What No One Tells You About Hiring a VA in the Fitness Industry

drsuzbaxter
Oct 20, 2022
5 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

Or: why your lack of time isn’t solved by hiring someone overseas for $10/hour

Let’s start with a confession:I fell for it too.The dream that hiring a VA — especially an offshore one — would magically clear my calendar, tidy my inbox, and run my business while I finally focused on the “important stuff.”

Except… it didn’t.

This post is for you if you:

Have considered hiring a VA
Are too busy to think clearly and want someone to take the pressure off
Keep hearing how “easy” outsourcing is from people who sell outsourcing

Here’s what I’ve learned after 8+ months, 3 VAs, multiple system rebuilds, and more admin disasters than I care to count.

First: What VAs Can Do Well

Let’s be fair. Some VAs are awesome. Mine does great work on:

Organising social post schedules I’ve pre-written
Executing repeatable checklists once trained
Following up on known processes with clarity
Maintaining trust and transparency about hours

But that’s after months of onboarding, mistakes, retraining, and clarification.

The Harsh Truth: A VA Can’t Fix Your Business Problems

If you don’t have strong systems, tight SOPs, clear training, and time to support someone… a VA won’t save you.

In fact, they’ll likely cost you more time.

❌ They can’t intuit what you meant❌ They can’t spot logic flaws in half-written tasks❌ They won’t override your instructions if they see an error❌ And they definitely can’t replace software you should’ve automated

A VA isn’t a magic time-saving pill. They’re a force multiplier. If your systems are weak, your chaos multiplies.

Examples From My Own Business (The Funny and the Frustrating)

Let’s start with the classics:

1. Manual Data Entry Instead of Importing a CSVI filmed a tutorial. Sent a software guide. Gave access to platform support.Instead of using the bulk upload tool, my VA manually typed in every entry… for 15 hours.

2. Client Check-Ins Missed Because They Didn’t Log InThe process was: email template → client reply → log responses in a chart.Except they didn’t check the inbox for 3 days.So clients assumed I was ignoring them. Damage done.

3. Postpartum Exercise Guide with… Bodybuilding Men?Instead of using my provided demo photos, the VA added veiny men flexing beside ab work for new mums. Not ideal branding.

4. “Copied From…” Attribution on My Own BlogI asked them to migrate my blog content from one site to another.They refused to copy-paste without crediting the source — which was… me.Every post ended with: “This has been copied from…” and a link I wanted to shut down.

5. “Instagram Growth” via Bots from BangladeshInstead of following the target client demographic, I got random ghost accounts with no posts or followers. Why? Who knows.

Key Lessons From All This

Don’t trust VA evangelists who profit from VA referrals.They will highlight one unicorn and ignore the graveyard.
Trial small: 5–10 hours a week, one task at a time.Don’t hire for 40 hours unless you’ve got the workload, systems, and support flow for it.
Automate anything that can go wrong quickly.Inquiries? Use auto-responders.Onboarding? Set it once in a CRM.Don’t rely on a human for urgent leads — people expect instant replies now.
Set timezone overlaps or prepare for delays.If your VA’s online while you’re asleep, real-time course correction is impossible. That delay compounds.
Create feedback loops and kill exceptions.If you do something once “just this week,” it will become expected. That includes clients — and staff.

The Mistakes Weren’t in the SOPs — They Were in the Nuance

Let me be clear:Most of the problems I faced weren’t due to a lack of training or bad systems.I created:

Detailed SOPs
Walkthrough videos
Platform-specific tutorials
Live check-ins
Written briefs with clear brand context

The issue wasn’t the process.It was the gap in nuance — things that can’t always be documented in a checklist.

Things like:

Understanding the emotional tone of a postpartum resource
Knowing that copy-pasting your own blog post isn't plagiarism
Realising that “professional” doesn’t mean “corporate,” and “relatable” doesn’t mean “casual” in the wrong context
Recognising when an image feels off to a Western audience or your target client type

These are worldview differences, not task failures.And that’s the part no one tells you about hiring offshore — you can’t systemise lived experience.

Fluent English ≠ Shared Context

One of the biggest hiring mistakes?Assuming that because someone speaks English fluently, they understand what you mean when you say things like:

“This is a high-trust moment”
“Keep it on-brand for postpartum clients”
“Make this look polished but human”

They may translate the words — but not the intention.

Case in point: I've had images swapped for muscular bodybuilders in postpartum guides, captions reworded to sound like sales pitches, and client interactions mishandled because tone wasn't understood. These aren't language issues. They're context issues.

If your brand depends on nuance, psychology, or cultural cues — don't assume linguistic fluency equals understanding. You’ll need to train for worldview, not just vocabulary.

Why a VA Didn’t Save Me — and What Might

Here’s the truth I didn’t want to admit:

I didn’t need a VA.I needed an EA — an executive assistant who could think, make judgment calls, and take ownership.

Yes, they cost more. But they also add value instead of passively completing tasks.If you’re a high-output business owner with established IP, an EA is probably what you need.

The Bottom Line

You can’t hire your way out of chaos.You need to systemise first, then delegate.

If you’re:

Still doing random hours
Changing your mind mid-week
Unsure of your own onboarding
Manually fixing tasks done “wrong”...

Then you’re not ready for a VA.You’re ready to build operational systems first — or you’ll end up micromanaging someone from overseas at 2am with zero ROI.

What’s Next (and What’s Been Awesome)

Despite all the above, my current VA has some absolute wins:

She notices when posts are missing and follows up
She works with integrity
She’s coachable and open to feedback
She helps me stay accountable to the boring stuff

So it’s not all bad. But it’s not easy. And it’s not a shortcut.

Want to Learn More From the Trenches?

I’m writing my next book — book 7 — for personal trainers and fit biz owners who are trying to build real systems (not just outsource their problems).

If you’ve got questions about: