We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Taneaka Robinson a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Taneaka, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.

Working remotely has changed my life significantly. I realized that working remotely does not have to be restrictive. I am able to assist my clients from anywhere I am – whether I am at home, on vacation or out to lunch with family or friends. This is attainable because my clients are in control of how many hours I commit to them or their business each week. It’s no different than knowing an on-site assistant will work a 40 hour work week in the office. Each client is aware of my availability to them in regards to working hands-on with an assigned project or how frequently I can be contacted via phone or email. The beauty in Astute Personnel is that each client selects the amount of time they require prior to signing a contract. I offer contract tiers of administrative services that provides various options in which I will be available to each individual client.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

I am Taneaka Robinson. I am a mother of two; son (20), daughter (13) & a bonus-mother of my bonus son (23). I am a native of Hampton, Virginia where I currently reside and I am the proud Owner of Astute Personnel, LLC. My love for office administration began when I was a teenager in high school. I took my first keyboarding course as a Freshman and from there I continued on to complete a more advanced keyboarding course the following year as a Sophomore. Preparing for my Junior year, I sat with my counselor and she informed me about a Business Course called; CIS-Computer Information Systems, which I met the requirements for. What intrigued me the most is that as a student enrolled in this course, I would receive job placement in an office setting with partnering businesses in my city during school hours and my course grade would be an accumulation of my work performance and my testing scores in class. As a teenager, this was a win-win to me. I get to leave school early, go to a job that I did not have to specifically apply for and I gain some independence by earning a salary. I said to my counselor; “Sign me up”. The first semester was 100% in class & the second semester was 100% on-site job performance. My first job was an Assistant Office Administration Clerk for a local dentist office. I fell in love with the work.

From there, my work experience continued down the path of Administrative work to some effect. I have held positions as a city employee, a state employee and a federal employee between 2001 at 17 years of age & 2019 at 34 years of age, all under the umbrella of Office Administration.

Opening Astute Personnel was a bittersweet victory for me. Unfortunately, in 2019 I took ill and was taken out of the workforce. I was diagnosed with an autoimmune disease that made working a traditional nine to five very difficult for me. After taking some much needed time to recover from a near death experience with my autoimmune deficiency, I knew I had to do something to earn an income. As a parent, you know you have to provide for your children some way, some how. I began to look for work as a virtual assistant however; joining a previously established team of virtual assistants was not the easiest thing to do with all of the requirements, restrictions and obligations to the said company. So, I began seeking out individuals who I believed could benefit from having a personal assistant. I was put in contact with an Entrepreneur in Georgia who gave me a chance. After working for her for a few weeks, she put me in contact with Camille Brown; franchise owner of ‘I’m The Entrepreneur’s Social Connect”; a reality show now streaming worldwide. Camille gave me a chance to work for her as well. The unique thing about both of these ladies is that neither of them live in the same state as each other or myself. There I was working for these ladies daily and getting the work done exceeding their expectations – (their words, not mine). Then one day, my fiance gave me some advice. He said to me; “You should make this your full time gig. You’re at home, in peace and still making money.” Ironically, not too long after, Camille mentioned the same thing to me. She said; “Taneaka, you have to open you up a business because your work is phenomenal!” From there, with two affirmations, Astute Personnel was established.

I use the term “Virtual Assistant” when I am explaining what I do to people because it is a familiar term within the world we live in but I actually refer to myself as a Virtual Administrative Coordinator. I have chosen this title for myself for a few reasons all lying within the three individual words that makes the title. (1) Virtual: I work remotely & converse with clients via telephone, email or video device. (2) Administrative: the nature of work of which I provide services & lastly, (3) Coordinator: I work to provide a sense of organization for my clients with the duties entrusted in me to fulfill.

So, what services does Astute Personnel provide? To name a few, there’s Clientele Relations in which I am provided with a database of my client’s customers and I maintain routine contact with each to establish or strengthen the rapport between them and my client, which in turn maintains my client’s level of success. Another service is Data Research. I conduct research on specific topics for my client that is needed for projects. There’s also Calendar Management, Meeting and/or Conference Scheduling, Travel/Lodging Accommodations, Document Editing & Proofreading, Email Management , Digital, Printable & Spreadsheet Presentations are also included in some contract packages. Additional services can be discussed and agreed upon based on the client’s individual needs.

I am naturally gifted at writing & using words, phrases and etiquette to express concerns or documented requests and as a result Document Drafting services are available, where I get a short briefing about the document’s purpose and I creatively prepare a draft for the client to review. In some cases, these documents may need to be reviewed by an attorney but nevertheless, Document Drafting is very popular with my clients because it is included in their contract with me and this lessens their fees to their attorney.

I am very excited to offer my newest service; Office Management Coordination in Fall 2023. This would involve me traveling to my client’s office to provide, teach & implement effective Office skills for any admin staff working on-site in the office. So that is something I am looking forward to.

As a Virtual Administrative Coordinator, my goal is to relieve my clients of the daily tasks that can be time consuming and takes away from critical time that can be used diligently to further build their business.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

As I began my journey of Entrepreneurship, the most difficult rule of thumb I had to unlearn was that having a base salary at any job should be the end-all, be-all. After working traditionally for many years and earning a paycheck; whether weekly, biweekly or monthly, I had become accustomed to having a set amount of money deposited into my account on a routine schedule. It was very difficult making the adjustment from knowing your guaranteed salary to depending on client-based contract payouts for various amounts. It wasn’t until I realized that my time is extremely valuable, therefore, my service fees as an Entrepreneur should reflect that. Once I placed value in my time as well as the quality of my work; my business grew, my clientele became more prestige & constant revenue was no longer a question.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

I am so humbled & proud to say that my clientele has grown solely from referrals. The first few clients I had referred me to other professionals who were looking for a Virtual Assistant and the rest is history. As all Entrepreneurs should, I also promote myself to anyone who I believe could be a potential client & whom I could be an asset to.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.astute-personnel.com
• Instagram: https://instagram.com/astute_personnel
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/astute.personnel.llc

Image Credits
CSharp Music & Media, LLC