When is the ‘right time’ to bring on a fractional executive assistant? I believe the ‘right time’ is a myth. Let me tell you why.
Typically, business owners judge the "right time" by using 3 key resources: time, money, and stress level. For them, the illustration is as follows:
Time and money are pretty self-explanatory. When you start your business there’s more time for strategic thought, since you often have little to no customers, and often limited access to capital.
As your business grows, you will naturally gain customers or clients. This means your available time will decrease while money increases.
In this illustration, we assume that your stress level is ‘low’ when you control your calendar and ‘high’ when your calendar controls you.
Let’s break down the thoughts entrepreneurs usually have at these three stages in the graph:
“IT’S TOO EARLY… I CAN’T AFFORD IT”
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE: A lot of free time, low stress but also low money. You are doing all of the admin work yourself.
WHY START NOW: People usually miss the gifts of time and lower stress during the early stages. Because of that low stress level, this is the time when you have the most mental capacity to do a proper and thoughtful hand-off to an assistant. It also doesn’t have to cost an exorbitant amount of money to get started with an assistant.
This iswhy I don’t like assistant models where clients are locked in for a certain amount of time. Needs change, and new efficiencies are found. At ChatterBoss, we’re a fractional executive assistant service--which means you can work with your assistant as much or as little as needed. That’s why we’re the perfect partner to start with at this early stage of the process!
“IT’S THE RIGHT TIME… BUT I CAN HANDLE IT”
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE: There’s some money, some time, and some stress, but the entrepreneur is not too overwhelmed.
WHY START NOW: Balance between having free time to train an assistant and enough clients not to feel tight about paying for support.
WATCH OUT: It’s extremely hard to pinpoint this time. Usually, entrepreneurs have trained themselves to do it all on their own, and by the time they get to this stage they decide to keep going for as long as they can. Unfortunately, this often means they wait too long and approach the ‘it’s too late’ stage.
“IT’S TOO LATE… I DON’T HAVE TIME TO TRAIN ANYONE”
WHAT IT LOOKS LIKE: You have resources, but you’re drowning with no time and lots of stress. If a business owner hasn’t gotten the support they need by the time they get to this stage, it often looks like chaos as they try to manage too many things on their own. There are enough resources to pay for help, but an entrepreneur might be hesitant due to fear that it will take too long to train an assistant and they won’t have time for it.
WHY START NOW: You don’t have time, you’re stressed, and you have resources to pay for help. Do it! Training might seem daunting, but this is actually a great stage for it. That's because by this time you have plenty of tasks to start handing off to an executive assistant. An assistant can step in to watch you over a series of Zoom calls or pre-made Loom videos. This way, they can start taking things off your plate one by one, while documenting your existing processes.
WATCH OUT: You are so desperate for help at this point that you might end up choosing the wrong partner to support you. This is costly and painful if you end up having to retrain a new person because the first partner didn’t work out. At this stage, it’s also tempting to throw everything at once to your new assistant. This is a mistake because it leads to errors and a higher chance for miscommunication. Even at a time when you’re so busy, the best approach is to hand things off one at a time.
Ideally, we would do everything in our personal and business lives at ‘the right time’.
When it comes to getting admin support, though, that ‘right time’ is wherever you are right now in your entrepreneurial journey.
Regardless of the stage, there is always an administrative burden that should be handled by a professional.
What stage does it feel like you’re at today? Have you fallen victim to waiting until it’s the ‘right time’? If you’re an entrepreneur that is working with a fractional executive assistant, at which stage did you decide to start working with one? How did you get to your decision?
If you're not sure what stage of business you're in, or if you've been thinking about hiring a fractional executive assistant, my team would love to work with you.
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