On this page
- How to choose tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant
- Administrative tasks
- Email and calendar tasks
- Sales and lead generation tasks
- Marketing and social media tasks
- Finance and bookkeeping tasks
- Customer service tasks
- Operations and research tasks
- Personal tasks for busy founders
- Tasks you should keep
- How to hand over a task
Knowing which tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant is what separates a hire that saves you hours from one that creates more work. Most business owners can name one or two things they'd love to hand off, but struggle to list enough work to fill a part-time role, or they hand over the wrong tasks first.
Key Takeaways
- The best tasks to delegate repeat often, follow clear rules, and don't need your personal judgment.
- A one-week time audit shows you exactly where your hours go before you hire.
- Start with two or three recurring tasks, document them, then add more once they run smoothly.
- Keep strategy, key relationships, and final decisions for yourself.
Below is a list of 60 tasks, grouped by department, along with a simple way to decide what to delegate first. Every task here is work a remote assistant can do with the right access and a short set of instructions.
How to choose tasks to delegate to a virtual assistant
Run a one-week time audit
For one normal week, write down everything you work on in 30-minute blocks. At the end, highlight anything that isn't sales, strategy, or work only you can do. That highlighted list is your first draft of what to delegate.
The four-question test
- 1Does it happen every day or every week?
- 2Could you explain it in a short checklist or a five-minute screen recording?
- 3Is a small mistake easy to catch and fix?
- 4Does it need your personal judgment or relationships?
Tasks that get a yes to the first three questions and a no to the last are ideal starting points.
Administrative tasks
General admin is where most people start, and it's the core of a general virtual assistant role.
- Organizing shared drives and naming files consistently
- Formatting documents, proposals, and slide decks from templates
- Ordering office supplies and tracking deliveries
- Managing software subscriptions and renewal dates
- Preparing meeting agendas and taking notes
- Transcribing voice memos and recordings
- Booking travel, hotels, and transport
- Filling in forms and applications
- Keeping contact lists and address books current
- Tracking deadlines and sending reminders
Email and calendar tasks
Inbox and calendar work is repetitive, rule-based, and eats hours every week, which makes it ideal for an email management assistant.
- Sorting the inbox and flagging messages that need you
- Drafting replies to routine questions
- Unsubscribing from newsletters you never read
- Setting up filters and labels
- Scheduling meetings and handling reschedules
- Adding video links and agendas to invites
- Coordinating meetings across time zones
- Sending reminders to external guests
Sales and lead generation tasks
Sales support keeps your pipeline moving while your team focuses on conversations. A lead generation assistant can own most of these, and a cold calling assistant can run outbound calls.
- Building prospect lists that match your ideal customer
- Finding verified contact details
- Sending outreach sequences by email or LinkedIn
- Replying to inbound inquiries quickly
- Booking discovery calls onto your calendar
- Updating deal stages in the CRM
- Preparing proposals from templates
- Following up on quotes that haven't had a reply
Marketing and social media tasks
- Scheduling social media posts
- Designing simple graphics in Canva
- Replying to comments and direct messages
- Uploading blog posts to your website
- Building email newsletters from your notes
- Researching competitors' content
- Compiling monthly marketing reports
- Repurposing long content into shorter posts
If social media takes most of the time, a dedicated social media virtual assistant is worth considering.
Finance and bookkeeping tasks
Keep approvals and payments with you, but hand over the recordkeeping. These tasks suit a virtual bookkeeper.
- Categorizing bank transactions
- Reconciling bank and credit card accounts
- Sending invoices on schedule
- Following up on overdue payments
- Entering bills for your approval
- Collecting receipts for expenses
- Preparing monthly financial reports
- Organizing records for your accountant at year-end
Customer service tasks
- Answering support emails and tickets
- Covering live chat during busy hours
- Processing returns and refunds within your policy
- Updating customers on order status
- Writing saved replies for common questions
- Turning repeat questions into help articles
- Sending satisfaction surveys
- Escalating complex issues with a clear summary
A customer service virtual assistant can take this whole list off your plate.
Operations and research tasks
- Researching vendors and comparing quotes
- Writing standard operating procedures from your recordings
- Updating project boards in Asana, Trello, or ClickUp
- Entering data into spreadsheets and databases
- Gathering market or competitor research
- Coordinating with freelancers and contractors
Personal tasks for busy founders
- Booking personal appointments
- Planning family travel
- Researching and ordering gifts
- Managing household bills and renewals
Found more than a few tasks you'd hand over?
Bring your list to a free consultation, and we'll help you turn it into a clear role for a virtual assistant.
Tasks you should keep
- Setting strategy and making final decisions on pricing, hiring, and direction.
- Conversations with your most important clients, partners, and investors.
- Approving payments and signing contracts.
- Work that depends on licensed or professional judgment, such as legal or medical advice.
How to hand over a task
- 1Record yourself doing the task once, talking through each step.
- 2Turn the recording into a short checklist, or ask your assistant to write it.
- 3Give access to the tools the task needs, and nothing more.
- 4Review the first few rounds closely and give specific feedback.
- 5Step back once the task runs without questions, then choose the next one.
When you're ready to set your assistant up for success, our guide on how to manage a virtual assistant covers the first 30 days.
Written by
Jobeelink Team
Jobeelink's hiring team vets, matches, and supports remote professionals for businesses worldwide. Guides like this one come from the questions and mistakes we watch come up across real hiring processes.
