Hear from Regina Evangelista: What is a “Virtual Assistant”?

An advocate for improving the overall standard of the Philippines Online Workforce.

When we use language, we often mean different things because of different life experiences and life stories.

Darryl Lim  00:00

To you, what is a virtual assistant?

Regina  00:04

Well, behind every successful entrepreneur is a virtual assistant, right? So a virtual assistant does a lot of back of the house things for a lot of entrepreneurs. And these are the things that... they may be the "lowest task", they may be the low hanging fruit of tasks, let's say transcription or admin or data organizing, answering emails, although they are the low hanging fruit, but they are also essential. These tasks need to be completed. And your time as an entrepreneur, as a CEO, you don't have time [for] transcribing or you don't have time [for] following up. You don't have time right? So it's basically taking that, [and] giving you back valuable time that you should [have], to be working in your business, right? You should be developing your business, facing customers, facing making money, right? And then we take care of the rest. So I would always say, I would go by that quote that behind every successful business is a virtual assistant.

Darryl Lim  01:14

How did you come to define the role like that?

Regina  01:17

Okay, virtual assistant for me really is, I think the core, the core word for me is assistant. A lot of the times that meaning has evolved, some would say assistant would be just, you know, following around a boss and just making coffee and printing papers and all that stuff. But I think as time [passed], it has also evolved. Assistants, nowadays, virtual or not, we have really upscaled ourselves. We can do more than just printing. We can even sit in meetings. We can even add valuable topics. And because we are so in the business, and because we are so in the nitty gritty of stuff, we know where to find the files. We know who to call. We know who, if the printer is broken, we know who to call, right? Air-con's not working, we know how to call. Because we are so knowledgeable in and out of the business. We kind of would call ourselves the "glue" that kind of sticks everyone together. Like, for example, like I just came from a meeting, and all the CEOs, right, the leadership team, were talking about, give that to Regina. Okay, Regina is going to handle that. Okay. Regina has that. Right? So that kind of, in a way, it's a big responsibility, but at the same time that responsibility is very, very vital and important. And I just feel I belong. I feel I have value, and that makes that job description more valuable for me.

Darryl Lim  02:46

[Referring to an earlier conversation before the interview.] Even as you were explaining your process or your journey throughout your company, there's this idea that, hey, I want to help you for this, and I want to help you for that, this whole idea of "helping". How did you come to that for yourself?

Regina  03:06

I think personally, I'm always a carer. I always, I always make sure... I think my love language personally is taking care of people and having to be able to serve, having be able to help, is filling something inside of me, right? And that's why I've been doing this for so long, and it's not tiring. I don't call it work. I love, I love like being able to help. And help can be as little as: Regina, can you print this paper? Or help can also mean, hey, I printed this and there's a typo that's been very crucial, that... even just a comma, you miss a comma, that would mean a totally different thing in a legal document, right? But I caught it, and I said, hey, I think we need to add this word there, because it will mean a different entire thing. And that help is so valuable, no matter what you look at it, and I think being able to do that personally is really fulfilling for me.

Darryl Lim  04:11

When did you first realized this kind of fulfillment in your life?

Regina  04:17

Actually, it's late, late in my life already, because I started this [VA company] out of survival. I need money. I need to pay the bills. I was a single mother. I need to provide. I was a breadwinner. I need to provide. So in a way, it was just to pay the bills, and it's good, because I'm at the comfort of my house, I'm at home, working from home, paying the bills, earning in dollars, right? And spending in peso. Wow, perfect, perfect dream life, right? But at the end of it, now that I've ticked those boxes, I was like, so what is it now? What is it for you, right? Well, I think. In that 30s life, you get to explore your purpose, explore your, you know, what value do you want to bring to society or to the world? And that's when I realized, like, okay, this is me. This is who I am, and this is in one way, shape or form, whether helping clients or helping Filipinos get clients, that help is still there.

Darryl Lim  05:26

Nice. Maybe what I'm curious about is, what gives you the strength to continue helping? Yeah.

Regina  05:37

It's a good question. Well, I could, I could say, helping in a way... I think being able to see a company grow, for example, I think more importantly, both of us grow. So one, they started hiring me, just one person, and then they started hiring another me, that's two person, and then three, and then five. And that's good, because I was able to, I am able to provide jobs, right? I'm able to provide upskill training to upskill Filipinos, in general, to be world class in their service. But at the same time, more employees for my clients means they're growing as well. So being being able to help on both sides, I kind of love that sweet spot. That keeps me happy with my role. That keeps me contented and makes me motivated to get more jobs, give more jobs to people, train more people, get more clients. And yeah, so I'm just happy where I am.

At Split Arenas, we believe professional communication should be rooted in personal stories. When we look at the words people use, and the stories behind those words, we understand who they are, and we can build better relationships. To learn more about what we do, click here. If you wish to experience this conversation, where you’ll discover a word that means a lot to you and the stories/memories behind that word, book an appointment here.