• You’re always juggling plates when running an agency…
• …but what if you could pay someone to take a couple off your hands?
• In this session, Daniel de la Cruz shares the moment he realised he needed to hire a PA – along with all of the resources he used to do so.
“I realised that I needed a PA when I once arrived at an event that I had organised, at the hotel that everyone else was staying at, and didn’t have a reservation myself,” says Daniel de la Cruz, founder of Polymensa.
Deciding whether you need a personal assistant or not can be tough – specially if your margins are being squeezed already. Who has the money to spare?
After much deliberation, Dan finally hired a PA this year – and it’s already changed his life.
“There’s so much stuff that you do on a regular basis where you ask yourself, ‘Should I really be doing this right now?’. Like booking trains and hotels, or speaking to venues about dietary requirements,” he says.
“I want to be able to show up places and everything’s already done.”
Dan suggests three red flags to look out for if you’re thinking of hiring a PA:
- Capacity is already an issue. You need someone who has the time to understand how you work and move around that.
- The candidate didn’t read the job spec properly. If you ask them to apply by email and they apply through LinkedIn, it doesn’t show attention to detail.
- They have only just started out. To handle the chaos of agency land, you need someone with some experience.
“Jo has been with me for three months now, and she’s just incredible,” says Dan. “She only works one day a week, but for me, that’s pretty much spot on. I don’t think I need more.”
“But it all depends. In some cases, you might want someone full time who’s constantly monitoring your emails and responding straightaway on your behalf.”
Come along to hear Dan’s experience of hiring a part-time personal assistant as an agency leader. We’ll also be joined by Andrew Dobbie, CEO of MadeBrave, who’ll be sharing his insight into whether or not you need someone full-time.