When you are your business or at least the largest part of it, there’s the urge to do it all
yourself. It is your project, your baby even and you want to ensure it is done right. But this
isn’t sustainable as your business grows and evolves. Instead, the best solution is to get an
executive assistant to help lighten the load but what are the reasons that you want this
person, rather than just a secretary?
An executive assistant complements your abilities
The top reason to hire an executive assistant is that you can find one that has skills to
complement your abilities and help in areas that maybe aren’t your strengths. EAs train to
get the advanced skills required to function effectively at the executive level and this often
means they can do a range of things that you maybe haven’t got around to mastering yet.
That way, they can cover these areas and allow you to focus on the stuff that you are
naturally better at, without spending time learning new skills. And let’s face it, if you
haven’t learned it by now, you probably don’t want to!
Using an EA expands productivity
There’s no doubt that using an EA expands productivity, for you and even for the larger
business. That’s because you are able to spend time on the important stuff and get more
done without being dragged down or waylaid by stuff that isn’t in your best ability.
An executive assistant acts as your second pair of hands and means you naturally get more
done. We have all had those days where the little jobs seem to take over and mean nothing
gets done. By having someone to take on those little jobs for you, you are left to focus on
the bigger stuff which makes you more productive. This also has a knock-on effect for
anyone else in the company.
The company is better organised
Even if you are a naturally organised person who is very in control of their schedule, your
company will benefit from being more organised with an EA. That’s because they can help
organise others in the business, partners, suppliers and even customers to help the
company generally be better organised.
An executive assistant is about a lot more than just admin work. They are about
anticipating needs of their employer and the company and putting measures in place to
handle these. Often this is on a different scale to what an entrepreneur would look at.
You don’t have to handle all communications
While you definitely can have a receptionist or even a PA who handles communications and
takes a lot of this off your plate, having an EA to do it takes things to the next level. They
can handle the communications but also take action on them – arranging meetings, dealing
with queries, being a point of referral for customers and suppliers.
This means that if you are required to handle communications, you know it is essential and
can do so in a timely manner.
The company runs smoothly, no matter where you are
Finally, the presence of an EA helps to combat one of the biggest entrepreneur problems –
that the company only runs when you are there. This is why many experience burnout and
run themselves into the ground.
By having an EA, you can take time off, you can work from home or even from another
location for times. You can delegate a lot of tasks of them to handle on your behalf for a
time and allow yourself the gap in life to relax a bit that is crucial for long term success as a
business owner.