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What Does a Virtual Assistant Actually Do? A Day in the Life
- Rayla Elkey
- Feb 18
- 15 min read
When I tell people I run a virtual assistant company, the first question is always:
"So…what do you actually do?"
The thing is that when people hear "virtual assistant," if they know anything at all about it, they automatically assume that I spend my days answering emails and maybe posting on social media a few times a day. While yes, inbox management and social media posting has been on my to-do list from time to time, it's far from what my day-to-day really looks like.
Here's the reality: what my day looks like as a virtual assistant versus what another virtual assistant's day looks like can be two totally different things—and yet we're both virtual assistants.
Let me break down what VAs actually do, what a real day looks like, and why "virtual" definitely doesn't mean "less capable."
Quick Navigation:
Understanding the Role:
Becoming a VA:
Working with D9TO5:
What Does a Virtual Assistant Actually Do?
Virtual assistants provide remote administrative, creative, technical, and strategic support to businesses. They handle everything from email management and scheduling to social media marketing, customer service, and specialized tasks like bookkeeping or tech troubleshooting. VAs work independently and proactively, often managing entire systems or projects without constant hand-holding.
But here's what most people don't understand: "virtual assistant" is honestly just a really broad term for someone who works online usually from home in assistance to a business owner or representative from a business.
What we assist them with depends on:
The skills that we have
What the client needs from us that day/week/month/year
How much time we have available
The true difference for D9TO5 virtual assistants? We aren't just about checking boxes we want strategic partnerships.
We want to be the ones you call when you have a crazy idea that just might work.
We want you to come to us when you know that something isn't working and trust us to not only figure out what that something is, but fix it too in a way that only we can.
Virtual Assistant vs. "Less Capable"
A lot of people tend to think that virtual assistants are like stereotypical online customer service representatives who you have to explain your problem to ten times and they still give you a solution that you already tried (or one for a problem that you don't have).
Then follow the whole convoluted conversation up with, "Thanks for calling!" Click…
Let's be clear: virtual doesn't mean "less capable." In most cases, especially in ours, it not only means more financially efficient, but also more dedicated.
Here's why: We charge per hour, but we aren't spending any of that time doing things that aren't directly relevant to what you asked us to do. You aren't paying for us to update our computers, take a lunch break, or slowly but surely finish that email you asked for when we're dead tired.
We clock in when we're ready to work and clock out the moment we're done. That means that 1 hour you purchased may not be all in one block. In fact, in most cases it will be split up into lots of little blocks of time over the course of a few days.
What 1 hour actually looks like:
10 minutes to draft those two emails you need to get sent
13 minutes to update the header on your site
4 minutes to troubleshoot that error you got on Google Search Console
25 minutes to schedule your social media posts for the week
8 minutes to review that first page of your ebook for spelling and grammar errors
And all that got done in 1 hour. Looks pretty good when you spell it out like that, huh?
💡 KEY TAKEAWAY:
Virtual assistants provide remote administrative, creative, technical, and strategic support. We work independently and proactively, often managing entire systems or projects. "Virtual" means flexible and focused, not "less capable." You pay for highly productive billable time, not desk-sitting.
What Are the Duties of a Virtual Assistant?
The duties of a virtual assistant can vary a lot depending on their specialization and your needs. But the best way to describe it is by breaking down the thousands of services we could offer into a few main categories:
Administrative Support
Think of this like the backbone. Almost every client needs some level of admin help.
This could include:
Email and inbox management (filtering, responding, organizing)
Calendar management and appointment scheduling
Travel arrangements and itinerary planning
Document preparation and organization
Digital file management and systems
Data entry and CRM updates
Real example: One client had over 3,000 emails in their inbox and could never find the emails they needed to read. We created a system to categorize, archive, and filter emails so they only see what actually needs their attention.
Marketing & Social Media
Here's where our creative and strategic team members really shine.
These services could include:
Creating content for social media
Video editing (Reels, TikToks, YouTube)
Writing captions and copy
Scheduling posts across platforms
Competitor analysis and trend monitoring
Managing your online community and engagement
Creating and sending newsletters
Basic graphic design (Canva, etc.)
Real example: A business coach was putting up a blog every month on their site, but no one was reading it. We repurposed that blog content into social media posts, email newsletters, and LinkedIn articles suddenly their content was actually reaching their audience.
Customer Service & Client Management
Now stick with me here, because customer service can be a whole lot more than just answering messages.
This could include:
Managing support tickets and inquiries
Client communication and follow-up
Onboarding new clients with welcome sequences
Handling routine customer questions
Managing customer feedback and reviews
Following up with past clients for testimonials
**Specialized Services (This is Where It Gets Interesting)
Because we're a big team at D9TO5, every one of us has our own unique interests and experience. That means over the course of the last 6 years, we've successfully serviced over 130 companies in 39 industries!
Specialized services might include:
Bookkeeping and invoice management
Tech troubleshooting and website maintenance
Project management and coordination
Research and data analysis
Process optimization and systems creation
Industry-specific support (real estate, legal, health, etc.)
Funny story: A lot of new clients ask about our portfolio in their initial consultation, and the best way I can describe it is that we were working for one of the scariest haunted houses in the US, one of the top princess party companies, a coroner, an architecture firm, a chiropractor, a hormone health specialist, two therapists, 3 nonprofits, and a business coach all at the same time!
And working with all those different industries doesn't mean that we aren't focused. It actually gives us an incredible advantage.
You see, while a haunted house, princess company, and a chiropractor may lead vastly different lives with incredibly different businesses...they often struggle with the same problems:
"I need to be posting more on social media, but I don't know what to post."
"I put up a blog every month on my site, but no one reads it."
"My inbox has over 3,000 emails and I can never find the emails I need to read."
"I feel like I'm working all day and not getting anything done."
And when we find solutions to those problems, we can use them for multiple clients and tailor them to fit each one's unique situation.
Better yet, every single client teaches us something new like how to use a different program, a new way to do something, a new resource. The list goes on.
Basically, if you need to do it and it doesn't have to be done in person, we can handle it for you one way or another.
💡 WHAT VAs ACTUALLY DO:
Administrative:
Email management, scheduling, travel planning, file organization, data entry
Marketing & Social Media:
Content creation, posting, community management, newsletters, design
Customer Service:
Support tickets, client onboarding, follow-ups, review management
Specialized:
Bookkeeping, tech/websites, project management, research, industry-specific tasks
What Is a Typical Day for a VA?
So what does a typical day look like for a virtual assistant?
Well, as you probably guessed already, that really depends on the virtual assistant and sometimes even the day! No two days are exactly alike, which is part of what makes this work so interesting.
Some virtual assistants specialize in one or two things, so their whole day may be spent doing the same thing for a lot of different people. I personally am not one of those virtual assistants, and I think that if I was, I probably wouldn't love my job as much as I do.
My whole shtick is really optimization. Which yes, I know is also super broad. But I like solving problems. I say all the time that being a virtual assistant is all about solving problems. That's your whole day.
And you know what? I like it that way a lot better.
A Real Day: February 2026
Let me tell you what my day looked like today to give you a good idea of how this actually works in practice.
Early Morning: 8:00-10:00 AM
I spend my mornings usually catching up on any messages, emails, or notifications that came through during my time off (whether that was a whole day or just the evening). I make sure everyone gets a quick reply, even if that's just a "hey I see this and will get back to you later today with a more detailed answer."
Then I take a look at what I've got on the docket for each client individually, taking into account things like due dates, priorities, and the type of task it is.
For me personally, if I can group like tasks together, then I can get more done faster. It's much harder to do social media for 20 minutes, swap to organizing files for 15 minutes, write email copy for an hour, then clear out a client's inbox.
I'd rather get into a "zone."
And yes, this time is unpaid because it doesn't have to do with any one client, but it does let me get more done throughout the day rather than frantically trying to get an impossible amount of things done.
Late Morning: 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM
Today, I needed to troubleshoot a few different tech problems for clients. That meant:
8 minutes: Logged into one client's Wix account to figure out why she got a registration notification but couldn't find out who registered and where their form was.
27 minutes: Logged into another client's Zapier account to figure out why one of her automations failed, fix it, rerun it, and report back to her on what happened and how to prevent it in the future.
42 minutes: Logged into my other client's Squarespace account to fix her mobile optimization. We've been redoing some of her program pages, and after she makes her edits, most of the mobile view gets wonky. So that means going back in and redoing it until it looks good again.
40 minutes: Created a pretty intricate spreadsheet system for a client who needed a way to have her team enter in their pay while still prompting them to follow the "rules" of entering it in a way that didn't involve her needing to check each sheet, fuss at the person, have them fix it, and then check it again. Since the staff is still getting used to the new sheet with the custom "error check" column, they've been sending quite a few questions my way, so I spent the rest of my morning answering their questions, filming Looms, and walking them through the new sheet.
Lunch: 12:00 - 1:00 PM
I always take a full hour for lunch to relax and give myself a rest from the computer screen. It doesn't matter if I've decided to cook myself an intricate meal, throw together a ham sandwich, or microwave a cup of noodles…my butt is getting away from my desk and decompressing for 1 hour!
I find that this little ritual has saved my afternoons, which used to be highly unproductive lol.
Afternoon: 1:00-3:30 PM
My afternoons are usually saved for whatever big projects I've got on the docket. That might mean spending it all on one client or just nudging the needle for a few of them.
Today's afternoon projects:
1 hour 14 minutes: Created my slide deck and meeting agenda for the team call that I'm facilitating for the architecture firm that I work for. About a year ago, they had me take over facilitating their team meetings to ensure that there was an outside party who could not only put together the agenda and take notes but also keep everyone on task and facilitate productive discussions.
28 minutes: Worked on something for the mobile bartending company that I recently started working for last month. They recently launched their website and wanted to put together an interactive pricing calculator that they could use during consultations to show their customers exactly what everything would cost as they added and removed certain options.
45 minutes: Switched gears into working for the website designer/brand specialist that's been on my client list for about 6 months. She recently went through a rebrand, so now she's got content written for the next 30 days. All I had to do was go through her content, get things scheduled, and tweak any typos I found during scheduling.
Wrap-up: 3:30-4:00 PM
The last portion of my day is spent "wrapping up" and getting things ready for tomorrow.
Today that meant answering a few of the last-minute requests from my inbox, sending the clients that I did work for today a quick rundown of what was done, and taking a look at my meeting schedule for tomorrow.
My stats for the day:
Total hours on the clock: 4 hours 24 minutes
Total clients worked for: 7
Total tasks completed: 13
📊MY STATS FOR THE DAY
Total Billable Time: 4 hours 24 minutes
Total Clients Worked for: 7
Total tasks completed: 13
What Skills Do I Need to Be a Virtual Assistant?
Now looking through that day, you might be wondering: what skills do I need to become a virtual assistant?
Well, I hate to say the obvious again, but it depends.
It depends on what you're going to be doing for clients. But my advice is to at least know the basics because they'll come across your desk most often.
Technical Skills (The Must-Haves)
Google Workspace (Docs, Sheets, Slides, Drive, Gmail) You want to know your way around all of these, and that doesn't just mean how to use them on a basic level. I also suggest learning a cool trick or two that'll save you time.
Social Media Basics Know how to schedule posts, where to find the settings, platform requirements, and what to post. Most clients aren't looking for you to get them to "go viral," but they at least need you to take over what they are already doing with minimal technical issues.
Canva (Basic Design Skills) Trust me when I say that Canva is a rabbit hole. There is so much to learn and do, but if you can at least get through the free Canva Design School, you should be fine.
Common Project Management Tools Familiarity with platforms like Asana, Trello, ClickUp, or Monday.com will go a long way. Most clients use at least one of these.
Communication Platforms Be comfortable with Slack, Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and other standard communication tools.
The Most Important Skill: Figuring Things Out
And on top of all that technical knowledge, you need to learn how to figure things out.
At the end of the day, that's your whole job description.
Figure. It. Out.
If you plan to rely on asking your client a question every 20 seconds, especially about things that you could easily find the answers to on Google…good luck keeping a client.
A virtual assistant's job is to save the client some time and take things off of their plate, not swap things on their plate with questions you have about them.
So Google, YouTube tutorials, TikTok searches, and virtual assistant blogs need to be in your back pocket at all times.
Bottom line: If you are about to ask a question, type it into Google first. If it's on the first or second page, figure it out yourself. If you confidently KNOW that your client is probably the only person who knows this or at the very least can explain it faster than a video can then ask them.
Soft Skills That Make or Break VAs
Beyond the technical stuff, here are the qualities that separate great VAs from mediocre ones:
Communication (written and verbal) You need to communicate clearly, professionally, and proactively. If something's going wrong or will be late, say something before the deadline passes.
Time Management and Organization You're managing your own schedule and often multiple clients. If you can't keep yourself organized, this job will eat you alive.
Problem-Solving and Initiative Don't just wait to be told what to do. See a problem? Fix it. See an opportunity? Suggest it.
Attention to Detail Typos in client emails, broken links in social posts, scheduling mistakes these things matter and they reflect on your client's business.
Reliability and Accountability Show up when you say you will. Do what you say you'll do. Own your mistakes when they happen.
💡 SKILLS YOU NEED TO BE A VA:
Technical (learnable):
Google Workspace, social media basics, Canva, project management tools, communication platforms
Most Important Skill:
Figure it out yourself - Google before asking. If the answer is on page 1-2 of search results, find it yourself. Only ask clients questions that truly only they can answer.
Soft Skills (make or break):
Clear communication, time management, problem-solving, attention to detail, reliability
Is Being a VA a Stressful Job?
All of this being said, is being a virtual assistant a stressful job?
Honestly? Yeah. Sometimes it is.
But isn't any job stressful at times?
Think about this for a second. What's a peaceful-sounding job? As a kid, I thought that being a florist would be a really cute job.
Arranging pretty flowers all day? I mean come on!
But then I thought about the customers, the orders piling in, what if a shipment of roses doesn't come in right before Valentine's Day?
AGH. Peace ruined.
But that's the thing, huh? Every job is stressful at times, but you have to pick the job that you like enough to stick with even when it is stressful.
For me, that's being a virtual assistant.
The Real Challenges of VA Work
Like any remote role, being a virtual assistant has unique challenges that a regular 9-5 doesn't. Sure, I have a really flexible schedule, but that's because I make it.
Self-Discipline is Non-Negotiable
I have to have the discipline to get out of bed, get ready for the day, and sit down at my desk in the morning instead of doom scrolling on my phone or watching an episode of Desperate Housewives.
But I also have to have enough discipline to stop working at a decent time so that I don't burn myself out and skip work the next day because I didn't get enough sleep.
Isolation Can Be Real
Then comes the isolation. Working from home is really great when you only think about working in your fuzzy slippers with your cat on your lap, but traditionally you don't have any coworkers.
You don't have the luxury of sitting down to eat lunch with your peers or leaning over your desk to chat with a coworker and commiserate about a really tedious project that you're both working on.
Boundaries Are Everything
And most of all, for a lot of virtual assistants, the biggest headache is boundaries.
For a lot of jobs, you are given set boundaries like how many hours you work, when work starts, when it ends, rules, guidelines, etc. As a virtual assistant? You make that up for yourself and only you get to decide when it changes.
And yes, deciding to not set work hours, rules, or guidelines and letting your clients dictate them for you is a choice in its own. (The wrong one in my opinion, but a choice nonetheless).
How D9TO5 Addresses These Challenges
At D9TO5, we combat these stressors with:
Good Systems We have established processes for onboarding, communication, project management, and time tracking that reduce chaos and confusion.
Clear Communication We encourage proactive communication with clients and between team members. No one should be left guessing.
Strong Boundaries We teach our VAs to set clear working hours, response time expectations, and scope boundaries from day one. We back them up when clients push back.
Team Support and Community Unlike most VAs who work completely solo, our team has each other. We have a team chat where we can ask questions, share wins, and vent frustrations. We're remote, but we're not alone.
You see, stress is unavoidable in any job. You're going to be stressed. But the way you combat that is with good systems, clear communication, and boundaries. If you have all those, there will still be stressful days, yes, but there will be a lot less of them, and the ones that do come your way will be much less stressful.
🔑THE KEY
Pick the job you like enough to stick with even when it's stressful. For me, that's being a VA.
What Makes D9TO5 Virtual Assistants Different?
At Ditching the 9-5, we provide remote administrative, creative, technical, and strategic support for businesses. But what makes us different from other VA services?
We Match Based on Specialization, Not Availability
What we do day-to-day depends on what you ask of us and who you are matched with. We match clients with team members based on their initial needs, preferences, and the overall vibe.
If you're mainly looking for a virtual assistant to help with your social media, we'll likely match you with GY, who's brilliant with all things social.
If you're trying to get a virtual assistant to help you keep your website in order, you'll be matched with Khail or Bianca, who are both crazy talented in that field.
Need to really just get organized and create better systems? Ashleigh is your girl…for sure!
And the list goes on for all of the amazing people on the team.
We Think Strategically, Not Just Tactically
Some VAs niche down to one service or maybe even one industry, and that's totally fine. But because we're a big team, our collective experience creates something special.
When we work with a haunted house, a princess party company, and a chiropractor at the same time, we start to see patterns in what businesses struggle with regardless of industry.
We take solutions that work for one client and adapt them for another. We learn new tools and processes from each client that we can then bring to others.
This means you're not just getting one person's experience you're getting the collective wisdom of an entire team.
💡 FINAL TAKEAWAY: WHAT VAs ACTUALLY DO
What we are: Virtual assistants are NOT glorified secretaries or online customer service reps. We are problem solvers, strategic partners and efficient workers who maximize every billable minute. What we handle:
Administrative support, marketing & social media, customer service, specialized tasks (bookkeeping, tech, project management, industry-specific work)
The D9TO5 Difference:
We match you with specialists based on your needs, think strategically (not just tactically), and bring collective team wisdom to every client relationship.
Ready to Experience What a VA Can Actually Do for Your Business?
If you're tired of doing everything yourself and you're ready to see what strategic virtual support actually looks like, let's talk.
At D9TO5, we don't just take tasks off your plate we solve problems, optimize systems, and become true strategic partners in your business.
Book a no-pressure consultation to discuss your specific business needs and discover what's possible when you work with virtual assistants who actually get it.
P.S. Not sure what to delegate first? Take our free 15-Minute Delegation Audit to identify exactly which tasks are draining your time and energy.
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