Why Hiring a VA Didn't Work (And What to Try Next)

You did the thing everyone told you to do.

You hit capacity. You were drowning in admin. You finally admitted you couldn't do it all yourself. So you hired a VA.

And then... it didn't work.

Maybe they needed too much direction. Maybe you spent more time explaining tasks than it would have taken to do them yourself. Maybe things slipped through the cracks, or the handover never quite happened, or you just quietly let the contract fizzle out and went back to doing everything alone.

If that sounds familiar, you're not unusual. It's one of the most common stories I hear from service business owners, and it rarely has anything to do with the VA being bad at their job.

The real problem with hiring a VA when you're overwhelmed

Here's what usually happens.

You're busy. Really busy. You're delivering client work, answering emails, trying to keep on top of invoices, thinking about that lead you forgot to follow up with, and somewhere in the back of your mind there's a list of "things I should really sort out" that never gets touched.

So you hire a VA to take some of it off your plate.

But in order to delegate, you need to know what to hand over. You need to explain how you want it done. You need to have some kind of system, or at least a rough process, that someone else can follow.

And when you're at capacity, you don't have the headspace for any of that.

So the VA sits waiting for instructions. Or they do things slightly wrong because they had to guess. Or you end up micromanaging because it's quicker than explaining. And eventually, it falls apart.

It's not that you're bad at delegating. It's that delegation requires clarity, and clarity requires time you don't have.

The gap between "task-doer" and "strategic partner"

Most VAs are great at execution. You tell them what to do, and they do it. That's the job.

But if you don't know what to tell them, or you don't have time to manage the workflow, or the tasks keep changing because your business is in a messy growth phase, then a traditional VA relationship can feel like more work, not less.

On the other end of the spectrum, you've got Online Business Managers. They take a more strategic role, overseeing operations, managing teams, thinking about the bigger picture. But if you're a solopreneur or a tiny team, that can feel like overkill. You don't need someone to "manage operations." You just need someone to help you get your head above water.

There's a gap in the middle. Someone who can do the tasks, but also spot the bottlenecks. Someone who can take things off your plate without needing you to spell out every step. Someone who can look at your client journey and say, "this bit isn't working," and then actually fix it.

What to look for if you're thinking about trying again

If your first VA experience didn't work out, it's worth asking yourself a few questions before you hire again.

Do you actually know what you need help with? Not a vague "I need support." A real, specific list. If you can't articulate it, you might need someone who can help you figure that out first.

Do you have the time to manage someone? If the answer is no, then a task-based VA probably isn't the right fit. You need someone with more initiative, someone who can look at your business and work out what needs doing without waiting to be told.

Is the problem tasks, or is the problem systems? Sometimes the issue isn't that you have too much to do. It's that your processes are inefficient, your client journey is clunky, or things are falling through the cracks because nothing is properly set up. Handing that to a VA won't fix it. You need someone who can think operationally.

What I offer instead

I work as a hybrid VA and fractional OBM. That means I handle the day-to-day stuff, but I also look at how your business is running behind the scenes.

I'll do the implementation. But I'll also ask why your onboarding process has seven steps when it could have three, or why you're manually chasing invoices when it could be automated, or what's happening to the leads that enquire but never book.

It's not just about getting tasks done. It's about making sure the right things are getting done, in a way that actually works.

I work on a monthly retainer, minimum three months, because it takes time to understand a business properly and make changes that stick. If you're looking for someone to dip in and out for one-off tasks, I'm probably not the right fit. But if you want someone who can take real ownership of your operations while you focus on delivery, we should talk.