What A Virtual Assistant Should Never Have Access To (At First)

Keep Off The Table Early

• Sending money: bank transfers, payroll, vendor payments.

• Admin rights: user management in email, CRM, or your website.

• Signing anything: contracts, agreements, official forms.

• Your personal accounts and passwords.

• Customer data exports and downloads.

• Public statements: replying to reviews or press on your behalf.

What Is Fine On Day One

A separate inbox user with delegated access, calendar editing, CRM updates, drafting in your tone, research, and data entry in shared sheets. This covers most of the work an assistant does.

How To Expand Access

Add one permission at a time, tied to a task you have watched them do well. Payment preparation with your approval comes before payment authority. Limits, such as amounts under a set figure, make the step smaller.

A Simple Access Ladder

Month one: view and draft. Month two: edit and send within defined categories. Month three: approve small payments under a limit, manage the calendar fully, reply to reviews with your sign-off. Month six: a broader set, based on what you have observed. Write the ladder down so the assistant sees the path.

Working With A Provider

Providers often set default access for their assistants. Override it to match your ladder; the provider's convenience is not your risk policy.

What This Looks Like In Practice

An assistant prepares vendor payments in the accounting tool. The owner approves each one with a click for three months, then sets an approval limit so small recurring bills go out without her.

A Quick Checklist Before You Start

• Payment authority withheld initially.

• Admin rights kept with you.

• Personal accounts never shared.

• Access expansion steps defined.

Questions Owners Ask

What about my email password?

Never. Use delegated access or a separate user so you can revoke it cleanly.

How soon can an assistant handle refunds?

When you have seen them handle ten with your approval and the policy is written down.