Step 1: Scope the role with a two-week time log
For two weeks, log every task that steals your attention from revenue. Scheduling. Email triage. Data entry. Invoice chasing. Expense reports. Proposal formatting. That log becomes the job description. Donu2019t hire from a generic template.
Step 2: Write SOPs for the top five tasks
Five Loom videos. Thatu2019s it. Record yourself doing the task, narrate what youu2019re doing and why, save to a folder. Your VA should be able to onboard to 80% of the role from those five videos plus one hour of live Q&A.
Step 3: Pick the tools before you hire
A good VA works in your stack. Decide up front which tools theyu2019ll use (Google Workspace or M365, a project manager like Asana/ClickUp/Notion, a password vault like 1Password, a communication tool like Slack). Donu2019t improvise this in week one.
Step 4: Time zones are a feature, not a bug
The best use of an offshore VA is often overlap on your morning (so things are queued by the time you open your laptop) plus some same-shift overlap. Asynchronous work fills the rest. We typically recommend 3–4 hours of live overlap, not 8.
Step 5: Measure in weeks, not days
A new VA hits rhythm around week 4. Donu2019t panic at week 2 when their pace is still building. Weekly 15-minute retros and a shared task board fix 90% of what would otherwise spiral into u201cmaybe this isnu2019t workingu201d.
Start with a scoped trial
See our VA services page for typical scopes and pricing, or share your task log on Get Started.