💵 Industry
B2B Sales
💰Savings
$60,000
👩💻 Position
Executive Assistant
📍Location
Canada 🇨🇦
Pablo Milandu runs Vintascale, a B2B lead generation agency that books sales meetings for staffing, marketing, SaaS, and accounting firms through hyper-personalized cold email. He was also in the middle of launching a new consulting offer on top of the agency.
Two businesses. One person. And by his own admission, he was drowning.
“I probably should have reached out the day before,” Pablo said. “Had I waited any longer, I would have drowned.”
He’d never hired anyone before. Not a VA. Not a contractor. Not an employee. This was his first hire, period.
He came to HireUA not even knowing what role he needed. He thought maybe a customer success agent and a virtual assistant — two separate hires. Kyle talked him through it, looked at his situation, and recommended one position that could cover both: An Executive Assistant with operational capability.
Nine days later, Pablo had interviewed five candidates and made his decision.
Thirty-six days after that first call, he bought her out and hired her directly.
The Solo Operator Breaking Point
If you’re a founder running everything yourself, you know this story.
Pablo could generate revenue. That wasn’t the problem. The problem was that his capacity to make money had far outpaced his ability to actually run the business.
“Our capacity to generate money far exceeded our structure,” he said. “What that means is I could make a lot of money, but I couldn’t really fulfill — do it consistently without burning out.”
Everything lived in his head. Twenty open tabs at all times. Content to produce. Video modules to add to his program. Client meetings to schedule. Follow-ups to send. Invoices. Communications. All of it existing in a messy Google Drive with no project management, no SOPs, no systems.
He knew he needed help. He just didn’t know what kind.
“In my head, it would have looked like a customer success agent and perhaps a Virtual Assistant,” Pablo said. “But I was also very open in saying that I hadn’t ever hired someone before.”
Here’s what Pablo said next that matters:
“What you did, which I think way exceeded the value and made a really good first impression — you consulted me on what you thought would be best for my situation, given your own expertise, given other business owners you’ve helped. You recommended that could look like one person. One position. And that’s what ended up happening, and it worked out marvelously.”
One hire instead of two. An Executive Assistant who could handle both the admin and the client-facing work. Someone with enough operational intelligence to build systems — not just follow instructions.
9 Days: Deposit to Decision
Pablo paid his engagement deposit on October 15th. By October 22nd, our team had a full panel of five interviews scheduled.
He made his decision by October 24th.
Nine days. First hire ever. Five candidates interviewed. Decision made.
“Very easy. Very simple. Very fast,” Pablo said. “The three things that really speak to me as a business owner, especially as a solo operator when I’m so time-crunched.”
Here’s how it worked: Pablo told us his situation. We wrote the job description for him — took what he was trying to say and turned it into something that would attract the right talent. Lined up interviews based on his calendar. Back-to-back, half-hour blocks. Minimal time investment on his end.
“I told you my situation and you recommended what would be a great fit for me,” he said. “You and your team went and created the job description. You took what I was trying to say and put it in an actual job description that would attract A-level talent.”
Pablo had also worked at a recruitment agency in Toronto — accounting and finance. He knew what goes into sourcing and vetting.
“I have a glimpse of an understanding of what goes into it,” he said. “And I very much felt like I was taken care of and looked out for.”
He shortlisted two or three candidates. Said he was “pacing around the house” because the competition between them was tough. Every candidate was qualified. No time was wasted.
And here’s the thing:
Kyle called the pick before Pablo decided. Watched Merita’s interview — the way she spoke, fast on her feet, flawless English, clear operational thinking — and told the team: that’s going to be the one.
He was right.
3 Days: Everything on the Job Description — Done
Merita is from North Macedonia. She’d co-founded an outsourcing company, managed operations for a digital agency, and had the kind of startup experience that can’t be taught — the ability to walk into chaos and start building order.
Pablo didn’t need a traditional EA. He needed someone who’d been in a startup before and understood the pace.
“I needed someone who was as agile, as flexible, as understanding that the pace could be really intense one day and then really dead the next day,” Pablo said. “And willing to take initiative and see outside of the box.”
Within three days of starting, Merita had taken over everything on the job description.
“Everything on the job description she took over in like three days,” Pablo said. “No joke.”
And then she started building.
The Notion Database: Nobody Asked For It
Here’s the moment that changed Pablo’s business:
Merita built a Notion database. On her own. Without being asked.
She looked at Pablo’s operation — everything scattered across a messy Google Drive, no project management, no centralized system — and built a complete operational hub from scratch.
“I didn’t ask for it,” Pablo said. “She did it on her own.”
Everything that used to live in Pablo’s head — the twenty open tabs, the client work, the content pipeline, the program modules, the meetings — was now centralized in one place.
“Should we ever have to hire anyone — which we’re going to be having multiple conversations about in the near future — it makes the hiring process a lot easier,” Pablo said. “It makes handing off tasks a lot easier. We can actually keep track of how long it’s taking us to do things. Everything is centralized in one database.”
He paused. Then said something that stopped the interview:
“We have a business now.”
That’s the line. Not “she helped with admin.” Not “she’s a good hire.” We have a business now. As in: before Merita, it was a revenue stream held together by one person’s willpower. After Merita, it was a company with systems, SOPs, and a structure that could scale.
Morgan Housel writes in The Psychology of Money about how the real value of wealth isn’t what it buys — it’s the options it creates. The same is true for a great first hire. The value of Merita isn’t the tasks she handles. It’s the options she created for Pablo. The ability to take on more clients without burning out. The ability to hire a second person because the systems now exist to onboard them. The ability to step back from operations and focus on growth.
One hire didn’t just save Pablo time. It gave him a business he could actually build on.
The Money: $60K/Year in Savings
Let’s talk numbers.
Now compare to what this role would cost in the US.
Merita isn’t answering phones and scheduling meetings. She’s building operational systems from scratch, creating SOPs, making strategic recommendations, centralizing an entire business into a project management hub — unprompted. That’s not EA work. That’s fractional COO & Operational work.
A part-time Chief of Staff or fractional operations lead in the US commands $80,000+ per year for 20 hours a week. Fractional executives easily run $4,000/month for just 10 hours. Double that for the hours Pablo needed and you’re looking at a six-figure annual cost.
But Pablo will tell you the money isn’t even the best part:
“The trajectory of our business has taken a 180 in a good way.”
“Sometimes it’s so helpful I don’t know how to receive the help.”
“Don’t get me wrong, every candidate you presented was a rock star.”
For context: The Bureau of Labor Statistics puts the median salary for executive assistants at $76,550 per year (top 10th percentile) as of May 2024. For someone operating at the level Merita operates at — more ops manager than traditional EA — the real US cost is significantly higher.
36 Days: Direct Hire
Pablo contacted HireUA on October 15th. He made his hiring decision on October 24th. He executed a direct hire buyout on November 20th.
36 days from “I’m drowning” to “I’m bringing her on permanently.”
That’s not a trial period that went well. That’s a founder who looked at what Merita built in the first month and said: I’m not letting this person go.
When you know, you know.
Hire an Executive Assistant for Your Startup Through HireUA
If you’re a founder running everything yourself — drowning in admin, client work, and operations with no systems and no structure — an Executive Assistant might be the highest-leverage hire you make.
Not a generalist VA. Not a part-time contractor. A real EA with operational capability who can walk into your chaos and start building order.
We source, vet, and place Executive Assistants from Eastern Europe, Latin America, and the Balkans who can handle everything from calendar management to building your entire operational infrastructure. Part-time or full-time. At a fraction of US rates.
For a full breakdown of what to look for when hiring an Executive Assistant, read our complete guide here.
Next Success: How Support Pets Is Saving $150,000/Year by Hiring Offshore Talent with HireUA