTOR® clients?
ES: I would say the
main challenge – and most rewarding for both
parties in the end - is helping them overcome
the habit of doing the work themselves. My
Client Status Report lists all the client’s
delegated tasks and helps both of us keep track
of their status, not feel as if they are
‘loosing control,’ and reduces follow-up and
communication times better utilized for growing
their businesses.
MI: What do you
like best about working with REALTORS® and why
did you choose to specialize in assisting this
particular industry?
ES: REALTORS® are
high-speed, high-quality, visionary
entrepreneurial spirits. They live the ‘American
Dream’ and I help them keep it and enjoy it!
Like me, they envision where they want to be and
immediately start working towards realizing
those visions quickly. Actually, God led me to
this industry through the Realtor.com® training
arranged by Staffcentrix, my mother who is a REP
in Puerto Rico, and your ePOWER! News™
newsletter. As you point out, this is an
exciting time for the real estate industry as it
dramatically shifts into the world of
technology!
MI: Last
Question: What is the most helpful advice you
could offer REALTORS® who are just now
considering hiring a VA?
ES: If they are
envisioning hiring a VA, I recommend that they
complete the Staffcentrix Client Assessment Form
(a link is available on my website) to determine
their needs and readiness for working with an
MSVA and obtain the confidence to make their
vision a reality. They should also keep in mind
that as fast as the real estate industry is
speeding towards technology, so is the need for
VAs with real estate experience.
MI: Elaine,
thank you for sharing your story, experience,
and successes. You are an awesome representative
of the MSVA program and the perfect synergies
between Virtual Assistance and the needs of U.S.
Military personnel!
ES: Thank you,
Michael, for your visionary work - and your
collaboration with Staffcentrix - in educating
and supporting MSVAs and REALTORS®. This
wonderful opportunity will help open doors for
other Military Spouses as we continue the
tradition of supporting our families, our
troops, and our nation while our Military
defends and protects the very freedoms that we
experience daily. Also, thank you to Realtor.com®
for their support of the Military and the
Virtual Assistance Industry.
Always remember to do a thorough due-diligence
before hiring any kind of assistant. This
interview is part of an ongoing series of VA
profiles designed to help you find that perfect VA
that will launch you to the top quicker and with
less effort than you ever thought possible!
