Sincerely, Future You - Life Coach Jessica McKinley Uyeno
Are you picturing a dream team? One that you have so much confidence and trust in that you are actually chillaxing on maternity leave? I did this with my Executive Assistant Janelle. Yep, you read that right. This happened!
I handed Janelle, practically, my ENTIRE business to manage after I gave birth to Mari. It took time to get us to that stage, but that's why we recorded this episode—to share how we communicate, delegate and operate to get results.
Now, let's get future you one step closer to your dream team.
Notable Time Stamps:
[00:01:57] Janelle’s background in admin
[00:15:51] Creating a culture in your business where your employees can ask questions.
[00:33:39] How to cultivate a stronger, more trusting relationship with your employees.
[00:40:12 ] Janelle’s advice for executive assistants
Meeting Agenda Template:
Connect with Janelle:
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Watch on YouTube:
Full Transcript:
Jessica McKinley 0:00
I don't know that I know anyone else who includes their executive assistant as like a seat at the table in the vision for where their company is going. Welcome to sincerely future you a podcast that helps ambitious women like you make decisions today with the future you in mind. Hi, Happsters. Welcome to a very special episode. I always said that this podcast was not an interview podcast. But I love to always share with you my best practices that truly come from trial and error that come from the failure collection that I teach as the process to success. And one of the best journeys of failure collection to massive success that I've had in my business has been on the back end has been my relationship with my executive assistant Janelle. And so I wanted to have her on the podcast today so that she and I can share with you from both of our perspectives how you too, can manage to have an amazing relationship with your employer or your employee. And if you do have an assistant, what how we have worked to make sure that we are relying on each other in a very trusting and loving way. And we don't constantly feel like uncertain of if the other person is on the same page, or if the deliverables are gonna get there. We have a very trusting relationship, but it took some time. So I wanted to bring her on. So Jen, now why don't you introduce yourself? Why don't you tell everybody kind of how you came to find me and what you were doing and have been doing before you became my assistant.
Janelle Badia 1:57
Okay, so I'm Janelle. And I have had a lot of admin experience in the past I, my first real real job was as an administrative assistant for a roofing manufacturing company. And then I worked as an executive assistant for Quest Diagnostics for a few years. I didn't know I did, yeah. And then I started, I supported two directors, two pathologist. And after that
Jessica McKinley 2:23
That makes so much sense. Now, I love that I'm learning on this call.
Janelle Badia 2:28
And after that was when I had my son, and then I started to work with my husband's company, their food distribution company, and I was working or I am working as their marketing director. But for many years before that I had freelance as a graphic designer. So that's what I got my degree.
Jessica McKinley 2:45
So how do we know each other? Tell everyone because we do know each other in personal life, kind of, but we didn't really have a full on relationship until right?
Janelle Badia 2:53
Well, well, you're best friends with Alexi, which is my husband's cousin's wife. And I had been following you for some time, because you were doing Beachbody, and I was doing Beachbody. And that's kind of where I was, you know, interested in watching your content. And then I saw that you were hiring for VA. And I thought it was just a really great opportunity. I wanted some help and coaching. And I thought that, you know, I could provide you help with whatever you needed. I had experience as as an admin, and I thought maybe I could help you with any graphic work that you needed. And it just worked. It worked really well.
Jessica McKinley 3:30
Yeah, it's so interesting. I mean, it makes so much sense to me that you do have a strong background in admin. It's funny, because the person that I was looking to hire and like what I was looking for in the role, I cared less about that background. But I do think that now looking back, it probably really did help you grow into the position very quickly. But, but I was really looking for someone that we could kind of mold into communicating in the way that I like to communicate. And I just put out this, I was not in a position financially, I always love to be so transparent with you guys. I wasn't in a position financially that where I knew how much I could afford to pay an executive assistant. But I was like, here's the thing. I'm looking for a situation where I give you coaching and free coaching and you are interested in doing admin work for me in exchange. So it was like a straight up exchange. And I was like this vicious position. I do want to grow into a full time position, like maybe two part time to full time. So we talked very openly about what you were interested in. But it seemed to be a really good fit. And it's funny because I did and I'm in preparation for this episode. I thought back to the other people that I interviewed for the position. And there were some like very highly qualified people like almost overqualified people that I had worked as executive assistants in corporate and like corporations where I'm not going to name them, but that you would you guys would all know these corporations. And I was like, I don't know that I want someone coming in that is going to want to kind of be in a more leadership role than I was ready for. I did want this to grow. But I wanted us to be growing together. And I wanted them to feel pretty immediately they were getting everything out of it that they wanted to get out of it. And what I had to offer at that point, was coaching and obviously the expertise that comes with being an inside of a kind of us a very fast paced growing company, and I knew that you wanted to grow as a graphic designer as well, which was also appealing to me. I was like, Yeah, for sure. We can offload some, some of the graphics, which Janelle does. A lot of my graphics for Instagram and for my emails, and for my testimonials recently, I've gotten a lot of comments on this. Like, even from the hamsters themselves being like, oh, it looks so good. This testimonial like that's all Janelle, she like, um, braid you. So good. So separately, well, we'll make sure that if you do want to hire Janelle, tell them about your most recent offer, just briefly, like what it is that you're helping people optimize.
Janelle Badia 6:28
Oh, so I created a new service where optimizing IG bios. So if you use a third party, like Link tree, or any of those other ones, using the tools that you already have, like Canva, you can create a sales page as your quick links. And you can continue to track analytics using bit ly links. So you don't lose that altogether. But it really gives you the opportunity to be a lot more creative with what you're pitching and your offers. And to really, like, be creative with your branding.
Jessica McKinley 7:05
So you guys, stay tuned, because we're gonna do this Janelle is going to do this for me. And she we've talked about the benefits of doing this. It's not just for to make it prettier and branded, it's actually to convert at a higher level. And to make sure that your people don't get lost in. I know, it's what started to happen to me, when people click on the link in my bio, it's like, you're leaving Instagram, you're going to this other place, and I'm like, Oh, I don't want them to that to be a deterrent. So definitely, we'll we'll throw Chanel's info in the in the show notes so that you can connect with her if that's something you're interested in doing. But so Okay, so she came, she was seemingly a really good fit. But I also really loved that personally, I can vouch for her as a human being I just like I had known her just very kind of circumstantially at my best friend's wedding we had met and we had done a little bit of Beachbody stuff together. But I was excited to bring her on. And when we started, I was like, I want to do this, right. So I hired an onboarding coach. Essentially, I hired an onboarding manager, I think she called herself. And I was onboarding her and my bookkeeper Natalie at the same time as kind of a pop up CFO. Now, my business was doubling pretty rapidly. And I had some really big goals, we were going through crazy failure. And I just knew I couldn't handle any of the admin stuff anymore. I couldn't handle the numbers, parts of it. I wanted to be very involved. But I didn't want to have there were certain tasks that I really didn't want to have to do. So I was like, I want to onboard these people well, and what happened? We hired this onboarding girl. She was very nice and very sweet. But she had a very particular way of onboarding them, I think, what was the tool that she wanted us to use? At first? Was it Trello or
Janelle Badia 9:04
No Voxer we were using boxer and then she showed us LastPass
Jessica McKinley 9:10
Oh LastPass is good that we didn't take from her. So LastPass is something that we use so that Janelle has access to all of my passwords for logging into everything which has been so helpful especially when I'm not the best at I keep my phone on silent you guys so if she needs me, it's like sometimes not the easiest to get in touch with me right away because I've boundaries for when I look at my phone. And so it was very important that if there's an error, she has access to all of my login so that she can handle something if there is kind of I don't like to use the word emergency. I don't believe in coaching emergencies, but essentially, it's something that needed to be tackled right away. Like for example, we have had zoom issues where there's like too fast factor authentication, where it's going to my email, she needs my email that's happened before it. So last pass is something that we did take. And the second thing we did take from this onboarding woman that was helpful was she gave us a meeting agenda worksheet, which I'm also we have since altered it to make it more hipster friendly, we have a certain are very results focused rather than task focused. And, you know, we like to make sure that there's room for painting a vision, and we're thinking about the future in stages. So what's coming next year, what are we currently working on and what's like on the horizon, maybe in the next 30 to 90 days. And so we're going to link that freebie meeting agenda worksheet in the, in the show notes as well for you guys so that you can use them with your team. But how was what was your experience with that when we were using that a lot in the beginning? And now how have we have evolved it so that you're really the one using it more so than me?
Janelle Badia 11:09
Well, I love a good word cheat. So I mean, I love being able to, you know, we jump on our meetings, and we go over, like the general agenda. And then it's just really focusing on the action items. And any short and long term goals just so like thought, you know, thought brain download or just putting everything on there so that we don't miss anything. We give due dates to stuff. And over time, it has it has evolved, but I I mean, it works for us.
Jessica McKinley 11:40
Yeah, I think, you know, in the first 90 days, I wanted to make it all 100% My responsibility to bridge any gap, I was like, I made it very clear that this was a time to fail, that I wanted them to ask all the questions to take, make guesses to be willing to, you know, get it wrong, but not to like hesitate in action to just go all in. And I said by the end of the 90 days, I expect us to be kinda like in a place where we're rocking and rolling, and you're more self sufficient. But until then, like I'm going to, you know, assign all of the processes, I'm going to make sure that you get approval before you post anything. So that was something that we used to do all the time, Janelle would write out emails, or she'd write out some copy, or she'd do a graphic, and then she would send it for approval, and then I would approve it. Now, it's like, we don't even ever asked for her approval. Because we've been doing this for a while where, you know, not to say that your assistant should be a mind reader. But when you go through a process very thoroughly, and you teach them how you think in terms of ways that you want to get to the result, and you teach them what your priorities are, over time, by being so crystal clear, by never people pleasing, like I was willing, every time to tell her, okay, not like this. And this is why, okay, maybe some more whitespace. And this is why or this is how the aesthetic that I want it to look or this is what I want the person reading this to be thinking. And we trial and error for a long time until I delegated the process. So that is something for sure. I recommend when you're bringing on and you're onboarding anyone, whether it's an assistant or any other team member in the beginning, you should be responsible for the process, and you're giving it to them and just making sure that they can follow your process from start to finish. And then there might be a little bit of obstacles in there. And then once you've got that down, then it's time to bring it to the next level where they're the ones coming up with the process. And you really truly just have to delegate the result. And then you say, Okay, you're the one so we do have a delegation process that I teach in happening sessions. It's a five step delegation process, and I use it with Janelle And I think it's become so second nature to us that I don't have to go through it in the same way where I'm like, Okay, this is this is exactly what it is. But if you're in happening sessions you do learn that process. I'm not going to go into the process exactly here. But it is about making sure that you are very crystal clear with deadlines and the result that you want and there's no room for people pleasing because I'm never worried that Janelle is going to get her feelings hurt about me wanting something changed, because I know that at the same like no matter what our goal is the same goal. So, how do I know that?
Janelle Badia 15:04
No, and I was saying that even, you know, even though we've worked through this process so well, and we've, you know, really narrowed it down even when I still have questions like, I don't feel hesitant to ask, I don't feel nervous task, like the communication is, is really important. Like I, if I have a question, or I'm not sure about something, or I feel like I still need like some sort of approval, like I'm, like hesitant about something. I'm not scared to send it to you.
Jessica McKinley 15:32
Yeah, we don't really gel. And I don't understand how people will tell us that they're like, oh, and the person's just still not getting it right. And my thought is, well, either A, they had a question they didn't ask you, or B, you were not crystal crystal clear on what you wanted. And you didn't have a process for her to give you a draft before it was finally due. So Janelle is really, really clear about like, this is the hard deadline of when something is due, and when it needs to be pushed out. But I always give her a deadline to give it to me, so that there's a buffer so that if something does need to be changed, that she has time to re rework it, or that if if I didn't leave enough time that I'm able to be responsible for reworking it myself. And I always put the final the results of my business are on me Chanel's job is to deliver the deliverables by a deadline that gives a buffer for me to still make sure that we crossed the finish line. Right. So yeah, I think that's really important. Are you creating a culture, in your business in your relationship, where your employee is very clear that they should, that it's a safe space to ask questions? And I'm always like, yeah, give it to me. Like, what was that clear, there are some some meetings that we have that we don't use the meeting agenda worksheet, and the whole purpose of the meeting is for Janelle, to take everything that's in my brain and to sort it out into the format of that meeting agenda form and send it back to me. So here's what I will say. thing that we do as a team together, is I in this is part of the delegation process at the end of everything that we're doing. I'm not the one that's taking notes and telling her who should do what Yes, I'm telling her who should do what, but I'm telling her she is taking all of the notes during our meeting. And then she relays it back to me, sometimes, depending on how much time we have, she'll relay it back to me if in the call, and other times, she'll email it to me and I always make need to make sure that I look over the email to make sure that she understood whose job was what. So it's always like Janelle has responsibilities, just as responsibilities. So even for me, one of my favorite things that you do for me is to like, just make a list of all of the things that I need to do and by when and so even some, I give Janelle a task, but in order for her to do that task, I need to do something for her. So instead of me just being like, okay, yeah, do that. And she's just sitting there waiting, hoping that I'm going to give it to her. I make sure that it's her job to tell me by when do I need to deliver part one of what she needs to do her job? Right. Yes. And so. Okay, let's talk about. So when did we start working together? 2020. Right,
Janelle Badia 18:46
right. Like during the pandemic, right when a pandemic happened? Yeah. Yeah,
Jessica McKinley 18:51
Crazy. Well, I'm like, Wait, was it 2021? Only? Cuz, like, I think when Natalie came on, it was maybe it was 2021, like, March.
Janelle Badia 19:04
Now then maybe it was I think it was January of 2021.
Jessica McKinley 19:08
Yeah, that's fine. It was right. Yeah. So it's been it'll almost have been two years that we're working together. What day is it? It's almost 2023. Crazy. Yeah, it was like around January of 2021, when we started working together. And at that point, my business was under 100k. We were I just had the vision and all of a sudden, when the vision came, I was like, this is in order for this to happen really quickly. I need to have a team I need to have support like I need to be able to delegate otherwise, I'm gonna get caught up in trying to do while I'm trying to grow. And so it was so great, but I also knew that I needed this to be a trial period. So I think that that made it safe for all of us. I was like, Okay, for the next 30 to 60 days. I think I give it six See days, there's gonna be a trial period where the both of you and we all I called you the badass staffer a remember that we would just all kind of like power once a month, Janelle And I a little bit more often. And everything was a trial and error and it made it so much more fun because it was like, Alright, this is we're gonna reassess at the end of the 90 days, or 60 days, whatever it was. So since then both of them still are on my staff. And here's why I think so number one is that I've always been super transparent about the vision, about the goals for the company, and how important their role was in us Creating that I updated them constantly on where we were, I mean, in the beginning, it was, okay, I'm gonna apply to this mastermind, all right, we're gonna grow the company to six figures, and then we're gonna grow the company to 200k. And we're gonna transition from what I want to group coaching. And it was a we, environment. And I think that that's so important. I don't know that I know anyone else who includes their executive assistant, as like a seat at the table in the vision for where their company is going. I don't understand why you were such an integral part of the plan. And do you feel that tell me if that feels like something that is was, is and was important to you, and the beginning of working together. And now,
Janelle Badia 21:47
you know, I didn't really think about it in the beginning when we first started, but as, as, you know, time went on. And we really both got into, or I really got into the role. Like, I really did feel like I was a part of your growth, and we celebrated your wins together, which was really nice. And it really did make me feel like, like I did, like I did it, like I helped you do it. Like, you know, we did it
Jessica McKinley 22:14
100% Like I in no way do I ever feel like I built this company by myself. Like, what's so nice about bringing on an assistant before you are at the multiple six figure level. And I definitely definitely recommend that people do this. And again, make sure that the math adds up in terms of your budget when I first brought Janelle on, like I wasn't paying her we were like there was a monetary exchange in terms of like, right, there were 1000s of dollars worth of coaching sessions that he was getting. It had to make sense, of course. But and then like she said, when we celebrated together like I was like, Okay, well, who we're hanging on to, okay, they're getting like champagne to their houses and little like gift boxes, and whatever it was just like any chance to celebrate the work that we were all doing it just it felt as an entrepreneur, it can feel so isolating, but it doesn't have to be that's optional, you can make sure that your team understands how integral they are to the role. And celebrating together. I've sent notes and gifts and bonuses. Of course, as we achieve milestones. I'm very aware about the parts of my business that are going to require more out of Janelle And I let her know that like this is noted that this is a lot and one of those things was when I went on maternity leave for eight weeks. Now at that point, Janelle And I had been working together for a year and a half plan. And we prepared for my maternity leave for like six months. Like, every week, we had different things that were like, Okay, what else do I do that I don't want to be doing? And basically, I handed my entire company to Janelle for eight weeks, one week of which she was on vacation, and we allowed for that as well. So it doesn't have to be like a hustle, Lee thing. But one of the most amazing things about that experience for me was how, how much time and thought we spent thinking about the processes of delivering every single result that we wanted to deliver.
Janelle Badia 24:35
We were thinking in the future to like we were thinking about that we were living like in the future, planning it in the future.
Jessica McKinley 24:41
Oh, yeah. Yeah. And like, I kept being like, every time I'd get off a call, I'd be like, Hey, I feel like the baby's coming tomorrow. He'd be like you're three months pregnant. already planning for what's going to happen when she's here. And that happens a lot with us. But one of the things that I See people do is the opposite of this either A, they don't share the vision at all. And they downplay the role of their assistant in that. Like, they kind of think of it as an entry level position, which is never how I thought of that as this part of the company, regardless of whether it's something that they're growing into a director of Aix as your company grows, we've talked about that, that possibility for certain things of you taking over operations as things grow. But essentially, I don't, I think of executive assistant as almost like a C suite position anyway. So because of that, I don't think that there is this need for growth. However, we did do a title change. I remember so like, what what that was like, and, and when I was like, listen, we got to change your sign off on your email, because you're sending these really important emails, and then you're like, just as VA smiley face. And I'm like, what's more than a VA? No. So did that feel like a shift for you, and I know is very important to me.
Janelle Badia 26:12
Um, I don't know, if it felt any different. I still felt like, I, you know, I was, I wasn't going to change the way I was doing any of my work. It was just like, a title change.
Jessica McKinley 26:24
To me, a virtual assistant is someone who is strictly doing tasks. And they are not like, necessarily an integral part of the company. And I felt like executive assistant was you do way more than just like the little tasks like you had essentially, at one point, when I was away, you were running all the operations of the business, other than coaching itself, you were not coaching. I was like, I like to be on the receiving end of coaching. Yeah. But no, I, I think that the on the flip side, I see a lot of people who tell me that, oh, my assistant, or my employee is so good, that I'm scared that they're going to leave me. So therefore, I can't tell them when they're doing something wrong, or ask them to do more, or they feel kind of like at the mercy of their employee. And I love Janelle to death but I am very crystal clear with her all the time that we are building this role so that she never feels a trapped in it. And then I also don't feel like I'm dependent on her. I'm instead I'm dependent on the processes and the systems rather than the person. So like, I want my employees and especially Janelle to always be pursuing her biggest life. And right now, that includes being the executive assistant for what's happening coaching however, if at any point it doesn't, I want to create a safe space where she feels like she can always tell me that so we have milestone meetings where I just asked Janelle Okay, how are things feeling? What's going on in your life outside of this because Chanel wears many hats. You heard her mention she works within her husband's company, the food distribution company, she also has a graphic design business, she's helping business owners optimize their you know, their Instagrams and their funnels, and she wears many hats. She also is the our assistant and graphic designer for moguls of infinite opportunity. She does so much that I'm always making sure and she's a mom of two and she has, like she really prioritizes her family. She loves to live a big life, go on vacations, do all the things and I want that for her. So think about how when some people are like, Oh, I really like I run a creative business. So I this this person that I hired, you really can't find them like that. I do feel like Janelle, Janelle is like such a special person. However, I do think that our processes that we've created because we're so clear about what works, and when Janelle does something that I love, I'm like, Okay, we got to write this down as a process so that if you do ever leave, or you have the desire to leave, that you can train someone else up and it's not going to be a year to do it right now. Yeah. And so we really They got to do that with the maternity leave. But if that's you if to check in with yourself right now, if you're listening, and you're like, either A, I have assistants that I don't integrate into my vision or share my vision at all of the company and where we're going, and I don't include them in a way that I could and I don't celebrate with them. Could I do more of that? Or on the contrary, are you people pleasing your employees for fear that you cannot duplicate the results that you're getting? Both of those things are problematic. And so I would offer to you to open yourself up to the, the left or the right, whichever direction you need to go. And if it is that you're people pleasing, we can talk about some of the things that we've done to, to put processes in place. One of those things, obviously, is the meeting agenda worksheet. One of them is the five step delegation process, which again, if you want to know more about set up a consult with me or get inside happening sessions, for sure, that is that has helped my clients who have 1530, staff members, really, really make sure that nothing falls through the cracks. And it helps even just with when you have a staff of one or a freelancer working for you, it saves you so much time. But then, like I said, you need to make sure that you're thinking and preparing as far in advance as possible. So let's talk a little bit about the maternity leave. So we started preparing for that, like about six months in advance. Right. And I knew I was going to lead and what was your first thought when I was like, okay, Janelle, I think you could just run the hall this while I'm gone. What was your first thought?
Janelle Badia 32:00
I mean, I think I was a little nervous. But you know, as we had that meeting, and we talked more about putting our process in place, like I realized that I really didn't have anything to worry about, like, I trusted that, you know, as long as we plan well ahead, enough, you know, that everything was gonna be fine. And I really did feel okay, like I wasn't, I wasn't like dying inside or anything like I was, I was a little nervous, but I was, I was excited to have like, you know, that freedom and to really just be able to, like, go along with with our process. I'm, and, yeah, it was good. And
Jessica McKinley 32:36
I just kept saying, and this is something that you can offer to your clients as well, if you have a service based business, it's like, you can offer them a thought that it's going to be great, and it's going to work out and that you trust them. But you have to actually believe it first before you can sell them on it. So if you're the employer here, you have to believe that you are able to delegate an entire week off with at will with you truly unplugged if you just want to do this for vacation and not a maternity leave. What are all of the things that you need to think about? What are all of the things that you want to turn into processes? And it may feel overwhelming at first, and to me it did too, right? Like you knew when we were sitting down, I was like, Okay, here's to the drawing board. But what did we do? We sat down and we're like, when do I want to make sure that I'm off by and when you're having a baby, you don't really know when the baby's gonna come. So we had to set up guest coaches, we had to have them apply. We had to create an application we had to tell all of put it all in our marketing that there were going to be guest coaches, we had to sell ourselves on how this was going to be the best thing ever. And I had to make sure that Janelle understood the messaging, so I would have her tested out. This is another thing that I highly recommend doing it to cultivate a stronger, more trusting relationship with your employee is to test their thinking in a safe space. So I would have her write out the application, the way that she thought that I would want it to go now, at this point she had been working with me for like I said, like at that point, maybe a little over a year. And then same thing with the emails that were going out to them. Same thing with the if I have her one time, I had her request from all of my clients, a testimonial, and she sent out an email and we got back like one testimonial is very sad. I think we had incentivize, even to we were like, okay, like we'll do, we'll send out So one of you guys like as a raffle, a, like a gift from one of our clients for just as a thank you for doing the testimonial. That was not incentive. My clients are, you know, they have lots of prayer other priorities. So I was like, okay, Janelle, how do our clients? How do I want the hipsters to feel when they see a testimonial of theirs out there? And how can we write this email in a different way that'll help them to feel featured, highlighted, special selected instead of like, it's just another thing on their plate like they're doing me a favor, which was kind of how the first one read. And so we went through a couple of times, where I was just testing the way that Janelle would think about it, and how she would write the email. And we went through a couple of different iterations of it before it came out. But on the other side of it, Janelle has had been developed into more of a strategist rather than a tactician. So she was actually coming up with the process process, thinking about the end result thinking about everything. And if your VA is not doing that, not all of the people in your company need to be strategists. But your executive assistant, you do want to develop them into a strategist so that they take off of your plate, so much thinking, but in order to do that, you need to be making sure that you're asking them high quality questions. So that was like such a fun process. But in the in the process of maternity leave, I will say one of the most fun things for me, was, it's like two weeks out. And I'm thinking like, Okay, I'm gonna go that it's a week out, then it's a week. And it's the day of my due date. And then another coach that's already in place, ready to coach for me. And I was like, do I just do I let my business run without me when I don't even really need to be off. I was so conflicted. We had done all of this work. And I was like, this is perfect. We'll give ourselves one week of Janelle running the whole company, and me just kind of sitting on my ass at home. And I was just like, okay, and we'll see. And I had this pit in my stomach of oh my gosh, my business doesn't even need me anymore. It was like the most proud and the most like, like useless I've ever felt in my entire life. I'm just like, sitting there watching Janelle, run the business, like a boss feel so calm. And what she just kept saying to me was, we've, we've prepared for this, we've prepared for this, we're prepared. And I kept repeating to her, I trust you, everything's gonna go great. So there's the part where you prepare. And then there's the part where your human being with emotions, and a crazy brain that's telling you, you cannot prepare enough. And no one will ever be me. And what if something goes wrong and your brain is going to go there. And then you get to coach yourself back into a trusting relationship with your employee. So watch, if you're undermining the relationship that you actually want with your employee, by allowing yourself no room to really trust that they are going to be able to execute on the work that you worked so hard to do to get. Yes, so that was really really one of the most challenging moments in my relationship with you and to the most, the most proud. So at the end of the maternity leave, which went so well, I sent Janelle a bonus I sent her like halfway through just as like, Okay, I'm gonna send you a bonus a little early because it's just going so well. And I'm just with my daughter just appreciating the moment and the time. But I want you guys to know that while Janelle is my favorite person in the world, and I cannot do that her I also you can create your gin, your own Chanel's within your business. So I put up a post on my Instagram yesterday, it was like Hey guys, like Does anyone have any questions for me? And now we're gonna record this and the only question I got was, how do you find a Janelle I just want you to know that, that Janelle is a beautiful person that knows how to execute on a process that we have worked at for a while and bit and opened up and really solidified with amazing communication techniques. And adds like a little dash of love right? A whole lot of love a whole lot of love. Okay, well is there anything else that you want to leave the hamsters in the listeners with if they are sitting in your position if they are in a employer and they want to have an amazing relationship or an employee, and they want to have an amazing relationship with their employer. What is some advice that you would have for them?
Janelle Badia 40:12
I think honestly, the key is communication, being really transparent about the tasks, your action items. And I, I love due dates, I thrive with due dates when you give me a due date, like it really helps me keep on top of my stuff. And it gives me that clarity that this is due then not like, you know, two weeks from now. And then you know, I think our weekly meetings even though they've been really short, like only 15 to 20 minutes have been really great moments for us to just check in.
Jessica McKinley 40:45
Yes, meetings do not have to be an hour.
Janelle Badia 40:48
Now. Now, really quick. We're both on the same page. And even if we can't meet, then, you know, we'll send each other a quick email or even a quick text just so that we all know what needs to get done that week. What's priority.
Jessica McKinley 41:01
So true with deadlines and priorities? A lot of people asked me to like, oh, well, I just You gave me all this stuff to do. And I didn't know what was the priority. And it's like, you should your employee should never have to guess what the priority is ever. Because when they have deadlines for every single task to get to the result, and they know the result deadline, they'll know the priority because the priority is get it done by the deadline. Right period.
Janelle Badia 41:29
Yeah, so definitely just being clear about all that. Any advice I have for executive assistants to just be really organized, and ask questions, even if you know you feel silly about it, ask it anyway. Be really clear about your due dates. And if you can't get to something, let your employer know right away. Yes, we
Jessica McKinley 41:52
Huge, Janelle will tell me in advance and I will tell her in advance if there's something coming up, or we're going to need a little more if she's going to be on vacation, or I'm going to need a little more time. Or if she needs to move our meeting, or I need to move our meaning. We try and give each other as much notice as possible. And if there is something that's last minute, we're always looking for, like, Okay, but how can we still get the result by the deadline? Because that's the thing, we'll create a plan sometimes. And then life happens. You know, we both have kids, we both sometimes get kid gets sick, something happens with our other priorities or other businesses. And we're always like, there's no problem because we can still flex the plan to create the same result by the deadline.
Janelle Badia 42:37
Yes, just being proactive and being really clear and just
Jessica McKinley 42:42
just being you love it. All right, thank you guys. I'm so glad that you finally get to see here a little bit of the woman that's probably half the time responding to your responding to your email to your messages, no advertisements, Janelle. But thank you, Janelle, for sharing your wisdom and for being. So all in with the vision and the goals of this company. I can't wait to do like a reunion episode of this, like, years from now when we're like running a whole staff of people. It's as good you guys think about the future you and your future. Chanel, your future staff, your future assistant? Where do you want them? Where are they growing towards? And are you guys on the same page about with that touch base with them? Share the vision here and listen to them. And just watch it take off. Alright, you guys have a beautiful day. Thanks, Janelle. Being thanks for having me. All right hamsters, I have something that you are going to want to be a part of. And that is on December 30, my most popular webinar that I do every year, which is letter from your future self. This is something that I've been doing since 2015. And every year, I have an increased following of people that are telling me how excited they are for December 31, so that they can open their letter from their future selves. That is how I help you set up 2023. It's a very unique way, and emotional way of connecting with your future self that is going to tell you how proud they are of all of your accomplishments, but not just that of the person that you had to become and what you had to overcome. In that whole year. Every single year, I blow my mind with what's possible. And this is a taste of how you can to start to connect to that future self that you're in the process of becoming. This is not just for business owners. So if you're just a fan girl of this podcast and you don't even own a business, you can still come to this webinar. It is on December 30 at 1pm Eastern Standard Time, and you can register for the webinar. for free in the link in the show notes or you can go to my link in my bio on Instagram or if you're on my email list which if you aren't, go and get on the email list you can get you'll get all that information to register in your email as well. Like I said, Do not miss this. It is 1pm December 30. It will set you up emotionally and logistically for the best year yet. Let's go see you there.
Jessica McKinley 45:34
Hey Happsters, if you want to learn more about today's topic, head over to what's happening.com forward [slash] podcast. That's what's happening. W h a t s h a p p y n i n g [dot] com forward [slash] podcasts. If you're a business owner and you're resonating with what we talked about here, what are you even doing? Come hang out with me over where the party's at on Instagram [@} what's happyning w jess. Again that's happy. H a p p y i n g and book a discovery call to see if coaching is your next best step.
