1621 – 2xYou: Ultimate VA Agency for Business Success with Le-An Lai Lacaba

0:28Hey there, thoughtful listener. million in revenue. Just head to upmyinfluence.com and watch my free class on how to create endless high-ticket sales appointments. You can even chat with me live and I'll see and reply to your messages. Also, don't forget, the thoughtful entrepreneur is always looking for guests. Go to upmyinfluence.com and click on podcast. We'd love to have you.

0:58with us right now leanne lila kaba leanne you are the co-founder of 2xu which is an ai enabled va agency okay you've got my attention uh your website is 2xu.com so it's 2x y-o-u.com and then of course your personal website leanne li.com l-e-a-n-l-a-i for our friend that's listen to our conversation, just click around in your podcast app. You'll find where we've got the show notes. So we've got direct links land to your website. Thank you so much for being here. Yeah. Super happy to be here. Well, this is interesting. So, because I think I've seen in terms of trends, you know, it was so wonderful to connect with a great VA agency because it just enables us to do tasks, you know, very more efficiently, more cost effectively, you know, because we're dealing with kind of international exchange rates and everything, so it's fantastic.

1:56But then now it's like folks, or at least business leaders I'm talking with, are so enthusiastic about the quality of AI tools that are available. Why not merge the two? And it looks like that's what you've done. Yeah, it was kind of basically the moment that 2PT came out. A lot of people, including virtual assistants, were like, oh, crap, do we still have a job? And I'm like, yes, yes, you do by being expert in being in AI. So that's basically what we did. Heck yeah. So take me through the services. When you say we're providing expertise in AI, what does that look like? So for now, just because, again, everything is still new and there's a bajillion, I think it's like 100 apps every hour that's being produced with AI.

2:43For now, we've kind of just deep dived into just how to use ChatGPT because once you learn how to use prompts there. You can use it with Fard. You can use it with all of the other AI tools coming out. And then for a lot of our other EAs, they're integrating AI tools with their clients depending on what they're focused on. So like, of course, mid-journey for like creating images or there's so much AI tools out there right now, but mostly for content related because data stuff, it's not quite there yet. But then for the EA, they're automating how they're sending emails, how they're replying to emails, how they're generating a ton of content for their clients, so on and so forth.

3:22So that part has just become so much easier for them. Why does this, why might this be a better option than just maybe doing, I don't know. You know, I guess, let me ask it this way. You know, why are there advantages to working with 2XU as opposed to maybe if they're European, Canadian, US and hiring domestically when they're working with 2XU, what is that like? Yeah. So first part of it is that on the hiring side, you don't have to worry. You only see like the top candidates that we screen. We've already gone through them. They're customized for the business, for the culture, all of that good stuff.

4:03And then once the EA is in, we've trained them full out from day one of like, hey, this is how to do email management, calendar management, but now how to do it with chat GPT. So we take care of all of that and the management side. And the biggest part of what we do in 2XU is we focus a lot on the system. So usually when you hire an assistant on your own, you're kind of like, okay, what do I do now? That's kind of day one of hiring an assistant is the work. But for us, we have like a 90 day program to get you in. We have something we call the 2XU business operating systems, which is like 75 assets, such as like your content strategy, your content calendar, your customer relations database, basically, all of that good stuff.

4:43We help build that with your EA so that you have some structure to your business. And a lot of the time, the goals for the clients who come into our business is they're looking to sell their business in two to three years. So we help build that structure. As a company who's been trying to be acquired a couple of times, we're like, okay, not yet. But then we're now seeing what these companies who are looking to acquire are looking for. and we build that structure behind the scenes with their executive assistant. Yeah. So let's go through maybe a couple of examples of, you know, tasks that 2XU will do for clients.

5:20One in particular I was interested in, because I know that sometimes it can feel overwhelming, is social media. So what would be some examples of client work that you're doing in a run from social? and how are you making that better for them? So the main one is that the EA is only working with you. They're not working with, they're not worried about other clients that are worrying about other parts of working with anyone else. So then when it comes to like tasks like social media, which is perfect example, is they get to know you, your business, your voice, your how you write to the point where right now on my Instagram, most of my posts sound like me, but are not written by me.

6:00My assistant takes care of all of that. Aside from the creation, the posting, they also are in charge with engagement, replying to comments, replying to messages, and also then generating ideas forever, never, never, especially with ChatGPT. But it's that almost like offloading. You've created the first part of your business, which you've created a copy. You've created your sales pitch. You've done a lot of the hard work. And now your EA gets to automate and then co-create that content with you if you're a content creator yourself. So then it's a little bit easier in the back end. You know, we call it a content machine in the background.

6:34Yeah. What are some of your, I don't know if you have any favorite tips or like just things that you've discovered lately that you're excited about when it comes to AI tools, particularly ChatGPT? Well, one that I've been teaching everyone who would ask basically is I've been calling it the whoa method. So usually when people jump into ChatGPT, they ask for the output, like, hey, write me X, Y, and Z. But when you use, when you prime basically ChatGPT before you do the ask, it gives you so much more specific output. So the WHO method is W is who you are and what you do. The O is the outcome you're asking from ChatGPT.

7:13Like, hey, I want you to be my social media writing expert. I need you to be someone put, I need you to be my business coach. So I can do X, Y, and Z. And then A is just asking it, are you ready to make sure that understands what you're asking? And then the H is the how, like, do you want this to be short and funny? Do you want to add emojis to this? And you want this to be spreadsheet ready. So then anytime, anytime that you go back to that chat GPT and ask it that question, it already has the expertise you need. And that has given people so many better results rather than just asking chat GPT, Hey, can you do this for me without giving context?

7:48Yeah. Yeah. You know, I, I love that. And that's one thing that I've learned is kind of those pre-prompts or priming chat GPT is, I mean, you know, once you've given it enough context and, you know, I was watching one instance where, you know, it was a pretty lengthy conversation back and forth about understanding, Hey, before you actually produce us, let's talk about this for a little while, which is kind of like exactly what you would want to do with a human, right? Rather than just like, you know, go do my social media. It's like, okay. You know, instead it's like, Hey, let's have a conversation about what our goals are, what we want to do, what our intentions are, you know, what we hope that, you know, we can create here.

8:34And you can have all of that same conversation with chat GPT. And then finally, you know, and it's kind of funny because I've seen where, you know, you say, okay, we're going to talk with is don't do it yet, but just let me know you understand. Yep. Yep. It's just that ask. Yep. Yeah. That's terrific. What would be maybe another task that you think 2XU is quite popular for that the clients, maybe someone that's listening to us, they're like, oh, really? You can do that? So it's a wider range, but they are bed and butter are usually like operations slash project manager executive assistants so they look at the same kind of uh you know how the entrepreneurs always like the bigger view bigger vision um and there's the employees who work on the task the ea is kind of the good in between they see the vision they see where we're heading towards and they're making sure everyone is in line to go to where they need to go um so it doesn't have to be where they're following everyone but they're keeping everyone on task checking on the results checking how things are um being that project manager to get to the next goal whatever that looks like for the company.

9:44And tell me about your company itself. You got a decent team here. Yeah, well, I've kept it pretty lean the way that we've kind of built it. And it's like for every executive assistant you have, they have a mini team also behind them. So they have their operations systems manager who takes care of checking those systems with the clients. They They have these assets, so and so forth. They're pod managers in charge of their training. So you really have like, you're not just getting one person, you're getting like a whole team behind them. Aside from that, all of the EAs are all interconnected. So let's say one project manager EA needs help.

10:23Like, hey, we're going into marketing. I have no idea what this looks like. They have marketing EAs who can then, they can tap as a resource. So it's a good kind of a little community that we've kind of built. So there's that expertise always going around. Yeah. And then what is the process like when someone's like, okay, you know, I could use some help with my social, you know, probably, you know, my blog. And I suspect that there's other things. Like, how do you kind of get together? Like, how do you figure out what that's going to look like and kind of that onboarding and discovery process?

10:57So it starts with a, we have a pretty amazing scorecard. So like literally call the two-minute readiness scorecard if you're ready to have a virtual assistant in the first place. It goes through like what task you're struggling with right now, what systems you have in place, and at the very end, like which side would be the best for someone else to take over. And then it's booked with a call with our 2XU assessors, basically. So we go through a process of like grabbing everything in your head that could be delegated to an assistant, making a system out of that, looking at the assets that you might have.

11:27And then the very end, I asked the beautiful question of what's a perfect EA for you, like your personality types, characteristics, what works well with someone else when you're working with someone else. And then from there, we kind of then go into the whole onboarding process of creating the onboarding kit for the assistants so they know everything about you right off the bat, building their objectives and key results so they know what they're supposed to be focusing on the first 90 days. So it's a whole process afterwards, but it does start with that scorecard because it gives us so much information about where the business is at at that moment.

11:59Yeah. And then give me an idea for budget that someone should have if they want to engage a VA through you. Maybe historically they've done some hiring on Upwork. And how would you be different from an investment standpoint? So for us, we do have only just have the one offer. It is a 3000 month US per month for a full-time executive assistant plus 2XU services. The biggest thing is you're not hiring just another cheap virtual assistant that you found on the internet because someone else recommended them. You're getting someone who's highly trained, who's constantly being trained afterwards, as well as like all of the other 2XU business operating systems, like everything else within that.

12:42So again, it's not just the one person you're getting, you're getting a team behind them as well. Yeah. And what is that process now? let's say they've listened to our conversation and they're like, okay, I want to learn more. Yep. So again, starting with that scorecard. So filling out that scorecard, it's just 2xu.com slash scorecard. Super easy to remember. Then we hop on a call. And then once we've kind of set, yep, you need to be this kind of an assistant. Then we go through the onboarding, creating the onboarding for the assistant. Then we start the hiring process. Sometimes it'll be faster because We already have an applicant who's really close to who you need.

13:18Once we've done the final interview, then we can jumpstart the EA through the whole process. We have an onboarding process where in every single week we add in like, hey, this is now your task management system. This is your delegation system. So we make sure we take you by the hand the whole way to make sure by the end of that 90 days, you and the assistant are fully equipped to keep going. And then, of course, then the ongoing support, the systems and the training and the background as well. Um, when you've worked with clients, um, where are the, like, where have you seen, like, if it ever goes south or if it ever doesn't work out, like what's usually going on?

13:57Because again, I think this is really helpful too, for someone to have realistic expectations, um, when they begin this engagement. And obviously we don't want to make, nobody wants to make mistakes here. Yeah. So the biggest one is just expectation mismatch. There's always things where we caught it in the beginning, like, hey, the biggest fire that's burning the building right now is marketing. But then once we actually hire marketing, it's just like, oh, it's actually admin. So it's usually those mismatches because we do try as much as possible to hire the assistant you said that you needed it for.

14:26but those usually other times it's it's um when you actually start working with the ea you get inspired like oh it's amazing if they did this if they do this thinking their assistant's a unicorn but that's usually like one of the biggest pitfalls so it's important that as you start working with whether it's you or a virtual assistant that you have like okay these are their three focus basically for you know while working with me and then if you want to grow into maybe then consider hiring another ea because then um your business is just growing at that point as your EA grows. Yeah. Your website, 2XU.com, 2XYOU.com.

15:03When somebody goes there, what would you recommend they do, Leanne? Right off the bat, you'll see the invite to the scorecard. So that's the first thing right off the bat. Yeah. And one more time on the scorecard, why that's important? So that assesses if you are ready for an assistant. Because some people, they just need a freelancer. They just need someone part-time. But that fully goes through You're like, oh, yeah, you need a full-time person. Yeah, sounds great. Again, 2xu.com. Leanne Lai-Lakaba, it's been great having you as a guest. Thank you so much for joining us. Thanks, Josh. It was fun.

15:42Thanks for listening to the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Show. If you are a thoughtful business owner or professional who would like to be on this daily program. Please visit upmyinfluence.com slash guest. If you're a listener, I'd love to shout out your business to our whole audience for free. You can do that by leaving a review on Apple podcasts or join our listener Facebook group. Just search for the Thoughtful Entrepreneur in Facebook. I'd love even if you just stop by to say hi, I'd love to meet you. We believe that every person has a message that can positively impact the world, we love our community who listens and shares our program every day.

16:26Together, we are empowering one another as thoughtful entrepreneurs. Hit subscribe so that tomorrow morning, that's right, seven days a week, you are going to be inspired and motivated to succeed. I promise to bring positivity and inspiration to you for around 15 minutes each day. Thanks for listening and thank you for being a part of the Thoughtful Entrepreneur Movement.