About Melanie
Hello! My name is Melanie Borowczyk and I'd like to tell you how I became a Virtual Assistant. I began offering administrative freelance services in 2003, working both on-site and from my home office to supplement my income while working as a rep for a popular home décor company.
A little more than two years ago I moved from Oklahoma to a somewhat small (pop. 15,000) town in lovely Northern France. Having only elementary level French language skills I had to take stock of my abilities and opportunities in deciding how to earn a living. My strongest assets being over 15 years administrative experience, 5 years as a small business owner and having researched the Virtual Assistant industry for several years. Needless to say, I opted to pursue an online VA business.
While going through the process of opening my business, which in the beginning was administrative only in nature, I went through countless struggles trying to do everything alone. I don't recommend this to anyone, however, i did and in doing so I spent many long, frustrating hours learning technical and creative skills that eventually brought me to realize that #1 - I really loved doing those projects and #2 - other small business owners must have the same difficulties; getting past technical challenges and knowing when it's time to deligate. I mean, if you're a painter why should you waste your time learning how to build a website, right?
To my surprise when people saw the work I had done on my own website they requested web and graphic design services even though it was not on my list of services. After receiving raving feedback and seeing great results for my clients I began moving into those specialty services along with a few others.
I have since made a committment to dedicate my professional life to helping business owners get past those growing pains and progress toward their goals more quickly.
VA Community
The past two years I served as a volunteer for the Virtual Assistants Day Committee and the OIVAC Registration Committee to help The Alliance for Virtual Businesses organize the Second Annual Online International Virtual Assistants Convention and celebrate Virtual Assistants Day. It is so exciting to see the continual growth of this industry and I look forward to the years to come.
I am an active member at both the International Virtual Assistants Association and the VA Insiders.
Skill set
Over 15 years experience in administrative duties in many different environments including, operations support, customer service, sales management and team support, executive management support, assistant to medical sales representative, and assistant to apartment management. My skill set includes the following:
Office Administration
Computer Application Training
Payroll/Bookkeeping
Spreadsheets/Forms
Invoice/Billing
Expense Reports
Inventory Control
Sales Team Support/Customer Service
Desktop Publishing
Website Development/XHTML/CSS
Transcription
Travel Arrangements
10-Key by Touch
Typing 65 wpm
Certification
Obtained certification in the following and will continue to train as software changes or new services are added.
Executrain, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Certification in Windows, Word, Excel Presentation Skills/Advanced, PowerPoint
Skillpath, Oklahoma City, OK, USA
Certification in Desktop Publishing
Microsoft Access 2003 Step By Step
