Focus on the fun stuff & the art of delegation ⏳ | Emma Mills

What I'm most passionate about is having that percentage of the things that I'm doing being the bigger percentage being the things that I'm enjoying. Because then I think those kind of conversations drift away a little bit because actually most of the time that you're spending is on the stuff that you love. That's what I'm more passionate about. I think just so many of us are like, oh, it's work. Whereas actually work can be the most amazing thing ever as long as we find our flow and our groove with it.

This week's Millennial Master is Emma Mills, founder of MyPA. Emma went from being an executive assistant to building a 7-figure business with over 500 clients, all while protecting her time, energy, and focus. She's proof that founders don't have to stay stuck in the weeds and that delegation done right can unlock real freedom. In this episode, we talk about how to focus on the work you love and cut the rest, the mindset shifts that make delegation stick, and building a culture and systems that scale beyond you. Millennial Masters is brought to you by Jolt, fast, reliable web hosting built for founders. Whether you're launching a WordPress site or scaling an app, Jolt gives your project a rock-solid home starting from just £3.95 a month. You'll get 99.99% uptime, support in under 30 seconds, and flexible payment options including Bitcoin and Amex, so you can rack up those points while you build. Get your first 3 months free at jolt.co.uk. Smart hosting for people building what's next. Emma, welcome to Millennial Masters. How are you today?

I am really good, Daniel. Thank you for inviting me onto the show. I'm looking forward to it.

I'm looking forward to it as well, because I'm hoping to learn a few tricks from you today that we're going to be sharing with everybody else as well. So let's get to it. Emma, how does somebody go from being the person taking calls and being a personal assistant to running the whole show?

That is a brilliant question. One that has different stages to it, but I think ultimately, um, mindset and understanding, like really, really understanding the value of your time, like those two things are the triggers because without them, like there's a reason why I think it's 4% of business owners get over a million revenue. Like there's a reason why 96, 95% of business owners are at a certain level because they are stuck in the weeds. And I think for most business owners, that understanding of— and you know, for everyone, it's not about having a huge business, a huge revenue, a huge team. It's not about that, but it's still always about leveraging your time. It's still always about choosing to do the most important, the most value-bringing the things you enjoy the most inside that hour, no matter what size business you want. It's still about like that getting better and better at being discerning that, well, to be fair, if I spend the next hour clearing down my emails, that's probably not the most impactful thing I can do between 3 and 4 on a Monday afternoon. If I spend that hour to reconnect with some previous contacts, clients, invite someone out. But do you know, like, there's not all hours are created equal. And I think it's that work, and we can definitely delve more into how you get to understand the value of those hours. But, um, I'm really— I think it's that. I think it's really the trigger point of understanding that, well, I can do this, but what is it bringing me? What is it bringing me back in return?

And when was then the moment you decided that Okay, I'm now taking the calls and being delegated tasks, but I can help others to do it as well.

So there's two, there's two like demarcation points there because when I, so I was an EA, an executive assistant before I started my business. This March, I've had my business in its entirety from being self-employed through to growing a team for 17 years, which feels absolutely wild. And so I was an executive assistant and I always really wanted my own business. And I think like a lot of people, the skill set I had and know and enjoy, I really love the impact that a really amazing exec assistant has on a business owner. Like, it can be the difference between I am loving my business to I am hating every minute and I'm trapped in the weeds. Like, it can be such a, you know, such a changemaker. So I, and I was very lucky to have a very entrepreneurial boss that I worked for previously. So it was one of those roles where you're right by their side, you're stuck in all of the decisions, the good, the bad, you're kind of part running the business with them. So I had a really great entrepreneurial teacher in Oliver, the, the guy that was, uh, my, my boss before I started my business. Via him, via my dad running his own business, I knew I wanted to too. And I thought, okay, well, I'm going to take the thing I love and know and I want to help other people. So the first 5 years was ultimately me as self-employed, um, and in 2012 I employed my first member of the team. And because I always had in my head the first 5 years, I kind of— I dropped out of uni after about a year, but the first 5 years of being self-employed was like the real degree in business studies, like the real MBA. This is like, oh God, I really don't know anything about anything here, so I need to learn everything. And always do, and always still do. So I had this kind of moment of and I know I want to run my own business, and I know I want to create it into a— I, I always have around it, like, what's really passionate for me is the culture, the community element of my business, the My PA Way, the way of doing things. So that was like my first moment of, I can see how impactful it is. And I know from coming from my place, I love to help people, I love being of service, I love like leveraging other people So I knew that was my passion and what I wanted to do. But then personally, the thing that's really interesting, Daniel, and I hope this gives a lot of like peace to some of the people that might feel stuck in the weeds. So it was only really 2017 when I realized I needed to take my own advice. So because I guess, I guess also my background of being an EA, so being an EA and the business owner, like, well, I know I can get a lot of stuff done. And I back myself and I keep going and I keep going, but it was being in a mastermind, um, in 2017 and the guy running the mastermind was like, Emmy, you do realize everything that you are talking about, advocating, coaching other people on, you're not leveraging, like, where's your PA? Where's your person helping you? Like, what, you're, you're now kind of the bottleneck to the business. Um, and so 2017, it was the practice what you preach moment. Yeah, I feel like lots of us have been there. It's really easy to give other people advice and then you look in your own business, like, oh my gosh, I'm actually— where is my, where is my own PA? I've got lots of them around me. I'm employing loads of them, but I'm kind of— and I guess it's an element of when you're running a business and you have to do so much to learn and grow. So you kind of know, like, you back yourself, don't you? You know that you can, if you're good, if it's going to get stuck with you, you're going to make it happen. But yeah, 2017 was a, was another line in the sand, like, well, okay. Because I guess at that point I had about a team of 10 at that point. So I don't know, we had maybe 30, 40 clients, you know, we were growing, it's exciting. And just kind of totally lost sight of the fact that we're helping these other business owners do, like, get out of their own way. And I was very much stuck in my way and ultimately was going to become the bottleneck to the business. So 2017, that was also my big leverage moment. I was like, oh, no way, I get it. I need to do the same thing.

So what was the first task that you finally let go of after that moment?

Really simple, my inbox. And I know it's a real bone of contention for lots of business owners. So like, oh, it's, you know, gosh, what if they reply to me wrong? It's quite private. It's quite, You know, kind of, I always say it's if like your business is a house, your inbox is a window into the house. And for an EA, for an exec assistant, it's a really great place to start to know what's on Daniel's list, what's on his priority list, what he should have got back to last Friday. Just, it's like a kind of really good place to start to understand how somebody can help you better as well. So whether a client actually want us to help them with their inbox or not, we always advocate having sight of it so we can kind of get a flavor of what's going on. So for me, um, my inbox was the first place I started because I was just spending so much time in it. And ultimately, I think we've all been there when you, you know, all of a sudden your emails, like the stuff at the bottom, you've not even looked at in 3 or 4 months, but they're really important still and need to be gotten back to. So my inbox, and I do think I mean, maybe that will kind of change as communication methods change and AI is advancing, but right now still, I think the inbox is a really great place to start. It's where I started. I think it's like a good— I think there's no better feeling in your business, to be fair, than when you're doing something else and you know something else is being taken care of. So whether you're on holiday, whether I'm sat on a podcast now with you, but I know that things coming into my email will be managed and triaged and replied to. And so that, that was like my starting point. And I think it is a good place for anyone.

So Speaking of methods and systems, you've grown MyPA from a one-woman band into a team handling over 500 clients right now. What's one of the first or the first system or process you built that you still use today, 17 years later?

Gosh, what a great question. Um, one of the First, so there's probably two things. One is, there's probably three things. One is our inbox methodology. So the way that we manage an inbox, really, we like to keep it simple with our three-folder structure and clients. So, because clients hate inboxes being out of their control, so we keep it really simple that everything is still in the main front, but they can see easily what's being handled, what needs a response, so we'll pick up with them, and what's been replied to, what's being dealt with, like that. That system has never ultimately changed and we like to keep it simple. So the way that we handle our clients' emails in the MyPA way is one of the first things we did and hasn't really changed. I will also say it's one of our services, we handle inbound calls. So it's kind of like the first rung on the ladder of outsourcing, if you like, for a lot of our clients. Like if their phone's ringing, it's like one of the first things that they kind of get off the list. Like I'll make sure that's getting handled. And ultimately while the technology has gotten better, The essence of handling a really good— because there's a difference to just answering a call and handling it, taking the right information. That, to be fair, is also pretty much as it was, like having a really intelligent, intuitive conversation with a client is still pretty much— it is the essence of, you know, the essence has stayed the same. And so the third thing I was going to say is just, is it a system? I suppose it is a system, like the— we call it the MyPA way. We're very strong on the energy in the business and the culture. And what we've learned is that as you grow a business, like, definitely into the 7-figure mark, that culture piece changes and shifts. And as you get more people on your team, you really have to get even more systemized on how you maintain culture and how that passes through the team, and how the way Emma did it when there was 5 people, we still want to keep that way of energy and everything. So the, the systems that we create to keep that in place have been key throughout the whole of the 17 years as well, to be fair.

And you also look after some clients' diaries, right? So I know from a few bits that I researched about you that your default diary approach is time blocking. And I'm wondering, what does your default diary look like right now? And what's non-negotiable in your week? Because I've even written a piece for the Millennial Master newsletters where I said, you know, the diary is the secret weapon of every founder and the to-do list is their ammunition. I love that.

And I totally agree. And really interestingly, I did a training on this last week to our exec assistant team internally of what my calendar looks like. Because I think one, I think just very quickly on this one, you have to understand more about yourself. So for example, the stereotypical thing of do you function better in the morning, in the evening, when is your best work done? I think it's really underrated as a founder doing really good work. Okay, we can all be busy and reactive and go from one thing to another, but I think your business only really moves forward. I was listening to Keith Cunningham this morning. I don't— he does a lot of work with like Tony Robbins, and he's the, the rich dad in Rich Dad Poor Dad, and he talks a lot about thinking time. So I think, I think it's really underrated having block time, you know, out in the calendar. So in terms of what my non-negotiable and my default diary looks like, I, in my business with my team, I call it winning the week. Like, we want to help our clients win the week, so we want to understand what, what in an ideal world that would look like for them. So with me, I know that morning is definitely a better time to get good stuff done, to be focused you know, get good work done. And I know that I work better with longer blocks of creative time, or if my diary was kind of an hour of this, an hour of that, an hour of that, 20 minutes, that I would, uh, that would be very sad for me. So in my diary, I always try and stick to 2 days a week that are free of meetings and calls. And it's not like and is just sat there thinking about what's the next vision or the strategy. But that day might be, okay, so I'm gonna plan the next podcast episodes that I'm recording, or it might be, um, you know, what's the next lead magnet, or it might be, it might be some doing marketing or content or sales, but, or, or the, um, the projects that we're, we're focusing on this quarter in the business. But I know that I have like my most enjoyable, fun day is when I have a clear day just to work on this stuff and be creative and rather than being too restricted with time. So my actual frame of the week is like Mondays, today, is our internal meeting day. So we'll have like a team meeting, a couple of department meetings. I basically leave Monday knowing that we're all aligned on what's the most important things to get done this week. So for me, That's a good feeling, like Monday, yeah, I can start the week now. Everybody knows what's an issue, what's not, what they should be working on, what we want to stop, what we want to start. That's Monday. And then Tuesday afternoons and Thursday afternoons are very much about slotting in. So my EA, Bex, knows that Tuesday and Thursday afternoons are generally about other calls, other things that need to happen, meetings, lunches. And then ultimately Tuesday morning, Thursday morning until 12, I keep free. And Wednesday and Friday all day, I try and keep free. So I guess I've got like 3 days there in total, Tuesday and Thursday half day, Wednesday and Friday full day. That, now don't get me wrong, like this week on Wednesday, I'm going to an event in Essex on the Wednesday. So, okay, well, my day's not free, but it's something that's gonna, I'm gonna meet new people, push the business forwards. But very much my rhythm of the week is Monday internal, Tuesday, Thursday afternoon, other things that need to get slotted in. And then my Tuesday morning, Thursday morning, Wednesday, Friday is all about Actually having capacity and time to do good work, to create stuff, to, you know, be the visionary strategy. And I'm wary of just using the word visionary because it almost sounds a bit like, well, we're just like coming up with new ideas and thinking, but it's about, you know, the things we've committed to get done, actually having time to get them done. Honestly, with the business owners that we support, we just, you could just see it so much that people will set goals. And set, you know, they have ideas, things they want to achieve, but they're not actually mapping it back to the calendar like you've just said. They're not actually mapping in the time to get the thing done. And then it's kind of, well, we didn't achieve that. Well, if you look at your calendar, where was it in there? Where was the time dedicated to making it happen? And I think like one of the best things I ever heard, I've said, I've heard it said by a few different people in different ways now, but that if you give me a calendar I can see, I can see where you're going to be in a year. I can see what you're going to achieve in the next quarter because what you're giving time to and what you're dedicating in there. And I think it's just a really easy tweak that we do with all of our clients. We'll say, so what do you want to achieve? Okay, well, let's get that time planned in. I think it's a real disconnect for a lot of business owners. They'll go, I want to earn this amount of revenue. Okay, well, where's, where's the time to make it? You know, but a lot of people just kind of keep on going and let their calendar open to everybody else's demands.

What about your personal time? Do you put all your personal tasks, to-dos, and even errands in your diary? Because I've heard it now from a few of the other Millennial Masters I've interviewed as the only way to make time for it. Basically, if it's not in the calendar, it's not happening. Even time with the family.

Yeah, I personally do. And I don't see that in any way a weird or restricting thing to do. Like I see it as a— so I talk a lot about, so on a Sunday I do a planning session and one of the things I want to make sure that's happening in the upcoming week is there is something in there that I'm going to look forward to, enjoy. It might be a hobby, it might be a gym session, it might be a date night. But I like what gets planned gets done. And so one, I really just enjoy it from a Well, I can see what's coming up. Perspective. This is nice to look forward to, like it's in there as well. Like it's going to happen because I've planned it in. So I do, yeah. I plan things that I want to do on a Saturday and Sunday, even if they're errands, things. I do put everything in because I did, for me, it might not be the same for everybody, but unless it's left my head and is put in plan somewhere, then it can fully leave my head. And I know like, well, I don't have to think about it again, you know. I try and kind of like clean as much out as possible, get it planned in so I don't have to think about it to leave space for the good stuff.

Speaking of tasks to delegate, you created a list of 106 things exactly founders can delegate in their businesses. So I can, I can link to that list in the show notes, but I'm wondering What's one thing that most entrepreneurs and some of your clients stubbornly hold on to that they really, really should let go of?

It's a great question. And we created the list because I do think when you talk about PAEA, some business owners will go, well, no, I don't have enough stuff for that. I don't, but honestly, everybody does. And. It doesn't need to be somebody full-time. It doesn't. It can be somebody fractional, part-time virtual assistant. And I think the reason why we created the list is because some people will connect PAVA with just getting admin done. And what we talk about at My PA is that a proper executive assistant is actually going to make a dent in projects and goals, and they are going to be intelligent, intuitive people that can drive things forward. So when you say like things that they hang on to, I think a lot of business owners hang on to what things they might consider nobody else could do that as good as me. So some examples might be you might want to do like, um, a research report on your competitors, and it might want to be, it might be I want to start a podcast. I don't know where, but I'm just going to start. Well, a really good EA, somebody supporting you, can take that and go, no problem, Daniel, we want to start a podcast. Okay, well, let's— I'll find out the way, the equipment, the best. Oh, Daniel uses Riverside. And I think a lot of business owners can get stuck in their own way of thinking, well, it has to be super simple, process-driven stuff, when actually, when you've got somebody by your side that's like, right, Daniel, what are the goals for this week? Okay, let's get cracking. How can I help with this? I'm going to start this, I'm going to ring them, like actually work. We call it like an extension of you, a second brain. So I think the reason why, one of the reasons why we created the list is that so many business owners go, you know, I don't, I don't think I've got anything to hand off. But actually, when you kind of experience a really great assistant, one of my friends, I know he's been on the podcast as well, Will Paulston, he, um, he has this analogy of like He kind of sees a really good exec assistant as like one of those snow plows, like those trucks that clear all the snow out in front so that you can kind of go behind. And I think it's a perfect analogy because a really good EA will really work to gatekeep your time, get stuff off your list, get stuff out of the way so you can feel lighter and move forward.

And just like you said, Will shared in his episode that he delegates outcomes rather than tasks.

Uh-huh. So, I mean, this, like, this is the big shift. As soon as business owners start to realize it's not just about getting your emails done or getting some receipts filed, actual outcomes. Like, I know the things that me and him have talked a lot about, the things that he's given to Mia, um, his EA, that they're like, there are a lot of things business owners will hang on to. Even if it's like, you know, just random things, calls that you need to make that are painful. Maybe it's ringing HMRC about something, one of those things you're going to hang on to for 2 hours and you actually think only I can do this. Well, not really. Maybe it's like actually your other team members in the business chasing projects along. A really good EA will start to be that kind of strategist, like what's happening here? This is what, this is overdue. Do you know, um, yeah, it, it, that, that phrase is perfect, like outsourcing out, like getting outcomes done, not just individual tasks. And that, that's what really good support is about.

Let's turn the tables on you now, Emma, because you, you have a list of things that founders should delegate, and we talked about what they don't, but What is a task that you absolutely refuse to delegate? Like the thing you'll always keep for yourself, no matter how big my PA gets.

So the natural one that comes to mind, which is maybe a bit of a cop-out, um, is the content creation. Would, yeah, I would really, it's not impossible. I know it's not. And I know that I can think of big influencers online where you kind of know other people in their business and other people creating content. But I do think the podcast, the video— I'm very— my, my business, basically, I did KPI a long time ago, the Daniel Ionescu program, and my business has basically grown via me being like the face and bringing in opportunity and strategy. So I think personal branding, yes, yes, that, that would be the one thing That would definitely be very last on the list. There would probably be an element of no one can do it as good as me would be in my head, I'm sure, which is not true. I know it's not true at all, but I think the personal branding element, yeah, I'd be, uh, that would be last to go. I mean, gosh, it would be fantastic. I mean, imagine if— yeah, I'm just thinking it through, like, actually it probably should be a goal because then it means that the business is such a strong brand without me, which is also a great goal, but that would be last on my list.

Again, uh, I've written before from the experiences of personal branding from other founders and who've grown their business to a certain point, but then the personal brand can become a trap because it doesn't allow you to step away from the business and you feel compelled to do that. But I have to say, there hasn't been a particular point when somebody said, right, I can detach now, or now it's the time to detach. But one of the key things that I've heard is letting other staff to create their personal brand within the business that can then drive it forward as a little secret and trying to complete a little bit of the story that we're talking about.

Yeah, and yeah, thinking just kind of my head's going a million miles. I'm just thinking it through. It should be a future goal that all the content is created by other experts in my business, of which there are many, but yeah, that is a really great point.

That's what Millennial Masters is about, learning, reflecting, and growing. But you, you also mentioned previously, Emma, time thieves. So, you know, time doesn't run out. It can get taken from you and you can get distracted. So I'm wondering what are some of the most common time thieves you see stealing hours from founders' days right now?

So obviously there are all the ones that we're all very aware of, which is why Do Not Disturb exists on our phones now, because we're all addicted to picking them up and scrolling and just looking for distraction. And, but I think if you like kind of wind it back a couple of levels, we pick it up because we're looking for distraction and we're looking for distraction a lot of the time because we're not clear on what the next right step is. And so I believe that a lot of business owners who are not clear on— I think being— using your time really effectively comes from clarity. Clarity of goals, clarity of what you're trying to achieve in the next quarter, clarity of, you know, it's the 4th of August today, we've got the new month ahead of us. Do I think most business owners really know what August should look like and what they're trying to achieve? Probably not. Probably I don't know what the stats are on that. I feel like that would be a great survey to do, but just like most business owners now, do you actually have a, even just a simple goal in mind for August? I think a lot of them are just making things, you know, keeping the wheels, the cogs turning. And so with that comes, you know, we don't feel like we get progress. We're looking for distraction. We might go in our inbox for the next hour because it makes us feel like we are busy and doing things, but they're not really meaningfully moving us towards something. So I think like the biggest distraction is not getting clear on where you really want to be, because then it feels messy and foggy. And I think the easiest thing that comes up in front of you that makes you feel like, oh, I'll do that. I'll jump onto that. Yeah, no problem. I'll take that phone call now. This is fine. Because you're not clear on that. And so like in ultimately internally, we run, if you've heard like Traction, like the kind of the 90-day rocks. I mean, there's so many different iterations of it, basically 90-day goals. So as when we have our team meeting on a Monday, we know in this quarter, which is like July, August, September, we know what the key things are we want to get done. So I think, I think even for me, and that doesn't have to be really high-level complicated, it can just be You know, by the end of August, I want to add one extra client. I want to add a bit more revenue. I want to have learned how to start a podcast. I don't know, it might be I'm on a Write Daily, whatever it might be. It might be that I just want to go home on time and actually reclaim my life, which is such a kind of a pain point for so many business owners. But I think once you get clear on that, then that makes distraction a lot harder because you're more like, well, I know what I'm trying to get done here. I'm trying to move towards it. So I do think. Yeah, we should put our phones on do not disturb. Yes, we should carve out focus time, whatever we want to call it, every day or at least a couple of times a week. But if you don't know where you're going, even if you carve focus time out, that makes it difficult. So I do believe that just starting to get really clear on what, what it is you want, what your goals are, that makes your distraction becomes kind of a, well, I know what, how I should spend my time now. Do you know, does that make sense? Just kind of really getting clear on it.

It does. And it ties in into my next question for you, Emma, because you mentioned messy and we know that not everybody nails delegation on the first go. So I'm wondering from your side, what's like the biggest delegation disaster or mistake you've made, but also how you bounce back from it.

The biggest delegation disaster. Oh my God. I mean, just while I think about that, I mean, I'm aware even now I will make many delegation mistakes. And in that you will have a picture in your head. I mean, if it's generally business owners listening to this podcast, you'll have a picture in your head about something or how it needs to go. And I don't think we always do a very good job of communicating what that end result should be like or look like.

Those outcomes we were talking about earlier.

Yeah, yeah, totally. Like even this morning when we had our weekly meeting, we were talking about social media, which we're getting, we're getting a more prolific strategy together. And I was proofing some of them on actually just gone. And today I said, I'm not overly keen on some of the things that have been created, but also, do you know what guys, I'm very aware I've actually never said what I think good looks like. But, um, I think it's— yeah, I think that's— it can be really easy to do that without a kind of having a— you think just by osmosis that these ideas and visions come ahead. So I think all the time, I think with delegation, just as— and like you've just said, as long as you're just clear on what the outcome is, what it should look like, whereas this particular thing I'm just talking about now, they have just gone and created it because we said it needs to get done, but I've missed out the bit at the beginning saying what it should look like. But in terms of massive delegation disaster, what is it? Um, I possibly— the one that sticks in my head, it was probably my— yeah, probably was my fault as well. Just when we'd first started the podcast. So I've got a podcast and we often do it in person in a studio.

Give it a name check so everybody can check it out.

Thank you, Daniel. It's called Focus on the Fun Stuff. And for me, the fun stuff is about the things you enjoy in your business. How do I get to enjoy, like, on the things I love in my business. Yeah, in the very early days, and we hadn't nailed down the flow of who was doing what in the whole booking, and ultimately we booked in guests who traveled to Manchester and didn't book a studio. So that was, um, at the time, at the time it was very, very distressing. However, one of the team, because we get shit done and we're problem solvers, we're like, okay, well, we didn't book one, but I'm gonna find one now. And we did, and we went to a different place and we made it happen. But at the time that felt like a massive disaster because I had 3 people getting off trains and parking cars that were ready to record and we didn't have anywhere to record. So, and we didn't quite nail down who was doing what in the, in the podcast process. So that, that was a more recent distressing one.

Speaking of small mistakes, you're, you're known for what you call radical honesty. So I'm wondering. What's one small mistake that cost you more than you realized, but also if you figured out a way to create a system to protect yourself from that happening again?

What a great question. And I'm glad that I'm known for radical honesty. A lot of my video creation has been about the journey as it's happening and what goes well and what doesn't go well. And I know that I really benefit from hearing other business owners' experience. So I've always kind of taken that approach. So in terms of, yeah, I mean, my thing, sorry again, I think being a business owner, so I've naturally let my personality come through into being a business owner. And in terms of relationships and clients and energy in the business, that's great. In terms of being a business owner, dealing with more difficult situations, and by that I mean keeping team members accountable, one of my biggest mistakes for sure has been around being too nice. And it is actively something I'm working on consistently because I don't ever want to take away the essence of who Emma is because I would just then be pretending to be somebody that I'm not. And that's difficult to do. But in terms of when you said, uh, did you say like, how have I made sure that doesn't happen? Or like protected myself from it happening? Yeah.

If you, if you created any systems or any rules to prevent that from happening again.

Yeah. So. The, um, the kind of transformation I would say I've been through over the past 18 months. We, we, I'd had my business from 2008 to 2020. So that's what's, that's 12 years. And then it was in 2021-ish that we grew. We finally went past 7 figures and we started to scale quickly. So that kind of 7-figure onwards. You realize very quickly that what gets you there won't get you to the next place, and we want to get to the next place. And my— it was a, it was a real big change for me as we started to create a leadership team, you know, managers, people that were now responsible for actually delivering results. Like, pre-seven figures, it's always very much like, it's exciting, we're all doing a bit, we're all mucking in, and then it starts to get a bit more— you need better systems. So in answer to your question, I've definitely had the realization that the business is impacted when I'm not honest or holding back from having more challenging questions because, you know, they're difficult and they're not necessarily things you want to do. And so even when I just referenced before about the 90-day goals that we have, the thing that is really making sure that this is an easier part of my role as business owner is having the accountability of what everyone's getting done in the 90 days. Because I think the thing that I had found very difficult previously is people's expectations of what they thought they were getting done. If it's not really crystal clear, then having challenging conversations with them. And without a doubt, one of the biggest things that will hold us back is people in this business not being held to account, because then we don't all move forwards. Then other people think it's tolerated. And that has been a massive kind of personal journey, to be fair, I've been on over the past 18 months of realizing that to push this forward, You need to be that person sometimes. Without a doubt, having the system now of what's everybody's goals, what are they trying to achieve, it ultimately makes it really crystal clear to everyone who's not performing and who is. And then that conversation just becomes so much more easy. And rather than having conversations based on, God, I'm pissed off with their performance, or, you know, this isn't going very well, it's just now based on data and a scorecard and week-to-week facts of this hasn't progressed, what's hap— it just makes the whole, whole process a lot more easier, but also just natural. Like everybody can see it. And obviously when people, when everybody can see what's working well and what's not, it also does a really good job of having people self-manage themselves as well to bring them up to where something might need to be, or they manage themselves out. So definitely, yeah. My difficulty has been being too nice in the business, but number 2 now, the system of everybody having clear KPIs, goals, targets, what they need to achieve. And so it's very visible if somebody isn't achieving them and then the whole thing flows a lot more easily.

And in 17 years in business, you've been doing a lot of hiring, but also firing. So I'm wondering if now by the, at the interview point, if you can spot red flags or if you have any questions that screen for red flags that you can then separate the, the best people joining your business.

Yeah, definitely. My ops manager actually does all of our recruitment now. He's probably been doing that for about 3 years. Obviously I've hired a lot of people in the business. I think honestly, number one, your gut never ever lies. And we have had this conversation so many times in the business. You know, when you kind of give somebody the benefit of the doubt and you were like, my gut was always right, it never lies. And there's a really great quote that I think Codie Sanchez has said this in one of her books, that A players, like when somebody's there in their first week, their first month, B players don't turn into A players. Like you, you know, A players straight away. A players kind of don't start off like that and get worse. And similarly, B players don't all of a sudden. What you see of somebody in that first week and that first month is absolutely key. And we, we have hired a lot of people. I mean, we have differing like roles and skill sets. So we've hired a lot of people in this business and everybody, my model's slightly different. So everybody's employed. It's not like self-employed or home, you know, homeworkers. And without a doubt, what we used to be, oh, do you know, we'll coach them, we'll manage them in, you know, we'll will help if they've got the right attitude. And while that is totally valid, what you see in that first week and that first month for me is absolutely the window to everything. Because we've definitely—

That's a bit too late by that point. I'm trying to see if there's— I'm trying to see if there's something pre-actually hiring that you screen for.

Okay, interesting. So one question we always ask. At the end of every interview is, is there anything I should know now that you should tell me that might affect like your future performance in this role? And you don't say anything more and you just shut up. And often, of course, some people go, no, no, everything's fine. But some people will also be silent and go, well, actually, yeah, like I've got this planned, or this is happening, or, and it is also a really, really great place that you've given somebody that opening. And then if something comes up later on, you're like, well, I did ask in the interview. So that, that we always end every interview with that. Like, if you've got anything you want to say now, that might be something we need to consider or work into your employment and just let it hang and then let them talk. So we do that a lot. What else do we do? We, I mean, certainly our recruitment process is quite specific. We always have people send a video in first. We don't do any kind of You know, like looking at CVs also with AI now, oh my God, most of the applications we get are all the same, like the same paragraphs are coming up, the same text, like it's very difficult just from looking at that. So we always ask for a video first to actually start to, you know, sift people through into the next stages. And I think for me, one of the other questions that I certainly always ask in the interview process. And to be fair, okay, maybe it's a bit unfair on some maybe junior roles where we might get a lot of students coming in, but certainly in key roles, is to ask them where do they want to be, like what's important to them in 5 years' time. And I think from that you get a really good sense of where somebody's at. Like we've, you know, and you get people saying, I don't know, I just need a job now. Like, you know, you get people being quite to the point and, I don't know, I just need to— I've been made redundant, I just need to earn money. You get some people saying, I really want to be a part of something that's making a difference, that I want to grow a career here, I want to— and I always think that when you ask that question, the answer you get is super telling, whether someone's here just for like a very short-term immediate thing, or whether actually somebody's got more of a goal plan, they've got ambitions, they've got goals, and For me, that does also like separate the different kind of candidates and what you might want in the business.

I'm glad you mentioned AI, Emma, because right now, a lot of the founders that I'm speaking to see it as a productivity boost and tool. There's a lot of solutions for helping you to answer your email, to doing some research. And it might even overlap on some of the EA tasks to a certain point. So I'm wondering right now, what's more powerful, a founder augmented by an AI EA or an EA augmented by AI?

What was the first one? Sorry, a founder.

If a founder is trying to use AI as their own executive assistant or—

Oh, okay.

If an executive assistant uses AI to more efficiently assist a founder.

Sorry, understand completely. So this is a really great question and we're very aware of AI, obviously. I mean, in terms of businesses that it's coming to disrupt, mine is probably right at the front of the queue. And so we're spending a lot of time currently on like, what does that mean? And it comes back to what you said in the very beginning, Daniel, which is What people want, and is going to be more, more prevalent than ever, is people are going to pay for outcomes. No longer do people need to pay for hourly rates, tasks, because it's just going to be so easy to get it done in AI. So, so my answer is that a founder supported by an EA who is using and is an expert in AI, for me, is like the absolute ultimate. Like, because also We're also in this phase. I mean, I don't know what 3 years' time looks like, and I'm sure it's going to be even easier to implement and use, but no one is an expert right now. There is so many different things to try and use and test. And I do feel like most founders are going to be like, okay, I know AI is coming, but where do I start? What am I going to be implementing? And it comes back to, again, like there's, there's still, they're still running a business. Should they be testing and implementing every shiny new object that comes along? No, should they be taking AI seriously and implementing a strategy of how they're going to use it and make processes and parts of their business quicker, more efficient? Absolutely. So this is our energy at MyPA. So we've actually very— at the beginning of the summer, we completely changed our business model. So we used to charge time for money, like all virtual assistants do. And as of May, we completely stopped. And we just have 4 simple packages now, and they're based around outcomes that we're going to deliver every month. So each month we'll agree a different scope and we'll get that thing done and implemented because AI, like, it's just going to take so much that easy stuff. So in answer to your question, for me, there's already a lot of things to try and implement and test, and I think so many people are gonna waste time trying to put the shiniest new thing in. Yeah, like, like, definitely there's, there's things you can put in your inbox, like Fixer AI. There's loads of things we can try in there. They're not fully doing your emails for you just to like avoid any doubt. They're not doing that. They're suggesting replies. They're doing, they're putting some rules in.

Speaking of Fixer, yeah, I've tried it too. It can only do so much.

Yeah. Yeah. It's not now, like it's not an actual, I mean, don't get me wrong. I'm sure 3, 4 years time, it's probably going to be very different again. But right now, what I think is the absolute rocket fuel for a founder is having an EA by their side, not necessarily full-time, part-time, like what we do. But an EA who's got that outcome, that responsibility of going, right, Daniel's emails. Okay, well, Fixer will deal with 80% of this, maybe putting in, and I'll, and I'll be the person replying to the 20% that's more like, you know, emotional intelligence, nuance, you need to know the backstory. Maybe it's that, you know, maybe the EA starts to look at the business in various areas to go, this, I don't know, this accounting piece, we're spending all this time with receipts, starting to look at ultimately areas of the business to then put stuff in and try it and test it. Wherein our mantra now, and I know everybody's looking to be AI first, like, and that is very much the mindset we're adopting. Like when a task or a responsibility comes our way, the first thing is not just to dive in and get it done. It's to look at, okay, how can automation or AI make this quicker or happen without, you know, I put the necessary, the information in and then it makes it happen so I can get even more done. So that, that's our approach now. And I think that, that is going to be, that, that's the kind of performance that founder is looking for from an EA, somebody that's putting it first.

You also mentioned booking in your personal time in your calendar, Emma.

Yes.

So I'm wondering, how do you balance being on for your business but also protecting your own energy and routines. Are there any like rituals or boundaries you never break or you created later on in your business journey because you're 17 years in now that you try to stick to?

So I, so a couple of things. Number one, I learned that no wonder at the end of the day you feel drained if you are just constantly on the laptop, like if you are doing constantly. And so the idea of recharging throughout the day, whilst it might sound quite basic, has been a game changer for me. Certainly after 11:00 AM, I start to have alarms set on my phone as trigger points to go, step away from your desk, recharge. Maybe it's a quick walk outside, maybe it's a quick meditation, maybe I don't know, listen to some music that I like. But that idea of— because we all know that if we're just doing like as we work throughout the day, our productivity drops off. And that kind of resetting that, right, well, I don't know, let's say it's 10 to 3, gonna have a 10-minute break, right, 4 till 5, what do I actually want to make happen in this next hour? So that I learned quite late, that no wonder people feel like drained at the end of the day because they've actually not taken a minute to go, well, let me just recharge and recalibrate. So that kind of piece in the day is really important for me now, and I do set alarms on my phone to be mindful. And even like, you know, as the day goes on, I think it can be— the afternoons can drift by, and you're— whereas the mornings for me can be very specific. If I'm not careful, 2 till 5 can be a drift of just doing stuff, whereas like, I'm going, oh, hang on a minute, stop. Take half an hour, what do I want to get done in this next 90 minutes? Like, be proper mindful about it. That's a really key one in terms of maintaining energy and my, I guess, just enjoying the days. In terms of personal boundaries, I mean, certainly having an EA, so Bex is mine, certainly having an EA is a big part of that because most requests, emails go through Bex first. So she is often able to, you know, maybe she's already got the information together for something I need to reply to, or she's like, things are kind of going through her first rather than me having to check everything and reply to everything. And it's in more concerted efforts of time where we'll reply to things and go through them. Definitely having an EA helps my personal boundaries massively. And I mean, in terms of, so I don't, I don't work a lot at the weekend. I definitely work probably 3 or 4 hours every weekend, but I would say that work that I do then is more about planning, checking in with my goals, maybe some content creation, some ideas, some writing. Think, I think what I'm very passionate about is keep engineering what I'm doing in my life to things that I'm enjoying, because I think I'm not, I would not be bothered about working a lot or a little if I'm enjoying what I'm doing. Like, I want to be in the flow. I want to be, you know, like, I'm sure you love writing, creating the, you know, recording the podcast episodes. I'm more, I'm most focused on in my what we'd call personal time. If I'm gonna write a blog or an email on a Saturday, I'm like, oh, I've got a good idea, I'm going to write it, and I'm enjoying it. It's more about choosing, as I would say, focus on the fun stuff. It's more about spending additional time on things that I'm really enjoying or want to create. So I mean, I don't probably do 3 or 4 hours at a weekend, but it's generally on things that I want to progress or create or I'm excited about, or some content. So I would say those are the two key things. I don't know, I think there's a real, you know, people talk about work-life balance, when people talk about retiring. What I'm most passionate about is having that percentage of the things that I'm doing being the bigger percentage being the things that I'm enjoying, because then I think those kind of conversations like drift away a little bit because actually most of the time that you're spending is on the stuff that you love. That's, that's what I'm more passionate about, like That's why I started the podcast, because I wanted to interview people that, as you know, they've created businesses that they love, that have given them lives that they love, and like, how have they done that? Because I think just so many of us are like, oh, it's work, whereas actually work can be the most amazing thing ever as long as we find our flow and our groove with it.

So what are the tasks that you have to do that you don't fully enjoy? They're not on your fun list. But you can't really delegate either?

Gosh, I can't really delegate. I—

or you won't delegate?

I mean, the things I don't enjoy are— I'm definitely a visionary, so I love coming up with ideas. I don't very much enjoy the operational process part of creating the process, the plan. I want somebody to do that bit, but I do delegate that in the main. So the things— I mean, I guess there aren't loads of things that I— that only I would do. I know if there was any kind of, you know what, I'm really struggling to think of anything. Things that I don't enjoy doing but can't delegate. Yeah. I'm okay. Well, maybe I guess going back to my thing of being too nice, I don't, managing people is not my favorite thing to do. That is not for sure. But obviously I'm at the head of the business and I do have a leadership team under me and in the business is like 35 people. So I do have 4 or 5 direct reports. In an ideal world, would I delegate somebody being the direct reports then? Probably I would. Because I don't really, it's not my favorite thing to be looking at one-to-ones and KPIs and address it. Yeah. And that, that is probably the one thing actually. What I'd probably, could I just be the full, like the visionary only and somebody else would come in, maybe that's an MD in time, I guess an MD that's then going to start to manage the leadership team under me. It would be that, like, it would be that piece that I would delegate.

Speaking of managing humans, Emma, you've said before that MyPAs real CEO is Ralph, which is your dog. So I'm wondering what's the best lesson Ralph taught you about running a team and managing humans?

Well, one of it I've kind of already mentioned in that Ralph has a very, very good gut feeling for people and all jokes, like he'll make it clear if he likes you or he doesn't like you. And honestly, all jokes aside, I do think going with your gut on people, the gut never lies, whether that's intuition, whether it's the vibrations, the energy, what it is like Ralph's very upfront. If he's like got a bad feeling about somebody. And I think that—

is that what, 2 barks, 3 barks, or you know the signal by now?

It's more than 3 barks, to be fair. It's quite a few barks in short succession. Um, I do think that's a really good lesson. Like he just says it and a lot of us are thinking it and thinking, oh, I'm just not sure about this person, but Ralph calls it. So yeah, I think that element of going with your gut is definitely, is definitely number one. Um, yeah, number 2, I think Ralph does a really good job of— so we're all in the same office here in Manchester. I'm pointing because my office is just on the other side of here. It's like open plan. Ralph does really do a really good job of spending time with nearly almost everyone in the office, whether that's for treats or cuddles. And I think I could learn from Ralph on that, and I could do a better job of rhythmically, like, spending some— getting around the office and spending some time, because I ultimately will end up with the kind of same team, same people, because we're working on stuff. And to be fair, actually, I could do a better job like Ralph is doing of getting around everyone and kind of, how's it going? What's going on? That's probably something else I could learn from Ralph, to be fair.

And while we are still introspective and close to wrapping up our chat for today, 17 years in, you had to push the business to be where it is today. 7 figures plus, 500 customers plus, 35 people plus.

Mm-hmm.

That definitely meant also sacrificing some things in your personal life.

Yeah.

Because my question is, what were the biggest sacrifices you had to make to be where you are today?

Wow. What a great question. Most of the things that people talk about, so Relationships. So, I mean, I'm very lucky now. My partner, that, um, my fiancé recently, Joe, we've been together 8 years and he is very— so he's, he has his own business and so he's very— he gets it.

Prior to Joe, you had to find somebody on the same vibe, another entrepreneur or a business owner in order to understand your journey.

Yes, totally. And so prior to Joe, it has been very different. Definitely, that's not been an easy thing. And so I would also say in friendships, um, and I certainly, as the business starts to scale quicker from 2020 onwards, I started to make different, very different decisions about how I was spending my time. What I was doing at the weekends. And I think the more you become discerning about what you need to get done, and even like, you know, the outcome, the aftereffects of going out on a Saturday night, that Monday is just going to be a bit more painful. And I have for sure, I mean, since I got my Whoop band as well, my decision-making process has become very different because I know the impacts of making the right choices. And I The more, uh, I guess it's like the more attention you give something, the more— it's like what Tony Robbins says, isn't it? It's where energy, energy goes, where focus goes, energy flows. Yeah, focus goes, energy flows. And so the more I had gotten into my sleep, my, um, ability to feel good every day, to bring energy to run my business, for sure. I think certainly with friends And I have made different decisions, so probably some of them think that I'm a bit more boring now, or I probably wouldn't be the person they'd call to go out now because I'm probably going to say no. Or— and that's not like I'm not enjoying myself, I'm not, I'm just making different decisions now to create something that I want to create, and I've got bigger goals. So I would say that. I'd also say financially, I mean, I did, uh, what year was it? I think it was 2016. 2016, I did end up— yes, it's probably about 2016. I did end up doing a remortgage on the house I was in at the time to sort cash flow in my business because I didn't know what I didn't know. And I got into situations with being overly optimistic about cash flow, about people paying, about thinking it was all going to be fine when actually— and that is, I mean, most business owners don't get taught how to do the numbers in the business. And obviously you can learn. And at that point I had no idea. I did end up doing a remortgage on my house because ultimately I believe in my business and what I'm doing, and I've learned from that and we've moved on. But certainly also financially, it has made me realize that I am not motivated by money because if I was motivated by money, would I have carried on doing what I'm doing for 17 years? Not all the time. No. Like I could have been higher paid with more time somewhere else. So I am most definitely motivated by what we're trying to create, the business owners we're helping, what we're doing. So certainly, yeah, financially as well, there's been a lot of sacrifices there to keep the, like, keep what I'm, I have in my vision. I've always said that I don't think with virtual PA support, I don't think anyone's ever smashed it. It's a very unusual industry. There's lots of people, self-employed freelancers, some big businesses. But I don't think anyone's ever really claimed the space of, this is the company that get it, this is what it's like to be a founder. That, that is my mission and motivation, to really provide that service to business owners. It was like, oh, this, this has really helped me get from here to there. So, um, yeah, definitely. Um, I mean, I guess, I guess all that angles, even health. Like, 2019, pre-COVID, 2019 was a very difficult year for Cause we just seem to be putting so much energy in and not really moving forwards. And so 2019 was definitely a year of, this was before I discovered the Whoop, of like bad sleep, of burning out, of not doing the right things for me, of having a glass of wine instead of going to the gym because that immediately made me feel better. So yeah, there's definitely been a lot of sacrifices. I guess there's seasons that you go through and then you learn about it and you like, you put that one behind you and. We're all constantly learning, aren't we?

Speaking of learning, and also to wrap up, I'm wondering, Emma, if you could send a letter, WhatsApp message, email to yourself back in 2012 when you first started the business on your own, what would you advise Emma 17 years ago?

Gosh, I would definitely advise her that she is capable of way more than she knows. And if you like, I'm sure people listen to this have experienced it where you kind of get momentum and then you almost pull back a bit because you're getting all this momentum, like, oh, hang on a minute, I don't know how I'm going to deal with this. And actually, that, that is number one, because I've definitely done that too many times over the past 17 years, like, oh hang on, this feels scary, let's just— That, I think, is the big one that I would say to Emma, like, she's capable of way more than she knows. And also, every time something difficult arises, please remember, Emma, all of the things that you've already gotten over. Like, it always feels like the biggest, worst thing that's just happened, but then in 6 months' time, the new biggest, worst thing happens, and I think it's like you forget, oh, but hang on a minute. Do you know, like a real classic one in my business is somebody's handed the notice in that's really good at their job. Oh God. Like, but actually, you know, 3 months ago, 10 months ago, that person left and we got over and it was fine. And I think my advice to Emma would be like, you, everything is figureoutable. You, you get through things you can't even imagine that are going to happen. So yeah, I think those two big things I would say to her.

Well, that's a great idea for people to mull over as we wrap up our chat today. So thank you so much, Emma, for sharing your journey, your systems, your methods, and your reflections on business and life so far.

Thanks, Daniel. I really loved it. That was great. Thank you.

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