I prefer to have direct contact. Your correct the fewer people involved the better.

To be perfectly honest? It is a bit of a turn off and i prefer to deal directly with the provider. I have a friend who is a porn star and very high end provider who dealt with an assistant briefly but didn't like it for basically the reasons you cited: She found the personable, discreet approach more to her liking. She also found that her clients much prefered to deal with her directly. Don't get me wrong: I definitely understand the need for a personal assistant if a provider has such a hectic life that she simply can't keep up with the multitude of emails and phone calls that she is getting. But, unless that's the case i would pass on this if i were you. Also, i had another Vegas provider friend that decided she would hire an assistant. The young lady was a teacher who ha been laid off and was in need of money. She seemed very nice, and was extremely knowledgable and a huge help. At first. Then they had a huge falling out that lead to a fight and her nixing the relationship. Afterwards one of her biggest fears was that this person could somehow use all the personal info that she had gathered on clients in unscrupulous ways to get back at her. I would highly recommend you refrain from hiring an assistant babe. If you are perfectly content handling things yourself then by all means continue to do so. Is it really worth the risk?

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Herv%C3%A9_Villechaize

After awhile you can tell when you're dealing with screeners and sometimes even men.  Not talking about Zack but guys running undercover agencies.

Screeners usually give one sentence generic answers.  Its not really a problem but it doesn't add anything to the experience.  I like a lady to be somewhat personable prior to a meeting and you can't do that dealing with screeners.

An exception would be Haley Heston and Troy.  Haley probably needs an assistant and you aren't dealing with the ladies anyway.

Depends upon the assistant.  I have dealt with assistants that are absolutely charming and made the process not only painless, but enjoyable.  Others...let's just say that based upon my experience they produced sub-optimal revenue for their providers.

Yep, first thing I thought of when I saw the title of this post was, 'unless you're just completely overwhelmed, why open up your life to a third party?'  Then you would also have the additional responsibilities, financial and otherwise,  of having an employee.

Depends... Over the years I've dealt with some Personal Assistants dumber then a rock and others that are great. I'm sure some of the hobbyists that have been on here for awhile can think of a certain well known provider (now pretty much gone from being a LV Fave) that had an assistant that blew appointments instead of helping out.

And sometimes... you would never know that somebody has a personal assistant because they just take care of some basic advertising, initial screening and appointment book while direct contact is with the provider once somebody clears.

On another note... if you don't need one and can balance the life... then I see no need for you to get one just because people are asking you if you need one.

Certainly your right to do so.

Really does not matter too much for me if it's a truly professional provider. Even some of my non hobbying very good friends know that I hobby and I've even taken some of them to have drinks with the "professionals" that they thoroughly enjoyed doing after the fact.

Grew up in Europe and also lived in Asia... it really does not matter when it's the "big leagues" as far as I'm concerned. I would trust Arden in knowing what she is doing if she did hire an assistant.

As a well known Indy Car driver once said when asked why he hires professionals: "I pay them to leave".

It's a lot better then meeting up with gold diggers. If only Tiger Woods would have taken that advice. Lol..

I prefer direct contact with the provider, rather than having to go through a 3rd party.  Whenever I have to deal with a personal assistant, it sorta makes me feel like I'm going through an agency instead of an independent provider.

If I know there is a screener/personal asst. involved, I won't call.

There are a few different types of assistants you can hire IF you ever need to.

1. Totally takes over your email/phone....you have no clue who is about to show up until the knock at the door

2. Answers your emails/phone for you, but you have control over everything you do and you are aware of who is about to knock.

3. ONLY screens and sets your schedule. Does not answer the phone for you, does not reply to your emails.....she calls the night before to ask what your schedule is looking like so you can avoid over booking, being late, or missing civvie stuff.

I have met ladies who are cool with these scenarios......I prefer #3....it's transparent & much cheaper than a regular assistant.

I rather deal with the assistant as I prefer the lady to focus all attention on me when we meet..screening and all that stuff take too much valuable time from providers