Ahhhh, Thursday; our weekly plan day.  Let’s start with a coffee to kick start the brain.

Right, now, focus.

First 15 minutes, review Andrew’s diary for the next week, Where is he expected? What has he got on? What do I need to remind him to do?… Next, highlight all outstanding issues, tasks, actions etc for our weekly meeting. What do I need to do this week? …More importantly what do I need Andrew to do this week? (they think they manage the PA… ha!  little do they know!) Then, write my week down before it starts. What wasn’t achieved last week? What are my priorities? “As”, “Bs”, “Cs”…Deadlines, dates and times… Who do I need to engage with? What campaigns do we have running? The list seems endless…. it’s challenging and always changing, I LOVE IT. But pardon, what was that Andrew? You want me to write this week’s BLOG?!!!?…

Andrew has asked me to give you a peek into the world of leverage a Personal, Executive or Virtual Assistant can give you… that Leverage, in one word? TIME.

According to a survey conducted by the Association of Personal Assistants (APA) in 2009, over 40 percent of 454,000 CEO survey respondents felt their PAs add significantly more, than 40 percent to their personal business effectiveness (productivity). This survey was conducted in conjunction with Monster, Reed.co.uk and TotalJobs.

The most important question for me is always: “what am I here for?”  The answer to that;  “to make the boss look good”. As a PA, making your boss look good means understanding what you can do to positively impact your boss’s productivity.  I take immense pride in the time I allow Andrew to spend on the business, rather than in it. Simply, I see it as my role to ensure he is given full breadth to explore, invent, write, build, enhance, grow and develop, to challenge us and the company, each week.

How do I do this?  What do I manage for Andrew that gives him this space?  How can you also benefit your time, by having a trusted offsider?  Intrinsically I know I do more than this list; we bounce ideas off one another, the ability to “vent” to that one, trusted person is invaluable (I call it The Vault) the dinner bookings, purchasing gifts that might be “last minute”, the list can be endless….and it is always, always met.

So here is an idea of what your Personal, Executive or Virtual Assistant can do for you…. and note, I work from my home office 3 days per week, Andrew and I only see each other on Mondays.

• Office Phone: Screen calls, and manage all enquiries.
• Diary: Make appointments and manage Andrew’s diary.
• Travel: Manage Andrew’s travel bookings, flights, accommodation, hire car, etc
• Event Management: Venue, catering, budget, planning.
• Office Admin: Filing, Post, Bills, Stationary, manage emails (Andrew’s and mine). Format and edit required documents; MS EXCEL, PowerPoint, WORD, VISIO, Publisher etc. Invoicing, and MOM financial reporting.
• SMS Blasting
• CMS Database: Manage CMS, cleanse data, email Blasting via CMS
• – Design:  Landing Pages (with assistance from IT consultant), Blast Emails, design and manage Sales Operations System (with assistance from IT consultant)
• Website: Content management, design (with assistance from IT consultant), client access.
• Marketing: Some copywriting, project manage Marketing Campaigns
• Engagement: PR engagement, Affiliate engagement, Speaking engagements
• Project Management: Coordinate required deadlines, required outcomes (as per KPI’s)
• Accountability: Roberts Coaching Accountability calls per week and per month dependent upon program and client.
• Blogging: Some copy writing, manage delivery and upload to website.
• Social Media: Formation and Management of Social Media pages, LinkedIn and Facebook only at current.

……… Whoa, I’m with you… I deserve a pay rise! I never knew I did so much…. and I only scratch the surface of what a PA, EA or VA can do!

But really, and more to the point, YOU have to leverage your time. Time is your most valuable asset and without time to work on your business, your ideas, your growth and development, your business and you will not achieve the goals you set. It’s not an option. You must have a Personal Assistant.  Cost prohibitive is no longer an excuse. Outsourcing options are at an all time high. Use them. You have no excuse and you will never look back.

Thanks for reading,

Annette

We would love to hear from those that have questions about this and also from those that have a PA and what leveraging time has done for you. Please feel free to comment below.

til next time.

ROBERTS COACHING