Valentina Akpan: Founder of Rellatech, providing administrative and operations support to executives, founders, business owners and teams. Her background combines technical support, customer success, administration and operations.
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Start with the responsibilities you need covered. A title alone will not tell you whether someone can manage an executive calendar, maintain client records, coordinate a project or troubleshoot a workflow.
Compare coverage, responsibilities and the full cost
Start with the hours that need live coverage, including urgent requests and coordination with your team. Separate those from work that can be completed at another time, such as preparing reports or organizing files. Confirm the working hours, time zone, response expectations, currency, onboarding and any extra fees for each proposal. Compare the same responsibilities and available capacity rather than an hourly rate alone.
Decide whether you need technical work, coordination or both
A broken form, inconsistent CRM records or a failed integration needs technical investigation. Unclear ownership, missed handoffs and outstanding decisions may need someone to coordinate the work. One person can cover connected responsibilities when their experience and available time fit the scope. Ask who maintains documentation, covers absences and approves exceptions, and how the arrangement changes when the workload grows.
Define the work before comparing providers
List the recurring responsibilities, their deadlines and the tools involved. For each one, describe a completed result and identify which decisions need your approval. Choose a starting scope that someone can learn and manage within the time available. If you need several areas covered, explain how they connect rather than treating them as an unlimited task list.
Look for relevant evidence
Ask about comparable responsibilities and the person's role in completing them. A useful example explains the problem, the work delivered and how the result was checked. Evaluate written communication, judgement, accuracy and technical confidence through the individual's work. Location alone does not establish these qualities. For example, my executive support case study describes calendar coordination, meeting materials and approval tracking across teams and systems.
Agree on the working arrangement
Confirm responsibilities, pricing, availability, response expectations, access and confidentiality requirements. Discuss how requests are prioritized and what happens when the workload exceeds the agreed scope.
Start with a manageable handover
Provide current examples, templates and a contact who can answer questions. Review the first completed cycle together, document missing instructions and expand responsibility as the process becomes clear. My onboarding checklist explains that handover in more detail.
Discuss your support needs
I provide administrative and operations support to executives, founders, business owners and teams. Tell me what you want to hand over and any important deadlines. You can also read about administrative and executive support.
Book a free callChoose a time that suits you on the booking page. On the call, tell me what needs attention and which tools you use. Any detailed audit or implementation is scoped separately.
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