Many executives wait until they're overwhelmed with work before hiring an assistant. The downside of waiting until you have an urgent need, of course, is that it’s harder to find the bandwidth to hire and onboard.
Fortunately, there are common triggers to help you know exactly when it’s time to start working with an assistant. By getting help at the first sign of nearing your bandwidth, you’ll be more prepared for surges in work, able to maintain more of a work-life balance, and avoid burnout. These are the top five triggers that suggest it’s time to hire an assistant.
1. You’re working 12+ hour days.
Just because eternally-long days are common, doesn’t mean they should become the norm. Not only does regularly working 8am - 9pm involve a lot of sacrifice to your personal life, it can lead to early burnout.
Tasks that don’t require your expertise like invoicing, social media management, and website tinkering should be delegated so that you can focus on what’s most important and get a few hours of your day back.
2. Your team is growing.
It takes a lot of time and effort to find the best candidate to join your team, especially if you’re making an early hire or looking for a team lead. Since many growing teams don’t yet have an HR or recruiting manager, executives often take on the sourcing and recruiting themselves—posting job descriptions, reviewing applications, and coordinating schedules. An assistant can help with this process so that you can focus on the most important part—the interview itself.
3. You spend more than 1 hour a day on email.
Are you responding to the tenth email in a thread to organize a meeting for four people? Or replying to time-sensitive messages about tomorrow’s all-hands meeting or open enrollment period?
Studies show that CEOs and executives waste nearly 30% of their time on email. But most messages don’t require your specific response. An assistant can triage your emails daily so you don’t miss critical messages like investor replies and updates from your direct reports.
4. It’s fundraising time.
Fundraising can feel like a second full-time job. Between conversations with VCs, back-and-forth negotiations, and refining your pitch deck, there’s little time for anything else. Fortunately, there’s a lot you can delegate to free up your time to focus on the meetings and investor relations themselves. An assistant can handle meeting scheduling, follow-ups, pre-read material preparation, and other administrative work that comes up during the process.
5. You have a change in your family.
Sometimes family changes are planned and sometimes they happen suddenly. Maybe you have a new baby coming in a few months, need to take care of a sick parent, or are planning a cross-country move. Even when you’re able to plan ahead, the reality can still be overwhelming.
From ordering baby clothes, to scheduling movers, to researching care options, an assistant can take on a lot of these tasks so your attention can remain on what matters most at home and at work.
Whether you already have a lot to delegate or are just starting to notice a surge in your workload, a flexible, part-time assistant can help you keep costs down by matching your current needs. As your work and schedule changes, you can scale up as needed.
To learn about working with a Double assistant, sign up for a free 15-minute consultation with a member of our team.