Virtual assistant, hired by you

Admin is real work businesses pay for. Doing it directly keeps the fee that an agency would take, without pretending it is passive.

The first client is usually a person who is already overwhelmed and already knows you. Agencies that “place” you and keep half exist; you can skip them and still do the work.

The client pays a weekly or monthly invoice. A retained few hours, paid at the start of the month, is cleaner than chasing a timesheet. You do not pay them.

1. Write a one-page offer: three services, the hours, the price, what you will not touch (their passwords in a chat app, their bank).
2. Ask two self-employed people who complain about admin.
3. Do a paid two-hour trial on a boring task.
4. Use a password manager they control. You should be removable in an afternoon.

• A consultant, a therapist, or a tradesperson who is booked up and answering email at night.
• A small charity’s volunteer coordinator, if they have a budget line.
• One client who will introduce you, after a month that went well.

Sell a block of hours, not an open-ended “I’ll just help”. Unused hours can expire at the end of the month. Say that at the start so nobody is surprised.

Keep a note of every payment and every cost from the first job. In the UK this is usually self-employment; tell HMRC when your income reaches the point they set. In the US it is often self-employment tax, sometimes with quarterly estimates. Other countries have their own registration. This is not tax advice — an hour with an accountant beats any course.

• Any “VA job” that asks you to pay for training, equipment shipping, or a background check on a personal link is a scam.
• Do not receive your client’s customer payments into your own account.
• Jobs that are mostly posting fake engagement are not assistant work.