Are Virtual Assistants Worth It? A Simple, Honest Guide for Busy Business Owners

You’re busy.

Your days disappear into email, calls, messages, invoices, scheduling, and “quick” tasks that never seem quick. You know you should focus on strategy, sales, and growth. Instead, you drown in admin.

That’s usually when people start to Google:

“Are virtual assistants worth it?”

“Are virtual assistants worth it reddit?”

You’re not looking for hype. You want a straight answer:

• Will a VA actually save you time?
• Will a VA actually save you money?
• Or will you add another person to manage?

This guide walks through that question with a simple ROI calculator, and an honest look at when a VA makes sense and when it doesn’t.

Are Virtual Assistants Worth It? The Short Answer

Yes. Virtual assistants (VAs) are absolutely worth it if you hire the right person and set things up properly. A skilled VA can free up 12 to 15 hours of your time every week. That’s like adding an extra month to your year. But a bad fit will waste your time and energy on managing someone, rather than focusing on your business.

The Numbers: What Do You Actually Get?

You don’t want vague promises. You want to know what you get in real life.

Most small businesses and executives who use virtual assistants see three main benefits:

1. Time back

A good VA can take 10-15 hours of work off your plate each week. That usually includes things like:

• Inbox triage and replies to common messages.
• Calendar management and meeting scheduling.
• Travel plans and bookings.
• Simple research.
• Document prep and reporting.
• Admin around clients, tenants, patients, or projects.

If your time is worth £100 per hour and your VA takes 10 hours of tasks each week, that’s £1,000 worth of time freed up. Even if you only use half of that for billable work or high-value tasks, the numbers add up fast.

2. Lower labour costs

Hiring a full-time employee in the UK is expensive. You don’t just pay a salary. You also pay:

• National Insurance.
• Pension contributions.
• Office costs (if they’re in-house).
• Equipment and software.
• Holiday pay, sick pay, and more.

With a virtual assistant, especially one based in the Philippines, you often pay 40-70% less than you would for hiring a local employee to do the same tasks.

You only pay for the hours you need. You don’t pay extra overhead.

3. Less stress and more focus

This one is hard to measure but very real.

When someone else handles the small tasks, you:

• Stop waking up to a flooded inbox.
• Stop missing follow-ups.
• Feel more in control of your week.
• Have more headspace for decisions that matter.

If you run a growing business or hold a senior role, less stress is not a “nice to have.” It’s the difference between moving forward and burning out.

When Virtual Assistants Make the Most Sense

Virtual assistants work best in clear situations. Here are common signs that a VA is a smart next step.

You’re doing the same tasks every week

These could be:

• Answering routine emails and messages.
• Sending invoices and chasing late payments.
• Updating property listings or CRM records.
• Booking appointments or meetings.
• Preparing simple reports.

If you can say, “I do this every week and it always takes me ages,” a VA can probably handle it.

Your effective hourly rate is high

If your time is worth more than what you’d pay a VA per hour, it rarely makes sense for you to do low-level admin.

For example:

• If you can bill clients £100 per hour.
• And you pay a VA £10-£15 per hour.

It’s usually better for you to spend time on work only you can do and let a VA handle the rest.

You already feel close to burnout

Many executives and founders only hire a VA when they already feel overwhelmed. That’s normal. But the sooner you bring in structured help, the faster you regain control of your time.

If you frequently:

• Work evenings or weekends.
• Miss follow-ups or deadlines.
• Feel guilty about ignoring family, health, or hobbies.

Then a VA is not a luxury. It’s a support you need to keep going.

Simple VA ROI Calculator: Will a VA Pay Off for You?

Here’s a very simple way to see if a VA makes financial sense.

Step 1: Count your weekly admin hours

Take an honest guess. 

Last week:

• How many hours did you spend on email, scheduling, admin, and “paperwork”?
• Add it up. Let’s say it’s 12 hours.

Step 2: Put a value on your time

Use either:

• Your hourly rate (if you bill by the hour), or
• A rough guess (monthly revenue ÷ hours worked).

Let’s say your time is worth £80 per hour.

12 hours of admin = £960 of your time each week.

Step 3: Estimate VA cost

Through a provider like Teambuild, you can hire:

• Part-time VA (4 hours per day, 5 days per week)
• Full-time VA (8 hours per day, 5 days per week)

The exact numbers will depend on role and level, but a skilled Philippines-based VA will almost always cost much less than a local UK employee.

For a simple example, say a part-time VA costs you £500–£800 per month.

Step 4: Compare value vs cost

Rough monthly value of your time saved:

• 12 hours/week × £80 = £960/week.
• Roughly £3,800/month of potential value.

If a VA costs £500-£900/month and frees even half that value, you’re still ahead.

That’s why many business owners see a 1-3 month payback period when they use a VA correctly.

The Industries That Win Big with Virtual Assistants

Some industries see especially strong gains from virtual assistants. These often have heavy admin, repeatable processes, and high-value people doing low-value work.

Here are a few where Teambuild focuses.

Property and Real Estate

For:

• Landlords.
• Letting agents.
• Property managers.

Common tasks for a property VA:

• Answer tenant calls and messages.
• Send viewing confirmations and reminders.
• Update listings and portals.
• Chase paperwork and references.
• Coordinate maintenance visits.

This work is repetitive but vital. When a VA handles it well, you reduce vacancy time and improve tenant satisfaction. In many portfolios, cutting vacancy by even one week per unit per year can cover the VA’s cost and then some.

Accounting and Bookkeeping

For:

• Small and mid-sized accounting firms.
• Bookkeeping services.
• Tax practices.

A VA can handle:

• Data entry.
• Bank reconciliation.
• Invoice creation and follow-up.
• Basic reporting and client reminders.

That frees senior staff from low-value admin so they can focus on billable advisory work, complex tax, and client relationships. Your capacity grows without adding expensive local salaries.

Executive and Personal Support

For:

• Founders.
• Directors.
• C-level executives.

Typical tasks:

• Inbox management and triage.
• Calendar control and meeting scheduling.
• Travel planning.
• Meeting notes and follow-ups.
• Personal tasks that clog your day.

If your time is worth £100-£150 per hour, handing off 10–15 hours of admin each week to a VA can deliver a significant return.

Tech, Engineering, and IT

For:

• Tech startups
• Engineering firms
• IT service providers

A VA can support:

• Documentation and updating knowledge bases.
• Managing project tools (tickets, boards, status updates).
• Vendor communication and follow-up.
• Simple data tasks and reports.

This keeps engineers and specialists focused on problem-solving rather than paperwork.

Medical and Healthcare (Admin Only)

For:

• Clinics and practices.
• Therapists.
• Private healthcare providers.

A VA can assist with:

• Patient intake and forms (non-clinical).
• Appointment scheduling and reminders.
• Insurance details and basic admin.
• Follow-up messages.

Clinicians stay focused on patients rather than on phones and forms. Admin runs smoother, and no-show rates often drop when reminders go out reliably.

VAs are powerful, but they’re not always the right move. Sometimes the honest answer is: “Not yet.”

You don’t have repeatable tasks

If every week looks totally different and you can’t find patterns in your work, a VA will struggle to keep up.

Signs you’re not ready:

• You can’t list at least 10–15 hours of tasks you do every week or every month.
• You feel like you are “still figuring it out,” and nothing is stable.

In this case, spend a few weeks noting what you do each day. Once you see patterns, you’ll be better positioned to bring in help.

You won’t let go of control

If you keep taking tasks back, correcting everything yourself, or rewriting every email, you won’t see a return on your time.

VAs work best when you:

• Give them clear instructions.
• Accept that they won’t do things exactly the way you do at first.
• Offer feedback instead of silently fixing everything.

If you know you’re not ready to trust anyone with tasks, it might be better to work on that mindset before you hire.

You’re in survival mode

If you can’t cover at least a few months of VA cost, even at part-time, the stress may outweigh the benefit. A VA can help you grow and stabilise, but they don’t fix a broken business model. You need a basic level of steady revenue before you bring someone in, even if they’re part-time.

Why First VA Hires Fail (and How to Avoid the Same Mistakes)

If you read “Are Virtual Assistants Worth It? ” on Reddit, you’ll see both success stories and horror stories.

Horror stories usually follow the same patterns.

Mistake 1: No clear tasks or processes

Many owners hire a VA because they’re overwhelmed, but they never define what they want to hand over.

The result:

• The VA waits for instructions.
• The owner feels frustrated.
• Everyone feels like they’re wasting time.

How to avoid it:

• Before you hire, write down your top 10–15 tasks.
• Create a simple checklist or a short screen recording for each one.
• Start with the easiest and most repetitive tasks.

Mistake 2: Hiring only on price

A lot of people on Reddit admit they went for the cheapest VA they could find. Then they’re shocked when the work is poor or the VA vanishes.

How to avoid it:

• Don’t pick based on price alone.
• Look at skills, experience, communication, and reliability.
• Use a provider that tests and screens VAs for you.

Cheap and good is rare. Fair pay and strong vetting work much better.

Mistake 3: Expecting plug-and-play

Some business owners think a VA will arrive and know exactly what to do without guidance.

In reality:

• A VA needs context about your business.
• They need examples of what “good” looks like.
• They need a little time to settle in.

How to avoid it:

• Plan a simple two-week onboarding.
• Have short daily check-ins at the start.
• Give feedback early and often.

A small upfront investment in training pays off with years of smoother work.

Mistake 4: Weak vetting or no testing

On Reddit, many failed stories come from people who:

• Hired after a single short chat.
• Never checked references.
• Never did a test task.

How to avoid it:

• Always include a short, paid test task that mirrors real work.
• Check communication skills, not just hard skills.
• Use a provider with a solid screening process.

This is where our model really helps, which we’ll cover next.

Why Our Model Makes VAs More Likely to Be Worth It

We are a UK virtual assistant company that connects businesses with specialist virtual assistants from the Philippines.

Here’s why that matters for you.

UK understanding + Philippines talent

You get both:

• A partner who understands UK business culture, standards, and expectations.
• Access to a huge pool of skilled, English-speaking talent in the Philippines at a lower cost than UK hires.

You don’t have to figure out overseas hiring on your own. You work with a team that does this day in, day out.

Specialists in your industry, not random generalists

We focuses on roles such as:

• Property virtual assistants.
• Executive and personal assistants.
• Admin and back-office support.
• Accounting and bookkeeping support.
• Tech/IT and engineering support.
• Medical admin assistants.

That means your VA understands your world:

• A property VA knows what tenants, landlords, and agents care about.
• An accounting support VA knows deadlines and basic finance language.
• A medical admin VA knows the sensitivity around patient information and appointments.

This cuts down on training time and reduces painful misunderstandings.

A rigorous 6-step hiring and vetting process

Most bad VA experiences start with weak vetting.

We use a structured process that includes:

1. Initial screening call: We filter for basic fit, communication, and attitude.
2. Background and work-history checks: We confirm claims and references.
3. Communication and collaboration interview: We make sure they can work smoothly with UK clients.
4. Demo tasks: We test skills in real tools and real tasks, not just theory.
5. Personality and culture check: We look for people who fit remote teamwork, not just solo work.
6. Skills assessments: We verify the abilities needed for your specific role.

You don’t have to gamble on random CVs. You get people who have already passed through a tight filter.

Simple, transparent packages

We keep pricing and structure simple:

• Part-time: 4 hours per day, 5 days per week
• Full-time: 8 hours per day, 5 days per week

No hidden extra fees. No confusing add-ons. That makes it easier for you to:

• Run your own ROI numbers.
• Start small and scale up if needed.
• Plan around steady support instead of one-off help.

Final Thought: So, Are Virtual Assistants Worth It for You?

If you:

• Spend too much time on admin,
• Can list clear tasks you want to hand off, and
• Value your time more than the hourly cost of a VA…

…then a virtual assistant is very likely worth it.

Start simple:

1. Write down the tasks you want to delegate.
2. Estimate the value of your time.
3. Compare it to the cost of a part-time or full-time VA.
4. Use a trusted partner like Teambuild to find a vetted, industry-specific assistant.

Do that, and your first VA won’t just “feel” worth it. You’ll see it in your calendar, your stress levels, and your bottom line.