Most small business owners know they should delegate more. The hard part is knowing what to delegate. When you've done everything yourself for years, it's easy to assume nobody else could do it.
Here are 30 tasks that small business owners commonly hand to virtual assistants, grouped by area. Use it as a checklist: mark anything that takes up your time and doesn't need your personal expertise.
Administration
1. Inbox triage. Sorting, labelling and filing email, answering routine messages and flagging what needs you.
2. Calendar management. Booking, confirming and rescheduling meetings; protecting focus time.
3. Document preparation. Formatting proposals, letters, reports and templates.
4. File organization. Creating a sensible folder structure and keeping shared drives tidy.
5. Data entry. Updating spreadsheets, databases and systems accurately.
6. Research. Finding suppliers, comparing software, gathering information for decisions.
7. Meeting notes. Capturing decisions and action points, then following up.
Customer service
8. Answering email enquiries. Using approved templates and your knowledge base.
9. Live chat support. Covering your website chat during agreed hours.
10. Phone answering and messages. Taking calls, logging messages and booking callbacks.
11. Order and booking enquiries. Status updates, changes and confirmations.
12. Review management. Requesting reviews from happy customers and drafting responses.
13. Customer follow-ups. Checking in after a purchase or service to make sure all is well.
Sales support
14. CRM updates. Logging calls, emails and deal stages so your pipeline stays accurate.
15. Lead research. Building lists of potential customers that match your ideal profile.
16. Appointment setting. Booking discovery calls and demos.
17. Quote and proposal follow-ups. Making sure no quote is forgotten.
18. Sales document preparation. Updating decks, case studies and price lists.
Finance administration
19. Invoicing. Preparing and sending invoices on time.
20. Payment reminders. Polite, systematic follow-up on overdue accounts.
21. Receipt capture. Logging expenses in your accounting tool for your bookkeeper.
22. Supplier bill logging. Recording bills for your approval.
Note: these are administrative tasks. Financial advice, tax and final reconciliations should stay with a qualified professional.
Marketing
23. Social media scheduling. Planning and posting content across your channels.
24. Newsletter production. Formatting and sending your regular email.
25. Blog formatting and uploading. Taking written content and publishing it properly.
26. Basic graphic design. Social graphics, flyers and presentation slides from templates.
27. Website updates. Changing text, images, prices and pages.
Operations
28. Supplier coordination. Requesting quotes, chasing deliveries and managing communication.
29. Process documentation. Turning "how we do things" into written checklists.
30. Tool and subscription admin. Managing users and keeping track of renewals.
How to decide what to delegate first
You won't delegate all 30 at once, and you shouldn't. Prioritize tasks that are:
- Frequent. Daily or weekly tasks deliver the biggest time savings.
- Time-consuming. Focus on the work that eats the most hours.
- Rule-based. Tasks with clear steps are easiest to hand over well.
- Low-risk to start. Begin with tasks where a small mistake won't cause major harm, then build up.
- Draining. If a task consistently drains your energy, that's a strong signal.
A good first bundle for many owners is: inbox triage, calendar management, customer email responses and invoicing. Together, they often free up a significant chunk of the week.
What not to delegate (yet)
Some work should stay with you, at least at first:
- Key strategic decisions
- Your most important client relationships
- Hiring decisions
- Anything requiring a professional license you hold
- Tasks you haven't figured out yourself: fix the process first
Making delegation work
Delegation isn't just handing over a list. To set your assistant up for success:
- Record a short video of how you do each task.
- Explain the purpose so your assistant can make good decisions.
- Define "done." What does a finished task look like?
- Agree how to escalate anything unusual.
- Review early and often, then step back as confidence grows.
Not sure whether a task should go to a person or be automated? Read Tasks to Automate vs Tasks to Delegate to a Human.
Three example bundles
It can help to think in bundles rather than individual tasks. Here are three common combinations:
The "get my week back" bundle: inbox triage, calendar management, meeting notes and document preparation. Ideal for owners who feel buried in admin.
The "never miss a customer" bundle: email and chat support, phone messages, order enquiries and review requests. Ideal for service businesses and online stores.
The "get paid on time" bundle: invoicing, payment reminders, receipt capture and supplier bill logging. Ideal for businesses where cash flow depends on consistent follow-up.
Each bundle can start small, a few hours a week, and grow as your assistant learns the business.
In summary
If you recognized yourself in more than a handful of these tasks, you're probably carrying work someone else could do. Start with a few frequent, time-consuming tasks, set up good handovers, and build from there.
Want to try it? Use the "What can you delegate?" checklist on our homepage and we'll carry your list straight into an enquiry.
Ready to delegate?
Tick off the tasks you'd hand over, and we'll show you what support could look like.
Book a free discovery call with Bravura VA. We'll talk through your workload and show you what you could hand over first.
