What to Hand an Executive Assistant in Week One

In week one, give a new executive assistant three things: your inbox, your calendar and one recurring admin task. Those are where an assistant gives you back the most time the fastest, and working through them teaches your assistant how you think. Leave anything that needs your judgement on a key client, or approval over money, until you have seen how the first three go.

This is a practical plan for that first week, written for owners hiring their first assistant. It works the same whether your assistant sits next to you or works your hours remotely.

Why the inbox and the calendar come first

They touch everything else. Most of what an owner loses in a day goes on reading, sorting and replying to messages, and on the back and forth of booking time. Hand those over and the rest of the week opens up.

They are also forgiving. A misfiled email or a meeting booked at the wrong time is easy to put right, so your assistant can learn your preferences on work where a mistake costs minutes, not money. And they show your assistant who matters to you, which makes every task after them better.

Before day one: set up access

Most first weeks lose a day or two to logins. Sort these before your assistant starts:

• Email: delegated access to your inbox. Gmail and Outlook both let you give someone access without handing over your password.

• Calendar: permission to create and edit events, not just view them.

• Files: a shared folder for the documents they will work from.

• Passwords: a shared vault in a password manager for any tool that cannot be delegated, so nothing is sent in an email or a chat.

• Your CRM: a user seat. With GoldStarVA, the GoldStarVA CRM Suite comes with your engagement.

• A channel: one place for quick questions, separate from email.

Week one, day by day

Day 1: walk through your inbox together

Share your screen for forty five minutes and go through a normal day's email out loud. Say what you answer yourself, what you ignore, what you forward and who always gets a reply. Your assistant takes notes. That conversation becomes the first set of rules.

Day 2: triage with simple rules

Set up a handful of folders or labels, such as Needs you, Waiting on others, Done and For your information. Your assistant sorts everything new into them and drafts replies for anything routine. You approve the drafts for now.

Day 3: hand over the calendar

Write down how you like your time used: the hours you protect, how long meetings should run, the gaps you need between them, and whose requests come first. From today, scheduling requests go to your assistant, not to you.

Day 4: one recurring task

Pick one admin task that comes round every week and takes you more than half an hour. A weekly report, updating your CRM, booking travel or chasing replies all work. Record yourself doing it once, and let your assistant write up the steps from the recording.

Day 5: a twenty minute review

Ask what was unclear, fix the rules that did not work, and agree what comes off your desk in week two. Keep this review as a weekly habit.

The one page brief

Write this once and save your assistant a month of guessing. Keep it to a page:

• Your three priorities this quarter

• The people whose messages always reach you, straight away

• How you like replies to sound, with two or three examples

• What your assistant must never commit you to

• Your working hours, your time zone and how to reach you urgently

• Where the important files live

What to leave until later

Some work should wait until trust is built, usually a few weeks in:

• Judgement calls on key clients. Let your assistant draft, and you send.

• Money. Approving payments, refunds or anything that moves funds.

• Sensitive people matters. Hiring decisions and anything personal about your team.

Hand these over one at a time, with clear limits, once the first three run without you.

Signs week one went well

• You opened your inbox to a sorted list, not a pile

• You stopped answering scheduling emails

• Your assistant asked fewer questions on Friday than on Monday

• There is a written list of what comes next

Where GoldStarVA fits

An Executive Assistant is one of the roles we place. Your Virtual Assistant works your hours, in your tools, and takes direction from you, like any member of your team. They have cleared all five of our vetting gates before you meet them, and you choose the person yourself in an interview. Your Client Success Manager stays on the account, so if anything needs sorting there is one person to message.

Frequently asked questions

How much does a virtual executive assistant cost?

With GoldStarVA, a full time Virtual Assistant is $2,000 a month for 40 hours a week, and part time is $1,000 a month for 20 hours. Our guide to what a Virtual Assistant from the Philippines costs breaks down what the rate includes.

Will my assistant work in my time zone?

Yes. Your Virtual Assistant works your hours, and you confirm the observed holiday list together during onboarding.

Should I give my assistant my passwords?

Use delegated access where your tools offer it, and a shared password manager vault for the rest. That way you can remove access in one place if you ever need to.

What if the person is not the right fit?

We replace them at no cost. Vetting for the replacement begins the day you tell us.

Plan your first week with us

On a 45 minute discovery call, a Client Success Manager goes through the work eating your week and the shape of the role that takes it off your desk. You leave knowing whether an executive assistant is the right first hire.