Virtual Assistants
How to Hire a Virtual Assistant for Your Small Business: Costs, Tasks and Tips
If you spend your evenings answering emails, updating spreadsheets and chasing invoices, you're doing work that someone else could do well, for much less than your time is worth. That's why so many founders hire a virtual assistant for their small business. A good VA gives you back 10–20 hours a week to spend on sales, clients and growth.
This guide covers what a virtual assistant can do, the types of VA, what it costs, where to find one and how to hire and onboard a VA so the arrangement actually works.
What does a virtual assistant do?
A virtual assistant is a remote professional who handles administrative, operational or specialist tasks for your business. Common tasks include:
- Inbox and calendar management. Sorting email, drafting replies, scheduling meetings.
- Admin and data entry. Updating your CRM, spreadsheets, documents and records.
- Customer support. Answering emails, chats and simple phone queries.
- Bookkeeping support. Invoicing, expense tracking and payment follow-ups.
- Research. Lead lists, supplier research and competitor checks.
- Social media and content. Scheduling posts and basic graphics.
- Operations. Order processing, vendor coordination and process documentation.
Not sure where to start? Read 5 tasks every founder should hand to a VA first.
Types of virtual assistant
| Type | Best for |
|---|---|
| General / admin VA | Email, scheduling, data entry, documents |
| Executive assistant | Founders and executives who need a right hand for calendar, travel, priorities and communication |
| Operations VA | Orders, vendors, processes and project coordination |
| Specialist VA | Bookkeeping, customer support, social media, sales support or e-commerce |
Part-time freelancer vs dedicated full-time VA
| Freelance VA (hourly) | Dedicated VA (full-time) | |
|---|---|---|
| Availability | Shared with other clients | Works only for you, 40 hours a week |
| Knowledge of your business | Limited | Grows every week |
| Reliability | Varies | Higher, especially with backup cover from a provider |
| Best for | Small, occasional tasks | Ongoing daily work and growing businesses |
How much does it cost to hire a virtual assistant?
Cost depends on four things:
- Hours. Part-time hourly versus full-time dedicated.
- Skills. Specialist VAs, such as bookkeeping or executive support, cost more than general admin VAs.
- Location. Offshore VAs usually cost far less than local hires.
- How you hire. Freelance platform, direct hire, or a managed VA provider that handles vetting, payroll and backup.
To work out the value, use this simple test: if a VA frees 15 hours of your week, what would those hours earn you in sales or client work? For most founders, that number is far higher than the VA's monthly cost.
How to hire a virtual assistant: 6 steps
- List your tasks. For one week, write down every repetitive task you do. Mark the ones that don't need you.
- Write a clear role description. Tasks, tools (Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, your CRM), working hours and the skills you need.
- Choose how to hire. A freelance platform if you have time to vet, or a managed provider if you want pre-vetted candidates and backup cover.
- Test before you hire. Give a short paid task, such as organising a sample inbox or building a small lead list.
- Interview for communication. Clear English, quick replies and asking good questions matter as much as skills.
- Start with a trial. Agree on a two-to-four-week trial with clear goals.
Where to find a good virtual assistant
- Freelance marketplaces. Many candidates and fast hiring, but you do all the vetting, and freelancers often split time between several clients.
- Referrals. Ask other founders in your network. Good VAs are often busy, so referrals tend to be reliable but slow.
- Managed VA providers. Pre-vetted, full-time assistants dedicated to you, with the provider handling payroll, equipment, training and backup cover.
7 questions to ask a virtual assistant candidate
- "Which of our tools have you used every day, and for what?"
- "Walk me through how you'd organise an inbox with 300 unread emails."
- "How do you decide what's urgent when several people ask for things at once?"
- "Tell me about a mistake you made at work and how you fixed it."
- "How do you keep passwords and client information secure?"
- "What hours can you work, and what's your backup if your internet goes down?"
- "What would you need from me in your first week to do great work?"
How to onboard your VA in the first two weeks
- Give secure access. Use a password manager and separate accounts. Never share your personal passwords.
- Record short videos. A two-minute screen recording of how you do a task is the fastest training there is.
- Write simple checklists for every recurring task.
- Hold a 15-minute daily check-in for the first two weeks, then move to weekly.
- Measure output. Tasks completed, response times and the hours you got back.
20 tasks you can delegate to a virtual assistant
| Area | Tasks |
|---|---|
| Admin | Inbox sorting, calendar scheduling, travel booking, meeting notes, document formatting, file organisation |
| Customers | Answering support emails, live chat, order updates, follow-up calls, review requests |
| Finance | Sending invoices, chasing payments, recording expenses, preparing reports for your accountant |
| Sales and marketing | Building lead lists, updating the CRM, scheduling social posts, newsletter setup, competitor research |
Tools your VA should know
- Email and calendar: Google Workspace or Microsoft 365
- Communication: Slack, Microsoft Teams, Zoom
- Projects and tasks: Asana, Trello, ClickUp or Monday.com
- CRM: HubSpot, Salesforce, Pipedrive or Zoho
- Finance: QuickBooks or Xero for bookkeeping support
- Security: a password manager such as 1Password, Bitwarden or LastPass
Ask candidates which of your tools they've used daily. It shortens onboarding a lot.
How to measure the return on your VA
- Hours saved. Track the hours you no longer spend on delegated tasks each week.
- What you did with them. More sales calls, client work or strategy time.
- Speed. Faster email replies, invoices sent on time, payments collected sooner.
- Quality. Fewer missed follow-ups, errors and dropped tasks.
Review these after 30 and 90 days. Most founders find the biggest gain isn't the hours themselves but the focus they get back.
When to hire a second VA
- Your first VA's queue is always full and new tasks wait.
- You need a different skill set, such as bookkeeping or customer support.
- You need coverage across more hours, such as mornings and evenings.
- Your business is growing and you want someone to lead admin and operations.
Mistakes to avoid when hiring a VA
- Delegating without instructions. "Handle my inbox" isn't a brief. Explain the rules.
- Hiring the cheapest option. Poor quality means you redo the work yourself.
- Micromanaging. Agree on outcomes, then let your VA work.
- No backup plan. If your only VA is sick or leaves, work stops. Managed providers solve this with backfill.
Hire a virtual assistant with DigiMason
DigiMason provides dedicated executive, admin and operations virtual assistants for small businesses and founders worldwide, working 40 hours a week on your hours. We pre-vet every VA, you interview and choose, and we handle payroll, equipment and backup cover. Start with one VA and add more as you grow. Need finance support too? We also provide bookkeeping and back-office staff. For technical roles, read our guide to offshore IT staff augmentation services.
FAQ
What tasks should I give a virtual assistant first?
Start with repetitive, time-consuming tasks that don't need your judgment: inbox sorting, scheduling, data entry, invoicing and research. Then add more as trust grows.
Is it safe to give a virtual assistant access to my accounts?
Yes, with the right controls: use a password manager, give separate logins with limited permissions, turn on two-factor authentication and sign an NDA.
Can a virtual assistant work in my time zone?
Yes. Dedicated VAs can work your business hours wherever you are, so they're online when you and your clients are.
How many hours a week do I need a VA for?
If you have more than 15–20 hours of delegable work each week, a dedicated full-time VA usually gives better value and reliability than a part-time freelancer.
What is the difference between a virtual assistant and an executive assistant?
A virtual assistant usually handles general admin and operational tasks. An executive assistant works closely with a founder or executive, managing their calendar, priorities, communication and travel.