# Scale Your Fractional VA With Clear Handovers

Source: https://ivankamenken.com/scale-fractional-va-handovers · Last updated 28 October 2026

You have tripled your VA's hours and you still check every task before it goes out. Ivanka Menken uses the Step-Out Log inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, to move the checking from you to the VA one handover at a time. In the composite example, a fractional VA grew from 20 to 60 hours a month, about $75,000 a year. The hours scaled. The handover had not, until one task went to the VA for 14 days with no override.

## More VA hours, the same amount of checking

- You have added VA hours and you still check every task.
- Work waits for your sign-off before it goes out.
- You are about to add more hours instead of handing anything over.

**THE CLIENT AND THE MOMENT:** A founder brought in a fractional virtual assistant at 20 hours a month. It worked, so the hours went up, and up again, to 60 a month, about $75,000 a year at roughly $105 an hour. The founder still checked every task before it went to a client. The founder came for help on the day of a request to add more hours, after a week spent reviewing the VA's work at night.

### THE VA'S MONTH, AS IT STANDS

- Hours: from 20 a month to 60
- Cost: about $75,000 a year, roughly $105 an hour
- Who checks each task: the founder
- What the VA owns outright: nothing written
- Next step on the table: more hours

## More hours

The obvious fix was more hours. If the VA had more time, surely more would come off the founder's desk. It did not work, because every extra hour of VA work came back for checking. The checking had never been handed over, so it grew with the hours, and the founder's evenings went to review.

## The founder still owned the review loop

Ivanka noticed the business was paying about $75,000 a year, roughly $105 an hour, for help that could not finish anything on its own. The VA did the work. The founder still owned the review loop. Nothing on the VA's list was written as theirs.

## A letting-go problem, not a capacity problem

It looked like a capacity problem: not enough hours, so buy more. The real diagnosis was a letting-go problem. The hours had scaled from 20 to 60 a month, but the handover had not. Every task still ended at the founder.
More hours do not hand anything over. A written handover does: one task, what the VA owns, the standard it is done to, and what still comes back to you.

> More hours do not hand anything over. A written handover does.

**The cost of staying stuck:** Stay stuck, and each hour you add to the VA adds checking to your week. You pay for the help twice: once for the VA's time and again with your own evenings.

## The tool: Step-Out Log

The Step-Out Log is how Letting-Go Mentoring moves work off the founder: step out, log what still needed you, and hand it over in order. For a VA, the log starts from the checking: which tasks still come back to you, and which one goes first.

It is the log at the centre of Letting-Go Mentoring, used here for one VA's work. Each entry names one handover, what the VA owns, the standard, what still comes back to the founder, and 14 days with the VA with no override.

It replaces adding hours and hoping, the sign-off on every task, and the evening review of work that was already paid for.

### What goes on the page

1. The week of VA tasks, and who checks each one
2. The handover: the one task the founder reviews most
3. What the VA owns: the whole task, start to finish
4. The standard: written once, on one page
5. What comes back to you: only what the entry names
6. 14 days with the VA, with no override

It sits inside Letting-Go Mentoring, one handover each fortnight across the six months. The full Step-Out Log, a day out each week and what broke, is on the programme page. There is no separate checkout.

## Log the checking, then hand one task over

In the example session, Ivanka puts one week of the VA's work on a page: each task, who checks it, and what the check catches. Most checks catch nothing. She asks which task the founder reviews most and what would have to be written down for the VA to own it. The founder writes the Step-Out Log entry in the session. Before the next one, the VA owns that task for 14 days, and the founder logs every urge to step back in.

### The questions

- Which tasks still come back to you before they go out?
- What does your check actually catch?
- Which task do you review most often?
- What would the VA need written down to own it?
- What should still come back to you, and nothing else?

### THE FOUR-STEP LOOP

1. The one thing: The task you check most, out of 60 hours a month.
2. The numbers: The hours, the cost, and the hours you spend checking.
3. The story: Why letting the VA send it without you feels risky.
4. The commitment: One Step-Out Log entry, and 14 days with no override.

Before the next session, the founder hands the task to the VA, does not check it for 14 days, and writes down every time the urge to step in came up and why.

## The VA owns tasks, not hours

By month 6, the VA's hours buy finished work, not drafts for you to check.

**NOW**

- 60 hours a month, and every task checked by you.
- Nothing written as the VA's to own.
- Evenings spent reviewing paid work.
- The next fix on the table is more hours.

**BY MONTH 6**

- A written list of what stays with you, and what the VA owns.
- One handover each fortnight, each logged on the Step-Out Log.
- A standard for each handed-over task, written once.
- More hours only once the last handover has stuck.

The programme is the container: 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions, one handover each fortnight, and reviews at month 3 and month 6.

## The next VA hour is a handover decision

Ivanka Menken built Letting-Go Mentoring for founders of $500K to $3M businesses who became the bottleneck by being good at everything. She asks which work still ends at you, and holds you to the handover you write down.
If you are about to add VA hours and still check every task, the decision in front of you is which task goes first. Write that entry before you buy the next hour.

> During our sessions Ivanka isn’t just talking theory. She is sharing her own lived experiences.
>
> Business owner

## Who fits, and who does not

### It fits

- You run a $500K to $3M business with a VA or other part-time help.
- You have added hours and still check the work.
- Tasks wait for your sign-off before they go out.
- You will hand one task over and stay out of it for 14 days.

### It does not fit

- You want open-ended coaching with no handover to show for it.
- You want a done-for-you VA service or someone to manage your VA.
- You want help hiring a VA.
- You are not ready to stop checking for 14 days.

### Investment

**AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, 6 months.** The Step-Out Log is part of Letting-Go Mentoring, a 6-month 1:1 programme at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST. It is not sold separately.

Included:

- 12 fortnightly 60-minute sessions
- One handover each fortnight
- A monthly one-page scorecard
- Reviews at month 3 and month 6

Three founding places in total, shared across all 1:1 mentoring, are available at AUD $1,000/month ex GST, in return for honest monthly feedback and a testimonial, which can be anonymous.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=scale-fractional-va-handovers)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=scale-fractional-va-handovers#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)

## Questions about Step-Out Log

### Should I add more VA hours?

Only once the last handover has stuck. More hours without a written handover add checking to your week, not time back. Ivanka Menken works out with you which task goes to the VA first, inside Letting-Go Mentoring, a 1:1 programme that runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What should a fractional VA own outright?

One whole task at a time, start to finish, to a standard written once. Start with the task you check most and that your check rarely changes. Ivanka Menken writes that entry with you on the Step-Out Log inside Letting-Go Mentoring, 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### What if the VA gets it wrong during the 14 days?

The entry already says what comes back to you, such as a client complaint or a change of scope. Anything else stays with the VA and goes on the log for the next session, instead of an override. Ivanka Menken reviews it with you in Letting-Go Mentoring, which runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST.

### When do I review the handover?

At the next fortnightly session, after the 14 days. You bring the log: what went well, what came back and every time you wanted to step in. Ivanka Menken decides the next handover with you from it, inside Letting-Go Mentoring. The programme runs 6 months at AUD $1,500 per month ex GST, with reviews at month 3 and month 6.


## Hand one task over before the next hour

If your VA's hours keep growing and every task still comes back to you, start with Letting-Go Mentoring. The Step-Out Log is inside it, and the 20-minute intro call is where you can see whether it fits.

- [Join Letting-Go Mentoring, AUD $1,500/mo, 6 months](https://buy.stripe.com/dRmbJ19u01y114SeUodQQ0v?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=scale-fractional-va-handovers)
- [Book a 20-minute intro call](https://theartofservice.zohobookings.com.au/?utm_source=ivankamenken&utm_medium=showcase&utm_campaign=scale-fractional-va-handovers#/15606000001356030)
- [See the Letting-Go Mentoring programme](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)
- [The full Step-Out Log](https://ivankamenken.com/letting-go-founder-mentoring)
- [Move the daily lead chase to an owner](https://ivankamenken.com/daily-lead-chase-handover)
- [Narrow the client type so work can be handed over](https://ivankamenken.com/small-team-client-type)
- [The monthly scorecard, free](https://ivankamenken.com/scorecard)
- [Compare a VA with a salary](https://ivankamenken.com/va-cost-comparison)

- Every way to work with Ivanka: https://ivankamenken.com/work-with-ivanka