Everything You Need to Know About Hiring a Virtual Assistant for Your Small Business

Let’s play a game where I try to guess some things that are true about you, friend!

🤔 You’re a busy business owner who might be a solopreneur or maybe you have a small team

🤔 You’re currently doing most - if not all - of the admin/marketing/social media tasks for your business

🤔 You’ve heard about virtual assistants or maybe someone mentioned you should hire one, but you don’t really know where to start

🤔 You found this blog post via Google or Pinterest and you’re hoping it has all your answers to hiring a virtual assistant (I just think it might!)

So, am I close? If any or all of those are true for you, you’re in the right place! 

I’m Brianna, a virtual assistant, and I’m going to lay out everything you need to know about hiring a virtual assistant, focusing on what to do BEFORE you actually hire one!

And I’m not just “talking the talk” here. I’ve actually hired my own VA as a subcontractor to help me out with retainer work. I’ve gone through the whole process I’m about to outline here for you!

OK, enough of an intro - let’s dive in! 

What is a virtual assistant?

A virtual assistant (VA) is a contractor that works remotely and can assist you with any part of your online business.

If you own a brick-and-mortar business and/or work with clients in-person, I know there are a million things you do on your computer for your business - and they can help with that, too! (Actually, since I specialize in working with perinatal and pediatric businesses, most of my clients are brick-and-mortar!)

A virtual assistant can help you with admin tasks, social media, customer support, email management, and so much more! Virtual assistants come with a whole variety of skills and specialities, offering different services to meet your needs. No two VAs are exactly the same!

It’s common for many virtual assistants to offer support in “packages” of hours. This is typically called retainer support, monthly support, or ongoing support. For example, a VA might offer a 10 hours per month package and a 20 hours per month package. They will lay out what services are included in those packages.

You can find some virtual assistants who do project-based work or “VIP Days” where they will complete projects in one day, but these ones are more experienced and therefore come with a higher price tag.

Who can hire a virtual assistant?

Literally anybody can hire a virtual assistant!

The most common person I see looking for a VA are solopreneurs - small business owners who do not have any team members.

However, you can have a team and still hire a VA! 

(One of my clients is a pelvic floor physical therapist who owns a multi-clinician practice and has a full-time in-office patient care coordinator - and she still hires me for 10 hours a month!)

I was once approached by a busy mom who wanted more of a home assistant to help manage all the things for her family.

There are some VAs who are more of executive assistants and work for big businesses.

Bottom line: anyone who needs support can hire a VA!

When should you start thinking about hiring a virtual assistant?

There’s no magic answer for this one. Sorry, friend!

Chances are, if you’re reading this blog post you’ve already reached the point where you’re considering hiring a virtual assistant.

Maybe you find yourself spending unnecessary time on non-income generating tasks.

Maybe you’re sick and tired of feeling stressed and/or working all the time.

Maybe you’ve lost your spark - that joy you’ve always had just isn’t there anymore.

Whatever the reason is, it’s valid and there is support!

The step people miss before hiring a virtual assistant

If you take one thing away from this blog post, let it be this:

You can possibly save yourself a ton of $$$ by not hiring a virtual assistant if you audit your systems and routines!

Let me explain: before you go out and hire a virtual assistant, I want you to think about your work routines, your “systems” or how you do things for your business, and how you keep yourself organized.

🤔 Are you constantly running through a to-do list in your head and looking for Google docs or Canva designs you need?

🤔 Are you jumping all day from one task to another? 

🤔 If you’re a service provider, are you seeing/working with clients everyday of the week, with an hour or two between some appointments?

🤔 Do you generally feel stressed and a bit disorganized?

If you answered “yes” to any of these questions, hiring a virtual assistant is not going to magically make all that go away.

In fact, since you’ll be training a new team member (which takes some extra time!), it might even make you more stressed!

Before you hire a virtual assistant, it is important to make sure you are organized and have systems in place to onboard someone.

Many of my clients come to me thinking they want to hire me for ongoing monthly support, but actually what they need is some organization support!

👆 Let me take care of the systems and organization for you!

Once I’ve set up systems for these business owners and helped them establish work routines, they often remove themselves from my retainer waitlist! They’ve streamlined how they work, getting back hours each week - and they don’t even need to hire a virtual assistant! How cool is that?!

Before you hire a VA, you should make sure you are organized, your materials are organized, and you have systems in place that will make onboarding a team member easier. This way you can hit the ground running and start delegating and training right away!

What tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant

Speaking of delegating, what tasks can you hand off to a virtual assistant?

First of all, no two VAs are alike. Everyone has their own skill set and services.

Some VAs will do a little bit of everything: some admin work, light graphic design, small website updates, client care, etc.

Other VAs specialize in a specific service, like bookkeeping or social media engagement.

A general rule of thumb is to think of a virtual assistant like a second pair of hands, someone else to help with the work but you will still provide the direction and strategy. More experienced VAs may offer strategic support, but expect to pay a higher rate.

Top tasks to outsource to a VA

All that said, I know you need some ideas to get the juices flowing! This is exactly why I have created my freebie, 100+ Tasks to Outsource to a Virtual Assistant. 

Some categories include:

👩🏼‍💻 General and administrative tasks

👩🏼‍💻 Social media support

👩🏼‍💻 Customer support and client care

👩🏼‍💻 Website maintenance

👩🏼‍💻 Email marketing support

👩🏼‍💻 Blogging support

👩🏼‍💻 Membership/online store management

👩🏼‍💻 Launch support

👩🏼‍💻 And more!

Audit your current tasks

Another great strategy to figure out what tasks you should delegate to a VA is to make a list of everything you do and sort the tasks into ones you need to do and ones you can delegate.

Easier said than done, amiright?!

If sitting down and making a list of the approximately 2948 things you do for your business is too overwhelming, this is what you’re going to do instead:

1️⃣ Do a time audit. Use a time tracking tool like Clockify. For one week, anytime you do something for your business, type it into Clockify and start the timer. If you do monthly tasks at the end of the month, be sure to include those, too!

2️⃣ At the end of the week, run a report and print it out. Not only will you see a list of all the tasks you do for your business, you’ll see amounts of time, too!

3️⃣ Grab some highlighters and start categorizing the tasks:

• tasks only you can do

• tasks someone else could do but would require some training

• tasks that are simple/recurring/you don’t like doing/are easy to teach someone else

I would highly suggest having some recurring tasks on your list to delegate (meaning things you do for your business daily, weekly, or monthly). This will give you a good minimum number of hours of support each month without having to come up with new projects to fill up your VA’s time.

Where to find a virtual assistant

Virtual assistants are EVERYWHERE! You just need to know the right places to look.

Here are my top 3 places to search for and hire a virtual assistant:

1️⃣ Instagram: My favorite place to look for a VA is on Instagram. You can type in “virtual assistant” or even “[your niche] virtual assistant” and you’ll find tons of accounts. (Remember, since virtual assistants work remotely, they don’t have to live nearby!) VAs tend to be pretty active on Instagram because usually that’s our main source of marketing. You should be able to get a sense of a person, especially if they post Stories. Follow a few accounts and reach out to any that could be a good fit!

2️⃣ Your networks: If you’re part of any professional groups on Facebook/other memberships, ask if anyone would recommend a virtual assistant. Ask your friends and family if they know of any VAs. Spread the word - a recommendation can sometimes feel better than a random find!

3️⃣ Sara Wiles’ (FREE!) Matchmaking Service: This free service can help you hire a virtual assistant, online business manager, social media manager, and more! You simply fill out their questionnaire and they’ll match you with a few potential candidates.

Things to consider during a discovery call

Now you’re at the point where you’ve connected with a couple VAs via email, Instagram, etc.

Most virtual assistants offer what’s called a discovery call: a 15-30 minute free video call to chat, hear about their services, discuss your needs, and decide together if it’s a good fit.

The discovery call is vital to determining if you want to hire this person. You’ll need to reflect beforehand on what you’ll be looking for. 

What I look for on a discovery call with potential VAs:

These are the three main things I look for when on discovery calls with virtual assistants:

1️⃣ Organization - I want someone who comes to the call on time with limited distractions. I want someone who has a rough plan for the call and some questions to ask me. 

2️⃣ Confidence - I want someone who leads the conversation. I want a natural flow to the call with the VA asking questions and allowing space for me to ask mine. I want someone who can talk about their services confidently. Their confidence helps me feel comfortable delegating tasks to them. 

3️⃣ Work Ethic and Skillset > Experience - In the virtual assistant field, it’s not as important that someone has experience with x platform or y projects (although that is a bonus!). It’s expected VAs will need some training, so I want someone who is familiar with technology, has good problem-solving skills, is organized, is a quick-learner, and has strong communication skills.

(How do I know what I’m looking for? I like how I run and present myself on discovery calls so I’m looking for that!😜)

Discovery call red flags:

Before hopping on a call, take a moment to think about what you’re looking for in a virtual assistant. Jot the ideas down if that’s helpful!

Now think about what you DON’T want in a VA, and write those down, too!

Here are some red flags I look out for - and personally experienced when on my own VA search:

🚩 Email communication is confusing/very delayed leading up to the call

🚩 They are late to the call, sent the wrong video link, and/or are distracted by things at home

🚩 I need to lead the conversation and/or they don’t ask me any questions

🚩 There’s no follow-up after the call

Policies to discuss with your virtual assistant

Let's clarify something: a virtual assistant is a contractor, not an employee.

Would you tell your plumber to be at your house at 8am to fix your toilet? Would you tell your landscapers you expect them at your house 12-4pm every other Friday and you’ll pay them once a quarter?

NO! 

A virtual assistant is a contractor just like a plumber and landscaper are. 

❌ You CANNOT tell them to be on their computer everyday from 9am-4pm. 

✅ You CAN come up with rough hours that work for both of you. 

❌ You CANNOT tell them you need a project complete in 24 hours. 

✅ You CAN give them notice and ask for an estimate when the project might be completed.

Here are some policies you may want to discuss with your VA

If any of these are make or break, be sure to discuss them on the discovery call. If you’re flexible, you can discuss at your first call/onboarding meeting.

• Contract and deliverables - Your VA should absolutely send you a contract, to protect both of you. Ensure there is a confidentiality agreement. Other important parts of a contract: What happens if one party wants to end the contract? Make sure both parties agree on the deliverables - what tasks and projects will the VA be responsible for?

• Payment - Will they invoice you? When? What forms of payment do they accept? What happens if your payment is late?

• Hours and time off - Ask your VA for an estimate of availability. If your VA is only working 10-20 hours per month, you cannot expect them to be available every day. What happens if you/the VA wants to take a vacation? Has a sick kid at home?

• Work turn around times - If you’re mostly delegating recurring weekly or monthly tasks, this won’t be an issue. If you’ll be handing off projects to your VA, ask how much time/notice they’ll need.

• Communication - Get clear on communication! Will you both respond to emails within 24 business hours? Will you use a project management tool? Will you have weekly/monthly meetings? Ask if they’ll be tracking your hours and if you can get updates (if you want).

• Taxes - Your VA is an independent contractor. Talk to your accountant about what this means for your business.

Onboarding your new virtual assistant!

So you’ve finally hired someone! Woohoo! Now it’s time to onboard your new VA!

If you are organized before bringing someone new onboard, this process will be a lot easier!

For me, I organize all of my client work in Asana. Every task is there with appropriate links, attachments, and anything else needed to complete the task. 

When I was ready to hire a VA, all I had to do was create screen recordings of me doing each task, type up some written directions, and then transfer the task from me to her! 

Let’s talk about screen recordings a little bit more: screen recordings make it super easy to train others to do a task just like you do it!

The next time you do a task you know you want to delegate, use Loom to create a screen recording of you talking your way through the process. (If you can keep your training videos under 5 minutes, you can use the free version of Loom!)

Recording Loom videos is the easiest way to create an SOP (standard operating procedure) and will be very easy for your VA to learn, too! 

Now back to Asana: because I already have all of my tasks, links, other assets, and due dates in Asana, I could simply add the link to the screen recording and tag my VA!

Sure you can organize your tasks and SOPs in a Google Doc but I’m telling you: the ability to assign due dates, set reminders, communicate with each other, and have one centralized hub for everything in your business is seriously a life-saver!

If this part feels overwhelming, you need to learn about my Asana VIP Days! I will create your custom systems for you, teach you everything about Asana on a live call, and give you next steps to be successful. You’ll not only feel more organized and work more efficiently, but onboarding your new VA will be a breeze!

Final Thoughts

Hiring a virtual assistant can be a total game-changer for your business - but only if you do it right. 

The biggest mistake I see small business owners make is rushing to hire a VA before taking the time to get organized. 

When you have clear systems, documented processes, and a good handle on what you actually need help with, bringing on a VA becomes way less overwhelming - and way more effective.

Remember: a VA isn’t a magic fix for burnout or disorganization. But with the right prep, they can be a powerful support system that helps you reclaim your time, energy, and maybe even your love for your business again.

So before you hit “post” on that VA job listing, take a beat. Do your systems need a tune-up? Could you benefit from a one-day project to get organized first? (Psst - that’s exactly what my Asana VIP Days are for!)

You don’t have to do this alone, friend. There’s support available - and I’d be honored to be part of your journey. 🫶