Time etc: build a working relationship for recurring business tasks
For a business owner ready to delegate routine administration to a matched US assistant. Agree the tasks, skills, access and deadlines, then choose enough working hours.
Use recurring help for suitable inbox, calendar, research or administrative work.
Share the purchased allocation with additional assistants when supported; this does not add free hours.
Roll unused time on 20-hour and larger plans under the specific flexibility terms; the ten-hour entry plan is excluded.
10/$390, 20/$760, 40/$1,480 or 60/$2,160 per month. Hours are working capacity, not standby coverage. Terms are business-only and exclude private consumers; household-only eligibility is unconfirmed.
No product-specific Time etc customer-review sample was supplied in this review. The task-wizard welcome discount is not an assigned MailboxCompare offer.
Choose a service model before a price
Different jobs need different evidence
Model
Useful for
Check before delegating
Allocated / dedicated assistant
Useful forRecurring calendars, routine inbox work, travel research and admin coordination
Check before delegatingspecific skills, continuity, agreed schedule, billable onboarding and access limits. Monthly hours are not continuous coverage.
Shared requests
Useful forSmall, separate tasks with bounded instructions
Check before delegatingPer-request cap, splitting, acceptance, turnaround and unused requests. Request caps are not guaranteed contiguous hours.
Live receptionist
Useful forAnswering, routing and supported caller tasks
Check before delegatingCoverage/time zone, minutes, rounding and escalation. Not an allocation of project-work hours.
Specialist
Useful forBookkeeping, ERP, regulated or technical delivery
Check before delegatingEvidence of the actual role, qualifications and project scope; a general VA label does not qualify it.
AI with your supervision
Useful forSuitable drafts, sorting and organization
Check before delegatingReview, data permissions and reliability. It supplies neither human call coverage nor account authority.
Direct employee
Useful forA role with the required continuity and staffed schedule
Check before delegatingActual wage, paid hours, employer obligations, equipment and training. No universal cost saving or employment exemption inferred.
List task frequency and editable minutes; choose weekly or monthly explicitly. Keep assistant working time, any billable onboarding/handoff and your own briefing/review separate. The planner does not invent a productivity percentage or promise hours saved.
5 hours/week × 52 ÷ 12 = 21.67 hours/month. A 20-hour monthly allowance does not cover that average demand. Ten monthly hours average 2.31 per week.
At $390 for ten hours, using five means $78 per used hour versus $39 per included hour. Two assumed billable onboarding hours leave eight for task work. Ask whether extra hours can be quoted before jumping to the next tier.
Illustrative owner estimates: doing the recurring work yourself takes 80 minutes each week. Initial briefing takes 120 minutes once. Compare two estimates for your continuing briefing, review and rework. These figures describe a planning example rather than measured provider performance.
Owner-time estimates, not paid assistant capacity or money
Method: net owner minutes released = completed weeks × (80 minutes of baseline work − continuing weekly owner overhead) − 120 initial briefing minutes.
With 70 minutes of overhead, week 12 recovers the initial briefing exactly; net time is zero. Week 13 releases 10 minutes. With 30 minutes of overhead, week 2 remains 20 minutes behind and week 3 releases 30 minutes.
If continuing overhead is 80 minutes or more, these assumptions never release positive net time. Unknown overhead leaves the result unresolved. This calculation does not estimate assistant execution speed, change billed hours or reduce a subscription invoice.
For a short job, consider keeping the work manual, simplifying it or handing over a smaller task first. If you continue delegating, replace the estimates with your own time records and reassess the intended duration. A positive result is an estimated time threshold; it does not guarantee productivity or a financial return.
Assumptions: recurring work and owner overhead stay stable and the output is acceptable. Include all work remaining with the owner without double counting. Initial 120 owner-minutes occurs once; recurring 70 or 30 owner-minutes is per completed week. No provider speed, wage value, learning rate or financial return is predicted.
Published payment and capacity10/$390; 20/$760; 40/$1,480; 60/$2,160 per month
What remains to checkMatched US assistant marketed. Personal-admin examples conflict with business-only customer terms excluding private consumers; household-only eligibility is unconfirmed. Agree exact task, schedule and extra hours. Specific flexibility page excludes 10-hour rollover but describes it for 20+; generic wording is broader. Cancellation wording also differs.
Wing · scheduled dedicated GVA
Published payment and capacity80 hours/$699; 160/$999 monthly
What remains to checkBusiness role; exact personal-use scope and location unconfirmed. 160 hours is not 24/7. FAQ’s $35 card fee uses older plan wording; current applicability unresolved.
BELAY · quoted role
Published payment and capacityQuote needed; general FAQ describes a typical 45-hour monthly minimum
What remains to checkPersonal-assistant role supports work/life logistics. Exact role price, minimum, task acceptance and availability need agreement.
Prialto · managed unit
Published payment and capacity55 hours; rendered $1,600 vs FAQ $1,500
What remains to checkFAQ also states $250 setup and 90-day minimum. Resolve the price and payment terms by quote; no final minimum cash is invented.
Fancy Hands · shared requests
Published payment and capacity3/$35; 5/$55; 15/$125 monthly, up to 20 minutes per standard request on pricing page
What remains to checkPersonal/business examples. Three caps sum to at most 60 theoretical minutes, not one guaranteed contiguous hour. FAQ’s 15-minute larger-request wording differs. Confirm acceptance, splitting and deadline.
Twelve unchanged $390 monthly payments total $4,680. That is a planning illustration, not an annual contract or a future-price guarantee. Tax, onboarding, used extras and renewal can change the actual cost.
Optional: a first-month delegation checklist
Choose outcomes. Start with a short list and an example of acceptable work.
Agree timing. Define deadlines, working zone, response expectations and backup.
Limit access. Use only the tools and permissions needed. Keep payment, legal and sensitive account decisions with an authorized person.
Set approval limits. Decide what may be drafted, booked or changed and what must wait for you.
Review the handoff. Record completed work, open questions and the next review.
Agree these points with the chosen provider. The planner compares requirements and costs; it does not need a separate set of blank notes. Older saved notes remain available privately.
Official customer-source review: October 24, 2026. This is independent published-source analysis, not firsthand provider testing or a quality certification. Existing mailbox tariffs retain their own review dates. Ordinary customer links do not establish publisher compensation.
Separate routing from the assistant’s work
If an assistant answers, agree who receives routed calls and who follows up when unanswered. The phone service routes calls; the person’s availability and responsibilities must be arranged separately. Keep an adequate existing phone and voicemail arrangement.
Explore the core 800.com business-phone service. The merchant controls the chosen plan, billing and qualifying paid subscription. Usage, international forwarding, AI and add-ons require separate checks; this link selects no plan or checkout.
We may earn a commission on qualifying 800.com phone-service purchases through this link.
Separate booking from customer follow-up
Separate booking from scheduling exceptions
For routine appointment selection, compare a booking page before paying someone to exchange availability messages. Keep a person responsible for exceptions, changes and questions the booking workflow does not handle.
For qualifying paid Appointlet Premium monthly or annual plans. Compare Free first; this link does not select a plan or billing term.
Before delegating follow-ups, agree who owns the customer record and next action. A CRM can hold that process; define the assistant’s access separately. Keep an adequate shared inbox or spreadsheet when it covers the workload.
For qualifying paid EngageBay marketing/CRM subscriptions. Compare Free first and check the selected product, tier, users and billing term.
If an assistant will answer customer calls, confirm the workspace access, number and routing they need. Software does not supply the assistant.
A software workspace is separate from a staffed receptionist. Obtain a quote separating the workspace subscription, numbers, calling, messaging and add-ons. If your existing phone arrangement already covers the job, keep it.
Explore the paid Workspace subscription. Numbers, calling, SMS, AI and other add-ons are separate; this homepage link does not select a plan.
We may earn a commission on qualifying KrispCall Workspace subscriptions through this link.
Give a collaborator the access the job needs
If existing email and shared documents already work, keep them. Compare Workspace when business-managed accounts, shared files and meetings are needed together. A paid account does not replace an agreement about access and departure.
We may earn a referral reward through this link for qualifying new direct-Google Business Starter, Standard or Plus customers in the US or Canada with no prior Workspace trial.
Planning the time an assistant might release is different from reviewing actual attendance records. Keep missing intervals, corrections and the responsible reviewer explicit; recorded employee time does not automatically become a client invoice.
