This weekend my wife and boys were out of town so I had all the time in the world to do whatever I wanted. So what did I do? I spent the entire weekend building resources for assistants. Well, not the entire weekend. I did go on a bike ride to the donut shop down the street. Anyway, I'm happy to announce my new [...]
When I was 17 years old, I worked in the Pet Department at a Walmart Supercenter in Kansas City, MO. I stocked cat-litter, dog-food, and sold goldfish in plastic bags to customers I knew I’d see the following week looking for a replacement “Goldie.” During one particularly hot and humid Missouri summer month, I was repeatedly asked to go outside in the heat to [...]
A couple weeks ago, I heard a story about how an executive and his wife put on a party for their assistant and other assistants in their company. They did all the work themselves and would not let their assistant help with any of it. Seems simple, right? It is, but have you done something like this for your assistant? This got me thinking [...]
For years, I thought leaders were the ones in charge, or the ones with important titles. It turns out, everyone has influence and is a leader to those around them – even if they don't acknowledge it. Does your assistant see themselves as a leader? Today's post is an open letter directly to my fellow assistants, encouraging them to see themselves as leaders. [...]
I recently published an open letter to executives asking them to respect assistants. I’ve been overwhelmed by the response I’ve received. Hundreds of assistants have shared, liked, commented, and reached out to thank me for speaking out on their behalf. Unfortunately, many of them echoed my experiences with disrespect among leaders. I hope my letter encouraged many of those assistants to stand up for [...]
To C-Suite Executives, VPs, Pastors, Managers, and Leadership Team Members: Many of you are very kind, professional, and understanding when relating to assistants. If that’s you, thank you for treating us as colleagues and partners. We love to serve, and leaders like you make it more enjoyable and fulfilling to do so. If not for you, many of us would have given up on [...]
All sorts of headlines promise to show us how to enjoy life, be better, set goals, get more done, and so on. But often times, behind these headlines are posts with vague thoughts on work and life. They might inspire us to be more but do they actually help us day-to-day? My goal with this post is to give you something you can apply to your job today. [...]
It’s been a long, crazy, up and down year. You're running on fumes, but you tell yourself to “Finish strong” because you have too much work to do. Instead of looking forward to some time off, you’re dreaming about how much you could get done with a few days of uninterrupted time. You make all sorts of excuses about how far behind you are, [...]
Are you on the fence about whether or not you need to hire an assistant? Do you have an assistant, but aren’t sure what tasks to delegate to them? The following list of tasks will help you equip and empower your assistant – or hire one – so you can free up your time and energy. After all, wouldn’t you rather focus on tasks [...]
In my 8+ years as an executive assistant, I spent most of my time in the weeds. Yes, it was my job to stay in and sort through those weeds. But as I take an honest look at my time in that role, I realize I missed out on a lot. I spent little to no time helping other assistants, honing my skills, or [...]