27 Virtual Assistant Tasks You Should Outsource IMMEDIATELY (2024)

There comes a point in every business where you’ll need to hire someone so you can scale. Virtual assistants are a great option to help free up your time so you can focus on what you do best.

But you might wonder if you actually have enough work to give your VA.

From routine tasks like setting meetings, to complex processes like content creation and marketing, your virtual sidekick has you covered.

Here’s a list of 27 virtual assistant tasks you should outsource immediately.

Tasks you can outsource to your virtual assistant

1. Scheduling

Leave your schedule to your virtual assistant. 

They’ll manage your calendar, set up meetings, and keep track of your to-do list. 

Let’s say you want to invite a potential client for an online call. 

Your VA sends out the invitations, tracks responses, and even reschedules the meeting if needed. All you have to do is show up.

There are many tools and software for scheduling your VA can use, like Calendly and Setmore. Before hiring, ask which ones they have experience in.

2. Travel planning

Picture yourself sipping a margarita on vacation or enjoying an out-of-town conference – all without worrying about travel logistics.

A virtual assistant can handle all travel plans for you, from making hotel reservations to booking flights that fit your budget.

Your VA can also create itineraries and packing lists. This way, you’ll know what to bring and where to go on your trip.

Keep in mind that letting your VA make travel arrangements means they’ll have access to your passport and credit card info.

You need to 100% trust your VA before outsourcing this task.

3. Customer support

Responsiveness is key in the world of customer service. In fact, 96% of customers will leave a business if it has bad customer service.

With a VA, you’ll have someone dedicated to answering customer calls and emails. They’ll also engage with followers and monitor comments on your social media.

To outsource your customer support tasks, find a virtual assistant who has experience in customer relationship management (CRM) platforms like Hubspot or Zoho.

I also find it helpful to assess the VA’s attitude and communication skills. Here are important qualities your virtual assistant should have (especially when they have to deal with a grumpy customer).

4. Email and inbox management

Have your VA clean out and sort your inbox.

Inbox management is important to grow a business, but it’s also super annoying to have to go through every email. 

Your email management VA helps you organize all the important emails in your inbox, unsubscribe you from newsletters you never read, and even create templates and email signatures. 

Take your inbox from clutter to an efficiency machine. 

5. Research and presentations

Say you have a meeting with potential investors to get funding. You’ll want to impress them with data-backed insights about your business. 

Your virtual assistant can handle the research like a pro. 

They’ll look into industry trends and dig up information on your target market. An expert VA can even prepare your yearly projections.

Once they’ve gathered the info, your VA can create slick presentations with tools like PowerPoint or Google Slides.

All you have to do is review the final drafts and wait for everyone to shower you with compliments on the slideshow “you” made.

6. Networking

Business owners need strong networks to thrive. This is especially true with neighboring industries — other non-competing companies that can refer new customers to you.

With a virtual assistant, you can make valuable connections that snowball your business.

Another example:

You run a digital marketing agency and you want to connect with marketing leaders and CEOs. Your VA can send personalized messages to potential prospects through your LinkedIn account. 

In a single day, your VA can connect you with dozens of experts in your industry. It’s a great way to build your network without using your own time.

Your VA can also make a list of events and seminars for you to attend. You’ll get details on dates, speakers, and topics.

All you have to worry about is working the room, smiling extra hard, and not having a floppy handshake.

7. File organizing and storage

Say goodbye to searching through messy folders on your computer. Your virtual assistant can sort your digital files by: 

• Creating a logical folder structure
• Deleting outdated or duplicate files
• Arranging documents by date or category

This makes it easier to find what you need when you need it.

If you run a large team, your VA can set up a system to sync your files. This lets you access documents and materials from your other team members.

As a solopreneur, my business docs were absolute chaos. But my VA whipped me into shape, and now we run a tight ship.

I wouldn’t have been able to do it without her. 

8. Bookkeeping

Bookkeeping tasks like tracking expenses keep you prepared for tax time. But let’s be honest, they’re boring.

More importantly, bookkeeping is NOT your zone of genius. And every second you waste on bookkeeping is a second taken away from your main money-making tasks.

If your VA is an expert at bookkeeping tools like Xero and FreshBooks, they can help you with:

• Accounts payable and receivable
• Bank statement reconciliations
• Invoicing

Choose which program you’d like to use for your bookkeeping, then find a VA who is an expert in that program.

9. Financial management

Think about how much time you’ll save with a virtual assistant managing your payroll. They track hours, process payments, and handle any tax-related paperwork.

My advice is to find a VA with an accounting background. 

As you can imagine, this role can involve sensitive information. So make sure to be extra thorough during the interview process.

10. Social media management

Social media is a lot of work for business owners – from researching trending topics, creating content, and tracking audience engagement.

But the rewards are totally worth it. According to a report by Sprout Social, 78% of customers prefer brands they’ve interacted with on social media.

Virtual assistants can manage your social media accounts and boost your online presence.

They can schedule posts and reply to comments from your followers. They can also brainstorm new content ideas to keep your feed updated.

That said, social media management requires some technical skills. You want to make sure that your VA has taken the time to learn them (unless you’re planning to train them yourself).

A good way to find out is to ask if they’ve enrolled in any online courses for virtual assistants, or if they’re willing to. 

11. Digital marketing

80% of customers say they’ve bought a product from an online ad. So it’s important you pay close attention to your digital marketing.

An experienced VA can assist with complex marketing strategies and campaigns. 

For instance, you want to launch a new product across your social media profiles. 

Your VA can develop a full-scale content strategy which includes creating unique social media posts, running ads, and collaborating with influencers to reach a wider audience.

They can also do market research and conduct surveys to understand your customers better.

Hiring a digital marketing virtual assistant not only takes pressure off you, but they’ll likely come up with new ideas you wouldn’t have otherwise considered. 

12. Lead generation

Every business needs leads to survive. But finding them yourself is mind-numbing.

I wouldn’t want to be cold calling leads or sending emails all day. Luckily, a VA can help in this area. 

They’ll scour through platforms and databases for potential customers, make lists with contact info, then start the outreach process.

Your VA can also set up a CRM (customer relations management) system to stay organized, increase conversions, and save you a ton of time. 

13. SEO

When you know which keywords lead customers to your website, you can create the right kind of content to attract them. 

This is such an important growth strategy that 88% of marketers who currently do SEO plan to continue or increase their investments next year, according to HubSpot’s State of Marketing Report. 

If you’re a solopreneur, this can be a time suck, which is where a specialized SEO virtual assistant comes to save the day. 

They can do keyword research, analyze your competitors, and build backlinks to increase your site’s authority.

When hiring, ask your candidates which SEO tools they use and, more importantly, how they use them. Their answers can help you quickly gauge their skills and experience.  

14. Content writing

A virtual assistant can take on any type of content writing task you can imagine, including: 

• E-books
• Case studies
• Social media ads
• Product descriptions
• Blog posts and articles
• Emails and newsletters

And that just scratches the surface. 

In my experience, it’s best to give candidates a skills test before hiring. You want to make sure they can create the type of content you need.

For example, if you need help with emails, have them draft an outreach email to a potential customer. 

If you clearly identify what you’re looking for, it’ll make it easier (and faster) to find the right VA for this task. 

15. Media buying

A virtual assistant who specializes in media buying can be your ally in running successful ad campaigns.

They monitor media schedules so your ads strategically reach the right audience at the right time.

You can have your VA research which social media platforms or websites your audience hangs out on the most.

If your prospects are on Facebook mostly on weekends, your VA will schedule ads for those days. 

Basically, they’ll make sure you maximize every dollar you spend on advertising.

16. Graphic design and video editing

In today’s digital world, your brand’s design can help you stand out.

For example, an eye-catching logo helps people remember you, and a brand kit helps make your brand designs consistent and easily recognizable.

But unless you’re a graphic designer by trade, it makes zero sense to do this work yourself. Especially when it’s so affordable to outsource it to a VA with design experience — someone who does this every day and can work both better and faster than you can. 

Aside from branding materials, your VA can also create videos for your website or social media.

17. Web development

Websites have a funny way of breaking on their own. And a janky website is a surefire way to scare away potential customers.

Slow loading speeds and broken links are a big no. Especially if you’re trying to increase traffic and sales.

If you don’t have the time or skills to manage your website, a virtual assistant can help. They’ll monitor your website’s performance and improve user experience.

In addition to web development, you can also hire specialized tech virtual assistants to help set up and manage automations in your business, saving you time and money. 

18. Data entry

Imagine having all your documents, receipts, and reports neatly organized in spreadsheets. Your virtual assistant can help achieve this.

These VAs are Microsoft Excel and Google Sheets ninjas, trained in the art of maintaining accurate records and creating insightful reports. 

You can also hire an eagle-eyed virtual assistant to dig through important data looking for errors, something you most certainly don’t want to spend time doing yourself. 

19. Project management

Why stress about managing your next project when a virtual assistant can do it for you?

They can write proposals, communicate with clients, and track who is responsible for each task. 

From there, they’ll set up communication channels so everyone can collaborate on the same platform, then track project milestones to keep everything on schedule.

A few project management tools popular with VAs are ClickUp and Basecamp.

20. Transcription

If you have an important interview recording, your virtual assistant will listen closely and type out a transcription following your formatting requirements.

But why bother with transcribing at all? 

Well, transcriptions help you repurpose content to use in your marketing. 

You can turn a podcast episode into a blog post or your video presentation into an SEO-optimized article.

When hiring a virtual assistant for transcription, look for strong grammar, spelling, and punctuation skills. Bonus if they’re fast typers.

Even with AI transcription tools available, like Otter.ai and Descript, you can save time by having your VA look through the transcriptions before they go live.

If you already have a trusty VA and would like to add transcription to their responsibilities, you can have them go through a training program. Here are some of the best transcription courses and certifications online.

21. Sales follow-up

One crucial part of your sales process is the follow-up. 60% of customers will say NO four times before saying yes.

The secret sauce is courteous and consistent follow-ups — something you definitely don’t want to spend your neurons thinking about and tracking.

Thankfully, this isn’t rocket science and a virtual assistant can easily take it off your plate.

22. Inventory management

When your e-commerce products are selling like hotcakes, the last thing you want is to run out of stock.

In today’s age of instant gratification, customers aren’t going to wait for you. They’ll just buy from your competition.

To avoid this nightmare, your VA can help coordinate with suppliers and prevent low inventory issues.

If you prefer to automate your entire inventory process, your VA can set up inventory management software to generate purchase orders or track product expiration dates.

23. Order processing

As your e-commerce store grows, keeping track of orders can make your head spin. And the last thing you want is to mix up your customers’ addresses just before shipping.

Your VA can make sure each order lands in your system, including those special requests from loyal customers. While your VA tracks and fulfills orders, you can focus on marketing and growth.

They can even help with refunds and exchanges so your customers are less likely to leave bad reviews.

24. Competitor analysis

You can hire a virtual assistant to be your very own secret spy.

They can investigate your competitor’s marketing strategies to see what’s working and what isn’t. 

For example, you may wonder why Bob’s Bagels down the street is always packed, while your bakery hears crickets. 

Your spy may discover Bob’s Bagels has cheaper prices, a loyalty program, and a ginormous Instagram following. 

Then your spy can take it a step further to determine the strategy Bob used to grow his following, and put together a plan for you to do the same. 

Not only that, but your spy can dig even deeper into the competition to help you find ways to make your business unique — reasons why people should buy from you instead of the hundred other bakeries in town.

Staying on top of what your competitors are doing is vital to growing your business. It helps you understand what the market wants, and how you can compete.

25. CRM data management

Your VA can  handle CRM tasks like: 

• Updating client information
• Sending thank-you emails to new leads
• Scheduling follow-up tasks and reminders
• Entering contact details from business cards

Your clients are the bread and butter of your business. Let your VA give them an easy and fun buying experience that makes them want to come back for more.  

26. Recruitment

Expanding your team is always an exciting stage in business. 

The problem is, hiring the right person can be like finding a needle in a haystack — something a busy business owner like you doesn’t have the time for. 

That gives you three options:

1. Hire the first candidate who walks through the door because you’re too busy. 
2. Stall the rest of your business so you can focus on finding the right person. 
3. Outsource recruitment to a trusty VA, and be happy. 

Your existing VA can help you draft job descriptions and post them on the right job platforms. 

They can also conduct initial screenings and evaluations by reviewing resumes. Based on your criteria and requirements, your VA can provide you with a curated list of top candidates.

27. Process documentation

Documenting processes or standard operating procedures (SOPs) in your business is an important, but time-consuming task.

The kind of task perfect for a VA.

For this to work, two things need to happen. 

1. Your VA needs to understand the big picture of your business. 
2. You need to let go of control and fight the urge to micromanage. 

First, explain your goals to your virtual assistant. 

Then, have them create drafts for the processes to achieve those goals. 

Finally, review them and make tweaks as needed.

Remember, not everyone is going to do things the exact same way you do. But as long as the process gets the job done, that’s ok. 

As you can see, there are so many ways your VA can help you automate and streamline your business. 

If you’re looking to hire a trusty VA without breaking the bank, check out my guide on hiring virtual assistants from the Philippines.

According to a recent survey, they are 66% more affordable than virtual assistants from the United States.