Last updated on October 18th, 2025 at 06:36 am
Are you looking to hire your next virtual assistant?
Do you want to avoid the pitfalls and save time and money when hiring a virtual assistant?
There are some valuable management hacks that you may have missed the last time.
I’m not going to lie, finding a rockstar virtual assistant can be a challenging task in itself.
It can be hard to find someone who is not only excellent at what they do but also someone who you can connect and talk with comfortably.
There can be a lot of obstacles in the way when it comes to hiring a virtual assistant that will cost you money and can take up a lot of your time.
While you have probably heard a lot of horror stories about virtual assistants, some of them may be the virtual assistants fault whereas other times it can be because the management hasn’t been properly thought out or actioned.
At the end of the day, hiring a virtual assistant can be a lot cheaper than employing staff which is what makes it such a popular choice for many small businesses and solo entrepreneurs.
You will likely get a stinker every now and again, however, to avoid it happening time and time again; let me explain how to save time and money on hiring a rockstar virtual assistant.
Make Sure You’re Absolutely Ready to Hire Another Virtual Assistant
This may seem like a pretty obvious management hack however you will be surprised as to how often entrepreneurs jump the gun too soon.
Hiring another virtual assistant too soon could be detrimental on your profit so think carefully about whether you truly are ready to hire another.
You may feel like you’re crazy busy right now but carefully think about how much time it will take you to train thoroughly your virtual assistant on the tasks they will be responsible for, the background of your business and about your product.
As well as the initial training, you will need to delegate tasks to them and have weekly catch ups.
Make sure that you are willing to dedicate time to these things.
If you believe you are truly ready to hire another virtual assistant, then you will need to have a training plan, delegation process and weekly catch up processes in place beforehand to save time and money.
Write Down All of the Things You do On a Daily Basis
Do not over think this one and start setting up spreadsheets.
Simply get a pen and paper and write down all the tasks you find yourself doing every day.
This can be anything from replying to client emails, reviewing social media notifications, organizing the calendar of tasks for the week to managing the company financials.
Write down everything you find yourself doing every day, not matter how big or small a task it is.
For example:
- Respond to client emails
- Organizing the task calendar for the week
- Writing the daily blog post for the company website
- Review performance on Google Analytics
Choose Which Task You Would Delegate First
After you have created the list of tasks that you find yourself doing every day, circle one single task that you would love to delegate to a virtual assistant.
At this point, don’t think about how much it will cost you. Circle any task that you would love to have help with if money wasn’t a factor.
For example, you may wish to delegate the daily blog posts to a virtual assistant from the list of daily tasks above.
Write Down a Checklist for That Task
Now that you have the one task that you would love to delegate, write a checklist of things that need to be done in order to complete that task.
Again, don’t worry about whether anything is too small of a step.
Make sure to write down everything that comes to mind or even do the task yourself and jot down each step that you do.
For example, to write the blog posts you might do the following:
- Look for blog topic ideas
- Choose a target keyword
- Create a compelling headline
- Research the topics
- Create the outline of the blog post
- Write the blog post
- Review and edit the blog post
- Publish the blog post
- Share it on social media
- Send it to email contacts
- Reach out to any influencers mentioned in the post
- Respond to blog comments
Use clear checklists before hiring a virtual assistant. It saves time and money.
Having a clear checklist before hiring a virtual assistant will save you a lot of time and money after when you have to edit mistakes through no fault of the virtual assistant.
Being clear about what you need to be done from the get-go is vital to not only attract rockstar virtual assistants but to make sure they work effectively after hiring.
Decide On Your Budget
Now, that you have your checklist of things that need to be done to complete the task that you would like to delegate, it is time to look at what budget you have.
The reason you should write down all of the things that need to be done to complete the task you want to delegate it because you can delegate the sub-tasks if your budget can’t cover the whole task.
This means that you will still be able to get help on those pesky tasks without stretching your wallet too thin.
For example, from the checklist above you may decide to delegate the following sub-tasks:
- Research the topics
- Write the blog post
Go Where Virtual Assistants Hang Out
Now that you have an exact idea of the sub-tasks you need help with and a set budget, you can start looking for your next rockstar virtual assistant.
The best places to go looking for your next virtual assistant are the places where they tend to hang out and operate from such as:
Post your job as open so it is open to the all virtual assistants.
Once you have found three or four virtual assistants that you feel would be a good choose, interview them to get to know them better.
Hire Two Virtual Assistants, Not One
No, I haven’t gone mad, let me explain. After you have interviewed the three or four candidates, narrow them down to two and offer to hire them for one week or one project as a trial.
Making a final decision without a working trial is like going into blind.
If it doesn’t work out, then you’ll have to go back to the other candidates with your tail between your legs.
You will have also wasted time and money making a final decision too soon.
After the trial week or project is over, compare their work and make your final decision.
Articulate and Affirm
It isn’t all about the hiring process that can help save you time and money; it is also about what you do after you have hired them.
Your rockstar virtual assistant will only be able to rock if they have clear instructions on what they need to do and what results you expect from them.
If you aren’t clear on this or do not provide training or background, they will be left to their own devices almost.
This can cause a lot of time and money going back and forth communicating required edits.
Avoid These Common Mistakes
As well as doing the right things when hiring your next virtual assistant, there are also some mistakes you need to avoid which are commonly happening.
Don’t Focus Too Much On the Price Tag
It can be all too tempting to choose the virtual assistant that is charging $1 an hour, but while it may sound cheap now, it could cost you dearly in the long run when you’re left with a poorly designed website or spammy looking blog posts.
The same goes for high costing virtual assistants. Just because they are charging a lot more than others, does not mean that they are the best.
Don’t focus too heavily on the price tag but rather their communication skills and how they perform in a trial.
Don’t Expect Them to do Everything
One of the biggest mistakes I so often see when entrepreneurs hire virtual assistants is that they view them as a one stop shop.
They specialize in one particular area and were originally attracting to your job offer because they could meet the requirements you originally asked for.
Asking them after you have hired them to do other things will only make them feel like they have been duped which may lead to a lack of performance.
Conclusion
Doing all the things I have mentioned in this blog post will save you time and money when it comes to hiring your next virtual assistant.
What experiences have you had in the past with virtual assistants?
Feel free to share them by leaving your comments below.
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