Forget Full-Time Hires: How We Scaled Smarter with ~$10/Hr Virtual Assistants

Let’s talk about the stuff no one puts in their "we scaled to 7 figures in 6 months" LinkedIn posts. 

Scaling sounds sexy, right? Big teams, big revenue, big energy. But here’s the thing they don’t tell you: scaling the wrong way can wreck your business—fast. I’m talking burnout, bloated payrolls, and a calendar that makes you want to cry. 

As I put it in our recent LinkedIn Live: "Most founders are on the brink of burnout. At any given point, one of us is burning out—unless the VAs step in. They keep us sane." 

This blog is your reality check. It’s the behind-the-scenes of what happens when you chase growth without systems, and how a lean, low-cost virtual assistant team might just be your golden ticket to scaling without losing your mind. 

Let’s get into it. 

The Traditional Model: Big Budget, Bigger Burnout

When Nikki Estes and her husband scaled their fintech company iCG Pay, they leaned into the traditional playbook: hire fast, spend more, push harder. 

"Some salaries were $70K, $100K. And even then, we found ourselves training people over and over again. It wasn’t sustainable," Nikki recalled. 

Hiring U.S.-based talent often comes with steep costs—not just in dollars, but in time, coordination, and sometimes culture fit. It’s no wonder 70% of startups fail by year five, often citing poor hiring choices and inefficient systems. 

The research backs it up: According to CB Insights, one of the top reasons startups fail is running out of cash, with 18% blaming "team issues" as a contributing factor. 

The Smart Shift: Scaling with Virtual Assistants 

Market Me More took a different route. Instead of hiring 10 full-time employees, they built a small but mighty army of VAs from across the globe. And the results have been staggering. 

"We call them our glue," Shubham said. "If Chenny or Analie takes a day off, our systems wobble. But if I take an off, we’re fine. That says a lot." 

These aren’t generic assistants pulling template tasks. They’re: 

• Running full content calendars 
• Managing CRM updates in HubSpot 
• Executing cold outreach and email campaigns 
• Designing graphics and carousels 
  
• Even training the next generation of VAs 

One recent Gartner study found that virtual assistants can improve business productivity by 25% and reduce call center volume. 

Where Most People Go Wrong with VAs 

Here’s the raw truth: a lot of founders fail with VAs. Why? Because they treat them like tools, not teammates. 

As Shubham emphasized: "Assuming understanding is the #1 mistake. Just because someone says they can do research doesn’t mean they know your kind of research." 

Nikki echoed, "I hear it all the time: ‘I tried a VA once, it didn’t work out.’ But did you actually train them? Did you give them the right tools?" 

That’s why the first 30 days are sacred. Nikki outlined her onboarding philosophy: 

1. Week 1: Observe, absorb, learn the brand. 
2. Week 2-3: Assign real tasks, review and give feedback. 
3. Week 4: Evaluate, tweak, and elevate. 
   

We even created a VA onboarding library called "Training the Next Gen," complete with quizzes, Loom videos, and documented SOPs. 

Scaling Should Remove Friction—Not Add to It 

Traditional scaling often creates chaos: coordination nightmares, tool overload, and shiny-object syndrome. 

Shubham shared, "Most companies use 30 to 160 tools. It’s insane. That’s why we consolidated into Microsoft Teams. We templatize everything. It saves hours every week." 

The Market Me More team uses VAs not just for execution, but for thinking: 

• Chenny builds internal playbooks. 
• Analie manages inboxes and newsletters. 
• Yoll makes client calls, handles post-event engagement, and follows up on leads. 
• Angel evolved from content repurposing to full-blown design under Ash’s mentorship. 

This isn’t outsourcing. It’s team building. 

"You don’t need 10 people. You need the right three, trained well, empowered, and trusted." - Nikki 

From Task-Takers to Trusted Collaborators 

The journey with VAs follows a natural progression: 

• Tasks: Execute predefined work.
• Trust: Understand the why behind the work.  
• Traction: Recommend tools, improve processes, and drive growth. 

The result? Freedom. 

"There are days I jump on a call 2 minutes before it starts because Chenny already dropped the link, set up the doc, and prepped the presentation. That’s 20 minutes saved—every time. Multiply that by 10 tasks per week, across 4 founders, and you’re talking 50+ hours of executive brainpower saved.” -Shubham 

No Benefits. No Burnout. Full Buy-In. 

VAs come with more than just cost efficiency: 

• No benefits or health insurance admin 
• Time-boxed contracts (e.g., 80 hours/month) 
• Flexibility to scale up or down 
• A global talent pool with deep skill sets 

But most importantly, they buy in. They care. 

Nikki shared: "I told the girls I got my first call from our new hubble advice line. They were so excited. Like, genuinely excited for me. That’s what it feels like to have a team that’s all in." 

Final Thought: Train First. Delegate Second. 

Whether you’re a solopreneur, small team, or scaling startup, the lesson is clear: 

Don’t just hire a VA. Build a VA culture. 

Give them: 

• The context 
• The training 
• The room to fail, learn, and lead 

And they’ll give you something even more valuable than time: traction. 

"Ideas are a dime a dozen. Execution is everything. And VAs? They’re execution machines." - Shubham 

Ready to Build Your Dream VA Team? 

We’ve helped dozens of companies go from chaos to clarity by building scalable VA systems that get sh*t done. 

Need help hiring or training VAs or setting up the systems to scale?  

And if you’re curious about how we repurpose every LinkedIn Live into a content engine—yep, VAs are behind that too. Stay tuned for that breakdown next week. 

TL;DR: 

• Traditional scaling is expensive and chaotic 
• VAs offer a smarter, leaner path 
• Most VA failures are actually training failures 
• The best VAs evolve into co-strategists 
• With the right systems, small teams can scale fast 

Scale smart. Not just big.