An outsourced executive assistant works for you full time, but lives outside your office. You get the same calendar, inbox, and travel help a local hire would give, at a lower cost and with less hiring work on your side.
This guide covers what they do each day, what to pay, and how to set one up so the work flows on day one.
What an outsourced executive assistant does #
The day to day list looks the same as a strong in house EA:
- Manage your calendar and book meetings
- Sort and reply in your inbox under set rules
- Book flights, hotels, and ground transport
- Build slide decks and one page briefs
- Track expenses and submit reports
- Take notes in meetings and send action items
- Run light research on people, firms, and venues
- Handle small tasks that drain your hour: forms, refunds, signups, follow ups
What they do not do: heavy bookkeeping, code work, or paid ads. Those need a different role.
Why teams use an outsourced EA over a local hire #
- Cost. A US local EA runs $60,000 to $90,000 per year. An outsourced full time EA from Stealth Agents runs $10 to $15 per hour, which lands at a much lower yearly spend.
- Speed. You meet two to three vetted candidates inside one week, not one month.
- Backup. You get a second trained person on standby for when your EA is out.
- Tools. The hire already knows Google Workspace, Microsoft 365, Notion, Asana, ClickUp, and Calendly out of the gate.
Stealth Agents staff the role full time only. Part time EAs miss handoffs, drop context, and force you to repeat the same setup work. The CEO ruled this out after one thousand hires.
What you should pay #
Plan on $10 to $15 per hour for a full time outsourced executive assistant from a vetted provider. That covers the staff, training, a backup, and a team lead. See the pricing page for monthly plan numbers.
If a quote is below $8 per hour, the staff has no real EA training. If a quote is above $20 per hour, you are paying for a generalist agency with high overhead. The sweet spot for a steady, trained EA is the $10 to $15 band.
How to set up your EA in week one #
- Share your calendar with view edit access.
- Share your inbox or set up a delegated address.
- Write a one page brief of how you like meetings booked: time blocks, buffers, no fly days.
- List the tools you use and where the logins live.
- Pick a daily check in time. Ten minutes is enough.
- Set a weekly review to clean up rules and add new tasks.
Do this on day one and the first week is calm, not a scramble.
Tasks to hand off first #
- Calendar work and meeting booking
- Inbox sorting on a clear filter rule
- Travel booking with a budget cap
- Expense reports
- Note taking and action item follow up
Tasks to hand off after week four #
- Light research briefs
- Slide decks for board or client meetings
- Vendor follow ups
- CRM data entry and clean up
- Personal tasks like gift orders and event RSVPs
Red flags in an outsourced EA provider #
- You cannot meet the EA before the contract starts.
- The EA is shared with two or three other clients.
- The contract has no exit window under 12 months.
- The provider cannot name the tools the EA has used.
- Daily updates come from a sales rep, not the EA or team lead.
Frequently asked questions #
Can an outsourced EA work my time zone? #
Yes. Most of our EAs work US business hours. The shift is set in the contract and the team lead covers the few hours of overlap on either side.
What about my email and password safety? #
Use a password manager like 1Password or Bitwarden and share through a vault. Never send a password by chat or email. Stealth Agents trains every EA on password vaults and signs an NDA on day one.
How do I keep my EA busy if my week is slow? #
Use slow weeks to clean up. Have the EA fix calendar duplicates, archive old email, update your CRM, write standard reply templates, and build a personal SOP doc. Slow weeks pay back later.
Ready to hand off your inbox and your calendar? Book a call with our team and we will match you with two vetted EAs inside one week.
