When to Hire a Virtual Assistant with Chelsea Brinkley

Hey there and welcome back to the podcast. My name is Sean. NetScout the host. And if this is your first time listening, we can do this as a podcast that connects people, looking to create meaningful change with the tools, skills, and community. They need to stay the course and make. No, we've had a few weeks off from the show and it's been wild to not have released an episode in so long.

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We're currently kind of in a phase where we're looking to get ahead on podcasts and really set up this show. So it's sustainable for the long haul. I'm committed to this for the long haul. And we recently onboarded a podcast editor. So up until this point, I've been editing majority of the episode. Which I actually enjoy doing, but as my schedule begins to get fuller and fuller, it's hard for me to actually edit the episode.

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So we brought on a podcast editor who I'm really excited to bring onto the team, and I'm really excited to see the quality of the show really improved because there's someone who's actually an audio editor. I have a background in music, so I'm not too intimidated by audio editing tools, but I am by no means a professional audio engineer of any sort.

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So hopefully you can hear a noticeable difference in the overall quality of the show. And my goal is to really be, you know, five to 10 episodes ahead at all times. Now this is actually a good moment. If you have people that you'd like to recommend for this podcast, maybe you've been listening to a few episodes or even since the beginning.

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And there's someone that you just think would be a really good fit for this. I would love to hear your recommendation or be introduced to the. Uh, you can find me on Twitter at Sean print scout. My first name and last name links are also in the show notes and feel free to reach out, send me a DM. And I'd love to hear about who you might think would be a good fit for the show and see if we can connect with them and get them on the podcast.

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Now, in today's episode, I get to talk with Chelsea Brinkley and this episode is our first recording that was done in person. So I recently traveled to Nashville, Tennessee. For my first time, really traveling since the beginning of the pandemic. And I met up with my mastermind group, which consists of some people that you might recognize from this podcast.

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I was with Mike Kim, Lauren Davis, and a few other people. Now we gathered together with business owners from all around the country and we really got to learn from one another, grow together, strategize together. And at this event, I sat down with Chelsea Brinkley for this. Now Chelsea is such a wonderful resource when it comes to systems processes, and bring people on your team to really take tasks and responsibilities off your shoulders and allow them to help operate your business.

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Chelsea worked for many years as the executive assistant to the CDO at a multimillion dollar company in Nashville. Ironically right where we recorded our episode. Now she takes what she learned from that environment and applies it to entrepreneurs and people working in the online space. So I actually hired her last year when I was looking to hire my first assistant for my own business.

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And it was really cool to see her process and how she was actually able to take exactly what we needed and interview different applicants and find the right person for the role. So we'll actually talk a lot about that in the interview. Let's go ahead and jump into my conversation with Chelsea Brinkley.

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All right. Hey there. And welcome to the podcast today. We're here with Chelsea Brinkley. Chelsea believes you can do a great work from anywhere and that your life doesn't have to revolve around an office. Building. This idea has made her a coach to remote workers and a hired gun for entrepreneurs who want to get their systems and processes in their businesses on track before having her own business, Chelsea worked for several years as the executive assistant to the chief digital officer of a successful multimillion dollar company.

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Near Nashville, Tennessee. She puts her years of efficiency experience to use helping entrepreneurs take their businesses to the next level with workflows systems and shortcuts. So they can create the life that they desire on their own terms. Nowadays, you'll find her traveling with her husband, son, and pop looking for the next mountain to hike and occasionally sipping on an old fashioned on the deck of her Colorado cat.

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All while coaching, serving clients and blogging about this life, she gets to live after breaking free from the corporate world. So Telsey, I'm really excited to have you on the podcast today. Thanks for having me, Sean. This is awesome. Yeah. So we're actually together in the same room today. This is the first interview.

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On this podcast where we're doing it in person, we're in this new world where we can apparently be in the same room together. So we're in Nashville, Tennessee. We just were actually at a mastermind that meet up with some names that might be familiar from this podcast. Mike Kim, Lauren Davis, for example, and we're around a bunch of amazing people this week and we get the hangout.

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So Chelsea and I have known each other probably for a little bit over a year or two, maybe a year. I've actually had the opportunity to be in this mastermind group with Chelsea and actually work with her as it comes to what we're talking about today, about hiring virtual and executive assistants. So really excited to hang and talk with you today.

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Yeah. Thanks for having me. This is really fun, especially like being in person together and recording, you know, not on zoom and actually seeing each other face to face. That's fine. Yeah. And we're in Nashville with Chelsea has spent a lot of time here, so she knows the lay of the land. So she's been able to see.

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Show us everything. And I haven't actually been able to meet her husband and it's been a really cool, cool to hang. So, so let's jump into the interview. We're going to be talking about virtual assistants, executive assistants, and the reason I'm bringing Chelsea on is this is essentially her world. I actually hired Chelsea earlier last year to hire my first assistant really team member in my business.

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And incredible experience working with Chelsea. She knows all things, processes, systems, automations workflows. If you are in the business of making your life a little bit more stress-free and hopefully simpler and easier, and you're looking to do more within your business. This Chelsea is the person that helps us do this.

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So Chelsea, tell us a little bit about what you do right now in your own business and what is. Kind of about this world of systems and processes and workflows that made you want to serve entrepreneurs. So I essentially help entrepreneurs create efficient businesses. I do that in a couple of different ways.

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One of them is through matching. Renewer with a highly skilled virtual assistant executive assistant or integrator. It's usually one of those three. So we go that route. We, you know, we have a whole vetting process with candidates and all of that. So that's one way that I help entrepreneurs create efficient businesses is by delegating some things to those VAs and taking care of the whole process because they typically don't have the time or the bandwidth to go about the whole hiring process.

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You know, it does take like six or seven weeks to go through. So I handle that process. The other thing that I do with my business is I help entrepreneurs, integrate systems and processes, workflows templates, et cetera, into their own businesses. 

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So I'm really, really big on systemizing, automating as much as possible and then delegating things.

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So I just really help them to streamline their lives. I really love doing this because I feel like, and I have experienced that most entrepreneurs create their business for the freedom and flexibility. Right. I'm guessing you probably did too. And you want that freedom and flexibility, but then when it comes down to.

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it you're Totally consumed by your own creation. You know, you are overwhelmed, you're stressed out, you know, you're trying to do everything in your business. And the reality of that is you don't have to do everything in your business. You know, you can delegate things and still be running the show. 

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Yeah. I remember kind of in my own journey, starting a business, I remember how quickly I got busy.

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You know, I was really wanting to do this, so I had more freedom and more time to work on things that I care about. And, you know, right. When I jumped in, I feel like I'm already overwhelmed and busy and it really wasn't until I hired my first assistant, where I feel like I had some space in my life to breathe and actually work and focus on the things that matter.

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So Chelsea tell us, like, when is the right time to even begin thinking about this stuff? Like if you were sensing that we know we're going to grow beyond ourselves, we need an assistant, one of these different types of assistance. You mentioned when's the right time that start thinking about. That's a great question.

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So a lot of people, maybe advice you'll hear is, oh, before you're ready, before you're ready to hire your virtual assistant is when you should already be like in that process of finding someone. And that sounds really nice. That sounds great. And grand and like a good, a good plan. However, it typically doesn't work out that way.

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So I feel like you should start going down that path whenever you're starting to feel like you have a lot on your shoulders. When you're starting to feel that overwhelmed, that stressed when you are doing the things that completely drain you, maybe it's administrative tasks, whatever that looks like, anything that you're doing in your business that is draining you rather than like filling your cup, so to speak.

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That's when you should be finding someone and reaching out and, you know, going through that whole process of finding a virtual assistant or executive assistant or integrating. Interesting. I remember when I first started thinking about these things, one of the concerns that I had was all right, I am ready to kind of bring someone in.

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First of all, I don't know how the heck to find these people who would want to jump on board. What I thought was kind of a mess at that time. And I know my tendency was to have everything squared away before I hired someone I wanted to have. All the documents, processes step once you're 10 of every little thing.

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And I remember that was probably the thing that got me in the way of hiring someone to begin with is I was like looking to get all my stuff together. And so I could walk somewhat into this nice policy thing, but I think what I realized that. I needed help cleaning things up. Yeah. And I mean like you, that would be a dream world, right?

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Oh, I've got all the systems, processes. Everything's efficient. Everything is in place. I've got all these workflows and templates, honestly. Yeah. That's the dream is to have all of this in place before bringing on your own executive assistant. It typically doesn't work that way though, because maybe like yourself, you're completely overwhelmed and you're already doing so much in your business.

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You don't have the time to take a step back and create all these systems. Your business, isn't pausing, you know, it's continuing to grow. And so you really can have an executive assistant, like step in and you can do loom videos and they can help you create and implement these systems as well. I love it.

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So you mentioned that a few different types of assistance, right? So we might be at a spot where we know, Hey, we need help, but like, how do we identify the right kind of help? And you mentioned, I think it was. Virtual assistant executive assistant integrator, help us understand and kind of unpack what are the differences?

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Different roles. Yeah. So a virtual assistant is more of a task taker, and I do not mean that in a demeaning way, sometimes people just desire those things and you need that in your business as well. So it's more of, I need X, Y, and Z done. And then this individual is able to do X, Y, and Z. So definitely more of the task or project taker there, there's very clear instructions of this is what I need accomplished and then it gets accomplished.

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So that's more of a virtual assistant and executive assistant. There's definitely more responsibility. There is feels more like a trusted partnership rather than someone who is a. Task or project taker, just accomplishing things for you, more of a trusted partnership. They help you brainstorm things. They come up with their own ideas.

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They're more proactive of, Hey Sean, I, you know, I see we're doing it this way, but what if we tweak this a little bit, I feel like this could be more beneficial in your business, et cetera. You know, having that your right hand person is really what an executive assistant. And also like this individual is someone who you're confident, you know, could speak on your behalf.

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You know, maybe they handle your email for you, your calendar for you. They can speak on your behalf. They can speak to your customers and clients like they understand your brand language, how you would. That's more of your EA definitely more responsibility. And then as we increase that responsibility is the integrator and the integrator is not actually an executive assistant.

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So they're probably not going to be the person, unless it's a unique situation where they're handling your email, your calendar and. An integrator is really more focused on running the operations. So think of this person as the COO and you are the CEO, they're definitely your, your partner, you know, same feel there, but they're not handling as much of the administrative tasks.

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It's more running operations. Super interesting. It's so funny. Like I'm like in a dream world, I want like, All three of these things helped me with all the things, please. And, you know, you might have to be in a specific spot in life to maybe bring on three people to help you in these different areas. But I can definitely see the value in all of these.

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So before we kind of move on, like I'm curious in the work that you do and in the work that you've seen, you know, virtual assistants, executive assistants integrator, When someone first brings in this help, like, what does that look like? Like what do you start tackling? Like, how does that relationship begin to build?

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Because I imagine it's a relationship, right? You're essentially bringing in someone into kind of a very important spot of your business. And I imagine there's a level of trust that you need to build with this person, because they're going to be essentially like helping you grow your business, your organization, or whatever you might be in this.

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Yeah. I really believe that an entrepreneur should do the things that only they can do and then delegate the rest. So your VA EA integrator, and, you know, typically it's more of like the VA or EA first, and then as you know, growth happens then maybe bringing on an integral. I personally would not choose to bring on an integrator first.

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You know, I would have a VA EA first, you know, hand off those administrative things that you can definitely delegate. And then, you know, if you're at a place where you're going, yeah, this is great. All the administrative stuff is like handled. I want someone to help me like completely run the thing so that I can, you know, maybe not do as much, let's do less and you know, still make money.

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Right. That's dream. 

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And so I'm really, really big on entrepreneurs doing that. Do the things that only you can do. And whenever you're trying to figure out, all right, what would I delegate to a VA EA or integrator? What would I do actually like pen and paper, write down the things that only you can do write down the things that you, that drain you, or you would like to delegate.

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And then that's your list right there. So definitely step into place of doing what only you can do. It's really, really important for growth to happen 

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Yeah. So we do this, right? Like I recently hired someone you're helping people all the time, like connect with this kind of support in their business. What does it look like?

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Like if you hire someone, this kind of support specifically, maybe more of these roles of an executive assistant or an integrator, like a year down the road, what is business life begin to look like once we're not overstressed overwhelmed doing the things we hate or maybe not good at. And we're doing only the things that we can do.

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Like what does life begin to look like? It looks like you have more of that freedom and flexibility that you started your business for in the first place. You know, kind of like going back to the beginning is most likely entrepreneurs start the business for that freedom, flexibility that they wanted in their life.

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Maybe to step away from corporate work. And going down that path, but then again, like we discussed earlier, what typically happens is they are completely overwhelmed by their own creation and they're drained and they're just working in the business, not on the business on a daily basis and that'll drain you over time.

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So when you bring on help and you can delegate things to an integrator or executive assistant or virtual assistant, what ends up happening is you finally get that freedom and flexibility. And that you started your business for in the first place? Yeah. Someone asked me the most challenging question the other day and another person actually this week who were telling me, they're actually here with asked me the same question and they asked me if you look at your business right now, like, was this the business that you imagined.

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One of the start. And it was like the most challenging question. Cause I'm like, hold on a lot of ways. No. Right. And I still think it's a process and we're getting there, but it's not necessarily what I had set out to in the beginning. And so it seems like this is. A pretty crucial step to like getting some of these important tasks that maybe don't need to be done by you and begin to create space so that you can actually affect change in your own business and get closer to what you're hoping, dreaming or imagining what this thing is going to look like.

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So, so exciting. Now. Yeah. Tell us a little bit, I mean, this is your world, right? Like when I think of automations processes, systems, assistants, like Chelsea, this is your space. So tell us, like, is there anything else that you want to share when it comes to hiring an assistant? Yeah. So just remember.

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Systemize automate delegate. And another thing to just, you know, keep in mind and to remember is do the things that only you can do. If you ever feel like those things aren't happening, then you need to get some help and you can find that you and I, you know, a huge question that people typically have is like, oh, is it so expensive?

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Probably not as expensive as you think it's going to be. You've kind of like in your head made it seem like it's going to be an extravagant and about, and to be honest, it's not like, and it allows you to do the things that only you can do of course, favorite phrase. And so, you know, Totally worth it to gain that freedom and flexibility that you wanted in the first place.

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So, you know, definitely want to share, like, if anybody needs a virtual assistant executive assistant, they're starting to ask those questions, feel free to reach out to me. Like I'm happy to have conversations and discuss it. I completely nerd out about this stuff and also like systems and processes in your business.

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So if you need help, like just reach out. You don't have to have a conversation and talk through that and I can poke and pry a little bit in your business to help you get those answers that you need. So just go to Chelsea brinkley.com. You can reach out to me there. Awesome. Yeah. And like I mentioned in the show open, like I've personally worked with Chelsea, she's helped me discover the greatest person that is helped me with my business.

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Right. Lindsay Richard. So I probably mentioned on this show and essentially I remember when I was going through this process, I was definitely. Costs, right. Like, can I afford this big of an expense and my own business quickly learned that it wasn't quite an expense. It was an investment, right? Like, I don't really, I don't think I could afford that to have this kind of help in my business anymore.

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So, so crucial. And I remember personally hiring was something that kind of gave me highs, thinking that hiring usually means considering multiple people and. That means not hiring someone, right. That means having a conversation with someone and saying, Hey, this might not be a good fit personally. It's not my forte and being, I don't know, Enneagram to type personality.

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Wasn't excited about that. So just to say, Chelsea has such a. Beautiful process for this system that she's just ironed out. So anyone who might be listening today and you're maybe drowning in work, and you've been thinking about this for a long time, I'd definitely suggest reaching out to Chelsea. We'll make sure all of her links and information that are in the show notes.

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How old on Instagram, she has the high-level you kind of drool over Chelsea's Instagram feeds. He just her and her husband and the growing family just have the most beautiful inventors and really cool to see on social media. And then also shares about these things related to processes systems and all these nerdy, nerdy things that.

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The Graham and actually a really interesting way. So Chelsea, thanks so much for being on the podcast is really fun. I'm excited to hang out with you for the rest of the week. You're amazing. Thank you so much and hope to have you on again soon, but thanks for being on the podcast. My pleasure.

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All right. Well, what a cool conversation with Chelsea, man? I think if I could do every interview in person, I totally would. It was really cool to be literally across from the table in a, you couldn't see, but we were in a beautiful coworking space. And after the couple of years, we just had it's as felt pretty surreal to be.

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Across the room talking from someone on this podcast. So I really enjoyed that conversation. And if you're someone who is currently thinking through some of the things that we're thinking about, right, you are starting to see some growth maybe in traction in your business, or maybe you're just someone who has tended to take on the load of responsibilities with that mindset that it's just easier to do yourself.

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Right. I easily get caught into that. And if that's you and some of the things Chelsea talked about really started to sound appealing, right? The idea of offloading some of these tasks, delegating work, and really empowering people not to do tasks, but to carry responsibility, definitely go and check out Chelsea's work.

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She always is putting out great videos on Instagram. She has guides and resources on our website. I have downloaded things from her and just literally just stolen some of her free stuff because we needed templates or workflows or processes. And she is just the person of all people I know to go do for that kind of work.

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So definitely check out Chelsea's websites in the show notes. So thanks for listening for people who have been tracking along weekly with a show. We had a few weeks where we just didn't have episodes and kind of felt like the law. So we're really back in action. Once you're hearing this episode. Back to weekly episodes on Monday morning.

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So definitely look out in your podcast players on Monday mornings for new episodes in the coming weeks, we have some really exciting conversations. I Vinci Krishna on the show next week, followed by Brandon Harvey. We have Steven Johnson from China. Coming to us from New Zealand and we have just a bunch of really good episodes coming up.

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You're not going to want to miss out. And like I said, in the beginning of the show, if there's anyone that you want to recommend for the podcast, feel free to find me on Twitter. In the show notes, you can find the link in. Give me a fallow, send me a DM and let me know what you'd like to hear on the show.

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Either topics or just people that you admire, organizations that you'd really love to learn about their founding story and how they got started. And some of the things they've learned along the way, I'd love to hear your recommendations. So don't be afraid to reach out. I'd love to connect. But thanks again for listening and I'll see you next week. .