Signs you're ready for a VA, and signs you're not yet

The short answer

A VA helps when there is a steady flow of work that repeats, happens on a screen, does not need you personally, and could be written down. It does not help much when there is only a trickle of that work, when all of it lives in your head with no time to get it out, or when the job needs somebody physically there.

Most owners are somewhere in the middle. The lists below are there to show you which side you are nearer, and what to fix first if you are close.

Signs a VA would help

Look for these in a normal week, not your worst one:

• Admin has moved into your evenings and weekends. The day goes on the work customers pay for, and the invoicing, email and paperwork wait until the children are in bed.
• Slow replies are costing you work. Enquiries sit for a day because you are with a client or on a job, and some of those people have booked somebody else by the time you answer.
• You do the same tasks, the same way, every week: the same reports, the same chasers, the same updates copied from one system to another. If you could explain it once, somebody else could do it.
• You are turning work down, or not chasing it, because you could not deliver it and keep up with the admin as well.
• Small things slip. An invoice goes out late, a follow-up is forgotten, a renewal is caught the day before it lapses. None of it is a disaster, but it keeps happening.
• You already know what you would hand over first. When the answer comes to mind straight away, the work is usually real and describable.

Signs it is not the answer yet

Some situations point the other way, and it is better to know that before you spend anything:

• There is not enough repeatable work to fill 20 hours a week. A dedicated VA is a standing role, and ours start at 20 hours a week. With only a few hours, a UK freelancer paid by the hour, or a better set-up in the tools you already use, is often the cheaper answer.
• Nothing is written down, and you have no time to write anything. This is not fatal, but a new VA learns from what you show them. If you cannot find an hour a week for the first month to explain and check, the first month will go badly.
• The work needs somebody in the room: meeting customers, handling stock, collecting keys, visiting sites. A remote assistant can book, chase and organise that work, but cannot do it.
• The real problem is not enough sales. A VA frees your time; they do not create demand. If the diary is empty rather than full, spend the money on finding customers first.
• You want somebody to decide what the business should do. A VA follows your priorities and your procedures. Setting the direction is a different job.

A quick way to read your answers

If you recognised yourself in both lists, this is roughly how they balance out:

Questions to answer before your first hire

Whoever you hire, and wherever they are, settle these first. Write the answers down; they become the brief.

• What will they own? Name the first three tasks, not a general area like admin.
• How many hours a week is it, and is that steady or seasonal?
• What does good look like for each task, and how will you check it?
• Who answers their questions, and how quickly? A VA waiting on you all day is a VA not working.
• What can they decide alone, and what must come back to you? Refunds, prices and anything said to an unhappy customer are the usual ones to settle early.
• What is the monthly budget, including the first few weeks when they are still learning?
• Are you prepared to spend time in the first month teaching and correcting? It is easy to underestimate, and it is the part that decides whether it works.

The extra questions an overseas hire raises

A VA in the Philippines or elsewhere can do most of the same work as one in the UK, but a few things need deciding that you would not think about with a local hire.

• Which UK hours do you need covered? Mornings for the inbox, afternoons for customer calls, or evenings for enquiries that arrive after you finish? Agree the hours in UK time and write their local time beside them. UK clocks change on the last Sunday in March and the last Sunday in October, and if their country does not change on the same days, the gap moves, so check the rota then. /guides/hire-a-virtual-assistant-from-the-philippines sets out the hours for the Philippines.
• Whose public holidays apply? UK bank holidays and the holidays in their country do not line up. Decide which days they take, whether those days are paid, and who covers urgent work.
• What access will they need, and how will you give it? Each system they use should have their own login where the software allows it, not your password. If they will see personal data about your customers, sending it to a separate person or company outside the UK is a restricted transfer under UK GDPR, which needs a proper basis. The ICO explains the options; take advice if you are unsure.
• How will you communicate? Pick one place for messages and one for tasks, agree when you will speak live, and ask for a short written update at the end of every shift. Written instructions travel across time zones far better than a quick word in passing.
• What happens if the power or internet goes? Ask what back-up they have, and agree what they do and who they tell if they cannot work.
• How are they paid, and in which currency? Agree the rate, the currency, the payment day and the method before you start. Our guide at /guides/filipino-virtual-assistant-cost-uk covers what to expect.
• Are they a contractor or an employee, and whose law applies to the contract? That depends on how the arrangement works in practice. Take advice.

If you are nearly there

Sometimes the honest answer is not yes or no, but nearly. There is enough work, but it is not yet in a shape someone else could pick up. The fix is small and it is yours: choose three tasks, record yourself doing each one while explaining why, and turn the recordings into written steps. Our guide at /guides/how-to-hand-work-to-a-virtual-assistant goes through how.

If you are still weighing up the type of help, /guides/managed-va-freelancer-or-uk-hire compares a managed VA, a freelancer and a UK employee, including when each is the right answer.

A second opinion on your week

Our free plan at /fit asks a few quick questions about your business and your week. It tells you whether a VA would work for you now, which jobs they would take off your plate first, the kind of person we would hire, and what it costs next to a UK employee. Sometimes the answer is not yet, because there is not enough work to hand over or it is not in a shape somebody else could pick up. Better to know that before you spend anything.