Deciding whether a virtual assistant is worth the cost does not require a spreadsheet full of assumptions. Three questions get you most of the way to a confident answer.
One: what hours are you buying back?
Estimate the recurring, low-value hours you would hand off each week. Be honest and specific, inbox, scheduling, admin, follow-up. This is the time the engagement returns to you.
Two: what are those hours worth in your hands?
Not the cost of the task, but what you would produce if those hours went to your highest-value work instead, sales, strategy, delivery. For most founders that number is several times the hourly cost of support.
Three: what does the support cost?
Compare the cost of the hours you are buying against the value of the hours you are freeing. When the freed value exceeds the cost, the engagement is profitable, full stop.
The hidden upside
This framework is deliberately conservative. It ignores the second-order gains: fewer dropped balls, faster response times, less burnout, better decisions from a clearer head. Those are real, they are large, and they tilt the math further in favor of support than any simple calculation shows.