Episode 339: You Don’t Need More Time — You Need an Executive Assistant

Welcome to the Scale Your Insurance Agency Podcast. This podcast will give you all of the tools to scale your insurance agency and live life on your own terms. Wherever you are today, if you're stuck or well on your way to the success you desire with the right people, processes, and promotions in place, you will be unstoppable. And now I'd like to introduce your host, Mike Stromzo.

Hey, welcome back to the Scale Your Insurance Agency podcast, which by the way is at ScaleYourInsuranceAgency.com. We're going to start it on something today that is not only near and dear to my heart, that most recently is active within our own business. And my big question for you to start off today is how much is your time worth? How much is your time worth? I know. A lot. I know. How much? How much per hour? And I continually challenge independent insurance agency owners with that question. And they'll say, well, how do I figure it out? I say, go back to your most recently filed tax return. And if they're not filing tax returns, that's a whole nother conversation. Go back to your most recently filed tax return, look at your adjusted gross income line divided by 2080, which is the average number of working hours in a year, and that's your value per hour. Now, if your AGI isn't high enough, we've got work to do. If you're working more than 2,080 hours in a year, we have work to do. And that's why we're here. Let's get started. So, how do you maximize your value that you bring to the table? Because it's quite possible that you're the most valuable person in the ages. So, how do we maximize what you're doing with your time? What did I do? When I first learned this strategy a lot of years ago, more than two, three decades ago, somebody said hire a personal assistant. And I thought, I'm not big enough to hire a personal assistant. And then I started thinking, and that's where the danger lies, right? Don't start thinking. Then I started thinking, I'm not worthy. Who am I to hire somebody to take everything off of my plate? Part of it was my conservative upbringing. But after my mastermind group got a hold of me and they helped me think about things differently, because that's one of the greatest values that mastermind groups do. They can see things that you can't see. They help you think outside the box because they're not as close to it as you are. After my mastermind group got a hold of me and said, Mike, this is a business strategy. You've got to think like an entrepreneur. I go, aha. So I did it. And the year was, I believe it was 2003, 2004, when I hired my first personal assistant. And I wrote about it in my book, The Unstoppable Profit Producer, which by the way is on page 56 of the book. And by the way, if you're watching or listening to this podcast and you would like a complimentary copy of my book, so you can look at it yourself on page 56, send an email to VIP at upplife.com. That's V like Victor, I like igloo, P like Paul, VIP at upilife.com. In the subject line, put personal assistant. Personal assistant. When I get the email that says personal assistant in the subject line, I'll send and make sure in the body of the email you give me your name and shipping address. Name and shipping address. No cost to you. I'll ship you the book, but I need your name and shipping address. Okay. And put personal assistant in the subject line. So I wrote about it in my book, one of my books, The Unstoppable Profit Producer, about personal assisting. And that's what I want to speak with you about today. Because we just hired my next executive assistant. She is incredible. She is awesome. So excited to have her on the team. So my point number one for today's podcast. Stop asking, can I afford an assistant? Stop asking it. Stop it. Flip the question. What is it costing me not to have one? What is it costing you not to have one? You see, what is your value per hour? If you can compensate anybody less than your value per hour to do anything, you should be doing it all day long. But most agency leaders and owners and entrepreneurs, they spend hours doing 20, 25, 30, 40, $35, $40 an hour of work while neglecting the work that could produce thousands of dollars of revenue in just an hour or two. And what about the value to your enterprise, your valuation? What's your impact on your valuation of that work? That's how you need to think about it entrepreneurially. Think like a business owner. You see, the issue isn't whether administrative work matters. Of course it matters. It absolutely matters. But the issue is whether you should be doing it. And so I'll give you something tactical that you can take to the bank. Yesterday, just yesterday, I got to, I don't have to do anything. I get to. I got to sit here for too many hours recording videos. Recording videos on how I do things. I was overviewing our CPA and our bookkeeping, and I was overviewing our systems, and I was overviewing this. And I have a long list of things that the new executive assistant is going to do. So when she starts on day one, which is in a couple of weeks, she'll be ready. She'll be prepared. The wow packages and the notes and the videos from the team member, they're all done. And she's going to receive them well in advance. She's going to be ready. Emotionally and otherwise. So every hour that you spend scheduling, organizing, chasing information, processing routine correspondence, or managing details is an hour unavailable for building enterprise value, for doing things like recruiting, developing people, creating strategy, building relationships, and pursuing greater opportunities. The most expensive person in your company should not be doing what somebody else can do extraordinarily well. And I will never forget last year at our UPP Grand Mastermind, which is coming up, by the way, in 64 days, I believe. And you can learn more at UPPmastermind.com. Last year, super high achieving agents stood up at the mastermind, and I was telling, I was teaching something similar to what I just said, and he and he said, I'm going to change right now. All off of my plate. He put it all onto the responsibility list of a second in command because he identified that nobody will ever do it as good as he can. That's the truth. Nobody can ever do it as good as you can. Period. It's reality. If you have somebody that can do it to 80% of how you do it, that is a huge win. He identified that. The things that have happened in his agency since then, I could go on for an entire podcast that I will sometime soon about what's happening in his agency. The things he's doing next month, mind-blowing incredible. That's what happens when you free yourself up. That's what's going to happen for us. Stay tuned. Point number two the real ROI isn't productivity. It's freedom. It's freedom to do those kinds of things. It's the heartbeat of your agency. Most people hire an assistant because they want to get more done. That thinking is too small. The real outcome that you're looking for is freedom. Freedom to operate in your highest and best use areas. The freedom to think, the freedom to create, the freedom to pursue opportunities, the freedom to build those big, important relationships, the freedom to spend time with people you love that fuels your soul. The freedom to work where and when you want to work most effectively. An extraordinary executive assistant or personal assistant doesn't just simply manage tasks, they create capacity. And my team doesn't even know this. And our director of the podcast, this is the first time she's heard it as well. I have a title for this person coming in, and it's the CCO, chief capacity officer. Because that's what she's gonna do. She's gonna give me more capacity to do more extraordinary things. I'm pumped and excited. And capacity allows the entrepreneur to create greater impact. That's what you're after. The ability to create greater impact. That's our core purpose at UPP. To impact people's lives personally and professionally. You don't hire an executive or a personal assistant to make your life busier. You hire one to give you your life back. That's the reason. The next point on this though, you must know. You must know this. To an extent you want to hire your opposite, you don't want to hire another you. Now, uh the process that we went through to find this person, to interview this person, there are some similarities, but we use multiple assessment assessments. We used multiple assessments to identify this person, including disc, etc., working genius, and we combined all of that together, okay, to make sure that we didn't have another me writing around. One of me is bad enough, right? So that's how you get that balance within a team. You know how you're wired, you know what makes you tick, okay? So hiring another person exactly like you is gonna bring maybe further chaos to the organization. So you want to be aware of these things. Okay? This person should complement you in what you do. You're fast, find someone methodical. Okay. If you're big picture minded, find somebody who sees details. If you generate ideas, find somebody who converts ideas into execution. That's exactly what this gal does. And if you're constantly looking forward, find someone who makes sure nothing gets left behind. If you're constantly looking forward, find somebody to make sure that nothing gets left behind. Remember, you don't want to hire somebody who works like you. Hire somebody who makes you better at being you. You don't want to hire somebody who works like you. You want to hire somebody who makes you better at being you. Because you have a certain place within the agency to take the agency where you want it to go. We all have big dreams. We all have big aspirations. We all are reaching for our full potential. This is a key component. Next, the kind of empowerment and delegation that will be required for this relationship, it requires trust. Trust. And trust requires a system. We are working hard on our systems right now to make sure that we update our systems, to make sure that the system continues to bring that trust level to the table. The trust will need to be built, it will need to be earned. Okay. So hiring that executive assistant or personal assistant and continuing to do everything yourself will accomplish nothing. What it will do, it will send a message to that person that you don't trust them. And how do you think that's gonna work out? It's not. Okay. Great entrepreneurs learn how to build a business that operates without them. Great entrepreneurs learn how to build a business that operates without them. You must learn to ruthlessly empower other people and delegate. In my mind, delegation and empowerment are two different words. Delegate is just saying, hey, I need you to do this, and here's the process and the workflow, just do it. Empowering somebody else is really teaching them why it's important and how it's done. Because, you know, here's a philosophy that we've taught for years. It's called the see-do-teach philosophy. See, do teach. Okay? So you show somebody how to do something, they see it. They might be sitting next to you, it might be online on via Zoom or whatever your platform is. They see you do it. That's the see. Okay. Next time it's done, you flip the chairs. They do it, and you're observing, or the person training them is observing. All right. So they've seen it, they watch you do it, or somebody else do it. Then they turn around and do it themselves with somebody observing. But the key is when they can teach somebody else how to do it, they have begun to gain mastery. And that's the goal to get them to mastery. That's part of empowerment. Empowerment is when they can master or begin to master teaching somebody else to do it. And that's what you want to do. You want to make sure that you empower people. Great empowerment and delegation requires clarity, ownership. In other words, the other person must own it. Authority, accountability, feedback, and trust. All of those must be present. Start transferring responsibilities. Document recurring tasks. Put in accompanying video so it's clear. By the way, uh I'll give you an insider tip. I record my videos on Zoom because it's easy for me. I know how to do it. I've been doing it for a long, long time. Zoom now has a command that says show captions. Turn the show captions command on. The captions of everything you're talking, scroll right across the screen. It's just one more way to effectively communicate. All right. And by the way, if you record on Zoom, save it to your computer, not to the Zoom cloud. Back to our topic today. Start transferring responsibilities. Establish the priorities. Make sure that you share why these things are important. Who benefits from all of this? How does it support our core purpose? Our core purpose impacting people's lives personally and professionally. Because that's our core purpose. That's why this is important. And then, above everything else, resist the temptation to take things back simply because you've been thinking like this for too many years. It's faster to do it myself. Resist the temptation to take things back because you think it's faster for me to do it myself. Don't do it. I know, of course you can. You can get it done right now. You're used to working at nights and on the weekends. Don't do it. One, you'll fall into bad old bad habits. Two, you'll destroy the trust that you built with your teammate. If you keep doing that, you're going to still be doing it five years from now because you won't be able to keep anybody on your team. All we want is your achievement, higher achievement to reach your goals and beyond your goals. Empowerment and delegation isn't complete when you give someone a task. It's complete when you no longer have to think about the task. Empowerment and delegation isn't complete when you give somebody a task. It's complete when you no longer have to think about the task. Ladies and gentlemen, it's a wonderful, incredible place to be. I will never, ever forget the day when my personal assistant, second in command, we call her the integrator, came to me one day and said, Mike, we don't need you anymore. Our current plan has been fully realized. You can go ride your bike, play with your grandkids, help other agents grow. We'll let you know if we need you. Ladies and gentlemen, that's a wonderful, incredible place to be. That's what we want for you. That's why we are here. Next point your executive assistant, personal assistant becomes the moat around your castle. Inside your castle is your time, your sweet zone, your power hour, and everything else that goes along with it. Your highest productivity time. The modern entrepreneur, that's you by the way, isn't suffering from a shortage of information. We're drowning in it. That's why you're drowning. Stay away from the moat. Stay in your castle. You know, things like emails, texts, meetings, calendar requests, vendors, teams, social media, phone calls, follow-ups. Hey, got a minute for a quick question? You know, those got a minute that turns into 20 questions? 20 minutes? Got a minute that turns into 20 minutes? By the way, remember, the true cost of interruption is 23 minutes and 15 seconds to fully recover back to the state you were in before the interruption. 23 minutes and 15 seconds. I study this stuff for you. This executive assistant, personal assistant, becomes the filter between you and all that noise. And the thing is, I will teach this person, and you should be teaching yours the same thing. What are the things that deserve Mike's attention? I need to know what those are and what they're not. What can someone else handle? And who in our organization will handle it if Mike's not going to handle it? What can wait? What can't wait? What should never reach him at all? Those are just a few of the questions. And when your executive assistant, personal assistant evolves from the task doer to the gatekeeper to the create TV capacity creator, excuse me, to the strategic partner, that's when you really start winning. Let me repeat that. From the task doer to the gatekeeper to the capacity creator to the strategic partner, that's when it gets really, really special. Believe me, it's incredible. Your executive assistant and your personal assistant shouldn't simply manage your calendar. They should help protect your highest and best use time. They shouldn't just manage your calendar. They should protect your highest and best use time. We've all got the same 24-7-365. And you, your time is likely the most important time within the entire organization. Your time is the lever that's driving your ship or it's not. We've got some challenges for you as we wrap this. For the next two weeks or the next month, if you can't handle that, the next week, whatever works for you. I want you to keep a running list. A running list of things I should never do again. A running list of things you should never do again. That's right. Start the list today. Best case scenario, for at least two weeks to a month. Keep the list. And I like the month cycle actually better than two weeks because I mean, think about it. Monthly payables, etc., etc., etc. Go for a month. Keep the list. Things I should never do again is at the top of that list. Every time that you perform that tax, say, does this require my unique ability as the owner or the leader? Does this require my unique ability as the owner or the leader? Now, I also wrote a book called The Power of Three, which helps people identify their top personal talents, gifts, or superpowers. That's what I'm talking about. If the answer is no, write it down. If the answer is no, write it down. By the way, you can find the book The Power of Three on Amazon. It's there in book form, hardcover, paperback, and audible. Just search in Amazon Power of Three Mike Stromso. Power of Three Mike Stromso will take you right to the book. Does this require my unique ability as the owner or leader? If the answer is no, write it down. It goes on the list. You know, here's some examples for you: scheduling, travel, expense reports, meeting preparation, follow-up, routine, calendar management, research, vendor coordination, document preparation, administrative communication, marketing, and more. This is the beginning of what will be your executive assistant or your personal assistant's job description. I was working on the list yesterday. It's got twenty-five items on it just to start. There is only one you. Happy to jump on a UPP scaling session to have that discussion. Again, if you would like a free copy of my book, The Unstoppable Profit Producer, the uh chapter on hiring a personal assistant is on page 56. Shoot us an email. VIP at uplife.com, VictorIglopaul at uplife.com, VIP at uplife.com. In the subject line, put personal assistant. Make sure in the body of the email, you give me your first name, last name, and your shipping address, and our team will get that out to you. A S A P. And until then, if you got great value out of this episode, please share it with somebody else that you care about. You can just forward the episode or just send them to scale your insurance agency.com. Scale your insurance agency.com. I'll see you in the next episode. Only action, my friends, will get you to where you want to go.

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