France's First American-Styled Virtual Assistance Practice Spearheads New Telecommuting Work Movement

PARIS, July 22, 2003 - Two years ago if any one had told recent American transplant and Courbevoie resident, Carolyn Moncel, that her multinational corporation, MotionTemps, LLC, would spearhead a new career movement in France's telecommuting industry, she never would have believed it.

Moncel is founder and president of MotionTemps a virtual assistance and management firm with offices in Chicago and Paris. MotionTemps specifically provides English Mother Tongue (EMT) administrative assistance and marketing communications support to small-business owners, frequent global business travelers and small-to-midsize corporations. The company currently attracts clients from the United States but is now focusing on both the English-speaking expatriate community and also French business owners seeking guidance in communicating more fluidly with business contacts in the United States. MotionTemps' presence in the French marketplace signals an exciting new trend in telecommuting work: American-Styled Virtual Assistants (ASVAs) who work in France and provide reasonably priced, as needed administrative and specialized services to small businesses owners. For $35 (USD) on average, ASVAs perform everything from data entry to desktop publishing, copywriting and marketing research. ASVAs usually are native English-speaking expatriates married to French nationals, and Moncel definitely fits the profile.

Moncel originally conceived the idea for her business in July 2001 while living in her hometown, Chicago, Illinois. When her husband, a French national from Lyon, accepted a job offer in October 2002 and moved the family to Paris, Moncel decided to expand her company rather than close shop. Despite a sluggish global economy and a transatlantic move, MotionTemps continues to thrive, an achievement not lost on Moncel who realizes that 85 percent of all first-time American businesses never make it past the first year of operation. The company celebrates its second anniversary on July 31, 2003.

"The ASVA industry in France is growing rapidly," says Moncel. "I receive as many as five phone calls per day from English-speaking expatriates anxious to start ASVA practices, and another five calls from local business owners curious to learn more about what we do."

A Virtual Assistant or VA is a highly skilled professional who works as an independent contractor. When businesses partner with them, they only pay for the time actually spent working on a project rather than an employee salary or an expensive staffing agency retainer fee. The VA is a business owner also and is responsible for taxes, training, healthcare, insurance - overhead costs that make hiring an employee expensive. The "virtual" part means that the VA doesn't have to be present on-site in order to oversee projects. VAs work from their home offices and projects can be handled over the phone, by fax or even over the Internet via e-mail.

While telecommuting itself is not a new concept in France, the ASVA concept is, and English-speaking countries, the United States, Canada, England and Australia are leading the way in advancing the industry. Telecommuting in France has long been associated with the computer, IT industries and now Tele-secretaries. However, traditional Tele-secretaries tend to be French-speaking secretaries who perform clerical duties only.

Not only do ASVAs perform clerical duties, they are also extremely computer savvy, often multilingual and come from established careers in a variety of different industries - from accounting and event planning, to theater and graphic design. Moncel left a career in marketing communications to start MotionTemps. Combining computer knowledge with back-office management, ASVAs use their distinctive backgrounds to find their client niche, and also differentiate themselves from the competition.

"Work flexibility provides an alternative way to balance our careers with family life," says Moncel. "We enjoy what we do because in the end we not only save our clients money, but we also save them time, thereby allowing them the option to concentrate on improving or expanding their businesses."

About Carolyn Moncel
Carolyn Moncel has more than 10 years of experience in office management, marketing and public relations. Prior to MotionTemps' launch, Moncel served as Communications Manager at Amdur Spitz & Associates, a full-service marketing communications agency in Chicago. Moncel began her Internet marketing career at A2S2 Digital Projects, an Internet publishing company, based Chicago and Washington, DC. Serving as PR Coordinator she assisted in the launch of two bipartisan public policy Web sites.

For more information please contact Carolyn Moncel in France at 01 49 97 90 59, or by e-mail at carolyn@motiontemps.com or visit our website at www.motiontemps.com.