May 29, 2024 • 19 mins
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From Invisible to Invincible- The Crodie Files meet with special guest Zoe Hill former Chief of Staff and founder of Premier Admin Services to share valuable insights for administrative and business support professionals looking to take their careers to the next level.
Zoe, Craig & Jodie discussed this listener question:
Listener question
Hi Crodie: If you could have predicted your career path what one thing would you have done in the early days (course and learning-wise) to make your future role easier or more manageable?
So much value through lived experience was shared during this bonus episode including;
- Networking strategies for administrative professionals
- Building confidence and overcoming imposter syndrome
- Essential skills for modern administrative roles
- Career development and growth for Executive Assistants
- Adapting to change and futureproofing your administrative career
Chapters:
11:40 Professional Growth and Networking Tips
18:22 Sharing Knowledge With Premier Admin Services
We invite you to share your own experiences and strategies through our "Hi Crodie..." initiative get involved and send us your questions.
Value Bombs
"Asking questions and understanding the business is the key to unlocking your value as an administrative professional." - Zoe Hill
"Mentorship is the fast track to success. Learn from those who have walked the path before you." - Craig
"The modern administrative professional is a strategic partner, not just a support role. Own your value and make your mark." - Jodie
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Supporters will get a shout-out on social media and in future episodes.
Got questions? Don't hesitate to submit them via our website. Buckle up and join us on this journey of discovery and personal growth.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Come take my hand.
I won't walk with you.
I won't let go till you say so.
Thank you for joining the CodyFiles bonus episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Today we have an amazing bonus edition guest with
us today and excited as you cantell, grinning from ear to ear,
to introduce to you Zoe Hill,founder of Premier Admin
Services and former Chief ofStaff Now Zoe, it would be much
better if you gave a betterintroduction to yourself, as
(00:37):
you've got a little bit moredetail and you can provide us
with what's going on with Zoe atthe moment moment.
And then we're going to getinto our list of questions.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
It's such an honor to be here speaking to you guys.
I've been waiting for thismoment and it's finally here.
I have been an assistant sinceI was like 18 years old.
I started off at a school andthen did 12 years at JP Morgan
and more recently I was chief ofstaff at Arcade Media, which
has been an incredible journey.
(01:05):
I founded Premier AdminServices on the 1st of March and
the ultimate goal is all aroundempowerment, elevation,
inspiration, networking and justbringing people together in
that real admin industry, justto be able to collaborate and,
as you guys would say, share theknowledge.
And it's been yeah, it's beenabsolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
You've got a lot going on andyou've got an absolute wealth of
knowledge, a big treasure troveof knowledge for us to dip into
to help us answer this listenerquestion.
So, as you all know, we havethe High Crowdy Initiative where
we collate lots of listenerquestions which are assistance
(01:50):
globally, sending us all typesof questions.
They're the hot topics of theindustry, live and direct from
assistance and business supportprofessionals.
So we would like you, zoe Zoe,to help us discuss this question
and kind of deep dive intohelping this listener discover
(02:12):
what they could do and add itinto their the context that they
wanted the answer to be in.
So it's not a direct answer.
Take from it whatever you need.
So, hi, crodi, if you couldhave predicted your career path,
what one thing would you havedone in the early days course
and learning wise to make yourfuture role easier or more
(02:36):
manageable?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
hmm, it's a hindsight question I never wanted to be
an assistant.
I actually wanted to be ahairdresser and if if anyone
reads sort of like LinkedInposts, they know I got fired
from that job.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So that would exactly work.
What did you do to someone'shair?
Was it?
Was it a hair disaster?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I just stayed in the back.
I was just never visible is theword that I'm going to use.
That which kind of brings meinto if I knew I was going to be
where I was now, I would havemade myself more visible back in
the day when I was like 21, inmy early 20s, and you know, I
(03:15):
would have taken notes more.
Everyone absolutely despisesgoing into meetings and making
all of those notes.
But actually I never regretanything, ever because I'm I'm
proud of my journey.
I'm very accepting of who I amas a person, and we all
experience things in reallydifferent ways.
I do wish that I had askedquestions more from the start.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, took an interest in the business you
know, understood.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
You know so what are your goals and what are your
priorities.
You know, and you know what doyou have coming in the business.
You know, understood, you knowso what are your goals and what
are your priorities.
You know and you know what doyou have coming in the next six
months, so that I could reallytruly add more value at like
right from the word go.
Instead, what I did was I put aguard up.
I didn't like it and you know Iwas on a really fast route down
to failure.
(04:03):
You know I was very lucky thatI met a particular woman.
You know I was on a really fastroute down to failure.
You know I was very lucky thatI met a particular woman who,
you know, kind of took meunderneath her wing and really
showed me what it was like to bean assistant.
She wasn't an assistant, shewas a top dog MD at JP Morgan
and you know you learn a lotfrom her.
In the case of what?
Two weeks.
But yeah, I guess in hindsight,that's what I would have done.
I would have been more visible,I would have networked more, I
(04:27):
would have lived the fear ratherthan hiding behind the shadows,
because I was just too afraidto kind of put myself out there
that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, you, you picked on sort of networking and what
that looks like today isconfidence.
It's the confidence and it'sreally difficult, isn't it, in
the early days.
I guess, with this listenerquestion, is it enables us as
sort of experienced EAs in therole right now, to be able to
(04:56):
pass that knowledge down toalmost help newer assistants
that are having their light bulbmoments now, fast track and not
wait as long as we had to wait.
I know craig's got a similarstory.
You know, I don't think I tookmy role seriously until recent
years, like four, three, fouryears ago.
(05:16):
That's ridiculous.
The potential was missed at thebeginning.
So would you, if we pick on thecourse and learning wise,
because it's really difficultisn't it to try and suggest how
someone could gain confidence toask more questions.
But okay, let's focus on thatfor now because I know Craig's
got something to add forconfidence.
(05:38):
Craig, I'll come to you withthe confidence part and then
maybe, Zoe, you can help usunpick applicable course
learning and development forCraig.
What, what would you say, wouldhave helped you in your younger
years?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
being told what the, the, what the role is more about
in my past was it's for agranny with gray hair, glasses,
typing pool, and it wasn't soldvery well when we were growing
up.
You're a woman, you should be asecretary.
Secretaries are for typingpools the EA structure today.
If we had that back in the daywhen we were growing up, that
(06:17):
would be more appealing for meto go ahead and go.
I want to be in that job Once Iknew and got my feet under the
desk.
I never wanted to start off tobe as an EA.
I wanted to be an actor and achef and I just accidentally
came into this role and once Iknew, I got my confidence from
that and I believed in who I was.
Because I know what I want now.
I think that's where you canget the confidence to come
(06:39):
through.
That's where we need to focuson the education.
They need to change andmodernize the industry for the
younger generation.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, we're lucky in a sense that now we have
advocates for the youngergeneration.
Yeah, we're lucky in a sensethat now we have advocates, we
have trainers, we have coaches Inever heard of a mentor for an
admin professional back in theday, there was no mentors.
You maybe got a mentor atschool if you weren't doing so
well in reading and writing, butit wasn't sold, we didn't have
the advocacy that we do today.
(07:08):
So it would have been verydifficult for you know, the
likes of us oldies, if you like,that aren't even old to have
progressed.
We've taken so much longer toget from where we were to where
we are now people to notnecessarily success, as that is
(07:29):
not a destination, but maybe tofast track them through all of
the hurdles that they don't needto take so long over, like
years over, would you agree?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
yeah, absolutely.
It's funny.
I had a conversation back in myJP days and a guy come up to me
and we were just kind of likehaving a general conversation.
He provided me some feedback onan assistant.
It was glowing like, thefeedback was amazing on this
particular assistant.
It was so lovely to hear.
And he made a particular commentwhich I had to challenge him on
(08:01):
, because he turned around andsaid to me you are teaching your
successor, you know you arecreating your successor.
And I said no, absolutely not.
That is not something that I amdoing, because nobody, nobody,
needs hundreds of like zoe'skind of like running around,
like.
That's not the way this ismeant to work.
What I am, what I'm looking todo, what I am training and what
(08:22):
I am coaching on, is for peopleto be better than me.
Learn what I do, even if I dosomething right, pick it out,
unpick what I've done.
How would you do it better?
Yeah, and that's what you knowI've always kind of like strived
to be able to achieve once Igot to a certain level was, you
know, I hope people learn fromwhat I've done and take note of
(08:45):
that and, you know, write itdown and, you know, process it
in a completely different way tomake it even better than the
way that I would have done it inthe first place.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
That's true growth and progression, isn't it, craig
?
I mean, we talk about sharingthe knowledge as being our ethos
and you know, for most of thetime, sharing the knowledge for
free where you can, whetherthat's an intro call, whether
that's getting to know people ina networking event you don't
have to be afraid of asking forhelp in fear of not being able
(09:14):
to access it or afford it.
I would say ask the questions,because you never know.
Your assumptions might be wrongabout paid for mentorship
coaching as well.
It's not all super expensive.
It's not all.
For a certain mindset ofassistant, you might be in the
role already.
So we have a lot of assistantsthat were already in situ.
(09:36):
They're already in their role.
I've been here for years.
I'm fine, I don't need anything, I'm perfectly fine,
everything's tickety-boo, it'sticking along, and I guess I was
one of those assistants, youknow, putting my head in the
sand and not realizing what Ineeded to do to progress, which
ultimately is meeting new people, getting out of your comfort
(10:01):
zone, for sure, getting out ofyour environment.
That's limiting you, andunderstanding earlier on that my
environment, professionally andpersonally, and who I hung out
with personally andprofessionally was,
controversially the thing thatwas holding me back and I was
(10:24):
just too lazy Mindset, was toolazy to think you're holding me
back.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
We need to shuffle things around, or hi?
Yeah, I need a learning anddevelopment course.
I'm not sure what I need.
I haven't been advised yet, buthow I'm going to wrap this into
what I'm making.
My point is, if I didn't changemy environment and the people
that I was hanging around withpersonally and professionally, I
(10:52):
would never have met the personwho suggested that I go on a
course and meet this advocatetrainer in the industry who then
opened up this whole new worldto me.
I had no idea that the PA showexisted post 2020.
(11:12):
You know, you don't know whatyou don't know, right, craig?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, totally I found that back in the day we I had
to learn how to do audio typingand dictation.
You know writing down shortnotes, but we don't need to do
that now.
So, zoe, what have you used nowthat you've carried through
your career in sort of platformsand courses and sort of what?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
has helped you, for anyone who does know me from my
JP days is going to really laughat this.
I have a meeting tracker that Iuse and I love it.
It has everything in there.
Everything's documented.
I've got all you knowassistants, I've got all you
know CEOs, founders, companynames, contact details when
(11:57):
meetings took place, everything,Everything is absolutely
documented in that and I havegenerally taken that with me, no
matter who I've been kind oflike working with, what I've
been kind of doing, and I alsoutilize it within Premier Admin
Services now and it's just myabsolute Bible.
I live by that and I even withmy clientele now as part of
(12:20):
Premier Admin Services, I'm like, hey, you need to be looking at
this, and then I pass on thatand it's absolutely great.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We'll have to learn more about that.
We need to drop that into theshow notes.
So, yeah, do divulge.
After this recording we willget some more information from
you so we can share thatknowledge.
It might be something thatwe've not heard of before and
Craig loves a new piece ofsoftware, so he will be very
(12:45):
excited to learn what that isall about.
So that's a big knowledge drop.
Thank you, zoe.
Yeah, I think for me, Craig, onecourse I don't think it was the
course content.
I think I was maybe lucky thatday of who I met, who was on my
course, and I felt welcome, Ifelt comfortable, I felt
(13:07):
confident within that room, andthat probably had a lot to do
with the trainer and me.
I have to take responsibility.
It was me as well, because youcan say, oh, it was, you know
this person.
It was Oprah Winfrey.
It was you know, it was her whodid it to me, you know she
inspired me.
But I think we forget tocongratulate ourselves a lot of
(13:29):
the time to say, actually it wasyou, it was in you all along.
It was maybe buried and youjust needed to meet a few
different people in a fewdifferent settings to kind of
draw that out of you.
That was there all along.
So your desire for wanting more, for doing more, is always
(13:55):
going to be a situation, aperson, a circumstance, to kind
of drag that out of you againfor you to realize, oh, I do
like feeling that way when I goon a course, or I feel really
comfortable talking about mypast experiences in that setting
.
For me that's how it kind ofprogressed.
I just, when I found myconfidence, I found my people.
(14:17):
When I found my confidence, Ifound my people.
What I meant by that is I foundpeople who loved administration
, where I was kind of hiding ita little bit because I thought
it's not even a proper job, butI didn't own it, is my point, I
didn't own it at the time.
So it was me having my ownpenny drop moment when I was
ready to feel confident, putmyself in different environments
(14:42):
, going on that course andletting the floodgates open.
I love sort of projectmanagement style of courses.
I wish I learned more aboutproject management specifically
for the administrative role.
That's one thing I would haveliked to have learned earlier.
How about you, craig?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Mine would have been patience.
I need to have patience forpeople who, after telling me
over and over, is well, write itdown.
You know, I've learned so muchabout keeping my patience and
having that confidence,understanding that people can't
learn as quickly as I can, andjust giving them that helping
hand, that nudge where they needto get.
(15:21):
What about you, zoe?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So yeah, project management 100%.
I love doing the changemanagement training.
I personally I didn't do it aspart of a like an in-person
thing, but what it did help todo was raise my confidence a
little bit and help with anxiety, because it's all about that
emotional curve and, for peoplewho like to see things in front
(15:46):
of them and have kind of avisual picture, it outlines all
of the different emotions thatyou feel when change happens.
You go through all of thedifferent emotions, through all
of the different emotions.
Now, as an assistant, weexperience change every single
day, not just in ourprofessional lives, but in our
(16:07):
personal lives as well.
So actually what that did was,every time change would happen,
I was able to refocus myself andrecenter myself, because in my
head I'm going to this part onthe emotional curve.
It was just really interestingand I loved it and I refresh
myself on it every single year.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, that is something else.
We draw on so many differentdepartments, don't we?
In our knowledge, we know morethan we give ourselves credit
for.
So bringing that to a point,then let's wrap this up for this
listener.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Any closing thoughts Craig.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That software thate's going to be sharing with us.
I can't wait.
That's going to be a gamechanger for me, keeping on top
of things and making sure thatmeetings are coming up, as well
as getting the confidence andpatience for other people.
What about you?
Is it um zoe?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
it's just absolutely amazing.
I highly recommend listening onthese podcasts you do learn a
lot as you're kind of enteringin as an assistant, changing
careers, looking to kind oftransition.
Having that knowledge that isso out there now for us, when it
wasn't back in the day, isabsolutely phenomenal, and for
me breaking out of your bubbleget out of there as soon as
(17:17):
possible.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You might not even realize you're in a bubble until
you change your environment,meet new people, ask questions
and network.
Network, learn, grow is what webang on about all the time, but
it really does.
And the other thing I alwayssay is networking.
It simply works.
You've been doing it since youwere a young child.
If you've forgotten how to doit, you need to tap into your
(17:38):
inner child of meeting newfriends or just saying hi,
introducing yourself.
We have some resources and andadvice on our linkedin profiles
and articles that we've written.
Um particularly an introvertlike me, I know people will
probably think well, she's notan introvert, but I am an
introvert.
I'm a confident introvert, um,and networking really wasn't
(17:59):
something I would do even fouror five years ago, no way.
So network internally.
Network if you don't want to doany external networking.
Introduce yourself internallyto the various departments.
Understand what they do andalign that to how you can work
together and collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Great, great Great.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, so that's the.
I'm so pleased we've got tosort of unpack that in detail
for our listener.
We will reply and make sure thatthey get this recording.
It was an anonymous,high-crowdy question, but we
really encourage everyone tosend in more questions to us.
It can be about anythingpersonal and professional
development to do with theadministrative and business
(18:42):
support world.
We will have Zoe's contactdetails in the show notes and
all of our LinkedIn posts.
Of course, we look forward tostaying in touch and finding out
what Premier Admin Services isdoing next.
Continue to share the knowledgewith us.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Thank you, Zoe, for joining us.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Thank you for having me.
Come take my hand.
I won't walk with you.
I won't let go till you say so.
Thank you for joining the CodyFiles bonus episodes.
Speaker 2 (00:14):
Today we have an amazing bonus edition guest with
us today and excited as you cantell, grinning from ear to ear,
to introduce to you Zoe Hill,founder of Premier Admin
Services and former Chief ofStaff Now Zoe, it would be much
better if you gave a betterintroduction to yourself, as
(00:37):
you've got a little bit moredetail and you can provide us
with what's going on with Zoe atthe moment moment.
And then we're going to getinto our list of questions.
Speaker 3 (00:45):
It's such an honor to be here speaking to you guys.
I've been waiting for thismoment and it's finally here.
I have been an assistant sinceI was like 18 years old.
I started off at a school andthen did 12 years at JP Morgan
and more recently I was chief ofstaff at Arcade Media, which
has been an incredible journey.
(01:05):
I founded Premier AdminServices on the 1st of March and
the ultimate goal is all aroundempowerment, elevation,
inspiration, networking and justbringing people together in
that real admin industry, justto be able to collaborate and,
as you guys would say, share theknowledge.
And it's been yeah, it's beenabsolutely incredible.
Speaker 2 (01:27):
Amazing.
Thank you so much.
You've got a lot going on andyou've got an absolute wealth of
knowledge, a big treasure troveof knowledge for us to dip into
to help us answer this listenerquestion.
So, as you all know, we havethe High Crowdy Initiative where
we collate lots of listenerquestions which are assistance
(01:50):
globally, sending us all typesof questions.
They're the hot topics of theindustry, live and direct from
assistance and business supportprofessionals.
So we would like you, zoe Zoe,to help us discuss this question
and kind of deep dive intohelping this listener discover
(02:12):
what they could do and add itinto their the context that they
wanted the answer to be in.
So it's not a direct answer.
Take from it whatever you need.
So, hi, crodi, if you couldhave predicted your career path,
what one thing would you havedone in the early days course
and learning wise to make yourfuture role easier or more
(02:36):
manageable?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
hmm, it's a hindsight question I never wanted to be
an assistant.
I actually wanted to be ahairdresser and if if anyone
reads sort of like LinkedInposts, they know I got fired
from that job.
Speaker 2 (02:49):
So that would exactly work.
What did you do to someone'shair?
Was it?
Was it a hair disaster?
Speaker 3 (02:54):
I just stayed in the back.
I was just never visible is theword that I'm going to use.
That which kind of brings meinto if I knew I was going to be
where I was now, I would havemade myself more visible back in
the day when I was like 21, inmy early 20s, and you know, I
(03:15):
would have taken notes more.
Everyone absolutely despisesgoing into meetings and making
all of those notes.
But actually I never regretanything, ever because I'm I'm
proud of my journey.
I'm very accepting of who I amas a person, and we all
experience things in reallydifferent ways.
I do wish that I had askedquestions more from the start.
Speaker 1 (03:39):
Yeah, took an interest in the business you
know, understood.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
You know so what are your goals and what are your
priorities.
You know, and you know what doyou have coming in the business.
You know, understood, you knowso what are your goals and what
are your priorities.
You know and you know what doyou have coming in the next six
months, so that I could reallytruly add more value at like
right from the word go.
Instead, what I did was I put aguard up.
I didn't like it and you know Iwas on a really fast route down
to failure.
(04:03):
You know I was very lucky thatI met a particular woman.
You know I was on a really fastroute down to failure.
You know I was very lucky thatI met a particular woman who,
you know, kind of took meunderneath her wing and really
showed me what it was like to bean assistant.
She wasn't an assistant, shewas a top dog MD at JP Morgan
and you know you learn a lotfrom her.
In the case of what?
Two weeks.
But yeah, I guess in hindsight,that's what I would have done.
I would have been more visible,I would have networked more, I
(04:27):
would have lived the fear ratherthan hiding behind the shadows,
because I was just too afraidto kind of put myself out there
that's right.
Speaker 2 (04:34):
No, you, you picked on sort of networking and what
that looks like today isconfidence.
It's the confidence and it'sreally difficult, isn't it, in
the early days.
I guess, with this listenerquestion, is it enables us as
sort of experienced EAs in therole right now, to be able to
(04:56):
pass that knowledge down toalmost help newer assistants
that are having their light bulbmoments now, fast track and not
wait as long as we had to wait.
I know craig's got a similarstory.
You know, I don't think I tookmy role seriously until recent
years, like four, three, fouryears ago.
(05:16):
That's ridiculous.
The potential was missed at thebeginning.
So would you, if we pick on thecourse and learning wise,
because it's really difficultisn't it to try and suggest how
someone could gain confidence toask more questions.
But okay, let's focus on thatfor now because I know Craig's
got something to add forconfidence.
(05:38):
Craig, I'll come to you withthe confidence part and then
maybe, Zoe, you can help usunpick applicable course
learning and development forCraig.
What, what would you say, wouldhave helped you in your younger
years?
Speaker 1 (05:54):
being told what the, the, what the role is more about
in my past was it's for agranny with gray hair, glasses,
typing pool, and it wasn't soldvery well when we were growing
up.
You're a woman, you should be asecretary.
Secretaries are for typingpools the EA structure today.
If we had that back in the daywhen we were growing up, that
(06:17):
would be more appealing for meto go ahead and go.
I want to be in that job Once Iknew and got my feet under the
desk.
I never wanted to start off tobe as an EA.
I wanted to be an actor and achef and I just accidentally
came into this role and once Iknew, I got my confidence from
that and I believed in who I was.
Because I know what I want now.
I think that's where you canget the confidence to come
(06:39):
through.
That's where we need to focuson the education.
They need to change andmodernize the industry for the
younger generation.
Speaker 2 (06:46):
Yeah, we're lucky in a sense that now we have
advocates for the youngergeneration.
Yeah, we're lucky in a sensethat now we have advocates, we
have trainers, we have coaches Inever heard of a mentor for an
admin professional back in theday, there was no mentors.
You maybe got a mentor atschool if you weren't doing so
well in reading and writing, butit wasn't sold, we didn't have
the advocacy that we do today.
(07:08):
So it would have been verydifficult for you know, the
likes of us oldies, if you like,that aren't even old to have
progressed.
We've taken so much longer toget from where we were to where
we are now people to notnecessarily success, as that is
(07:29):
not a destination, but maybe tofast track them through all of
the hurdles that they don't needto take so long over, like
years over, would you agree?
Speaker 3 (07:40):
yeah, absolutely.
It's funny.
I had a conversation back in myJP days and a guy come up to me
and we were just kind of likehaving a general conversation.
He provided me some feedback onan assistant.
It was glowing like, thefeedback was amazing on this
particular assistant.
It was so lovely to hear.
And he made a particular commentwhich I had to challenge him on
(08:01):
, because he turned around andsaid to me you are teaching your
successor, you know you arecreating your successor.
And I said no, absolutely not.
That is not something that I amdoing, because nobody, nobody,
needs hundreds of like zoe'skind of like running around,
like.
That's not the way this ismeant to work.
What I am, what I'm looking todo, what I am training and what
(08:22):
I am coaching on, is for peopleto be better than me.
Learn what I do, even if I dosomething right, pick it out,
unpick what I've done.
How would you do it better?
Yeah, and that's what you knowI've always kind of like strived
to be able to achieve once Igot to a certain level was, you
know, I hope people learn fromwhat I've done and take note of
(08:45):
that and, you know, write itdown and, you know, process it
in a completely different way tomake it even better than the
way that I would have done it inthe first place.
Speaker 2 (08:53):
That's true growth and progression, isn't it, craig
?
I mean, we talk about sharingthe knowledge as being our ethos
and you know, for most of thetime, sharing the knowledge for
free where you can, whetherthat's an intro call, whether
that's getting to know people ina networking event you don't
have to be afraid of asking forhelp in fear of not being able
(09:14):
to access it or afford it.
I would say ask the questions,because you never know.
Your assumptions might be wrongabout paid for mentorship
coaching as well.
It's not all super expensive.
It's not all.
For a certain mindset ofassistant, you might be in the
role already.
So we have a lot of assistantsthat were already in situ.
(09:36):
They're already in their role.
I've been here for years.
I'm fine, I don't need anything, I'm perfectly fine,
everything's tickety-boo, it'sticking along, and I guess I was
one of those assistants, youknow, putting my head in the
sand and not realizing what Ineeded to do to progress, which
ultimately is meeting new people, getting out of your comfort
(10:01):
zone, for sure, getting out ofyour environment.
That's limiting you, andunderstanding earlier on that my
environment, professionally andpersonally, and who I hung out
with personally andprofessionally was,
controversially the thing thatwas holding me back and I was
(10:24):
just too lazy Mindset, was toolazy to think you're holding me
back.
Speaker 1 (10:30):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (10:30):
We need to shuffle things around, or hi?
Yeah, I need a learning anddevelopment course.
I'm not sure what I need.
I haven't been advised yet, buthow I'm going to wrap this into
what I'm making.
My point is, if I didn't changemy environment and the people
that I was hanging around withpersonally and professionally, I
(10:52):
would never have met the personwho suggested that I go on a
course and meet this advocatetrainer in the industry who then
opened up this whole new worldto me.
I had no idea that the PA showexisted post 2020.
(11:12):
You know, you don't know whatyou don't know, right, craig?
Speaker 1 (11:15):
Yeah, totally I found that back in the day we I had
to learn how to do audio typingand dictation.
You know writing down shortnotes, but we don't need to do
that now.
So, zoe, what have you used nowthat you've carried through
your career in sort of platformsand courses and sort of what?
Speaker 3 (11:34):
has helped you, for anyone who does know me from my
JP days is going to really laughat this.
I have a meeting tracker that Iuse and I love it.
It has everything in there.
Everything's documented.
I've got all you knowassistants, I've got all you
know CEOs, founders, companynames, contact details when
(11:57):
meetings took place, everything,Everything is absolutely
documented in that and I havegenerally taken that with me, no
matter who I've been kind oflike working with, what I've
been kind of doing, and I alsoutilize it within Premier Admin
Services now and it's just myabsolute Bible.
I live by that and I even withmy clientele now as part of
(12:20):
Premier Admin Services, I'm like, hey, you need to be looking at
this, and then I pass on thatand it's absolutely great.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
We'll have to learn more about that.
We need to drop that into theshow notes.
So, yeah, do divulge.
After this recording we willget some more information from
you so we can share thatknowledge.
It might be something thatwe've not heard of before and
Craig loves a new piece ofsoftware, so he will be very
(12:45):
excited to learn what that isall about.
So that's a big knowledge drop.
Thank you, zoe.
Yeah, I think for me, Craig, onecourse I don't think it was the
course content.
I think I was maybe lucky thatday of who I met, who was on my
course, and I felt welcome, Ifelt comfortable, I felt
(13:07):
confident within that room, andthat probably had a lot to do
with the trainer and me.
I have to take responsibility.
It was me as well, because youcan say, oh, it was, you know
this person.
It was Oprah Winfrey.
It was you know, it was her whodid it to me, you know she
inspired me.
But I think we forget tocongratulate ourselves a lot of
(13:29):
the time to say, actually it wasyou, it was in you all along.
It was maybe buried and youjust needed to meet a few
different people in a fewdifferent settings to kind of
draw that out of you.
That was there all along.
So your desire for wanting more, for doing more, is always
(13:55):
going to be a situation, aperson, a circumstance, to kind
of drag that out of you againfor you to realize, oh, I do
like feeling that way when I goon a course, or I feel really
comfortable talking about mypast experiences in that setting
.
For me that's how it kind ofprogressed.
I just, when I found myconfidence, I found my people.
(14:17):
When I found my confidence, Ifound my people.
What I meant by that is I foundpeople who loved administration
, where I was kind of hiding ita little bit because I thought
it's not even a proper job, butI didn't own it, is my point, I
didn't own it at the time.
So it was me having my ownpenny drop moment when I was
ready to feel confident, putmyself in different environments
(14:42):
, going on that course andletting the floodgates open.
I love sort of projectmanagement style of courses.
I wish I learned more aboutproject management specifically
for the administrative role.
That's one thing I would haveliked to have learned earlier.
How about you, craig?
Speaker 1 (15:00):
Mine would have been patience.
I need to have patience forpeople who, after telling me
over and over, is well, write itdown.
You know, I've learned so muchabout keeping my patience and
having that confidence,understanding that people can't
learn as quickly as I can, andjust giving them that helping
hand, that nudge where they needto get.
(15:21):
What about you, zoe?
Speaker 3 (15:25):
So yeah, project management 100%.
I love doing the changemanagement training.
I personally I didn't do it aspart of a like an in-person
thing, but what it did help todo was raise my confidence a
little bit and help with anxiety, because it's all about that
emotional curve and, for peoplewho like to see things in front
(15:46):
of them and have kind of avisual picture, it outlines all
of the different emotions thatyou feel when change happens.
You go through all of thedifferent emotions, through all
of the different emotions.
Now, as an assistant, weexperience change every single
day, not just in ourprofessional lives, but in our
(16:07):
personal lives as well.
So actually what that did was,every time change would happen,
I was able to refocus myself andrecenter myself, because in my
head I'm going to this part onthe emotional curve.
It was just really interestingand I loved it and I refresh
myself on it every single year.
That's amazing.
Speaker 2 (16:23):
Yeah, that is something else.
We draw on so many differentdepartments, don't we?
In our knowledge, we know morethan we give ourselves credit
for.
So bringing that to a point,then let's wrap this up for this
listener.
Speaker 1 (16:36):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (16:36):
Any closing thoughts Craig.
Speaker 1 (16:39):
That software thate's going to be sharing with us.
I can't wait.
That's going to be a gamechanger for me, keeping on top
of things and making sure thatmeetings are coming up, as well
as getting the confidence andpatience for other people.
What about you?
Is it um zoe?
Speaker 3 (16:53):
it's just absolutely amazing.
I highly recommend listening onthese podcasts you do learn a
lot as you're kind of enteringin as an assistant, changing
careers, looking to kind oftransition.
Having that knowledge that isso out there now for us, when it
wasn't back in the day, isabsolutely phenomenal, and for
me breaking out of your bubbleget out of there as soon as
(17:17):
possible.
Speaker 2 (17:17):
You might not even realize you're in a bubble until
you change your environment,meet new people, ask questions
and network.
Network, learn, grow is what webang on about all the time, but
it really does.
And the other thing I alwayssay is networking.
It simply works.
You've been doing it since youwere a young child.
If you've forgotten how to doit, you need to tap into your
(17:38):
inner child of meeting newfriends or just saying hi,
introducing yourself.
We have some resources and andadvice on our linkedin profiles
and articles that we've written.
Um particularly an introvertlike me, I know people will
probably think well, she's notan introvert, but I am an
introvert.
I'm a confident introvert, um,and networking really wasn't
(17:59):
something I would do even fouror five years ago, no way.
So network internally.
Network if you don't want to doany external networking.
Introduce yourself internallyto the various departments.
Understand what they do andalign that to how you can work
together and collaborate.
Speaker 1 (18:18):
Great, great Great.
Speaker 2 (18:21):
Yeah, so that's the.
I'm so pleased we've got tosort of unpack that in detail
for our listener.
We will reply and make sure thatthey get this recording.
It was an anonymous,high-crowdy question, but we
really encourage everyone tosend in more questions to us.
It can be about anythingpersonal and professional
development to do with theadministrative and business
(18:42):
support world.
We will have Zoe's contactdetails in the show notes and
all of our LinkedIn posts.
Of course, we look forward tostaying in touch and finding out
what Premier Admin Services isdoing next.
Continue to share the knowledgewith us.
Speaker 1 (18:58):
Thank you, Zoe, for joining us.
Speaker 3 (19:01):
Thank you for having me.
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