You probably didn’t start a coaching business because you wanted to spend your days updating website pages, formatting newsletters, uploading videos, scheduling content or figuring out why an automation suddenly stopped working.
But somewhere along the way, all of those things became part of running the business.
And as the business grows, so does the list.
That’s usually when hiring a virtual assistant starts to come up. But if you’ve never worked with one before, you might be wondering: what can a VA actually take off my plate?
The answer is probably more than you think.
A virtual assistant isn’t necessarily just an admin assistant
When people hear “virtual assistant”, they often think of someone managing an inbox, booking appointments or doing data entry.
And yes, those things can absolutely be part of the role.
But VAs have different skills and experience. Some specialise in administration. Others work in marketing, websites, content, systems or tech. And some can work across several areas of a business.
For a coach, that can be particularly useful because there is a surprising amount happening behind the scenes.
You might be the person delivering the coaching, creating the ideas and building relationships with clients. But someone still has to make everything else work.
Website and landing page support
Your website rarely stays finished.
There are new programs to add, testimonials to update, landing pages to build, forms to change, links to fix and copy that needs replacing.
An experienced VA with website skills can handle many of those ongoing updates without you having to contact a developer every time you want to change something.
That could include:
- Updating WordPress pages
- Building or editing landing pages
- Adding blogs and resources
- Updating testimonials and program information
- Creating opt-in pages and forms
- Making basic website changes and fixes
You still decide what you want your website to say and where your business is going. You just don’t necessarily have to be the person logging into WordPress to make it happen.
Email marketing
Email marketing is another area that can quietly consume a lot of time.
Writing the email may only be one part of the job.
Someone also needs to format it, add the links, check it on mobile, schedule it, manage lists and tags, build forms and make sure automated sequences are working properly.
A VA can help manage platforms such as Mailchimp, ConvertKit, MailerLite or ActiveCampaign and take care of the implementation after you’ve decided what you want to communicate.
For example, you might write a rough newsletter or record your thoughts in a document. Your VA can turn that into a properly formatted campaign, add the links and images, test it and schedule it.
Courses and coaching programs
If you run online programs, memberships or courses, there’s another layer of work behind the coaching itself.
Lessons need uploading. Resources need organising. Emails need scheduling. Pages need updating. New clients may need to be added to the right program or automation.
A VA familiar with platforms such as Kajabi can help manage the operational side of your programs so you can concentrate on the actual content and client experience.
Content, podcasts and YouTube
Creating content is one thing.
Publishing it everywhere is another.
A single podcast episode, video or article can involve uploading files, writing descriptions, creating graphics, formatting show notes, adding links, scheduling social posts and updating your website.
Those are good examples of tasks that don’t necessarily need to stay with the business owner.
You can remain the voice and the expert while someone else handles the publishing process around your content.
Marketing support
Depending on their experience, a VA may also be able to support parts of your digital marketing.
That could include:
- Setting up and managing Meta or Google Ads
- Updating your Google Business Profile
- Preparing campaign landing pages
- Scheduling marketing content
- Creating simple Canva graphics
- Checking campaign links and tracking
- Pulling together reports
There is an important distinction here: you don’t necessarily need your VA to decide your entire marketing strategy.
You can decide where you want the business to go while your VA helps turn those decisions into actual campaigns, pages, emails and content.
Systems and automations
One of the most useful things a good VA can do is reduce the number of repetitive things you do manually.
Maybe someone fills in a form and you manually send them the same email every time.
Maybe leads are being copied from one spreadsheet to another.
Or perhaps you have several tools that technically work together, but nobody has ever taken the time to set them up properly.
A tech-comfortable VA can help build simple workflows and automations so fewer things depend on you remembering to do them.
And yes, there’s still the traditional VA work
Sometimes you really do just need someone to organise the spreadsheet, research something, update a document or sort out the calendar.
There is nothing wrong with delegating those tasks either.
The point isn’t to find complicated work to give your VA.
It’s to identify the work that doesn’t need to be done by you.
What should you delegate first?
If you’re looking at your business and wondering where to begin, start by noticing three kinds of work.
Things you do repeatedly.
If you’re doing the same task every week or every month, there’s a good chance it can be documented and handed over.
Things that take you far longer than they should.
Spending two hours trying to work out how to change something on your website might technically save you from paying someone else to do it. But it may not be the best use of two hours of your time.
Things you keep putting off.
If the newsletter hasn’t gone out again, the blog hasn’t been uploaded or the landing page is still sitting half-finished, the problem may not be motivation.
You may simply have too much on your plate.
The goal isn’t to delegate everything
Hiring a VA doesn’t mean handing over your entire business.
There are things that should stay with you.
Your coaching. Your relationships. Your ideas. Your voice. Your decisions about where the business is going.
The goal is to build support around those things.
And ideally, once your VA understands how you work, you shouldn’t need to explain every tiny step forever.
You should be able to say what you need, provide the context, and trust that the work will move forward.
That’s when having a VA stops feeling like having another person to manage and starts feeling like genuine support.
If you’re spending more time running the machinery behind your coaching business than doing the work only you can do, it might be time to hand some of it over.