The longer you wait to try to have all the work of your business being done by you, the more it will just be stagnant. Because there's no possible way that something can scale without the help of other people. So as a business owner, I used to be a winging entrepreneur. I wanted to call myself an entrepreneur, but I was an independent contractor that did everything myself. I did all the paperwork, processing, everything was me. And I was always annoyed by the business wasn't growing until I got an assistant. Then I realized the only way things can scale is by getting help.
00:00:00.00030 seconds, one time for the underdog, ignition sequence start, let me see you put em up, reach the sky, touch the stars up above, cause it's one time for the underdog, one time for the underdog.
00:00:17.300I'm Patrick Bedeby, host of Itamin and today we're going to talk about your assistant, yes your secretary, your assistant, how do you hire a good assistant and 14 tips on how to train the best assistants in the marketplace.
00:00:28.060The longer you wait to try to have all the work of your business being done by you, the more it's just going to be stagnant because there's no possible way that something can scale without the help of other people.
00:00:38.800So as a business owner, as an entrepreneur, I used to be a winging entrepreneur, I thought I was an entrepreneur, I wanted to call myself an entrepreneur, but I was an independent contractor that did everything myself.
00:00:49.380I did all the paperwork, processing, everything was me and I was always annoyed by the business wasn't growing until I got an assistant.
00:00:57.720Then I realized the only way things can scale is by getting help.
00:01:01.980So today I want to talk to you about what things I look for when hiring a personal assistant for myself.
00:01:08.040I have a list of them that I'll go through with you and some of the responsibilities on what they did for me.
00:01:12.060By the way, in my life, I went through 26 personal assistants before the 27th one stayed with me for nearly 10 years.
00:01:20.44026 before the 27th one stayed with me for 10 years and then many of them stayed with me for 7, 8, 9 years after the 26th one.
00:01:27.960So here's some of the things I look for when hiring an assistant.
00:01:30.240One, I'm not looking for somebody that's extremely sensitive.
00:01:33.120If somebody is up one day, down one day, this, boyfriend, girlfriend, plums up, it's just not going to work out because too much sensitivity as an assistant brings out more stuff on you.
00:01:42.680And the job of an assistant is to take a lot of the load off of you for you to focus on the things that you need to do.
00:01:50.020Two, is understanding the word secretary, what it means to be a secretary.
00:01:55.180The word secretary means somebody that keeps secrets.
00:01:58.840So if you're going to be an assistant, you need to explain somebody what it means to be an assistant and the fact that one of their jobs is to keep secrets of whatever you talk to them about behind closed doors about the business.
00:02:11.960Three, I like to hire assistants that speak multiple different languages.
00:02:16.420If you do, it's more level, especially whatever your market may be that you're dealing with in your business.
00:02:19.900If it's Hispanic, if it's Tagalog, if it's Asian, if it's middle, you know, Farsi or mean, it doesn't matter what it is.
00:02:25.460You want to be able to have somebody that speaks multiple different languages, especially in your market.
00:02:38.960I want you to be able to work with me and not be afraid of me because you're serious yourself about wanting to be in business and learning because I'm going to teach you a lot about business.
00:02:46.460Another one is willing to tell me the truth.
00:02:49.060If you're scared, you're not going to tell the truth.
00:02:51.100If you don't tell me the truth, you're delaying a problem that should be solved today that three months later is a bigger problem.
00:02:56.840That's going to cost me a lot of money.
00:02:58.400I need you to tell me the truth when there's issues that come up.
00:03:26.700If they were awkward or uncomfortable, I don't even have time to teach the phone calls because either somebody is comfortable making phone calls or someone needs to be taught how to make phone calls.
00:03:36.040I need somebody that's already comfortable knowing how to make phone calls.
00:03:44.720If somebody even has a broken accent, I'm totally comfortable with that because I have a broken accent, but I'm looking for a pleasant voice over the phone.
00:03:51.700The other one is attractive to the eyes.
00:03:53.480When I say attractive to the eyes, you know, I have friends that, to them, it's all about getting, hiring models as assistants because that's taking it to a whole different level.
00:04:51.320You know, don't wait six months to fire somebody because you're delaying an issue that you almost don't want them to be in too deep, that the relationship is strong.
00:04:59.180And then all of a sudden, you fire them, it hurts.
00:05:01.160So if it's just not going to work out, you don't feel good about it a week, two weeks, cut it right off the bat and let them know this is a trial for two weeks before we decide to move forward.
00:05:08.600Another one is no hanky-panky with assistants.
00:05:10.440I tell you this, and this may be a funny thing.
00:05:11.960Some people will say, did he just say hanky-panky?
00:05:16.360I think sometimes executives and entrepreneurs, you know, overpower their position to emotional day and next thing you know, they're staying there late and something happens.
00:05:50.460I like to know things that are specific to me that you give me a report of.
00:05:54.260It's very, very detailed on what things I'm looking for from this person.
00:05:58.420I give them books to read on a weekly basis.
00:06:00.420I expect them to read books, specific areas to become better leaders.
00:06:03.840Now, you may say, well, I keep hiring assistants, but I lost a good one, and I lost another good one, and I lost another good one, because eventually you need to pay them well.
00:06:11.960And if you don't, they're going to go to somebody else who's willing to pay them well.
00:06:15.520You may not be able to hire an assistant right now and pay them 20, 30, whatever bucks an hour, but eventually you need to do that to keep them, because there needs to be a victory for them, long-term benefit of working with you.
00:06:27.280And if you do that right, and you're a hard-working person, and you get the right assistant, and then from there you take that same exact philosophy with hiring other staff around you, help around you, support around you, around the same exact mindset,
00:06:40.720next thing you know, you're building an incredible culture of support team at the home office of your business that helps you scale it to new levels that you alone could never, ever do by yourself.