It’s 5:05 a.m., and I’m typing this while my baby boy sleeps on my chest and my daughter is still curled up, hugging her Barbie pillow tight.
The house is quiet. There’s worship music playing softly in the background. For a moment, it’s just coffee, keys, and calm.
In less than an hour, this same space will look very different: Slack pings, client messages, follow-up reminders, snack requests, “Mommy, watch me dance!” and a pipeline that still needs to keep moving.
Over the years, supporting founders and CEOs across different time zones and industries, I’ve learned something simple but powerful:
Asking for help isn’t giving up.
It’s leveling up—your revenue, your energy, and your life.
And if you’re reading this at 11 p.m., eyes burning, scrolling through emails you “didn’t get to,” wondering how it’s somehow tomorrow again… I see you.
I’ve been where you are.
So have many of my clients—until they finally decided to stop doing everything alone.
Let’s talk about the signs that it might be time to bring a Virtual Assistant (or operations / outbound support partner) into your world.
The Honest Truth About Growth
Here’s what I’ve watched again and again in the businesses I support:
The moment a founder decides, “I don’t have to carry all of this by myself anymore,” something shifts.
Not because they were failing.
But because they were finally ready to:
- Protect their energy
- Buy back their time
- And focus on the work only they can do—sales conversations, strategy, big decisions, deep creative work
Growth isn’t just about doing more. Sometimes it’s about doing less of what drains you, so you can do more of what actually moves the needle.
A good VA doesn’t just “take tasks off your plate.”
They protect your focus, pipeline, and presence.
Here are seven signs you might be more ready for that than you think.
7 Signs You’re Ready for a Virtual Assistant
1. You’re Spending Hours on Tasks That Don’t Need Your Specific Magic
I once worked with a CEO who spent four hours every Monday organizing her inbox and scheduling posts.
Four. Hours.
Not strategizing.
Not on sales calls.
Not building new offers or nurturing high-value relationships.
Just… inbox, files, and “quick tasks” that kept multiplying.
If you catch yourself:
- Manually scheduling content across multiple platforms
- Copy-pasting the same info into different tools
- Digging through your inbox trying to find “that one message”
- Updating spreadsheets when you’d rather be serving clients or closing deals
That’s your sign.
Those tasks matter. But they don’t require your highest-level brain.
A skilled VA (especially one who understands systems and GTM) can handle them with care—so your time can go where it actually creates revenue and impact.
2. You’re Turning Down Opportunities Because You “Don’t Have Time”
This one hurts to witness, because I see it so often.
- A podcast or speaking invite lands in your inbox
- A potential collaboration lights you up
- A client wants to expand their project
- A referral pings you, ready to work
And your first thought is, “I can’t take on one more thing.”
Not because you don’t want to.
But because your days are already packed with:
- Admin
- Email and DM replies
- Calendar juggling
- Managing projects and tiny details
Here’s the shift:
When someone else owns the backend and admin,
you finally have space to say YES to the front-end opportunities that grow your business.
A VA doesn’t just save time. They create capacity for bigger doors to open.
3. You’re Working When You Promised Yourself You’d Be Present
Let’s get honest for a moment.
How many times have you:
- Sat at dinner with your family, phone face-down… but mind still inside your inbox?
- Cut a beach walk short because you “just need to send one quick email”?
- Watched your kids play while mentally checking off tasks you didn’t finish?
I’ve done this.
Many of my clients have too.
That’s one of the reasons I care so much about this work.
A VA doesn’t just give you back hours. They give you back presence.
When someone else is:
- Managing your inbox and calendar
- Handling basic client communication
- Tracking follow-up and reminders
- Keeping content and small tasks moving
…you can actually be in the moment.
You can watch the whole dance performance.
You can enjoy the whole sunset.
You can hold your baby without wondering what’s slipping through the cracks in your business.
4. Your Business Growth Has Stalled (But Your Ideas Haven’t)
You’re not short on ideas.
You can see:
- The new offer you want to launch
- The email sequence that would nurture your leads properly
- The website update your brand really deserves
- The content that would finally articulate your value
But here’s the problem: your day-to-day is so full, there’s no room to implement any of it.
What you’re experiencing is a growth gap:
- Your ideas are scaling
- Your calendar and systems are not
A VA helps bridge that gap.
I’ve watched founders go from “stuck in maintenance mode” to “launching and expanding again” within weeks of bringing in support—not because they suddenly worked harder, but because they finally had space (mentally and practically) to execute.
5. You’re Making Small Mistakes That “Aren’t Like You”
You know the ones:
- Double-booking calls
- Forgetting to send a proposal or follow-up
- Missing a small but important detail
- Replying late to a warm lead who was ready to move
These aren’t signs that you’re careless or incapable.
They’re signs that you’re doing too many jobs at once.
Your brain is trying to be:
- CEO
- Head of Sales
- Head of Marketing
- Client Delivery
- Admin
- Customer Support
…all in the same day.
Of course something slips.
A VA becomes your safety net—the one who:
- Tracks details
- Spots gaps
- Catches loose ends before they become problems
Not because you can’t do it, but because you shouldn’t have to do all of it.
6. You Can’t Remember the Last Time You Took a Real Break
Not a “working break.”
Not a “I’ll just keep an eye on my phone” break.
A real one.
- Phone on silent (or in a different room)
- Inbox ignored
- No low-key guilt humming under the surface
If your answer is:
- “I honestly don’t remember,” or
- “Definitely not since I started this business…”
…then yes, this is a sign.
Sustainable business growth requires:
- Rest
- Margin
- Recovery
You can’t pour endlessly from an empty cup (even if you’ve tried).
With a VA handling the essentials, you can:
- Take that weekend trip
- Have a sick day
- Visit family
- Take a slow morning
…and know the business won’t fall apart without you.
7. You’ve Whispered to Yourself, “There Has to Be a Better Way”
Maybe it happened:
- On the tenth time you answered the same FAQ this week
- During yet another late-night content scheduling session
- While updating spreadsheets during what was supposed to be your “deep work” block
That quiet thought—“There has to be a better way”—isn’t you being ungrateful or weak.
It’s your intuition telling you you’re ready to build a business that’s supportable, not just survivable.
The most successful founders I’ve worked with all had this in common:
They understood that bringing in support early was a sign of wisdom, not weakness.
They didn’t wait until they were completely burned out to ask for help.
What Changes When You Say Yes to Support
I’ve had the privilege of walking alongside business owners during some of their biggest seasons of growth.
And the transformation I see isn’t just in revenue (though that happens too).
It shows up in:
- The way they sound on our calls—more alive than drained
- The stories they share about time with their families
- The way they speak about their work—with excitement instead of resentment
One client—a mom of two running a thriving recruitment agency—told me six months after we started working together:
“I didn’t realize how heavy everything felt
until I didn’t have to carry it all alone anymore.”
That’s the power of support.
It’s not just “getting things done.”
It’s feeling different in your own business and life.
Starting Small and Growing Steady
Here’s the beautiful part:
You don’t need a 40-hour-per-week hire or a perfect org chart to start.
You can start small. For example:
- 5–10 hours a week of inbox and calendar management
- Client onboarding and follow-up (so everyone feels cared for without you drowning in admin)
- Simple lead tracking and follow-up reminders so warm opportunities don’t go cold
- Light content support—like formatting, uploading, and scheduling what you already have drafted
As you feel the difference:
- More brain space
- Fewer dropped balls
- More focused working time
…you can expand, adjust, and refine.
This isn’t about giving up control.
It’s about gaining freedom, clarity, and capacity.
You’ve Already Built Something Worth Supporting
The fact that you’re even reading this tells me a lot about you.
You’ve already:
- Built something real
- Served real clients
- Made real decisions when it would’ve been easier to quit
You’ve proven you can do hard things.
Now it might be time to let it feel less hard.
Not because ease means less meaning, but because joyful, sustainable, family-honoring growth doesn’t require you to sacrifice your peace and presence forever.
You’re allowed to build a business that supports your life, not one that quietly erodes it.
Your Next Joyful Step
So here’s my gentle invitation, friend:
If you recognized yourself in even two or three of these signs, it might be time to explore what virtual assistance or operations support could look like for you.
You don’t need:
- A perfect plan
- A massive budget
- Every system mapped out
You just need a willingness to consider that asking for help might be the most strategic, kind thing you do for your business this year.
Tonight, if you can, try this:
- Grab your journal or a notes app
- Write down three tasks you do regularly that someone else could handle just as well (or better)
Just three.
Notice how it feels to imagine them off your plate.
And if you’re ready to talk about what that could look like in your world—your offers, your schedule, your season—I’d genuinely love to hear your story.
Because from where I sit, after years of supporting founders around the world, I know this:
You don’t have to choose between a thriving business and a present, peaceful life.
You can have both.
You deserve both.
Sometimes, the bridge between where you are and where you want to be is simply saying:
“I’m ready for help.”
With so much hope and belief in what you’re building,
Jocelyn
Joyful Narrative
Supporting founders, one joyful, strategic task at a time. ☀️
Joyful Narrative 