Your assistant has your inbox and calendar running the way you like it. Then you decide you want your invoices chased, your social posts scheduled, or a research project picked up, and some of that work sits outside what your assistant does best, or beyond the time they have available.

That's the point where a second assistant makes sense. On a Time etc plan, it comes at no extra cost, because plans are based on hours of support, and those hours can be shared across as many assistants as your work calls for.

The question Time etc clients ask most at this stage is how much extra managing it involves. To answer it, two long-term clients shared how they run their teams. Tom* has been a client since 2016 and works with ten virtual assistants. John* joined in 2019 and has three, each covering a different area of his business.

*Names have been changed.

When does a second virtual assistant make sense?

One assistant can cover a lot of ground. These are the usual signs that it's time to add another:

• You need a different skill set. Your assistant is excellent at scheduling and inbox management, and now you want help with financial admin, social media, or design. An assistant with more specialized skills in each area tends to produce better work than one person stretching across all of them.
• Your assistant is at capacity. Virtual assistants work part-time, flexible hours, sometimes across multiple clients. If your workload has grown beyond the time your assistant has available to work, a second virtual assistant adds the support you need.
• Other people in your business need administrative support. It's free to share your plan with your team, so a second assistant can take on a colleague's administrative tasks while yours stays focused on you.

For more on how plans flex, see How Flexible Is A Virtual Assistant, Really? Scaling Hours Up And Down. And if spare hours are what prompted the idea, How To Use All The Hours In Your Virtual Assistant Plan is the place to start.

Seven tips for working with multiple virtual assistants

The setup that works for one assistant needs only a few tweaks to work for a whole team. Here’s the structure Tom* and John* rely on, along with what Time etc has seen work across its clients.

1. Give each assistant a clear area to own

A multi-assistant team runs best when every recurring task has one owner. Split the work by area, such as inbox and calendar with one assistant, invoicing and expenses with another, and social media with a third. Then tell each assistant where their area starts and ends.

When a new task comes up, you'll know straight away who it belongs to, and so will they. A one-page list of who owns what, shared with everyone, is enough.

2. Write each process down once

Writing instructions can feel like one more job on your list. Tom* treats it as the step that makes everything else work, and he keeps it simple.

"(Instructions) can come in any format, including video and written documents. I like to use a shared document format such as Google Docs so that VAs can see the latest changes and contribute updates at all times," he says.

He also asks his assistants to improve the documents as they go. "I encourage VAs to update the process docs, especially when encountering a task for the first time because it's easier for them to identify the areas that aren't clear."

A quick screen recording of you doing the task once is often the fastest way to begin. Your assistant can turn it into a written process, and from then on anyone on your team can pick the task up from the same document.

3. Have a “main” assistant

As your team grows, choose one assistant to act as your lead. They become your main point of contact, pass tasks to the right person, and keep track of progress across the team, much like a project manager. You brief one person, and they make sure the work reaches whoever is best placed to do it.

This suits founders with three or more assistants, and anyone who prefers a single conversation to several. With two assistants and clearly separate areas, working with each one directly is usually simpler.

Coordination is work like any other, so the time your lead assistant spends on it comes out of your plan hours. Most founders find that a fair trade for having one person keep everything moving.

4. Keep a regular check-in with every assistant

A lead assistant handles the coordination. Your working relationship with each person still benefits from direct contact.

"In a virtual environment, greater effort is needed to make sure everyone is on the same page and working well together," says John*.

A short, regular check-in gives each assistant space to share what they've been working on, ask questions, and hear your feedback. Fifteen minutes every week or two is a good starting point, and a written update works well for an assistant on a small number of hours.

Between check-ins, make it easy to reach you. John* keeps "all points of contact" open, including email, phone, and instant messaging, so an assistant who hits a problem gets an answer quickly and the task keeps moving.

5. Introduce your assistants to each other

Beyond communicating with you, Tom* recommends encouraging your virtual assistants to communicate with each other. Introduce them to one another and help them feel comfortable reaching out to each other directly with questions. They'll be able to resolve more things between themselves, bringing you in only when there's a decision that needs your input.

"Email dialogue and video calls are particularly beneficial when someone is new to a task," he says.

It helps with time off, too. When one assistant is away, a teammate who already knows the task and has the process document can step in, depending on the work involved.

6. Keep access and tools simple

More assistants means more logins to share and more places for tasks to live. Two things are worth setting up early.

A password manager. Tools like 1Password or Bitwarden let you give each assistant access to only the accounts their work requires, and remove it in a click if their responsibilities change. Passwords stay out of email and chat.

One home for tasks. Pick a single place where every task is assigned and tracked, and match it to the size of your team. A simple Trello board is enough for two or three assistants with clear task lists. A fuller project management tool like ClickUp, Asana, or Monday.com suits a larger team handling several kinds of work.

Whichever you choose, use it consistently. A task assigned in one agreed place is easy for everyone to find.

See: How To Share Secure Information With Your Virtual Assistant

7. Treat every assistant as part of your business

John*'s advice is to keep in mind why you chose virtual support in the first place.

"(Hiring virtual assistants) allows you to fish in a much bigger pool for skills and talent, and hiring a portion of someone's full skill set to match specific tasks is usually more effective than hiring the full package (of a full-time employee) for the same task, where the rest of their skill set won't be put to use," he says.

That benefit shows up faster when you invest a little time at the start. "Companies go to great extents to onboard new employees, and for good reason," John* explains. "So despite the fact that you'll likely never meet in person, it's important to remember that virtual assistants are still part of your business."

For an assistant joining an existing team, a good start covers four things: an introduction to your business and priorities, the process documents for their area, the access they need, and an introduction to your other assistants. Time spent on this in the first week saves questions and corrections later.

See: How To Form A Successful Relationship With Your Virtual Assistant

Questions founders ask about adding an assistant

Does a second virtual assistant cost more? Your price stays the same. Time etc plans are based on hours of support, and every assistant on your team works from the same pool of hours.

How many virtual assistants can I have on one plan? As many as your workload calls for. Tom* works with ten, and John* works with three.

How do I ask for an additional assistant? Get in touch with your Client Success Manager and explain the tasks you want to hand off. They'll match you with an assistant whose experience fits, the same way you were matched with your first.

Do I have to manage each assistant separately? That's your choice. Some founders work with each assistant directly, and others ask a lead assistant to coordinate the team and report back.

What happens when one of my assistants is away? Cover is included in your plan. With shared process documents and assistants who know each other, a teammate can often pick up the task directly.

Want more support, without more to manage?

Having multiple virtual assistants should mean more of your business gets taken care of, without more of your time going into managing it.

If you're already a Time etc user, adding another assistant is straightforward. Your Client Success Manager can help you find someone with the right skills for the tasks you have in mind.

If you're considering virtual support, book a free consultation with our team. We'll talk through your workload and help you work out what the right setup could look like.

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