Maintaining a high level of productivity as a business owner is difficult at best and impossible at worst – and sometimes, when you just need an extra set of working hands to come in and help ease the burden, the best solution is to outsource to a virtual assistant.
Job outsourcing is a great and efficient way to take some of this weight off of your shoulders quickly and into a set of willing arms that have the relevant skill set.
While it’s not easy to know where to start, here at the VA Lead Network, we’ve got a few top tasks we’d recommend to outsource to a virtual assistant for maximum impact.

What are the top 5 outsourcing services and outsourcing examples?
The list of things a great VA can help with is endless, but it doesn’t hurt to have a few go-to starter tasks – especially if you have never worked with external support before.
Remember, many successful founders and CEOs cite their secret sauce as having a team of great virtual assistants behind them. Why?
You only pay for what you need – Rather than taking on permanent employee overheads – including leave entitlements and superannuation – you only pay for the hours and services you need. All the while, you’re filling the skills gap in the process.
Thrive with varied, specialised expertise – Virtual assistants are often some of the most experienced and diverse workers out there. Not only can they bring new ideas and perspectives to your business, but you can feel confident that business-as-usual tasks are in safe hands.
Free up time to grow your business – To grow, you need to have space and time to focus on big-picture thinking. How can you ever scale if you’re always deep in the gruntwork? A VA can help remove this burden by providing the services you are too busy to do yourself.
These top 5 service outsourcing tasks might offer insight into the best place to start if you’re anxious about bringing someone on board.
#1 Outsource your… bookkeeping
Looking after the books is often considered the bane of many business owners’ lives – but the cost of getting it wrong can be devastating.
Updating receipts, ensuring an up-to-date bank feed with your accounting software, keeping tight BAS records or ensuring company documents are clean – all take time. Imagine freeing up that task to someone great at what they do and making no mistakes in the process?
For one of the perfect outsourcing examples, look no further than a strong clerical virtual assistant with a bookkeeping certification and day-to-day experience initiating basic payroll, bank reconciliation and inputting accounting data into the system. As well as this, someone who is generally comfortable creating and following up client invoices, organising expenses and even helping you negotiate better deals on contracts and subscriptions.
#2 Outsource your… travel planning
For regular travellers, having a helping hand keeping you moving from A to B smoothly is key, especially when they don’t always have access to strong internet or all of your normal tech.
A travel VA is one the more niche outsourcing services within a unique, high-demand industry, and tasks include itinerary and insurance planning, booking flights and making fast, efficient amendments in the case of last-minute changes. This help can start as a one-off travel event or extend to an ongoing service for regular travellers, like CEOs or government officials.
The great thing about this key skill set is that it lends especially well to the day-to-day diary management of meetings and events. So, if you find calendar management clunky and cumbersome, this type of VA could be just the ticket.
#3 Outsource your… basic account management
If clients are the lifeblood of your business, it’s super important to take care of them well. That’s not always easy, though, when you are working in the guts of things. So, bringing on a customer-obsessed virtual assistant who can make every client feel valued and heard (as well as tactfully laying down the law when needed) is key.
This kind of people-focused service outsourcing can include helping to manage an inbox (achieving that elusive Inbox Zero), kicking spam to the curb and ensuring clients are in the right place in your CRM funnel.
All leads, and enquiries will be responded to in a timely manner – in your brand voice – and opportunities for automated emails can be identified and created to further lighten the load.
As well as this, you might want to talk to your VA about helping you with some basic phone and email sales work to improve client conversion. This may be an extra fee, but some VAs will be comfortable with the world of sales and proficient in persuasion modalities like neuro-linguistic programming.
#4 Outsource your… data entry and analysis
If looking at graphs and trend lines sends you running for the hills, a data and analytics-minded VA could work wonders for your business. Everything from researching audience behaviours, consumer spending patterns and past sales trends – they live and thrive in the numbers.
As well as diving into the treasure trove of your data, a VA specialising in data entry and analysis can also conduct broader industry data analysis. What’s trending on socials and might be relevant to your business? What email newsletter style has the highest open and click-through rates for your unique demographic? What sort of upcoming sectors and tools are worth the time investing in? Could a well-formulated client satisfaction survey inform your next big sales effort?
#5 Outsource your… event management
Everyone loves a party, and the final top job outsourcing speciality for VAs is just that: a big old buzz.
The remit of a VA role in event management can include researching venues, organising menus, sending invites, managing guest lists and coordinating logistics and event suppliers.
It takes a special type of OBM to feel comfortable with the pressure and unpredictability of the event space, but a great one will manage it in their stride.
How to bring outsourcing services into your operation with ease
Hopefully, these outsourcing examples helped.
Do you want to know how to find, vet, and hire the perfect VA for your business? Simply follow our simple step-by-step VA Lead Network process:
1 – Draft a role listing
Outline what you’re looking for in your perfect VA or OBM. You can do this yourself using our easy Virtual Role Brief Form, or we can do this for you – for free! Just book a 15-minute phone call.
2 – Let us proofread to increase candidate interest
We’ll review your role and get it published in front of a network of the country’s best VA talent within two business hours. If we anticipate any questions from our members during our review, we’ll contact you beforehand to improve your listing on your behalf.
3 – We publish your role listing (for free!)
From there, it’s publishing time. We’ll list it for free on our members-only jobs board for our 200+ Australian VA & OBM members to review and apply. Plus, we’ll amplify its reach with a preview of the role (without sharing your name or business) to over 1,000 Australian VAs and OBMs via our mailing list and social profiles.
4 – Let the talent proposals roll in
Only our paying members can see your full listing, which means only those serious about their VA and OBM business will have access to send you their proposal.
5 – Pick your perfect VA or OBM and get started
It’s showtime! You can choose the perfect virtual assistant for your needs directly and can engage as many people as you wish. Remember, we don’t charge a commission when you choose a VA or OBM, and you are in full control of the terms of their employment.
💡 We’ve got some of these top outsourcing services available for hire now in our network.
Create your virtual role brief or book a free 15-minute call now to chat with us. We’re here to help!
Just ask these business owners…
“My experience with this virtual assistant provider has been nothing short of exceptional.
The high-quality candidate selection, seamless onboarding process, and ongoing support have made them stand out in a competitive landscape.
If you’re in search of a virtual assistant to elevate your productivity and streamline your tasks, I wholeheartedly recommend this provider..”
Steven Nunn
Carlyle Kingswood Global“I found my fabulous VA through the VA Lead Network and I want to keep her forever!
My business wouldn’t run as efficiently without her and I am so happy to have a VA contractor without the stress and worry of paying someone fulltime.”
Marianne Curran
Pet Professor“I used this free service to advertise for a Virtual Assistant Marketing Implementation and Admin role for my No-Code Development Agency. Within 5 days I had a number of enquires from quality candidates, one of whom I have since hired.
Here were the big advantages for me:
1) I was able to limit the enquiries to Australian based VAs – which I wanted in this case. I do have offshore VAs do some work for my business but I wanted someone local for this role.
2) The process of posting was incredibly smooth and seamless.
3) I was about to pay $300 to advertise on another site and avoided that cost for what ended up being a better quality service.
4) The quality of the candidates that applied was very high so I wasn’t spending a lot of time vetting.
I would happily use this service again. Also just to clarify, I didn’t pay anything for this – but given the experience I wouldn’t hesitate to pay for one of VA Lead Network’s other services if it seemed like a good fit.”