Geoff Welch is on a mission to help small business owners overcome overwhelm. His assistant, Trúc Towns has over a decade of experience in the administrative profession.
In this episode of The Leader Assistant Podcast, Geoff and Trúc discuss how they found each other, how their strategic partnership has evolved, working remotely, and the importance of delegation.
LEADERSHIP QUOTES
Leadership is a choice, not a rank.
– Simon Sinek
A person always doing his or her best becomes a natural leader, just by example.
– Joe DiMaggio
CONNECT with Geoff and Trúc
ABOUT Geoff
Geoff Welch is on a mission to help profitable small business owners overcome overwhelm and make their businesses work for them.
His signature 5D Framework is the foundation for the 1-1 coaching that is helping owners across the US take the power back from small businesses that have taken over their lives.
An award winning small business leader with nearly 20-years at the helm of his own small business, Geoff’s insights have been recognized by local and national organizations and featured in his TEDx talk, and best-selling author, Simon Sinek, shared his work.
Geoff is a Yankee fan, drummer, and life-long Alaskan who shares his cozy home in the frozen north with his wife, teenage daughter, and 3-legged Boston Terrier.
ABOUT Trúc
With a mixture of brilliant humor, relentless energy, and a love of service, Trúc Towns is an industry veteran who hails from Salt Lake City, Utah.
With a background in administration that spans over a decade with experience in various different industries, Trúc specializes in optimizing company workflow and business owner time management by providing strategic support through the mundane tasks that can keep owners “in the weeds” of their business.
In her spare time, Trúc is a self proclaimed tea connoisseur and loves fitness. When she finishes her day as an administrative rockstar, you can find her enjoying a movie with her husband and son, planning her next big triathlon win, or crocheting a new lopsided sweater.
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EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
00:00:00.100 –> 00:00:08.420
GEOFF: I’m Geoff Welch, and my leadership quote comes from Simon Sinek, who said, Leadership is a choice, not a rank.
00:00:08.420 –> 00:00:19.880
Trúc: My name is Trúc Towns, and today’s leadership quote is from Joe DiMaggio, who said, A person always doing their best becomes a natural leader just by example.
00:00:26.070 –> 00:00:33.630
<v SPEAKER_4>The Leader Assistant Podcast exists to encourage and challenge assistants to become confident, game-changing leader assistants.
00:00:42.498 –> 00:00:46.998
JEREMY: Are you a strategic senior executive assistant thinking about what’s next?
00:00:46.998 –> 00:00:55.798
JEREMY: Whether you’re ready for a promotion or loving the job you’re in, NOVA Chief of Staff’s certification course may be just the resource you’re hungry for.
00:00:55.798 –> 00:01:12.878
JEREMY: With over 400 students across 20 countries and rave reviews, students graduate from NOVA’s hands-on, self-paced online course with the confidence, knowledge, and power to make the move to Chief of Staff for their executive.
00:01:12.878 –> 00:01:14.418
JEREMY: But don’t take my word for it.
00:01:14.418 –> 00:01:24.758
JEREMY: Visit leaderassistant.com/nova to find countless testimonials, the course syllabus, and lots of free resources to support you in your career journey.
00:01:24.758 –> 00:01:27.058
JEREMY: Hey friends, welcome to The Leader Assistant Podcast.
00:01:27.058 –> 00:01:31.198
JEREMY: It’s your host, Jeremy Burrows, and this is episode 285.
00:01:31.198 –> 00:01:34.538
JEREMY: You can check out the show notes for this episode at leaderassistant.com/285.
00:01:37.178 –> 00:01:38.398
JEREMY: That’s leaderassistant.com/285.
00:01:41.858 –> 00:01:45.298
JEREMY: Today, I’m very excited to have two special guests.
00:01:45.298 –> 00:01:48.658
JEREMY: My first guest is Geoff Welch.
00:01:48.658 –> 00:01:56.738
JEREMY: Geoff is a small business trainer, coach, guru, thought leader, all the things.
00:01:56.738 –> 00:02:03.058
JEREMY: We’ll get into that more and more, but then I’m also excited to have his executive assistant, Trúc Towns on the show.
00:02:03.058 –> 00:02:04.418
JEREMY: So welcome, Geoff and Trúc.
00:02:05.598 –> 00:02:05.838
GEOFF: Awesome.
00:02:05.838 –> 00:02:07.378
GEOFF: Thanks for having us.
00:02:07.378 –> 00:02:08.618
JEREMY: Happy to be here.
00:02:08.618 –> 00:02:10.538
JEREMY: Tell us where you’re at, Trúc.
00:02:10.538 –> 00:02:11.578
JEREMY: We’ll start with you.
00:02:11.578 –> 00:02:13.518
JEREMY: What part of the world are you in?
00:02:13.518 –> 00:02:17.638
Trúc: I am in beautiful Salt Lake City, Utah.
00:02:17.638 –> 00:02:17.918
JEREMY: Love it.
00:02:17.918 –> 00:02:19.498
JEREMY: And are you from there?
00:02:19.918 –> 00:02:23.218
Trúc: I was born and raised here, right here in Salt Lake City.
00:02:23.218 –> 00:02:23.738
JEREMY: Okay.
00:02:23.738 –> 00:02:24.218
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:02:24.218 –> 00:02:25.258
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:02:25.258 –> 00:02:29.118
JEREMY: And what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
00:02:29.118 –> 00:02:33.478
Trúc: My favorite thing to do when I’m not working, I am big into fitness.
00:02:33.818 –> 00:02:38.478
Trúc: I am a lifter, functional lifter, and I also am a big movie buff.
00:02:38.478 –> 00:02:42.858
Trúc: We’re super in a Shrek right now, so that’s been a big movie.
00:02:42.858 –> 00:02:45.798
Trúc: We’ve been watching all the movies here in our house.
00:02:45.798 –> 00:02:46.158
JEREMY: Nice.
00:02:46.178 –> 00:02:50.798
JEREMY: And do you have pets, kids, all the above?
00:02:50.798 –> 00:02:51.778
Trúc: All of the above.
00:02:51.778 –> 00:02:57.578
Trúc: I have a two and a half year old son, who is just so crazy and fun right now.
00:02:57.578 –> 00:02:58.738
Trúc: Great time.
00:02:58.738 –> 00:03:01.858
Trúc: And I have a four year old pit bull.
00:03:03.238 –> 00:03:04.198
JEREMY: Oh, nice.
00:03:04.198 –> 00:03:06.658
JEREMY: I’m sure they have a blast together.
00:03:06.658 –> 00:03:08.138
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:03:08.138 –> 00:03:10.578
JEREMY: All right, Geoff, where in the world are you?
00:03:10.578 –> 00:03:20.018
GEOFF: I am in Fairbanks, Alaska, where, no lie, this morning it was snowing and now it is sunny and beautiful.
00:03:20.018 –> 00:03:27.478
GEOFF: Like we can’t decide what we’re doing here, but yeah, born and raised here a little further west of everyone else today.
00:03:28.318 –> 00:03:29.118
JEREMY: Okay.
00:03:29.118 –> 00:03:29.598
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:03:29.598 –> 00:03:32.538
JEREMY: And what’s your favorite thing to do when you’re not working?
00:03:32.538 –> 00:03:37.918
GEOFF: Well, you can see in the video here, but I’ve got a drum set behind me.
00:03:37.918 –> 00:03:47.318
GEOFF: I love music, so whether that is playing as a drummer or listening, that’s certainly a passion and also I’m a big Yankee fan.
00:03:47.318 –> 00:03:52.038
GEOFF: So we get the baseball games in the afternoon here because we’re so far west.
00:03:52.038 –> 00:03:59.298
GEOFF: So usually spending my afternoons, finishing my workday with the baseball game on is a pretty great way to go.
00:03:59.298 –> 00:04:00.178
JEREMY: Yeah, that’s awesome.
00:04:00.178 –> 00:04:02.858
JEREMY: Do you have pets or kids or both?
00:04:02.858 –> 00:04:03.498
GEOFF: Yeah.
00:04:03.498 –> 00:04:11.378
GEOFF: My wife and I have a 17-year-old and that’s a whole new world, now that she’s driving and all that good stuff.
00:04:11.378 –> 00:04:19.658
GEOFF: Then we have a Boston Terrier, three-legged Boston Terrier, tangled with a truck and walked away, but not with all its limbs.
00:04:19.798 –> 00:04:24.638
GEOFF: But he is a Spitfire, he is full of energy.
00:04:25.738 –> 00:04:26.378
JEREMY: That’s great.
00:04:26.378 –> 00:04:34.898
JEREMY: Well, it’s great to have you both on the show and I really want to just hear a little bit about how you two got connected.
00:04:34.898 –> 00:04:42.298
JEREMY: So maybe Geoff, tell us a little bit about your business and in your career and what you do.
00:04:42.298 –> 00:04:48.198
JEREMY: And then maybe even why did you realize you needed an assistant?
00:04:48.218 –> 00:04:50.898
JEREMY: And how did you find Trúc?
00:04:50.898 –> 00:04:52.578
JEREMY: And we’ll go from there.
00:04:52.578 –> 00:04:53.598
GEOFF: Sure.
00:04:53.598 –> 00:04:59.018
GEOFF: So I have owned a printing company here in Fairbanks, Alaska for about 20 years.
00:04:59.018 –> 00:05:07.558
GEOFF: And as a result of doing that along the way, I began to get engaged with people around doing small business coaching.
00:05:08.258 –> 00:05:16.778
GEOFF: Helping people get unstuck, helping people figure out how to use their time well and figure out how to do the game of business and not lose their minds.
00:05:16.778 –> 00:05:17.978
GEOFF: Right?
00:05:17.978 –> 00:05:26.558
GEOFF: And so as those two things started to sort of like evolve in parallel, it became clear that I needed help.
00:05:26.558 –> 00:05:30.898
GEOFF: I probably should have been clear much sooner, but I definitely needed help.
00:05:30.898 –> 00:05:35.498
GEOFF: And so I enlisted a company that connects those two.
00:05:35.798 –> 00:05:37.718
GEOFF: I’m not sure if we’re naming names here today or not.
00:05:37.718 –> 00:05:38.178
JEREMY: No, go ahead.
00:05:38.358 –> 00:05:40.798
JEREMY: I think I looked it up and I’ve had them on my podcast.
00:05:40.798 –> 00:05:42.338
GEOFF: So yeah, go ahead.
00:05:42.338 –> 00:05:42.538
GEOFF: Yeah.
00:05:42.538 –> 00:05:45.918
GEOFF: So I became connected with a company called Belay.
00:05:45.918 –> 00:05:49.438
GEOFF: They had initially placed a bookkeeper with us.
00:05:49.438 –> 00:06:00.498
GEOFF: And I always knew in the back of my mind that like an assistant was something I was interested in and a bookkeeper was sort of the first easier step, because I knew what a bookkeeper would do.
00:06:00.498 –> 00:06:03.238
GEOFF: I still wasn’t sure what I would have an assistant to do.
00:06:04.538 –> 00:06:10.058
GEOFF: But it became clear that I was just, there was too much going on in my world to keep it all straight.
00:06:10.058 –> 00:06:15.718
GEOFF: And I didn’t want to have to do the process of locating and hiring and all that good stuff.
00:06:15.718 –> 00:06:19.778
GEOFF: So Belay can act as the intermediary that places somebody.
00:06:19.778 –> 00:06:26.118
GEOFF: And so yeah, Trúc and I got connected a little over a year ago, maybe 14, 15 months ago.
00:06:26.118 –> 00:06:41.398
GEOFF: And I mean, it has just been such a gift to have her support and to have her in many ways leading me as I’m learning how to delegate and how to work with somebody else.
00:06:41.398 –> 00:06:46.898
GEOFF: Like I think those initial months, there was a lot of her saying, well, what if we did this?
00:06:46.898 –> 00:06:47.278
JEREMY: Right.
00:06:47.278 –> 00:06:48.098
JEREMY: Right.
00:06:48.098 –> 00:06:48.698
JEREMY: That’s awesome.
00:06:48.698 –> 00:06:50.818
GEOFF: But yeah, no, it’s been fantastic.
00:06:50.818 –> 00:06:59.458
GEOFF: And she’s really helped me to have less of the administrative stuff on my plate, which can sometimes be a cop out for me.
00:06:59.658 –> 00:07:03.978
GEOFF: It’s stuff that’s easy for me to like, I like it.
00:07:03.978 –> 00:07:06.458
GEOFF: And yet it’s not the best use of my time.
00:07:06.458 –> 00:07:13.178
GEOFF: And so she is a good person to remind me, I don’t know if you should be doing that anymore.
00:07:13.178 –> 00:07:14.218
JEREMY: Right.
00:07:14.218 –> 00:07:14.698
JEREMY: Totally.
00:07:14.698 –> 00:07:19.198
JEREMY: Well, and as a side note, Belay Solutions is a great organization.
00:07:19.198 –> 00:07:32.698
JEREMY: I interviewed their co-founder and former CEO, he’s no longer the CEO, but Brian Miles on this show, so episode 32, if anybody wants to check that out and learn more about them, that’s a cool story.
00:07:32.698 –> 00:07:38.798
JEREMY: They have a great story and a great VA, virtual assistant firm going over there at Belay.
00:07:38.798 –> 00:07:41.918
JEREMY: So again, that’s episode 32, leaderassistant.com/threetwo.
00:07:44.578 –> 00:07:57.318
JEREMY: So Trúc, tell us a little bit about your career and how you ended up at Belay or connected with Belay and then landing with your current role with Geoff.
00:07:59.138 –> 00:07:59.578
Trúc: Yeah.
00:07:59.578 –> 00:08:04.938
Trúc: So I have had a really long career in administration.
00:08:04.938 –> 00:08:23.018
Trúc: I was just doing actually really phenomenally as a funeral arranger, and all of a sudden I got pregnant, and my husband and I, we made the decision that it was really important to us as a family to have somebody with him full-time.
00:08:23.478 –> 00:08:30.518
Trúc: And so I took on that responsibility, and just a couple months in, I was like, you know what?
00:08:30.518 –> 00:08:35.558
Trúc: I really love working, and I really loved the career that I was in.
00:08:35.558 –> 00:08:49.478
Trúc: And so I did a really thorough search about my skills, and I went in to figure out a way that I could serve both purposes and show up for both roles in my life.
00:08:49.778 –> 00:08:53.698
Trúc: And I stumbled upon Ballet, which is a great company.
00:08:53.698 –> 00:08:57.298
Trúc: I mean, their acceptance rate is lower than Harvard’s.
00:08:57.298 –> 00:09:02.058
Trúc: And if you’re somebody like me, you hear something like that and you’re like, yep, I’m going to apply for that.
00:09:02.058 –> 00:09:03.538
Trúc: That’s where I want to go.
00:09:03.538 –> 00:09:10.618
Trúc: So I got in and Geoff is actually my second client with Ballet.
00:09:10.618 –> 00:09:13.758
Trúc: And they do such a good job of matching.
00:09:13.758 –> 00:09:16.898
Trúc: It’s been just a match made in heaven for us.
00:09:17.678 –> 00:09:22.518
Trúc: And we’ve been doing, we’ve just been swimming along ever since.
00:09:22.518 –> 00:09:23.078
JEREMY: That’s great.
00:09:23.078 –> 00:09:30.398
JEREMY: And how many hours did you start off with working with Geoff?
00:09:30.398 –> 00:09:31.718
JEREMY: And has that increased?
00:09:31.718 –> 00:09:34.118
JEREMY: Has it remained the same?
00:09:34.118 –> 00:09:34.538
Trúc: Yeah.
00:09:34.538 –> 00:09:39.558
Trúc: So we have stayed at 30 hours for the first year.
00:09:39.558 –> 00:09:50.938
Trúc: We’ll see if we can up that as we continue to work out all of the fine details of delegation and how to get more stuff off of this plate.
00:09:50.938 –> 00:09:51.758
GEOFF: Nice.
00:09:51.758 –> 00:10:08.218
GEOFF: And that part is certainly my goal because I recognize over this first year of really figuring some of this out, opportunities to take my businesses to a new level that will require more cycles from her as we go.
00:10:08.478 –> 00:10:29.358
GEOFF: But some of that is almost just like engaging with really a leader assistant, right, is a mechanism to find new opportunities that I wouldn’t have seen for myself because I was carrying so many things on my own that now those things become obvious, like, oh, I should be working on this.
00:10:29.358 –> 00:10:31.378
GEOFF: I should be doing these things to grow my business.
00:10:31.378 –> 00:10:33.578
GEOFF: So, yeah, I think that that’s on the horizon.
00:10:33.578 –> 00:10:34.438
GEOFF: Trúc, you should know that.
00:10:36.838 –> 00:10:38.458
JEREMY: There you go.
00:10:38.458 –> 00:10:44.758
JEREMY: Okay, so I want to ask you both a question, and I’m going to let Trúc go first because I’m partial to assistance.
00:10:44.758 –> 00:10:57.318
JEREMY: But what was, you know, as you started working with Geoff, what was one of the most frustrating things about working with him?
00:10:57.318 –> 00:11:00.518
JEREMY: Maybe it still is today, but, you know, initially getting into it.
00:11:02.018 –> 00:11:08.598
Trúc: That is such a good question, and let me just start out saying nothing about Geoff frustrating.
00:11:08.598 –> 00:11:09.378
GEOFF: Lies.
00:11:09.378 –> 00:11:10.398
Trúc: So awesome.
00:11:10.398 –> 00:11:13.538
Trúc: He’s such a great, amazing guy.
00:11:13.538 –> 00:11:23.538
Trúc: But interestingly enough, the most difficult thing to get him to fully delegate to me was calendar management.
00:11:23.538 –> 00:11:32.878
Trúc: And so we would kind of toot along for a while, and then I’d start seeing stuff pop up on his calendar that I had nothing to do with.
00:11:32.878 –> 00:11:47.718
Trúc: And then I have had a couple of conversations with Geoff come to Jesus’s, where it’s like, what metrics are you using to determine, like, what appointments I’m going to take care of and which ones you’re going to take care of?
00:11:47.718 –> 00:12:02.658
Trúc: And so we, it’s still a developing thing, but it’s interesting how something so little like that, where most executives, when you stuff into that role, it’s just something that somebody else takes care of.
00:12:02.658 –> 00:12:09.138
Trúc: It’s a muscle that Geoff has had to build over the course of the time that we’ve been together.
00:12:10.418 –> 00:12:10.818
JEREMY: That’s great.
00:12:10.818 –> 00:12:13.258
JEREMY: Thanks for sharing and being honest there.
00:12:13.258 –> 00:12:16.418
JEREMY: And Geoff, I’ll let you, you’ve got a chance.
00:12:16.418 –> 00:12:18.018
JEREMY: You’ve got the floor now.
00:12:18.018 –> 00:12:25.258
JEREMY: What has been something that’s been frustrating as you’ve been trying to partner with Trúc?
00:12:25.258 –> 00:12:29.218
GEOFF: Yeah, so I’m going to answer this in two different ways.
00:12:29.238 –> 00:12:32.178
GEOFF: One has been my own resistance, right?
00:12:32.178 –> 00:12:33.178
GEOFF: My own challenges.
00:12:33.178 –> 00:12:37.278
GEOFF: So, I mean, I joke that Calendar is my favorite app on my phone.
00:12:37.278 –> 00:12:40.758
GEOFF: So how do I let go of my favorite app?
00:12:40.758 –> 00:12:49.438
GEOFF: But the other part of it, though, has been the the navigating the 30 hour part of it.
00:12:49.878 –> 00:12:52.498
GEOFF: I really don’t need much more than that.
00:12:52.498 –> 00:13:09.338
GEOFF: But the always on assistant, like if you think of somebody who basically is working the same hours as you in parallel with you all the time, there is a different cadence with that in terms of how quickly you can hand something off, how you can prioritize things throughout the course of a day.
00:13:09.338 –> 00:13:12.978
GEOFF: So part of what I’ve navigated has nothing to do with Trúc specifically.
00:13:12.978 –> 00:13:32.918
GEOFF: It’s just really understanding here is the rhythm of how something that I would hand off to her, how when I’m going to get those things back and how quickly I’m going to get a response from somebody who has multiple interests in terms of like I’m not the only person that she’s supporting.
00:13:32.918 –> 00:13:38.018
GEOFF: She does a great job of supporting me, but I’m still figuring out as we go.
00:13:38.018 –> 00:13:39.718
GEOFF: And the calendar, I think, is part of that.
00:13:39.958 –> 00:13:44.898
GEOFF: We at some point made a deal that anything beyond 24 hours is hers.
00:13:45.658 –> 00:13:46.718
GEOFF: I have the next 24 hours.
00:13:46.718 –> 00:13:51.018
GEOFF: If I need to reschedule the thing in my present day, I can make that happen.
00:13:51.018 –> 00:13:53.978
GEOFF: But I’ve got to let go of everything beyond 24 hours.
00:13:53.978 –> 00:13:57.358
GEOFF: And that’s not always been easy for me.
00:13:57.358 –> 00:13:58.818
JEREMY: Right.
00:13:58.818 –> 00:13:59.518
JEREMY: Nice.
00:13:59.518 –> 00:13:59.998
JEREMY: That’s awesome.
00:14:00.778 –> 00:14:31.078
JEREMY: Well, what’s maybe been the moment or maybe share one moment where you guys are working on a project or you’re working on a workflow, you’re working on the systems and processes, maybe it’s related to delegation and we’ll talk a lot about delegation, where it was kind of like this light bulb of like, hey, this is a simple thing even potentially, maybe it’s a complex thing, turns simple.
00:14:32.178 –> 00:14:44.158
JEREMY: But it was like that light bulb of, hey, I am really getting a high return on my investment of having an assistant.
00:14:44.518 –> 00:15:05.018
JEREMY: I’d love to hear from both of you as far as what you think is that moment or that, like I said, that workflow or that system that you adapted a little bit, that really was like, oh, OK, this is how I scale my time or this is how I scale my energy.
00:15:05.018 –> 00:15:05.618
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:15:05.618 –> 00:15:19.198
GEOFF: Well, and what I’ve noticed is that there were a lot of, again, I’ve joked with my wife that I feel like I would be a good executive or a good assistant, which those seem like polarizing things.
00:15:19.198 –> 00:15:26.418
GEOFF: But I’m like an assistant is just the person who is an executive, like they’re the person who’s running that.
00:15:26.418 –> 00:15:28.518
GEOFF: And so I’ve always felt like I would be good at that.
00:15:28.518 –> 00:15:32.078
GEOFF: But the problem for me is that that means I want to do a lot of those admin things.
00:15:32.078 –> 00:15:35.118
GEOFF: Those are things that are of interest to me.
00:15:35.118 –> 00:15:39.898
GEOFF: So realizing that letting go of some of those things, for example, travel.
00:15:40.138 –> 00:15:48.118
GEOFF: When we first got into conversation about her setting up trips for me, I was literally like, Trúc, I don’t understand how this would ever work.
00:15:48.118 –> 00:15:50.438
GEOFF: Like how do I ever tell you what I want from a flight?
00:15:50.898 –> 00:15:55.278
GEOFF: Of course, like two days later, it’s like, oh, this is actually so much simpler.
00:15:55.278 –> 00:16:08.798
GEOFF: What I’ve discovered is letting go of many of those things has freed me up to do more thinking, to be like an executive’s job, a small business owner’s job is decision-making.
00:16:08.798 –> 00:16:12.418
GEOFF: You need space to think and to consider things.
00:16:12.418 –> 00:16:26.178
GEOFF: For me, I sometimes get a high off of output, out of creating something, and I’ve had to let go of some of those things to do the real work, which is I need to be making decisions and be charting a path for my organizations.
00:16:26.198 –> 00:16:42.038
GEOFF: One of the, this is going to be such a ridiculous thing, but one of those light bulb moments for me was, my manager and my printing company and I, we’ve been working on preparing some checklists for employee stuff and we were just stalemated.
00:16:42.038 –> 00:16:48.598
GEOFF: We would work on it a little bit, but we were never getting it finished because we were always comfortable renegotiating a deadline with one another.
00:16:49.718 –> 00:17:06.538
GEOFF: I was like, Trúc doesn’t know how to do any of this stuff except for organize it, so I’m going to have her run point on this and she’s going to reach out to you, Rhonda, and say, hey, I need to get this information from you and then she’s going to reach out to me and get information from me because we’re not going to cancel our meeting with Trúc.
00:17:06.538 –> 00:17:08.678
GEOFF: We’re going to honor that commitment.
00:17:08.898 –> 00:17:23.118
GEOFF: So realizing that I could leverage her really to almost hold me accountable to my own choices in some cases was really valuable because we had a meeting earlier this week where she said, hey, these things, what are we doing about them?
00:17:23.118 –> 00:17:33.698
GEOFF: And it’s like, yeah, no, that’s so helpful to have that back pressure for me because I can rationalize lots of stuff and I got to tell her why, and that’s uncomfortable.
00:17:33.698 –> 00:17:38.818
GEOFF: So she holds me accountable and that’s incredibly helpful.
00:17:38.818 –> 00:17:39.118
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:17:39.118 –> 00:17:39.858
JEREMY: Trúc, what about you?
00:17:46.207 –> 00:18:09.047
Trúc: I’d say one of my favorite moments in our engagement so far was one of our recent conversations where I was really able to step in and say, you know, what are your goals and how can I help you accomplish those by strategically putting those in your schedule?
00:18:09.047 –> 00:18:18.147
Trúc: I would like to step more into the role of protecting your time and making sure that we are prioritizing the things that are most important to you.
00:18:18.147 –> 00:18:36.087
Trúc: And so I love looking at the role as I love being in the position to really look at all of his operations, all of his businesses, all of the work that he’s doing across these amazing these amazing fields that he’s created, right?
00:18:36.087 –> 00:18:43.647
Trúc: And looking at it and saying, how can I make you more efficient and effective with the goals that you have set?
00:18:43.647 –> 00:18:52.947
Trúc: And so our most recent conversation, I’m super excited about because I feel like I’m really moving into a role of being a strategic partner.
00:18:52.947 –> 00:18:57.347
Trúc: And that is my favorite, my favorite position to be in.
00:19:02.925 –> 00:19:06.305
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00:19:39.545 –> 00:19:40.065
JEREMY: Nice.
00:19:40.445 –> 00:19:47.725
JEREMY: What’s your, if you had to put it on a billboard, Trúc, what’s your definition of strategic partner?
00:19:47.725 –> 00:19:50.025
Trúc: Strategic partner.
00:19:50.025 –> 00:20:06.985
Trúc: I would say that my definition of a strategic partner is somebody that the executive has enough trust in to really have that back and forth conversation about decisions, about priorities, about goals.
00:20:06.985 –> 00:20:18.325
Trúc: Being in that position where you can give that feedback and be able to have that back and forth conversation is my definition of what a strategic partner would be.
00:20:20.385 –> 00:20:21.165
JEREMY: Well said.
00:20:21.165 –> 00:20:21.925
JEREMY: Geoff, how about you?
00:20:23.045 –> 00:20:27.465
JEREMY: What do you think of when you hear the term strategic partner?
00:20:27.465 –> 00:20:30.225
GEOFF: Yeah.
00:20:30.225 –> 00:20:41.045
GEOFF: A lot of times, I think with delegating to an assistant, we’re thinking very tactically, day-to-day, here are the actions, here’s what goes on the calendar, this is how my day runs.
00:20:42.645 –> 00:20:49.805
GEOFF: Blowing that, pulling, zooming out, I guess, a little bit to say, how should my weeks work?
00:20:49.805 –> 00:20:54.665
GEOFF: How should the work that I’m doing on a daily basis be influenced by the goals that I have?
00:20:55.125 –> 00:20:58.365
GEOFF: I understand that, and I help other people do exactly that.
00:20:58.365 –> 00:21:06.485
GEOFF: For me personally, it’s always a little murkier, because I’ve got feelings attached to it, and there are things that I’m attracted to and things that I’m repelled by.
00:21:06.685 –> 00:21:16.405
GEOFF: Sometimes it is really having that person that you can’t, they’re going to call BS on you, and they’re going to say, actually, I think you’re just avoiding this.
00:21:16.405 –> 00:21:18.505
GEOFF: Then you say, yep, let’s put it on the calendar.
00:21:18.505 –> 00:21:19.765
JEREMY: You’re right.
00:21:19.765 –> 00:21:21.605
Trúc: Yeah.
00:21:21.605 –> 00:21:21.925
JEREMY: Great.
00:21:21.925 –> 00:21:29.545
JEREMY: Well, let’s shift gears a little bit, and I want to hear a little bit about your thoughts on delegation.
00:21:31.825 –> 00:21:35.505
JEREMY: How do you help people have effective delegation?
00:21:35.505 –> 00:21:42.405
JEREMY: How do you help people understand the importance of delegation?
00:21:42.405 –> 00:21:43.205
GEOFF: Yeah.
00:21:43.385 –> 00:21:57.065
GEOFF: I think that as I’ve listened to your podcast, I often hear of leader assistants that are working with executives, and I think sometimes executives are primed to have an assistant.
00:21:57.065 –> 00:22:02.365
GEOFF: There’s an expectation they will have an assistant and that delegating is part of their world.
00:22:02.365 –> 00:22:05.045
GEOFF: Small business owners don’t always think in those terms.
00:22:05.165 –> 00:22:10.885
GEOFF: Very often, we’ve built something from nothing, and it’s been very important that we’re involved in it.
00:22:10.885 –> 00:22:16.885
GEOFF: It’s been a part of how it all works, is that we’re the central pin.
00:22:18.345 –> 00:22:36.585
GEOFF: The belief system that that needs to be that way is the first thing that has to be challenged because, Trúc has certainly opened my eyes to this in many ways, but as small business owners, our need to be central is influencing the ability for our business to grow.
00:22:36.585 –> 00:22:46.805
GEOFF: We are literally holding our business back or keeping it within these boundaries by saying it can only work if I’m the central figure.
00:22:46.805 –> 00:22:55.805
GEOFF: Getting to the point where you realize like an assistant can literally unlock possibilities for you, that you can’t see today, right?
00:22:55.805 –> 00:23:01.785
GEOFF: There are things that are possible, but you are too stuck in the every day.
00:23:01.785 –> 00:23:12.765
GEOFF: Like to me, that’s always the first step is helping a small business owner get out of this mindset of, but I need to be the important person, but I need to be the central figure.
00:23:12.765 –> 00:23:20.485
GEOFF: I think that that’s huge because we’re not always wired to think it’s okay for me to give things away and for me to let things go.
00:23:22.625 –> 00:23:33.245
JEREMY: How do you sort through which things you should delegate and which things you should keep on your plate?
00:23:33.365 –> 00:23:35.465
GEOFF: I think that there are two facets to this.
00:23:35.645 –> 00:23:42.245
GEOFF: For some people, there are things that they probably shouldn’t be doing that they love so much that it can be hard to let go.
00:23:42.445 –> 00:23:54.365
GEOFF: And in some cases, it’s like you need to keep a little bit of that, or you’ve given up everything you enjoyed about this, even if someone else could do it for you, and now all you do is stuff that you hate, and that’s no good either, right?
00:23:54.365 –> 00:24:07.045
GEOFF: But really, it’s identifying, like, what are the key elements of growing your business, or of making your business work for you, so that you don’t just have a J-O-B, you don’t just have a job, right?
00:24:07.045 –> 00:24:11.925
GEOFF: But you actually have a business that is doing something, it’s giving you more of something that you want.
00:24:11.925 –> 00:24:13.765
GEOFF: How do you get more of that?
00:24:13.765 –> 00:24:25.645
GEOFF: And are the things you’re doing on a daily basis driving that or what usually happens is there’s like, yeah, about 20% of what I do every day is really enriching me.
00:24:25.645 –> 00:24:29.485
GEOFF: It’s really giving me, helping the business to be the thing I want it to be.
00:24:29.485 –> 00:24:40.445
GEOFF: There’s another 80% that are distractions, that are interruptions, that are all these other things that I’m frustrated by because the story that I believe is that’s the nature of the work.
00:24:40.445 –> 00:24:42.065
GEOFF: There’s nothing I can do about that.
00:24:42.065 –> 00:24:43.385
GEOFF: That’s just how it is.
00:24:43.385 –> 00:24:47.605
GEOFF: And then someone like Trúc comes along and they’re like, actually, I can take care of that for you.
00:24:47.605 –> 00:24:51.205
GEOFF: And you say, whoa, whoa, whoa, this is a little unsettling.
00:24:51.405 –> 00:24:52.705
GEOFF: I’ve been doing this so long.
00:24:52.705 –> 00:24:57.685
GEOFF: Now I feel dumb for having done it for so long.
00:24:57.685 –> 00:24:57.945
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:24:57.945 –> 00:25:00.225
JEREMY: So, Trúc, how about you then?
00:25:00.225 –> 00:25:05.745
JEREMY: How would you talk to assistants listening all around the world?
00:25:05.745 –> 00:25:17.245
JEREMY: You know, it’s kind of a two way street, in my opinion, where you’re delegating some things back to Geoff and you’re saying, hey, you know, you hold them accountable and say, hey, what’s going on with us?
00:25:17.245 –> 00:25:25.525
JEREMY: You were supposed to do this, you know, or, hey, I can’t really do this for you, kind of task management there.
00:25:25.525 –> 00:25:32.165
JEREMY: But you’re also receiving tasks that he is delegating to you or the team is.
00:25:32.165 –> 00:25:39.145
JEREMY: So what’s your advice on delegation for assistants listening?
00:25:39.145 –> 00:25:40.425
Trúc: Sure.
00:25:40.425 –> 00:25:49.065
Trúc: The lens that I always look at it through is, what are the items that only my executive can do?
00:25:49.065 –> 00:25:57.145
Trúc: What are the items that only Geoff can do because of his level of expertise, his level in the level in the company?
00:25:57.145 –> 00:25:59.005
Trúc: What can only Geoff do?
00:25:59.005 –> 00:26:02.185
Trúc: Because basically anything else can be delegated.
00:26:02.185 –> 00:26:17.525
Trúc: And so speaking to what Geoff was talking about where he’s kind of an admin guy, he loves that stuff and very realistically, he can probably run all of his businesses and do all of the admin stuff and still be awesome, right?
00:26:17.525 –> 00:26:25.905
Trúc: And so throughout the course of our engagement, it’s been more about teaching him the perspective on these items.
00:26:25.905 –> 00:26:32.985
Trúc: OK, so if you love this thing, at what percentage can you delegate it?
00:26:32.985 –> 00:26:35.005
Trúc: You don’t have to delegate it all.
00:26:35.005 –> 00:26:44.405
Trúc: But if you could delegate some of it, let’s let’s determine what percentage that is, because that’s going to make you more effective and more efficient.
00:26:44.405 –> 00:27:02.805
Trúc: And so once I kind of put a lens on and look at all of his processes in that way, it allows me to really pick apart how I can be the person that allows him to be more efficient and more effective at the things that actually push the needle in the company.
00:27:05.845 –> 00:27:06.145
JEREMY: Great.
00:27:06.145 –> 00:27:19.825
JEREMY: And then have you been able to bounce back and delegate things back to someone else or have you had to outsource to different specialists or anything like that?
00:27:21.105 –> 00:27:23.765
Trúc: That’s actually an interesting question.
00:27:23.765 –> 00:27:30.645
Trúc: Some of the things that we play around about is things like graphic design and different items like that.
00:27:30.765 –> 00:27:39.165
Trúc: Because I think as an assistant, right, you have to have a certain level of confidence, even when you don’t know how to do something.
00:27:39.165 –> 00:27:39.505
Trúc: Right.
00:27:39.505 –> 00:27:42.245
Trúc: So to me, he delegates it and I’m like, I can do it.
00:27:42.245 –> 00:27:43.325
Trúc: I can figure it out.
00:27:43.325 –> 00:27:44.125
Trúc: Not a big deal.
00:27:44.125 –> 00:27:44.965
Trúc: Right.
00:27:44.965 –> 00:27:56.105
Trúc: But there’s been a couple of different things that I’ve had to kick back or he’ll kind of take back off my plate because he’s like, you know what, maybe there’s a different person that can do this a little bit better than you, not because you’re not great.
00:27:56.105 –> 00:27:56.805
Trúc: Right.
00:27:56.805 –> 00:28:01.005
Trúc: But because I think that it’s both of us, right?
00:28:01.725 –> 00:28:09.085
Trúc: It’s a feedback loop where we’re both giving each other feedback on how we can be more effective and efficient at our job.
00:28:10.785 –> 00:28:11.085
JEREMY: Nice.
00:28:11.085 –> 00:28:11.745
JEREMY: Well said.
00:28:11.745 –> 00:28:12.245
JEREMY: Love this.
00:28:12.245 –> 00:28:12.925
JEREMY: This is great.
00:28:14.505 –> 00:28:16.325
JEREMY: Lots of note taking going on right now.
00:28:16.325 –> 00:28:18.705
JEREMY: I can tell those listening.
00:28:18.705 –> 00:28:32.505
JEREMY: So, Geoff, I know some of the assistants listening are at large corporations and Amazon and Facebook and all these big companies, and this is a whole different world.
00:28:32.505 –> 00:28:52.145
JEREMY: But I work at a company with 120 employees or so, and I know there are plenty of assistants out there right now that work for a small company, and they work for even a family office, a small investment firm, etc.
00:28:57.345 –> 00:29:12.945
JEREMY: What’s the one thing that if they’re like, hey, I want Geoff to talk to my executive and help them with something in this small business, what’s one thing that you really drive in and walk these small business owners through?
00:29:12.945 –> 00:29:34.325
JEREMY: Just to get their juices flowing when it comes to, okay, how can I maybe outsource and reach out to Geoff and see if you can help our small business team, or what are the things that I should be looking out for and thinking of when it comes to trying to help my executive of the small business, small organization succeed?
00:29:34.325 –> 00:29:34.545
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:29:35.925 –> 00:29:42.025
GEOFF: If I’m speaking directly to assistants, the thing that I would say is always look for the pain.
00:29:42.025 –> 00:29:45.285
GEOFF: You’re always looking for what are they frustrated by?
00:29:45.285 –> 00:29:47.325
GEOFF: What are the things they complain about all the time?
00:29:47.325 –> 00:29:54.245
GEOFF: Because when I’m working with clients, they want to come on and say, well, this is not working and this is yada yada.
00:29:54.685 –> 00:29:59.865
GEOFF: In every situation, they’re thinking about fixing that one single symptom.
00:29:59.865 –> 00:30:05.065
GEOFF: I’m like, but there’s a deeper problem beneath that makes that symptom happen.
00:30:05.085 –> 00:30:10.745
GEOFF: Usually, it is something like you get interrupted all day long because you don’t have documentation.
00:30:10.745 –> 00:30:14.245
GEOFF: The person who is looking for an answer has nowhere to go but you.
00:30:16.465 –> 00:30:19.505
GEOFF: Those are problems that we’ve invented for ourselves.
00:30:20.345 –> 00:30:38.105
GEOFF: Ears open, like assistants that are listening and that are paying attention to what is the pain my executive is experiencing and how can I begin to feed that back to them and say, are there opportunities then to drill down into that so that you’re not having the same kind of thing?
00:30:38.205 –> 00:30:42.165
GEOFF: I’ve got one client who she doesn’t want to have to manage her employees.
00:30:42.985 –> 00:30:45.325
GEOFF: That’s the gist of it, right?
00:30:45.985 –> 00:30:51.185
GEOFF: She needs someone between her and the management of the employees.
00:30:51.185 –> 00:30:52.305
GEOFF: That’s what we’ve been working on.
00:30:52.305 –> 00:31:00.685
GEOFF: It’s, well, okay, what do we need to do to get that person in place so that your day isn’t occupied by this, that, and the other that has to do with employee management?
00:31:00.685 –> 00:31:04.105
GEOFF: On the surface, once you start talking about it, it seems really obvious.
00:31:04.105 –> 00:31:12.905
GEOFF: But to a person like this, they’re just saying, my days are really annoying because I have to keep dealing with all these problems that must be a necessary part of this.
00:31:12.905 –> 00:31:19.105
GEOFF: And I’ve just come to understand by interacting with Trúc, none of it’s necessary.
00:31:19.105 –> 00:31:23.185
GEOFF: It’s all a choice or a story we believe about what we’re going to do.
00:31:23.185 –> 00:31:34.985
GEOFF: So I think assistance can be really helpful, not just in doing the work that gets delegated, but paying attention to what those pain points are and offering those reframing perspectives.
00:31:34.985 –> 00:31:37.185
GEOFF: What if you didn’t have to do that?
00:31:37.185 –> 00:31:39.365
GEOFF: What if that wasn’t a part of your day-to-day experience?
00:31:39.445 –> 00:31:41.625
GEOFF: Would that be better?
00:31:41.625 –> 00:31:53.885
GEOFF: Because the assistant can really, again, help steer and help push someone towards that better outcome of, this is off your plate, there’s somebody else who can help you.
00:31:53.885 –> 00:32:10.145
GEOFF: So what Trúc has helped me to do really just by interacting with her consistently is realizing that my role is now not to do any of the stuff in my company that I used to do, but it’s to lead a team of people who are doing those things.
00:32:10.165 –> 00:32:19.425
GEOFF: I have a very small team, really, but I’ve got a little printout in my office of this little org chart.
00:32:19.425 –> 00:32:31.505
GEOFF: It’s not about hierarchy, it’s about, I need to see the faces of these people who are not necessarily around every day to know how I can best leverage them so that we can all get the right stuff done.
00:32:33.385 –> 00:32:33.705
JEREMY: Great.
00:32:33.705 –> 00:32:38.745
JEREMY: So Trúc, what’s your version?
00:32:38.745 –> 00:32:47.285
JEREMY: I know the kind of tagline for Geoff and his website and his bio is to help small business owners overcome overwhelm.
00:32:48.385 –> 00:33:01.385
JEREMY: So what’s your encouragement or what have you learned working with Geoff and his work with his clients to help you as an assistant overcome when you’re overwhelmed?
00:33:01.385 –> 00:33:08.545
JEREMY: And how would you encourage the assistants listening to overcome their overwhelm?
00:33:09.805 –> 00:33:12.785
Trúc: That is a great question.
00:33:12.785 –> 00:33:20.725
Trúc: And I think just piggybacking off of what Geoff said, if you really pay attention to those pain points, right?
00:33:21.025 –> 00:33:24.905
Trúc: And you write in your book, it’s not just about solving problems.
00:33:24.905 –> 00:33:28.025
Trúc: It’s about solving the right problems.
00:33:28.025 –> 00:33:59.965
Trúc: And really our job as assistants is to really always have our ears open and being in tune with the environment and the situation, because that’s going to tell you exactly what you need to be paying attention to, exactly where your efforts need to be applied and what metrics you need to use to be able to measure the impact that you have in that engagement or in that relationship, right?
00:34:00.505 –> 00:34:03.125
Trúc: And so, always being very self-aware.
00:34:03.125 –> 00:34:26.405
Trúc: I think that the way that I view engagements when it comes to VA and executive relationships is how you are assessing and viewing your executives’ perspectives and how we can make that perspective the most efficient and effective perspective for them, right?
00:34:26.885 –> 00:34:45.625
Trúc: And so, being in tune with how your executive sees things and what he thinks is most important is going to help you figure out what problems are the most pressing and where you need to put all of your time and what tasks would really push the needle for your executive.
00:34:45.625 –> 00:34:47.425
Trúc: Does that make sense?
00:34:47.425 –> 00:34:48.025
JEREMY: Yeah, totally.
00:34:48.825 –> 00:34:50.045
JEREMY: Super helpful.
00:34:51.065 –> 00:34:51.525
JEREMY: Awesome.
00:34:51.525 –> 00:34:54.625
JEREMY: Well, Geoff, do you have anything else to add to that?
00:34:54.625 –> 00:35:04.205
GEOFF: Well, just that, I mean, she used the R word a handful of times, and I think often it could be easy to think of this working with assistant as a transactional kind of thing.
00:35:04.205 –> 00:35:06.525
GEOFF: I have work I need to give this person.
00:35:06.525 –> 00:35:08.145
GEOFF: It is completely relational.
00:35:08.345 –> 00:35:20.025
GEOFF: And that has been, I think, the foundational part of how Trúc and I have worked well together is that we just really we have kind of a similar sense of humor.
00:35:20.025 –> 00:35:23.805
GEOFF: We had a great, great rapport right off the bat.
00:35:23.805 –> 00:35:33.305
GEOFF: And that aids so much in, in the process because I’m giving all of my most precious information to this person, right?
00:35:33.305 –> 00:35:37.885
GEOFF: And in some cases, we’re having conversations about the things that are really difficult for me.
00:35:38.245 –> 00:35:42.365
GEOFF: How do I get where I need to go when these things are challenging me?
00:35:42.365 –> 00:35:44.925
GEOFF: And that’s hard to do with somebody that you don’t trust.
00:35:45.145 –> 00:35:50.385
GEOFF: That’s hard to do with somebody who doesn’t have that social capital or relational capital with you.
00:35:50.385 –> 00:35:53.325
GEOFF: So that relational component is so important.
00:35:53.325 –> 00:35:57.605
GEOFF: And formal, informal, there’s a lot of expressions of that.
00:35:57.605 –> 00:36:00.085
GEOFF: But ultimately, it is a relationship.
00:36:00.085 –> 00:36:02.425
GEOFF: It’s not just a transact.
00:36:02.425 –> 00:36:05.985
GEOFF: I’m not just swiping my credit card at the gas station.
00:36:05.985 –> 00:36:17.465
GEOFF: This is a relational experience where we’re both learning about each other and constantly upgrading how well we can work together based on how that relationship works.
00:36:17.465 –> 00:36:19.345
JEREMY: Yeah.
00:36:19.345 –> 00:36:19.745
JEREMY: Love it.
00:36:19.745 –> 00:36:23.145
JEREMY: Well, I want to speaking of working well together.
00:36:23.145 –> 00:36:26.685
JEREMY: The last question I have and thanks again for being on the show.
00:36:26.685 –> 00:36:27.865
JEREMY: It’s been fun.
00:36:27.865 –> 00:36:34.805
JEREMY: But the last question I had, you know, Geoff, you’re in Alaska and Trúc, you’re in Utah.
00:36:34.805 –> 00:36:38.165
JEREMY: So what’s each I want to hear from each of you.
00:36:38.165 –> 00:36:38.945
JEREMY: We’ll start with Geoff.
00:36:39.865 –> 00:36:47.765
JEREMY: What’s your number one tip for working with someone in a different state, working remotely?
00:36:47.765 –> 00:36:55.165
GEOFF: Okay, so I’m going to give you a cheeky one, and that is work with someone in a state that is farther east from you.
00:36:55.165 –> 00:36:57.865
GEOFF: Because every morning I get up and all my email is handled.
00:36:57.865 –> 00:37:03.665
GEOFF: It’s all organized because she’s already been at work before I got up this morning.
00:37:03.665 –> 00:37:06.405
GEOFF: That may be a cop out, but that certainly is part of it.
00:37:06.545 –> 00:37:16.165
GEOFF: But I think for us that like routine interaction, we will definitely have weeks where there’s sort of less maybe emails being exchanged or, you know, text messages.
00:37:16.165 –> 00:37:23.345
GEOFF: And it always is a little noticeable when you’re like, oh, hmm, we sort of have have been a little out of sync with each other in terms of that timing.
00:37:23.345 –> 00:37:27.045
GEOFF: Things are getting done, but we’re not necessarily interacting.
00:37:27.045 –> 00:37:35.885
GEOFF: I think having it probably depends on your personality, but having that drip, drip, drip every day of some sort of interaction, some sort of exchange.
00:37:36.285 –> 00:37:43.345
GEOFF: I do think it’s valuable and sometimes I’m better at than others, but I think it’s really helpful when you’re not ever going to be in the same place at the same time.
00:37:43.345 –> 00:37:44.865
Trúc: Yeah.
00:37:44.865 –> 00:37:45.665
JEREMY: Trúc, how about you?
00:37:45.665 –> 00:37:50.825
JEREMY: What’s your number one remote work tip?
00:37:50.825 –> 00:37:53.825
Trúc: Oh, this one, I guess is more tactical, right?
00:37:53.825 –> 00:37:56.245
Trúc: It’s just you got to over communicate.
00:37:56.245 –> 00:38:02.985
Trúc: You have to communicate and then communicate again and make sure that your communication was communicated correctly, right?
00:38:03.145 –> 00:38:06.345
Trúc: Like that’s that’s been the key for us.
00:38:06.345 –> 00:38:14.045
Trúc: And I think throughout a relationship, there’s ebbs and flows, and sometimes you’re better on it, and sometimes you’re not as good, right?
00:38:14.045 –> 00:38:20.745
Trúc: But continuing to just plug away at your communication skills is the best.
00:38:20.765 –> 00:38:28.565
Trúc: And I’d say also choose an executive that you like, because that just makes your life so much easier.
00:38:28.565 –> 00:38:29.565
JEREMY: Yeah, that’s a good one.
00:38:29.565 –> 00:38:31.165
JEREMY: I’ll piggyback on that one for sure.
00:38:31.685 –> 00:38:45.865
JEREMY: Definitely find an executive you work well with that respects you and that you complement each other and all that, and then you can sky’s the limit in that situation.
00:38:45.865 –> 00:38:47.285
JEREMY: So awesome.
00:38:47.285 –> 00:38:50.645
JEREMY: Well, Geoff and Trúc, thank you so much for being on the show.
00:38:50.645 –> 00:38:57.725
JEREMY: What’s the best place for people to reach out and say hi and learn more about what each of you are up to?
00:38:57.725 –> 00:38:58.585
JEREMY: Trúc, you go first.
00:39:01.745 –> 00:39:03.385
Trúc: Okay.
00:39:03.385 –> 00:39:03.905
JEREMY: You did.
00:39:03.905 –> 00:39:04.405
Trúc: You did.
00:39:04.405 –> 00:39:11.305
Trúc: You can find me on LinkedIn at Trúc Towns, or I’m on Instagram and Facebook with the same name.
00:39:11.325 –> 00:39:12.945
Trúc: And I’m pretty responsive.
00:39:12.945 –> 00:39:15.285
Trúc: So reach out, say hi.
00:39:15.285 –> 00:39:16.605
Trúc: Perfect.
00:39:16.605 –> 00:39:19.625
GEOFF: Yeah, I’m at jeffwelch.com.
00:39:19.625 –> 00:39:24.885
GEOFF: That’s G-E-O-F-F-W-E-L-C-H, little different.
00:39:24.885 –> 00:39:29.485
GEOFF: And I mean, I have an anti-overwhelmed playbook that people can grab at jeffwelch.com/playbook.
00:39:31.405 –> 00:39:38.805
GEOFF: So if if ever there’s a VA that’s like my my executive needs to be reminded to use me more.
00:39:38.805 –> 00:39:42.385
GEOFF: There’s some things in there that will direct them back to you.
00:39:42.385 –> 00:39:44.345
GEOFF: So that could be a good thing to grab for them, too.
00:39:44.345 –> 00:39:49.745
GEOFF: But yeah, that’s probably the best place to to learn more about what I’m doing.
00:39:49.745 –> 00:39:50.165
JEREMY: Perfect.
00:39:50.185 –> 00:39:57.125
JEREMY: And I’ll put all those links in the show notes at leaderassistant.com/285, leaderassistant.com/285.
00:39:59.385 –> 00:40:02.465
JEREMY: Geoff and Trúc, thank you again so much for being on the show.
00:40:02.465 –> 00:40:08.625
JEREMY: It’s been a great conversation and I wish you and your strategic partnership all the best.
00:40:08.625 –> 00:40:10.225
GEOFF: Thank you.
00:40:10.225 –> 00:40:10.825
<v SPEAKER_4>Thank you.
00:40:10.825 –> 00:40:11.425
Trúc: Appreciate you.
00:40:22.185 –> 00:40:24.845
<v SPEAKER_4>Please review on Apple Podcasts.
00:40:31.283 –> 00:40:32.963
Trúc: goburrows.com.
