How to Start the Year with 15 Extra Hours a Week (Using a VA)

Starting the year already overwhelmed? Yeah, that's optional.

Look, we all know the feeling. January 2nd hits and you're staring at your to-do list thinking "how am I supposed to do all this AND hit my goals for the year?"

A virtual assistant can help you reclaim at least 15+ hours a week by taking over the repetitive, time-draining tasks while you focus on the stuff that actually grows your business.

Why 15 Extra Hours Changes Everything

Let's be honest about what 15 extra hours per week actually means.

That's 15 hours you could spend on sales calls instead of scheduling them. 15 hours for product development instead of data entry. 15 hours for strategic planning instead of inbox management.

With those hours back, founders can actually work ON their business instead of just being buried IN it.

Step 1: Decide What to Delegate in January

Before you hire anyone, you need to know what you're actually handing off.

Start by listing everything you do in a typical week. Everything – even the quick stuff that "only takes five minutes." Then mark the tasks that don't require your direct expertise.

Here's what typically makes the list:

Inbox Management: Sorting emails, tagging priorities, creating folders, and drafting replies for you to approve. Most founders spend 2-3 hours daily just managing email.

Calendar and Travel: Booking restaurants, planning business trips, scheduling meetings, and sending reminders. All that back-and-forth? Someone else can handle it.

Admin Chores: Data entry, research, filling out forms, preparing invoices, and organizing documents. Not hard work, just time-consuming.

Outreach Basics: Researching potential clients, building prospect lists, and preparing intro messages. The groundwork that makes your sales calls possible.

Marketing Support: Drafting newsletters, updating pitch decks, booking networking events, and light content formatting. Keeping your brand visible without eating your day.

The pattern you'll notice? These are all important tasks that take up huge amounts of time but don't require you specifically to do them.

Step 2: Start with Your Inbox and Calendar

Your inbox and calendar are usually the quickest way to win back time.

Give your VA access to a dedicated email address or shared inbox and define simple rules for what they can answer versus what needs your input. Most customer questions are repetitive – your VA can handle them with templates you approve.

Ask your VA to consolidate meetings, build in focus blocks, and set reminders so you stop context-switching all day. Instead of checking your calendar 47 times, you just show up when and where you're supposed to be.

The impact: Most people get back 10-15 hours per week just from delegating email and calendar management. That's not an exaggeration – that's the actual time you're currently spending on this stuff.

Step 3: Delegate Travel and Personal Support

Here's something founders don't talk about enough: life admin is killing your productivity.

Booking restaurants, organizing transport, buying gifts, coordinating cleaners – this stuff doesn't stop just because you're running a business. And it all eats into your day.

Let your VA handle it. They can book restaurants, organize transport, buy gifts, or coordinate cleaners according to your preferences.

Share a short "personal preferences" document so they know your favorite locations, price ranges, and times that work for you. Then stop thinking about it.

Real talk: When you're not spending 30 minutes trying to find a restaurant for Thursday's client dinner, you can spend that time actually preparing for the meeting.

Step 4: Hand Over LinkedIn Outreach

January is a strong month for business development, so use your VA to keep consistent outreach going while you run sales calls.

Ask your VA to define or refine your ideal customer persona, then research potential clients or partners on LinkedIn. They find the right people while you focus on converting them.

Let them draft and send personalized intro messages, track replies in a simple CRM or spreadsheet, and book calls directly into your calendar.

The result: Your pipeline stays full without you spending hours every week hunting for leads and crafting intro messages.

Step 5: Delegate Basic Marketing and Content

Your VA doesn't replace a senior marketer, but they can execute a lot of marketing tasks that keep your brand visible.

Have your VA design simple social media posts, repurpose content, and schedule updates on your chosen platforms. Consistency is what matters in marketing, and that's hard to maintain when you're juggling everything else.

Ask them to support with newsletters, pitch decks, speaking opportunity research, and basic on-page content updates.

The game-changer: Your marketing actually happens consistently instead of whenever you remember to post something.

Step 6: Onboard Your VA in the First 30 Days

Treat January as your 30-day delegation sprint. Here's how to actually make it work:

Week 1: Setup Share logins via a secure password tool like LastPass. Record short Loom videos of how you currently do tasks – way easier than writing everything out. Agree on priorities and what success looks like.

Week 2: Core Handoff Fully hand over inbox, calendar, and at least one admin process. Do daily check-ins to refine how things are working. This is the adjustment period – expect some back-and-forth.

Week 3: Expand Add LinkedIn outreach and one marketing activity. Provide clear templates and tone of voice guidelines so everything sounds like you.

Week 4: Review and Scale Look at time saved, refine your delegation list, and decide which new tasks to offload next month. By now you should be feeling the difference.

The payoff: By February, your VA is handling 15+ hours of work weekly, and you're actually focused on growing your business instead of just keeping it running.

The Agency Advantage Nobody Talks About

Here's what people don't tell you about hiring a freelance VA: what happens when they get sick? Go on vacation? Decide to quit?

You're back to doing everything yourself, scrambling to find someone new, and losing all that momentum you built.

When you work with an agency like Remote Bob, you're not gambling on one person.

What you actually get:

Built-in Backup Coverage: Your VA needs time off? We have trained replacements who can step in seamlessly. No panic, no scrambling, no work stopping.

Project Management Support: You're not managing your VA alone. Our project managers make sure communication flows smoothly and work gets done consistently.

Professional Training: Our VAs go through comprehensive training before they work with clients. They know how to handle different business types and communicate professionally.

Accountability: Your VA has managers checking their work and ensuring quality. It's not just hoping they'll deliver – there's a system ensuring they do.

One of our clients started in January with big plans for Q1. Her VA needed emergency surgery in March. Her backup VA stepped in the same day, already familiar with her account, and nothing missed a beat. Try getting that with a solo freelancer.

Book Your 30-Day Delegation Plan

If you want structured support, the next step is to book a free consultation call with a specialist who will match you to your ideal VA.

On the call we walk through your current workload, identify quick-win tasks to delegate, and design a realistic weekly schedule for your VA.

Once you confirm scope and terms, you can usually meet your ideal VA within a few working days and start reclaiming those 15+ hours per week.

With VA support, your resolutions actually have a chance because someone's helping you execute them, not just cheering from the sidelines.

Want to start the year right? Book a call with us on this link or reach out on email customers@remotebob.co.uk.

We're here to help you start the year strong. This could be the year you actually keep your business resolutions. Let's make it happen.

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