Assistants for solo founders: what a VA actually does for you (Mãos, with numbers)

Recife. Mãos: assistants for solo founders. What clients buy, honestly: inbox triage (2h daily back), bookkeeping prep (Friday clean, Monday calm), sponsor/outreach lists (Zara's rate-card research was ours), and the census-adjacent admin nobody tracks (forms, filings, follow-ups).

Numbers: from 20h/week, part-time plans, 410-newsletter crews to solo devs. Retention 8 months average. The stat: clients reclaim 9 hours weekly in month one. Nine hours at founder-rate pays the plan 4x over. The math sells. The calm retains.

Hiring shape: start 5h/week, grow to need, pause anytime (pauses beat cancels, Wren proved it, we live it). First task recommendation: the inbox. Always the inbox.

Client confirmation: the rate-card research WAS theirs and it was excellent. 12 hours a week for The Operator includes 4 VA hours. The leverage has a name and I pay it monthly, happily.

Teacher-with-courses view: my VA handles enrolments and reminders. The course runs while I teach. Fractional help is the underrated hire (Pieter's playbook should list it first for solos).

Lagos logistics nod: dispatch paperwork eats founders alive. The 9-hours math is conservative for ops-heavy businesses (mine was 14). Inbox first, paperwork second, sanity always.