You’ve probably been thinking about hiring strategic support for months. Maybe years. But you’ve just seen the potential cost of a chief of staff – £5,000/month or £60,000/year – and you’re hesitating.
“That’s a lot of money.” Is it though? Have you calculated what NOT having support is costing you?
Let’s do the sums on the real chief of staff ROI.
The opportunity cost you’re not seeing
A 2023 study showed that the average entrepreneur spends about a third of their work week on operations, coordination, and logistics.
Playing Tetris with your calendar appointments. Stakeholder relationship maintenance. Email triage. Contractor coordination. Life admin that’s bleeding into work time.
Let’s be conservative and say you spend about 15 hours per week on all of this.
What’s your hourly rate for client work or strategic thinking?
If you’re a consultant, founder, or executive, it’s probably £150-500+ per hour. So let’s use £200 (conservative).
Do the maths:
15 hours/week × £200/hour = £3,000/week in opportunity cost
That’s £12,000/month you’re “spending” by doing work someone else could handle.
My chief of staff retainer costs £5,000/month.
If it frees up just 5 hours per week of your time, it pays for itself.
Everything beyond that? Pure profit.
But it’s not just about time
The financial calculation is straightforward. The hidden costs are harder to quantify, but they’re just as real.
1. Mental space
The cognitive load of managing everything yourself is exhausting. You’re not just doing the things – you’re holding them in your head. Remembering to follow up with that contact. Noting that your calendar is a mess. Worrying about whether you’ve missed something important.
That mental load doesn’t show up on a spreadsheet, but it’s draining your energy every single day.
What would it be worth to actually have mental space back?
2. Relationship capital
Important relationships deteriorate when you’re too busy to maintain them.
That investor you keep meaning to update. Or a potential partner you’ve been “meaning to grab coffee with” for six months. Maybe even a key client you haven’t checked in with lately. Every week that passes, those relationships grow colder and opportunities slip away.
How many opportunities have you already lost because you were too buried in firefighting to maintain relationships?
3. Strategic focus
You can’t think strategically when you’re drowning in operations.
You know you should be working ON your business, not just IN it. And you know you need to focus on growth, strategy, and the work that only you can do. But when you’re constantly context-switching between strategic work and admin tasks, you never get into deep focus. You’re always reacting, never proactive.
What would your business look like if you could actually focus on strategy instead of logistics?
4. Quality of life
Any personal chaos often bleeds into your professional performance.
When you’re stressed about coordinating things at home, managing family logistics, and trying to run a business simultaneously, something suffers.
Usually, it’s your sleep. Followed by your health. Then your relationships. And finally, your sanity.
What’s the cost of burnout?
The real question
The question isn’t, “Can I afford strategic support?”
The question is, “Can I afford NOT to have this support?”
Because right now, you’re paying for it anyway, in opportunity cost, mental exhaustion, deteriorating relationships, and strategic focus you can’t access. This is the hidden cost of chief of staff support – or rather, the cost of NOT having it.
You’re just not seeing it on your balance sheet.
What about hiring full-time?
You could just hire a full-time chief of staff instead. But first, let’s compare:
Full-time Chief of Staff:
- The average salary is around £80,000/year (according to PayScale)
- Pension, holiday, sick leave (add 20-30%)
- Office space and equipment
- Recruitment and onboarding costs
- Management overhead (you’re managing them)
- Training and professional development costs
- Total: at least £110,000/year
Virtual Chief of Staff retainer (me):
- £60,000/year (£5,000 × 12)
- No benefits, or office, or equipment costs
- No recruitment or onboarding costs
- No management overhead (I’m self-directed)
- Strategic thinking included (not just task execution)
- No training costs (I’m responsible for my own professional growth)
- Total: £60,000/year
When you compare hiring a chief of staff full-time vs virtual support, the numbers are clear. You’re getting senior-level strategic support at around half the cost, with none of the overhead.
And unlike a full-time hire, you can scale up or down based on your needs. There’s no long-term commitment or redundancy costs if your business changes.
What if you’re not ready for ongoing support?
Fair. Not everyone needs a full retainer right away.
That’s why I offer:
Foundation Month (£3,500): One month to get organised, test the fit, and see what strategic partnership actually looks like in your business.
Intensive Week (£2,500): One week of focused support for a specific project. For example, AGM/EGM coordination, launch week, crisis management, or a pre-event ‘calm-before-the-storm’ reset.
Both give you a contained way to experience the value before committing to ongoing support.
The bottom line
Strategic chief of staff support isn’t an expense. It’s an investment.
An investment in:
- Getting hours of your time back
- Reclaiming mental space so you can actually think strategically
- Maintaining relationships so opportunities don’t slip away
- Focusing on growth instead of drowning in operations
- Improving your quality of life (because burnout isn’t sustainable)
So, is a chief of staff worth it? Well, if you’re spending £12,000/month in opportunity cost to avoid a £5,000/month investment, the answer is obvious. The cost of NOT having support is higher than the cost of having it.
You’re already paying. You’re just paying in ways you’re not tracking.
Ready to stop paying for these hidden costs? See how I work.
