Support shouldn't create another job for you

One of the things I often hear from business owners who know they need help is that they don't have time to actually hand anything over.

It's quicker to do it themselves. They don't have time to explain everything. They're not sure they'll have enough work every month. And even if they do find someone, they're worried they'll still have to manage them.

Then there's the trust side of it. When you've spent years building a business on your own, handing parts of it to somebody else can feel like quite a big deal. It's your baby, you know how everything works and you're used to being the person responsible for it all.

But if getting support means spending your days writing instructions, finding things for someone to do, checking their work and reminding them what needs doing next, you're not really freeing up very much time. You've just given yourself another person to manage.

There is an investment of time at the beginning

I'm never going to tell a prospective client that they can start working with me and immediately disappear while I magically work everything out. There is some work to do at the beginning.

I'll need access to the systems I'm going to be using. I might need your brand and tone of voice guidelines, examples of previous work or information about how you currently do things. You might show me an existing process in writing, through a screen recording or on a video call.

I'll probably ask quite a lot of questions too.

If I'm taking over something you've always done yourself, I may ask you to review my work initially so you can tell me what you like, what you don't and anything you'd do differently. That feedback helps me learn how you work until we both reach the point where you feel confident leaving it with me.

So yes, working with a VA might take some extra time at the beginning. But that initial investment should pay you back many times over as I get to know you and your business.

The whole point is that I gradually need less from you, not more.

I don't want you to have to manage me

I've worked with clients in the past who found it incredibly difficult to let go. Every task would be checked, every detail needed approval and I'd be given very specific instructions about exactly how something should be done.

I know why that happens. Trusting somebody else with a business you've built yourself isn't easy, particularly if you've been doing everything alone for years.

I'll always try to help a client become more comfortable handing things over. I'll ask questions, keep them informed and make sure they know what's happening. But ultimately, I need my clients to trust me to manage the things they've asked me to take responsibility for.

If you still have to tell me what to do, how to do it and when to do it, then check I've done it afterwards, we're probably not going to be the right fit for each other.

I work best with clients who want to reach the point where they can think, “Emma's got that”, and take it off their own mental list.

That doesn't happen overnight. I'm happy to put the work in to earn that trust, but there has to be a willingness to let go too.

This is one reason I stopped selling hours

I used to work with hourly packages and, over time, I noticed they weren't always working particularly well for me or my clients.

If someone had paid for a certain number of hours, they understandably wanted to use them. Sometimes that meant finding work for me to do simply because there were hours left. If they had a quieter month and didn't need all of them, they might feel they hadn't received the value they'd paid for.

Then the following month could be incredibly busy and they'd need much more from me.

That's just the reality of running a business. Some months are busier than others and the type of support you need can change too.

It's one of the reasons I now quote for the role I'm performing in a client's business rather than the number of hours I work.

Some months they'll need more from me and some months they'll need less. They don't have to keep track of how many hours they've used or find things for me to do because they've paid for the time.

They also know what their support will cost each month, which makes budgeting much easier.

We'll review the role after the initial three months to make sure it's working for both of us. And if the business changes or they'd like me to take on more, we can review it again.

It feels much more like becoming part of someone's business than selling them blocks of my time.

I still need you to be involved

None of this means I don't need anything from my clients once we're up and running.

If I'm managing your social media, I need to know about upcoming workshops, events and anything else happening in the business. I'll probably need photographs and reels from you too, because wherever possible I'd rather use real content from your business than rely entirely on stock images or Canva graphics.

If I'm managing your emails or customer support and something out of the ordinary comes in, I may need you to make a decision. And if I ask you a question, I need you to come back to me in a reasonable amount of time so I can keep things moving.

I need feedback too, especially in the early days. If you love something I've done, tell me. If something doesn't feel right, tell me that as well. That's how I learn.

The goal isn't for you to have nothing to do with the areas I've taken on. It's that I'm not constantly relying on you to tell me what needs to happen next.

But what if you genuinely don't have time to hand things over?

If you're already incredibly busy, finding the time to bring somebody into your business can feel impossible. I understand that.

But I'd also ask what happens if you don't.

If you're already too busy to hand anything over, continuing to do everything yourself isn't going to create more space. A few months from now, you'll probably still be trying to fit everything in and wondering when things are going to calm down.

There may be a short period where bringing me into your business takes some extra time. I'll need information from you and you'll need to answer my questions.

But that isn't where we should still be six months down the line.

Once I understand your business, your systems and the way you like to work, I can start taking things off your hands properly. And over time, you also have someone who knows your business well enough to bounce ideas around with, ask for an opinion or trust to keep things moving when you're busy or away.

You shouldn't feel as though you've hired another person to manage. You should feel as though there's finally someone else helping you carry the business.

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TL;DR: Getting support does require some of your time at the beginning. There are systems to share, processes to explain and trust to build. But that shouldn't continue indefinitely. Good ongoing support should gradually need less management, not more, leaving you with someone you trust to take responsibility for their role in your business.

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Wondering how that relationship develops once you've found the right support? Read What actually happens when you work with a Virtual Assistant month after month? to see how ongoing support becomes more proactive and personalised as someone gets to know your business.

You might also enjoy A creative partnership over 6 years, Katie's story about how Virtual Assistant support helped her spend less time managing the business and more time focusing on her creative work.