Where do I even start!
The basics are what you'd think, right? Emails, diary management, payment chase-ups. All those jobs that take up time, that most people find boring, but that absolutely need doing to run a business.
But when you actually break it down, being a VA has so much more to it than that.
You start becoming an operations manager for one client, where you get this outside view of their business. So you start spotting things - gaps in their systems, or times when they're massively undercharging for what they do. For another client, you might be building them a landing page for the course they're about to launch.
Most VAs hone in on a specialty. For me, I love being creative - so content for social media, or designing a presentation for training. But then anyone who knows me knows how organised I am, so give me a CRM system that needs sorting and I'm locked in.
What I'm trying to say is that it's not just admin. It's solving whatever's keeping someone stuck. And that looks different for everyone.
Let me show you what I mean with two actual examples from my business.
The Sales Coach Who Had No Time to Take Sales Calls
I started working with a woman who runs a sales academy. She teaches women how to close high-ticket deals, and she's brilliant at it. Her closing rate is around 80%, which means if she gets five people on a call, four of them sign up. Her programmes cost between £1.5k and £2.5k at the time, depending on which one they go for.
The problem was she was doing all her own admin. Everything.
When we started working together, I took 5 hours a week off her plate. Just the usual - client follow-ups, inbox management, keeping things ticking over in the background.
Within the first couple of weeks, she realised those 5 hours I was handling meant she could take five more sales calls. And at her closing rate, if she took five calls and closed four, that's between £6k and £10k a week in total. From me handling 5 hours of admin.
But what really stuck with her wasn't even the money. It was the headspace. She said she finally had mental bandwidth again. Space to think about growing her business instead of just surviving it.
We ended up making a plan for me to move into part-time hours with her because she could finally see what was possible when she wasn't trying to do absolutely everything herself.
The £8k I Found That Had Been Sitting There for Six Months
Another client needed me for about 5 hours a month. Nothing huge - just checking in on payments, making sure people were up to date, flagging anyone coming up for renewal.
Except in my first two weeks, I found two clients who hadn't paid in over six months.
Roughly £8k just sitting there.
It wasn't her fault. She's really good at what she does and has a lot of clients. But when you're juggling everything on your own, things slip. Invoices don't get sent. Follow-ups don't happen. Money goes missing and you don't even notice because there's just too much going on.
I sorted it, got both clients back on track, and set up systems so it wouldn't happen again.
What I'm Really Doing
I'm handling the chaos that's keeping people stuck, basically and when this actually happens business owners get their time back. Proper time they can spend on the things that make them money - sales calls, client sessions, launching their new training program, whatever it is only they can do.
Things stop slipping through the cracks because there are systems holding it all together now. The mental load starts to lift because they're not trying to remember everything themselves anymore.
Their business goes from feeling completely overwhelming to something they can actually manage.
Who Actually Needs a VA
Not everyone does. If you're right at the start of building your business, or you're still figuring out what it even looks like, you probably don't need one yet.
But you might if you're spending hours every week on admin that isn't bringing money in. Or if you've lost track of clients or invoices and it's costing you. If you're working late into the evening or working the weekend just trying to keep on top of the basics, that's usually a sign.
Same if you know you need better systems but you've got no idea where to start, or you're having to turn things down because you're already doing too much.
What It Costs
I'm not going to pretend hiring someone is cheap. It does cost money.
But the sales coach I mentioned made back what she spent on me within her first week from being able to take those extra calls. The other client got £8k back that had just been sitting there, forgotten.
These clients i’ve worked with have made more money by working with me, because they had the time to take more on, or scale their business.
If Any of This Feels Familiar, If you've read this thinking "this is exactly where I'm at," then let's have a chat.
There's no pressure or anything. Just a proper conversation about whether I can help.
