“I just don’t have enough work yet,” or “I simply can't afford one.”
Speaking from my experience, these are just not good reasons to avoid hiring… I hear it ALL the time. And I have heard every variation of these phrases.
But speaking from personal experience, this mindset isn't just wrong. It’s harmful.
You have to understand that you are the bottleneck, and your time is incredibly valuable. I promise you, keep going down this route, and you will find yourself on what I call the "hamster wheel of doom".
I will speak from experience. I was stuck doing all the menial work that I was either:
A. Overqualified for
B. Flat out not passionate about
C. Lacked the necessary skills for (Bookkeeping)
My day was filled with super low-impact tasks. Emails, coordinating with vendors, being the first line of defense for employees & customers, scheduling, routine follow-ups to new leads, etc.… tasks that drained my energy and not only didn't leverage my true strengths but prevented me from doing any sort of sales to grow the company.
So speaking for all entrepreneurs… You do not realize it now, but you are often the most valuable employee, capable of generating far more revenue than anybody else at your company. If you don't have an assistant, you are, by definition, the assistant.
I was on a call with another PM today and talked about my experience of hiring an executive assistant. And I mean this so sincerely… this is the role that truly unlocked my potential and the company's potential.
Was it without failure? Absolutely not.
I think it took me about 4-5 VAs before I found the right person. But when I did, it changed my life. And I bring this up because if you have tried and it did not work… Well the same happened to me. But I kept at it. Building teams takes multiple repetitions. And when I finally found the right person, a lot of things just clicked. Ahsan became my second in command. Mentally and emotionally we were (And still are…) on the same wavelength.
He started small doing things like: