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Executive Assistants can become essential members of your team. CEOs and Founders are two of the most common titles we see coming through our agency, but Executive Assistants can work for any executive role, as long as the ROI is there.
Our clients at Coconut VA are always looking for ways to grow their companies by hiring Virtual Assistants. And at some point in a company's growth, executives get to a point where they need one dedicated person to help them organize their personal and work lives. Here are some common responsibilities of Executive Assistants:
How do you know if you’re ready to delegate these tasks? I’d like to give you a formula. This formula can help you decide when is the best time to hire an Executive Assistant.
The idea of an Executive Assistant is to make you more productive. Let’s say that you can do all of your responsibilities 10% better or you can have 10% more of your work hours if you had an Executive Assistant. This leads to an equation:
Your Compensation * Productivity Increase (%) = Budget for Executive Assistant
Ex. $500,000/year * 10% = $50,000/year (EA Budget)
Using this example, the ROI of hiring an Executive Assistant will break even when your compensation is $500,000/year, you’re paying your EA $50,000/year, and your Executive Assistant is making you 10% more productive.
Customize however you’d like! Let’s say that we have a Visionary Founder who spends 80% of their time on administrative tasks when they should be spending 80% of their time on company vision. You could argue that an Executive Assistant could take a lot of those administrative tasks and make the Founder at least 30% more productive.
Ex. $170,000/year * 30% = $50,000/year (EA Budget)
In this new example, a Founder could be making $170,000/year, but if an Executive Assistant could truly make them 30% more productive, then it makes sense to hire an Executive Assistant. Hiring an EA at $170K/year could make just as much sense as hiring an EA at $500K/year
Another lever to pull is the cost of the Executive Assistant. I am 100% for paying people what they are worth, and I have seen amazing benefits from paying people above average for their roles.
But, at Coconut VA, we have the unique opportunity to hire talent from the Philippines, where the same amount of money can go a lot further. I could hire an Executive Assistant in the U.S. for around $50,000/year, maybe more if I’m looking for someone with good experience. Or, I could hire an Executive Assistant with similar experience and a similar skillset for $25,000/year from the Philippines.
So, let’s look at that previous example with the Founder making $170,000/year. If we know that a competent EA could be found for $25,000/year, how much does our productivity need to increase to break even on that cost?
Ex. $170,000/year * 15% = $25,000/year (EA Budget)
With the exact same Founder compensation, your Executive Assistant now only needs to make you 15% more productive to break even on this investment.
The decision to hire an Executive Assistant boils down to an evaluation of your productivity, potential for higher productivity, Founder compensation, and EA compensation. One of the biggest questions to answer is, “do you have enough work to fill their time?” Don’t worry about having 40 hours of work on their first day, but don’t put yourself in a position where your new hire is twiddling their thumbs, waiting for you to get them something to do.
Filipino virtual assistants offer a unique solution, blending top-notch talent with cost-effectiveness. You can leverage this simple formula:
Your Compensation * Productivity Increase (%) = Budget for Executive Assistant
And by doing so, you can determine the appropriate time to bring on an Executive Assistant. With the right Executive Assistant in place, you can focus more on driving the vision for your company and get yourself out of the day-to-day.
When you’re ready to hire an Executive Assistant, book a call with Coconut VA. We’ll get on a free strategy call with you to determine if we’re right for you.
Executive Assistants can become essential members of your team. CEOs and Founders are two of the most common titles we see coming through our agency, but Executive Assistants can work for any executive role, as long as the ROI is there.
Our clients at Coconut VA are always looking for ways to grow their companies by hiring Virtual Assistants. And at some point in a company's growth, executives get to a point where they need one dedicated person to help them organize their personal and work lives. Here are some common responsibilities of Executive Assistants:
How do you know if you’re ready to delegate these tasks? I’d like to give you a formula. This formula can help you decide when is the best time to hire an Executive Assistant.
The idea of an Executive Assistant is to make you more productive. Let’s say that you can do all of your responsibilities 10% better or you can have 10% more of your work hours if you had an Executive Assistant. This leads to an equation:
Your Compensation * Productivity Increase (%) = Budget for Executive Assistant
Ex. $500,000/year * 10% = $50,000/year (EA Budget)
Using this example, the ROI of hiring an Executive Assistant will break even when your compensation is $500,000/year, you’re paying your EA $50,000/year, and your Executive Assistant is making you 10% more productive.
Customize however you’d like! Let’s say that we have a Visionary Founder who spends 80% of their time on administrative tasks when they should be spending 80% of their time on company vision. You could argue that an Executive Assistant could take a lot of those administrative tasks and make the Founder at least 30% more productive.
Ex. $170,000/year * 30% = $50,000/year (EA Budget)
In this new example, a Founder could be making $170,000/year, but if an Executive Assistant could truly make them 30% more productive, then it makes sense to hire an Executive Assistant. Hiring an EA at $170K/year could make just as much sense as hiring an EA at $500K/year
Another lever to pull is the cost of the Executive Assistant. I am 100% for paying people what they are worth, and I have seen amazing benefits from paying people above average for their roles.
But, at Coconut VA, we have the unique opportunity to hire talent from the Philippines, where the same amount of money can go a lot further. I could hire an Executive Assistant in the U.S. for around $50,000/year, maybe more if I’m looking for someone with good experience. Or, I could hire an Executive Assistant with similar experience and a similar skillset for $25,000/year from the Philippines.
So, let’s look at that previous example with the Founder making $170,000/year. If we know that a competent EA could be found for $25,000/year, how much does our productivity need to increase to break even on that cost?
Ex. $170,000/year * 15% = $25,000/year (EA Budget)
With the exact same Founder compensation, your Executive Assistant now only needs to make you 15% more productive to break even on this investment.
The decision to hire an Executive Assistant boils down to an evaluation of your productivity, potential for higher productivity, Founder compensation, and EA compensation. One of the biggest questions to answer is, “do you have enough work to fill their time?” Don’t worry about having 40 hours of work on their first day, but don’t put yourself in a position where your new hire is twiddling their thumbs, waiting for you to get them something to do.
Filipino virtual assistants offer a unique solution, blending top-notch talent with cost-effectiveness. You can leverage this simple formula:
Your Compensation * Productivity Increase (%) = Budget for Executive Assistant
And by doing so, you can determine the appropriate time to bring on an Executive Assistant. With the right Executive Assistant in place, you can focus more on driving the vision for your company and get yourself out of the day-to-day.
When you’re ready to hire an Executive Assistant, book a call with Coconut VA. We’ll get on a free strategy call with you to determine if we’re right for you.
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