7 Types of Work Founders Should Never Be Doing After Hiring an EVA
- Andrea Isabel Blanco
- Apr 24, 2025
- 4 min read
Hiring a VA—or an EVA—is a powerful unlock. It’s a declaration that your time, focus, and energy are too valuable to be spent on low-leverage work.
But here’s the trap: Hiring help doesn’t guarantee you’re using them effectively.
We’ve seen founders outsource a few recurring admin tasks, keep 80% of the work on their plate, and wonder why they’re still overwhelmed.
Here’s the truth: if you’re still the bottleneck after bringing on support, the problem isn’t capacity. It’s prioritization.
This post breaks down the 7 types of work no founder should be doing once an Executive Virtual Assistant is in place—and what to do instead.
1. Calendar Negotiation and Scheduling Ping-Pong
If you’re still playing the “What time works for you?” game, something’s gone wrong.
What this includes:
Back-and-forth meeting coordination
Calendar cleanup and protection
Meeting reminders and reschedules
Why it’s a problem: It sucks up more time than it seems and erodes focus. You lose momentum switching between tools and time zones.
What to do instead:
Let your EVA own your calendar fully
Define parameters (“No meetings before 10 AM,” “Only investor calls on Tuesdays”)
Use scheduling links for external invites
Trust them to reschedule or deflect low-priority meetings
2. Inbox Sorting and Email Triage
We’ve seen inboxes with 11,000 unread emails—and founders insist they’re “staying on top of it.”
What this includes:
Reading and sorting messages
Flagging priority threads
Drafting or sending replies
Unsubscribing, archiving, and categorizing
Why it’s a problem: Your inbox is where energy goes to die. Every switch in context costs attention you can’t afford to waste.
What to do instead:
Use an inbox triage system: EVA checks twice daily, flags essentials, handles the rest
Create response templates for recurring questions
Set rules for when to loop you in (e.g., legal, fundraising, high-risk issues only)
3. Travel Booking and Itinerary Management
This one’s simple: If you’re still booking flights, accommodations, or rides yourself, you're operating below your pay grade.
What this includes:
Searching for flights, comparing costs
Booking hotels, updating itineraries
Managing cancellations or rebookings
Why it’s a problem: Travel planning is high-effort, low-value. It’s not strategic work—it’s coordination.
What to do instead:
Hand off all logistics to your EVA
Provide preferences once (e.g., aisle seat, no red-eyes, loyalty programs)
Let them create detailed, mobile-friendly itineraries
4. Recurring Reports and Status Updates
Founders should make decisions—not build reports to make decisions.
What this includes:
Weekly updates for investors or internal teams
Pulling CRM or KPI data
Status summaries or meeting prep docs
Why it’s a problem: This is time-consuming and interruptive. Every founder has better things to do than compiling screenshots or digging through dashboards.
What to do instead:
Ask your EVA to prep weekly briefs, slide decks, or talking points
Create a reporting SOP once—they own it from there
You focus on insights and decisions, not the assembly
5. Document Formatting and Admin Cleanup
Spending 30 minutes turning a Google Doc into a branded PDF? Not a founder’s job.
What this includes:
Formatting investor decks, hiring docs, SOPs
Fixing layout, fonts, broken links
Creating folders and organizing shared drives
Why it’s a problem: It’s tedious and burns mental energy better used on strategy or product. It also reinforces the false belief that only you can “get it just right.”
What to do instead:
Delegate formatting to your EVA
Create templates and brand guides so they nail it the first time
Let “good enough” win when perfection costs scale
6. Back-and-Forth with Vendors or Partners
You should know when something is blocked—not spend time finding out why.
What this includes:
Following up on invoices, contracts, or deliverables
Coordinating external freelancers or agencies
Scheduling partner check-ins
Why it’s a problem: This kind of “middleman” admin eats hours and requires high effort with low payoff.
What to do instead:
Let your EVA manage vendor comms and updates
Define escalation rules for when you want to be looped in
Ask for a weekly “blocked & waiting” summary
7. Running Internal Recurring Ops
Many founders keep ownership over internal admin by default, especially when teams are lean.
What this includes:
Managing hiring pipelines
Updating internal trackers
Prepping onboarding docs
Running internal retros or team reminders
Why it’s a problem: Even when these tasks feel small, they compound—and take you out of founder-mode.
What to do instead:
Design internal ops flows once, then hand them off
Ask your EVA to run retros, prep onboarding kits, or maintain applicant spreadsheets
Focus your involvement only on critical decision points
Founders Shouldn’t Be Doing Everything—Even If They Can
You might be capable of doing all of the above.But the better question is: Should you?
Every hour spent on a low-leverage task is an hour you’re not:
Thinking strategically
Making high-stakes decisions
Strengthening your culture
Moving your company forward
What to Do Next: Audit Your Week
Try this exercise:
Pull up your calendar and task list from last week
Highlight everything only you could do
Then highlight everything your EVA could do with some documentation or training
Ask yourself: “What’s the cost of continuing to do this myself?”
The answers are often eye-opening.
Final Thought
Founders don’t burn out from working hard.They burn out from working below their highest value.
Hiring an EVA is the first step.But the real leverage comes when you start shedding work you never should’ve kept in the first place.
Start with this list. Then challenge yourself to hand off one more thing each week. Because your time is too important to spend it formatting documents or chasing meeting confirmations.
Let go—and lead.
