Executive Assistant.

Also posted as

Ops assistant, chief of staff (jr), scheduling coordinator, admin partner

Core loop

Calendar → inbox → meetings → follow-through

Hours

Often 20–40/wk with 3–5 hours overlapping the exec's morning

Hardest part

Saying no on someone else's behalf

Easiest way in

One narrow offer: calendar + inbox, 10 hrs a week

Progress is saved in this browser only. Nothing is sent anywhere.

1. 01

   What the job actually is

   You can describe the EA role as an operating system, not a list of chores, and you know what you will not do.Time splitRatesRed/green flags18 min

   • Your product is the executive's attention. Every decision you make is either buying them attention or spending it.
   • Responsive is not the same as always-on. Agree a response window ("within 2 hours during your morning, next business day after") and you get your life back.
   • Confidentiality is the whole job. You will see salaries, terminations, term sheets and health stuff. Say nothing, ever, including to other VAs.
   • Write down the exec's preferences in one doc: how they like meetings, who they always take a call from, what times are sacred, how they want to be interrupted.
   • Remote EA work is mostly asynchronous. One remote EA on r/ExecutiveAssistants put it bluntly: "Everything is very asynchronous. You have to be on top of your shit though because we don't meet often."

   Worked example — The preferences doc, first five lines

   Sacred: 8–10am is deep work. Nothing goes there without asking me first.

   Always take: investors, the board, Dana at Redpath, anything from my kid's school.

   Never schedule: Friday afternoons, anything before 8am, back-to-back over 90 minutes.

   Interrupt me by: Slack DM with 🔴 in the first character. Email means it can wait.

   Default no: podcast invites, coffee chats, unpaid speaking, vendor demos I didn't ask for.

   You write this in week one by asking, then you keep updating it every time they correct you. It becomes your handover doc later.

   Where the hours go

   Where a 20 hr/week EA retainer actually goes

   A working week supporting one founder. Note how little of it is the thing the job title implies.

   • Inbox: triage, drafting, chasing32%

     The single biggest block, and the one clients underestimate most.

   • Calendar and scheduling20%

     Booking is fast. Negotiating conflicts is what takes the time.

   • Meeting prep, notes, decision logs18%

     Agendas out the night before, notes turned around same day.

   • Follow-through chasing12%

     The waiting-for list. This is the part that makes you irreplaceable.

   • Travel, expenses, documents10%

     Bursty. Zero one week, all of it the next.

   • Research and one-off projects8%

     Where the interesting work hides. Ask for more of this.

   Over half your week is inbox and calendar. If you cannot do those two things fast and quietly, nothing else you learn matters.

   What this pays

   What executive assistant work actually pays

   Two numbers per row. The first is what the job boards Verse scrapes are really posting; the second is what the same person gets from a direct US client once they can show judgment. The gap is the whole point of this track.

   Swipe the table sideways →

   Experience	Hourly (USD)	Monthly (USD)	What changes it
   Entry (0–1 yr)	$3–5	$480–900	Calendar and inbox under instruction. You are being told what to do.
   Junior (1–2 yrs)	$5–7	$800–1,150	You triage without asking. First drafts get sent with light edits.
   Mid (2–4 yrs)	$7–10	$1,150–1,700	You say no on their behalf, run travel, own the follow-up list.
   Senior (4–6 yrs)	$10–14	$1,700–2,400	You handle board, investors and legal docs. You brief, not just book.
   Lead / chief of staff (6+ yrs)	$14–22	$2,400–3,800	You own projects and other assistants. Judgment is the product.

   This table has 4 columns and scrolls horizontally on small screens.

   Same skill, different client

   • OnlineJobs.ph direct$3–8

     Cheapest market. Employers here are price-shopping, so lead with proof, not rate.

   • US client, direct$7–15

     The best value per hour of your life. Needs 3–5 hrs of morning overlap.

   • UK / EU client$6–12

     Kinder hours from PH (afternoon overlap), slightly lower ceiling than the US.

   • Australia / NZ$6–13

     Near-perfect timezone match with PH. Underrated and less crowded.

   • Upwork$8–18 listed

     Look higher because the 10% fee is baked in. Your take-home is not the sticker.

   Sources: 2,081 live listings on Verse's own board, OnlineJobs.ph salary data, and 2026 agency rate cards. Board medians sit lower than the published guides — the guides quote what good VAs get, not what average posts offer.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   The job post says

   Red flag

   "Rockstar EA / social media / bookkeeper / customer service ninja needed. Must be a self-starter who wears many hats. $400/month, 40 hrs/week, must be available anytime."

   Four jobs, one salary, no defined hours. "Wears many hats" is how a client describes a scope they have not thought about. "Available anytime" means weekends.

   Green flag

   "EA for our founder. 20 hrs/wk, 7–11am PT overlap required. Calendar, inbox triage, travel. $8/hr to start, review at 90 days. We use Google Workspace, Slack, Notion."

   Named hours, named scope, named tools, named review date. Someone thought about this before posting it.

   In the first interview, they say

   Red flag

   "My last three assistants didn't work out. They just couldn't keep up / weren't proactive enough."

   Three in a row is not an assistant problem. Ask what specifically went wrong. If every answer blames the assistant, you are number four.

   Green flag

   "My last assistant went in-house at a client. Here is the handover doc she built. The gap right now is that nobody is watching my follow-ups."

   A specific gap you can fill, evidence of a working relationship, and an existing doc means they respect process.

   Do this

   Interview a real person for 20 minutes about how they run their week. A friend, your manager, a business-owner tita. Anyone with a calendar.

   Hand in: A one-page preferences doc for them with the five headings above, filled in.≈ 40 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Every line is a rule you could follow without asking again
   • No vague words like 'sometimes' or 'usually' left in it
   • You noted at least one thing they contradicted themselves about
   • It fits on one screen

   Mark module done
2. 02

   Calendar triage

   You can take a broken week and hand back a defensible one, with reasons.WorkflowTools3 templates32 min

   • Work in this order: conflicts, then travel and buffers, then focus blocks, then optimisation. Fixing pretty before fixing broken is how you miss a double booking.
   • Every meeting needs four things or it does not get to exist: purpose, attendee list, link or address, and an owner. If you cannot find the purpose, ask, do not guess.
   • Time zones are where careers die. Always write both zones in the invite title for cross-border calls, and check the DST dates for the exec's country, not yours. The US and PH do not shift together.
   • Buffers are not a luxury. 10 minutes after every external call and 30 minutes either side of an airport run, or the whole day dominoes.
   • A soft hold is a tentative block you own and can release. Use them for options you are still confirming, and label them 'HOLD —' so nobody mistakes it for real.
   • When you move something, tell the affected human in one sentence with a reason. Silent reschedules make the exec look rude and you get blamed later.

   Worked example — Mara's Tuesday, before and after

   Before

   8:00 Deep work (booked over by 'Quick sync?' from sales)

   9:30 Investor call — no Zoom link

   9:30 1:1 with Ben — double booked

   11:00 Interview, candidate is in London (invite says 11:00, no zone)

   12:00 Lunch (booked over)

   1:00–4:30 five back-to-back calls, no gaps

   4:00 Flight to SFO

   After

   8:00–10:00 Deep work, protected. Sales sync moved to 10:15, told them why.

   10:15 Sales sync (15 min, agenda requested)

   11:00 Investor call — link added, dial-in added, one-page pre-read attached

   11:45 1:1 with Ben moved to Wednesday 9:00, Ben confirmed

   12:15 Lunch, held

   1:00 Interview retitled 'Interview: R. Osei — 1:00pm CT / 7:00pm BST', London confirmed

   1:45–2:45 two calls with a 10 min gap, remaining two pushed to Thursday

   2:45 Car to airport (buffer 30 min), 4:00 flight, nothing after 2:45

   Six changes, four short messages sent, one flight saved. That last line is the case study you put in your portfolio.

   Workflow

   The Monday calendar sweep

   Every Monday before the exec's day starts. 25 minutes, same order, every week.

   1. 1

      Pull the next 10 days into one view

      Not just this week. Trips, board meetings and deadlines hide in day 8.

   2. 2

      Flag hard conflicts first

      Double bookings and anything scheduled during travel or a flight. These are the only true emergencies.

   3. 3

      Check every meeting has a link, a location and an agenda

      Missing conference link is the number one cause of a wasted ten minutes.

   4. 4

      Find the meetings that should not exist

      No agenda, no decision needed, five people where two would do, recurring meetings nobody has questioned in a year.

   5. 5

      Protect deep work and meals

      Block them as real events with real titles. An empty slot is an invitation.

   6. 6

      Send one message with your proposed changes

      Grouped, with a reason per change, and a default: "I'll action these at 3pm unless you say otherwise."

   Where this breaks: Sending six separate Slack messages as you find each problem. You have now interrupted them six times to fix interruptions. Batch it into one.

   Workflow

   A new meeting request arrives

   Someone emails or Slacks asking for time.

   1. 1

      Who is it?

      Check the always-take list. Investors, board, family, key clients go straight through.

   2. 2

      Is there a decision to make?

      If not, it is an email. Reply with the async alternative first.

   3. 3

      Can you answer it yourself?

      About a third of meeting requests are questions in disguise.

   4. 4

      Does it need the exec, or just someone from their team?

      Redirect to the right owner and copy the exec so they see you handled it.

   5. 5

      Book it in a batch slot

      Cluster external calls into two afternoon blocks. Never scatter them.

   6. 6

      Add the agenda and pre-read before you send the invite

      An invite without an agenda is a meeting that will need a second meeting.

   Where this breaks: Booking first and asking questions later. Once it is on the calendar, removing it costs political capital you do not have.

   Tool comparison

   Scheduling and calendar tools

   You will be asked about these by name in interviews. Learn one deeply rather than five badly.

   Swipe the table sideways →

   Tool	Best for	Learning curve	Cost	Verdict
   Google CalendarLearn first	The default for 80% of startups and small businesses.	Easy — an afternoon, plus a week to get fast	Free	Non-negotiable. Learn working hours, appointment schedules, multiple timezone display and delegated access.
   Calendly	Killing the eight-email back-and-forth with external people.	Easy — one hour	Free tier, $12/mo for the good bits	Learn buffers, daily limits and separate event types. The free tier is enough to demo in an interview.
   Outlook / Microsoft 365	Corporate, finance, legal, healthcare and anything over 200 staff.	Medium — the UI fights you	Paid, client provides	Worth learning if you want higher-paying corporate clients. Fewer VAs know it, which is exactly why it pays.
   Motion / Reclaim	Auto-scheduling focus time around meetings.	Medium	$10–34/mo	Skip unless a client already uses it. Nice toy, rarely the reason you get hired.
   World Time Buddy	Sanity-checking a call across four timezones.	Instant	Free	Boring and essential. One mis-converted timezone can cost you a client.

   This table has 5 columns and scrolls horizontally on small screens.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   Declining a meeting on the exec's behalf

   For low-value requests you have judged the exec should not take. Warm, final, offers a door.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [Name],
   
   Thanks for reaching out, and sorry for the slow reply.
   
   [Exec] is heads-down on [broad reason — a product launch / closing the quarter] through [month], so they're not taking new intro calls right now.
   
   If it's useful, send over the specifics by email and I'll make sure it reaches them. If there's a better time later in the year, I'm happy to note it and come back to you.
   
   Best,
   [Your name]
   Executive Assistant to [Exec]

   Proposing calendar changes to your exec

   Your weekly sweep summary. One message, grouped, with a default action so they can reply with one word.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Calendar for the next 10 days — 4 things, all handled unless you say otherwise.
   
   1. Conflict Thu 2pm: [Meeting A] and [Meeting B] overlap. Proposing I move [B] to Fri 10am — it's internal and less time-sensitive.
   
   2. Killing: [recurring meeting]. No agenda for 3 weeks and no decisions logged. Suggest we drop it and I'll send a written update instead.
   
   3. Protecting: blocked 8–10am Mon/Wed/Fri as deep work. Two people tried to book into it last week.
   
   4. Needs you: [Person] wants 30 min about [topic]. I can't answer this one — yes or no?
   
   I'll action 1–3 at 3pm today unless you say stop.

   The 8-email back-and-forth killer

   First reply to any external scheduling request. Replaces four rounds of "does Tuesday work?"

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [Name],
   
   Happy to get this in the diary. Two options that work on [Exec]'s side:
   
   • [Day, date] at [time] [TZ] — also [time] [their TZ]
   • [Day, date] at [time] [TZ] — also [time] [their TZ]
   
   Reply with either and I'll send the invite with the link. If neither works, here's [Exec]'s booking page: [Calendly link]
   
   Best,
   [Your name]

   Do this

   Rebuild the Tuesday above from scratch in your own Google Calendar as a fake week, then write the four messages you would send to the affected people.

   Hand in: A screenshot of the fixed week plus a short 'what I changed and why' note, six bullets max.≈ 60 min

   Check before you call it done

   • No two events overlap
   • Every cross-timezone event shows both zones in the title
   • There is a buffer before travel and after every external call
   • Each message you wrote gives a reason and offers a new time
   • The focus block survived

   Mark module done
3. 03

   Inbox triage and writing in their voice

   You can take 200 unread emails to under 10 and draft replies the exec sends without editing.WorkflowTime splitRed/green flags4 templates34 min

   • Four buckets, nothing else: Action-them, Action-me, Waiting-for, Read-only. Every message gets a bucket within seconds or it goes to Read-only.
   • Do not delete anything and do not use 20 labels. A messy archive is fine. A false sense of order is not.
   • The waiting-for list is your secret weapon. Every time the exec asks someone for something, log it with a date, then chase it. Executives lose deals on things they asked for once and forgot.
   • To write in their voice, steal it. Read 30 of their sent emails and note: greeting, sign-off, average length, whether they use exclamation marks, whether they apologise.
   • Start replies with [DRAFT — send or edit] in the subject line for the first month. Once they stop editing, ask for permission to send directly on defined categories.
   • Escalate anything legal, financial, angry, or about a person's job. Those never get an auto-answer from you.

   Worked example — Same email, wrong voice and right voice

   Before

   Subject: Re: Partnership opportunity

   Dear Mr. Calderon,

   Thank you so much for reaching out to us regarding this exciting opportunity! We greatly appreciate your interest in our company. Unfortunately at this time we will not be able to move forward, but we will certainly keep your information on file for future consideration. Wishing you all the best!

   Warm regards,

   Mara

   After

   Subject: Re: Partnership opportunity

   Hi Luis —

   Not a fit for us this quarter, we're heads-down on the enterprise release until October. If you're still building in this space in Q4, ping me then.

   Mara

   The second one is shorter, gives a real reason, and gives a real date. Founders write like that. If your draft sounds like a customer-service macro, they will rewrite it and eventually stop asking you.

   Workflow

   The four-pile inbox triage

   Start of every shift, and once more mid-afternoon. Timebox it to 45 minutes.

   1. 1

      Sort before you write anything

      One pass, no replies. Label each email needs-them, needs-me, waiting-for, or noise. Speed matters more than perfection.

   2. 2

      Kill the noise permanently

      Do not just archive. Every newsletter you archive twice becomes a filter rule. The inbox should shrink week over week.

   3. 3

      Clear needs-me yourself

      Answer, book, send the doc, make the intro. Copy the exec only where they'd want to see it.

   4. 4

      Draft the needs-them pile

      Write the reply as them, leave it in drafts, and list them in your daily brief. Never leave a hard email undrafted just because it's hard.

   5. 5

      Date every waiting-for item

      "Chase [person] about [thing] on [date]" in your tracker. This list is your unfair advantage.

   6. 6

      Report the number

      "Inbox at 6, from 212. Three drafts waiting for you, two chases sent." Clients love the number.

   Where this breaks: Replying as you read. You'll spend 40 minutes on the third email and never reach the urgent one at position 90.

   Where the hours go

   What is actually in a founder's 200-email inbox

   A real morning's unread count, sorted. Only a small slice ever needed the human it was sent to.

   • Noise: newsletters, tools, receipts45%

     Archive or filter. Build the filter once and it never comes back.

   • Needs me — you can answer it25%

     Scheduling, intros, document requests, status questions.

   • Waiting-for: someone owes them something12%

     Does not need a reply. Needs a chase date.

   • Needs them — genuinely10%

     Decisions, relationships, anything with money or people in it.

   • Needs them, but you draft it first8%

     Your highest-value output. They approve in 10 seconds instead of writing for 10 minutes.

   Only about 1 in 10 emails truly needed the executive. Your job is to prove that, then earn the right to handle the other nine.

   Red flag / green flag

   Spot the difference

   Same situation, two ways it can go.

   Drafting a reply in the exec's voice

   Red flag

   "Dear Mr. Chen, I hope this email finds you well. I wanted to reach out and touch base regarding the proposal you kindly sent through last week. We are currently in the process of reviewing it internally and will endeavour to revert to you at our earliest possible convenience. Warmest regards, Mara"

   Nobody who runs a company writes like this. It is padded, passive, and commits to nothing. The exec will rewrite it, which means you cost them time instead of saving it.

   Green flag

   "Hi Dave, Read it over the weekend. The scope looks right, the timeline doesn't — we can't start before March. Can you send a version with a March 3 kickoff? If the number moves, tell me by how much. Mara"

   Short sentences, a real position, one specific ask, a deadline. This is what a busy person sounds like. Copy their last 20 sent emails before you write a single draft.

   Handling an email you are not sure about

   Red flag

   Forwarding it to the exec with "Thoughts?" and no context.

   You just moved the work back to them and added a step. "Thoughts?" is the assistant version of doing nothing.

   Green flag

   "[Person] wants [thing]. I think we say no because [reason] — draft's in your drafts folder. If you'd rather say yes, tell me and I'll rewrite. Needs an answer by Thursday."

   You made the call, showed your reasoning, did the work, and gave them a one-word exit. This is the difference between a $4 assistant and a $12 one.

   Copy-paste

   Steal these

   Swap the bracketed bits and send.

   The holding reply

   Send within 2 hours to anything you cannot resolve yet. Stops the follow-up email and buys you three days.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [Name],
   
   Got this — thank you. [Exec] is travelling until [day], so I'm holding it for them.
   
   You'll have a proper answer by [specific day]. If anything changes before then, I'll let you know.
   
   Best,
   [Your name]
   Executive Assistant to [Exec]

   The polite chase (first nudge)

   For your waiting-for list. Day 5 after the original ask. Friendly, assumes good faith, makes it easy to reply.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [Name],
   
   Circling back on [thing] — we asked on [date] and I want to make sure it didn't get buried.
   
   No rush if it's in progress. If you can give me a rough date, I'll stop chasing you. If it's stuck on our side, tell me what you need and I'll unblock it.
   
   Thanks,
   [Your name]

   The second chase (and the last one)

   Day 10. Names the consequence without being aggressive. Always cc nobody the first two times.

   Copy template to clipboard

   Hi [Name],
   
   Third time on [thing], sorry to be that person.
   
   We need it by [date] or [specific consequence — we'll have to push the launch / we'll proceed on the assumption of X]. Happy to jump on a 10-minute call if that's faster than email.
   
   Let me know either way today?
   
   [Your name]

   End-of-day brief

   Five lines, same shape every day. This single habit is why clients keep assistants for years.

   Copy template to clipboard

   EOD — [date]
   
   Done: [2–3 things that are finished, not in progress]
   Decided: [anything you decided on their behalf, so they can veto it]
   Blocked: [what you need from them, with a deadline]
   Needs you tomorrow: [the 1–2 things only they can do]
   I'm on next: [what you'll pick up first thing]
   
   Inbox: [n] | Waiting on [n] people | Calendar clean through [date]

   Do this

   Take your own inbox from the last 14 days. Sort it into the four buckets, then write an end-of-day brief as if you were reporting to someone about it.

   Hand in: A screenshot of the sorted inbox, a waiting-for table with five rows (who, what, asked on, chase on), and a five-line EOD brief.≈ 50 min

   Check before you call it done

   • Zero items left unsorted
   • Waiting-for rows all have a chase date, not just a request
   • The brief has: done, decided, blocked, needs you, next
   • The brief is under 120 words
   • You flagged at least one thing you would escalate rather than answer

   Mark module done