BACK-OFFICE EXPERTS FOR GROWING BUSINESSES
Virtual Assistant Services for Small Business
A small business virtual assistant handles the recurring administrative work that consumes an owner’s day: inbox management, calendar coordination, client communication, follow-up tracking, CRM updates, and meeting prep. Hanson Ledgers delivers this as Executive Assistant Support from $325 per month. Request a free consultation.
Administrative Support for Owners Who Are Doing Too Much
At Hanson Ledgers we call this Administrative Support, which describes the level of the work more accurately than the general term. The point is the same: someone dependable handling the administrative load so the owner can spend their hours on the work only they can do.
Most small business owners do not need a full-time hire. They need ten to twenty hours a month of genuinely reliable support, and they need it from someone who does not require constant supervision to be useful.
The Real Cost of Doing Your Own Admin
Administrative work is deceptively expensive because it never appears on an invoice. Nobody bills themselves for the ninety minutes spent triaging an inbox, or the calendar rearranged three times, or the follow-up that was drafted and redrafted at ten at night.
Do the arithmetic once and it is uncomfortable. An owner whose time is genuinely worth 150 dollars an hour who spends fifteen hours a month on administration is spending 2,250 dollars of their own capacity on work that could be delegated for a fraction of it. That is before considering that the fifteen hours are usually taken from evenings rather than from billable time.
The harder cost is attention. Administrative work fragments the day. It is difficult to do the thinking a business actually needs when the inbox interrupts every eleven minutes, and most owners do their strategic work late at night precisely because that is the only uninterrupted stretch left.
What Executive Assistant Support Covers
- Inbox management. Triage, filing, drafted replies for your review, and escalation of the messages that genuinely need you.
- Calendar coordination. Scheduling, rescheduling, buffers, and protecting the blocks you keep giving away.
- Client communication support. Timely, professional responses so clients are not waiting three days because you were on site.
- Follow-up tracking. Proposals, invoices, and commitments tracked so nothing quietly dies in a thread.
- Document organization. Files where they should be, named consistently, findable by someone other than you.
- CRM and client file updates. Records kept current so the system reflects reality.
- Meeting prep and recap. Briefed before, notes and action items after.
- Executive task management. The moving parts held and reported on rather than remembered.
What Makes This Different From a General VA
The virtual assistant market is enormous and the quality range is extreme. Plenty of owners have tried it, had a poor experience, and concluded delegation does not work for them. Usually the mismatch was in level rather than in the concept.
A general VA executes clearly specified tasks. That is genuinely useful when the work is repetitive and well defined, but it means you are still the one deciding what needs doing, in what order, and to what standard. For many owners the specifying costs almost as much time as doing it.
Executive-level support means judgment. Knowing which of forty emails actually needs you. Drafting a client reply that sounds like you rather than like a template. Noticing that a proposal has gone unanswered for eight days and following up without being asked. Understanding that Thursday afternoons are protected and defending that against a scheduling request.
That judgment is built on continuity. You work with a consistent person who accumulates context about your business, your clients, and how you like things done. A rotating pool never gets there, which is the single biggest reason cheap VA arrangements disappoint.
Getting Delegation to Actually Work
Owners who succeed at this tend to do a few things.
They start with a defined area rather than everything at once. Inbox and calendar is the usual opening, because the improvement is immediately visible and it teaches both sides how the other works.
They accept eighty percent for the first month. Work will not be done exactly as you would have done it, and insisting otherwise guarantees you take it all back.
They let processes get documented as they go. The first time something is handed over it takes longer to explain than to do. The second time it takes a fraction, but only if the explanation was written down.
And they resist reclaiming work during busy weeks, which is precisely when the support is most valuable and most tempting to bypass.
What It Costs
Executive assistant support is priced in monthly capacity rather than hourly billing:
- Essentials, 325 dollars per month. Around 10 hours. Inbox and calendar management, basic social posting, client follow-up and communication, administrative task support.
- Growth, 500 dollars per month. Around 15 hours. Adds content creation and distribution, social media strategy, customer service, project coordination, marketing implementation.
- Scaling, 650 dollars per month. Around 20 hours. Adds multi-channel marketing, complete project management, team coordination and systems, strategic business support.
- Executive, 1,000 dollars per month. Around 30 hours. Multi-service support for businesses ready for full delegation, complex ongoing projects, and companies with multiple owners.
Full detail is on our Administrative Support page. Compared with a part-time in-house hire, this avoids payroll taxes, benefits, equipment, recruitment, and the risk of paying for hours you do not yet need.
When You Need Operations Instead
If the problem is not the volume of admin but that the business does not function without you in the room, what you need is operations support rather than an assistant. An assistant handles the tasks. An operations manager owns the processes, the projects, and the team.
Plenty of owners eventually need both. Because Hanson Ledgers is a back-office team, adding the second does not mean starting another search.
One Team Across Your Back Office
Hanson Ledgers is a Dallas/Fort Worth back-office team serving businesses across the metroplex and remotely beyond it. Alongside administrative support we provide Bookkeeping Support, operations support, technology support, and Strategic Financial Guidance.
Heather Hanson leads bookkeeping, executive support, and operations. Kevin Hanson leads technology, which matters for the access, permissions, and security decisions that come with handing anyone the keys to your inbox. You can read about both on our about page.
Start With the One Thing You Would Hand Over First
The consultation is free, and the most useful way into it is concrete. What did you spend last week doing that you should not have been doing? What is the one task you would hand over today if you could hand over exactly one? That answer usually makes the right starting level obvious in half an hour.
Who This Works Best For
Our administrative support clients are usually owner-operated businesses somewhere past the point where the owner can hold everything in their head. Trade and home services businesses fielding constant inbound calls and quote requests. Real estate agents managing transaction timelines, document deadlines, and client communication across several deals at once. Consultants and coaches with a calendar that is effectively their product. Professional practices where the owner is also the person answering the phone. Agencies where client communication has quietly become a full-time job nobody was hired for.
It works less well for owners who genuinely enjoy running their own admin and do not want anyone else in their inbox. That is a legitimate preference, and we would rather establish it on the first call than three months in.
What the First Month Looks Like
Week one is access, context, and observation. We get set up properly with the right permissions, learn the recurring rhythms of your week, and start with a narrow, well-defined slice rather than everything at once.
Week two is where the drafting starts. You still review everything, but replies arrive prepared rather than blank. Most owners find this the point where the arrangement starts paying for itself.
By week four the review layer thins out. Routine correspondence goes without your involvement, the calendar is being defended rather than just filled, and the follow-ups that used to slip are simply happening. The measurable change is usually not the hours saved but the number of things you are no longer holding in your head.
Virtual Assistant Services: Frequently Asked Questions
What does a virtual assistant for a small business do?
A small business VA handles the recurring administrative work that consumes an owner’s day: inbox management, calendar coordination, client communication, follow-up tracking, document organization, CRM updates, meeting prep, and general administrative support. Hanson Ledgers provides this as Executive Assistant Support.
How much does a virtual assistant cost?
Executive assistant support starts at $325 per month for roughly 10 hours and scales to $1,000 per month for 30 hours. Pricing is flat monthly rather than hourly, so the invoice does not move around.
How many hours a month do I need?
Most owners start at 10 to 15 hours. Ten hours covers inbox, calendar, and follow-up for a solo owner. Fifteen to twenty adds client communication, content coordination, and project support. Thirty suits owners ready to delegate broadly.
What is the difference between a VA and an executive assistant?
In practice the difference is seniority and judgment. A general VA executes clearly defined tasks. An executive assistant exercises judgment about priority, drafts on your behalf, and manages communication without needing every decision confirmed.
Will I have the same person each month?
Yes. You work with a consistent point of contact who learns your business, your preferences, and your clients. Continuity is most of the value in this role.
Is my data secure?
Yes. We use password managers and least-privilege access rather than shared credentials, and Kevin Hanson leads technology and security for the practice. We will walk you through exactly what access is needed and why.
Can I add bookkeeping or operations support later?
Yes. Hanson Ledgers is a full back-office team. Many clients start with administrative support and add bookkeeping, operations, or technology support as the business grows, without changing vendors.
Hand Over the First Thing This Month
Tell us what you spent last week doing that you should not have been doing. We will help you identify the right level of administrative support.
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