A-Players vs VAs: Why You Need Both (+ AI Systems) to Scale Your Business

The question comes up constantly:

"Should I hire A-players, or should I hire cheaper VAs and just build bulletproof systems with AI?"

Wrong question.

This isn't an either-or choice. It's a fundamentally flawed way to think about scaling.

Here's why both approaches fail on their own—and what actually works.

Why the "Cheap VA + AI Systems" approach breaks down:

You build amazing systems. You document everything. You hire affordable help.

Then reality hits.

Your VA gets stuck. They can't make the next decision. They ping you with questions. You become the bottleneck you were trying to eliminate.

Hire more VAs? Now you're managing a team that needs constant direction.

You haven't built a business. You've created a job supervising people who can't think without you.

Even the best AI-powered systems can't replace strategic judgment when things don't go according to plan.

Why the "Just Hire A-Players" approach isn't enough:

You hire top talent. Pay premium salaries. Expect them to figure it out.

But without clear systems, even your A-players are:

• Reinventing wheels

• Making decisions in silos

• Operating with zero consistency across the team

• Spending hours on work that should take minutes

You're paying $100K+ for people to do $30K work because you don't have leverage built into your operations.

The math doesn't work.

The actual formula that scales:

AI-enhanced systems that create leverage + High performers who run those systems = Unstoppable growth

Here's what this looks like in practice:

1. Build AI-enhanced systems first

Before you hire anyone, create workflows that condense days of work into hours. Use AI to handle the thinking, creation, and repetitive execution that used to eat your team's time.

Your systems should be so clear that they eliminate 80% of questions before they're asked.

2. Train for decision-making, not just execution

Your team needs to think like you when edge cases pop up. This requires:

• Decision-making frameworks, not just SOPs

• Clear principles that guide judgment calls

• Authority to act without asking permission

If your people still need you to make every decision, your systems aren't actually working.

3. Hire high performers to run your leveraged systems

Now your A-players aren't doing grunt work. They're running systems that 10x their output.

A $75K operations person managing AI-powered workflows can do the work of three $50K coordinators—while making better decisions and requiring less oversight.

The math finally makes sense.

The mistake most businesses make:

They try to optimize for cost (VAs) OR quality (A-players) when they should be optimizing for leverage.

Leverage is what happens when AI does the heavy lifting and smart people make it go further.

Without systems: Your A-players are expensive but not productive. Without people who can think: Your systems break the moment something unexpected happens.

You need both.

Here's what changes when you get this right:

Instead of asking "Can I afford this person?" you start asking "How much leverage can this person create?"

Instead of managing every decision, your team operates with autonomy.

Instead of capacity being your constraint, it becomes your competitive advantage.

Your A-players don't just pay for themselves—they multiply your impact.

What to do next:

If you're stuck choosing between cheap help and expensive talent, you're asking the wrong question.

The right question is: "How do I build operations that create so much leverage that my team becomes unstoppable?"

That's exactly what we do at The Systems Boss.

We build AI-enhanced systems that multiply your team's output, then train your people to run those systems with the judgment and autonomy of a co-founder.

If you're ready to stop choosing between cost and quality—and start building actual leverage—let's talk.

Book a 30-minute Ops Assessment.

We'll look at your current operations, identify where you're leaving leverage on the table, and map out exactly what needs to change.

No pitch. Just a straight assessment of where your biggest opportunities are.

That's all for this week.

— Olivia

P.S. - Have VAs in your business already? Perfect. The goal isn't to get rid of them—it's to give them systems so clear they can execute at a higher level. And when they hit their ceiling, your A-players take over the strategic layer.