5 Signs You’re Ready to Hire a VA
Over the past nine years, I’ve had the privilege of running a VA agency and witnessing firsthand the transformative power of effective delegation. Yet, I’ve also seen the pitfalls—leaders who jumped into hiring a VA before they were truly prepared and those who waited until they were too overwhelmed to onboard one properly. The timing of hiring a virtual assistant is as critical as the decision itself.
While I firmly believe that every leader can benefit from delegation, particularly through a VA, the key to success lies in readiness. The process of working with a VA is highly collaborative, and ensuring you’re prepared will significantly impact your return on investment.
Today, I want to help you assess your readiness by identifying whether you have enough tasks to delegate effectively. There are many reasons to bring a VA on board, but I’ve narrowed down the top signs that indicate it’s time to make the move.
Sign #1: Your Business is Growing
Growth is a thrilling sign of success. It’s the validation of your hard work, strategy, and vision coming to life. But as your business grows, so do the demands on your time and energy. This is where hiring a virtual assistant (VA) can make a pivotal difference, whether you’re the type of leader who’s already operating at a high level or someone who’s scrambling to keep up with newfound success.
For leaders who operate with consistency, a VA provides the opportunity to delegate routine tasks, freeing up even more time for big-picture thinking. These leaders stay focused on strategic connections and steady networking, which creates a predictable, sustainable growth pattern.
On the other hand, if you’re a leader who’s suddenly found yourself overwhelmed by a surge in business, a VA is essential to regaining control. By delegating time-consuming tasks, you can return to focusing on strategic growth and ensuring that your business continues to thrive without sacrificing your sanity.
No matter which type of leader you are, if your business is growing, it’s time to consider bringing a VA into the fold. A VA can help you manage the complexities of growth, keeping you focused on what matters most: driving your business forward.
Sign #2: You Receive More Than 75 Emails Per Day, or You Often Start Email Responses with an Apology for the Delay
Email is the lifeblood of modern business, but let’s face it—our brains aren’t wired to process the sheer volume of information that floods our inboxes each day. To achieve your biggest goals, you need to narrow your focus, and one of the fastest ways to do that is through delegation.
This is where a virtual assistant can be a game-changer. Imagine having a gatekeeper for your brain—someone who filters out the noise and brings your attention only to what truly matters. As your inbox fills up, your ability to stay focused diminishes. You find yourself sifting through marketing emails, cold sales pitches, and a barrage of other distractions, searching for the few messages that actually need your input.
A VA can break this cycle. By managing your inbox, they ensure that only the most critical emails reach you, freeing you to focus on what you do best—steering the vision and growth of your business. Remember who you are: the visionary leader. Getting bogged down in emails doesn’t align with your role. Let a VA handle the details so you can keep your attention where it belongs—on driving your business forward.
Sign #3: You Double-Booked Your Calendar or Asked Someone to Reschedule an Appointment at the Last Minute
We’ve all been there—realizing too late that you’ve double-booked yourself or, even worse, having to ask someone to reschedule at the last minute. It’s not just inconvenient; it’s embarrassing. In service-based, B2B industries, respecting others’ time is paramount. If rescheduling becomes a habit, it can impact your reputation, and that’s a risk no one can afford.
But let’s face it—you’ve got bigger fish to fry. As a leader, your time is valuable, and while things come up that require flexibility, juggling your calendar shouldn’t be on your to-do list. This is where a VA can make all the difference.
Just this week, I had an experience that reinforced the value of a VA. I had an interview scheduled, but the interviewee requested a reschedule. As I mentally rearranged my week to accommodate, I was ready to sacrifice some of my time blocked for vision planning and strategy. But before I could even respond to the request, my VA had already taken care of it. She replied on my behalf, maintaining my boundaries for strategic planning time and offering my next available time slot, which wasn’t until the following week. The result? The interviewee kept the original appointment, and my schedule stayed intact—all without my direct involvement.
A VA can do more than just manage your calendar; they can protect your priorities. By proactively reviewing your schedule and monitoring your inbox, they prevent double bookings and ensure that any necessary changes don’t disrupt your strategic time. This allows you to keep your mental focus where it belongs—on selling your expertise and growing your business—instead of getting lost in the game of Calendar Tetris.
Sign #4: You Have Existing Content but No Time to Share It on Social Media
As a thought leader, you’ve likely amassed a treasure trove of content—whether it’s written articles, recorded interviews, or images from past events and brainstorming sessions. But despite your best intentions, much of this content has never seen the light of day on social media. You’ve probably been saying for years that you want to be more active on LinkedIn, Instagram, and YouTube, but the reality is you’re too busy closing deals and delighting your customers to find the time to edit Reels or craft thoughtful LinkedIn posts.
This is where a VA can step in and elevate your online presence without demanding a lot of additional creative effort from you. A VA can take those podcast recordings and transform them into social media-length clips, transcribe videos into readable posts, and break them down into engaging LinkedIn content. They can mine your past content to create fresh, impactful posts that keep your audience engaged—all without you having to lift a finger.
If you’ve been sitting on a goldmine of content, it’s time to stop putting it off. Let a VA help you share your expertise with the world and ensure that your valuable insights get the attention they deserve.
Sign #5: You Are Neglecting Basic Self-Care Practices Such as Eating Lunch, Sleeping, or Working Out
If you’re finding yourself skipping lunch, losing sleep, or neglecting your workouts, it’s a clear sign that something’s got to give. Success can be thrilling, but when it comes at the expense of your basic self-care, it’s holding you back more than you realize.
Our bodies, brains, and spirits have non-negotiable needs.
Sure, you might push through for a while, convincing yourself that the sacrifice is worth it. But when you consistently neglect yourself, you’re sending a message to your system that you’re under stress and need to switch into survival mode. This not only drains your energy but also perpetuates negative emotions like frustration, anxiety, and even depression.
I don’t know about you, but I have no interest in living in survival mode. I want to live fully, make a difference, and enjoy the journey along the way.
To create your greatest impact, you need to nurture your body, brain, and spirit through daily rituals and routines that are non-negotiable. For me, that means dedicating the first two hours of each day to stretching, meditating, and cultivating positive energy—like love and curiosity—to keep my mind sharp and my body strong for the long haul.
Delegating to a VA isn’t just about freeing up time; it’s about creating space to maintain the habits that make you a successful entrepreneur. A VA can help you stay in head-up mode, focusing on the high-level priorities that drive your business forward, while knowing that the smaller details are taken care of, too.
In today’s fast-paced business world, even one of these signs could be a clear indicator that it’s time to bring a virtual assistant on board. Whether your business is growing, your inbox is overwhelming, your calendar is chaotic, your content is gathering dust, or your self-care is slipping, a fractional virtual executive assistant can make a world of difference.
If these signs are evident in your life, you might be thinking, “Okay, it sounds like I need a VA, but now what?”
The next step is simple: set up a discovery call with Bex Howell, our Business Development Specialist. Together, we’ll explore how a VA can support you in reclaiming your time, energy, and focus—allowing you to keep your head up and your business thriving.
Before founding Trusty Oak, Amber spent five years at a rapidly growing digital agency based in Austin, TX. Four of those years, she was responsible for hiring and leading both local and virtual teams while working closely with clients ranging from CEOs to bestselling authors to build their brand online. As VP of Operations, Amber helped lead the company’s growth to #15 on Austin Business Journal’s Fast50 List in 2014.
As a female founder and leader of a company that has quickly established a recognizably special culture within a non-traditional workforce, Amber has energized and empowered women from diverse professional and personal backgrounds to go against the grain of historically standard female roles in business, technology, and leadership. Trusty Oak provides an opportunity for experienced admin and marketing professionals to work independently as freelancers, but with a supportive internal network consisting of other ambitious and resourceful remote workers.