Get an Assistant
By Mitch Thrower
MY FIRST ASSISTANT was Marne Berta. She worked with me in Westport, Connecticut for my first start-up, The College Connection Inc. She was a bright, motivated recent college graduate who, within a few weeks, demonstrated to me that my life was about to become a great deal more effective.
Marne saw how overwhelmed I had become by starting this company from my apartment, so she would show up early every morning and tackle the tasks associated with managing the company. But she would also help with personal paperwork, insurance, even making travel arrangements, which, before online companies like Expedia, was a nightmare.
Marne said to me once, after I thanked her for going above and beyond the call of duty, acting at first as an executive assistant, then a personal assistant, then as the operations director for my life: "Mitch, I know that if you're trying to argue with an insurance agent, you're not doing what you need to be doing for the company. The more effective I make you, the more the company I'm working with will grow." Marne rocked.
Life is filled with things that simply must get done. We have to have car insurance, but we have no time to find the best one. We have to find out where we can take a class on Microsoft Publisher, but don't have time. We have to file things, make calls, and return things. There are all the things others expect us to do that fall into the monotonous chore category. It is amazing how exciting these mundane projects can be to someone who is actually getting paid by the hour to take care of them.
Now if you don't have the budget for a full-time assistant, or if the office where you work is convinced that you still need to take out the trash and manage your own paperwork, then hire someone part-time and pay them out of your own salary. They can be a one day-a-week person, a one-hour-a-day person, or even a once-a-month person.
Go through your to-do list, and identify how many things you could actually delegate to another person. Over time, your life and your business career will continue to hone your knowledge of what you need to do to be successful and avoid the interminable and multiplying minutiae that someone else should handle.
If you work in a corporation, it is critical to include professional and empowering assistants. This is not an area to cut for the budget. I can remember watching one of our top sales professionals at Active.com fight with a photocopier for almost an hour, when he should have been on the phone selling. If your work environment or corporate role does not afford you the opportunity to work with an assistant, hire a college student or an intern to help you on an as-needed basis. Until they sort it out scientifically, getting an assistant is one of the most effective ways to clone yourself, so you have the time to focus on the things you know you must do, with someone else handling the things that are necessary but distracting to you.
LESSON: A personal assistant can alleviate stress in your life. I'm not talking about a spouse who takes care of the bills or a son or daughter who can mow the lawn. I'm talking about someone whom you can direct like an employee, and whom you can hold accountable. Someone to take care of what you know has to be taken care of but keeps getting postponed. How do you deal with things always left on the back burner? Not by staying in the kitchen. Find an assistant.
Mitch Thrower is an author, financier, triathlete, entrepreneur and philanthropist living in La Jolla, California and New York City, he can be reached at mitchthrower@yahoo.com.
MY FIRST ASSISTANT was Marne Berta. She worked with me in Westport, Connecticut for my first start-up, The College Connection Inc. She was a bright, motivated recent college graduate who, within a few weeks, demonstrated to me that my life was about to become a great deal more effective.
Marne saw how overwhelmed I had become by starting this company from my apartment, so she would show up early every morning and tackle the tasks associated with managing the company. But she would also help with personal paperwork, insurance, even making travel arrangements, which, before online companies like Expedia, was a nightmare.
Marne said to me once, after I thanked her for going above and beyond the call of duty, acting at first as an executive assistant, then a personal assistant, then as the operations director for my life: "Mitch, I know that if you're trying to argue with an insurance agent, you're not doing what you need to be doing for the company. The more effective I make you, the more the company I'm working with will grow." Marne rocked.
Life is filled with things that simply must get done. We have to have car insurance, but we have no time to find the best one. We have to find out where we can take a class on Microsoft Publisher, but don't have time. We have to file things, make calls, and return things. There are all the things others expect us to do that fall into the monotonous chore category. It is amazing how exciting these mundane projects can be to someone who is actually getting paid by the hour to take care of them.
Now if you don't have the budget for a full-time assistant, or if the office where you work is convinced that you still need to take out the trash and manage your own paperwork, then hire someone part-time and pay them out of your own salary. They can be a one day-a-week person, a one-hour-a-day person, or even a once-a-month person.
Go through your to-do list, and identify how many things you could actually delegate to another person. Over time, your life and your business career will continue to hone your knowledge of what you need to do to be successful and avoid the interminable and multiplying minutiae that someone else should handle.
If you work in a corporation, it is critical to include professional and empowering assistants. This is not an area to cut for the budget. I can remember watching one of our top sales professionals at Active.com fight with a photocopier for almost an hour, when he should have been on the phone selling. If your work environment or corporate role does not afford you the opportunity to work with an assistant, hire a college student or an intern to help you on an as-needed basis. Until they sort it out scientifically, getting an assistant is one of the most effective ways to clone yourself, so you have the time to focus on the things you know you must do, with someone else handling the things that are necessary but distracting to you.
LESSON: A personal assistant can alleviate stress in your life. I'm not talking about a spouse who takes care of the bills or a son or daughter who can mow the lawn. I'm talking about someone whom you can direct like an employee, and whom you can hold accountable. Someone to take care of what you know has to be taken care of but keeps getting postponed. How do you deal with things always left on the back burner? Not by staying in the kitchen. Find an assistant.
Mitch Thrower is an author, financier, triathlete, entrepreneur and philanthropist living in La Jolla, California and New York City, he can be reached at mitchthrower@yahoo.com.