Freelance science journalist Catherine Price has worked for herself almost her entire career. Since she’s always been a team of one, she never considered the possibility of hiring help.

She was vaguely familiar with the concept of virtual assistants, but she thought they were people who could help with calendar management or booking flights. The things Catherine needed a hand with weren’t logistical, so she assumed she would be doing it all by herself forever.

That is until she met a fellow freelancer on a work trip abroad. A conversation with this compatriot about how she used a VA to help her stay on top of all her work opened Catherine's eyes to the possibility of partnering with a VA. Now, Catherine credits her VA relationship with reducing stress in her life, something she knows a lot about: It's her area of focus in her scientific writing.