How virtual assistant support gets started

How the handover runs

A careful start makes the later weeks much easier.

1. Agree scope and terms with the service partner after your request is passed on.
2. Write down the tasks you are handing over, with examples of done-right work.
3. Give access through delegation or a password manager, never by sending passwords in email.
4. Spend the first week answering questions and correcting small things early.

Your handover checklist

Pull these together before the assistant's first day.

• Task list with how often each task happens
• Step-by-step notes, with screenshots where it helps
• Template replies and examples of good past work
• List of software and which accounts the assistant needs
• Access method agreed for each tool
• Priority order for the work
• Rules for when to ask before acting
• Your preferred channel for questions, such as email or Slack

How access is usually handled

Well-run remote arrangements share a few habits. The assistant has their own login wherever the software allows one, and mailbox or calendar delegation where it does not. Shared credentials live in a password manager with access you can revoke. Two-factor authentication stays on for every account.

Permissions follow the work. If the job is drafting invoices in QuickBooks or Xero, the role should allow drafting and not approving payments. Approval of anything financial stays with you or your accountant.

When work stops, offboarding is a checklist: remove user accounts, revoke delegation, take the assistant out of the password manager and change any passwords they could see.

Adjusting as you go

A remote assistant arrangement is rarely fixed. In the early weeks, tasks take longer while the assistant learns your tools and preferences. Later they speed up, and you may find room for more work in the same hours, or that fewer hours are enough.

Regular summaries make these decisions easier because you can see what time goes where. Use a check-in every week or two to talk about it. Changes to hours, coverage or scope go through the service partner, under the terms you agreed. Ending the arrangement works the same way: give the agreed notice and close off access cleanly.