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New Year Planning

Dec 17, 2024 | Business, Delegation, Productivity, Uncategorized

Preparing Your Business for Success and New Year Growth

As the end of the year approaches, it’s time for small business owners, entrepreneurs, and executives to reflect, recharge, and recalibrate. The holiday season often brings added responsibilities and stress, but with intentional planning, it can also serve as a springboard to success in the upcoming year. Here’s how you can set your business up for a successful year-end and start the new year ready to thrive.

Reflect on the Past Year

The first step in preparing for the year ahead is reflecting on the one that’s ending. Take a moment to ask yourself these critical questions:

  • Did I meet the milestones I planned for this year?
  • Was I able to deliver the quality of product or service I aspire to?
  • Do I feel fulfilled and balanced, or was I overwhelmed by the stress of work?

These reflections are essential not only for evaluating your business performance but also for assessing your personal well-being. Life moves quickly, and as an executive or entrepreneur, you likely spend a significant amount of time planning for others—your team, family, and business. But how often do you plan intentionally for yourself?

Aligning Operations with Your Goals

Creating a solid plan for the year ahead means focusing on your business goals and aligning your operations to achieve them. If you’ve struggled to balance your responsibilities, it might be time to consider bringing in an executive assistant. At Athena Executive Services, we specialize in crafting custom support plans tailored to your unique needs, giving you the freedom to focus on what truly matters to you.

Define Your Purpose and Visualize Success

Start by visualizing where you’d like to be at the end of next year. What does success look like to you? Is it a business milestone, such as increasing revenue or expanding your team? Or is it personal, like spending more time with your family or transitioning into a more flexible schedule? Reflect on these questions:

  • Do I have time to work on what truly matters to me and grows my business?
  • Can I step away from work to enjoy time with family and friends without anxiety?
  • Am I balancing the demands of a growing business with my desire for a full, satisfying life?

Determine Priorities and Delegate Effectively

The key to achieving your goals is identifying what only you can do for your business and delegating everything else. Start by listing the tasks that require your expertise, such as strategic planning, building client relationships, or creating visionary goals. Then, identify the administrative or time-consuming tasks—emails, invoicing, scheduling, and marketing—that could be handled by an assistant.

Imagine what you could accomplish if you freed up the time spent on these tasks. How might it impact your business and personal life over the next year? Partnering with an executive assistant can transform how you allocate your time, allowing you to focus on the work that drives growth and fulfillment. 

 

Create a Business Plan That Reflects Your Aspirations

Your business plan should reflect your unique aspirations—not someone else’s vision. Define what you want to deliver, how you want to impact your industry, and the legacy you want to build. At Athena Executive Services, we understand that no two executives are the same, and neither are their goals. That’s why we work to custom-match you with the ideal assistant to help you create systems that align with your unique vision.

 

Start the New Year Strong

By reflecting on the past year, determining your priorities, and delegating effectively, you’ll be positioned to hit the ground running in January. Partnering with an executive assistant can provide the support and structure you need to achieve your goals and maintain balance in your life.

 

Let’s make the next year your most successful and fulfilling one yet. Contact Athena Executive Services today to learn how we can help you craft a support plan tailored to your needs.

 

Does Having an Executive Assistant Feel Too Fancy?

Jun 19, 2024 | About Athena, Business, Delegation, Productivity, Uncategorized

 

 

Do you ever have the experience that you work all week and then most of the weekend you’re still working, but for a different boss? Do you shift from working for your boss or your company to working for the family or household?

Even though I’m 52 and the term “adulting” came along long after I became an official adult, I love the term because it points to a distinct set of tasks or projects that we all deal with. We don’t call it “work”, because it’s not something we get paid for. And yet it is work. Why? Well because it certainly doesn’t seem like play or rejuvenation.

Adulting includes thrilling activities such as: 

• Scheduling your car to get to the dealership for an oil change or maintenance at a time that fits in your schedule.
• Scheduling any appointments, you and your family may have.
• Remembering all the family and friends’ birthdays and anniversaries, and getting cards or presents to the right people, in the right place, at the right time.
• Shopping for airline tickets or an Airbnb for you and the family.
• Researching things to help you support aging or ailing family members.
• Planning the upcoming family birthday party or reunion and getting the slideshow done for it as well.

 Researching and finding answers to things such as:

1. What would it take for my 87-year-old uncle to go from being on Social Security to Social Security disability?
2. If I pay off my car loan early, will I be penalized?
3. What are some possible nice (and free or cheap) places where we could host a small event?
4. I saw something that mentioned that Amtrak would haul your car. Does that exist on the West Coast? (The answer is No, BTW.)
5. When and where are there pickleball tournaments near where I’ll be in California in the fourth quarter this year?

The list goes on and on! 

What is your adulting? What is not work, not play, and yet not all that enjoyable? Take a second and think of a few things from the last week that fall into that category.

This is the stuff that is stealing time away from you being with your family, doing the hobby you enjoy so much, tending to your fitness and wellness (mental or physical), or just sitting still and doing nothing for 5 minutes (try that! I dare you!)

Our team at Athena Executive Services is committed that all of your life is great and that your most important priorities get honored. This means providing you with someone who helps you be your best self while doing your highest priority activities like being with your family, meeting with your leadership team, or visiting your mother.

We are committed that you are a joyous light for all of those around you, and frankly, I think you want that too. You want to have energy and vitality and be inspiring; on your best days, you do that. You are that.

But all this “adulting” can often get in the way and wear you down.

The answer? DELEGATE it. 

It was many years into running this company before I started practicing this myself and it was a game changer. At first, it felt fancy to delegate what seemed like personal matters, yet I was tired of my evenings and weekends being taken up with those necessary evils. I didn’t feel comfortable saying to my partner or best friends, “I’ll have my assistant look into that for us.”

My partner would say, “Can you look into this for us, G?” And I would say, “Yep. Sure.” Then to myself, I would say “I do not want to be the EA of this household!” I started delegating it. Now, a couple of years later, my partner John will say, “Could you have Corene look into this for us?” Why yes, I can, babe. Love that idea!

One of my best friends and I had a spa day to celebrate our birthdays a few months ago. My assistant planned it for us. My friend said, “Would Corene do that for us every year?” Why yes, she can!

Personal things that my EA does regularly for me, which frees me up to spend time being with people I love the most, doing things I love the most, or napping and doing things that rejuvenate me:

• Books all my travel. I fly to see my mom once a month for 4 days
• Order our Nespresso coffee when we run out
• Researches my latest ideas, thoughts, and whims
• Gets all of our holiday cards out at the end of the year
• Sends all birthday cards (along with Mother’s and Father’s Day cards, sympathy, graduation, etc.) and she finds, orders, and ships gifts for all kinds of people in our lives

You get the idea. You can utilize and lean on your assistant for almost anything. And a high-caliber assistant loves that. Why? Because they want your WHOLE life to work. They want to free you up to be the best you. The best YOU at home, at the office, and in your community!

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Are you interested in learning more about hiring your own Virtual Executive Assistant? Click here to schedule a free consultation with us.

 

What could you delegate off your plate today?

May 20, 2024 | Business, Delegation, Getting Started with an EA, Mental Health, Productivity, Uncategorized

There really is a world of delegating effectively and turning over projects and tasks to another person in a way that leaves you freed up to go do the things that are a higher and better use of you and your unique talents and expertise. We will always shout this from the rooftops! When you are doing things that you enjoy and that utilize what you uniquely have to contribute to your organization or society, it is enlivening and fulfilling.

Over the years I have curated, read and written many things on the subject of delegation. It something I frequently discuss as a podcast guest. It is what feeds and fuels our firm. If people don’t delegate, we don’t have work to do.

Let’s say however, you already delegate to others, and you have become effective at that. Maybe you have even become really masterful at it. And now maybe, like with me, it thrills you. There is no low-level stuff that you feel obligated to do any more…

For instance, recently I saw an ad on Facebook for a silly mug and I said to myself “I HAVE to get that for my mom.” In the next 20 seconds, I sent the link to my Executive Assistant and asked her to do it. I will probably forget I delegated that, but I will hear from my mom when she gets it, and she will be delighted, and I will be delighted all over again that I did that.

Gina Cotner, CEO, Athena Executive Services

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Are you interested in discovering what you can delegate off your plate and learn more about hiring your own Virtual Executive Assistant? Click here to schedule a free consultation with us.

 

 

 

 

Trusting the Captain of Your Ship – Your EA

Apr 10, 2024 | About Athena, Business, Delegation, Getting Started with an EA, Mental Health, Remote Work, Uncategorized

Gina celebrated a milestone birthday a couple of years ago and wanted to do something on her bucket list – a yacht trip around the beautiful Puget Sound area where she lives most of the year. How the heck do you plan something so fabulous? You turn to your EA, of course! 

Gina’s EA did all kinds of research that was new to both of them. They learned a ton about what it takes to charter a yacht and all the planning that goes around an epic week-long adventure at sea. 

“The trip was stunning in many ways, but what was most remarkable for me and surprised me the most, was our captain. I kept finding myself in awe of all that he had to do and handle, and how graceful and amazing he was in the process, with anything and everything that came up. As I watched him work for us each day, I thought of all of the high-caliber executive assistants out there. 

I made some requests around the itinerary, as there were a few key places that I wanted to visit. But I had no idea what I was really asking for until I watched it play out. I didn’t know that I was asking to go places where the timing of the current and the tides would be difficult! 

I didn’t know the depth of the Swinomish Channel could be an issue. I just wanted to go to La Conner (quaint town on a channel of water, which I will never look at the same again!).

I didn’t know there were swirling currents and tricky tides at Deception Pass. I just wanted to go under the Deception Pass bridge. 

In many cases I did not know what I was asking for, and day by day as I watched it play out, I was amazed and frankly almost moved to tears by the situation. What situation? The situation where every day this captain (Captain Dick was his name) thought through so many details (tides, currents, weather, moorage, fuel, places to eat, etc.) all with a smile on his face and consistently tending to the happiness of the guests on board. Walking past me while he was going from the bow up to the fly bridge (yep, I have boat lingo now) he would pause and say, “Are you having a nice birthday Gina?”

The picture of the paddling duck feet underwater comes to mind. Gliding on top. Rapid kicking under water. Much like the life of a high-caliber executive assistant. 

Captain Dick was always striving to get the best for us. The best what? (Again, things I would never have thought of.) The best moorage slip at a very popular resort Marina. The best crab. (He caught us five large Dungeness crab! What?!) Anchoring in the best cove to watch the sun set and to watch the big glowing full moon rise in the sky. (Like I said, moved to tears at times by this man’s desire for excellence for his guests and clients.)

Of course, things never went 100% according to plan, and yet he pivoted, adapted, and adjusted with grace and calm. And continued to ask, “Are you having a nice birthday Gina?” I was amazed!”

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Are you interested in learning more about hiring your own Virtual Executive Assistant? Click here to schedule a free consultation with us.

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Your Time and Your Health

Feb 27, 2024 | About Athena, Delegation, Mental Health, Productivity, Uncategorized

“The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it.”

– Henry David Thoreau

We all know that rest and sleep allow our body and mind to recover, rejuvenate and heal. Studies have shown how important this is. Experts have published articles and papers about the increased levels of productivity and satisfaction with one’s work when you allow yourself to take brain breaks throughout the day. People who do high intensity activities for their workouts know the importance of stretching and recovery time. Yet with all of this knowledge few people seem to schedule and honor times in their calendar for rejuvenating their mind or their body, their mental or emotional wellness.  The more you demand of yourself physically, mentally, and emotionally, the more you need to refuel and rejuvenate those parts of you.

Great Executive Assistants design a life for their executive that is the kind of life that a person would want to wake up and live! Left to our own devices as business owners and executives we will be awful with ourselves. We overbook ourselves. We try to keep squeezing one more thing into the day. But when somebody else, who has our best interests in mind, goes about designing our schedule, they do a much better job! Sometimes your assistant is the only person who knows or cares that you leave the office at a decent hour.

Rejuvenate yourself. Get yourself fed. The world needs more people like you! The world does not need the exhausted version of you. You at your best, is a gift to the world! If you can’t trust yourself to schedule and honor living a balanced life (however you define that for you), then turn it over to somebody who will support you in that. If you think a more balanced life is truly not possible for you, we should talk.

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Interested in learning more about hiring your own Virtual Executive Assistant? Click here to schedule a free consultation with us.

 

 

 

 

Learning and Growing Together

Feb 15, 2024 | About Athena, Accountability, Business, Delegation, Getting Started with an EA, Mental Health, Uncategorized

A couple weeks ago we had our Athena Leadership retreat. This happens a couple times a year with me and our two managers, Jennifer and Dorian. We met together right back where we were last January, in Pismo Beach, California. This is one of my happy places. It’s on the central coast of California. It’s never too hot and never too cold there. (However, as I write this today, it is getting pummeled with rain and wind).

Dorian drove up from LA and Jennifer flew from Peoria, IL. Jennifer had one of those travel days that we’ve all had at one point, where one delayed flight, leads to an enormous layover somewhere, and then you reconfigure and reconfigure your itinerary until you end up getting as close as you can to where you’re going, and then say “Screw it! I’ll get a driver service to get me the rest of the way.” So, at midnight after being awake for 20 hours, she arrived. And when she was good and ready to wake up the next morning, we began.

The retreat was a time for being open, curious and audacious. Thinking big thoughts and creating big ideas without having to know how we will achieve them. Some conversations were right on the agenda. Some topics bubbled up while we were soaking in a hot tub or gnawing on barbecue for dinner.

If I think about my experience of being together with the two of them, living together with them for a few days . . . Well, if I think about it too much I will cry. They are bold and inspiring, and some of the greatest human beings I have ever known. Getting to spend time in person with them is a real treat.

We covered a lot of ground, from short term action plans to long-term dreams. But I was curious, now a couple weeks later, what were the highlights for them? We talked about this after everyone returned to their homes and families. Needless to say, I was thrilled with their take on the weekend:

Creating 2024 Together: The opportunity to collectively envision and shape the future of the company for the upcoming year served as a powerful catalyst for inspiration and motivation. With the groundwork laid in 2023, the retreat provided a blank canvas for creativity and innovation.

Magic in the Air: The act of sitting together and looking “eyeball to eyeball,” yielded a deep level of connection and commitment.

Safe Space and Trust: Being in a safe space with supportive colleagues underscored the importance of psychological safety in fostering creativity and collaboration. This trust gave us the freedom to express ourselves without fear of judgment and led to more authentic and meaningful contributions.

Partnership and Support: We know we have the full support of each other. Coming together and sharing bold ideas can be daunting, but feeling supported in expressing them is safe and validating. We understood that even if some ideas didn’t immediately resonate, they might contribute to future innovations. No bad ideas!

Culture of Winning: We are creating a space together and with the entire Athena Executive Services team that ensures success is not a zero-sum game, but rather a collective endeavor where each individual’s achievements contribute to the overall success of the company.

Diverse Approaches to Rejuvenation: Our discussion around team members’ diverse rejuvenation needs highlighted the importance of accommodating individual preferences for recharging and self-care. Not everyone recharges in the same way!

Our Responsibility as Managers: We really got into the significant impact a manager has on the lives of team members, clients, and their respective circles. Beyond direct interactions with team members and clients, we hold a broader responsibility for fostering an environment where fulfillment and success are prioritized.

Looking ahead to 2024, I asked Dorian and Jennifer who they were going to be in 2024 that stands on the shoulders of who they were in 2023?

They each had answers that were uniquely their own which I will hold to myself. But I will say that they are both looking to tackle 2024 with bold confidence! Our intention as a leadership team is clear: to empower and uplift team members, foster a culture where every team member feels valued, supported, and integral to the company’s success, and create a dynamic environment where the Athena team and our fabulous clients thrive!

It was so interesting for me to learn what the managers got from the retreat, and I wanted to share these highlights with all of you, because I think it paints a picture of what it’s like behind the curtain at our firm.

– Gina Cotner, CEO, Athena Executive Services

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Interested in learning more about hiring your own Virtual Executive Assistant? Click here to schedule a free consultation with us.