I have onboarded somewhere north of 60 VAs in the last two years between DotVA placements and our own portfolio companies. The ones that work follow this rhythm. The ones that fail almost always fail in week one.

Here is the week-by-week playbook we use, and the templates underneath it.

Before day one

Three things must exist before your VA logs in for the first time.

1. A 5-page written SOP

This is the single biggest predictor of success. The SOP is not 40 pages. It is a Google Doc that covers:

Who you are and what your business does in two paragraphs
The 5-10 tasks your VA will own in month one, each in one sentence
Your communication norms: where (Slack, WhatsApp, email), response time expectations, when to escalate
Your style guide: how you write customer emails, how you take notes, how you label files
Three example “done” outputs they can pattern-match against (a sample invoice, a sample customer reply, a sample CRM record)

Write it in the week before your VA starts, not the morning of.

2. Access provisioned

Every tool, scoped correctly. Password manager seat (we use 1Password Teams), email account at a real address, role-based access on your CRM/inbox/helpdesk, calendar share, any portal logins they will need.

The provisioning rule: more granular than you think you need. You can grant more access later in two minutes; you cannot un-leak a password.

3. A welcome doc

Two pages, written warmly. Your business mission, your team (even if it is just you), the values you want them to hold to, what success looks like in the first 90 days, what they can expect from you as a manager.

Most VAs you hire have been at agencies where they were a body, not a person. Treating them like a person from day one is most of the work.

Week 1: tone and shadowing

The goal of week 1 is not output. It is tone calibration and pattern recognition. Your VA should leave week 1 understanding how you communicate, what “good” looks like, and where the edge cases sit.

Day 1

30-minute video call. You introduce yourself, walk through the welcome doc, answer their questions. Casual, warm.
They read the SOP and ask questions in writing by end of day.
They send their first “I have read everything, here is what I think I am owning, please confirm” message.
You confirm or correct.

Days 2-3

They shadow your inbox. They do not reply. They read every email you reply to and the reply you send. Goal: pattern-match your tone.
15-minute video call at end of each day. They ask questions about what they have seen.
You give them their first low-stakes write task: draft a reply to a routine enquiry. You compare their draft to what you would have sent. Talk through the diff.

Days 4-5

They start drafting replies for your review. You either send-as-is or rewrite. Every rewrite is a teaching moment.
They also start logging the templates: “for enquiries of type X, the standard reply is Y.”
End-of-week 30-minute call. Reflect on what they have learned about your business and your voice. Adjust the SOP based on their questions.

Week 1 anti-patterns

“I’ll let her find her own rhythm.” She will, but it will be the wrong rhythm.
“We can skip the SOP, I will train her as we go.” You will not. You are about to have a busy week.
“I will batch all the feedback for Friday.” Daily 15-minute video calls compound. Weekly comes too late.

Week 2: supervised execution

By week 2 your VA should be doing real work, but with you watching. The goal is to see what they get right unprompted and where the SOP needs sharpening.

What they own in week 2

Routine customer replies, drafted by them, sent by them (after your spot-check the first three).
Calendar management end-to-end (booking, confirming, rescheduling).
Routine data entry: CRM logging, invoice issuance, expense categorisation.

What you do in week 2

15-minute video call 3 times a week. Less every day, but still high-touch.
Random spot-check on outputs. Not every email, but enough to catch drift.
Continue to update the SOP. Every “oh, I should mention X” goes in the doc, not in a Slack message.

Week 2 mistakes are good

If your VA does not make a single mistake in week 2, the scope is too small. Mistakes early are the cheapest possible learning. The signal you want is: mistake happens, VA flags it themselves, mistake is fixed, SOP is updated to prevent next time.

The signal you do not want is: mistake happens, VA hides it, you find it three weeks later in a customer complaint.

Build the culture that mistakes are raised early and fixed cheaply. Praise the flagging, not the perfection.

Week 3: independent execution

By week 3 your VA owns their scope. Your job shifts from teaching to reviewing.

What they own in week 3

Full inbox triage and customer reply
Full calendar
Full invoicing and AR follow-up cycle
Whatever specialist scope is part of their role (NDIS for allied health, listing admin for real estate, returns for e-commerce, etc)

What you do in week 3

Weekly 30-minute video call. Move from daily.
Look at outputs at the end of the week, not the end of the day.
Track time spent managing them. By end of week 3, you should be under 90 minutes a week of direct management.

The trust-fall moment

Week 3 is where most owners are tempted to micro-manage anyway. You will see something they did slightly differently to how you would have, and you will want to override.

Don’t. Unless it is a customer-relationship-damaging mistake, let it slide. The cost of micro-managing is they never learn to own. The cost of letting small differences pass is small.

Week 4: the day-30 review

A formal sit-down, 45 minutes, video call. We run this for every DotVA placement and you should run it whether you place with us or anyone else.

The four questions

Has your VA owned at least one task end-to-end without you re-checking it? If no, the SOP is not specific enough, or the scope is too ambitious. Tighten.
Are you spending less than 1 hour a week of direct management? If no, scope is wrong, or person is wrong. Diagnose which.
Has at least one mistake happened, been raised by the VA themselves, and been fixed without drama? If no, the feedback culture is not landing. They are hiding things or you are reacting badly.
Would you start the relationship again if you knew what you know now? If no, replace. 30 days is the right window to call it.

What to expand into in month 2

If the four questions all answered yes, you start the month-2 expansion. Pick one task that was on your “month 2” plan and delegate it this week. Plan to add another in week 6 and another in week 8.

What to do if the answers are mixed

This is where most placements go off the rails. The first 30 days are a chance to recalibrate, not a sentence. If the answers are mixed:

Two-week recalibration plan: name the specific gap, rewrite that part of the SOP, video-call coverage of that area, re-test at day 45.
If still mixed at day 45: replace.

Do not let a mixed-result placement drift into month 3. Either it is working or it is not. Decide.

Templates

Day one welcome email

Subject: Welcome to [Business name] — quick read before tomorrow

Hi [Name],

I am excited you are joining us. Below is what you need before your first day tomorrow.

Your access details — see the password manager invite that just landed in your inbox. Set up 2FA on every account before logging in.

Welcome doc — [link]. 10-minute read. This explains the business, what we value, what success looks like in your first 90 days.

Your role SOP — [link]. 15-minute read. This is the source of truth for what you own and how we like things done. It will evolve, but this is where we start.

Calendar invite — I have sent you a 30-minute call at [time] tomorrow. We will meet, walk through the SOP together, and answer your questions.

Two ground rules from day one:

Mistakes are normal. Telling me about them quickly is the only thing that matters. I will never react badly to a mistake you flagged yourself.

Questions are welcome. Even ones that feel obvious. There is no such thing as a wasted question in the first 30 days.

See you tomorrow.

[Your name]

Week-one SOP outline

About [business] (2 paragraphs)
Your scope in month one (10 bullets)
Communication norms (where, when, response time, escalation)
Style guide (tone, formatting, file naming)
Done examples (3 outputs they can pattern-match)
The 5 things we don’t do (so they know the boundaries)
Who to escalate to and when

Day-30 review agenda

5 min: how are you feeling about the role
10 min: walk me through one task you have fully owned, end-to-end
5 min: what mistake have you flagged, and what changed because of it
10 min: what part of the SOP is wrong, missing, or unclear
5 min: what would you delegate yourself if you were me
10 min: my feedback to you, your feedback to me

What’s next

For the wider hiring framework, see How to hire your first VA in Australia.

For the async management primer that picks up at week 5, Managing a VA asynchronously is the next read.

If you want this done for you, book a free discovery call. Our placement service includes the SOP work, the onboarding, and the day-30 review.