“Aren’t Executive Assistant’s just for big Corporates?”
“No, think again!”
Think of an EA and you may typically think of someone that supports the CEO of a large Corporate, but EA’s work equally, if not better, for SME business owners.
CEO’s of large corporates have a management team to support them, but CEO’s/MD’s of SME’s don’t always have that luxury, and that’s where a great Freelance Executive Assistant can come in.
How is an EA different to a PA?
The term EA and PA often get used synonymously; in fact the roles are different.
An EA may perform some of the same tasks as a PA, and they both definitely lighten the load for an executive, but an EA is likely to be more strategically hands on.
Whist a PA may perform delegated administrative tasks, such as travel arrangements, diary management, minute taking, and day to day administration, a good EA is more strategic, and is often seen proactively working on projects on an MD’s or CEO’s behalf.
As an EA here are some of the areas I get involved in:
· Preparing financials and the implications of those on the business
· Liaising with clients
· Preparing business proposals
· Conducting new business/project research
· Project management
· Preparing presentations and speeches
· Understanding the executive and company goals to be able to draft correspondence
· Managing other company personnel
· Being a CEO’s eyes and ears on projects
· Preparing business plans and forecasts
How can an EA support an SME MD?
There may be a time in your business when you consider if you need a PA or an EA, in order that you can accomplish everything that keeps piling onto your To-Do-List.
Here’s my top reasons for a SME CEO to hire a freelance EA:
1. Re-ignite Your Entrepreneurial Leadership
Many SME MD’s spend their days bogged down in the day-to-day administration of running a business and find that they then don’t have the time to do the strategic entrepreneurial business development, that they launched their business for in the first place. An EA can take away much of the day-to-day admin freeing the MD up to work ‘on the business’ rather than ‘in the business’.
2. Short-term Scalability
If you are developing the business and need extra support but are yet at that position where you can afford a full-time assistant, then a freelance EA can certainly bridge that gap until you can grow the business to a point where you can take on a full-time permanent employee.
3. Someone to Bounce Ideas Off
Being the MD of a SME can sometimes be a lonely place, you may have a team in place, but you can’t burden them with the challenges of running your own business, and you may not want to take that burden home either. A freelance EA is a good ear, someone to bounce ideas off, discuss challenges, or just have a general moan to if you are having a bad day! A good EA is a confidant and is the master of discretion.
4. Giving the Gift of Time
An EA can certainly lighten the load for an MD, being able to deal with many things on their behalf, this may be producing financials, client meeting packs, presentations, research, monitoring emails and drafting responses, project management or being an extra resource on projects.
5. Keeping You In Check
Are you interest led? Most entrepreneurs are, they like working on things that interest them, often leaving vital administration to the last minute or until it is too late. A good EA keeps an MD in check and ahead of those important deadlines, so that nothing gets missed.
6. Improve Business Efficiency
Freelance EA’s get to see many businesses and pick up a wealth of knowledge of running a business efficiently, they can often provide excellent ideas on streamlining the business processes and making it more efficient and cost effective.
7. Market Strategy and Growth
Business growth relies on knowing the needs of your customers, keeping track of the market you are operating in, watching what your competitors are doing, developing new products or services and getting news of those out to the market. All of these are time consuming tasks, which a good EA can support you with.
8. Get Back Your Work-Life Balance
Entrepreneurs often set up their own business for independence, but then end up getting tied to the business and working on administration late into the evenings or at weekends, impacting their home life balance. By giving your EA some of those tasks, enables you to gain more free time to spend with friends and family, and ensures you don’t suffer from burnout.
If you resonate with any of these points a freelance EA may be the way forward. Remember, with a freelancer you just pay for the hours you use, so you could start with just a few hours per month to tackle a few tasks and see how it could change your life!
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