The Founder & The Force Multiplier: How Entrepreneurs and Executive Assistants Achieve More Together

by Adam Hergenrother

The power of the partnership only works when you are both committed to challenging each other and growing together every day.

University of Vermont (UVM), which meant that I had to get a 3.0 my first year of college to be fully accepted as a student there.

I earned a 3.2 GPA my first year.

We bought a car for $1,000—$500 cash in, each.

My friend bought the car, fixed it up, and sold it a week or so later and we doubled our money.

After about six months and grossing about $40,000 each, he didn’t need my capital contributions anymore and was going to move forward on his own. I took my cash and bought a condo with my brother. It was a pre-construction unit (part of a large new condo complex) that we bought for $160,000: brand-new, spacious, great location. Once it was complete, we rented it out.

When I graduated college, I started working as a commercial underwriter

I quit my job, became a Realtor, and started building a real estate team.

I focused on sales, and my assistant focused on her strengths— handling marketing and client services, and creating systems and processes to make my business run smoothly,

I decided to open up the first Keller Williams Realty office in Vermont.

Force Multiplier,

Executive Assistant, a Chief of Staff, or a Personal Assistant.

there are parts of your job that directly correlate to the bottom line. Think dollar-producing activities, such as lead generation, sales, talent acquisition and management, business development, sharing the vision, and leading the team. Other than those few tasks, everything else, your 80 percent, should be leveraged to someone else on your team.

Your Executive Assistant will handle the 80 percent, while you focus on your top 20 percent of activities.

I would caution leaders from assigning C-suite or even VP/ Director titles when you’re a small organization,

If you do plan on growing, I would encourage you to think about being conservative with the job titles so that your staff has somewhere to go and somewhere to grow,

Many people know me from my work with Adam at Keller Williams Realty Vermont and Hergenrother Realty Group (two of the five organizations under the Adam Hergenrother Companies umbrella).

The Personal Assistant is responsible for personal items such as personal bills, household purchases, family travel, medical appointments, and personal events.

Most Administrative Assistant duties revolve around managing and distributing information within an office. This generally includes answering phones, managing all administrative tasks for the office, and maintaining files. Administrative Assistants may also be in charge of sending and receiving correspondence,

Operations Manager is responsible for establishing internal and external processes and key performance indicators for the business.

Executive Assistant is a tactical genius and is responsible for managing the Executive. She handles all the day-to-day details, such as scheduling, travel, meeting prep, events, and general office management.

Chief of Staff is more strategic in nature and usually has a focus area in the business,

Her responsibilities could range from ensuring the appropriate allocation of human capital, to brand and reputation management, to creating training material and writing speeches, to managing the flow of communication,

Each party is accountable for their contribution and deliverables.

my strategic partnership with Hallie was put to the test when we had a very real, very fierce conversation.

Hallie pisses me off almost daily, but that is a good thing. If you don’t have someone you trust who is challenging your thinking and pushing you to be a better leader, then it’s probably not the right relationship.

I recommend using an inexpensive customer relationship management system (CRM) so you can set tasks and follow-up reminders so you don’t miss an important

Then set up Google alerts that keep you in tune with what these people are doing, awards their companies receive,

It’s a perfect opportunity for the Executive Assistant to remind the Executive to reach out, call, email, or send a handwritten note.

Whether that is thanking someone for coming in to meet with the Executive, or congratulating a competitor on building a new office, handwritten notes get noticed. Pop a business card in there

To really maximize the company’s reach, the EA should write thank-yous and general notes to vendors or, for example, to the concierge who went above and beyond to help book a massage for the Executive when he arrived at their hotel.

getting hit from multiple angles

it’s time to bring them to the forefront and get his buy-in that they should be moved to the 20 percent

it is better to ask for forgiveness rather than asking for permission.

There are several tools (including the User’s Manual, 5 Daily Accountability Questions, behavior profiles, goal-setting sheets,

There are several free versions online, like the DiSC profile or 16 Personalities, as well as paid options, such as Myers-Briggs, CliftonStrengths, the Enneagram test, or the activity vector analysis assessment (AVA).

The 5 Languages of Appreciation in the Workplace, by Gary Chapman,

User’s Manual. It’s basically a cheat sheet

I don’t ever want there to be any surprises for people when they join my company. I am a hard-driving, obsessively growth-oriented, high-standards, results-notstories,push-you-until-you-almost-break-because-Iwant-you-to-reach-your-potential kind of guy.

I will be their biggest ally in their personal and professional growth.

go over them together periodically.

have all of my leadership-team members email me their questions at the end of every day.

Here are the 5 Daily Accountability Questions: What successes did you or your team have today? What struggles did you or your team have today? How did you overcome them? Where is your mindset on a scale of 1-10? (1 being terrible. Be honest here. I don’t care if it’s a 1, but if there is something preventing you from being at the top of your game, we need to know and fix it.) Who is your replacement? (Ultimately, there should be 5 people—inside or outside of the organization. If you don’t have anyone, use the next 30 days to start filling the gap.)

proximity is power.

Access to the Executive’s email is the EA’s secret weapon.

I know it has helped Hallie learn my leadership style and even how to lead.

pockets of humor?

sales@adamhergenrother.com, info@adamhergenrother.com, clientcare@adamhergenrother.com,

Time-block (as much as possible) when you check your email,

Work with your Executive to create an email system that works for both of you. That can include triaging email from his account, flagging items, putting emails into folders,