As a founder, you know the pressure to "do it all" is pretty relentless. Demands on your time are higher than ever, leaving you stretched thin and always battling to keep up.

It’s easy to believe that this constant juggling act is all part of the job description, but ask any of the world’s leading business owners and they’ll tell you the same thing: real success doesn’t come from doing everything yourself. It comes from having the right people doing the right things.

For many founders, it all starts with a virtual admin assistant (VAA).

A virtual admin assistant is a remote professional skilled in handling a wide range of administrative tasks, from managing emails and scheduling to data entry and research. Think of them as an extension of your team but without the overheads of an in-office hire.

Many assume that VAAs are only for large companies or those who have already "made it," but that’s far from the truth.

So, still wondering if you really need a virtual assistant?

Still debating if now is the right time to bring one on board?

Here are nine clear signs that it’s time to take that step toward a better work-life balance and even greater business success.

1. You’re spending more time on admin than your strengths

As a founder, your expertise is your superpower. Whether it’s crafting innovative strategies, closing major deals, or developing groundbreaking products, your unique skills and strengths are what drive your business forward. That’s where your time is most valuable—delivering results that only you can achieve.

But let’s be honest. How much of your day is actually spent in that zone of genius? If you’re spending hours buried in invoices, coordinating schedules, or responding to routine emails, you’re not getting the most bang for your buck.

It’s easy to think of these tasks as “quick wins.” After all, they are necessary, and crossing something off your to-do list feels productive. But in reality, these tasks are a huge time sink. A study found that the average business owner spends a whopping 68% of their time on day-to-day admin work, leaving only 32% for strategy and growth. That’s a staggering amount of untapped potential.

Think about that. Nearly two-thirds of your time is consumed by tasks that could be done by someone else. Now, imagine the possibilities if you could flip the script. What if you could reclaim those admin hours and channel them into work that truly moves the needle for your business?

How a virtual assistant can help

Virtual assistants can take the weight of routine administrative tasks off your shoulders, freeing you to focus on the areas where you truly shine and add the most value.

Here are just a few examples of how they can make your life easier each day:

• Data entry: Experienced virtual assistants can accurately enter and organize data into spreadsheets, databases, or CRM systems, so you can say goodbye to hours of manual input.
• File management: From creating folders to organizing documents and managing digital storage systems, VAAs keep your files structured and easy to find.
• Managing stock of supplies or inventory: Whether it’s office supplies, product inventory, or other essentials, a VAA can track, reorder, and manage stock levels to keep everything running smoothly without any disruptions.
• Financial admin: Experienced virtual assistants can help with tasks like organizing receipts, tracking expenses, paying bills, creating invoices, and chasing late payments.
• Formatting and proofreading documents: Polished, professional documents make a great impression, but formatting and proofreading can be tedious. A VAA can help make sure your reports, presentations, and proposals are both error-free and visually appealing.
• Transcription: If you have recorded meetings, interviews, or voice memos, a virtual assistant can transcribe them accurately, saving you time and providing you with easily searchable, written records.

2. Your inbox feels like a never-ending black hole

Does it feel like your inbox is a bottomless pit, constantly filling up no matter how much time you spend trying to keep it under control?

You’re not alone.

The average professional receives around 121 business-related emails per day, and trying to keep on top of them all can consume up to 28% of the workweek. That’s over a quarter of your time spent purely on sifting through emails!

So it’s no surprise that our inboxes are a common source of social and productivity-related anxiety, with about 92% of us experiencing elevated blood pressure and heart rate when we dive into our work emails.

Important emails can get buried under an avalanche of less urgent ones, responses may be delayed, and there’s always that nagging worry that you’ve missed something critical. Not only that, the constant ping of new messages pulls your focus away from meaningful work, leaving you feeling perpetually stressed and reactive.

How a virtual assistant can help

Virtual admin assistants can transform your relationship with your inbox, turning chaos into calm and saving you hours every week:

• Triaging your emails: Imagine opening your inbox and finding it already sorted into manageable categories. A VAA can organize your emails into folders based on importance, sender, or project. They’ll triage your messages, flagging the ones that need immediate attention and archiving or filing away the less urgent ones. This way, your inbox is always clear, tidy, and easy to navigate.
• Prioritizing: Not every email demands your immediate attention. Your VAA can analyze your incoming emails to identify which require your immediate input and which can be addressed later—or handled without your involvement. This tailored prioritization helps make sure you never miss an important email again, without getting sucked into unnecessary distractions.
• Responding on your behalf: With clear instructions, a virtual admin assistant can handle routine email responses for you. Whether it’s confirming meetings, answering FAQs, or providing updates, they take care of the back-and-forth, saving you time and effort.
• Setting up systems: A skilled VAA doesn’t just manage your inbox—they can also implement systems to keep it running smoothly even after your assistant logs off. This could include creating automated filters for common types of emails, setting up rules to route messages into appropriate folders, or streamlining workflows with tools like email scheduling and templates.

See: 10 Email Tasks To Outsource To A Virtual Assistant Today

3. You’re missing important deadlines or appointments

Missing deadlines or forgetting appointments isn’t just embarrassing or inconvenient—it can damage your professional reputation, strain relationships with clients or partners, and ultimately impact your bottom line. In fact, research shows that missed deadlines are a leading cause of lost revenue, with nearly 50% of business leaders identifying them as a primary factor in financial setbacks.

Often, the root cause is juggling too many responsibilities without a reliable system (or enough mental energy!) to stay on top of them.

When you’re constantly pulled in different directions, it’s easy for important dates to slip through the cracks. Overwhelm and mental fatigue from managing an overflowing schedule can make even the most organized founder feel scattered. But it doesn’t have to be this way.

How a virtual assistant can help

Having a virtual admin assistant by your side is like having an organizational safety net. Here’s how they can help you reclaim control and restore order to your schedule:

• Calendar management: Your assistant can maintain and update your calendar, making sure all appointments, deadlines, and events are clearly organized and conflict-free.
• Scheduling support: From coordinating meetings to arranging time blocks for focused work, your VAA can optimize your schedule for maximum productivity.
• Setting reminders: Never miss a beat with timely reminders for meetings, deadlines, and other important commitments, so you’re always prepared and punctual.
• Task prioritization: Virtual admin assistants can help you focus on what matters most by organizing your to-dos and making sure that high-priority tasks always take precedence.

See: How A Virtual Assistant Can Help You With Scheduling And Calendar Management

4. You’re working late nights and weekends just to keep up

Burning the candle at both ends might feel like the price of success when you’re building a business, but overworking isn’t a badge of honor—it’s a fast track to burnout. Those late nights and weekend hours spent catching up on routine tasks come at a steep cost: your health, your relationships, and your overall well-being.

When you’re constantly in “work mode,” it’s easy to neglect the things that truly matter—like spending quality time with loved ones, getting enough sleep, or simply enjoying a moment of peace. Over time, this relentless pace can lead to exhaustion, decreased productivity, and even long-term health issues.

How a virtual assistant can help

With a VAA by your side, you can have the thriving business you’ve worked so hard for—without sacrificing the life you want to live. Here’s how their support can make a difference:

• Reclaim your evenings and weekends: Imagine closing your laptop at 5 p.m., fully confident that your admin tasks are being handled by a trusted professional. VAAs specialize in handling the tasks that keep you tied to your desk after hours. From chasing invoices to sending follow-ups, their support means you can clock out at a reasonable hour and actually enjoy your evenings and weekends without stress or guilt.
• Achieve better work-life balance: By offloading routine tasks to a VAA, you can finally create space for what truly matters—your health, your family, and the passions that bring you joy. A balanced life isn’t just a luxury; it’s essential for your business. When you’re rested and energized, you’re more creative, productive, and better equipped to handle the challenges of business ownership.
• Restore your mental and physical health: The time you regain by offloading admin can be invested in activities that improve your well-being. Whether it’s hitting the gym, cooking healthy meals, or simply getting a full night’s sleep, these small but impactful changes will help you bring your best self to both your business and your home life each day.

See: How A Virtual Assistant Can Help Transform Your Work-Life Balance

5. Your to-do list keeps growing despite working long hours

Ever feel like no matter how many tasks you cross off your to-do list, it never seems to get any shorter?

That’s the frustrating reality of being caught in a cycle of busywork. Part of the problem is that most administrative tasks are repetitive and recurring. You might tick them off today, but they don’t stay “done” for long.

For example, you could have finally cleared all your emails, but by tomorrow, more will have arrived to replace them. You spend an hour creating your weekly stock order and pacing it with your suppliers, and before you know it, you’ll be spending another hour doing it all again.

Combine these endless cycles with the high-impact, strategic work that falls on your shoulders, and you end up with more on your plate than time to handle it all.

The result? Longer hours, mounting stress, and the sinking feeling that you’re always behind, no matter how hard you try.

How a virtual assistant can help

Virtual assistants can help you break free from this cycle, giving you the breathing room you need to focus on what truly matters. Here’s how:

• Taking care of recurring responsibilities: VAAs are pros at handling those recurring tasks that always eat up your time, such as organizing files, updating databases, managing your inbox, or scheduling appointments. They make sure these tasks get done efficiently and consistently, so you can finally focus on bigger priorities.
• Making your to-do list manageable: Imagine the satisfaction of watching your to-do list actually shrink—not just temporarily, but for good. With a virtual admin assistant working behind the scenes, those recurring tasks that keep piling up will finally be handled, leaving you with a lighter workload and a clearer mind.
• Reducing stress: Say goodbye to the constant feeling of being behind. Knowing that a trusted professional is handling your workload helps you breathe easier without the nagging guilt of unfinished tasks.

6. Small tasks are delaying big decisions

As a founder, you're responsible for making countless decisions daily—around 35,000, according to experts! These range from the more trivial choices, like choosing what to wear, to more critical decisions that shape the future of your business.

But here's the catch: every single decision requires mental energy. Our prefrontal cortexes rely on oxygenated glucose as fuel to function effectively, and even minor decisions—like choosing to start a new task—will take a chunk out of these fuel reserves.

This is why so many founders struggle with decision fatigue, a phenomenon where the more decisions you make, the harder it becomes to make subsequent ones. As the day goes on, you might catch yourself putting off decisions, procrastinating, or making quick, impulsive choices that don’t quite fit with your goals.

And that’s not all. An overwhelming to-do list can also trigger choice paralysis. When faced with too many options—like a long list of tasks vying for your attention—it becomes harder to prioritize or even figure out where to begin. This mental gridlock can cost you precious time and energy that could be better spent on more meaningful work.

How a virtual assistant can help

Hiring a virtual assistant for your admin tasks can be a real game-changer, acting as your first line of defense against decision fatigue and paving the way for faster, more meaningful progress in your business:

• Reducing decision fatigue: By offloading smaller, repetitive tasks to a VAA, you free up your brainpower to focus on decisions that matter most. No more sweating over minor details that could easily be handled by someone else.
• Improving your decision-making quality: With fewer distractions, you'll have the clarity and mental energy to make thoughtful, high-quality decisions that benefit your business.
• Overcome choice paralysis: A shorter to-do list means you're left with only the most critical tasks, allowing you to channel your energy into work that aligns with your goals.
• Achieve faster progress: Less time and energy spent on busy work means more to spend on projects that drive business growth.

7. You’re avoiding tasks you dislike or aren’t good at

Let’s be honest: no one loves every part of running a business. For many, tasks like financial management, data entry, or email follow-ups are the first to fall by the wayside. It’s not because they’re unimportant, but because they’re tedious, time-consuming, or simply outside your zone of genius.

And that’s okay! After all, your strengths likely lie in strategy, creative problem-solving, or building relationships—not agonizing over spreadsheets or chasing down unpaid invoices.

The issue, however, is that pushing these tasks to the back burner can lead to bottlenecks, missed opportunities, and unnecessary stress as deadlines pile up. Ignoring them doesn’t make them go away—it only creates bigger headaches down the road.

How a virtual assistant can help

You didn’t start your business to drown in admin work, and the good news is that you don’t have to! With a virtual admin assistant in your corner, you can:

• Keep your business running smoothly: Admin tasks are the backbone of a well-functioning business. Handing these tasks over to an assistant means you can rest assured that nothing will fall through the cracks, even when you’re focusing elsewhere.
• Fill skill gaps: Just because you’re the founder doesn’t mean you have to be good at everything! Instead of trying to be a Jack-of-all-trades, your VAA can step in where you lack expertise, making sure those admin tasks are handled efficiently and correctly.

See: 10 Tasks You're Probably Putting Off Right Now (And How To Finally Get Them Done)

8. You’re burning out and losing passion for your business

Owning a business should be exciting and fulfilling—it’s the dream you worked so hard to build. But somewhere along the way, the relentless demands may have started chipping away at your enthusiasm.

Instead of focusing on your passion and big-picture goals, you find yourself lost in the weeds—racing against the clock, putting out fires, and trying to keep up with the ever-growing list of administrative responsibilities.

This type of overload can quickly lead to burnout, a serious issue that’s affecting workers everywhere. In fact, nearly 65% of workers reported feeling burned out in 2023, and experts predict that number will only continue to rise.

When burnout sets in, your energy levels plummet, and your enthusiasm for the business you once loved starts to fade.

How a virtual assistant can help

Burnout doesn’t have to be the price of success. Your business thrives when you thrive—and a virtual admin assistant can help make that happen:

• Achieve better balance: With a VAA handling the busy work, you can regain control over your schedule. No more late nights or feeling like you're constantly playing catch-up. You create space to recharge, pursue new opportunities, or simply enjoy the flexibility that comes with owning a business.
• Relieve stress: Knowing that a trusted partner is taking care of those tedious or overwhelming tasks can significantly reduce daily stress, making your workdays smoother and more enjoyable.
• Reignite your passion: With more time and mental energy to focus on your vision, you can reconnect with the aspects of your business that truly excite and inspire you.

See: Why Doing Everything Yourself Is Costing You More Than You Think

9. You’ve considered hiring help but think it’s “too expensive” or “too much work”

If you’re a small business owner drowning in tasks, the idea of hiring help has probably crossed your mind. But let’s be real—it’s easy to see why many founders hesitate.

A full-time employee comes with a long list of expenses: salary, benefits, office space, equipment, and more. On top of that, the process of recruitment, onboarding, and training can seem overwhelming when you’re already stretched thin.

But here’s the thing: hiring help doesn’t have to mean hiring full-time staff.

How a virtual assistant can help

Virtual admin assistants offer a more accessible solution for business owners who need professional support without the complexity, cost, and commitment of in-house staff. Here’s why they’re the perfect option for administrative support:

• Cost-effective support: Unlike full-time employees, you only pay for the hours of support you need—avoiding extra costs like employee benefits, office space, and other overheads associated with traditional hires.
• Scalable and flexible: As your business needs change, so can your virtual support. Need extra hours during a busy season? No problem. Want to cut back during quieter months? That’s easy, too.
• Simplified hiring process: Platforms like Time etc handle the heavy lifting for you—recruitment, onboarding, and even people management—so you can avoid the time-consuming process of finding the right person.

See: Virtual Assistant Vs. Employee: Which Is Best For Your Small Business?

What's the bottom line?

Whether you’re drowning in to-dos, struggling to scale, or simply looking to reclaim some much-needed work-life balance, these are signals that it’s time to bring in help. It’s important to remember that recognizing the signs that you need a virtual admin assistant isn’t about admitting defeat—it’s about leveling up.

Ask yourself, what would you do with 10 extra hours a week? Just imagine what you could accomplish if your mental bandwidth wasn’t consumed by calendar management or repetitive data entry. How much faster could you scale if nitty-gritty distractions weren’t holding you back?

When you hire a virtual assistant, you’re not just lightening your load; you’re buying back your time to innovate, connect, and grow. After all, the best leaders know they can’t do it all and focus on what only they can do.

Hiring a virtual admin assistant could be the smartest investment you make for your business this year, turning 2025 into your most productive and fulfilling year yet.

So, why wait?

Ready to simplify your life?

Time etc is here to connect you with highly skilled virtual assistants who can take the weight off your shoulders.

We understand how busy life gets, which is why we’ve made it all quick, easy, and hassle-free. Partnering with us means you can:

• Save three to six weeks of recruitment time
• Cut hiring costs by up to 90%
• Skip the day-to-day hassle of managing your assistant once they join your team.

Getting started is simple:

• Speak with our expert team—we’ll take care of everything for you!
• Or, answer a few quick questions to receive personalized recommendations tailored to your unique needs, and enjoy $150 off your first month of virtual assistant support.