Questions
Frequently asked questions.
Straight answers about Distant Assistants, how the work runs, security, and what it costs. If your question isn't here, talk to us, a real person will answer.
Start here
The basics.
A Distant Assistant (DA) is a trained, AI-Fluent professional who works only for you and runs part of your business like it's their own, not a freelancer juggling a dozen clients. A virtual assistant waits for tasks and bills hours. A DA learns your operation, documents it, and owns outcomes. Two letters apart, a completely different role. Meet the Distant Assistants →
Delegation Intelligence is the operating system that replaces the old virtual-assistant model. Instead of renting hands, you install a Delegation Department, a trained Distant Assistant backed by Bottleneck's frameworks, team, and support, so work actually leaves your plate and stays gone. Explore Delegation Intelligence →
The day-to-day work that drains your energy and doesn't need you specifically: inbox and calendar, scheduling, client follow-up, bookkeeping support, project coordination, customer service, social media, and more. Every DA is also trained to document your processes as they go, so your systems get stronger over time.
No, and any company that promises one person who answers phones, builds websites, designs graphics, and runs your books is setting you up to fail. That's the Golden Goose Rule: no single human is great at everything. We match you with a DA whose strengths fit your core needs, and bring in specialists for the rest.
Getting started
Is Bottleneck right for me, and how do I start?
Growing businesses generating roughly $1M to $50M in annual revenue, led by an owner who's stuck doing work that should have left their desk long ago. If you're below that range, you'll find better-fit options elsewhere; above it, our model usually isn't built for your scale. Read about the Founder's Trap →
If you're regularly working nights and weekends, missing deadlines, or spending your best hours on admin instead of the work only you can do, you're ready. Those are the symptoms of the Founder's Trap, and a Distant Assistant is the structural way out.
A Distant Assistant runs about a quarter of the cost of a comparable in-house US hire, and that includes payroll, overhead, software, and support. If you're in the $1M–$50M range and your time is going to low-value tasks, the real question isn't whether you can afford a DA. It's what staying stuck is already costing you.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the fully-loaded cost of one in-house desk employee averages about $6,000 a month. A Bottleneck Distant Assistant runs roughly 26% of that, wages, payroll taxes, insurance, software, and hardware included. You choose your terms on the Pricing page. See pricing & ROI →
Start at a minimum of 20 hours a week (part-time) and scale up to 40 hours (full-time) whenever you're ready. You set the schedule.
No. There's no long-term commitment, you can cancel anytime with two weeks' notice, which gives us time to place your Distant Assistant with another client.
Yes. After our internal screening and interviews, we introduce your DA on a call where you can interview them and assign a short task. If they're not the right fit, we line up another candidate.
After your consultation, sourcing the right candidates takes about two weeks. Once you choose, allow a couple of days for payment setup, paperwork, and kickoff training before they begin.
Yes. Most Bottleneck DAs are based in the Philippines, where English is taught throughout school and university. Every applicant clears a three-tier vetting process, including a language comprehension test, so written and verbal communication meet a high bar.
Yes. Give them a simple script and a feel for your mission and voice, and your DA can handle calls with the same professionalism and tone you would.
Yes, you set the hours. Full-time DAs work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week in your time zone; part-time, you choose the start or the back half of your day. Our DAs are used to aligning to their client's clock.
How the work runs
Day-to-day with your Distant Assistant.
Two disciplines keep you in the loop without chasing anyone. The Four-Step Task Process confirms every task before work starts and signals when it's done, and the End of Day Report, posted 30 minutes before your DA logs off, tells you what got done and what's next, with time for you to redirect. See the Method →
When a task has unknowns, usually research, your DA spends no more than 30 minutes finding the three strongest options, then brings them to you to decide. It keeps open-ended work efficient and rabbit-hole-free.
It's the living document your DA builds of every recurring task in your business, step by step. Your operation no longer lives only in your head, and if your DA ever changes, the next one is productive fast.
Some, yes, like any great hire, your DA needs to learn how you work. You or a team member walk them through your workflows, and we recommend recording those sessions. Your DA documents everything into a Workflow Manual within about 60 days, so you only teach it once.
Yes. Our step-by-step onboarding gets you ready for day one. By the end you'll have everything you need for your DA to perform to your standards.
Every DA is trained to use AI as a multiplier, to move faster and sharpen their work, not as a replacement for human judgment. Real people, leveraging the best tools.
Tell us right away and we start sourcing a better fit immediately. Because your DA documents everything in a Workflow Manual, and we recommend recording training, the transition to a new DA is far faster and smoother than a typical re-hire.
We don't provide a temporary stand-in for short illnesses. If a DA can no longer continue for health reasons, we source a replacement for you and use their Workflow Manual to get the new DA up to speed quickly.
We're your DA's HR, IT, and support team. We handle payroll and billing, attendance and work issues, ongoing training, hour changes, and bonuses, so you get to simply lead the work.
That's what the Integrated Services Program (ISP) is for. Your DA coordinates with Bottleneck's in-house specialists, web, design, and video, through a single point of contact, so projects outside their lane still get expert results. Ask us about ISP →
Trust & security
Keeping your business protected.
Every applicant clears rigorous screening and reference checks before they're matched, and your DA can sign an NDA during onboarding. On top of that, the BOSS Program (Bottleneck Online Security System) adds daily monitoring, real-time threat alerts, VPNs, and password-manager protocols, with a dedicated Security Administrator supporting your DA.
They stay with you. Everything your DA documented in the Workflow Manual, plus any recorded training, belongs to your business, so a new DA can pick up right where the last one left off.
Pricing & billing
Payment, billing & veterans.
All clients are billed in US Dollars (USD).
PayPal, ACH bank transfers, and debit or credit cards. We prefer credit card for the smoothest monthly billing.
You'll get a link to set up your account and subscription, and the card on file is charged automatically each month. If a payment is missed or details change, we send a PayPal or ACH invoice as backup.
Email us and we'll suspend your subscription, walk through giving your DA the customary two weeks' notice, and confirm your final billing date. We'll also ask for feedback, it's how we get better. Contact us →
Absolutely, and we encourage it for great work. Choose a bonus through the payment portal; your DA receives the full amount less a $25 transaction fee.
Bottleneck maintains a Paid Time Off policy for every DA. If your DA is out sick you're not obligated to pay, though you're welcome to, and if you don't, Bottleneck still pays them. At onboarding we share US and Philippine holidays for you to approve, and you can add your own company holidays. DAs file leave requests two weeks in advance.
Yes. Bottleneck is proudly veteran-owned, and we extend a 17.76% discount — in honor of America's 250th Anniversary — on every placement to those who served and their spouses, permanently, with no expiration.
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