81: EA vs VA - 2 Months Out of the Inbox

See the show notes for this Episode here.

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Transcript:

Bonnie Christine [00:00:00]:

Honestly, every very successful entrepreneur that I know could not live without their EA. I'm Bonnie Christine, and this is where all things creativity, design, business, and marketing unite. I'm a mama living in a tiny town tucked right inside the Smoky mountains, running a multi seven figure business, doing the most creative and impactful work of my life. When I first set out to become an entrepreneur, I was struggling to make ends meet and wrestling with how to accomplish my biggest dream of becoming a fabric designer. Fast forward to today, I'm not only licensing my artwork all over the world, but also teaching others how to design their creative life and experience the same success. I'm here to help you spend your life doing something that lights you up I'll help you build a creative business that also creates an impact, changes people's lives, gives you all of the freedom you want and is wildly profitable. Welcome to the professional creative podcast. A few months ago, I made a new hire in my business and I can't wait to tell you about it.

Bonnie Christine [00:01:25]:

I hired an executive assistant, which is something that I wasn't sure I was ready for. I wasn't sure if I needed. And my goodness, it has completely changed my life. And so I wanna introduce you today to the difference between an executive assistant and a virtual assistant and tell you how it's been going. We're about 2 months in to me working with my executive assistant. And I've got some incredible takeaways for you. So, firstly, let me demystify these acronyms. Right? So a VA, which I'll reference a bunch in this episode, stands for a virtual assistant, and an EA references an executive assistant.

Bonnie Christine [00:02:08]:

Both roles are absolutely paramount, but they serve two very different functions. The role of a VA, a virtual assistant, is someone who's able to handle many of the online tasks. So my VA, her name is Ethia, has been with me for about 3 years, and EPI does many, many different tasks. Related to our online business. So she's not local to me. She lives in the United States, though. And she does a mixture of digital tasks like handling emails and updating our website and scheduling posts, and then also some specialized skills. So you could find a VA that helps with content creation or your accounting or graphic design or even SEO.

Bonnie Christine [00:02:53]:

RVA handles many of our spreadsheets and organization. For example, when we create study groups out of our course students, that's like a spreadsheet organization thing. And Ephysia does a great job with that. She also handles our cancellation survey and our failed payment recovery process, emails, She handles a lot of the research that we need done in the business. She handles our resources page and also does one off tasks. Like, for instance, right now, she's combining all of the feedback we have around a course for me to review as I go into refilming. So a VA is really flexible. They can touch many, many different, tasks in your business, and they're time is generally pretty flexible as well.

Bonnie Christine [00:03:41]:

So they don't necessarily have a super strict schedule, but they can be coming in to touch your business and their tasks on a daily basis. A VA is oftentimes the very 1st hire that I recommend someone get because as you wear many different hats in your business, so can a VA. And so a virtual assistant is the perfect person to come in and just take some of that off of your plate so that you can focus on doing the things that only you can do. Now let's talk about the role of an EA, which is executive assistant. And EA plays a slightly different role. They're often the right hand to an entrepreneur constantly thinking just one or two steps ahead. And so, honestly, every very successful entrepreneur that I know could not live without their EA There are 2 main parts that an EA touches. That's calendar ownership and inbox management.

Bonnie Christine [00:04:39]:

So we're gonna talk about that today, how we've done it, what's working, and how you might be able to do the same. So the first one is calendar ownership. This includes scheduling meetings, managing meetings, and often coordinating with other people So other team members or other people who have requested an interview or questions of me or something like that. Notice that I said calendar ownership. That means that I don't own my own calendar anymore, meaning nothing gets put on the lender unless it goes through her. And so she has real ownership over that. Now I know that may be hard for you to wrap your mind around, but just consider how many times you might miss a meeting or not, you know, get to work and be surprised at the things that are on your calendar. Or maybe you're going back and forth with someone trying to find the perfect time to set up that call, or you're sending, you know, zoom invitations all of that is what she takes off of my plate.

Bonnie Christine [00:05:45]:

Now one of the keys to a very successful relationship with an EA is well, there's 2 keys. It's trust and communication. You have to trust this person, and you have to communicate a lot. And so one of the keys that make calendar ownership possible is that I created an ideal week. So my ideal week is basically everything that I do on like, every single week. So it's when I work out. It's when I go home. It's when I have, like, date night.

Bonnie Christine [00:06:16]:

It's when I go to church. It's when I have meetings. And so then I open up time on my calendar. So this day and this day, I'm free to take meetings from 1 to 3. And on this day and this day, I wanna block off for deep work from 10 to 2. Right? So you just kinda map this out I actually have an incredible free download for you today. I'm gonna give you the ideal week that I used as well as an EA doc, which I'll talk about in just a minute. So handing this off has been honestly a game changer.

Bonnie Christine [00:06:49]:

I'm not kind of getting dragged into looking at the calendar and figuring out when I can meet with things and and schedule it in. If someone wants to meet with me, I direct them straight to Erin. That's my EA's name. And she, plans it out and puts it on the calendar. Now, of course, things pop up last minute. Right? So if I need to take a day off, I'd let Erin know she blocks it off on my calendar. So, of course, again, high communication makes that possible, but the key is to give complete ownership. Because if you've got things in your head that are on the calendar and then she puts something on the calendar that overlaps, then you have a mess.

Bonnie Christine [00:07:30]:

So high communication. If it's in your brain, make sure it to the calendar. And then all you've got to do is live by your calendar from a day to day basis. And so we use Google calendar, and it's awesome. Now the next one is what I really wanna talk about. It's inbox management. So let me kind of break this down for you because I used to handle all inboxes. So I had a business inbox for questions and business opportunities, but also students and members And then I had my personal inbox, which was, you know, things like orders, online orders, and communication from the school.

Bonnie Christine [00:08:09]:

And so I handed off my team inbox several years ago. Now it was one of the hardest things I've ever done. I talk about how I was able to do that back in episode number 56 where I teach you how I created a brand voice guide. So this doesn't mean that I'm never in the team inbox, but it does mean that I'm not 1st line. And so I held on to my personal inbox this entire time. Personal inbox is, again, all of, like, the newsletters I'm interested in communication from the school, online orders, all of that stuff that doesn't need to be in the team inbox. And so I very much struggled to think about how would I hand that off to someone Now let me get to back to the team inbox. I did not hand that off until it was requiring of me at least 2 solid days a week to manage.

Bonnie Christine [00:09:06]:

It was oftentimes 3 solid days a week. I had gotten to a place where I felt like I was doing nothing, but answering emails, and that kept me from making the impact that I really wanted to make. And so it was vital that I hand that off Now my personal inbox, I gotta say I just don't do a very good job at it. I am slow to get back to people. I yeah. It's I I let it pile up just a little bit. And so I started thinking about how I could hand this off And, of course, all these things bubble to my mind. Like, well, what about privacy and what about trust and what about banking and what about, like, my online orders and What about communication from the school? And so I had all of these limiting beliefs around, well, I don't think I can do that.

Bonnie Christine [00:09:55]:

But let me tell you that you can. There's a system that makes this tremendously impactful, and Part of it is that you have to release it to someone else. That doesn't mean that you don't answer emails. I'll get to that. But it does mean that it's not your priority. It's your EA's priority to sort and look through your inbox, which has lifted so much brain bandwidth for me. I can't even believe it. Mark your calendars for this October 19th through the 21st because our annual conference for Creative Immersion Live is coming up.

Bonnie Christine [00:10:36]:

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Bonnie Christine [00:11:44]:

We're also recording every session. So you can revisit and absorb this wealth of knowledge at your own pace. Head on over to bonniechristine.comforward/ 2023 Immersion Live to join us. So I wanna talk to you about the system that we use for management. But first, let me tell you about the free download for today's episode. You can get it over at our show notes for today's episode at professionalcreative.com. And it's basically the outline that I use. I call it the EA mega doc.

Bonnie Christine [00:12:17]:

And so you can imagine if someone is in your inbox and they're managing all of your life things, there's quite a lot that they need to know. For instance, your family's birthdays, All your holidays, your travel preferences, the school dates, your vehicle information, some financial information, what you typically give as gifts So it includes all of these things, like your personal information, contact information, family details, and everything is in one place. So your EA has this doc to reference as they work through some of your to dos and tasks. This why you absolutely have to have trust in this person, but please let me tell you. There are trustworthy people all over the world who would love to be an EA. So let me tell you what this looks like from a system perspective. I actually adopted this system from Dan Martell. So Dan Martell has a book called Buy Back Your Time.

Bonnie Christine [00:13:17]:

I highly recommend it. And he has this created the system to use with his executive assistant, and we adopted it and love it as well. So my personal inbox is held within Gmail. So what we did was make several folders. So I'm I'll put these over on the show notes so you don't feel like you have to write them down, but I'm gonna walk you through them. So the number one folder is to respond. Too. So items that need to be responded to.

Bonnie Christine [00:13:47]:

Number 2 are things that need to be reviewed. So my EA puts those in there when she questions about them and needs to review them with me before she responds. Number 3 is responded to. So I have folder with every email she's ever responded to so that I can go look at them and make sure she's doing, you know, exactly what I want. Number 4 are things that are being weighted on. So they're kind of just in the wings. They don't need to be reviewed They haven't been responded to. We're waiting on something.

Bonnie Christine [00:14:19]:

Number 5 is for all receipts and financial information that don't need to be responded to, but needs to just be kept. Number 6 is newsletters. So any newsletter that I get goes into this folder, and I get to come in and look at them on my own time whenever I want. Number 7 is orders. So any online orders goes into this folder So what we have done is leave anything that I personally need to respond to in the primary inbox. We did stray from Dan Martell's suggestion on this one because Dan suggests having a folder for you, your personal emails that you need to respond to. But I found in Gmail, it's kinda clunky. I was missing some things, and you can't archive from the folder because technically it's already archived to the folder.

Bonnie Christine [00:15:09]:

So you don't have to follow me if you're not a Gmail user, but I prefer just leaving my personal ones that I need to tend to directly within the inbox so that I see them. I see them there, and she's aware of them as well. So this has worked so incredibly well. Now from here, we do what we call a sync meeting. So you can do this live, like every day. You sync with your EA. That would typically be on the phone. But what has ended up working well for me and Erin is that she drops a sink for me the night before.

Bonnie Christine [00:15:43]:

This is her preference because she's a night owl. So she drops a sink for me for that day in slack the night for, and I listen to it the next morning as I start my day. And so this is any emails that need to be reviewed. Any questions that she has any, like, pending items, anything that she has a question on. And then it's also an overview of my day. So what meetings do I have? What deadlines do I have? It's just a really beautiful way to have everything in one place. An audio version of what my day looks like, what questions I need to address first with her, and anything in the inbox that needs my eyes on it. So this means that I'm not missing anything.

Bonnie Christine [00:16:28]:

It also means that if she has a question on any email, meaning if she's not 100% certain, it goes into a review folder. So we just do it together. And this will take a little bit of time. Your EA will learn over time how you would address most things. And so I am absolutely still in my inbox and will personally reply to things that need my personal reply, but I've got her in there before me, and she's much quicker. This is her priority every single day, and it's not my priority every single day. So it means that she makes sure that I don't miss anything and that we're on track with deadlines. Now just to be clear, she responds as her, not as me.

Bonnie Christine [00:17:14]:

That's you know, a piece of integrity that I always like to make sure people know your EA is not in there pretending to be you. Your EA is responding as your EA. Your executive assistant on your behalf, and that's made very clear in the inbox with a sign off and an explanation. And then, of course, if I'm emailing, it says me. So I mentioned this a little bit already, but I know what you're thinking There's no way I can let someone in my personal inbox. What about this? What about that? What about, you know, the emails that my mom sends me? What about my online orders or or no one can handle the amount of newsletters I get, or I can't trust anyone, or what about privacy? And I just wanna encourage you to know that it's possible. There are absolutely people that are incredibly trustworthy that can handle your inbox. And you tell your mom or whoever it is, to text you instead of email you.

Bonnie Christine [00:18:15]:

So texting is truly the only, like, super private way to communicate with me now. Because my executive assistant has eyes on everything before I do. Now the last thing that we've developed that I actually love This is just my personal work style. I didn't adopt it from anyone else, and I don't know if it'll resonate with you or not. But I'm a big fan of notes So I use the notes app on my phone. It syncs to the notes app on my, laptop or my desktop. And so I just drop things there all the time. I have to do lists and brainstorming lists and links that I want to quickly reference.

Bonnie Christine [00:18:56]:

Like, I just I love it. I have it there all the time. So Aaron has, a love for the notes app as well. So I created us a combined notes app. And that is where she puts everything that is a question and everything that is a to do for me. Because if you can imagine it's in the inbox, it's in Slack. If you're familiar with Slack, as you work through Slack, things kind of get buried. And so the notes The shared notes document that we use has become a really beautiful place for me to head when I just need a recap of what she needs from me.

Bonnie Christine [00:19:33]:

And what I need to do. And so it gets updated every single day. And there's a little checkbox, which is so satisfying to check off as you work through your to do's. And it has we keep, like, my upcoming deadlines at the very top of them for me to reference, and everything is linked with any relevant links So I've got everything at my fingertips. So if you can imagine the this organization of a creative entrepreneur's life comes alongside someone whose love language is organization. In fact, if you are an enneagram person, you'll love to know that Erin, my executive assistant, is a 2 wing 1, which is a helper and kind of that perfectionist like, highly organized person, it has been a beautiful match. She's also working on my team as our events director, so She got her hands in a lot of different things, but my favorite has been executive assistant. It has been such a beautiful role that I didn't realize how much I needed until I had it.

Bonnie Christine [00:20:40]:

And so if this resonates with you, I urge you to consider getting an executive assistant to help. Now I think the last thing that you might be questioning is is this person local? So Erin's not. She only lives a couple of hours from me so we can see each other on occasion, but she's not in my town. And if you hired an EA in your town, You know, they could do even more, like help you with shipping and packaging and things in the office or in your studio. But for me, I didn't find that incredibly necessary, because I have someone who helps me with my house. I also have a house manager. And so this role was very much for a virtual, you know, assistance, and it's been really amazing. So don't forget, head on over to the professional creative dot com.

Bonnie Christine [00:21:31]:

There you'll find the names of the folders that we use in my email inbox. You'll also find a download to fill out your ideal week, which is a game changer, and then also an outline for an EA We call it the mega talk, which is everything that you can put in one document to give to someone where they've got it to reference ongoing. I'd love to know what you think. Did this surprise you? Are you excited about the idea? You overwhelmed at the idea? You think you don't need 1, or are you excited to potentially try an EA? Let me know. And my friends create the beauty that you want to come alive in the world and remember there's room for you and your EA.