Virtual assistants
Thinking about a virtual assistant? Look at the work first.
A VA costs an agency $10,000 to $30,000 a year. Some of what you'd hand one, like re-keying, certificate requests, renewal prep and follow-ups, AI and automation can prepare for your staff to check. Talk it through with me first. The first 30 minutes are free, and I'll tell you plainly which fits.
What a VA costs
Through a VA agency
About $30,000 a year
A trained person, managed by the agency that places them. You still train them on your systems and carriers.
Hired directly offshore
$10,000 to $15,000 a year
Less per hour, plus your time recruiting, training and replacing them if they leave.
Figures from agency owners comparing the two on r/InsuranceAgent, October 2025 and February 2026.
What AI and automation can take on
Work that follows the same steps each time, from information you already have, is usually a good fit:
- Renewal lists, re-shop notes and renewal emails, prepared for review
- Reading a contract's insurance requirements before a certificate goes out
- Filling in carrier sites and your agency system from what's on file, up to the point a person submits
- Quote and lead follow-ups, and a morning list of what needs a person
Prepared work lists what it was built from and waits for someone on your staff to decide. Quoting, coverage advice, binding and talking with clients stay with your licensed people.
How working with me goes
Free
A first conversation $0
- 30 minutes, by phone or on a shared screen
- Bring the work you were going to hand a VA
- Nothing to install and no customer records needed
Optional, agreed first
Automation $125 an hour or a fixed quote
- Scoped with you, and priced before anything starts
- Built with the tools you already use, or with Cirlet
- You don't need Cirlet to work with me
When a person is the right answer
If you need someone answering the phones or talking with clients all day, hire a person. I'll say so if that's what your work needs, and automation can still take some of the paperwork off their desk.
See how I build
I build Cirlet, free agency software for clients, policies, renewals, certificates and service work. Its automation shows its work: prepared items list their sources and wait for a person. That's how I'd approach automation in your agency. You can open the sample agency without an account; its records are made up.
Tyler Mayberry, who builds Cirlet