I was wrong about hiring an assistant

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Last winter, a group of investors invited me to visit their venture in Puerto Rico.

(Not for my investing advice, but rather because of my internet meme. It’s… a long story.)

On the trip was another business owner who happened to live only a few minutes from me.

We got talking about the overseas talent agency when we had a disagreement.

Back then I didn’t think that most agency owners should be hiring executive assistants.

Now?

I think every agency owner making more than 25k/month should hire one.

Here’s why…

The Context

I’ve talked with hundreds of agency owners and gotten an inside peek at how they operate.

The results are… less than impressive.

Many agency owners, especially with a lower headcount are trying to run their agency on a patchwork of cheaply paid virtual assistants.

The assistants are painfully under-qualified for the jobs they’re doing and the agency is usually suffering as a result.

It is shocking how many agencies fall into this trip.

When I dig deeper with agency owners, the reason they’re in this position is because they tried to exit their operations too early.

They didn’t have good operations in place, so instead of hiring specialists to do some jobs well, they hired a bunch of generalists to do many things… badly.

So many opinion of hiring assistants in general used to be quite negative.

But after working with an assistant at my company Go Carpathian for close to a month with fantastic results, I’ve had to change my mind.

Assistants can be a huge unlock, but you have to hire the right ones and know how to use them in the right way.

How to escape "Virtual Assistant Hell”
First things first.

You need to understand the difference between a “virtual” assistant and an “executive” assistant.

The two, despite the endless supply of “virtual assistant” companies out there, are not the same.

A virtual assistant is typically someone with very little experience who is hired to run tasks that are easy to put into step by step instructions.

Most of you have probably hired a role like this before.

They’re typically cheap to hire, and work pretty well for things that require step by step instructions.

Where folks go wrong is they try to have a virtual assistant run every part of their business.

They give them more and more responsibilities until they promote them past their level of competency.

Then the agency owner has to step in constantly to redo work, give feedback, and retrain the assistant.

All the while clients get angry, quality of work goes down, and you make less money.

how do you know if you’re stuck in “Virtual Assistant Hell?”

If you’ve ever found yourself spending more time training your assistant than the amount of time your assistant is saving you, congratulations.

YOU ARE IN VIRTUAL ASSISTANT HELL!

Thankfully, there is a better way. Here’s how to hire an assistant that doesn’t suck and is actually an unlock for you.

1. Get bigger.

Look, I get that paying $3/hr is too good to pass up. But hiring someone who is totally unexperienced is exactly how you ended up in “virtual assistant hell” in the first place.

You need to get bigger so you can afford A players who have proven that they can make things happen.

In Eastern Europe, expect to pay $10-$20/hr for someone with several years experience who can do this at a high level.

2. Look for evidence of excellence

Last weekend I had dinner with a Fortune 100 recruiter, a former pro women’s basketball player, and an international logistics coordinator.

Each and every one of these people would make a fantastic chief of staff or executive assistant because they have demonstrated that they know how to perform at a high level in something.

Look for evidence of excellence, and not just in the workplace.

3. Don’t hire a rookie.
This goes back to my first point. Sure it’s always nice to save a buck or two here and there. But if you want an elite assistant that frees you up to focus on the highest leverage items in your business, you need someone who knows the ropes.

Again, spending more time training your assistant, than what you saved by having an assistant is exactly how you ended up in virtual assistant hell in the first place.

Thinking about Hiring an Assistant?

My company Go Carpathian can help you find, vet, and hire the top talent from Eastern Europe and South Africa for a fraction of the price as a US equivalent.

If you need to hire an assistant (or any other position that can be done remotely) you should meet with one

If you’re interested in knowing more about what it would look like for us to recruit one or more of your open roles, click the link below to meet with one of my recruiting specialists.

It’s 100% free and no obligation.

Of course, if you’d like to discuss what it would look like for us to recruit A-players in Eastern Europe for you, we’re happy to discuss that as well.

→ Click here to schedule your free consulting call with a recruiting specialist

Until next time,

Nathan

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Nathan Fales
Co-Founder | Lean Leverage & Go Carpathian
Helping you hire the best & the brightest
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