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Hire Your First VA
You're doing ten-dollar-an-hour work in a hundred-dollar-an-hour business. By the end of this course you'll have run the leverage math on your own week, picked your first five handoffs, written a job post that filters for A-players, interviewed with a Paid Audition, and onboarded with SOPs that actually get followed — all managed async in under two hours a week.
No prerequisites — start here.
Every hour you spend on inbox and scheduling is an hour you're not selling, building, or thinking. In six modules you'll run the leverage math, pick your first five handoffs, write a job post that filters for A-players, interview with a Paid Audition, onboard with SOPs that stick, and manage it all async. Stop being your own admin. Start being the owner.
What you’ll learn
- Run the leverage math on your own week and identify your first five handoffs
- Write a job post with the 5-section anatomy that filters out weak applicants before they reach you
- Interview with a Paid Audition and spot the 5 red flags before you commit
- Onboard with the SOP Rule and run the whole relationship async in under two hours a week
Is this for me?
Who is this course for?
Solo founders and small business owners who are drowning in admin and know it. If your week is full of inbox, scheduling, and busywork — and your revenue work keeps getting pushed to "later" — this is your course. No team required; this is about making your first hire.
What do I need before starting?
Nothing but an honest look at your week. No budget beyond roughly $100–150 a week for 10 hours of VA time, no HR department, no prior hiring experience. If you've never hired anyone, you're exactly who this was written for.
How long does it take?
Six modules, about 30–45 minutes each of learning. Most people finish in one to two weeks — and the real coursework is the 7-day task audit, the job post draft, and the interviews. Expect three to four weeks from starting the course to a VA doing real work for you.
Module 0
Module 0: Start here
Why your first hire is a VA, not an employee — and the leverage math that makes the decision obvious. What a VA can and can't do, set straight before you spend a dollar.
Module 1
Module 1: What to Delegate First
The 7-day task audit that turns your week into a list, the $10 Test that sorts it by value, and the classic first five handoffs — with "done" defined for each one.
Module 2
Module 2: The Job Post
A job post is a filter, not an ad. The 5-section anatomy that repels weak applicants, where to post for your first VA, and pay ranges that attract without overpaying.
Module 3
Module 3: Interviewing
Resumes lie and interviews flatter. The Paid Audition — a small paid test before any hire — plus the 5 red flags and the 3 questions that reveal everything.
Module 4
Module 4: Onboarding & SOPs
Most VA relationships die in week one — from bad onboarding, not bad hiring. The first-week plan, the SOP Rule, and Loom walkthroughs that make training stick.
Module 5
Module 5: Managing Async
You don't manage a VA by watching them — you manage by rhythm. Communication rhythms, the 3-line async standup, the 30-day scorecard, and how to let go kindly when it's not working.
Choose your track
Not everyone needs the same path. Pick the one that fits where you are.
Beginner track
Modules 0–1 first: the leverage math and the task audit. Don't write a job post until you know exactly what you're handing off — most bad hires start as vague job posts, and vague job posts start as skipped audits.
Steady track
All modules in order, one per week. Audit in week one, post in week two, interviews in week three, onboarding in week four. Slow is smooth — a rushed hire costs more than a slow one.
Fast track
Modules 0, 2, and 3 — for owners who already know what to delegate and need a VA this month. Skim the audit, write the post, run the Paid Audition. Come back for modules 4–5 the week your VA starts.
Your build brief
Everything you write in the build brief prompts across this course's modules collects here. Download it as a designed PDF — and we keep a copy too, so when you're ready for us to build it for you, we already know exactly what you want.
Your answers save automatically as you type — on this device and to your signup email.
Teardown: one weak job post, one strong job post
The weak post: "VA needed ASAP! Must be hardworking, detail-oriented, proactive self-starter with excellent communication skills. Various admin tasks. Competitive pay. Send resume." Every phrase in it is a red flag. "Hardworking, detail-oriented, proactive self-starter" — every job post on the internet says this; it filters nothing and signals the writer couldn't describe the actual job. "Various admin tasks" — the candidate can't picture a single day of this job, so the good ones scroll past and only the desperate apply. "Competitive pay" — means nothing; A-players don't apply to mystery pay. "Send resume" — no filter, no test, so you get two hundred applications from people who didn't read past the title. No hours, no tasks, no way to stand out. This post doesn't attract talent; it attracts volume.
The strong post: "Part-time VA for a solo marketing consultancy — 10 hrs/week to start. You'll own: inbox triage (flag urgent, draft replies), calendar management, and weekly invoice follow-ups. $10–14/hr based on experience, paid weekly, 30-day trial then ongoing. To apply: (1) start your message with the word 'mango', (2) record a 2-minute Loom introducing yourself, (3) complete the 30-minute paid test task at the link below. Applications missing any of the three won't be reviewed." Every element is a filter. Specific tasks let the candidate picture the job — the right person reads it and thinks "I can do that." Stated pay pulls in A-players and lets bargain hunters self-select out. The 'mango' filter kills skimmers in one word. The Loom is a communication sample before you ever schedule a call. The paid test is the Paid Audition — a work sample before any commitment.
Now count the filters. The weak post has zero — anyone can apply, so everyone does, and you spend your week reading resumes instead of running your business. The strong post has four: the word, the Loom, the test, and the specificity itself. A candidate who completes all three application steps has already demonstrated follow-through, communication, and real skill — before you've spent a minute interviewing. That's Module 2's whole point: the post does the first round of interviewing for you.
What most people would get wrong: they'd try to fix the weak post by posting it in more places — more boards, more applicants, more noise. Volume is the problem, not the solution. Ten filtered applicants beat two hundred unfiltered ones every time, because your time is the most expensive part of hiring.
The lesson: a job post isn't an ad — it's a sieve. Every line should either attract the right person or repel the wrong one. Specificity, stated pay, and a built-in test do more filtering than any interview question you'll ask later.
Want this done for you?
Rather do it with us? Our VA Placement ($497) — we match you with a pre-vetted VA from our bench, handle onboarding, and guarantee a free replacement within 60 days.
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