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10 Reasons To Be a Freelance Personal Assistant 

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  1. You get paid for the hours you actually work, not as a salaried employee who gets calls at all hours and doesn’t get paid extra for that.
  2. Your employer is more discerning about what can wait and what is an emergency when you’re billing them for time.
  3. You now have your own business and have many tax deductions you didn’t have before.
  4. You can have more than 1 client.
  5. You can work in your sweats.
  6. Savings for your boss—no more paying employee taxes, it’s actually cheaper for your boss to have you work from home virtually.
  7. You save valuable time commuting that makes you more productive when you hit your desk.
  8. Be there when your children come home or work your lunch hour into picking them up from school.
  9. Start with your existing boss but build up other clients and then specialize in work you enjoy doing (i.e. bookkeeping, staffing or construction management).
  10. Save the drama for your mama—no more workplace drama/gossip/wasted time chatting.

What other benefits can you think of?

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Quick and Easy Tips to Organize Yourself

The single most important trait of any good assistant are good organizational skills. ThinkstockHaving systems and following through with them alleviates your mind and remedies needless anxiety. Let’s face it, you have enough to worry about.

When you are moving every minute of every day, responsible for hundreds of details, managing others and making sure your boss is not encountering any hiccups, do you really want to stress over remembering where you put that phone number on that slip of paper? How many of you have woken up in the middle of the night sucking in all the air in the room because you just remembered something you forgot to do?

Here’s are my personal Top 5, Cannot Live Without, tips to stay organized:

Tip #1: Write down everything. Use the same book and keep it with you ALWAYS. This way there is no doubt where your notes are. I recommend a book that fits into your laptop bag or purse.

Tip #2: Make yourself an end-of-the-day plan for the next day. Make this list while your priorities are fresh in your head because I guarantee you, there will be new “surprise” items to deal with in the morning. This will keep you from forgetting those holdover items.

 Tip #3: Before quitting time, transfer your daily notes into your appropriate systems. Phone numbers written down hastily in shorthand that only you can read should be put into your contacts or onto call sheets with their full name; to do’s should be put on the list for tomorrow; and tasks that were completed should be crossed off.

 Tip #4: A status email should be sent to your employer at the end of the day. This should include calls they still need to make or return, appointments for the next day, vendors who may be working at their home the following day, papers to be signed; and anything else important you were not able to communicate to them during the day. This list is a big help to you as well. Note—Never assume it got read by your employer, but you can read it to them in the morning and it’s a great CYA move.

Tip #5: Keep a “hot” folder that has all the paperwork you need to deal with immediately. Even if items carry over to the next day or week, you know where to put your hands on those that are most urgent.

While the brain is an assistant’s most valuable asset, give it some much-needed help! Trust in your processes so that when you cannot remember, you know where to look.

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Working for Free is Called Slavery-Get Involved

Anyone who has worked in a home as a personal assistant, nanny, housekeeper, imagescaretaker, driver, major domo, house manager etc. should be paying special attention to a California Domestic Worker’s Bill AB241. Assemblyman Tom Ammiano’s office summarized, “It is focused on ensuring six rights for domestic workers: 1) overtime; 2) meal and rest breaks; 3) three paid sick days; 4) workers’ compensation; 5) the right to use kitchen facilities; and 6) the right to have some hours for sleep (eight hours recommended, with some possible exceptions). The previous bill also included cost of living increases, 30 days notice of termination and Cal OSHA protections, all of which have been omitted from the current version.”

Modern day slavery isn’t a new problem. As long as there have been people who work in other’s homes, there has been a need to clarify and specify the pay structure and job responsibilities of employees. It is one of the last industries that often and purposely ignore state labor laws and it’s an accepted mindset of employers that needs changing.

Most publicly we recently saw this with Lady Gaga not acknowledging that her assistant, who accompanied her 24/7/365, was entitled to overtime pay. (http://assistantsurvival.wordpress.com/2013/03/01/big-monster-behaving-badly/) The obvious reason workers accept abuse is fear of being replaced. There is no one to enforce the laws, no liaison between the worker and employer and it becomes a contentious relationship you’re fighting your employer to for overtime pay-one that never goes over well.

However, when the employee is hired from an agency, the agencies work on behalf of the candidate and client to make sure the job expectations are outlined, hourly rate agreed on, and time demands clear. Even then, I have seen the responsibilities and hours get skewed once time on the job sets in. But unfortunately, most people do not use an agency to hire someone, settling instead on getting recommendations from their friends for new hires.

So how can a worker protect themselves from miscommunications or  uncompensated excessive hours? I recommend going into a position with a written job description or asking for one to make sure you’re all on the same page. It should include the max hours you are expected to work, holidays off, with or without pay—especially if it is a salaried position. It need not be a confrontation, just clarifying so you can make plans and have a life. Frankly it is good for both sides. Email it to your employer, whether they sign it or not. At least they will be aware of your understanding of the position.

Everyone that works in a home (especially live-in employees) should get behind this bill to see it to fruition because there are powers in numbers and awareness in involvement. You can get involved via this link: http://www.domesticworkers.org/news/ca-bill-of-rights

More reading on this topic: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2013/03/07/domestic-workers-california-bill_n_2822520.html?view=print&comm_ref=false

It’s not just happening here: http://www.vancouverobserver.com/life/canada’s-modern-day-slaves-filipina-nannies

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5 Key Things You Need to Do When Laid Off

Many of my friends are currently out of work and some are starting completely new careers. images-1As a personal assistant who freelances, I’m always “between jobs.” It doesn’t matter if you’re a personal assistant or a CEO, these quick tips are useful to anyone who is in unemployed.

1)    Revamp your resume—do so professionally. Make sure it is current with the styles others in your industry are doing. Ask the best headhunter in your industry for a referral on a resume professional. It’s worth the investment.

2)    Let people know you are looking for work. While you are fresh in the minds of those you had been working with currently, ask them if they know of anything you can follow up on. Make it easy for them to pitch you by telling them what you are looking for. Give them your resume once it’s redone or at the very least, a bullet pointed list of your strong points. If they have to think too hard about how they can help you, it won’t happen.

3)    Analyze your bills and cut out all frills. I don’t care how much money you have saved, cut your bills now (not later). Goodbye 200 premium cable channels, 2,000 minute cell phone plan, Starbucks venti lattes and impulse shopping. You don’t know how long you will be unemployed so start saving now.

4)    Become a quick learner of the unemployment department’s system. Find out what benefits you are entitled (or not) with unemployment and apply. This info is crucial to knowing immediately what you can be expecting financially so you can make a budget and begin making payment arrangements with utilities if necessary.

http://www.edd.ca.gov

5)    Make it a job to look for a job. Set aside scheduled time daily to follow up and do what you need to do to find work.  Meet with friends and others on their lunch hours to catch up and stay connected.  Offer them suggestions on how you can help them, for free if need be, with a project. You’ve got the time and they will think of you first when something comes up. Be a solution to their problems and they will appreciate you for it. And network with new friends. Click here to find out what Lindsay Olsen’s blog on how to find groups in your area.

http://money.usnews.com/money/blogs/outside-voices-careers/2013/04/25/finding-a-job-through-networking-groups

Men are notorious for having their self-esteem tied to what they do. Remember-you are not your job. A job is what you do for a living. You are no less important because you are unemployed. And remember, this is temporary.

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Personal Assistant – Personal Integrity

Be true to youOften a friend and I joke that because we’ve been personal assistants so long and having put up with so much abuse in our early years, I began to say we are “Damaged Goods.” We became numb to reality, numb to outrageous requests, numb to personal attacks, numb to  unreasonable workdays, work schedules and ill-intentioned people. But we are not without responsibility. We were young and dumb but boy have we learned. We have learned that when your work situation is so far off from what you personally consider reasonable and manageable, you’ve got to make an important decision for yourself, for your personal integrity.

Michael Jackson’s lifestyle is a perfect example of this situation. Some people in his household were willing to take the paycheck while turning a blind eye to some things that ended up being fatal for their employer. They put up with the lunacy because they knew they would just be replaced. It’s a very hard call. You are powerless to change things so you must make a decision to conform or quit. Either way the behavior will continue with or without you.

One of the things I teach assistants is that if you are not at all compatible with your employer:

1) Plan an exit strategy. Plan when you want to have a new job and when you will give notice. Work that plan. And for some, that may mean a completely different industry.

2) Don’t discuss or berate your employer for their ways with others. It solves absolutely nothing except promoting more bad energy. You have power by not allowing yourself the mindset of being victimized. You know you have choices.

3) Give notice and say simply that you don’t think this job is for you any longer and that you are giving notice. That’s okay. You don’t need to elaborate. You don’t need to point out instances where they were wrong and you were right. Explain that you intend to give adequate notice and do your job in the same manner until the two weeks are up and are committed to still being the same loyal and dependable assistant during this transition.

Believe me, you are doing them a favor. No one wants someone in their home who is judging them or who has a difference of opinion of their every decision.

At the end of the day it all boils down to having personal integrity. No one can tell you what that is for you. Everyone has their own barometer of what is their “last straw” when they will say, “I have to live with me, do what’s best for me, I cannot condone this and so I must quit.”

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