Ciara Ferrier

The most common question I am asked is “So how do you work?” Let me take you behind the scenes to describe the typical working day of a virtual assistant…

Wednesday 01 October 2025

08:45-09:00

The working day starts after the school run – or rather, “walk.” A walk first thing energises for the day ahead and is a useful time to ponder and reflect. It’s also an easy way to clock 12 miles of walking a week.

Back at my desk, after greeting the family guinea pigs, I power up PC and Mac. Most days start with checking my own and my clients’ inboxes for any urgent tasks. After that first look, I will decide in what order to do various tasks and plan my day ahead. 

Today is slightly different as it is the first working day of the month meaning… 

…my first job today is to invoice for the preceding month. I use Toggl to record the time spent on administrative work so I log in and generate a report for each client to be sent out with their invoice.

Interview or report-from-dictation transcription is charged according to the length of the audio and I keep an Excel timesheet detailing the audio file name and length. 

Next, it’s a login to QuickBooks to generate and send those invoices and reconcile monthly outgoings. 



10:00-12:30

Month end complete, it’s time to login to emails and prioritise the rest of the day.

There are some clinic lists to add to one client’s diary and a couple of short letters to type up. This client has approved some letters from the previous day so these are ready to be sent to their patients for e-signature.

Another client has a trip to an overseas conference coming up. I confirm flights and arrival times with their host.

I have received an enquiry about transcription work and I reply to this with my availability for next week. 

12:30-13:00

Time for a short lunch break. Over lunch, I browse Skills for Health searching for and purchasing an Information Governance course. I am a registered member of AMSPAR - CPAdm MAMS AIPC as I have completed their Level 2 Certificate in Medical Terminology – so there is a CPD requirement to fulfil. 



13:00 – 15:00

Another check for client administrative tasks and then head down transcribing until… 



15:00 – 16:30

…it’s time for school pick-up. Being freelance, I work mostly within office hours but also flexibly. Knowing my children are happy has always been my own baseline for happiness and productivity at work. I collect my son from school and, as it’s a club day, after a quick turnaround drop him off for today’s activity. 

16:30 – 18:00

To wrap the day up, I finish off some transcription and type another couple of short letters. There are some more enquiries to deal with for my clients and some filing.

I’ll finish responding to and for clients at around 18:00. I check Toggl and my transcription timesheets. Although my day is spent dipping in and out of different “pots” of work, I keep an eye on how much time is clocked up overall. This helps me plan, quote and set deadlines better.

I notice that I have accrued one hour of chargeable work to one particular client today. Knowing the work I have done today, I feel pleased about this. My client will only be charged for one hour of my time today, however the experience of their customers is that their queries have been answered as if the enquiry email was manned 09:00 to 18:00. An eight hour day for the cost of one hour of chargeable time. 



Key Points

• There are different “pots” of work, which I dip in and out of throughout my working hours.

• Administrative work is charged by my time spent completing the work.

• Transcription work is charged by the length of the audio.

• I work flexibly, planning and structuring my own workday. However...

• ...you only pay for the time I spend working for you. 



• Invoices are sent out at month end, this being the first working day of the new month.