In the 21st Century, we’ve seen a boom on entrepreneurs and small business owners. Individuals, male and female, old and young, who have decided to take a path less trodden and market themselves and their own brands and ideas. It is both empowering and daunting. As an entrepreneur with a growing business, the first hire will be a trustworthy accountant and book keeper, and then we reach a fork in the path.
Many business owners will look to hire a team to work for them, some may need to do this quickly. A growing business or brand will quickly run aground if the administration and paperwork are not managed, and as the business owner and leader, you should be steering the ship to new ventures rather than replying to customer questions and the day to day running of your life and business. Trust us, the next step is to hire a personal assistant.
Why You Should Hire a Personal Assistant
It’s a good question, and a balance must be reached. But if you, like thousands of other business owners and entrepreneurs, have a busy life, then your home and business personal management should be handled by a personal assistant. From ordering home groceries, through to scheduling your child’s doctors appointment. Setting up a direct debit for a new purchase through to opening and filing your mail. If you hire a personal assistant, these are the type of duties that can be taken care of.
When you finally step inside your home front door (or leave your home office), you shouldn’t have to deal with a mountain of paperwork and ‘home’ business which has been neglected. Similarly, your business admin should be easily handled and managed, leaving you to concentrate on making the magic happen.
How to Hire a Personal Assistant
Firstly, establish how many hours support you need, from part time to full time, in-house to complete remote working. Decide what you need for your life improvements to be made.
Secondly, consider routes to reach out and to hire a personal assistant. There are multiple ways to do this from self-recruitment (gumtree, job sites) through to a professional agency conducting the search.
Thirdly, write a list of duties and admin you’ll expect the PA to do on a daily basis (this will also help establish step 1). Don’t be ashamed, it is perfectly OK for the PA to make your dog’s vet appointment. In fact, they can take the dog to the vet for you or even drop off your dry cleaning. Your dirty laundry will be in safe and discreet hands!
Fourthly, check references. Regardless if you self-recruit or go through a professional agency, ensure you do your own background checks (especially if the PA is going to be coming to your home), for complete peace of mind.
Fifth and lastly, after interviews and reference checks, ensure you trial the candidate. Some people are excellent on paper but you need them to show the skills they’ve said they have, so make sure you give them a probationary trial period to ensure that you’ve found the right person.
It’s OK to Ask for the Extra Mile (Just be Honest)
You might feel ashamed, and that you are asking an intelligent and qualified person to take control over menial tasks that you could easily do. But there has to come a time in your life where you make priorities, and when running a business, it might be that changing the cat litter, or sitting on hold for 30 minutes with an airline to change a ticket is a priority. This is OK.
Be honest with yourself and also with your prospective PA. Even PAs who work for the most established entrepreneurs and business owners will be doing some menial tasks, but they should be proud that this support they give to their principals will allow amazing things to happen. So write a list, and be upfront and clear about all the duties the PA will be undertaking, and don’t apologise, but acknowledge from time to time what a great job they are doing on these less than glamorous duties.
Why Choose Polo & Tweed?
Hiring a personal assistant can dramatically increase your work/life balance, and provide you with additional support to focus on your business and goals. Why not drop us a line and we can chat about your needs, and how best to help find and hire a peronal assistant to come and make that difference.