Don't Have an Assistant? You are One. (Stings a little, doesn't it?)
Most business owners are leaving $100,000+ on the table every year doing administrative work that costs $25/hour while their time is worth $200–$1,000+/hour. Rob Levin breaks down why an assistant is no longer a luxury—it's a necessity—and delivers a step-by-step playbook for hiring one, whether full-time, part-time, onshore, nearshore, or offshore. You'll learn to calculate your true hourly rate, identify what to delegate in three days, and avoid the costly mistakes most owners make (like hiring part-time). Within two months of hiring the right assistant, you'll reclaim 16–30 hours per week to spend on growth, customer relationships, and the high-leverage work only you can do. This is Rob's battle-tested framework from 11 years of managing assistants—and having built a company, WorkBetterNow, entirely around helping business owners get great ones.
Episode Highlight
"If you don't have an assistant, you are one." — Jack Daly
Actionable Insights
1. Calculate your true hourly rate and stop doing $25/hour work: Take your target annual compensation (salary + distributions), divide by 2,000 hours, and face the math. Most business owners are worth $200–$1,000+/hour yet spend 40–65% of their time on low-payoff administrative tasks. That $400,000/year owner is literally wasting $160,000 annually on email, scheduling, and document searching. [05:39]
2. Plan what you'll do with 16–30 reclaimed hours before hiring: More time is worthless if you don't know how to spend it. Write down your priorities: More customer time? Focus time to think strategy? Family and rest? This clarity motivates you to actually delegate and hire. Dan Sullivan's principle: spend 80% of your time on your unique ability. Assistants make that possible. [10:53]
3. Go full-time, even if you think you don't have 40 hours of work: Part-time assistants create gaps where urgent-but-not-important tasks fall back on your plate. You'll find 40 hours of work quickly as you delegate more. Part-timers often leave for full-time roles elsewhere, forcing you to restart. Full-time is the only model that actually works. [12:52]
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