As a CEO, you’re wearing a lot of hats and you may be finding yourself saying, “I can’t do it all, but I don’t know what to do about it!” And I’ve realized over the years of matching CEOs like you with Executive Virtual Assistants that many people say to me, “I’m not organized, so I can’t start working with an EVA yet.”

I hear it so often! But that’s kind of like cleaning before your cleaner gets to your house. You’re hiring someone to clean for you so you don’t have to, but you’re still cleaning it. When you hire an EVA, we’ll help you get organized.

That said, it’s very difficult to pair a client and an EVA together and say go off and do magical things without first properly setting yourself up for success. What happens then is that your EVA doesn’t know what to do. And of course, you don’t know how to nor do you have time to train or teach them in the ways of your business, delegate what would be most important to offload from your plate, etc.

This is exactly why we always begin with a Systems Set Up! It becomes a standard of operating that gets everything streamlined, automated, and talking to each other. This is why it’s great for you: our EVAs are trained in that standard (we call it an SOP or Standard Operating Procedure). So you don’t have to train your EVA in how things are done. They just know. And can take all the pressure off your plate!

What does a Systems Set Up include? Let’s discuss the three phases and the benefits to you in each one!

Start with a Systems Audit

The first part is getting in and seeing what we’re working with. This means auditing your current systems, like how you’re managing your inbox, client onboarding and offboarding, day-to-day task delegation, and so forth.

We’ve worked with dozens of visionary, impact-driven CEOs, so we know what to look for to make your life more streamlined and efficient. In this step, We will give feedback, strategies, and ideas.

This step is so important because it forms the foundation of working with your systems and an EVA. We talk about how you onboard and offboard clients, how you like to do client care, and how you like your calendar managed so we understand what you like so we can layer that on top of our processes and systems for how we manage inboxes and calendars, how we communicate with you, and other specifics of how you like to run your business.

Your Systems Build Out

Once the audit is complete and we’ve worked through how you like to operate in your business and how you want your business systems and automation to function, we build those systems for you.

Again, we’ve done this a lot so we’ve streamlined it really, really well. And you don’t have to know how to do any of this! You tell us what you like and we do the rest! In this step, you’ll get a complete setup of your email, project management system, CRM, Lastpass, Canva, email marketing, Slack, and whatever else we’ve determined is best for you from the Systems Audit step.

Then, you have developed SOPs with the exact steps for all systems and processes loaded into your project management software / G-Drive to keep you organized. As I said, this is all done for you, so you don’t have to think about any of this. If there’s a particular software you’ve invested in that you love, we’ll work with that so you can make the most of the tools you have.

Connect and Collaborate with Dedicated EVA Support

In the final phase of a Systems Set Up comes the collaboration. (Yes, you can leave it at a System Build Out since you get how-to-use videos and SOP templates to make your future systems easy to use). But why stop there?

Now, you’re fully systematized and an EVA knows how to best support you because they are going to be trained in your business’s specific system suite. When you work with Prestridge & Co, my team will make sure your EVA has been trained on how you like things managed and has reviewed all your SOPs, videos, all of that, so she’s up to speed the second she begins supporting you and really can become your right hand taking care of all the management things that cause bottlenecks in your business.

This really eliminates the frustration of working with a Virtual Assistant. A lot of times, they’ll just kinda…plop into your inbox. But that creates friction and frustration because you have to do extra work to get them up to speed and they feel anxious because you’re obviously and rightfully annoyed that things are taking longer when hiring support was supposed to make things easier.

I always say this is a partnership and like dating. You don’t just swipe right and get married. There’s the dating period where you learn about each other, have your unique way of communicating inside the relationship, and pivot to adjust to different needs that come up. It allows Prestridge & Co to learn how you like things so we don’t bring you a salad with olives if you hate olives.

When you collaborate with our EVAs, you’ll receive structure and support to run your business efficiently. You will get back your precious time to focus on increasing revenue and growing your dream business!

If you’re interested in working with an Executive Virtual Assistant to provide support, and you want to know what an EVA can do for you, click here to download The Ultimate Guide for Leveraging EVA Support or go here to learn more about working with us!