Danielle LeBaron | Virtual Assistant | Operations Manager | Eagle Mountain, UT |Salt Lake City, UT | Lehi, UT | Colorado Springs, CO | Fort Collins, CO

I hear this story all the time during discovery calls. A business owner comes to me, exhausted and frustrated. They say, “I hired a Virtual Assistant last year, but I ended up firing them after three months. It felt like I was spending more time managing them than I was saving. It was easier to just do it myself.”

If this resonates with you, I want you to know something important: The problem wasn’t likely the VA, and the problem wasn’t you. The problem was a mismatch in the level of support you needed.

In the world of remote support, the term “Virtual Assistant” has become a catch-all phrase. It is used to describe everyone from someone who does data entry for $15/hour to a high-level Operations Manager running a seven-figure launch.

When you hire the wrong “tier” of support, friction happens. If you hire a task-taker when you need a strategist, you will feel bottlenecked. If you hire a strategist when you just need your inbox cleared, you will overspend.

To scale effectively, you need to understand the Hierarchy of Support and identify exactly where your business sits right now.

Level 1: The Task-Taker (The “Doer”)

This is the foundational level of support. A “Task-Taker” is reliable, efficient, and skilled, but they rely on you to provide the instructions. They are reactive, not proactive.

You need a Task-Taker if:

• You have a clear process but no time to execute it.
• You need help with repetitive tasks like data entry, scheduling standardized meetings, or uploading blog posts.
• You are comfortable being the project manager and assigning daily to-dos.

The Trap: If you are drowning in decision fatigue, hiring a Task-Taker won’t save you. You will still have to make every decision; they will just execute the clicks.

Level 2: The Project Manager (The “Organizer”)

This is a step up. A Project Manager doesn’t just do the task; they own the workflow. You tell them the goal (“Launch the podcast”), and they break it down into steps, assign deadlines, and ensure it happens.

You need a Project Manager if:

• You have big ideas but struggle to break them down into actionable steps.
• You have a small team (contractors, designers) that needs coordination.
• things are slipping through the cracks because nobody is “owning” the timeline.

Level 3: The Strategic Partner / Operations Executive (The “Thinker”)

This is the highest level of support, and this is the “secret weapon” for scaling past the six-figure mark. A Strategic Partner (or Online Business Manager/Operations Executive) doesn’t just ask, “What do you want me to do?” They ask, “Why are we doing it this way?” and “How can we do it better?”

They are your right hand. They look at your business holistically. They spot the leaks in your revenue, the inefficiencies in your onboarding, and the opportunities for growth.

You need a Strategic Partner if:

• You feel like you are the bottleneck in your own company.
• You want to take a vacation but genuinely fear the business will collapse without you.
• You are ready to focus purely on your “Zone of Genius” (coaching, creating, selling) and want someone else to run the “business” side of things.

The Danielle LeBaron Difference: We Offer the Full Spectrum

Most agencies force you to choose one or the other. You either get a pool of low-cost task-takers, or you hire an expensive OBM consultant.

At Danielle LeBaron & Co., we believe in flexible, holistic support. We are not just task-takers. We are system builders, strategy partners, and your behind-the-scenes powerhouse.

We assess where you are. Do you need trusted Administrative Support to clear the noise? We have packages for that. Do you need Advanced Operations Executive Strategy to build systems for long-term scalability? We excel at that.

Often, our clients start with Level 1 support to clear the chaos, and quickly graduate to Level 3 partnership as they free up time to grow.

The Delegation Matrix: How to Decide Today

Grab a piece of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left, write “Low Skill / Low Energy.” On the right, write “High Skill / High Strategy.”

Look at your to-do list from last week.

• Scheduling meetings? Low Skill. Delegate to Admin.
• Formatting a newsletter? Low Skill. Delegate to Admin.
• Planning the Q4 Marketing Strategy? High Strategy. Keep for yourself OR collaborate with an Operations Executive.
• Fixing a broken Zapier automation? High Skill. Delegate to an Ops Specialist.

Stop trying to fill every role on that piece of paper. You are the CEO. Your job is vision and growth. Our job is everything else.

Not sure which level of support you need? Let’s hop on a discovery call. We’ll diagnose your operations gaps and build a support package that fits your reality.