A few months back, I got an email from a California client who discovered that local part-time freelance publicity specialist he had hired was charging three times amount I charge and providing half services I offered. Because of that, client hired me to work with freelancer in heading up this nationwide campaign launch. The freelancer told me that because of West coast cost of living/overhead, he was forced to charge higher fees -- surprisingly, he was one of cheapest publicity pros in that area! I have heard stories like this time and time again from clients who hit 'net in search of a cheaper alternative to PR services listed in their local directory.

That fact was drilled home to me even more when I recently took a detailed look at my portfolio of clients. I was surprised to learn that over last few years more than 40% of my clients for my Midwest-based PR business have come from West coast, another 25% from East coast and 10% from Canada. A quick e-mail polling of clients revealed same story over and over. They simply found it hard to locate professional, affordable PR services in their area, so they turned to Internet to find it.

A good P.A. will be your right-hand person. They will organise you and free up your time so you can focus on important issues. They’ll keep everything running smoothly. They’ll also have good people skills and be able to communicate effectively with your clients and colleagues.

Unfortunately there are many P.A.'s in work environment whose skills are undervalued and unappreciated.

I know of many small business owners who expect their P.A.’s to virtually run their whole business for them.

In many organisations P.A. is totally forgotten when it comes to ongoing skills development. Often money is spent on sending key people to seminars and conferences, yet very little, if anything is invested into upskilling P.A.’s. And most important areas of all are in general life skills…communicating, dealing with people, attitude etc.

Jane’s Story Jane works in public service sector. She mentioned to me that P.A.’s have organised their own yearly conference. They invite a guest speaker to attend so they can develop themselves even more.

This conference is supported by their managers. However they have no budget to run it.

It’s okay for managers to attend their off-site conferences and seminars and have them fully funded by powers to be. Yet P.A.’s one and only conference is not funded. They have to contribute to it out of their own pockets!