15 Top Tips to have the best Relationship with your VA
Before I uplevel this blog to talk about all things OBTM, here are 15 top tips to get the best out of working with your VA
Gem Roberts
Your friendly Tech VA making the world of Virtual Assistance and Tech, easy and simple to understand.
Before I uplevel this blog to talk about all things OBTM, here are 15 top tips to get the best out of working with your VA
Gem Roberts
Your friendly Tech VA making the world of Virtual Assistance and Tech, easy and simple to understand.
May 15th 2025
You've taken the plunge...
And hired a VA, but now you’re having second thoughts as they’re making mistakes, they’re not available when you need them to be and you’re wondering if it really was easier when you were doing all the things.
Maybe.
Here’s the question though, did you set expectations and communicate them clearly?
But really, did you?
Having been a VA for over 3.5 years, I’ve had a fair few clients. Some are awesome, they give you all the info you need and off you go with a task.
Others give you the info they think you need, and there is a VERY big difference!
Here’s what I mean, (These are total examples btw!)
Client 1 – I have a new product that I want to launch, I have picked this date, x. I have the copy and the graphics and I’ve sent them over to you. Can you create a sales page, connect it, make sure it works and set up the product for me.
Client 2 – I have a new product that I want to launch, I have a some notes on copy and I’d like to get it out asap, when can you do this for?
What's the difference?
Client 1 was clear as they can be in 1 message. Do you need more information, probably, but to get started and see if the due date works depending on the amount of work is doable seeing that they have already picked a date and have the copy, product and graphics ready, as a VA, you probably have enough information.
With Client 2, it’s vague, you have no idea what the product is, when they want it by, what’s meant to be included and the sales page could be 3 lines or 3 pages, which is a very different amount of time.
It may be clear to you in your head as you know exactly what the product is and all the other particulars.
Want to know a little secret 🤫
Your VA can’t mindread!
Yep I said it.
Clients seem to have this idea that when they hire a VA, the VA will know exactly what they need and how they need it and when they need it by.
They won’t, and they don’t.
Unless you hire a VA for a very specific task in a niche area, your general VA who you have hired for general admin work, won’t know how you like things done unless they have been working with you for a while.
I have a client I’ve been working with for over 2 years now, and yes she can drop in messages like Client 2 and I know what she will need and how long it will take me, but I will still ask questions to make sure that the expectations are set before I start work on a project.
Here are my top 15 tips for working with a VA
I want to prefix these with this point. Everyone is different. If you hire a seasoned VA, they will need less hand holding than a greener VA.
There are pro’s and con’s to both. Hiring a season VA can be great, but the cost can be much higher to begin with if this is the first time you are looking to hire a VA.
If you go with a greener VA, they may not know as much as you need them to initially and may need a bit more hand holding than might feel comfortable. If you nurture the relationship right though, that VA will grow with you and expand when you need them to and you can mould them to how you work.
Communication & Expectation
- Be clear about what you want – if you are not clear on what you want, your VA won’t be clear on what you want either. This leads to frustration for both parties and can erode your working relationship before it even begins.
- Set expectations early – always want a Monday update, let your VA know. If you don’t ever reply to emails, let them know. If you have ideals about turnaround times, let them know. Realistic expectations set out clear and healthy boundaries between you and your client so you both know exactly where you are.
- Communicate – while this has been covered to some degree in the other two points, this one is solely about communication. Don’t leave your VA hanging. If you are super busy that’s what your VA is for. If you say that work is coming their way and you’re behind, tell them. They set aside hours for you, and to be blunt, you wouldn’t care for it if your VA wasted your time, so why are you wasting theirs?
- Give Context – this doesn’t always apply as it can be task dependent, but if you’ve asked your VA to complete a task that you know is dependent on it being completed before someone else can move on a new task, tell them that. You know your business inside out, your VA likely knows a very small fraction of the tasks that you do. Plus, I’ve found, the more context you can give someone, the faster they learn.
- Finally, Ask for Feedback – this one is optional depending on whether you want feedback. If however you do, recognise that VA’s live in a VA world. They learn tips and tricks from other VA’s as well as doing jobs themselves. It’s likely they will know some super smart tips or a new platform that could help your business if the doors are open for their input.
Bonus
- Use regular check-ins – if you are someone who likes to keep on top of things, you can schedule regular check-ins with your VA. Make sure that you communicate this upfront as randomly deciding to do these could come across as potentially confrontational or micro-managing to your VA if it comes out of the blue. It doesn’t need to be a zoom call, you can schedule a 10 min Voxer catch-up or a weekly email round up, or even a task card in Asana or Clickup where you can both write down what went well, what didn’t and what needs doing next week.
Systems & Tools
- Use shared tools – you may love Notion, your VA can’t get to grips with it. Your VA may love using spreadsheets but they make you want to vomit every time you open one up. Be clear about the tools that you use. If you have a preferred platform, let your VA know. Similarly, have your VA tell you what they are comfortable with and ask them why, there maybe a reason they love Slack so much, as it integrates with Asana and other platforms, it can streamline their tasks reducing the overall amount of time spent on tasks.
- Document repeatable processes – it’s likely that there are a handful of tasks or more that you do every week / month. Create an SOP for these, Standard Operating Procedure. This will make the handover of tasks to your VA super smooth. If the thought of creating even more docs makes your head want to explode, create a Loom while you’re doing it and talk it through as though you are creating a training video, because you are. Just make sure to store your videos in one place, VA accessible, so that you aren’t sharing sensitive details to everyone in your shared folder, because you know, data protection and all that.
- Keep communication in one place – this does fall under the communication and expectation section as well, but as soon as you start working with your VA, be very clear about how you communicate, and where! If you are emailing them tasks, asking for a follow up on Voxer and sending links via Slack, then work simply isn’t going to get done because it’s being missed. So stick to one platform, one way of communicating, and make sure it works for you before bringing your VA on board.
- Give them access – this can be one of the most scariest parts of starting to work with a VA, especially if this is your first VA. What do you give them access to and more importantly, how? Simply put, use a password manager. This way you can share the log in details with them and your VA will only be able to see your username, never your password. If you have 2-factor authentication turned on and it’s set to SMS, do yourself a favour and get something like Google Authenticator. It gives a new code every 60 seconds and you don’t have to worry about being available or your code expiring because you were on the loo.
- Automate where you can – are you stuck in manual hell? Is that one of the reasons you hired a VA? Assess this, is it going to take your VA longer to consistently and manually, do tasks that could be automated, or would it actually save you money in the long run for your VA to learn what can be automated and how to do so? I’m not saying you need to pay your VA to learn if you don’t wish, but it’s worth considering a one off project to get everything as automated as it can be, before your hire your VA so they can spend time on tasks that have a higher value than those tiny annoying tasks that take up so much time.
Relationship & Trust
- Treat them like a team member – if you are looking for your first VA hire, it can be difficult to find the line between being friendly and being a task master. You want stuff done and you need it yesterday, but they can’t just go off and do the task with minimal input yet. Alternatively, you are so busy that you don’t have time to think about what your VA is doing and just need stuff done now. It can be hard to find that line, but you need to remember this. VA’s are people too, not only that, they run their own companies too. Despite the misleading title of ‘assistant’, VA’s can be so much more than that, so treat them as you would like to be treated and you will get so much more out of your VA, trust me.
- Say thank you – it doesn’t take 2 seconds to type thank you. It also doesn’t take much to say, ‘you did a great job here’, so tell your VA when they did a great job. It builds confidence and trust that they are doing the best job that they can for you. Not only that, they are often at home alone, it can be hard being a VA because unlike an office environment, there is no one to tell them that they are doing a good job other than you, the client. So tell them when they do.
- Be open to their strengths – while you may have hired your VA to do admin tasks, you never know what they have cooking in the background, so don’t be afraid to ask. They might have a love for automation that could help your business out. They may have a secret hobby of podcast editing that you didn’t even know that they did, but did that just work into your plan of starting a podcast? Don’t be afraid to ask your VA what other area’s they have skills in, they may just surprise you. If you and your VA have a god working relationship, there is also a chance that they may go away and learn whatever it is that you are looking for if you are willing to take a chance on them.
- Don’t forget their birthday – this may sound like a small thing, but scheduling work around their birthday, remembering to send a quick message or even a card, goes a long way to creating and nurturing your relationship with your VA. If you are bad at remembering dates like this and have more than one VA, get the other VA to remember each other’s birthdays.
- Finally, Think long term – there is a chance you may only need a VA for a short period of time or for a one off project, but it’s more common that when you find a good VA, you don’t want to let them go. So think about the long term, how can you nurture your relationship and work with them to help you run your business?
TL:DR;
Communicate, don’t take them for granted, treat them how you want to be treated and set realistic, manageable expectations.
What do you think of these 15 top tips? Do you have some of your own to add? Drop them in a comment below 👇