Hire a virtual assistant for small business work, one task at a time.
A virtual assistant for a small business is a remote helper, usually part time at first, who takes over the recurring admin, customer and marketing work that keeps the owner away from paying work: the inbox and calendar, customer emails, bookkeeping prep, product listings, social posts and follow-ups. Most owners start with 5 to 10 hours a week and a short list of written tasks, then add hours as the list grows. The numbers on this page come from DonutJobs candidate profiles and asking rates, each with its sample size and date.
Below: which tasks to hand over first for your type of business, how many candidates list each kind of work, what 5 to 40 hours a week costs next to a local hire, AI tools versus a person, a five-step plan for a first hire and a 30-day checklist.
14,394 DonutJobs profiles carry a Virtual Assistant skill tag and 4,970 of those have internet, English and typing scores. Recent candidates ask a median $5 an hour (1,482 profiles), as of Sep 2026.
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Which tasks should a small business hand to a virtual assistant first?
Start with work that repeats every week, follows rules you can write down, and does not need your signature. The first list looks different for a consultant, a Shopify store and a plumbing company, so the table sorts common first tasks by type of business, next to the check that best predicts whether a candidate will do them well.
| Type of business | Hand over first | Keep for yourself | Filter candidates on | Hours a week to start |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Consultant, coach or freelancer | Inbox triage, booking discovery calls, sending invoices and payment reminders, updating the CRM after calls | Client advice, pricing, anything you sign | English band (C1 or above) for client email | 5 to 10 |
| Marketing, design or software agency | Client report decks, project board updates, chasing timesheets, scheduling social posts | Creative direction and client strategy | English band, then a writing sample | 10 to 20 |
| Online store (Shopify, Etsy, Amazon) | Order and returns emails, product listings, supplier follow-ups, replies to reviews | Refund exceptions and supplier terms | Typing speed for chat, English band for email | 10 to 40 |
| Local service business (trades, cleaning, salons) | Replying to web forms and missed-call texts, booking jobs into the calendar, quote follow-ups, asking happy customers for reviews | Quotes, prices and staff rotas | Voice sample and internet speed if they will take calls | 10 to 20 |
| Professional practice (accounting, legal, clinic) | Appointment reminders, document collection checklists, intake forms, bookkeeping prep | Anything covered by professional or data protection rules until you have checked them | English band, and ask about the practice software you use | 10 to 20 |
| Early-stage startup | Lead lists, CRM clean-up, scheduling user interviews, formatting investor updates, filing expense receipts | Hiring decisions and the customer calls you learn from | Typing speed and English band, then a task inside your own tools | 20 to 40 |
A test for the first list. If you can explain the task on one page and a mistake would take less than an hour to put right, hand it over this month. If a mistake could lose a client or create a legal problem, keep it until your assistant has a track record with you.
Most first hires end up as generalists: two or three of these rows at once. That is normal. Pick the kind of work that fills most of the week and hire for that, then check the rest of the profile for the second skill.
Which kinds of small business work have the most candidates?
Customer support, general VA work and data entry are the deepest categories: each has 14,000+ DonutJobs profiles. Bookkeeping, admin assistant and sales work are thinner, so expect fewer applicants for those and write a sharper job post. A paid trial task is how you confirm any of them.
| Kind of work | Profiles that list it | Of those, with internet, English and typing scores | A paid trial task that proves it |
|---|---|---|---|
| Customer support (email, chat, phone) | 15,596 | 5,226 | Answer five real customer emails under your refund or booking policy |
| General virtual assistant (profiles tagged "Virtual Assistant") | 14,394 | 4,970 | Sort 30 anonymised emails into folders and write a one-line summary of each |
| Data entry and admin processing | 14,124 | 4,655 | Copy 50 rows from a PDF into your spreadsheet and flag the ones that do not add up |
| Marketing (includes social media and email) | 10,184 | 3,310 | Turn one blog post or customer story into a week of posts and one newsletter |
| Social media management | 7,400 | 2,527 | Reply to ten comments and messages in your brand voice, flagging the two that need you |
| Sales and lead generation | 2,829 | 898 | Build a list of 25 prospects with a named contact and where each detail came from |
| Ecommerce (Shopify, Amazon, Etsy) | 2,702 | 716 | Write and upload three product listings from supplier photos and a spec sheet |
| Executive, personal or admin assistant | 1,696 | 666 | Book a meeting for three people in two time zones, by email only |
| Bookkeeping | 1,189 | 545 | Categorise one month of bank transactions in a copy of your books |
Scores cut the reading. Checks are optional for candidates, and 34% of general VA profiles have finished the internet, English and typing checks. Filtering on scores takes that category from 14,394 profiles to 4,970 before you open one, and the scores are shown on each profile when you do.
Speed of response. Half of the DonutJobs jobs that drew an applicant saw the first one within 17 minutes of going live, in a sample of 1,537 jobs across all roles (Sep 2026). A small business post for general admin work sits in the deepest part of the pool.
How much does a virtual assistant cost for a small business?
Hired directly at the median DonutJobs asking rate of $5 an hour, a virtual assistant costs about $217 a month for 10 hours a week and about $867 a month full time. The same hours from a US in-house administrative assistant at the national median wage of $23.23 an hour come to about $1,007 and $4,027 a month, before payroll taxes and benefits.
| Route | How the price works | 5 hours a week | 10 hours a week | 20 hours a week | 40 hours a week |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Direct hire, 25th percentile asking rate | $3 an hour, paid by you to the assistant | about $65/mo | about $130/mo | about $260/mo | about $520/mo |
| Direct hire, median asking rate | $5 an hour, paid by you to the assistant | about $108/mo | about $217/mo | about $433/mo | about $867/mo |
| DonutJobs platform fee (direct hire) | Free plan (1 job, up to 10 applications), or $99/mo (from $55/mo on a 6-month term). No per-hire fee | $0 to $99/mo | $0 to $99/mo | $0 to $99/mo | $0 to $99/mo |
| DonutJobs managed assistant | One flat monthly fee; DonutJobs sources, contracts, pays and supervises the assistant | Not offered | Not offered | $629/mo for 80 hours a month | $899/mo for 160 hours a month |
| US in-house administrative assistant (BLS median) | $23.23 an hour (May 2025), wage only | about $503/mo | about $1,007/mo | about $2,013/mo | about $4,027/mo |
Budget for more than the wage. On a direct hire, add the platform fee ($0 on the Free plan, $99/mo on a paid plan), the transfer fee on each payment, and any software seats your assistant needs. Budget your own time as well: about an hour a day in the first week for handover and review, falling off after that.
Pay above the median for work that matters. Asking rates bunch on the signup shortcuts, so the $5 median says more about the signup screen than about skill. Offer more for bookkeeping, phone work, a C1 English band or someone who already knows your tools, and put the rate in the post so the right people apply.
Where the money goes on each route. The whole direct-hire rate goes to the assistant. A managed fee bundles recruiting, the contract, payroll and supervision into one price. An in-house hire adds payroll tax, benefits and equipment on top of the wage in the table.
Post your first VA role free and filter applicants by English, typing and voice.
Should a small business use an AI assistant or hire a virtual assistant?
Use each for different work. AI tools are good at first drafts, summaries and sorting. A human virtual assistant is good at the parts that need judgment, a voice on the phone, or follow-through across several tools and people. In practice most small businesses end up with a VA who uses AI tools, not a choice between the two.
The useful question is which of your tasks are text in, text out, and which need someone to own an outcome. A chatbot can draft the reply to a late-delivery email. It cannot ring the courier, notice that the same customer complained last month, and decide to add a discount code before you ask.
- Give AI the repeatable text work: drafting replies from a template, summarising long email threads, turning meeting notes into a task list, suggesting bookkeeping categories for review.
- Give a person the work that needs accountability: calling a supplier about a late order, deciding which customer email is urgent, chasing an unpaid invoice politely, spotting a booking that clashes with a holiday.
- Ask candidates how they use AI. An assistant who drafts with an AI tool and checks the output clears more work in the same paid hours. Ask for a real example in the interview, and write down which customer data may go into which tool.
Neither option works without written instructions. An owner who writes a one-page process for a task gets good results from both, and that page is the first thing to prepare before you hire.
Where should a small business find a virtual assistant?
Choose the channel by how much of the hiring work you want to do yourself. Marketplaces suit a one-off project, job boards and hiring platforms suit a long-term direct hire, and agencies or managed services suit owners who want the person found, paid and supervised for them.
Each route puts a different amount of work on your desk, and a different price on the hour. Most owners know which one fits once they have written their first task list.
- Freelance marketplaces (such as Upwork or Fiverr) for defined projects with a start and an end, such as a website migration or a one-time spreadsheet clean-up. See DonutJobs vs Upwork for how the fees compare.
- Job boards for direct hires (such as OnlineJobs.ph for Filipino candidates) when you want a long-term assistant and are happy to screen applicants yourself. See DonutJobs vs OnlineJobs.ph.
- A hiring platform with skill checks, such as DonutJobs, for the same direct hire with typing, English, internet and voice results on the profile before the first call. Pricing starts with a free plan.
- Agencies and managed services when you would rather pay a margin than run a hire at all. DonutJobs runs a managed virtual assistant service, and other providers are compared in the best virtual assistant companies.
A direct hire usually costs the least per hour once you know which tasks you are handing over. A managed service costs more, but it takes the hiring and supervision off your plate while you are still working that out.
How to hire your first small business virtual assistant in 5 steps
The short version: find the hours, write down three tasks, post the role with a rate, test on your own work, then start small.
Would you rather not run the hire yourself? Managed virtual assistants hands the sourcing, contract and supervision to DonutJobs. Hiring for one channel only? The customer support guide goes deeper on chat, email and phone.
A 30-day plan for your first virtual assistant
The first month decides whether a VA saves you time or costs you time. Hand over work in small, written steps, review everything early, and let the reviews thin out as the work comes back right.
Day 1: accounts and one shared task list
Set up their own logins (a work email, a seat in each tool, shared items in a password manager) and one shared list where every task you hand over is written down with its due date.
Week 1: only the three documented tasks
They work on the tasks you wrote processes for and nothing else. You check everything before it goes out, and when something is wrong you fix the process as well as the output.
Week 2: an end-of-day note
Three lines each day: what got done, what is stuck, what they need from you. It replaces most check-in calls and shows you where the instructions are still unclear.
Week 3: one customer-facing channel
Hand over one inbox, the booking calendar or the review replies, with a short written list of situations that always come back to you.
Week 4: they write a process
Ask them to document a task they now do better than your version. When an assistant starts improving the instructions, the hire is working.
Day 30: review the hours and the rate
Compare the hours you got back with what you paid. Keep the scope, change it, or add hours, and confirm the decision and any rate change in writing.
If you pay by the hour, time tracking is built into the paid DonutJobs plans, so the hours in your review come from the same place as the invoice.
What not to hand a new VA in the first month
Small businesses often run on one owner login for everything, and that login is the one thing a new assistant should never get. Keep money and identity with you until trust is earned, and set up access so you can take all of it back in one step.
- Bank and card access. Let your assistant prepare invoices and payment runs; you approve and send them.
- Your personal email login. Use a separate work address or delegated access, so you can see everything sent in your name.
- Payroll and tax portals. Share reports, not logins, at least until a written confidentiality agreement is in place.
- Customer lists as downloads. Work inside your CRM or store admin with a staff account, so no customer data leaves in a spreadsheet.
- Anything you cannot revoke quickly. If removing their access on a bad day would take an afternoon, change how it is set up now.
General practice, not legal advice. Clinics, law firms and businesses that take card payments may have extra obligations; ask your adviser what they are.
Small business virtual assistant FAQ
What can a virtual assistant do for a small business?
A virtual assistant can take over the recurring work that keeps an owner from paying work: inbox and calendar, customer emails and chat, invoices and payment reminders, bookkeeping prep, product listings, social posts, CRM updates and lead lists. Start with tasks that repeat weekly and follow written rules, and keep pricing, contracts and anything you sign for yourself.
How much does a virtual assistant cost for a small business?
Hired directly on DonutJobs, candidates ask a median $5 an hour and the 25th percentile asks $3 (1,482 recent profiles, Sep 2026). That is about $217 a month for 10 hours a week or $867 full time, plus a platform fee of $0 to $99 a month. A US in-house admin assistant earns a median $23.23 an hour (BLS, May 2025).
How many hours a week should a first virtual assistant work?
Most small businesses start with 5 to 10 hours a week on three documented tasks, then add hours once the work comes back right and the waiting list of tasks is longer than the assistant’s week. Going straight to full time works when you already have 40 hours of one kind of work, such as a busy support inbox.
Can an AI assistant replace a virtual assistant for a small business?
For some tasks, yes: first drafts, summaries, sorting email and suggesting bookkeeping categories. It cannot own an outcome, such as calling a supplier about a late order or deciding which customer needs a reply first. Many owners hire a VA who uses AI tools, and set rules on which customer data may go into them.
Is a virtual assistant cheaper than a part-time local hire?
Usually, by a wide margin. At the $5 median DonutJobs asking rate, 20 hours a week costs about $433 a month. The US median wage for administrative assistants is $23.23 an hour (BLS, May 2025), about $2,013 a month for the same hours before payroll taxes. A local hire makes sense when the work needs someone on site.
Where do small businesses find reliable virtual assistants?
Freelance marketplaces suit one-off projects. For a long-term assistant, use a job board or a hiring platform and screen applicants yourself, ideally with skill scores and a paid trial task. On DonutJobs candidates can complete typing, English, internet and voice checks. If you would rather not hire at all, a managed service or agency does it for a margin.
Do I need a contract with a virtual assistant?
Yes, keep it short and in writing: the tasks, weekly hours, hourly rate, pay dates, notice period, confidentiality, and who owns the work they produce. Contractor and employment rules differ by country, so check how they apply to your business. This is general guidance, not legal advice.
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