July 9, 2025 • 34 mins
Kate Lenihan shares her expertise on how practice owners can successfully hire and work with their first virtual assistant, transitioning from doing everything themselves to strategic delegation.
• More than 95% success rate in matching VAs with business owners
• Calendar management and email are the first tasks most practice owners should delegate
• Just 5 hours of VA support per week can make a significant difference in stress levels
• US-based VAs typically bring more autonomy and contextual understanding than overseas assistants
• Initial 30-45 days of proper onboarding is critical for long-term success
• Stop looking for a "unicorn" VA and instead hire specialists for specific tasks
• Keep a running list of tasks that drain your energy or repeatedly get pushed to next week
• Record video tutorials of your processes to build an SOP library for future hires
• Clear communication about expectations prevents most delegation failures
• Treating your time with the same respect you'd give your best client
Get in touch with Kate:
Website: https://risehireconsulting.com/
Instagram https://www.instagram.com/risehireconsulting/
AI Prompt for Solo Business Owners: https://risehireconsulting.com/the-rise-audit/
Our Profit Coaching program is enrolling new practices now.
We specialize in helping therapy practices like yours achieve financial clarity, so you can focus on what you do best—helping your clients and managing your team- while we help handle all the businessy stuff they didn’t teach you in grad school.
To see if your practice might be a good fit, schedule a free consultation at therapybusinesspod.com.
Meet with one of our coaches
*Intro/outro song credit:
King Around Here by Alex Grohl
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I remember when I made my first hire, it was a
virtual assistant and,truthfully, I didn't know what I
was doing.
I didn't know what to give themand I felt kind of overwhelmed
with even just getting some helptaking things off my plate.
I've learned over time thatthat is a common experience and
today Kate Linehan joins mebecause she is an expert at not
(00:20):
only helping you pinpoint whatyou can offload, what you can
give to a virtual assistant, buthow to make the most of it and
how to find the right fit.
My name is Craig and I'm theowner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission tomake your therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
(00:42):
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
All right, we have Kate Linehanhere.
Kate, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm good.
Thanks, Craig.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm awesome.
I'm awesome.
We were just complimenting eachother on our backgrounds, so
I'm a big fan of your background.
We're saying how important itis, or just the pride we take in
and what the aesthetic behindus.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Absolutely.
I can't tell you how many timesI've been on an interview with
somebody, usually a virtualassistant.
They've got a pile of laundryor an unmade bed behind them, so
it's always made me neuroticabout my own background.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, very much.
So.
Now I can't attest to the restof my room being really nice,
but at least the frame aroundthe camera looks really good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's all that matters, right?
That's all that matters.
Am I wearing pajama pants onthe bottom half of me, or no?
Right, it's the COVID question.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Absolutely Only what's in camera shot.
So I know this is riveting forour audio listeners on Apple and
Spotify, but let's pivot intowhat you do best.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, what you do and how you
help business owners.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh well, how much time do you have?
No, just kidding.
So I'm a hiring and trainingcoach and I help small business
owners transition from doing itall themselves, being a solo
business, to hiring successfullyhiring their first virtual
assistant.
I, over the course of my career, which I've worked in digital
marketing for over a decade now,I've worked with amazing
(02:20):
entrepreneurs like AmyPorterfield, sue B Zimmerman,
and I've helped to manage teams.
I've helped to bring teammembers on and I've really seen
what works and what doesn't.
And over the course of my career, I also worked at a virtual
staffing agency.
I've made over 200 matches witha 95% success rate.
(02:41):
So there's that, um, what I doin matching someone successfully
is really take into account theentire person, the entire
organization, not just the jobthat needs to be done and that
is such a differentiator forbringing a team member on and
stepping into leadership for thefirst time, going from doing it
(03:04):
all yourself right.
So there's so many nuances andwhen I coach my clients, it's
not just about the job and it'snot just about the candidate.
It's also about the journey andthe communication and the
onboarding and the training toreally immerse them into your
business.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Man, I wish I knew of you when I started, because
that was my first hire, was avirtual assistant, and I just
didn't know what I was doing.
I really didn't, I knew.
When I started my business Iwas like, oh, I'm just gonna be
self employed.
And then I slowly grow, grew ateam and no one tells you what
to do or how to do it and youdon't know what to look for.
And you're right.
And I got my person and I wasvery task-based and then I was
(03:45):
struggling to even figure outwhat should I be giving them?
And I was so it was this messthat I kind of wish I had
somebody guiding me through andthat sounds like that's.
That's your wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It really is and it's so true, right, Like you're not
alone, Like it's such a commonthing that I hear well, what
would I even have them do?
Or it's faster if I just do itmyself, rather than take the
time to train somebody.
And, and you know, I know youraudience is therapists, and and
I would challenge them to kindof say well, what would you say
to a client who was on the vergeof burnout or who needed to?
(04:18):
Like?
My therapist always tells meI'm, I over-function, and so are
you over-functioning in yourbusiness, right, You're seeing
clients all day and then perhapstrying to fit in scheduling or
social media or tech or any ofthese other pieces of the puzzle
on the back end, squeezing itin in between clients after
clients when you're alreadymentally tapped out.
(04:39):
And so those kinds of thingsare the things we start with
when we're thinking about who tohire, and then we take into a
lot of personality pieces toowhen we're talking about hiring.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, absolutely Well , and I know, for me I waited
too long because I was nervous.
I was still trying to juggleeverything.
Partially.
I was nervous.
I'm like what if this personmesses up my brand, sometimes
even that fallacy of oh, it'sjust faster if I just do it,
instead of teaching someone elsehow to do it?
How do you know when it's timeto hire?
Besides, like, oh, my goodness,I'm burnt out and I should have
(05:13):
hired a year ago.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's such a good question.
So my biggest thing is, if youfind yourself doing things that
don't bring you joy, that drainyour energy, or that you know,
but you know enough to bedangerous at that is when it's
time to hire right, like justbecause you know how to do it or
(05:37):
you can do it doesn't mean it'sthe best use of your time.
And so, instead of waitinguntil you've spent five hours
trying to build the web page,hiring somebody just in the
temporary to build that web pageor that landing page, whatever
it is that you're working on,really kind of audit yourself
(05:57):
and what does this do to my time?
Do I have the proper skills forthis, the proper knowledge and,
realistically, what would I bewilling to pay for this?
Because that, what would I bewilling to pay for this If
you're not willing to pay yourhourly rate for somebody to do
that same task?
That's how you also know it'stime to hand something off.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, absolutely 100% .
I think that's great advice.
That even brings up a questionfor me too, because I know one
of the most common questions Iwas asking and that I hear a lot
, and I'm sure you do too is thethe difference between us based
or you know somebody who is, uh, in our country versus
outsourcing it to somebody whomight be a lower hourly rate.
Do you work with both?
(06:39):
Do you recommend one or theother?
What's, yeah, what's youradvice in that realm?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah.
So primarily I've worked withUS-based assistants.
Not to say that you can't findan incredible team.
I know people who have hadincredible success with their
assistants overseas.
My personal experience withoverseas talent has been
incredible and they don't havethe same level of autonomy and
(07:10):
direction that perhaps aUS-based assistant would.
So what I mean by that is if Isay to you, can you build me a
content calendar, a US-basedassistant might be like sure,
here's a couple of contentpillars you can use.
Here's a few hook ideas.
Here's what I would suggestthey're going to in my
(07:32):
experience.
Put more into it and really, ifyou have the right person,
treat your content calendar asif it were their content
calendar.
My experience with overseasassistance has been they will
take that very literally, buildsthe content calendar, and then
they will require a lot morefollow up or redirection, edits,
(07:54):
things like that, which thencan create a more frustrating
experience as you're steppinginto leadership.
And then you're provingyourself right like see, it
would have been faster if I didit myself.
Right.
So it and again, I'm not likethis is a generalization, but it
has been my experience and myobservation 100% and I know
(08:15):
somebody who works with.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They're big on working with VAs out of the
Philippines and part of what hedoes in coaching his team of VAs
that he outsources is that theself-starting, the problem
solving on their own becauseculturally is what he shared
with me is that it's justculturally it's to always ask
for direction and to try and doit.
Exactly as said, my first VAwas outsourced overseas and they
(08:44):
were awesome at what they didif it was clear and lined up,
but we would have issuessometimes if it required some
troubleshooting and that waslargely why we ended up going
parting ways was because it'sdid you have what have you tried
already instead of coming?
to me directly for help, and sosometimes I think that's a
(09:04):
breakdown and I agree with whatyou're saying.
I know obviously we're notspeaking that every single
overseas VA is going to havethat, but I think there's
probably something to it just inhow they approach problems.
So I think that's huge and, aswe're talking to therapists, I'm
sure with a lot of complianceissues, that US based is
probably the right direction togo anyway for most of what
you're trying to offload.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, exactly I would say with therapists too, just
understanding kind of more ofthe lay of the land, both from a
healthcare perspective and howhealthcare functions in this
country and all the nuances thatgo along with therapy in the US
.
It would be helpful to havesomebody who has that scope of
(09:45):
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, 100%, 100%.
And then the last piece thatI've heard and maybe you could
tell me right or wrong is I knowit's more affordable to go
overseas, but typically you canexpect it to take more hours
than what a US based personwould be.
Just simply because of thetraining and all those things
and then also my experience, Ifound I do a lot of YouTube
content.
I do a lot of podcastingcontent.
(10:08):
My VA was limited with internetcapabilities on being able to it
would take five or six hoursfor a five minute video to
upload to YouTube for them,where?
It would take me a minute ortwo or three minutes.
So there were a lot of thingsthat I wanted to offload that I
couldn't.
He didn't have access to chatGPT.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
There was a lot of different resources and things
that were required, that theywere limited on, and so I found
that to be a barrier as well.
Yeah, absolutely that makessense and and you know, it's
just something that you would ifyou were weighing kind of, if
you were in the interviewprocess and you had a candidate
from the U?
S and you had a candidate fromoverseas and you're really
comparing kind of apples toapples.
In a specific scenario likethat, where you know it's
YouTube or chat, gpt or uploadspeeds, all those kinds of
(10:55):
things, those are pieces thatyou can build into the interview
and vetting process and afollow up process that you do
after the interview to helpreally ascertain that
information before you fullybring them into the business.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Which is good to know .
Yeah, those are things I neverwould have thought of.
It wasn't until I assigned thetask that I found out and they
told me that he's a candidly, Ican do it.
It's just this is how long it'sgoing to take me and you're
like, okay, well, I'll just doit myself because it's quicker.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Right.
And then you become aself-fulfilling prophecy Like
Right.
And then you become aself-fulfilling prophecy Like
what do you do?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Totally so.
Well, I know I took us on atangent there, but going back to
you talked about, alluded tonot knowing what to offload to
them, what to give these people.
What are some ways that we canfigure that out?
Or what are some common tasksthat you see people delegating
to their VA?
That might be a good way tojumpstart it.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It can be so nuanced.
My most general answer iscalendar and scheduling is the
first thing to hand off right,and I say that because in most
scenarios, the calendar dictateseverything else about your day.
So I have my clients sit downand say, okay, when do you want
to be working?
When do you want to be hostingcalls?
When are you going to be clientfacing?
When are you going to be behindthe scenes, creating social,
(12:19):
writing emails, doing invoicing,whatever it is that's on your
agenda?
Really figuring out how you wantyour calendar to run optimally
is step number one, and handingthat off to somebody so that
they're handling it and you'renot making excuses as to why
you're canceling on yourself orsqueezing in that one more
(12:39):
client or that one more meeting.
Those are the pieces I alwayswant my clients to be like, and
I didn't coin this term or thisphrase, but like treat yourself
like you would treat your bestclient, meaning if you're not
going to cancel on your bestclient, don't cancel on yourself
.
And so handing somebody yourcalendar to handle all that
scheduling, all thosereschedules, any appointments
(13:02):
that you have outside of work,any other creative blocks that
you may be trying to really beintentional about, allows you to
become a little bit removedfrom it, which allows you to
adhere to it a little bit better.
So calendar is first, email isa close second.
I actually have a piece ofcontent coming out this week.
(13:24):
It's kind of a silly, funny one.
But if your calendar or, excuseme, if your inbox feels risky,
if it feels like, oh my God, Ihave to answer those emails and
I have 5,431 on red emails in myinbox, that's your sign.
That's a little tiny red flag.
That's a little tiny red flagthat you need somebody in there
(13:47):
to help you organize and reallyunderstand what to do, what to
delete and what to actually passoff to an assistant.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yes, I think, and I think, as people are listening
to this, this that's such greatadvice and as they're
considering it and I know thiswas almost like it's that and I
can't remember the actual termfor it but it's like when you're
looking at a car, you'rewanting to buy a certain car and
you're like looking at thiscertain model and then all of a
sudden, you see them everywhere.
It's everywhere you go.
It's like all of a suddenthey're popping up and you so.
(14:14):
It's it's because you'reresearching or thinking about it
that all of a sudden your eyesare open to it.
As I was thinking aboutbringing somebody on, I would be
doing just regular thingsthroughout the day and
immediately I'd be like this issomething that I could give
somebody else.
And I had like a little listgoing and it's like, okay, if I
hire them, they can post theseblog posts and they can do X, y
and Z or prep.
(14:34):
You know my filter, my email.
So those are all the piecesthat I started creating this
list, as even just before I wasready mentally, ready
financially to go out and hiresomeone, I was just compiling a
list because it's what I wasthinking about already
financially to go out and hiresomeone.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I was just compiling a list, because it's what I was
thinking about already.
Well, and that's so.
So I'm so glad you said that,because that is actually when I
first start working with aclient.
We don't even talk about whatrole they're hiring for until
like week two or three, becausewe do that exact exercise where
I'm like, well, I'll have themdo a brain dump on our first
(15:08):
call of everything that theywork on.
And then, when we get off ofour call, I'm like I want you to
go rate everything.
I want you to say how long ittakes you, how often you have to
do it and how much energy ittakes you.
And when we get back togetherand we review it, I'm like, okay
, well, these that are suckingall your energy, these are the
first things that we're going todelegate Because they're not
(15:29):
the best use of your time.
You're procrastinating on themanyways.
And these are the things thattell us this is where we need to
start.
That also helps paint a reallyclear picture of who to hire.
Right, because we want to grouptogether like tasks.
We're not, more often than not,you're not going to find a
unicorn who can edit yourpodcast and also be an
(15:54):
exceptional executive assistant.
Right.
Those are two different skillsets typically, and so we really
want to be strategic and againintentional about the role we're
putting together and what ismost important most important to
fill right now in your business.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I love that.
Yeah, I think that's greatadvice, because I think when I
started I was looking for aunicorn.
I think I had in my head thatthey're an assistant, they'll
just do whatever I ask them todo, and then I eventually
learned, okay, a little maybe Ishould have learned more, but
some things like.
So I ended up getting a secondVA who was our video editor, and
so that was her primary focusfor YouTube and um.
(16:33):
And then, as my other person was, it's kind of just realizing
what's his wheelhouse and howcan we maybe take the things off
his plate that are not hiswheelhouse or the things that
he's coming with me with a lotof questions and maybe that
means we get another person topass that off to.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, and so I'm.
So I love hearing you talkabout it because that it brings
up another kind of conversationpoint in my head, where it's
where I, a lot of times,entrepreneurs, solopreneurs,
therapists, the real estateagents that I work with as well
all have a misconception thatlike, well, what do you mean?
Hire?
That seems like a luxury.
(17:07):
What would I give somebody foreven part-time hours.
But the beauty of what you justcovered is that you can hire
somebody for five hours a week.
For five hours a week, and fivehours a week can make a massive
difference because they'retaking five.
You're giving you five hoursback, essentially, and they're
giving you five hours back whereyou're not fiddling around with
(17:29):
a YouTube video or fiddlingaround the podcast editing.
They're putting up the blogpost.
That's five hours where you canbe gaining new clients, that
where you can be hosting newcalls, where you can be hosting
a calls, where you can behosting a mastermind, where you
could be focusing on sales ormarketing or lead generation in
those aspects.
And so that's another reallyimportant thing is like oh my
gosh, craig, you have five VAs.
(17:50):
Well, sure, but they all work,maybe five to seven hours a week
, so, and they're all.
They all have a very specificskill set which makes a big
difference and creates a superefficient mechanism behind the
scenes.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's such great advice and I think that's
something that's overlookedeasily, because I think you're
right.
It's when you think five VAs,you're like I can't afford that
many VAs, but it's.
It's taking a 20 hour a weekperson and dividing them across,
you know again four or fivepeople.
Hour a week person and dividingthem across, you know again
four or five people, and it'ssame out of pocket.
You know investment or cost toget a better, stronger output.
(18:27):
I'm sure, because, again, it'stheir strengths, it's their
wheelhouses.
Yes yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay.
So I'm super curious as wepivot into, let's say, they make
their first hire, even asthey're thinking about it, I
know we, this is our baby, ourbusiness is our baby, and we
know how to do everything.
We've worn all the hats forhowever many years, and so I'm
sure the tendency can be tomicromanage or to feel like you.
(18:53):
You just still never quite letgo of it.
What, what mindset shifts needto happen.
How can?
What do you?
What do people need to be awareof?
Or do you have any tips formaybe not becoming a
micromanager and allowing yourpeople to thrive?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, so there's a couple of things that I do with
my clients specifically in theprocess that I take someone
through, and they're all veryspecific to exactly this, and
they're also almost alwaysmissed when you go through the
hiring process alone for thefirst time, and not through any
(19:31):
fault of your own, just becauseyou don't know what you don't
know.
And so the first is after we'vegone through the interview
process and we've talked notonly about skill, but
personality, right,responsiveness.
I use personality assessmentsin my vetting process because it
helps me to further corroboratewhat somebody says on paper
(19:53):
about themselves and alsoperhaps what they could gloss
over in an interview, and so Ilike to use as many different
aspects to help vet a candidateas possible.
Assuming all of that, once weget this candidate accepted into
a role, I have a reallyextensive onboarding process,
(20:16):
and it's funny because I wasjust on a call with a client
this morning and she was like,oh my God, I'm not ready for all
of this.
I'm like we're taking it onestep at a time and your VA is
going to actually be the oneusing the templates and tools,
more so than you are, but I wantyou to be aware of them, and so
the first thing that I haveboth my client and the VA do is
(20:37):
I have them fill out an intakequestionnaire so that both have
an unbiased document to helpthem understand the personality
nuances of who they're workingwith, communication preferences,
how they like to be managed,how they like to receive
feedback, when they like to becommunicated with, how and where
(21:00):
they like to be communicatedwith Is it text, is it email, is
it Slack?
What tools are you using?
And that really helps toalleviate any strain right at
the beginning, because if I'mthe type of person that's like,
hey, craig, quick question, heyCraig, like at the end of the
day you're going to be like, ohmy God, I can't do this, whereas
(21:25):
maybe your document says I liketo receive a digest of what
you've worked on and anyoutstanding questions at the end
of each day Great, then, that'swhat I'm going to do.
And so it alleviates thatinitial strain and that's just
kind of like one example, right,I also put a lot of emphasis on
and I mean this in the leastcorporate way possible, but I
put a lot of emphasis on how areyou as the boss, as this new
(21:48):
leader, how are you going tomeasure success.
What does success look like toyou?
Because when your VA is set upand understands what that
success looks like, how they'rebeing measured, what measuring
stick they're using, how you'resaying great job or crappy job,
that's going to help themperform better as well, and it's
(22:11):
going to have you both on thesame page.
And, in addition to that, I'vegot templates, because
over-functioning and um, butI've got templates.
I've got a meeting agendatemplate to help walk through
the weekly meetings that Irecommend, and I also have a
task delegation template.
(22:31):
That, again, is like okay, craig, so what I hear you saying is
you want me to upload yourYouTube video, and that entails
making sure it's tagged properlyand it's got hashtags and it's
got captions and it's gottimestamps and it's got all the
links in the bio.
And these are the software andplatforms I need access to and
(22:52):
you need it by this date andsuccess looks like it gets
published on this date at thistime, right, then it's
documented.
So the VA isn't like oh well, Ithought you said Friday was
okay, I didn't know you neededit Wednesday, or oh, there's no,
there's less room formiscommunication,
(23:14):
misunderstanding and mistakes.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, I think that's amazing.
That's something I learnedlater Too late, I'll say, but
you're right, I think I wouldjust back to the YouTube example
.
You know I could say, Kate, willyou upload this YouTube video
for me?
And that can mean so manythings to you.
That can mean cool.
I'm going to go upload it.
I'm not going to write adescription or I'm not going to
(23:39):
put timestamps.
To me, it's no.
I want the title SEO optimized,I want the text in here, I want
links to whoever I interviewed,I want you know X, y and Z, and
so so much can get lost in that.
What I think uploading YouTubevideo is might be different than
what you think uploading avideo, a YouTube video, is.
So I think that's huge.
I think it's amazing.
(23:59):
Even just getting into whatdoes success look like for me,
what do I think is a good job?
And that kind of helps you sussout the details.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yes, exactly Because so often, what where where I see
hiring truly falter is peopleare like all right, great, I
hired my assistant, my work isdone and my business is going to
grow and everything's going tobe beautiful.
And the truth of the matter is,is the biggest impact happens
in a really strong onboardingand training process, and it
will like no, no lies here fulltransparency.
(24:39):
A deep, strong onboarding andtraining process is going to
feel tedious.
It is going to feel like a lotof work for the first 30 to 45
days, but then after that, thenyou're off to the races, and so
that initial investment in theinitial 30 to 45 days of
somebody starting with you willset up the relationship and the
(25:00):
working partnership for longterm success.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
I think that keyword there is is investment.
I mean, any investment you makeis going to be, you know,
financial.
Investment is money out of yourpocket today.
There's a little financialsting today so that you can have
exponentially more money downthe road and that's with your VA
.
It sounds like it's you'regoing to give up some time.
This month You're probablygoing to be spending two, three,
however much more time doingthese things to get them off the
(25:25):
ground running, so that youknow next month or three months
from now, you have so much morehours in your week because they
are doing it well and you're nothaving to to monitor it super
closely.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, and that's exactly it too right, like by
paying this person $25 an hourfor five hours, let's say.
If that ultimately allows youto take on three additional
clients at $160 an hour as atherapist, well then, great,
that's exactly how it should be.
Your VA should be freeing youup to make more money and
(25:59):
essentially pay for their salaryand then some, and not costing
you money.
So that's the other kind offlip that I like to share with
folks.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
That's so true, and I , as we're talking about this
and like I say, I, you, youalluded to it that and I did too
that I waited too long until Iwas burnt out and I got to a
point where I felt like I wasjust my business, was a failure
factory in a sense of.
I wasn't, I was dropping theball, I was doing too many
things, and so I felt like Iwould forget to follow through
with something for a client, andthen I wasn't following up with
(26:30):
leads and prospects and Iwasn't doing marketing and I a
month would go by and I haven'tuploaded a video, and it's just
like ah, like I'm trying to plugall these holes, and it just
felt like I wasn't doinganything.
Well, because I was all of asudden there was just too much
to do, and that's a good thing.
I just my client load grew andthen, all of a sudden, these
responsibilities that I had timeto do, I no longer did, and so
(26:52):
I love that idea of looking atit Like I'm going to offload,
pay somebody, you know, again$25 an hour, so maybe a hundred
to 150 bucks a week, so that Ican take on two or three more
clients, which might be anotherthree to $600 a week.
So it's really a greatinvestment.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, absolutely, cause it allows you to grow.
It allows you to create moreimpact and continue growing
serving at the same level,because somebody has your back
on the back end.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, love it, love it.
Okay.
So to our solo therapists outthere who have been maybe toying
with this idea what do yourecommend?
Their first step is intogetting yeah, if they have all
they've done is thought about Ineed some help.
I don't even know what to do.
What's what's the best firstaction they can take?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean listen, you touched on it earlier best first
action they can take.
I mean, listen, you touched onit earlier, it's the first step
that I have my clients take.
It's just kind of keeping a padof paper and a pen by your
keyboard and just keeping trackof all the little micro things
you do during the day.
When you're not face-to-facewith clients.
What are you doing in between?
I mean, besides having a snackand using the restroom, what
(27:59):
else are you doing?
That's taking up your time oryour attention, right?
Carry this notepad around withyou when you're laying down in
bed at night and you're like, oh, I didn't post my Instagram
post.
Grab that pad of paper and penand write it down.
Keeping a running list and notin a way that feels arduous or
like it's an additional to do onyour list, but keeping that
(28:22):
running list to just gauge wheream I burning it at both ends?
What am I dropping the ball on,what don't?
I have time for that.
I know I still need to do.
I've got things on my own tasklist that have moved from week
to week to week to week, thatI'm like I'm not that great at
or I don't do, and so they justkeep moving.
(28:44):
That's another red flag.
So just keeping that runninglist to bring more awareness and
clarity to what you caneventually pass off.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Love it.
I think that's such greatadvice and that's actionable.
Some people that can take awayfrom listening to this to do
that.
I was given advice early on tooand I mean you could tell me
whether this is good or bad, Idon't know, but it was.
Somebody even told me.
To take that a step deeper wasas I'm doing.
Some of those tasks is just tohit a little screen record and
start talking through it andthen just saving that video
(29:15):
somewhere so that when we dohire them, we've got a library
of things that they can refer to.
On the how do I post to theblog, like, what do I actually
do?
What's the literal?
How do I navigate WordPressBasically?
The tutorial.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah, no, and that's a phenomenal, phenomenal
suggestion as well.
I, I do it with my clients.
I give them a template thatserves as an SOP index and I
suggest to keep the.
I like loom.
I don't know what screen recordsoftware you use, but loom is
my favorite.
I use it exhaustively and I,yeah, just hitting record and
(29:52):
recording yourself talkingthrough it and what buttons
you're clicking.
Yes, eventually it builds thatSOP library in a really easily
accessible way for you, whereyou're not like, oh my God, now
I have to think about all thetasks I do and how I do them and
write it all down and documentit all.
And, oh my God, like now, I'mnot even gonna do it.
I might as well just do itmyself.
Right, like you go into thismindset spiral.
(30:13):
When you're doing it one thingat a time, you're filing it away
for that rainy day you're ready.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
You'll be in phenomenal shape when you're
ready to hire.
I think that's fantastic.
Love it, Love it.
So I wish I had found youbefore I hired my first person
five or six years ago.
I don't want listeners to makethat same mistake.
So talk to me about what you doand how people can get in touch
with you.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, so I have a 90 day coaching program that I take
my clients through.
I've worked.
My very first client ever, um,for my own business was a
marriage and marriage therapistwho has been in business for 35
years.
So I have a special place in myheart for therapists, um, and
you can find me online.
I'm on LinkedIn under KateLenahan.
(30:56):
Uh, my Instagram is rise higherconsulting and it's a little
bit of a play on words.
It's higher h-i-r-e but youknow we rise higher by the right
having the right hire.
So a little play on words,because I'm a nerd like that and
I would love to have you comefind me on Instagram.
(31:16):
I've got fun little things thatyou can in my links in my bio
where I've got an AI prompt thathelps you figure out what to
delegate and if you decide todownload that, you can get on a
free 15 minute call with me.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Love it, Love it.
We will put links to all ofthose in the show notes.
I encourage everyone who isconsidering hiring and I would
imagine, even if they've alreadyhired someone you're like I
don't know what to do with thisperson.
I'm sure you could help them.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, I've gotten on callswith VAs before.
There's just so many nuances.
And when we are our own leaders, when we run our own business,
we are so close to the business.
It is your baby.
You have poured so much timeand effort and love.
You want somebody who's goingto treat it as their own.
(32:07):
And finding that person is.
It can be tricky and it can bescary, and it is also wildly
worth it when you find the rightperson and I am always happy.
I love having conversationslike these because it's such a
niche thing to talk about and towork with people on and the
(32:31):
impact it has is has such aripple effect that I love seeing
.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Love it.
I completely agree.
This has been super helpful.
I know so many people are goingto find value in this and, like
I said, all the links are inthe show notes.
So everyone go connect withKate and Kate.
Thank you so much for takingtime to let me just pick your
brain and and learn about whatyou do and why.
Having that first hire is socan be scary, but it's still so
(32:58):
important.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It was my pleasure, Craig.
I'm so glad that this isvaluable and I really appreciate
being here for you.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business Podcast
.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview and share it with a
practice owner that you may know.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with its
finances or just growing yourpractice, head to
therapybusinesspodcom to learnhow we can help.
I remember when I made my first hire, it was a
virtual assistant and,truthfully, I didn't know what I
was doing.
I didn't know what to give themand I felt kind of overwhelmed
with even just getting some helptaking things off my plate.
I've learned over time thatthat is a common experience and
today Kate Linehan joins mebecause she is an expert at not
(00:20):
only helping you pinpoint whatyou can offload, what you can
give to a virtual assistant, buthow to make the most of it and
how to find the right fit.
My name is Craig and I'm theowner of Daisy Financial
Coaching.
Our team is on a mission tomake your therapy practice
permanently profitable.
If you own a solo or grouppractice, we're here to help you
(00:42):
build a business that createsmore time, makes more money and
serves more people.
This is the Therapy BusinessPodcast.
All right, we have Kate Linehanhere.
Kate, how are you doing?
Speaker 2 (00:58):
I'm good.
Thanks, Craig.
How are you?
Speaker 1 (01:00):
I'm awesome.
I'm awesome.
We were just complimenting eachother on our backgrounds, so
I'm a big fan of your background.
We're saying how important itis, or just the pride we take in
and what the aesthetic behindus.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
Absolutely.
I can't tell you how many timesI've been on an interview with
somebody, usually a virtualassistant.
They've got a pile of laundryor an unmade bed behind them, so
it's always made me neuroticabout my own background.
Speaker 1 (01:26):
Yes, very much.
So.
Now I can't attest to the restof my room being really nice,
but at least the frame aroundthe camera looks really good.
Speaker 2 (01:34):
That's all that matters, right?
That's all that matters.
Am I wearing pajama pants onthe bottom half of me, or no?
Right, it's the COVID question.
Speaker 1 (01:42):
Absolutely Only what's in camera shot.
So I know this is riveting forour audio listeners on Apple and
Spotify, but let's pivot intowhat you do best.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou, what you do and how you
help business owners.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Oh well, how much time do you have?
No, just kidding.
So I'm a hiring and trainingcoach and I help small business
owners transition from doing itall themselves, being a solo
business, to hiring successfullyhiring their first virtual
assistant.
I, over the course of my career, which I've worked in digital
marketing for over a decade now,I've worked with amazing
(02:20):
entrepreneurs like AmyPorterfield, sue B Zimmerman,
and I've helped to manage teams.
I've helped to bring teammembers on and I've really seen
what works and what doesn't.
And over the course of my career, I also worked at a virtual
staffing agency.
I've made over 200 matches witha 95% success rate.
(02:41):
So there's that, um, what I doin matching someone successfully
is really take into account theentire person, the entire
organization, not just the jobthat needs to be done and that
is such a differentiator forbringing a team member on and
stepping into leadership for thefirst time, going from doing it
(03:04):
all yourself right.
So there's so many nuances andwhen I coach my clients, it's
not just about the job and it'snot just about the candidate.
It's also about the journey andthe communication and the
onboarding and the training toreally immerse them into your
business.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Man, I wish I knew of you when I started, because
that was my first hire, was avirtual assistant, and I just
didn't know what I was doing.
I really didn't, I knew.
When I started my business Iwas like, oh, I'm just gonna be
self employed.
And then I slowly grow, grew ateam and no one tells you what
to do or how to do it and youdon't know what to look for.
And you're right.
And I got my person and I wasvery task-based and then I was
(03:45):
struggling to even figure outwhat should I be giving them?
And I was so it was this messthat I kind of wish I had
somebody guiding me through andthat sounds like that's.
That's your wheelhouse.
Speaker 2 (03:55):
It really is and it's so true, right, Like you're not
alone, Like it's such a commonthing that I hear well, what
would I even have them do?
Or it's faster if I just do itmyself, rather than take the
time to train somebody.
And, and you know, I know youraudience is therapists, and and
I would challenge them to kindof say well, what would you say
to a client who was on the vergeof burnout or who needed to?
(04:18):
Like?
My therapist always tells meI'm, I over-function, and so are
you over-functioning in yourbusiness, right, You're seeing
clients all day and then perhapstrying to fit in scheduling or
social media or tech or any ofthese other pieces of the puzzle
on the back end, squeezing itin in between clients after
clients when you're alreadymentally tapped out.
(04:39):
And so those kinds of thingsare the things we start with
when we're thinking about who tohire, and then we take into a
lot of personality pieces toowhen we're talking about hiring.
Speaker 1 (04:51):
Yeah, absolutely Well , and I know, for me I waited
too long because I was nervous.
I was still trying to juggleeverything.
Partially.
I was nervous.
I'm like what if this personmesses up my brand, sometimes
even that fallacy of oh, it'sjust faster if I just do it,
instead of teaching someone elsehow to do it?
How do you know when it's timeto hire?
Besides, like, oh, my goodness,I'm burnt out and I should have
(05:13):
hired a year ago.
Speaker 2 (05:15):
Yeah, that's such a good question.
So my biggest thing is, if youfind yourself doing things that
don't bring you joy, that drainyour energy, or that you know,
but you know enough to bedangerous at that is when it's
time to hire right, like justbecause you know how to do it or
(05:37):
you can do it doesn't mean it'sthe best use of your time.
And so, instead of waitinguntil you've spent five hours
trying to build the web page,hiring somebody just in the
temporary to build that web pageor that landing page, whatever
it is that you're working on,really kind of audit yourself
(05:57):
and what does this do to my time?
Do I have the proper skills forthis, the proper knowledge and,
realistically, what would I bewilling to pay for this?
Because that, what would I bewilling to pay for this If
you're not willing to pay yourhourly rate for somebody to do
that same task?
That's how you also know it'stime to hand something off.
Speaker 1 (06:19):
Yeah, absolutely 100% .
I think that's great advice.
That even brings up a questionfor me too, because I know one
of the most common questions Iwas asking and that I hear a lot
, and I'm sure you do too is thethe difference between us based
or you know somebody who is, uh, in our country versus
outsourcing it to somebody whomight be a lower hourly rate.
Do you work with both?
(06:39):
Do you recommend one or theother?
What's, yeah, what's youradvice in that realm?
Speaker 2 (06:44):
Yeah.
So primarily I've worked withUS-based assistants.
Not to say that you can't findan incredible team.
I know people who have hadincredible success with their
assistants overseas.
My personal experience withoverseas talent has been
incredible and they don't havethe same level of autonomy and
(07:10):
direction that perhaps aUS-based assistant would.
So what I mean by that is if Isay to you, can you build me a
content calendar, a US-basedassistant might be like sure,
here's a couple of contentpillars you can use.
Here's a few hook ideas.
Here's what I would suggestthey're going to in my
(07:32):
experience.
Put more into it and really, ifyou have the right person,
treat your content calendar asif it were their content
calendar.
My experience with overseasassistance has been they will
take that very literally, buildsthe content calendar, and then
they will require a lot morefollow up or redirection, edits,
(07:54):
things like that, which thencan create a more frustrating
experience as you're steppinginto leadership.
And then you're provingyourself right like see, it
would have been faster if I didit myself.
Right.
So it and again, I'm not likethis is a generalization, but it
has been my experience and myobservation 100% and I know
(08:15):
somebody who works with.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
They're big on working with VAs out of the
Philippines and part of what hedoes in coaching his team of VAs
that he outsources is that theself-starting, the problem
solving on their own becauseculturally is what he shared
with me is that it's justculturally it's to always ask
for direction and to try and doit.
Exactly as said, my first VAwas outsourced overseas and they
(08:44):
were awesome at what they didif it was clear and lined up,
but we would have issuessometimes if it required some
troubleshooting and that waslargely why we ended up going
parting ways was because it'sdid you have what have you tried
already instead of coming?
to me directly for help, and sosometimes I think that's a
(09:04):
breakdown and I agree with whatyou're saying.
I know obviously we're notspeaking that every single
overseas VA is going to havethat, but I think there's
probably something to it just inhow they approach problems.
So I think that's huge and, aswe're talking to therapists, I'm
sure with a lot of complianceissues, that US based is
probably the right direction togo anyway for most of what
you're trying to offload.
Speaker 2 (09:23):
Yeah, exactly I would say with therapists too, just
understanding kind of more ofthe lay of the land, both from a
healthcare perspective and howhealthcare functions in this
country and all the nuances thatgo along with therapy in the US
.
It would be helpful to havesomebody who has that scope of
(09:45):
knowledge.
Speaker 1 (09:46):
Yes, 100%, 100%.
And then the last piece thatI've heard and maybe you could
tell me right or wrong is I knowit's more affordable to go
overseas, but typically you canexpect it to take more hours
than what a US based personwould be.
Just simply because of thetraining and all those things
and then also my experience, Ifound I do a lot of YouTube
content.
I do a lot of podcastingcontent.
(10:08):
My VA was limited with internetcapabilities on being able to it
would take five or six hoursfor a five minute video to
upload to YouTube for them,where?
It would take me a minute ortwo or three minutes.
So there were a lot of thingsthat I wanted to offload that I
couldn't.
He didn't have access to chatGPT.
Speaker 2 (10:33):
There was a lot of different resources and things
that were required, that theywere limited on, and so I found
that to be a barrier as well.
Yeah, absolutely that makessense and and you know, it's
just something that you would ifyou were weighing kind of, if
you were in the interviewprocess and you had a candidate
from the U?
S and you had a candidate fromoverseas and you're really
comparing kind of apples toapples.
In a specific scenario likethat, where you know it's
YouTube or chat, gpt or uploadspeeds, all those kinds of
(10:55):
things, those are pieces thatyou can build into the interview
and vetting process and afollow up process that you do
after the interview to helpreally ascertain that
information before you fullybring them into the business.
Speaker 1 (11:10):
Which is good to know .
Yeah, those are things I neverwould have thought of.
It wasn't until I assigned thetask that I found out and they
told me that he's a candidly, Ican do it.
It's just this is how long it'sgoing to take me and you're
like, okay, well, I'll just doit myself because it's quicker.
Speaker 2 (11:23):
Right.
And then you become aself-fulfilling prophecy Like
Right.
And then you become aself-fulfilling prophecy Like
what do you do?
Speaker 1 (11:30):
Totally so.
Well, I know I took us on atangent there, but going back to
you talked about, alluded tonot knowing what to offload to
them, what to give these people.
What are some ways that we canfigure that out?
Or what are some common tasksthat you see people delegating
to their VA?
That might be a good way tojumpstart it.
Speaker 2 (11:57):
It can be so nuanced.
My most general answer iscalendar and scheduling is the
first thing to hand off right,and I say that because in most
scenarios, the calendar dictateseverything else about your day.
So I have my clients sit downand say, okay, when do you want
to be working?
When do you want to be hostingcalls?
When are you going to be clientfacing?
When are you going to be behindthe scenes, creating social,
(12:19):
writing emails, doing invoicing,whatever it is that's on your
agenda?
Really figuring out how you wantyour calendar to run optimally
is step number one, and handingthat off to somebody so that
they're handling it and you'renot making excuses as to why
you're canceling on yourself orsqueezing in that one more
(12:39):
client or that one more meeting.
Those are the pieces I alwayswant my clients to be like, and
I didn't coin this term or thisphrase, but like treat yourself
like you would treat your bestclient, meaning if you're not
going to cancel on your bestclient, don't cancel on yourself
.
And so handing somebody yourcalendar to handle all that
scheduling, all thosereschedules, any appointments
(13:02):
that you have outside of work,any other creative blocks that
you may be trying to really beintentional about, allows you to
become a little bit removedfrom it, which allows you to
adhere to it a little bit better.
So calendar is first, email isa close second.
I actually have a piece ofcontent coming out this week.
(13:24):
It's kind of a silly, funny one.
But if your calendar or, excuseme, if your inbox feels risky,
if it feels like, oh my God, Ihave to answer those emails and
I have 5,431 on red emails in myinbox, that's your sign.
That's a little tiny red flag.
That's a little tiny red flagthat you need somebody in there
(13:47):
to help you organize and reallyunderstand what to do, what to
delete and what to actually passoff to an assistant.
Speaker 1 (13:53):
Yes, I think, and I think, as people are listening
to this, this that's such greatadvice and as they're
considering it and I know thiswas almost like it's that and I
can't remember the actual termfor it but it's like when you're
looking at a car, you'rewanting to buy a certain car and
you're like looking at thiscertain model and then all of a
sudden, you see them everywhere.
It's everywhere you go.
It's like all of a suddenthey're popping up and you so.
(14:14):
It's it's because you'reresearching or thinking about it
that all of a sudden your eyesare open to it.
As I was thinking aboutbringing somebody on, I would be
doing just regular thingsthroughout the day and
immediately I'd be like this issomething that I could give
somebody else.
And I had like a little listgoing and it's like, okay, if I
hire them, they can post theseblog posts and they can do X, y
and Z or prep.
(14:34):
You know my filter, my email.
So those are all the piecesthat I started creating this
list, as even just before I wasready mentally, ready
financially to go out and hiresomeone, I was just compiling a
list because it's what I wasthinking about already
financially to go out and hiresomeone.
Speaker 2 (14:48):
I was just compiling a list, because it's what I was
thinking about already.
Well, and that's so.
So I'm so glad you said that,because that is actually when I
first start working with aclient.
We don't even talk about whatrole they're hiring for until
like week two or three, becausewe do that exact exercise where
I'm like, well, I'll have themdo a brain dump on our first
(15:08):
call of everything that theywork on.
And then, when we get off ofour call, I'm like I want you to
go rate everything.
I want you to say how long ittakes you, how often you have to
do it and how much energy ittakes you.
And when we get back togetherand we review it, I'm like, okay
, well, these that are suckingall your energy, these are the
first things that we're going todelegate Because they're not
(15:29):
the best use of your time.
You're procrastinating on themanyways.
And these are the things thattell us this is where we need to
start.
That also helps paint a reallyclear picture of who to hire.
Right, because we want to grouptogether like tasks.
We're not, more often than not,you're not going to find a
unicorn who can edit yourpodcast and also be an
(15:54):
exceptional executive assistant.
Right.
Those are two different skillsets typically, and so we really
want to be strategic and againintentional about the role we're
putting together and what ismost important most important to
fill right now in your business.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
I love that.
Yeah, I think that's greatadvice, because I think when I
started I was looking for aunicorn.
I think I had in my head thatthey're an assistant, they'll
just do whatever I ask them todo, and then I eventually
learned, okay, a little maybe Ishould have learned more, but
some things like.
So I ended up getting a secondVA who was our video editor, and
so that was her primary focusfor YouTube and um.
(16:33):
And then, as my other person was, it's kind of just realizing
what's his wheelhouse and howcan we maybe take the things off
his plate that are not hiswheelhouse or the things that
he's coming with me with a lotof questions and maybe that
means we get another person topass that off to.
I don't know.
Speaker 2 (16:47):
Well, and so I'm.
So I love hearing you talkabout it because that it brings
up another kind of conversationpoint in my head, where it's
where I, a lot of times,entrepreneurs, solopreneurs,
therapists, the real estateagents that I work with as well
all have a misconception thatlike, well, what do you mean?
Hire?
That seems like a luxury.
(17:07):
What would I give somebody foreven part-time hours.
But the beauty of what you justcovered is that you can hire
somebody for five hours a week.
For five hours a week, and fivehours a week can make a massive
difference because they'retaking five.
You're giving you five hoursback, essentially, and they're
giving you five hours back whereyou're not fiddling around with
(17:29):
a YouTube video or fiddlingaround the podcast editing.
They're putting up the blogpost.
That's five hours where you canbe gaining new clients, that
where you can be hosting newcalls, where you can be hosting
a calls, where you can behosting a mastermind, where you
could be focusing on sales ormarketing or lead generation in
those aspects.
And so that's another reallyimportant thing is like oh my
gosh, craig, you have five VAs.
(17:50):
Well, sure, but they all work,maybe five to seven hours a week
, so, and they're all.
They all have a very specificskill set which makes a big
difference and creates a superefficient mechanism behind the
scenes.
Speaker 1 (18:06):
That's such great advice and I think that's
something that's overlookedeasily, because I think you're
right.
It's when you think five VAs,you're like I can't afford that
many VAs, but it's.
It's taking a 20 hour a weekperson and dividing them across,
you know again four or fivepeople.
Hour a week person and dividingthem across, you know again
four or five people, and it'ssame out of pocket.
You know investment or cost toget a better, stronger output.
(18:27):
I'm sure, because, again, it'stheir strengths, it's their
wheelhouses.
Yes yes, absolutely.
Speaker 2 (18:32):
Awesome.
Speaker 1 (18:33):
Okay.
So I'm super curious as wepivot into, let's say, they make
their first hire, even asthey're thinking about it, I
know we, this is our baby, ourbusiness is our baby, and we
know how to do everything.
We've worn all the hats forhowever many years, and so I'm
sure the tendency can be tomicromanage or to feel like you.
(18:53):
You just still never quite letgo of it.
What, what mindset shifts needto happen.
How can?
What do you?
What do people need to be awareof?
Or do you have any tips formaybe not becoming a
micromanager and allowing yourpeople to thrive?
Speaker 2 (19:07):
Yeah, so there's a couple of things that I do with
my clients specifically in theprocess that I take someone
through, and they're all veryspecific to exactly this, and
they're also almost alwaysmissed when you go through the
hiring process alone for thefirst time, and not through any
(19:31):
fault of your own, just becauseyou don't know what you don't
know.
And so the first is after we'vegone through the interview
process and we've talked notonly about skill, but
personality, right,responsiveness.
I use personality assessmentsin my vetting process because it
helps me to further corroboratewhat somebody says on paper
(19:53):
about themselves and alsoperhaps what they could gloss
over in an interview, and so Ilike to use as many different
aspects to help vet a candidateas possible.
Assuming all of that, once weget this candidate accepted into
a role, I have a reallyextensive onboarding process,
(20:16):
and it's funny because I wasjust on a call with a client
this morning and she was like,oh my God, I'm not ready for all
of this.
I'm like we're taking it onestep at a time and your VA is
going to actually be the oneusing the templates and tools,
more so than you are, but I wantyou to be aware of them, and so
the first thing that I haveboth my client and the VA do is
(20:37):
I have them fill out an intakequestionnaire so that both have
an unbiased document to helpthem understand the personality
nuances of who they're workingwith, communication preferences,
how they like to be managed,how they like to receive
feedback, when they like to becommunicated with, how and where
(21:00):
they like to be communicatedwith Is it text, is it email, is
it Slack?
What tools are you using?
And that really helps toalleviate any strain right at
the beginning, because if I'mthe type of person that's like,
hey, craig, quick question, heyCraig, like at the end of the
day you're going to be like, ohmy God, I can't do this, whereas
(21:25):
maybe your document says I liketo receive a digest of what
you've worked on and anyoutstanding questions at the end
of each day Great, then, that'swhat I'm going to do.
And so it alleviates thatinitial strain and that's just
kind of like one example, right,I also put a lot of emphasis on
and I mean this in the leastcorporate way possible, but I
put a lot of emphasis on how areyou as the boss, as this new
(21:48):
leader, how are you going tomeasure success.
What does success look like toyou?
Because when your VA is set upand understands what that
success looks like, how they'rebeing measured, what measuring
stick they're using, how you'resaying great job or crappy job,
that's going to help themperform better as well, and it's
(22:11):
going to have you both on thesame page.
And, in addition to that, I'vegot templates, because
over-functioning and um, butI've got templates.
I've got a meeting agendatemplate to help walk through
the weekly meetings that Irecommend, and I also have a
task delegation template.
(22:31):
That, again, is like okay, craig, so what I hear you saying is
you want me to upload yourYouTube video, and that entails
making sure it's tagged properlyand it's got hashtags and it's
got captions and it's gottimestamps and it's got all the
links in the bio.
And these are the software andplatforms I need access to and
(22:52):
you need it by this date andsuccess looks like it gets
published on this date at thistime, right, then it's
documented.
So the VA isn't like oh well, Ithought you said Friday was
okay, I didn't know you neededit Wednesday, or oh, there's no,
there's less room formiscommunication,
(23:14):
misunderstanding and mistakes.
Speaker 1 (23:17):
Yeah, I think that's amazing.
That's something I learnedlater Too late, I'll say, but
you're right, I think I wouldjust back to the YouTube example
.
You know I could say, Kate, willyou upload this YouTube video
for me?
And that can mean so manythings to you.
That can mean cool.
I'm going to go upload it.
I'm not going to write adescription or I'm not going to
(23:39):
put timestamps.
To me, it's no.
I want the title SEO optimized,I want the text in here, I want
links to whoever I interviewed,I want you know X, y and Z, and
so so much can get lost in that.
What I think uploading YouTubevideo is might be different than
what you think uploading avideo, a YouTube video, is.
So I think that's huge.
I think it's amazing.
(23:59):
Even just getting into whatdoes success look like for me,
what do I think is a good job?
And that kind of helps you sussout the details.
Is that right?
Speaker 2 (24:18):
Yes, exactly Because so often, what where where I see
hiring truly falter is peopleare like all right, great, I
hired my assistant, my work isdone and my business is going to
grow and everything's going tobe beautiful.
And the truth of the matter is,is the biggest impact happens
in a really strong onboardingand training process, and it
will like no, no lies here fulltransparency.
(24:39):
A deep, strong onboarding andtraining process is going to
feel tedious.
It is going to feel like a lotof work for the first 30 to 45
days, but then after that, thenyou're off to the races, and so
that initial investment in theinitial 30 to 45 days of
somebody starting with you willset up the relationship and the
(25:00):
working partnership for longterm success.
Speaker 1 (25:02):
I think that keyword there is is investment.
I mean, any investment you makeis going to be, you know,
financial.
Investment is money out of yourpocket today.
There's a little financialsting today so that you can have
exponentially more money downthe road and that's with your VA
.
It sounds like it's you'regoing to give up some time.
This month You're probablygoing to be spending two, three,
however much more time doingthese things to get them off the
(25:25):
ground running, so that youknow next month or three months
from now, you have so much morehours in your week because they
are doing it well and you're nothaving to to monitor it super
closely.
Speaker 2 (25:36):
Well, and that's exactly it too right, like by
paying this person $25 an hourfor five hours, let's say.
If that ultimately allows youto take on three additional
clients at $160 an hour as atherapist, well then, great,
that's exactly how it should be.
Your VA should be freeing youup to make more money and
(25:59):
essentially pay for their salaryand then some, and not costing
you money.
So that's the other kind offlip that I like to share with
folks.
Speaker 1 (26:07):
That's so true, and I , as we're talking about this
and like I say, I, you, youalluded to it that and I did too
that I waited too long until Iwas burnt out and I got to a
point where I felt like I wasjust my business, was a failure
factory in a sense of.
I wasn't, I was dropping theball, I was doing too many
things, and so I felt like Iwould forget to follow through
with something for a client, andthen I wasn't following up with
(26:30):
leads and prospects and Iwasn't doing marketing and I a
month would go by and I haven'tuploaded a video, and it's just
like ah, like I'm trying to plugall these holes, and it just
felt like I wasn't doinganything.
Well, because I was all of asudden there was just too much
to do, and that's a good thing.
I just my client load grew andthen, all of a sudden, these
responsibilities that I had timeto do, I no longer did, and so
(26:52):
I love that idea of looking atit Like I'm going to offload,
pay somebody, you know, again$25 an hour, so maybe a hundred
to 150 bucks a week, so that Ican take on two or three more
clients, which might be anotherthree to $600 a week.
So it's really a greatinvestment.
Speaker 2 (27:08):
Yeah, absolutely, cause it allows you to grow.
It allows you to create moreimpact and continue growing
serving at the same level,because somebody has your back
on the back end.
Speaker 1 (27:21):
Yeah, love it, love it.
Okay.
So to our solo therapists outthere who have been maybe toying
with this idea what do yourecommend?
Their first step is intogetting yeah, if they have all
they've done is thought about Ineed some help.
I don't even know what to do.
What's what's the best firstaction they can take?
Speaker 2 (27:38):
I mean listen, you touched on it earlier best first
action they can take.
I mean, listen, you touched onit earlier, it's the first step
that I have my clients take.
It's just kind of keeping a padof paper and a pen by your
keyboard and just keeping trackof all the little micro things
you do during the day.
When you're not face-to-facewith clients.
What are you doing in between?
I mean, besides having a snackand using the restroom, what
(27:59):
else are you doing?
That's taking up your time oryour attention, right?
Carry this notepad around withyou when you're laying down in
bed at night and you're like, oh, I didn't post my Instagram
post.
Grab that pad of paper and penand write it down.
Keeping a running list and notin a way that feels arduous or
like it's an additional to do onyour list, but keeping that
(28:22):
running list to just gauge wheream I burning it at both ends?
What am I dropping the ball on,what don't?
I have time for that.
I know I still need to do.
I've got things on my own tasklist that have moved from week
to week to week to week, thatI'm like I'm not that great at
or I don't do, and so they justkeep moving.
(28:44):
That's another red flag.
So just keeping that runninglist to bring more awareness and
clarity to what you caneventually pass off.
Speaker 1 (28:54):
Love it.
I think that's such greatadvice and that's actionable.
Some people that can take awayfrom listening to this to do
that.
I was given advice early on tooand I mean you could tell me
whether this is good or bad, Idon't know, but it was.
Somebody even told me.
To take that a step deeper wasas I'm doing.
Some of those tasks is just tohit a little screen record and
start talking through it andthen just saving that video
(29:15):
somewhere so that when we dohire them, we've got a library
of things that they can refer to.
On the how do I post to theblog, like, what do I actually
do?
What's the literal?
How do I navigate WordPressBasically?
The tutorial.
Speaker 2 (29:29):
Yeah, no, and that's a phenomenal, phenomenal
suggestion as well.
I, I do it with my clients.
I give them a template thatserves as an SOP index and I
suggest to keep the.
I like loom.
I don't know what screen recordsoftware you use, but loom is
my favorite.
I use it exhaustively and I,yeah, just hitting record and
(29:52):
recording yourself talkingthrough it and what buttons
you're clicking.
Yes, eventually it builds thatSOP library in a really easily
accessible way for you, whereyou're not like, oh my God, now
I have to think about all thetasks I do and how I do them and
write it all down and documentit all.
And, oh my God, like now, I'mnot even gonna do it.
I might as well just do itmyself.
Right, like you go into thismindset spiral.
(30:13):
When you're doing it one thingat a time, you're filing it away
for that rainy day you're ready.
Speaker 1 (30:22):
You'll be in phenomenal shape when you're
ready to hire.
I think that's fantastic.
Love it, Love it.
So I wish I had found youbefore I hired my first person
five or six years ago.
I don't want listeners to makethat same mistake.
So talk to me about what you doand how people can get in touch
with you.
Speaker 2 (30:36):
Yeah, so I have a 90 day coaching program that I take
my clients through.
I've worked.
My very first client ever, um,for my own business was a
marriage and marriage therapistwho has been in business for 35
years.
So I have a special place in myheart for therapists, um, and
you can find me online.
I'm on LinkedIn under KateLenahan.
(30:56):
Uh, my Instagram is rise higherconsulting and it's a little
bit of a play on words.
It's higher h-i-r-e but youknow we rise higher by the right
having the right hire.
So a little play on words,because I'm a nerd like that and
I would love to have you comefind me on Instagram.
(31:16):
I've got fun little things thatyou can in my links in my bio
where I've got an AI prompt thathelps you figure out what to
delegate and if you decide todownload that, you can get on a
free 15 minute call with me.
Speaker 1 (31:32):
Love it, Love it.
We will put links to all ofthose in the show notes.
I encourage everyone who isconsidering hiring and I would
imagine, even if they've alreadyhired someone you're like I
don't know what to do with thisperson.
I'm sure you could help them.
Speaker 2 (31:43):
Yes, absolutely.
I mean, I've gotten on callswith VAs before.
There's just so many nuances.
And when we are our own leaders, when we run our own business,
we are so close to the business.
It is your baby.
You have poured so much timeand effort and love.
You want somebody who's goingto treat it as their own.
(32:07):
And finding that person is.
It can be tricky and it can bescary, and it is also wildly
worth it when you find the rightperson and I am always happy.
I love having conversationslike these because it's such a
niche thing to talk about and towork with people on and the
(32:31):
impact it has is has such aripple effect that I love seeing
.
Speaker 1 (32:37):
Love it.
I completely agree.
This has been super helpful.
I know so many people are goingto find value in this and, like
I said, all the links are inthe show notes.
So everyone go connect withKate and Kate.
Thank you so much for takingtime to let me just pick your
brain and and learn about whatyou do and why.
Having that first hire is socan be scary, but it's still so
(32:58):
important.
Speaker 2 (32:59):
It was my pleasure, Craig.
I'm so glad that this isvaluable and I really appreciate
being here for you.
Speaker 1 (33:07):
Thanks for joining us on the Therapy Business Podcast
.
Be sure to subscribe, leave areview and share it with a
practice owner that you may know.
If your practice needs helpgetting organized with its
finances or just growing yourpractice, head to
therapybusinesspodcom to learnhow we can help.
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