As the CEO or Founder of an early or late-stage start-up, what can you do to weather the shoals of today’s VC landscape? Venture Capital funding and exits are down. Inflation, interest rate, funding sources, bank shocks- it’s all happening. Is it time to hunker down and do layoffs or are there other ways to be the proactive leader you need to be and hire an EA?
Time Management for CEOs
As CEO and/or Founder your ideas and time are worth a lot. It’s critical in these tumultuous times to use your funds more wisely, but it’s also critical to use your time more wisely. True leadership requires action and time free from interruptions to think, innovate, and execute well during challenging times. Working harder AND smarter multiplies your impact on the organization you love and the people whose careers and livelihoods you are responsible for.
Hiring a top Executive Assistant (EA), Executive/Personal Assistant, or upgrading the one you have is both one of the easiest and hardest decisions you can make. As experts, we can make this a lot easier for you. If your funding is challenged at this time, the optics might be bad, but the math is easy to explain:
You have 24 hours in a day. How many of those are really productive and peak performance hours – free from interruptions and non-mission critical items? When thinking about this, make sure to discount the time you waste ramping up after each distraction or interruption. Studies show that every time you are interrupted it takes an average of 25 minutes to get back to full concentration mode (assuming you are not interrupted again during that time).
Hiring an Executive Assistant: Let’s Look at the Math
Now, add up all those hours lost from disruptions and the hours you waste doing something an EA could easily do, and do the calculation. It’s an arbitrage- an EA who works 2000 hours a year and has a salary of $100,000 a year costs you $50 an hour. If your hourly rate is $150 an hour and you are losing 5 hours a day of optimal performance (most likely it’s more), you are “losing” $100 an hour for every one of those hours an EA could be working. Hiring an EA means you are “saving” the company $125,000 a year in dollars of your time. Most likely, the savings to your company will go far beyond money because in that year, having regained your ability to focus, you’ve been able to increase revenues, develop new product ideas, and motivate your team. And if you need more evidence to support the math on what boosts productivity, there is the science behind interruptions and memory to consider.
If you love making your own travel plans and following up on calendar invites and conflicts, calling outside vendors when things don’t go right, and following up on project deadlines and deliverables, then having an EA may deprive you of satisfaction and maybe the money-saving isn’t worth as much to you. But for most CEOs and Founders, taking these easy activities off your plate gives you a surge in productivity. It allows you to do the things you should do, not just the things you can do.
Factors to Consider When Hiring an Executive Assistant
Once you see the logic and financial impact of hiring an EA, we can help you with the process and execute it easily and quickly. If you define the role carefully and give your EA the right responsibilities you will reap the full benefits quickly.
If you’re interested in learning more about how we can help you hire an EA for yourself or your C-Suite executives, please don’t hesitate to contact us at 646-214-7475 or via email at carol@csuiteassistants.com. At C-Suite Assistants, we specialize in placing EAs for C-Suite Executives across various industries and locations throughout the country.
