If you’re a business owner, you probably have a do-it-all attitude and are used to 12-hour workdays, juggling both administrative tasks and strategic priorities. Sometimes, all this work can leave you feeling overwhelmed—and this can negatively impact your business.
Over half of small businesses now hire a virtual assistant (VA), and demand continues to grow significantly year-over-year. While many entrepreneurs worry about costs and trust when hiring virtual support, remote assistants continue to grow in popularity.
At Remitly, we’re excited about helping you find new opportunities for your business to grow. In this article, we’ll cover eight warning signs you need a VA, tasks to delegate first, and tips for a smooth transition.
The hidden cost of doing everything yourself
Doing everything yourself might have helped your business get off the ground, but it could be what’s holding you back now.
As an entrepreneur, it’s important to understand the value of your own time. A simple way to figure this out is to divide your weekly gross income by the number of hours you work. For example, if you’ve earned £3,000 GBP this week and worked 40 hours, an hour of your time is worth £75.
With this in mind, spending hours on administrative or entry-level tasks that could be handled for £10/hour isn’t the best use of your time or skills. If you could delegate these tasks to someone else, you could focus on the strategic work that helps your business maximise income and growth.
In addition to the numbers game, delegating some tasks will help you to avoid burnout. Not only is this good for your personal life and wellbeing, but it’s also good for business. Entrepreneur burnout slows—or completely halts—business growth by decreasing productivity, innovation, and decision-making capability.
You’ll know you’re heading towards burnout and that it’s time to hire a virtual assistant if you identify with any of the following eight warning signs.
Sign 1: You’re working more than 50 hours a week
Countries around the world are experimenting with shorter workweeks. Belgium was the first European country to legislate a four-day workweek, which led to improved work-life balance, reduced burnout, increased motivation and, in some cases, greater productivity. The data is clear: to do good work, you can’t work too much.
The great productivity decline
Working over 50 hours a week negatively affects decision-making quality and creativity. Although it might feel counterintuitive, too much work eventually leads to diminishing returns.
A Stanford study conducted by economics professor John Pencavel showed that productivity per hour drops steeply after 50 hours per week. Once you cross 55 hours per week, productivity drops so significantly that the additional hours worked become largely pointless.
Try auditing your weekly hours to spot trends. If you’re consistently working over 50 hours, it’s a clear sign you need a virtual assistant to lighten your load.
Sign 2: Administrative tasks consume more than 30% of your day
Administrative tasks are a large part of running a business, but they can often feel like busywork while taking up a surprising amount of time. Common tasks that can be easily delegated include:
- Email management
- Scheduling
- Data entry
- Travel arrangements
- Bookkeeping
- Scheduling meetings
If you’re already tracking your weekly hours, separate time spent on administrative versus revenue-generating tasks. Spending more than 30% of your time on administrative work is a strong sign that a virtual assistant for small business owners could help you reclaim your time.
Sign 3: You’re constantly missing deadlines or opportunities
Feeling overwhelmed by work can make it easy to miss opportunities. This might mean struggling to keep up with emails, missing deadlines, responding slowly to important messages, or simply losing focus needed for networking.
The domino effect of delayed responses
Even if you’re doing the best you can, client expectations don’t change based on your workload. Clients still expect you to deliver on promises and contractual responsibilities regardless of how much work you have.
Slower response times can harm client relationships and create the impression of disorganisation, even if that’s not the case. Plus, there’s a competitive disadvantage: delayed responses can cost you opportunities to win new business.
Here are some examples of what can happen when capacity runs out:
- Lost sales and revenue: A wedding caterer with near-monopoly demand in a small town gets booked for multiple events in a weekend. This prevents them from delivering on all commitments, ultimately resulting in unhappy clients and refund requests.
- Delayed growth and innovation: A tech company, short on staff support, pushes a new, innovative feature to market as fast as possible. It ends up being buggy and isn’t very user-friendly. This leads users to switch to competitors.
- Weakened market position: An independent bookstore can’t complete customer orders due to limited stock and a flood of orders that the owner cannot fulfil on his own. What was once an exciting addition to a small town becomes second-choice to larger retailers like Barnes and Noble and Amazon.
- Missed talent opportunities: Without the hours in a day to onboard and train new employees, a local veterinary office continues manual filing, never switching over to digital. They eventually lose business to larger clinics that provide immediate updates about pets via text message to customers.
Sign 4: Your business growth has plateaued
When your work capacity is maxed out, your revenue often is too. Delegating tasks allows you to focus on high-yield work while a virtual assistant handles time-consuming administrative duties.
With more time, you’ll be able to engage in more strategic thinking that drives business growth. When you’re free from daily demands, you can focus on long-term goals, connect past and future plans, and develop innovative solutions.
Delegation also helps you scale without increasing costs proportionally. For example, if you increase revenue-driving work by 30% while paying a VA a lower rate, your net income grows.
Unsure it’ll work? Check out these five case studies that prove how valuable virtual support can be to overcoming a business growth plateau.
Sign 5: You haven’t taken time off in months
When was the last time you took a holiday without your laptop or phone buzzing in the background? Rest is essential for long-term business health. Despite becoming the norm, constant availability negatively affects mental health and decision-making. The more interruptions you face, the harder it is to control communication and perform at your best.
The solution is dedicated downtime, taken both regularly and sporadically. This means logging off after work and over the weekend, and taking real holidays where you can fully disconnect.
To do this without feeling anxious or scared, you need reliable virtual support behind the scenes. A virtual assistant can create backup systems, manage urgent tasks, and ensure smooth operations, so you can relax knowing your business is in good hands.
Sign 6: Client service quality is declining
You’ll know the quality of your client service is declining if you see any of these warning signs:
- Slower response times
- Missed follow-ups
- More errors
- Missed deadlines
When your capacity is stretched, attention to detail suffers, which can negatively affect client retention. Happy clients feel seen and supported when they need it most. In this way, service quality directly impacts client retention rates and ultimately, your business revenue.
Clients expect timely communication, often within a business day. If you’re struggling to keep up, you could benefit from a virtual assistant to manage client communications and maintain a high standard of service.
Sign 7: You’re avoiding new business because you can’t handle more
Even if you’re excellent at your work, turning away new business can feel discouraging. Limiting growth has long-term consequences:
- Stagnation and loss of competitiveness: Failing to grow can lead to a decrease in market share, allowing competitors to innovate and capture your lost opportunities.
- Reduced relevance: Avoiding new business can make it harder to keep up with trends, technological advancements, and changing customer expectations.
- Decreased profitability: Over time, turning down business can lead to lost revenue.
- Stifled innovation: Less exposure to new opportunities can limit creative thinking and future business potential.
A virtual assistant for a small business can act as a dedicated point of contact for new leads, ensuring potential clients receive timely attention and care while keeping your business responsive and competitive.
Sign 8: Your personal life is suffering
Work-life balance can be tricky. When you’re passionate about your career, it can feel like your personal life and business are constantly at odds with each other. You might miss a friend’s birthday because you’re at the office late working on a project. Alternatively, you could lose a major client because you stepped away for dinner with your spouse. Situations like these can create frustration and stress.
Personal wellbeing directly affects business performance. Maintaining personal relationships and prioritising your health helps you perform at your best. In this way, work-life balance becomes essential for long-term business success.
If your personal life is suffering, it may be a clear sign you need a VA or remote assistant to help balance things out.
What tasks you should delegate first
Once you’re ready to hire a virtual assistant, it helps to start with high-volume, low-skill tasks. These are often repetitive or time-consuming, giving you the most immediate relief and helping your remote assistant gain confidence in your systems.
Some tasks to consider delegating first include:
- Data entry and spreadsheets: repetitive tasks that take up hours each week
- Email management: keeping your inbox organised and responding to routine messages
- Schedules and calendar management: coordinating meetings, appointments, and travel
- Research: gathering information for reports, projects, or competitors
After your VA has mastered these administrative tasks, you can start delegating customer service duties and eventually specialised tasks. Using a delegation priority matrix, like the Eisenhower Matrix, can help you identify which tasks provide the most value to delegate first.
Making the transition: your first 30 days
Bringing a virtual assistant on board requires a structured approach. Here’s a roadmap to help you start smoothly:
Week 1: define tasks and create process documentation
- List the tasks to delegate first
- Create step-by-step guides or templates
- Set clear expectations for communication and workflow
Week 2: find and hire the right VA
- Use reputable platforms or specialised agencies
- Review profiles, check references, and consider trial tasks
- Choose someone whose skills and working style align with your business needs
Week 3: training and initial task handover
- Walk your VA through your processes
- Assign low-risk, high-volume tasks first
- Encourage questions and provide feedback to build confidence
Week 4: evaluate and adjust processes
- Review task completion, quality, and communication
- Improve processes based on feedback
- Gradually introduce more complex or specialised tasks as trust grows
Take control of your time and business growth
If your business has stopped growing or you find yourself missing deadlines, opportunities, or personal commitments, it may be a clear sign you need a virtual assistant. Delegation isn’t just an expense, but an investment in the future of your business and your own wellbeing.
Start by auditing your daily tasks to identify what can be delegated. Then, research the right virtual assistant for your needs. Popular options include:
- Freelancing sites: Fiverr and Upwork
- Specialised agencies: Viratalent, Time etc., TVAC (The Virtual Assistant Company), Tasktide, or Alchemy Virtual Assistance
Once you hire a VA, provide clear training materials, templates, and process guides. This ensures they deliver effective virtual support while allowing you to focus on strategic, revenue-driving work and maintain a better work-life balance.
FAQ
How much does hiring a virtual assistant typically cost?
Entry-level VAs in the UK usually cost about £10 to 15 GBP per hour, while experienced VAs can cost anywhere from £25 to 50 an hour—or more. Costs depend on experience, the type of work, and contract terms. Hiring a VA is often more cost-effective than employing someone in-house.
What’s the difference between a virtual assistant and an employee?
Virtual assistants are typically freelance and remote, so you don’t have to manage payroll, taxes, or benefits. Employees work in-house, and you handle all employment responsibilities. Both have pros and cons depending on your business needs.
How do I know if a virtual assistant is trustworthy?
Use reputable and established platforms that provide ratings and reviews of virtual assistants’ profiles. Ask for references, consider background checks, and start with low-risk tasks. Having a short trial period in the contract can help build confidence before committing to a longer relationship and assigning bigger responsibilities.
What if I can’t afford a virtual assistant right now?
Even if you think you can’t afford a full-time virtual assistant, you might consider hiring someone for 5-10 hours per month. If you truly don’t have it in your budget to hire a personal assistant, try alternatives to streamline your workflow, like automation tools and process improvements.
How quickly will I see results after hiring a VA?
You can expect initial improvements within two to four weeks as you and your VA develop a working relationship. Early wins might include faster responses, increased productivity, and less stress. Long-term benefits include better work-life balance and more time for strategic work.