I run a community of founders where we support their efforts to raise capital. On a separate topic, I mentioned the immense value I had gotten from hiring an overseas EA across everything I do at my company, not just fundraising support. I don't have a "must hire EA" stance when it comes to founders I advise but I"m starting to get there. The better I get at hiring and offloading tasks to extremely inexpensive resources, the more I understand how no well oiled machine of a company should be bogging down their most strategic talent with work that can be outsourced.
There will be a more in depth dive into this topic coming but for now, draw inspiration from this podcast interview between Tim Ferris and Sam Corcos (someone I interviewed for my pod Funded)... and then read the post I shared with the Adamant Founders community below.
In particular check out the discount codes for 3 different hiring resources I recommend:
All, I will be curating some other information about this but for now wanted highly recommend a path forward for you all to integrate an EA into your workflows (fundraising or otherwise) and to put 3 services on your radar for finding overseas EA talent.
First, WHY
There is a ton of work that burns up your time as a startup founder that could be done by highly capable, extremely inexpensive, overseas talent. It makes the decision to spend on what may feel like a luxury easy. If you need any help, read the book Buy Back Your Time by Dan Martell. It’s an enjoyable read and help me get over the hump in looking for additional help.
The cost of talent
In the Philippines you can get a competent virtual assistant for $5/hr. That’s about $800/month full time. This might seem crazy to an American but this is actually a good wage for the country. I’ve worked with multiple people between $5-8/hr and have found them to be good at following directions and doing the job of an EA. If you go to the $10-15 range you start getting more specialized talent and American experience. In my experience, it’s hard to expect self-directed effort and creativity but you can get great results off of SOPs.
Sources of Talent (ranging from cheapest/most work to most expensive/least work)
For what it’s worth #2 is the option I’m most interested in.
I will be working on more materials to help founders utilize assistants more especially in the fundraising process but for now I hope this is helpful!