Keep Your Calendar On Track
Let’s face it: as a busy business owner, your calendar gets crazy. Not just “I’m tired at the end of the day” crazy, but “It’s 4 pm and oops, I forgot to eat today” crazy. Some days, it just comes with the territory. That’s why you have (or should have) an Executive Assistant – to keep your calendar on track!
There are several ways to do this, but I have found that one of the most effective is a combination of daily, weekly, monthly, and quarterly meetings. This allows both the owner and the EA to stay on top of both the bigger events and the daily details.
The daily and weekly meetings don’t need to be long; for these meetings, consistency is the key. They provide an opportunity to check in, discuss any issues or answer questions, and stay up to date. You will be surprised at how much smoother things will run!
Daily Meetings
In this short meeting, the owner and the EA take a few minutes to touch base on anything that is happening. This might include staffing (is anyone out sick or taking a personal day?), projects ( is everything on track or do adjustments need to be made?) and any follow ups that should be completed.
These meetings will often be supplemented by Slack messages, notes in Evernote, adjustments to the owner’s calendar, and other such actions.
Your daily meetings with your EA are not the place for detailed, in-depth discussion. Rather, they serve as a time to make sure that you are aware of what you need to know in order to stay on track and keep everything moving forward in your business.
Weekly Meetings
Your weekly meeting with your Executive Assistant will take a bit longer, about 30 to 60 minutes (depending on what is going on). If you like you can split this into two shorter meetings, one at the beginning of the week and one toward the end.
Weekly meetings serve a few different purposes.
First, they help you to stay up to date with what is going on in your business, from issues or questions with team members to client needs. These meetings are also a time to set priorities for the week, ensuring that important and urgent matters are handled in a timely manner.
However, your weekly meetings are also the time to review any problems that have come up and decide on solutions – before those problems become fires that need to be put out. Getting ahead of any issues that arise will save you a lot of time and stress!
Monthly Meetings
Once each month, I highly recommend sitting down with your EA to lay out your calendar in detail for the upcoming month.
This includes your team meetings, blocks for client management, any upcoming projects that you need to be involved in, publicity opportunities such as podcasts, interviews, and speaking opportunities, and personal time.
It might seem a bit odd to schedule your personal time in. However, when your business is growing and your calendar gets busy, you will find that your personal time is the first thing to get sacrificed. This time is necessary, though, and you need to protect it. If you don’t take time to rest and recharge, you will burn out quickly. That’s never a good thing!
There will be times when you need to make small tweaks to your calendar throughout the month, but by blocking it out ahead of time and coordinating with your Executive Assistant, you will find that your time is far easier to manage – and you are able to stay ahead of your tasks!
Quarterly Meetings
Once a quarter, I schedule a half-day “deep dive” with my Executive Assistant. I find this to be incredibly useful!
I will admit, I am definitely a planner, so being able to lay out my projects on a quarterly basis helps me keep everything running more smoothly.
During these quarterly meetings, I have the time to coordinate with my EA and plan ahead for the things that will take a considerable amount of my time. These projects include days set aside for filming video clips, marketing pushes and publicity events, rollouts for larger admin projects (so we are not trying to create multiple systems or platform setups at the same time), and workshops that I will need to prepare for.
The quarterly meeting also allows me to see where I can take extended vacations or travel time so that I can take more than a few hours or a weekend off. After all, I am growing my business so that I can thrive – and it’s important for us as business owners to take that time along the way!
With the help of your Executive Assistant, it really is possible to keep your calendar under control and turn it into a tool that works for you!
Kristen David, a former trial lawyer and partner who went from working 85 hours a week and taking home way too little money in her law firm, built it up to a million-dollar-plus business, then sold her shares and pivoted into a business coach guru. She is now an international speaker, bestselling author, and operates a successful business, empowering business owners to build thriving, profitable businesses that are self-managed with systems. She helps busy business owners build those systems by implementing policies and procedures the Fast Track Way.