Too many founders are overwhelmed—not because they’re doing the wrong things, but because they’re doing too many things alone. In this episode, we unpack how hiring (and properly using) an Executive Assistant can transform your time, focus, and impact. You’ll learn when to bring on an EA, what tasks to delegate, and how to set up the relationship for long-term success. Whether you’re considering your first assistant or trying to make better use of one you already have, this episode will show you how to turn an EA into your most valuable productivity tool.
TRANSCRIPT
Greg Alexander: Hey, everybody. This is Greg Alexander, the host of the Pro Serv Podcast. This is a show for those that are in the expertise business. So if you market, sell, and deliver expertise in some version of the billable hour, this is for you. We try to help you make more money, make scaling easier and make an exit achievable. And on today’s show, we’re gonna talk about how a founder can contribute more to their firm by leveraging the use of an assistant. That might be an executive assistant, a virtual assistant, a personal assistant. But the challenge that founders of boutique pro serve firms have is time. And very often they become what we call the founder bottleneck, meaning they’re constraining the growth of the firm because everything runs through them. And if you partner with a fantastic assistant, you can prevent the founder bottleneck from limiting the growth of your firm. So we’ve got a member with us today. His name is Kyle Walbrun, and Kyle runs a firm that specializes in executive assistance or virtual assistants, I should say. So, Kyle, for those that don’t know who you are, would you please introduce yourself and the firm.
Kyle Walbrun: Yeah, thanks so much, Greg, for having me on. Yeah. So I’m Kyle, and I am the founder and visionary of EfficientAid. We are an assistant company, and really what we do, we are in the business of buying back time. We solve that in a variety of different ways. Ultimately by providing virtual assistants. As Greg mentioned, we also provide training for folks that already have an assistant and want to up level that experience, and we can also help on the recruiting side if you’re looking to hire more of an in-person, full-time executive assistance. But, as Greg mentioned, really in the business of buying back time and eliminating worry for business leaders, so that they’re focusing truly on tasks that are the highest and best use of their time.
Greg Alexander: Okay, fantastic. All right. So I’ve prepared prepared a few questions here that hopefully represent the information needs of our community. So 1st and foremost, Kyle. I think that our community has an outdated and obsolete understanding of what an assistant can do for them, and I think it’s a legacy understanding, and I would like to update that. So if you would, would you tell us, you know, as of recording this on March 31, st 2025, what is the new definition, or what is an assistant capable of these days?
Kyle Walbrun: Yeah, it’s a great question, Greg, and you know we do a lot of education around this topic. You know, there’s this old thought of this “madman mentality”, where it’s someone sitting in a front desk who’s pushing papers, and that that truly just isn’t the case anymore. You know, a really well trained executive assistant or virtual assistant is not only there to check tasks, data entry, check your email schedule, your appointments, but they’re also should be managing your well-being, being the gatekeeper of your time, and also contributing to more strategic initiatives. It’s an old style where you used to have to say: “Assistant, here’s what I want done, how I want it done when I need it done and have to then double check to make sure it’s done.” In today’s age with technology and just the high caliber nature of assistants that are available to the workforce, it’s now where: “Assistant, here is my problem. Here’s the goal I’m trying to achieve. Now you tell me, what can you do to help me solve that problem or reach that goal?” So I’d say, in short, Greg. It’s a much more strategic partnership rather than here’s a list of tasks how to do them, and they are simply checking tasks or quote unquote pushing papers.
Greg Alexander: Yeah, that’s a great updated definition. You know, I will say that we’re living in this digital era, and that’s coming like a freight train when we add artificial intelligence to it. And our members are founders, which means they are world class bootstrappers. And they get a lot done with a little. And they’re hesitant to spend money on this because they look at it as an expense. So how do you overcome the expense objection?
Kyle Walbrun: Yeah, you know, Greg, in a couple different ways. I’ll tackle that question. First, it goes back to what most leaders will know as the Pareto principle, right? Which is, 80% of your outcomes are coming from 20% of your efforts. Time is your most valuable asset. And I always tell founders the reason that you’re successful is not because you’re great at checking your email or great at managing your calendar. That lands in that 80% that’s not driving the business forward. So what I always like to tell leaders is the true cost is not in hiring the assistant. The true cost is all the opportunities you’re missing out on by not having a high caliber assistant. Every minute you’re spending checking your email, booking your own travel, scheduling your own appointments — those are minutes you’re not spending on nurturing relationships, closing deals, and actually doing those highest and best use tasks that really is what got you to be successful. I also love to challenge founders and leaders to say, what is your hourly rate? Most founders, business leaders, 300, 400, 500 plus dollars an hour. So if you put it in that perspective in the ROI in terms of dollars, I always like to challenge: every hour you’re spending doing a task that could be effectively delegated to an assistant, you’re, in short, losing money in those time periods. And those are two different ways I would typically address that question, Greg.
Greg Alexander: Okay, my next question is so. So for those enlightened founders that understand that the assistant is the way to go, and they overcome this issue of, I don’t want to spend the money. They then say, Okay, I am going to spend the money, but I’m gonna spend as little as possible. And I’m gonna send this job to Vietnam or the Philippines, or something like that. And then they have a terrible experience. And then they lump the entire idea into that category, and they say, “Well, this didn’t work for me,” which I chuckle because I want to say to these founders, you know as much as you think. You’re unique. You’re not. I mean Assistants are working for founders all over the place. So if it’s not working for you, maybe you should look in the mirror like maybe you’re the problem. So I have a hypothesis, and I’d like to get your opinion on this. The hypothesis is this is that when it doesn’t work out. It’s usually not the assistant. It’s usually because the founder doesn’t know how to leverage an efficient and an assistant correctly. Do you agree or disagree with that? And if so, why?
Kyle Walbrun: Absolutely agree. But I will put the caveat to this when I speak about assistance and executive assistance. It is factoring in that you have someone that has proven experience working with a founder. Because I will tell you I’ve had experiences where founders have gone a more cost-effective route, but they’ve worked with a high caliber assistant who has proven experience working with founders. Now, any founder listening, we are a unique breed, right? We want to take the least amount of our time to provide the most amount of value. So I’ll first caveat that I have seen that work, but what it does require it requires the founder to invest into that assistant. What I have seen very commonly is, you bring on an assistant. You don’t give them the time, the resources, or knowledge to be successful. And then, after a week or two, and it’s not working. Why aren’t you controlling my life yet? Why am I not seeing the results? They immediately jump off the ship and say, This will never work for me. You know it’s that classic saying, You know. Help me help you. You do have to invest into the assistant. But what I will tell you, the key to this is finding and sourcing assistant that already has proven experience working with founders and leaders. They know how to navigate complex schedules. They know how to use bullet points over paragraphs to make sure that when you have that little attention span from a founder or leader that is effective use of your time, and they can build confidence, knowing if I show up and give them that little bit of time, I will see results. But more often than not, it’s a founder not really buying in. They’re not letting go of the vine, and it doesn’t set up the assistant for success.
Greg Alexander: So I’m going to use myself here as a case study. And, Kyle, forgive me if I’m going to be a tad long-winded here, but I want to put this out there because I am a serial founder, serial entrepreneur. And I could not have done what I’ve done in my life without my assistant, Alana Newell. And when I hired Alana, the first thing that she did is she said, Greg, I need for you to tell me the definition of a perfect day, and we went through it and discussed it in detail. And now every day gets graded. A, B, C, D, F. For example, an A grade is if we cleared an 80% to a hundred percent of a perfect day, which for me is spending time with members and looking out over my investments, etc. And then a B is 60 to 80. A C is 40 to 60. A D is 20 to 40, and an F is anything below 20%. And my first meeting every week is with her. And we look at the calendar. And we say, Okay, so based on what’s in the calendar right now, we’re gonna have a good week or a bad week. And because at the end of every week, which is my last meeting, the end of every week is, we average out the 5 days Monday to Friday, and we say, was this week an A week, B week, so on. Then we peek ahead 30 days on the calendar, and we look for the land mines that are sitting on the calendar. You know the bullshit meetings that are gonna drive me crazy. And then she proactively starts editing the calendar. As a result of this very methodical regimented approach, my calendar is never overbooked. My inbox is empty the end of every day. Just let that sink in for a moment. Listen. I have a 0 inbox every day. And my to-do list is short. I am completely dialed in because I have as an assistant an accountability partner who does not let me off the hook. Now, I had to be vulnerable and have this conversation, and this supports what Kyle was saying — that we’ve got to invest in your assistant to be successful. This is not just something to pencil whip and dump a bunch of crap on. Because if that is your approach to an assistant, all you’re gonna do is create more noise in your life because your activity will expand to consume the time. You’ve got to be really, really intentional about it.
Greg Alexander: My last question for you regarding this — actually I got two more — is, I have found that when I was an executive at a Fortune 500 company, I had an executive assistant. And that was appropriate because I was an executive. I’m a founder now, so I don’t have an executive assistant. I have a personal assistant. Because my personal life and my business life are so intertwined. Founders don’t have this black or white separation between personal life and work life. And my assistant would not be as successful if she didn’t manage my personal life along with my business life. Is that a best practice, in your opinion? Do you recommend founders having personal assistants, or do you think it’s better to have an executive assistant?
Kyle Walbrun: Yeah, great question, Greg, and that’s a really common scenario and real quick. Before I address that question, I want to go back to your perfect day analogy, because I know there’s some founders saying I go great, all right. Greg knew what that perfect day looked like. I don’t know what that looks like for me. And so what I would educate and advise on that when you work with a high caliber assistant one, they should be able to experience, share what other perfect days look like, and be a thought partner with you during that experience. The other quick point, I’ll add, before I go to your question, Greg, is. I was talking with a client recently who previously their thought process, and thinking of a perfect day, or what they can delegate. Was they through the lens of this is what I believe I can get, not what I deserve. That is a big difference, right? Your perfect day should be what you deserve not well, I have someone offshore, and this is what I just think I can get out of that person right. Think what you truly deserve and source someone who can help achieve what Greg mentioned in that perfect day. So I wanted to quick, quick address that because it’s very common for leaders to come and say, Kyle, I don’t know what I don’t know. Tell me what this could look like, and I couldn’t agree more on your example, Greg. Now going back to your question, personal versus exec assistant, and combining professional and personal. The short answer is absolutely right. You want your as a founder. We all know, personal and professional. There’s a lot of gray area there, right? Your assistant should truly be in the business of buying back time and eliminating worry. Now, if that’s on the professional side or personal side, it should all be the same. So it’s very common for our clients, or just what I see in general in the industry for them. If they’re in your inbox, they’re not only seeing, you know, different items as release the business. They’re getting your kids soccer schedule, or you know, PTO calendars. Those are blended together because you’re buying back time. You’re optimizing a calendar. And as a founder, you know, you’re wearing multiple hats. Have that single person be able to manage both sides of the fence. It’s effective. And it allows you allows that assistant to build rapport outside of a single professional scope of work.
Greg Alexander: Now there’s 1 thing that you mentioned that I thought was interesting. So when I when I prepped for this, I don’t think I understood that part of your practice is training assistance. I thought you were just placing them. So the people that are listening to this call they probably fall into this bucket. They either don’t have an assistant, so hopefully this calls is a wake up to them, and they say I need to get one or they have one, and maybe they’re not as excited about the output that’s coming from them. So tell us a little bit about how, for that group people that already have an assistant. But they want that relationship to be more productive. What are the common things that you work on with clients?
Kyle Walbrun: Yeah, thanks for asking that, Greg. Both. I’ll I’ll talk about it from both sides. You know we do one on one training, and it’s not only just for the assistant. Sometimes it’s as much of training for the founder or leader as as it is for the assistant and some common things that we typically address is all right. Do we have a proper meeting cadence setup? It is critical to have a meeting cadence. Most founders, and a common issue is, yeah. I talked to my assistant. Ad hoc here, there, you know, I haven’t talked to him in a few weeks. Very difficult to build rapport. Also, as we all know, hopping on a phone call, you can delegate tasks very effectively and build information very, very effectively versus text or instant messages. As Greg mentioned. He has a meeting case starts off his week every week with his assistant, and I would be willing to bet if you don’t have that call. At the beginning of the week things can get a little loose. So building a proper meeting cadence. Another common issue on both sides of the fence with the assistant and the founder. Is task management. What is the assistant working on? What are they in progress? What are they stuck on? But also that assistant managing the leader. What are they working on? What do they need to be that accountability, partner for? Give them those nudges, hey, Greg, you have a deadline due Friday, hey? But block time on Thursday, to make sure you get it done. Those are 2 very, very common instances, and the last one that’s also very common is as a founder. You typically have reports. You have people reporting, you do reviews with everybody else on your team. But somehow that assistant, just because they’re maybe fractional or they’re virtual that happens to get overlooked. Make sure you have a review cadence with them, whether it’s monthly or quarterly. What’s working? What’s not? What are you supporting me with? And what do you want to build on of that? That is a common step overlooked that I see with most founders that have an assistant. They’re not spending the time to step back, review and build that relationship. Otherwise things pester things fester a little bit, and then all of a sudden, you’re like, yep, it’s not working, but you never actually voiced that feedback directly to the assistant. So I’d say, Greg, those are 3 common things we advise on and build, live in our training.
Greg Alexander: That’s awesome. I appreciate you sharing that. And Kyle, we’re gonna leave it here because we got much more to talk about. But I want to save some stuff for the private member. QA. Which you’ll host in an upcoming week. But listen, on behalf of the community. We’re very lucky to have you in the community and thank you for making a contribution to the collective this week.
Kyle Walbrun: Thanks a lot, Greg, really appreciate you having me on.
Greg Alexander: All right, couple of calls to action for those that are listening. So if you’re a member of Collective 54, and you want to learn how to remove the founder bottleneck by having a great partner known as an assistant. Please attend the Friday role model session, and Kyle will be our role model, and you can ask your questions directly of him. And if you’re not a member and you want to become one, go to collective54.com and fill out an application, and somebody will get in contact with you. But until the next show I wish you all the best of luck, as you try to grow, scale, and someday exit your firm.
Note: This transcript was generated by Zoom.