As an entrepreneur, you had to wear multiple hats as you get your business off the ground. But as your business continues to grow, you need to put together a team with the capacity to support your company. You have your marketing guru, your sales team, your IT guy, and maybe you have someone to take care of your finances. These people can help keep your business running smoothly. However, there’s one position you shouldn’t overlook – that’s your executive assistant.
Okay, many of you may think that you don’t need someone to fill that role, so I’m here to change your mind. I’ll give you five good reasons why you should really consider hiring an assistant as soon as you can.
That’s right. You can train your executive assistant to think as you do so she can take on a significant amount of your work. Of course, she won’t understand how your mind works right away. That understanding develops over time. That’s why you should hire one early on because you want your assistant to grow in line with your business.
At first, she can take the tedious tasks off your calendar to give you time to focus on important things. But as you continue to work together and your confidence in your executive assistant grows, you can let her handle the high-level administrative tasks that don’t require your personal touch, like training your staff or doing marketing research.
While it’s true that most entrepreneurs are jacks of all trades by necessity, you probably won’t find an entrepreneur without weaknesses. Filling in the gap can spell the difference between success and failure in business. This is why it’s important to get an executive assistant who has the strengths to offset your weaknesses, or at least help you manage them better. Maybe you’re great with sales, but you’re not that skilled at marketing. Your executive assistant can help you with that.
Since your assistant is expected to act as an extension of you, she needs to understand your strengths and weaknesses.
One of the most important things your executive assistant should have is communication skills. This skill is necessary because she will act as the go-between for you and your other employees most often than not. In addition to that, your assistant can follow up with clients regarding their requests, and she can communicate with potential customers to ensure their satisfaction.
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Calendar management is a time-consuming task. It’s probably one of the worst time-wasters for entrepreneurs. This is something you can hand off to an executive assistant.
An executive assistant can help you prioritize what you should be working on and who you should meet. With all the meetings and conference calls you need to make weekly, she can make sure you avoid double-bookings as she gets everything sorted out in your calendar. Aside from that, your executive assistant can make travel arrangements for you, so that’s one less thing to worry about. In fact, with a good assistant, you never have to worry about scheduling again.
A good assistant knows how to take that weight off your shoulders and make your life easier. An executive assistant who has worked with you for an extended period of time should already understand how you wanted things done, so she can be proactive and work certain important tasks without being asked. This should help you focus on the tasks that only you can handle.
While the bulk of their work involves administration tasks, an executive assistant is more than just a secretary. They do indeed share some similarities. Executive assistants can handle ordinary everyday tasks like sorting through email and data entry work, but they can bring so much more to the table.
Your executive assistant can act as your right-hand, and she can handle everything from customer service to managing a team. She should have no problem doing tasks that require initiative and independent judgment.
The best assistants can make your life easier by reducing the work you have to do each day. They can put themselves in your shoes and share ideas that will benefit the business. They have exceptional organizational and time management skills. With the help of an executive assistant, you can keep your business running efficiently.
A great executive assistant is indispensable. However, the problem is that they can cost you over $50,000 per year in the United States. That’s just too much for a startup. This is why a growing number of entrepreneurs are looking overseas for remote executive assistants. The duties of an executive assistant can be done over the computer anyway. She doesn’t have to be beside you physically to schedule meetings, book travel, and do paperwork. Your assistant can do all those from the other side of the world.
So, where can you hire a remote executive assistant? Well, you can get one from an outsourcing agency, or you can hire an individual freelancer. There are plenty of outsourcing agencies that can provide you with an executive assistant, but you have to understand that they will add a markup or take commission fees when they help you recruit talent. After all, they need to generate profit as a company.
If you decide to go with an individual freelancer, you should check out OnlineJobs.ph. The site is by far the largest job site for Filipinos looking for remote work, so you shouldn’t have any problem finding candidates with the skills for the role. Just create an account, post a job ad, and go through the resumes you receive.
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Once you have your list of finalists, you have to upgrade your account from the free plan to a paid plan so you can contact them. Just pick the Pro plan at $69 per month. At $99 per month, the Premium plan has more features, but you’re not going to need them if you’re just going to hire an executive assistant. So interview the candidates and pick the best one available. Once you’re done hiring, simply cancel your subscription.
Are you ready to hire an executive assistant? If you have any questions just give send us a message. Check out this article if you need help crafting the perfect executive assistant job description?
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