Contributed by SBOC Member:
Founder of the Small Business Owners Community
Knowing how to delegate to a VA sounds simple until you find yourself spending more time checking their work than you saved by hiring them.
A business owner wrote into the Businessing Idea Slam with exactly that problem: they hired a VA off Fiverr to handle their inbox and social media scheduling. Everything was great for two weeks. Then quality started slipping, and now they’re spending an hour a day reviewing everything.
Their question: am I delegating wrong, or do I just not trust people?
Pat Miller’s answer was blunt: you’re delegating wrong. But the good news is there’s a clear framework to fix it.
Most people delegate by sharing the process: click here, then click here, then fill in this field. That’s necessary, but it’s not the starting point. The starting point is the outcome.
Tell your VA what the finished product looks like before you show them how to get there. Pat’s analogy was simple: instead of explaining every step of hanging a picture, start with “I need this shape on this wall.” Why lead with the outcome? Because your VA might have a better, faster, or more efficient way of getting there. If you only share the process, you’ll never find out.
Step one: Share the outcome. Tell them exactly what success looks like.
Step two: Show them. Record a video of yourself doing the task from start to finish. This becomes their reference material they can rewatch anytime.
Step three: Do it live together. Get on a Zoom call and walk through the task while they watch. This is critical because they can stop you and ask questions in real time. Why did you click that? What happens if this field is empty? Those questions reveal gaps that a pre-recorded video can’t address.
Step four: Training wheels. Let them try it while you monitor. Correct critical mistakes. Coach things that could be a little better. This is the phase most people skip — they go straight from “here’s a video” to “you’re on your own.”
Step five: Walk away at 80%. This is the hardest part. As Dan Martel wrote in Buy Back Your Time, when the work reaches 80% of the quality you’d produce yourself, it’s time to let go. Perfection is the enemy of delegation.
Learning how to delegate to a VA also means knowing when to let one go. Pat was equally direct about the other side of the equation: if you’ve followed the five-step delegation framework, provided proper support, and your contractor still isn’t performing after a reasonable period, fire them fast. There are infinite contractors available. Life is too short to carry a bad one.
The two-week honeymoon period this business owner experienced is common. New contractors try hard to impress, then drift once the relationship feels secure. A clear delegation framework prevents that drift by setting expectations upfront and maintaining accountability through the training wheels phase.
The question isn’t whether you trust people enough. The real question is whether you know how to delegate to a VA in a way that sets them up to succeed. Outcome first, video second, live call third, monitor fourth, walk away fifth. That’s the system. Use it every time you hand off a task — whether it’s to a Fiverr VA, a full-time employee, or a junior team member.
Listen to the full episode: Businessing with Pat Miller
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@BusinessingShow
Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/businessing-with-pat-miller/id1870663109
Fridays Off Newsletter: https://fridaysoffnewsletter.com
Pat spent two decades in broadcasting management and hosting. After leaving the radio industry, he spent time consulting small businesses and realized the support system for entrepreneurs was broken. Where could you find help for improving small businesses and building real connections with other like-minded people. In June of 2020, the Idea Collective Small Business Community was born.