You’ve built the business and are (finally) starting to make headway as an entrepreneur or business owner. Although you knew that it wouldn’t be easy, you may very well find yourself shocked at just how crazily jam-packed and discombobulated your everyday life is. Very few fellow young professionals (YPs) we know have the time these days to get each last thing checked off their “to-do” list. As a matter of fact, it seems this do-to list is never ending, and we would get more done if there were only more hours in the day. Young people, especially entrepreneurs, are a hard-working bunch, and sometimes don’t want to admit that we can’t actually do it all ourselves. There may come a time then, that, you need an assistant. Here are some signs you may.
1. At least one friend is annoyed or angry with you at the moment for not replying to his or her invite, email or text…again.
2. You would love to recharge on a vacation, but the very thought of leaving your desk for more than a few days is panic-inducing when you think of all the work you still have to do.
3. You don’t remember the last time you left the office when it was still light outside.
4. You can’t recall the last time the weekend was actually relaxing and recharging.
5. You have to take friends from out of town or a date to your third choice restaurant because you forgot to make a reservation at the newest and hottest until it was too late.
6. You forgot your mom or dad’s birthday or anniversary…again.
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7. When brainstorming for potential new campaigns or clients, or the business in general, you find your creative juices running dry because all you can focus on are the immediate things that needed to be done yesterday.
8. You fondly recall how much better your body looked when you had the time to hit the gym, then continue stuffing snacks in your mouth because you don’t have the time to leave your desk to either purchase or make (yeah, right) something healthy.
9. You find yourself frantically shopping for new clothes on the go for an event that evening because your dry cleaning or laundry piles couldn’t be higher.
10. You are always irritated and annoyed at the amount of “busy work” you are doing when you could be more productive when focused on your actual expertise and meaningful work that will grow your business.
11. You’ve either forgotten about or double booked at least one meeting this month.
12. Your personal life begs the question, “What personal life?”
When you make a list of things you do throughout the day, jot down the ones that only you are capable of doing and a list of others that someone else could do for you. If someone else were doing all those things, would you be more productive? Hiring an assistant means that you can occupy your focus on the bigger picture and on things that require your seasoned expertise, as he or she handles everything from client invoices and correspondence to industry-related research and scheduling meetings and dinners. Remember, you can start small on a part-time or even virtual basis when it comes to assistants. The decision you need to make as an entrepreneur is whether or not the resources spent on the assistant are worth the time saved, headaches lost and productivity gained by having them around.
