When it comes to having a virtual or executive assistant, you can learn the difference between both.
One of the most amazing things that eventually happen is to become your second brain, and they become another you. Usually, when you start hiring a virtual assistant, you're probably at a point in your business where you're feeling overwhelmed.
You think that you're doing everything on your own. Because you might have just started this on your own, you might have had freelancers, but you're still doing everything else. So suddenly, the point where your virtual assistant becomes your second brain is a compelling moment because one of the easiest ways to free yourself up is to start growing your business, such as working on your business.
And I will walk you through what different things you can start doing. So your assistant becomes your second brain and starts absorbing parts of your business, so you're doing everything with others.
LEARN ABOUT YOUR BUSINESS
The first thing you can do is for them to learn about your business, and that's the first thing to give them a suitable framework or picture of your business. This could include projects that you're currently working on, who you're working with, what are your long-term goals for the tasks you're working on, and what are presently different things you're doing for your business to move it forward.
It could be that you're working on this one project that you're working on, or you're spearheading your service; give them a good idea of how it is that you make money. So then they know what they need to help you clear up so you can focus on that one thing.
What are the things that we do in 2xYou? We have yet to go through what we call the 80-20 task assessment, where we go through the tasks clients do daily and things they should be delegating to their assistants. That way, even though their system is mainly working on background tasks.
They're still learning more and more about that client's business, and eventually, the goal that we do, instead of exceeding, is we have them create a business mind map that gives them a good picture. This provides the assistant with a good view of where the business is at. And it's your responsibility as their boss as their client to clear things up and give them that map they can work with.
That's where you also want to let them know who the people that you work with are. Who are your clients, business partners, and the freelancers you've worked with so they have a good idea of who you're trying to target? How can they help you grow your network further so you can have more time and grow your business?
And then the last part, what are your long-term goals?
Please give them the actual vision that you have for your company. Now that your Virtual Assistant knows the concept you're putting up on your website for your branding, where do you want the business to grow?
Where do you want it to go? Your virtual assistant must know where this is going. So they know how to motivate themselves. They know what the next step is. They are also aware of, what are the things that they can take away from you so you can focus on the thing that helps grow the business.
HAVE THEM CREATE SOP IN YOUR BUSINESS
The next thing you can do so your assistant becomes your second brain is to have them create standard operating procedures in your business. And this goes back to them to learn more about your business and have them know the tasks that need to be done in your industry.
This could be anything from the tasks that they're doing, which is, you know, email management or counter management, and the functions that you're doing, how you are delivering the product or the service to the client.
The reason why you want them to create standard operating procedures on this is for you to have repeatable results because you have a checklist now of how different things are being done in your company. And two, others know how various processes work.
This is also a good way for your system to have a sneak peek at the different things you're doing and how they can help you in the background or moving forward to help you carry items along.
So, for example for me and my assistant Christina, one of the things that I've shown her that I do is what I do when I do the sales calls with our potential clients in 2xYou, so she helps me with background checks before the call before the actual thing that to do. She allows me to do the background check and gives me the information about them, creating an excellent informational packet. And then, at the very end, she helps me follow up. So then I can focus on being there for the sales call and ensuring that our client gets the movement they need for their business, the kind of assistance they need.
So having your assistant create this documentation in your business again removes you from being the bottleneck and ensures a repeatable way to do things in your industry.
START FOCUSING ON WORKING WITH YOU
When you want to have it, your assistant starts focusing on working with you to have them become your second brain. Of course, they need to be working closely with you in some aspect.
By the way, for clarification, when they say the second brain, it's not that they're duplicating your brain entirely. They're just copying a part of your brain. They're helping you with a few things that might be a blind spot for you. That's not helping you move forward in your business. So having a second brain, having a second person who knows you in your business, enables you to move things forward.
Now when it comes to working closely with you, well, the first thing that you can have them do is set your priorities for the day or even just for the week. You're training them to think like project managers, helping you focus on what you need to do.
Project managers don't do the work, but they manage the people who are doing the world. So instead of you managing them, they're driving you, which is the eventual goal of having a virtual assistant. Having someone who can help you move things forward, tell you what to do, and keep you on track to where the goal has them helps you set your priorities for the week or the day. It will be helpful for you to trim down the noise you hear daily to work out different things you're supposed to be doing.
The next thing they can do to work closely with you is to check in on your essential tasks, or things that my assistant and I do is go through my tasks for the week or the day. We look at that and look at what are different things I can delete to her and what are the main things that I need to do and to focus on to move things forward a lot, so I look at that list and make sure that hey, you know these are things that she will need from me as she keeps moving things forward.
HAVING THEM GO THROUGH YOUR EMAILS
Another way that your virtual assistant can become your second brain is by having them go through your emails now. I talked about this as one of the primary tasks a virtual assistant does is email management. Have them learn how to reply to people and prioritize a few emails if there are famous emails they can right or follow up with instead of you writing up the draft because it makes things easier to edit items rather than great things. So there are many ways you can have your virtual assistant absorb how you act with your clients and respond. So then it gets to the point where you're not even responding to emails. You only see the emails that you need to see. You can make a voice note to how you want to respond, or your virtual assistant can start anticipating how to reply or file or respond to certain emails so that you can keep moving forward.
LET YOUR ASSISTANT KNOW MORE ABOUT YOUR PERSONAL LIFE
Next is just letting your assistant know more about your personal life. It's sketchy, and a little bit like a gray area because letting them know what's going on in your life will help them understand how to clear out certain things. For example, I have specific health issues that I have to deal with, so every few months, I have to do checkups and have my assistant know about this. For health issues, she can help me ensure that I am reminded when I'm supposed to go to the doctor; she sets up everything, so I go there and show up myself. So try to ensure that your assistant understands more about your life because it affects your work. Another way that I lead my assistant to know if something is going on in my life is, for example, if I'm traveling for leisure or business, she knows how to rearrange my calendar. So then I can have, you know, times where I can go around. It is also supported in that she researches the places I go to, explores the different things I can do with a city if I'm visiting, and also learns about buying preferences and understands what I like about this kind of Airbnb and not this kind of hotel. Hence, the process becomes more manageable for me to move things along.
LET THEM SHADOW YOUR MEETING
Another way your virtual assistant can become your second brain is by shadowing your meeting now. Your assistant should join your sessions sometimes or even a lot to write up minutes. By entering your appointment, they will understand more about your business and who you're talking to. So again, you're giving them more context on your business. So they start thinking, "oh, this is what that piece of task came from," or "this task can connect to this project." Because they have a better and better picture of what your business does and how they can help, and another way that they can help even before these meetings is one of the fantastic things my system does is create a detailed packet of the person I'm meeting. She deep-dives into who this person is, what kind of assistance they will probably want, and what sort of misses they have. And based on that gave me her notes and her assumptions on how I could move forward in their relationship. So having your assistant do this helps them get to know your context better.
HAVE THEM WORK ON YOUR TASK LIST
And, of course, one of the most significant ways they can have your assistant be your second brain is to have work on your task list and empower them to take away tasks from you that shouldn't be on your list in the first place. There are still some facets to my to-do list that I hoard a little bit because I'm the only one who can do them. But in reality, whenever Christina sees that. She's like Oh can I do this for you? Can I take this away because they think they can go ahead and manage it? And in reality, something that if someone can do 80% as well as you, you can let someone else do it. It is already more valuable than you doing it yourself. One of the things that impacted me is if Christina can do this 80% as well as I can. It is already good, as if I was the one who did it.
Empowering your assistant to become your second brain is one of the best ways to move things forward, rather than micromanaging them or delegating by abdication. You're empowering them to take charge to know their responsibilities and how to remove specific tasks from your business.
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