How Leveraging an Assistant Will Change Your Life & Maximize Your Time with Tricia Sciortino

0:01Light that spark fire nation JLD here and welcome to entrepreneurs on fire brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals with great shows like Creator Science. Today, we'll be breaking down how leveraging an assistant will change your life and maximize your time. To drop these value bombs, I brought Trisha Shortino into EO Fire Studios. Trisha is the CEO of one of the nation's leading virtual assistant companies, Belay. She is the author of Rise Up and Lead Well, how leveraging an assistant will change change your life and maximize your time. She co-hosts the One Next Step podcast and believes we own our journey.

0:42We take risks and we rise up. And today, Fire Nation, we will talk about the many mistakes that we make as entrepreneurs when we try to scale our business, how we can avoid those. We'll talk about delegation, trust, communication expectations with our VAs, how to get the most out of your virtual assistant, how to avoid overwhelm, burnout, and so much more. And a big thank you for sponsoring today's episode. goes to Tricia and our sponsors. Artificial intelligence has made a splash in the headlines and for good reason. The digital landscape is changing quickly and AI is a huge part of that. If you're feeling behind the curve, don't worry.

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2:00Find out more about how to use AI to grow your business at HubSpot.com slash artificial dash intelligence. Tricia, say what's up to Fire Nation and share something that you believe about becoming successful that most people disagree with. All right. Well, first of all, what's up, Fire Nation? I would say one thing that I think most people would disagree with is that you can learn to be a leader. It is a learned skill set. You're not born with it. It's not maybe innate to you. I think it is a skill set that people can actually learn to acquire if it doesn't come naturally. Well, I can tell you having spent four years as an active duty officer in the U.S.

2:48Army, I definitely do agree with that sentiment. I've seen it time and time again. and it's important to realize Fire Nation that you are on your own journey whether that be one of leadership or in some cases in a lot of points in our lives it's of following leaders until we are in that leadership position and we can always learn so much from that process and from conversations like we're having today and speaking of stories you have an amazing story I mean this is actually an incredible story and I want to start with it. You were Belay's first virtual assistant and now you are the CEO. Share the evolution of how this happens.

3:32Yeah. I mean, I like to quote Drake and say I've started from the bottom, now I'm here. But there's a little more to it than that. Yeah. It has a lot to do with teaching myself and professional development, my story. So I think, you know, when I started 12 years ago, I, you know, had a different skill set and I was a sponge. And I really believed that. And I, and I believe today that we really can do anything if we put our mind to it. And I know it sounds so cliche, but I really prescribed to that in that if there was an opportunity inside the organization for me to level up and become a manager, a director, a VP at the time.

4:16And my supervisor said, no, you have a gap in this skill set. Well, I took that and I went and learned that thing and filled the gap, learned the skill set, and then moved on to the next level. And then I'd get to the next level and say, hey, I see this awesome opportunity for the next level and I would love to get there. Well, here's the gaps. Here's the things you got to work on to be the next VP of marketing or whatever that is at the time. and I went and took that and I went and got the education and I taught myself. So I think that goes back to what you were just saying is that you're in control and you can learn and I think I believe in constantly learning and evolving.

4:55And then my boss kind of kids to me and says, well, now that you're CEO, that's it. I said, definitely not. Now I'm the CEO of a larger organization as we grow, or I need to be a better CEO, or there's things or gaps I have in my leadership today that I need to fill in. So I think the journey has been, I've been able to rise up the ranks, if you will, or the ladder inside the organization by just being a constant learner and challenging myself to go get the skills I needed and the education I needed so that my growth wasn't stunted. I love this Fire Nation. And my question to you listening right now is, if you are actually looking to move up the ladder, are you looking for the gaps that currently exist in your organization and getting the skills and knowledge that it takes to fill those gaps?

5:49And are you asking other people, people that are leading you, are you asking them what your personal gaps are, or at least what they're identifying as your personal gaps and how they can be filled. Ask yourself those questions if you're looking to move up. If you want to stay where you are, I get it, Fire Nation, but this probably isn't the podcast for you. Now, as entrepreneurs, we make many, many mistakes when we're trying to scale our businesses. Give us a couple of those mistakes that we make when scaling right now. The number one thing we see is burnout as it relates to so many different areas of being a leader.

6:33As we grow our business, we really need to figure out what it means to not hoard all the work and accept that you must have all these different hats and you are the sole person to spin all these plates at the same time. I think the biggest mistake we see is people who cannot delegate or don't delegate well, or they want control and won't release those things to delegate them well, and then therefore aren't empowering or giving great work to those around them and empowering and elevating those around you. So I think a growing business requires you surround yourself with the best talent. And the best way to find those talented people is to let them in, give them some of the great work and do it as a partnership.

7:23Now, obviously, you just mentioned this, but I want to stay here for a minute because it is such an important topic. Overwhelm, burnout. It is all too commonplace for entrepreneurs across the board. I hear it every day, all the time. we've experienced it in our business over the past decade plus. What are some strategies beyond what you just shared that we can actually implement in our life, in our business to minimize overwhelm, to minimize burnout? Yeah, I think first thing you need to do is, you know, recognize it's like a 10 step program. Number one, realize where you're at. I think a lot of people wind up in burnout and don't even know they were headed in that direction.

8:06If you can catch some of the early signs, you're going to be doing a lot better than some others out there. So are you working too many hours? Are you dropping the ball on things that are important at work? Are you not spending enough time doing the most important things for your business, which are probably related to growth and strategy and vision? Are you missing things personally? Has your personal life taken a backseat to your work life? And all those things, you put them together and they will lead you to a place where there is this overwhelmed feeling and this burnout feeling because you're not doing what we just kind of talked about and figuring out where are the areas that you should spend your attention and focus on and what are the things truly you do not need to do and could easily be handed off to somebody else inside your organization or it may mean bringing somebody onto the organization.

9:05But I think, you know, recognize the signals and then start making a plan. I'm a very planned person because it helps me avoid overwhelm. And what I mean by being planned is I have an ideal work week and I'm very specific about what I'm doing each day, what I'm doing each part of a day. And honestly, what are the things I'm not going to do so that I have room for the things I should be doing. Fire Nation, I hope you're looking at your day while Trisha's sharing these strategies here and these ideas and saying, how can I implement these strategies into my business, into my life? And we have a lot to talk about around this topic and more when we get back from thanking our sponsors.

9:50Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business, startups, and entrepreneurship. One of Scott's recent episodes was with none other than Jack Canfield, where they discuss adapting to life's twists and turns. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts. Trisha, we're back, and listen, hiring is tough. But once we hire someone, we have to set them up for success.

10:25And we have to set ourselves up for success as well when they're on board. Talk to us about how we can do both of these things. Yes. Hiring is probably the most important thing. One of the most important things you will do as an organization and as a leader. So we believe very firmly about how it is that your hiring process looks. We believe in it being very long and arduous, if you will, very detailed. And some of those things look like the level of interviews you have, the number of interviews you have. We believe in multiple interviews. I think for some of us who are maybe small business owners or solopreneurs, it's easy for us to interview somebody we think we want to hire and think they're amazing and never really have the opportunity to get a second opinion.

11:21So I would say look to friends or peers or other people inside your organization to really get a second opinion on who you're looking at. That goes above and beyond the basic skill set and things that you would see on a resume, but also vetting them for their soft skills. So I think hiring should be a multi-step approach. You should hire very slowly and make the right decision. Hiring mistakes cost us lots of time, energy, and money, so we really want to get it right the first time. And since we are a staffing organization, it's what we do, we believe the vetting process is just an important part of hiring the right person.

12:00Then once you've hired that person, the training is a whole other beast. People will be as good as you let them be. We have seen time and time again how an employee or team member will show up a certain way under one leader, and then when moved to a different leader, they thrive. Why is that? Are there gaps in leadership style? Are there gaps in training programs? Have you thoroughly trained a person? Do you have great feedback loops for these people? So your ability to train and onboard people to your organization as a leader is equally as important as it is that the right person has showed up and brought their skill set to you that day.

12:42Fire Nation, lots of things to think about here. I love this quote. I want to say it again. People will be as good as you let them be. I mean, let that sink in, Fire Nation. Are you letting your people be as good as they can be? Are you letting that happen? Or are you micromanaging? Are you just standing over their shoulder and suffocating them? I mean, people love to take pride in their work, to take ownership, to have responsibility into what they're doing, to be proud of what they're creating. Give them that opportunity. And are you onboarding? Are you training these individuals? Well, these are questions you have to be asking yourself because if they're not thriving for you, that is a you problem.

13:24They will be able to thrive with the right leadership. So become that right leadership. But I do want to talk about establishing relationships with our virtual assistants. Let's talk about this. How can we establish good relationships with our VAs? Yeah, I mean, I think first of all, you know, we've kind of talked around it, you know, having a virtual assistant, some assistant, somebody alongside you as a leader to kind of help you handle the administration of what it looks like to be a leader is so important. I literally could not be where I was if I did not have a great assistant. I so profoundly believe that.

13:59Obviously, I was an assistant. I am now a CEO with an assistant, and I know those two things are correlated. What it looks like to have a healthy virtual assistant relationship and really establish great foundation, there's a few small things I would say. Number one, I would say fill the gap with trust. It kind of goes into that whole training and feedback thing we were just talking about. people do not show up to work to disappoint you. The typical average person shows up with the best intention. If something has missed and it wasn't the way you had hoped it would be, then you fill the gap with trust, not suspicion, and you say, did I give the right level of detail?

14:42Did I delegate it correctly? Was I part of the problem? So I think the first thing is lead with trust. I believe you give trust. It doesn't need to be earned. Give it away until people prove you otherwise. So that's the first thing, I think, with any relationship, but most importantly, with a virtual assistant. I think second to that, you know, start small and build up on things. So pick maybe the one to three things that are so important for you that you want to hand off right, you want to train them well, and that are easy wins. We all want quick wins, right? So give your virtual assistant something that's a quick win for both of you.

15:21For me, that's something like calendar management, setting meetings on a calendar. And those are small, easy tasks that can be delegated quickly. And you can feel the impact of that immediately. They're winning and you're winning. I think also how you communicate those gaps we talked about is crucial to the relationship. um, communicating with kindness, communicating, um, clearly communicating quickly. And so the quickly one is the one I, I think a lot of people miss. Nobody wants to get on a call with their boss or a leader and have them say, Hey, last week in that meeting, the way you did X, Y, Z, I would have preferred you did it this other way.

16:05It's like, really, that was last week or last month. I believe, you know, let people know right there in the moment, right after that meeting or call and say, hey, here's an opportunity I see. Think next time you can X, Y, Z. It's right in the moment. It's fresh in everybody's mind and people can make immediate adjustments accordingly. So if you asked my virtual assistant about our feedback loop, she would say, I receive critical, important, kind feedback daily so that we never have to have that I'm being called to the office conversation, if you know what I mean. I definitely know what you mean.

16:41And Fire Nation, just like I shared last time, there's another quote that I love that Tricia shared that I just want to go back to because these are things that have to stick with you here. People are not showing up to work to disappoint you. That is not what people are doing. You need to understand that and set your VAs up for the success that both you and they desire, Fire Nation, and you've got to learn how to delegate correctly. You've got to learn how to build trust and you've got to set those communication expectations correctly. And I love that in the moment learning, not a week later, a month later.

17:18So they're going to be like stressing out about like, wow, like I made a mistake last week. Am I going to be like called out on that? No, it's like in the moment, share it then, move on, like make that happen. Like that's a great value bomb right there. Now, Trisha, we need to be honest with Fire Nation and with ourselves here is that investing in a VA is not a small financial decision for most business owners. What are some strategies that we can employ to get the most out of our VA? Yeah, that's an important one. I think the most important thing you get out of a VA is time. And your time is very valuable.

17:56So I think I look at it this way. Every leader has a VA, the question is, is it you or is it somebody else? So somebody is doing the email and booking the travel and setting up a meeting and putting together notes and following up on action items. Is it you? Are you the very overpaid assistant or are you smart and leveraging somebody else to do those things. So your 40 hours can be filled with things like growing your organization, maybe you're focused on sales and marketing, whatever that looks like. But that is how I look at a virtual assistant. We all have one. It's just whether or not it's you.

18:39Fire Nation, that may have hit kind of hard for a couple of us right here thinking like, yeah, I'm spending a lot of time doing the things that I really shouldn't be doing because I know my zone of genius. I know my zone of fire. I want to focus on those things and have the other things that I'm not good at or shouldn't be doing taken off the table by a VA. Now, Tricia, give us the one key takeaway from everything that we chatted about here today that you want to make sure that we get as Fire Nation. In order to elevate, you need to delegate. And so that may mean elevate your business. That may mean elevate as a professional or a leader.

19:23That may mean elevate your results. That may mean elevate your personal bandwidth. But in order to grow and elevate, the key is truly to delegate. Wow, I love that. And Tricia, if Fire Nation wanted to learn more about you, where would we go? What is your call to action for our listeners today? Yeah, first I would say if you're interested in a virtual assistant, please go check us out at belaysolutions.com. I would love to connect with you on LinkedIn as well. And you can find me at Trisha Shortino on LinkedIn. Fire Nation, Belay's got some great things going on. They are a sponsor of ours as well.

20:05So if you do text the word FIRE, that's F-I-R-E, to the number 55123, you will be able to download a free guide to a productive work week. And who doesn't want a free guide to a productive work week? Because I know I want a productive work week. I think you do too, Fire Nation. And you're the average. Of the five people you spend the most time with, you've been hanging out with TS and JLD today. So keep up that heat. For links to everything we talked about, visit eofire.com. Type Trisha in the search bar. The show notes page will pop right up. Trisha, thank you for sharing your truth, your knowledge, your value with Fire Nation today.

20:47For that, we salute you and we'll catch you on the flip side. Hey, Fire Nation, a huge thank you to our sponsors and Trisha for sponsoring today's episode. And Fire Nation, are you ready to rock your very own podcast? Check out our free podcasting course where I will teach you how to create and launch your podcast for free. Freepodcastcourse.com. I'll catch you there or I'll catch you on the flip side. Success Story, hosted by Scott D. Clary, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network, the audio destination for business professionals. Success Story features Q &A sessions with successful business leaders, keynote presentations, and conversations on sales, marketing, business startups, and entrepreneurship.

21:28One of Scott's recent episodes was with none other than Jack Canfield, where they discuss adapting to life's twists and turns. Listen to Success Story wherever you get your podcasts.