Small Business Virtual Assistant
Hand over the inbox, the calendar, the chasing and the paperwork. One assistant who learns how you work and quietly keeps it running — no agency, no rotating staff, no minimum you cannot use.
One Assistant, Not An Agency
I am a single virtual assistant with nine years behind me — seven of them as an executive assistant in a professional firm, two running this practice. I take on eleven clients at a time and no more, because the whole value of this arrangement is that I know your business well enough to make decisions in it.
That means you get the same person every week. Nobody is handed off, nothing is re-explained, and the things I learn in month one are still true in month twenty.
- ✓Eleven clients maximum, so nobody gets the leftovers
- ✓Signed confidentiality agreement before any login changes hands
- ✓Covered by a named backup assistant for holidays and sick days
Monthly Retainers
Hours are pooled across the month and never expire mid-month. Start small — most owners move up once they see what comes off their desk.
No lock-in contract. Thirty days' notice either way, and unused hours in your final month are refunded.
Owners Who Are The Bottleneck
Consultants & Coaches
Scheduling across time zones, proposals out the door, and the follow-up sequence you keep meaning to write.
Trades & Home Services
Quotes chased, jobs confirmed, invoices raised the same day, and the phone answered while you are on a roof.
Small Professional Firms
Diary management for two or three partners, client onboarding paperwork, and a tidy handover when someone leaves.
Online & Creative Businesses
Supplier chasing, order queries, content scheduling and the admin that sits behind every launch.
Tell Me What Your Week Looks Like
We will go through where the hours actually go, and I will tell you honestly whether ten a month would fix it.
From First Call To Off Your Desk
Two weeks, and most of the work in them is mine.
Discovery Call
Thirty minutes on where your time goes. You will leave it knowing what I would take first and what a month costs, whether or not you go ahead.
Onboarding Week
Confidentiality agreement signed, logins shared through a password manager you control, and an hour recording how you like things answered.
Shadow Fortnight
I draft, you approve. Everything that leaves comes past you first, until the drafts stop needing edits — usually around day ten.
Weekly Rhythm
Inbox handled each morning, a Friday summary of what moved, and a standing fifteen minutes on Monday if you want it.
What Makes This Work
Same Person, Every Week
You explain a thing once. An agency pool means explaining it again to whoever picks up the ticket, and again the month after that.
Written Down, Not Remembered
Every recurring task lives in a shared document with the steps, the logins and the exceptions. If I am hit by a bus, my backup opens the file.
Permission To Decide
Within limits you set, I answer without asking. An assistant who forwards everything back to you has not actually taken anything off your plate.
Honest About Fit
Two or three enquiries a year I turn down because the work needs a bookkeeper, a copywriter or a full-time hire. I will say so on the call.
What Actually Happens
Monday morning your inbox is already triaged and the week's meetings have travel time in them. Tuesday the overdue invoices go out with a polite note. Wednesday the three enquiries that came in overnight have been acknowledged and two have times booked. Thursday the supplier who never replies gets called instead of emailed. Friday you get one message listing what moved, what is still open and the two things that need you.
None of it is complicated. All of it is the reason you were working Sundays.
- ✓Triaged before you open your laptop
- ✓Chased without you being the one asking
- ✓Summarised once a week, not drip-fed all day
What Changed For Them
I used to spend the first ninety minutes of every day in my inbox. Now I open it at eleven, and everything that needed me has already been sorted, answered or flagged.
The thing I did not expect was the follow-up. Quotes get chased, invoices get chased, and I never have to be the one asking twice.
We started at ten hours a month to see if it would work. Two years later it is forty, and she knows the business better than my last office manager did.
Questions Owners Ask First
Am I locked into a contract?
No. Retainers run month to month with thirty days' notice either way. If you give notice mid-month, the hours you have not used are refunded rather than forfeited.
What happens to my passwords?
They go into a password manager that you own and I am invited to. I never hold a copy, and you can revoke my access yourself in about ten seconds — no phone call, no waiting for me to confirm.
Are you in my time zone?
I am in Raleigh, so Eastern time. Clients on the West Coast get their inbox handled before they wake up, which most of them consider a feature. If your business needs live coverage past 5pm Eastern, say so on the call and I will tell you honestly whether I am the right fit.
What if I do not use all my hours?
Hours pool across the calendar month and do not roll into the next one. In practice almost nobody underspends after month two — the more common conversation is moving up a tier.
What happens when you are on holiday?
A named backup assistant covers, working from the same written procedures. You meet her before she ever touches your account, and I tell you the dates at least three weeks ahead.
Will you use my tools or your own?
Yours. I work inside whatever you already pay for — your email, your calendar, your invoicing software, your project tool. Moving you onto something new is a separate conversation and usually a bad idea in month one.
Start With Ten Hours
The smallest retainer is deliberately small. One month is usually enough to know whether this works for you.
Book A Discovery Call
Tell me roughly where the time goes and pick a day that suits. Thirty minutes, no obligation, and you will get a straight answer about whether a retainer would help.
- Visit usRaleigh, NC 27601
- Call us(919) 555-0148
- Email ushello@merridewassistant.com