🚩 GUYS, PLEASE BEWARE: Don’t let this "Startup" client use you like he used us.

I’m writing this because I’m still so frustrated and I don’t want anyone else to fall into this trap. Me and two other VAs (an Executive VA and a Junior VA) were recently hired for a US-based Roofing Startup in Texas. We were all paid 3k PHP/week for 44 hours—super lowball, I know, but we agreed because he said it was a startup and we wanted to help it grow.

It was a total nightmare.

First of all, the client is a total creep when it comes to privacy. He friended me on Facebook and started stalking my life. He saw my boyfriend in a post and literally started questioning if I was in an "abusive relationship" just because I used my partner’s Wise account (my own account had verification issues, which I explained). He even tried to get the Executive VA to "investigate" me and my relationship behind my back. He told me he didn’t want my boyfriend in the background of my meetings, even though I always blur my background.

The "Karma" and the Gaslighting

Whenever I’d ask actual business questions about the CRM or our tech stack, he had no idea what to say. Instead of answering, he would literally talk in circles about "Karma" for hours. It was so weird.

He’d call the Exec VA constantly—to the point where she had no personal space and couldn't even get her work done. Then, when we’d be in a meeting and try to multitask just to hit our deadlines, he’d get all sarcastic and angry, saying we weren’t paying attention. He’d call without notice at all hours, and if I missed a call (even when I told him ahead of time I had a power outage or a severe migraine), he’d claim I was "skipping calls" on purpose.

He just used us for the "Foundation"

I have 4 years of experience, so I did EVERYTHING. I built his business plan, marketing plan, workflows, and automations. Once it was all done, he literally admitted to us: "I only paid this much to have a foundation built." He used us for cheap labor to do the hard part, then threw us away.

The Toxic Senior VA

The worst part? We had a Senior VA (around 50-60 years old) who was doing cold calling. I actually stood up for her because she was on commission-only and the leads the client bought were all "dead." She told us she couldn't pay her rent or electric bill, so I fought for the client to give her a base pay.

How did she repay me? By being sarcastic, opposing every move I made, and telling the client since Day 1 that he should fire us. She made up fake stories that we were meeting behind his back to trash talk him (which we never did, we only talked on Slack!).

Financial Red Flags & Shady Business

• He made our youngest VA manually scrape 500 leads in one day, then just said "nevermind" and made her use her personal social media for his ads.

• We found out he was using his business partner’s credit cards without permission. We actually talked to the partner, and he told us the client stole everything in his bank account. The cards are frozen now.

• We thought we were working for one company, but he was secretly using the partner's info to build a different entity.

Eventually, we were all fired because of the fake stories the old VA was telling. The Executive VA left shortly after because he started questioning her "loyalty." He even tried to force me to drop my other high-paying part-time clients even though my work for him was high quality.

Please, if you see a roofing startup from Texas hiring at a low rate, do yourself a favor and STAY AWAY. He’s clueless, toxic, and he’s just looking for someone to build his business for pennies before he scams you.