Michael Hyatt: Hi, I’m Michael Hyatt.

Megan Hyatt Miller: And I’m Megan Hyatt Miller.

Michael:  And this is Lead to Win, the weekly podcast to help you win at work and succeed at life. In this episode, we’re talking about the most important hire you will ever make. It’s an executive assistant.

Megan: Yes. I love talking about this topic.

Michael: Why?

Megan: When I saw this on our list today I was so excited, because it is vitally important to your business success and your success as a leader. In fact, I think one of the biggest reasons leaders become the lid on their business, you know, their business can’t progress past their own capacity, is because they don’t have the right kind of support. With the right executive assistant, your ability to grow and contribute to your business is exponentially multiplied.

Michael: It’s basically like being in an airplane and insisting on driving it everywhere. Right?

Megan: Yes. Right.

Michael: Perfect metaphor. Okay. We’re joined by Larry Wilson, one of our senior content creators who’s going to walk us through this subject. Hey, Larry.

Larry Wilson: Hey, guys. I think in every big decision anyone makes there comes a moment where it becomes obvious. You resist for a long time, but then there’s kind of that straw that breaks the camel’s back. “I’ve got to do it.” So here’s my question for you. What was that moment when you said, “All right. I give up. I have to hire an EA”?

Megan: I think it was the moment when in scheduling my own appointments I would double book. I would leave out details. I would show up at the wrong place at the wrong time. Things become increasingly complex as you grow in your career, especially when you’re responsible for other people in an organization. It’s hard to keep all of those plates spinning by yourself, and I was not doing a very good job.

Michael: For me, it was a little bit different. I’ve been in business now almost 40 years. Back when I was in the corporate world, once you got to a certain level you were just expected to have… Of course, in those days we said secretary, which is completely inappropriate.

Megan: In case you’re wondering, people who are listening, we don’t say that anymore.

Michael: Yeah. We don’t say it anymore. Then it was “administrative assistant” and all that. But when I started my own company back in the mid-80s I said, “Who needs an assistant? I can do everything myself.” My partner said the same thing.

Megan: “We’re going to be lean.”

Michael: “We’re going to be lean, mean. I want to be in touch with everything. I want to do it myself.” Then I went back into the corporate world. Then I had an assistant. Then I left the corporate world at Thomas Nelson back in 2011. Now, all of a sudden, I was on my own after having had an awesome assistant, actually two of them at Thomas Nelson. Then I had nothing. I didn’t know how to find the FedEx box, I was having to process my own email inbox, I was having to book my travel, and I was spending a ton of time. So then I hired Tricia from BELAY Solutions.

Megan: She’s now their COO.

Michael: Which is amazing. She came in as my five-hour-a-week assistant and rocked my world. She turned it upside down. She did more in five hours than I could do… Doing that same stuff I delegated to her was taking me about 15 hours a week. She did it in five hours. So then I started thinking what I could do to delegate more to her, and I did. We went to 10 hours almost immediately, and then to 20 hours, and then I’ve had a string of assistants, including my current one Jim, who has been amazing. The problem with my assistants is they keep getting promoted out of that role and I keep losing them. I’m hoping Jim stays for a while.

Larry: We do talk about this subject a lot, Megan; you’re right. Just for everybody who’s listening, some may not have heard this before, so it may be very new to some folks. We have a couple of reasons why this is very important and how it helps your business, and then in the second part of the show, guys, I have a little surprise for you.

Megan: Can’t wait to see what it is.

Larry: The three reasons why an executive assistant is the most important hire any leader makes. First, an EA gets you out of the drudgery zone. You’ve talked a little bit about that. Anything else to add about getting out of your drudgery zone?

Megan: The idea here is that your drudgery zone is the area of tasks or activities where you’re neither passionate nor particularly proficient. It’s not necessarily driving results in your business, you’re not very good at it, you hate it, all of those things. It’s really a bad mixture. When you spend time doing those things, which may be very important for you to have done, it de-energizes you. It sucks your best energy away from your greatest contribution to the business into things where you’re not making your greatest contribution.

A great EA can handle these things on your behalf, things like expense reporting, managing a complex calendar, booking travel, preparing you for meetings, anticipating scheduling needs. For example, in my case, child-care needs related to work things. Suddenly, when those things are handled, you’re free to invest your time in the places where you’re going to get the greatest return and that you’re also the most passionate about.

Larry: That brings us to the second reason here: an EA makes you super productive. Is there more to say to it, Michael? You get to work in your desire zone. Is that what makes you so productive?

Michael: Yeah. The opposite of the drudgery zone is your desire zone, and that’s where your passion and your proficiency come together. Stuff you love and stuff you’re good at. I know, for me, that’s really only three things. For me, it’s trying to find the future for my company and articulating that (vision). Second, it’s creating content, and third, it’s delivering content. When I know those are my desire zone activities and I can delegate everything else to Jim or somebody else on the team, then I can be super productive because I’m doing the things that create the most leverage and the greatest impact for my business.

Larry: The third reason to hire an executive assistant is that a good EA will pay for himself or herself. How does that work?

Megan: The math is kind of simple. Let’s take a $100,000/year salary, for example, that you might be making as a leader. That equates to about $50 an hour once you’ve subtracted time off or weekends. If you take, personally, an hour to file an expense report, that costs you $50. Right? But if you’re paying an EA somewhere around $20 to $25 an hour for their work, then that’s half of your hourly rate. So, automatically, you’ve gotten a great return there. The other part that’s not even calculated there is that you’ve been able to invest your time in something that will deliver an exponential return in the business in another place.

Michael: That’s the thing. If you’re a professional, this is the easiest to understand, if you’re somebody who bills for your time. If that frees up an hour that you can go now sell for $50 an hour or $100 an hour, then you get a really outsized return on the investment.

Megan: Right. Would you pay $25 to make $100? That’s the math right there.

Larry: Another aspect of that is, thinking of myself, it wouldn’t cost me $50 to file the expense report. I would just work longer, and it would come out of my margin.

Megan: That’s a great point too.

Michael: That’s what a lot of entrepreneurs do.

Megan: We usually procrastinate the things we hate the most, so that is where it eats into your margin, especially your personal time.

Larry: So, an executive assistant will get you out of the drudgery zone, make you super productive, and in the end, pay for themselves by returning your time to you. Before we move on to the next part of the show, which is going to be a lot of fun, I have a question for you. What is something or even more than one thing that most people would be surprised to find that you, Michael and Megan, really aren’t that good at and need a little help with?

Megan: It’s probably a long list, but for our purposes today we’ll keep it short. For me, I would say primarily two things. First, follow-through. I am not really good at following through or following up on my own. Fortunately, Jamie, my executive assistant, is excellent at this. It’s like her best thing, and I’m so glad, because it just means I don’t have to really dig deep and find that energy to do something that naturally I’m not good at.

That’s things like if I’m in a meeting and I say, “I’ll send that to you,” the likelihood that I’m going to do it by myself is very low. The likelihood that I’m going to process or take notes well in a meeting is not great or prepare my team for things that are coming up to be prepared to contribute to a meeting. Jamie is great at that, and she’s always going behind me and in front of me to make sure all of those things are taken care of.

The other thing is logistics. I have a really hard time with logistics. My own calendar at a certain point is so overwhelming to me, how this meeting and the preparation that’s needed for that integrates with this other one that’s kind of related and the kids’ soccer practice and the haircut… It just makes my eyes glaze over. Fortunately, she is fantastic at being the conductor of all of the trains coming in and out at all of the different times, and it just keeps me out of that. On my own, though? Not any good.

Larry: Michael, what about you?

Michael: I think, for me, a couple of things. A lot of people think of me as being really organized, and I’m not that organized. Jim is organized. I’m not that organized. The other thing is I don’t really do well in maintaining systems. I am brilliant at creating systems, for setting them up, but I totally lose interest after doing it about two or three times. Jim doesn’t. Jim is good with the repetitive stuff and maintaining a high level of quality. I can do it great the first time, but then after that, again, I just lose interest. It’s a little bit of the follow-through thing Megan was mentioning with Jamie. Jim is long on follow-through, based on the Kolbe test results, but me not so much.

Larry: Thanks for your honesty in relating that. Now the surprise part of the show. You may have wondered why Jim and Jamie are sitting here in the room with us today. It’s because they’re going to be on the podcast.

Michael: We kind of gathered that.

Megan: I thought it was because maybe you thought we were going to need help in this podcast.

Larry: Well, I don’t rule it out.

Megan: That’s wise.

Larry: So welcome, Jim Kelly and Jamie Hess.

Jim Kelly: Thanks, Larry.

Jamie Hess: Thanks, Larry.

Larry: A few minutes ago, Megan and Michael shared the things they’re not that good at. Let’s go to the real source here and find out. Jamie, was Megan telling the truth?

Jamie: I wouldn’t say there’s anything Megan is not good at. There are probably things that are better left for me to do, but Megan is pretty good at everything she does.

Megan: That’s so generous of you. She’s being nice.

Larry: Before we go any further, we should have Megan and Michael give some sort of a pledge here. This is going to be a free space. Right?

Megan: Totally.

Larry: Judgment-free zone.

Michael: This is a zone that’s safe for dissent, and you can be totally transparent and honest.

Megan: And here’s the truth: Jamie and Jim know more about us than probably our spouses at some level. So feel free to say whatever you want, guys.

Larry: Okay. I’d like to take you at your word, but I’m going to have you put your hand on this Full Focus Planner, raise your right hand… We’ll take your word for that, and this is going to be a very candid conversation. Let’s go to Jim. Michael said he’s not very organized. Was he telling the truth?

Jim: He is telling the truth. You sent me the questions ahead of time, so I got to think about these answers. I have a list here for Michael of a few things he’s not great at.

Larry: Excellent.

Michael: This is awesome.

Megan: Okay, Jamie. You’d better be thinking of my list.

Jim: I felt like this was a roast. I’m trying not to make it like a roast. I’m trying to be as kind as possible, but I feel the questions feel more like a roast. The first thing is handling his calendar. No good thing happens when Michael puts something on the calendar himself.

Megan: It’s so true.

Jim: Sometimes on weekends Michael will go out with friends, and they’ll make an appointment maybe a few weeks down the road, and I see something appear on the calendar. I’m like, “No! Don’t add anything to the calendar. Come to me first.” We do have a pretty good rhythm, for the most part, when Michael says, “Hey, I’d like to put this on the calendar. I want it on this date. How does that look?” and then we talk about it.

Larry: Now, let me just ask you this, because a lot of people will be thinking, “I don’t want to give up that freedom.” It sounds like you really have to ride herd on the calendar, even to personal event planning. Why is that so important to give up some of that control to your executive assistant?

Jim: It’s kind of what we talked about before about the desire zone. Handling his own calendar is not in his desire zone. Michael is not proficient. He’s not passionate about handling his calendar, whereas I am. So I can focus on that area while Michael can focus on where he does his best work: vision for the company, creating content, and then delivering that content.

Michael: Plus, I screw it up, and what happens when I screw it up is I create a lot of unnecessary pain for myself. I end up having to back out of commitments I made in good faith or I end up with a super overwhelmed and stressed schedule because I didn’t consider the context, because I’m just not good at that.

Larry: We won’t take the whole list, Jim, but let’s hear one more thing Michael really needs a hand with.

Jim: His date nights and his anniversary, actually. This is going into the personal. About a year and a half ago, Michael was really struggling with scheduling his date nights. He became inconsistent with scheduling that time with Gail, so he came to me and said, “Jim, I need help here. I need you to help schedule these date nights for me.” And I did. So every Thursday, I plan ahead for the next date night. I make a dinner reservation for them.

I created these date night questions for them so they could ask these questions during the date night. This past year, for Gail’s birthday, I tried to step it up a notch and I asked some other reflective birthday questions. I gave that to Michael, sent it to him before he went off for the dinner with Gail, and I said, “Hey, ask these questions to Gail for the dinner. I think she’ll like it.” It turned out they enjoyed it. I think they cried a little bit after the reflection.

Michael: Oh, we did. She was so moved. She said, “Honey, this has been the best birthday ever. These questions are amazing.” Then I felt a little guilty, so I had to confess to her. I said, “Well, actually, Jim came up with them.” She said, “Well, I know that.” She figured that part out. It was still incredibly helpful.

Larry: I think if you want to freelance here, there’s an incredible opportunity…

Jim: To start a business planning date nights for people.

Larry: I think people would pay for that. Jamie, when you first started here at Michael Hyatt & Company as Megan’s assistant… That has been a little over a year, I think.

Jamie: Yeah. About a year and a half.

Larry: What was the first thing you really had to say, “Oh no. Megan, we have to talk. You have to stop doing that and let me take it over”?

Jamie: The first thing we really got into was the calendar. Before I came on board Megan had great EAs supporting her, so it wasn’t a total zoo, but I’m finding that the calendar is the one thing we have to reevaluate all the time. Megan and I just had a conversation yesterday about “How are these meetings working? How is that fitting in your schedule?”

So I think the calendar, then and now, and a lot of that has to do with personal stuff. We want to help Megan get haircuts for her kids and dentist appointments without missing all of her meetings. She can’t be in multiple places at the same time. So evaluating the calendar was the most important thing we needed to triage in the beginning.

Larry: From your perspective, Jamie, what’s at risk there? When you don’t keep after that calendar, what happens?

Jamie: What’s at risk is my sanity, really. I think just efficiency can be compromised in that situation. Megan has a full house and family, and all of those things are super important to her. She has a job she enjoys, and that’s also important to her. To do it all well you really have to keep a mindful eye on scheduling.

Megan: I think it’s unique in my situation because I do have a bunch of kids who are all school age, and that’s busy, and they have activities and appointments and things like that. I want to be really present, but it requires a tremendous amount of orchestration to make it all work, and that’s one of the things Jamie really, really excels at.

Michael: This is a unique feature of how we think about executive assistants. We don’t differentiate between the personal and the professional, because it’s all intertwined. One domain affects the other. So we have no compunction whatsoever about asking our executive assistants to do personal stuff for us.

Megan: Right. For example, if I schedule all of my kids’ activities and appointments on my own, that, I can promise you, is going to back up into work, because I’m not any good at it. So it’s advantageous for that to be integrated into Jamie’s scope of work, because she can get the whole picture to work together so that I’m able to be really present in our business when I’m at the office.

Larry: We use the phrase here win at work, succeed at life. It sounds as if you wouldn’t be doing either without the help of Jamie.

Megan: I think that’s true. There’s a strange kind of pressure sometimes, especially for women in the workplace, that you have to do it all or you have to have two full-time jobs. The truth is if you are performing at a high level professionally and at home you have help. There’s no way you can do it on your own. I actually read an article in Motherhood magazine today that said the average working mom works 98 hours a week when you consider their domestic and personal responsibilities. That’s just not tenable for the long haul, so I’m a big believer in getting the right kind of support to do it well.

Larry: Well, Michael and Megan both are pretty candid about the fact there are some tasks that are way outside their desire zones…booking travel, handling email, managing calendar. They both have said multiple times that you really like these things, Jim. Do you?

Jim: I do. I get great joy out of handling Michael’s calendar, making sure everything is in its right place, making sure he has the drive time between each of his appointments. I just like a clean, nice calendar with all the information so Michael doesn’t have to expend calories thinking about “What does this appointment mean? Where do I have to be at this time?” I just make it super simple for Michael, and I get a ton of joy from that.

Michael: The stuff he puts in the notes is amazing. Like, every question I could possibly ask about that appointment, links to other reference material and source material. It’s fantastic.

Larry: Jamie, same question for you. Do you actually enjoy the tasks that Megan is so eager to get rid of?

Jamie: I enjoy most of them. I’ll be totally honest and say there are some I like more than others. What I like, though, is not necessarily the task itself, but what I like is the end result. I like the outcome. I think of cleaning my bathroom. I don’t necessarily like to mop the floor, but I love a clean bathroom. Right?

Megan: Wait a minute. Are you saying my calendar is like your dirty bathroom?

Jamie: That may be a bad analogy.

Megan: Sometimes that’s probably true.

Jamie: The calendar is one thing I do love to do, and I love to do that because at the end of the week, I feel like my mission, my job… I enjoy it most when I’m serving Megan well and when things run really smoothly. So if I get to the end of the week and go, “That was a busy week, but it all worked well and went together well,” then I love that. Things I struggle with sometimes would be like booking travel. That’s not my favorite, but it’s not because I mind the task itself.

For me, I really like all of the facts. I’m high on the Fact Finder, so I want to explore all of my options. Sometimes for an EA it’s not good to look at all of your options. I could spend a half a day looking at the best flight for the best dollars for the best seat at the best… It’s like, “Just book the flight, Jamie. You don’t need to do that.” So for some of those things, it’s not necessarily the task that hangs me up, but how I look at it and how I process things is not always super efficient.

Larry: One of the things we talk about is how an EA will free up the executive to be more effective and more productive. Are there ways you have seen Michael and Megan grow during the time you’ve been serving them?

Megan: That’s a great question.

Jim: In my experience, I’ve seen Michael get a lot better at saying no to opportunities. I think probably three years ago when I started he might be quicker to say yes, but over the last three years I’ve trained Michael to say, “Let’s think about that before we say yes to that opportunity.” So I think Michael has gotten better at that just because he knows his time is limited so we have to limit what he does with his time.

Megan: And every yes is a no.

Jim: Yeah. Every yes is a no.

Michael: I still struggle with it, but Jim has definitely been my personal support group.

Larry: How about you, Jamie?

Jamie: There are a number of ways I’ve seen Megan grow. One we kind of touched on earlier, the fact that I now go to every meeting with Megan. When I first started I didn’t go to every meeting with Megan. That was kind of an “aha” light bulb moment for her. “Hey, why don’t I have you come along? You’re good at the follow-through.” Then she can really be present in a meeting, and she leads extremely well in those situations where she can be fully present, knowing that I’m taking notes and I’ll follow through on those tasks and those items that need to be followed through on.

Megan: That’s one of my favorite things, actually, that Jamie does for me and a huge breakthrough, I think, for leaders. It can be really hard to take notes in your own meeting. If you’re trying to keep records on the conversation and be fully present and engaged with the people who are bringing you information or you’re sharing information with, it’s virtually impossible. It’s like multitasking. Jamie’s willingness and the excellence with which she does that enables me to be free to lead in those meetings and give the gift of presence to the people who report to me.

Larry: As a team member, I would second that for all of you guys. I’ve said this to Jim before. It’s like you’re all of our executive assistant, because when we’re in a meeting with Michael you follow up on it, and that helps everybody. It’s so important. Jim and Jamie, we’re going to have to wrap up this conversation soon because you need to get to an executive assistant lunch today. What do executive assistants talk about when they get together?

Megan: Be nice.

Michael: I don’t know if it’s possible for them to reveal that. I think there’s a code of silence. It’s like the mafia or something.

Jim: We have about nine executive assistants on the Michael Hyatt & Company staff right now, anywhere from full-time to part-time executive assistants. We usually meet for about two to three hours, and the first hour usually is best practices. So, we’re doing a type of training. A few months ago I did a training with all of the EAs on calendar proofing. I have a process I walk through.

Every Thursday, I go through Michael’s calendar for the following week and look at all of the different activities and all of the different meetings he has and make sure he has everything he needs. So I walked through that with the EAs. We did that the first hour, and then for the second hour we kind of have more of a mastermind where we talk about our best practices, what’s going well. We celebrate wins. Anything you’d like to add, Jamie?

Jamie: That is one of my favorite times, because we, as EAs, get together and go, “Okay. Are there any challenges you’re facing?” It might be taking notes in a meeting and from simple things to like, “Oh, here is how you create the template without having to recreate it every time,” or just little tips and tricks, technology things or things we have found really useful, from our email systems to whatever process and procedure. It’s a really good time of collaboration.

Megan: We have two new EAs, actually, on our team the last month and a half or so, and I can imagine for them it’s so helpful to have the resource of people who are more experienced as they’re getting their sea legs in our company and to learn all of the various proprietary things we do.

Larry: Did you ever wish you had an EA, Jamie?

Jamie: Yes. I’ll say that. Actually, you know what I think? Collaboration is always the most effective and helpful thing. While we, as an EA team, don’t necessarily have an EA, anytime… I was just at the office this morning and an EA needed help with something. So it’s like, “Hey, Jamie, are you at the office? Could you help with this?” We just jump in and help each other. There’s a lot of collaboration. That’s what I love about the idea of an EA. It’s teamwork. That works well between Megan and I. I love that teamwork and that partnership, but also amongst the EAs we have that as well.

Jim: I would second Jamie’s answer. I would love an EA at some point, but yeah, sometimes I just need a second mind to bounce an idea off of, and I get that with Jamie and Suzie, who’s our director of operations. She’s there for me when I have a question about, “Hey, I’m just struggling.” Sometimes it’s as simple as this flight between that flight and that flight. Which one should I book? I don’t know. It’s really helpful to have that second mind, that second pair of eyes to look at those different flights.

Larry: How close would you say Michael is to needing a second administrative assistant?

Jim: I don’t think so. Not at this point. I think I have it covered, hopefully.

Michael: He does. He definitely has it covered. I don’t feel the need for that at all. When I was back in the corporate world I did have two full-time assistants, but that was a crazier schedule. I had one person who did nothing but calendar and booking flights because I was traveling constantly. I don’t travel that much anymore.

Megan: I’m probably close to that point in the next year to two years where I’ll need a second person, between all of the personal stuff and the business, because I have so many direct reports. What do you think?

Jamie: I would agree with that. I would say that a lot of Megan’s time is spent on internal meetings, and those can really eat up her time, so to have an EA present during all of those meetings then leaves less room for other tasks that need to be done.

Michael: Good point.

Larry: One of the points I would like to inject here and ask Michael and Megan to comment on is that some people may have the idea that that first assistant hire is a low-skill position, but we don’t take that philosophy here. We hire extremely competent people in these roles. Can you talk about that, Megan?

Megan: Yeah. I definitely would say it’s a high-skill role. In fact, when I think of all of the different things Jamie and Jim do… First of all, they have to be very competent across a number of areas, and then they have to do it with an amazing amount of precision and excellence for it to be done well, and that requires a high level of thinking.

You have to be able to think about how all of these things integrate with one another, whether it’s travel and calendar or preparing for meetings. There’s a lot of coordination with other team members, with other executive assistants on the team. This is not an entry-level job. This is a job that requires a lot of skill that has been built over time, and that’s certainly what they bring to the table and what we count on them for.

Larry: Michael, this question is for you. What do you think is the greatest contribution Jim makes to your success?

Michael: It’s hard for me to identify just one because there are so many. In some ways, I feel like I have a partner who’s kind of the other half of what I don’t bring in my natural abilities. Where I’m long on Quickstart and can really get into motion quickly, make a decision quickly…I embrace risk…Jim is not that so much. Jim is long on the Follow Thru. Jim will do the research. Jim slows me down in a very good way that keeps me out of trouble. I can be fast but I could also be impulsive. So what Jim does is reminds me of the much larger picture, the context, and that helps me to have more integrity with my own values and myself and make sure I’m walking my talk.

Larry: Megan, same question for you. What’s Jamie’s greatest contribution to your success?

Megan: This really is a hard question to answer, because there are so many things. Jamie said this earlier, but it really matters to me to win at work and succeed at life. I’m not willing to compromise my role as a mother to lead our business, and the same is true in the other direction. That’s only possible because Jamie is clearing a path for me so I can charge ahead in both of those areas. That means I can move forward with a minimum amount of friction so that when I invest my time in the company or in my family there’s not a lot in the way. Like I said earlier, that only happens with the right kind of support and partnership, Dad, as you said. I couldn’t do that on my own.

Larry: Well, we’ve seen the reasons why hiring an executive assistant is the most important hire a leader can make, and we’ve heard that backed up with some great conversation from two world-class executive assistants. Jim, any final thoughts for us today?

Jim: Wow. I get to do the final thoughts? Just that it’s a pleasure to work with Michael and Megan. They are the best leaders I’ve ever worked for. They really value us, as an EA personally and then as a team. The amazing things they say to us and affirm our worth is just amazing. I know some other leaders might not value an EA as much as these two, but they really do, and it makes a world of difference for us knowing that they value us when we’re doing our jobs, knowing that it makes a difference to them.

Larry: Jamie, how about you? Any final thoughts for our listeners today?

Jamie: I would agree that working at Michael Hyatt & Company makes it easy to love my job. They are firm believers in the core values they hold here at Michael Hyatt & Company, and that is in our work lives but also encouraging our personal lives, so that makes it easier to do the job. It really is a partnership. It’s not “Just get on your side and do all your tasks.” It’s a great work environment to be in, and I love being here.

Larry: Well, Jim and Jamie, thank you for being here and sharing candidly with our listeners. Now let’s turn to Michael and Megan for final thoughts. I think maybe some listeners are wondering how to get such great help as you have here. What are your thoughts on that?

Michael: First of all, don’t make an offer to Jim or to Jamie.

Megan: Yeah. These actually aren’t their real names.

Michael: They’re in the witness protection program.

Megan: That’s right.

Michael: Executive assistant protection program. But seriously. That has happened in the past. We’re kind of half kidding, but not really. If you don’t have an executive assistant, you have no idea what you’re missing and why it’s critically important. Trust me. If you hire an executive assistant and you don’t have one and you hire the right person, you’re going to look back on that and go, “What in the world did I do before I had an executive assistant?”

The good news is today it’s easier than ever before. You can hire a virtual executive assistant from an organization like belaysolutions.com, which is a company we love. We know the principles there, and we’ve used EAs from there before. It makes it so easy. I would say start small. Like everything, make it a test. Start with 10 hours a week and just test. Prove it to yourself that it’ll work. If it doesn’t, you can go back to the way you were doing it, but I believe this will exponentially expand your leadership and your ability to accomplish those high-leverage tasks.

Megan: I would echo everything you said. Just do it. You’re holding yourself back by not having an executive assistant. You’re not as productive as you could be. You’re not making the kind of impact you could be. You’re more frustrated than you need to be. It will change your life to have the right support partner in your life. So go do it.

Larry: Michael and Megan, thank you for being good sports today.

Megan: Thank you, Larry.

Michael: Thank you. It was awesome. Thank you, Larry, for leading us through this conversation, and thank you guys for listening to Lead to Win. Join us next time when we’re going to show you how to eliminate complexity, which sounds awesome, and create a culture of simplicity. Until then, lead to win.