How to Maximize Your Productivity With Assistants
Leadership Anywhere Podcast
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Episode breakdown
This episode explores the world of support assistants. We tear down many stereotypes and approach the topic of support assistants from the perspective of leaders and operations. To discuss, we have Barbara Turley, who is the founder of The Virtual Hub, a network of hundreds of support assistants that help growing companies max out their productivity and efficiency. With a strong focus on customized training and ongoing career development, The Virtual Hub ensures that its team is trained in cutting-edge programs (like Hubspot, Ontraport, etc.) to meet its clients’ unique needs in digital marketing, social media, operational support, and administrative services.
Barbara is also a mom to her gorgeous kids Ruby and Alexander, wife to her best friend Eti, and an adventure lover passionate about horses, skiing, tennis, and spending time in nature.
- Barbara Turley's journey to remote work
- The necessity of building digital-first companies
- Clarification of the role and definition of virtual assistants
- Managing expectations with assistants
- Optimizing human capital with assistants
- The importance of assistants
- The importance of clear documentation and process mapping
- Collaborative role of assistants in creating and refining operational documentation
- The importance of building a supportive culture for assistants
"Assistants are not about cost savings, they are an investment in your people and your business growth."
In this episode
03:48 Introduction & guest background
Peter Benet introduces the podcast and guest Barbara Turley. Barbara shares her journey from a corporate career in equity trading and asset management to entrepreneurship. She discusses how an accidental opportunity in remote staffing led to the foundation of The Virtual Hub and her passion for operations and delegation.
09:35 The evolution of remote work and company frameworks
Barbara reflects on the pandemic’s impact on remote work and how her business, once office-based, easily transitioned back to remote operations due to its foundational virtual-first frameworks. She emphasizes the importance of building digital-first companies where location is irrelevant.
14:50 Defining a virtual assistant
Barbara clarifies the often-misunderstood term “virtual assistant.” She stresses that a VA is an assistant executing predefined processes, not a specialist like a developer or marketer. The conversation highlights the issue of inflated expectations and the need for clear role definitions.
18:53 Optimizing people and delegating workloads
The discussion covers how businesses often misuse their most expensive asset — their people — on tasks that can be delegated. Barbara explains how an offshore team strategy optimizes operational budgets and frees key personnel to focus on strategic, high-impact work.
23:52 When and how to hire an assistant
Barbara outlines different types of assistants: generalists for startup chaos and process-driven assistants for scale-ups. She shares practical use cases across marketing, sales, and operations, and stresses the importance of delegating busy work to maintain strategic focus.
29:05 Recognizing the tipping point for help
The conversation identifies how founders often wait until operational chaos forces them to seek help. Barbara advises hiring an assistant before the business reaches breaking point and discusses the challenge of slowing down to delegate effectively when overwhelmed.
31:18 The importance of documentation
Barbara emphasizes that documentation is critical for building scalable, sellable businesses. Strong documentation reduces operational costs and allows for effective delegation. It also supports business continuity and the integration of automation and AI.
35:14 VAs assisting with documentation
Barbara confirms that assistants can and should assist in creating documentation, starting with Loom videos from founders and iterating through mistakes. She explains how mistakes reveal hidden process knowledge that needs to be documented and refined collaboratively.
39:13 Operational cleanup and process realignment
Barbara shares a real example of stepping into a disorganized department, clarifying undocumented processes, and realigning operations. She highlights the importance of leadership intervention and structured processes to prevent operational breakdowns
41:59 Why use a managed assistant service
Barbara explains the advantages of working with a managed VA service like The Virtual Hub, including training, performance management, culture-building, and scaling flexibility. The conversation covers how her company reduces hiring risks and manages VA transitions smoothly.
45:31 Future of remote work
Barbara shares her belief that remote work is here to stay. She predicts continued evolution toward digital-first, location-irrelevant companies and notes the importance of operational frameworks to ensure productivity and collaboration in distributed teams.
