298 Ethan Bull

Jeffrey Feldberg: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast where you learn how to extract your business and personal Deep Wealth. 

I'm your host Jeffrey Feldberg. 

This podcast is brought to you by Deep Wealth and the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience. 

When it comes to your business deep wealth, your exit or liquidity event is the most important financial decision of your life. 

But unfortunately, up to 90% of liquidity events fail. Think about all that time and your hard earned money wasted. 

Of the quote unquote "successful" liquidity events, most business owners leave 50% to over 100% of the deal value in the buyer's pocket and don't even know it. 

I should know. I said "no" to a seven-figure offer. And "yes" to mastering the art and the science of a liquidity event. [00:01:00] Two years later, I said "yes" to a different buyer with a nine figure deal. 

Are you thinking about an exit or liquidity event? 

Don't become a statistic and make the fatal mistake of believing the skills that built your business are the same ones to sell it. 

After all, how can you master something you've never done before? 

Let the 90-day Deep Wealth Experience and the 9-step roadmap of preparation help you capture the best deal instead of any deal. 

At the end of this episode, take a moment and hear from business owners like you, who went through the Deep Wealth Experience. 

Ethan Bull is a co-founder of ProAssisting a next generation remote fractional executive assistance firm for business owners and C-suite executives. With a background in hospitality and an expert in the executive assisting space, Ethan has held a variety of senior positions. 

Welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast, and we have a fellow business owner in the house. We are going to go on a terrific [00:02:00] journey. Hey, all you listeners out there in Deep Wealth land, I have a question for you. Are you pressed for time? What a rhetorical question. Of course you are. Here's another rhetorical question.

Would you like to know how you can do more in less time? unleash those golden handcuffs and really enjoy the lifestyle that you went into business to be in, in the first place. And I know you said yes to all of that. So with that said, Ethan, welcome to the Deep Wealth Podcast.

An absolute pleasure to have you with us. And Ethan, I am curious. There's always a story behind the story. What's hmm.

Ethan Bull: Jeffrey, thank you so much for having me. I grew up in a small town in upstate New York. My dad was an entrepreneur. My stepfather was an attorney who owned and ran his own office. So he was an entrepreneur as well. And growing up in that environment I decided to go to specialty business school off in Boston.

And, What's funny is that when I traveled abroad to Australia I played in a band and I started to think about trying to marry my love of business and entrepreneurship with Creativity [00:03:00] and music in that case. And I came back and started working for Warner Brother Records and as an intern.

And as I wrapped up my senior year, I heard about a movie being produced in New York City by Warner Brothers. I leveraged a connection, got an interview and ended up getting a job as a production assistant in New York City. And that brought me to New York City and kind of launched my executive assisting career, if you will, as the entertainment industry, that role is really the stepping stone to further get up the ladder in the entertainment world.

And I ended up working in entertainment for, five years and realized I kind of still wanted to chase those creative pursuits outside of the office. So I took my executive assisting skills at that point and moved over into advertising, which gave me the time outside of the office to chase those creative pursuits.

And then,[00:04:00] a funny thing happens when you roll over 10 years later and you say, Oh my gosh, I have a career as an executive assistant. And I really never pictured myself. Being in that spot. And so fortunately I had a boss who was extremely supportive and my wife that time was also going through her own journey as being an executive assistant to two different hedge fund CEOs, as well as the CEO of J.

Crew, Mickey Drexler, And you take all of that and you throw in a couple of kids and we were like, okay, we need to sell our condo here in New York, get out of New York City after 20 years, ended up moving upstate New York, right outside of Rochester. And, I, fortunately, I got another job as an EA.

Commensurate with my experience in compensation level, which they're few and far between when you get out of major metropolitan areas. My wife was at home with the kids and she got a call from a friend of ours. That friend said, Hey, I know this Fortune 100 consultant. She travels the world, needs [00:05:00] great support, doesn't care where, you are and doesn't need full time.

Are you interested? Stephanie was kind of really grappling with the kids and wanting that adult interaction. So she said, sure. And that's when we really did the deep dive on the remote space. The virtual assistant space really felt that there was a gap. That we could fill based on our experience knowledge, and we created ProAssisting, and we launched in 2018.

And so we're, approaching the end of our sixth year, which is, it just blows our mind. And yeah, we're here providing remote, fractional executive assistance support to business leaders. Non executive board directors, C suite executives across the country. And what's, really funny is that love of entrepreneurship.

In the beginning part of the story when I was growing up and now we are finally, I am finally leading a business as opposed to being an executive assistant and it's really come full circle.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Ethan, [00:06:00] I love that story. There's so many amazing twists and turns to that story, but let me go back to the beginning just for a moment for the benefit of our listeners. So back in the day, I mean, you're at some powerhouse companies. I know a few things changed here and there. But really, you're in companies that are helping to shape the social fabric of society.

I mean, love them or hate them, they're there. They're doing some very interesting things and sometimes some wonderful things that go along with that. And you're now behind the scenes. With some movers and shakers. And so for the movers and shakers who are now in the Deep Wealth community, and maybe they have an admiration if they have an executive assistant and EA, maybe they're thinking about bringing one on board.

Maybe there's somewhere in between. I mean, what was going on behind the scenes? What were you experiencing? The good, the bad, the ugly as an executive assistant that our community should know about. So they can appreciate what's really happening in that particular role.

Ethan Bull: don't think I'm going out on a limb and saying that high achievers, high [00:07:00] performers, business leaders, CEO level type folks are hard charging, type A very demanding, hard on themselves, but also can be hard on people who support and work for them. So. Uh, you know, At our level, both Stephanie and myself, we really view the role as a top level executive assistant.

And when I say that, I mean, someone earning well into the six figures, a 24 7 mentality, really focusing on all aspects of the principal's life from being a business partner to a chief of staff, a project manager, assistant slash scheduler, and personal assistant. really being that single point of contact.

The good, the bad, and the ugly is you are that single point of contact. So you're going to be getting the negative, and this was wrong. This didn't work. This person never showed up. This job was terrible. You need to go yell at them. And if you're working for a good principal, [00:08:00] you're going to get the good and the great where it's like, oh my God, thank you so much for saving me that money.

Oh my God I can't believe you caught that. That really made a big difference in my week. And really forming a true relationship. It's a really intimate relationship. So, You have to understand that the principles at that level that we're dealing with, we know that we have to show some compassion to them to understand their stress, their personalities, and be okay with that.

And be okay with being behind the scenes.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so let me ask you this, because the type of caliber of talent that we're talking about with an executive assistant, at least what you're doing and the people that you're finding and placing them into, to companies, how as a leader, I'm a heart charging CEO, president, founder, business owner, entrepreneur, fill in the blank.

What am I probably not doing? Maybe I'm not aware of to get the most out of a new team member that I'm bringing on board. [00:09:00] Otherwise known as my EA. What are some common mistakes that most business owners making when it comes to the daily interactions?

Ethan Bull: If you're talking about someone who's never leveraged support before,

That is a situation where we usually have to fight the quote unquote, I can do it faster myself mode, meaning they don't take the time to properly onboard and train their executive assistant to really... Take over some things on their plate that then they will never have to do again.

And they don't take that second step and think about how much time that is once it's compounded week in, week out, month in, month out, year in, year out. And so properly onboarding your executive assistant is paramount. Trust Understanding that, trust is the basis of the whole relationship, and you have to hand over the reins at some point and either let your assistant figure out [00:10:00] how they are going to handle the issue or problem that you put before them and resist the urge, maybe, to fully micromanage, All the time.

And once that trust gets built over a period of time and a number of tasks and projects, then and you hand that over you can be then focused on higher level strategic thinking and really free up your brain space. If I'm talking about someone who's already Leveraged an assistant before maybe they've had a long term assistant and they may have forgotten that it does take again, some onboarding work to get to that space instead of just assuming that you're hiring someone and they're just going to hit the ground running and be perfect.

It, given that it's an intimate relationship, it takes time to really build that foundation. That being said, we feel that within two or three weeks, you [00:11:00] should really start to feel that lift of support and that first month. And then beyond that it's really. What we like to say is a continuous review.

It's not about waiting until the six month mark or the year mark to say, I would like this different, or I don't want you doing it that way. Or could you do it this way? Or you need to have that professional relationship where that can be discussed and handled in the moment as a rolling review, as opposed to setting a date on the calendar and say, we're going to talk about performance then.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so let me ask you this, so you've covered some of the what we should know, but again, let's go back in time for just a moment. So you started in 2018. You're rolling along 2019, and then the infamous 2020 comes along, pandemic hits. Walk us through what's going on at that point, Ethan. What are you seeing?

What are some of the changes that are happening as a business owner? Really front and center of where the world is now [00:12:00] heading. Everything's remote. We're in lockdown. I'm curious, what was going on back in the day?

Ethan Bull: You bring up the term remote. It's really interesting to me because, watching my wife in the early 2000s work in finance she was handed a BlackBerry. I was in advertising at the time and the assistants didn't get BlackBerrys.

Jeffrey Feldberg: hmm. 

Ethan Bull: But really, that's kind of the birth of remote work, and there went years, and then 2007, I got my iPhone, and I was thrilled because I could answer an email standing in line at Starbucks.

And, I am the type A person who wants to handle something when it comes in. I

Treat my email inbox as a to do list. And so, be, having to. Pre iPhone, make sure I was at my desk so I could handle those things. And post iPhone, being able to do them on the go was a really freeing experience for me.

And I, frankly, was jealous of my wife when she had her BlackBerry before then, even though she started to resent it.

So when you bring up remote work and pre COVID, moving into COVID, it's funny [00:13:00] because I feel that a lot of the C suites out there just took it for granted. And hybrid work was happening all the time.

And now the big push is to say, okay, remote work doesn't work. And I'm like life is an area of gray. As a business owner, initially, when we launched, we had to explain. Our philosophy around remote work to both clients and executive assistants after COVID. And when March 13th of 2020 hit, or was it 16th, when everything really shut down two weeks after that, I didn't have to explain remote work to anyone. And that continued. And so our business definitely grew, but it didn't explode because I think really for that first year, everybody was holding their power and powder and every business owner was like, how is this really going to shake out? But now I think what we're seeing is.

With the rise [00:14:00] of SaaS products, software as a service products, and fractional workers, whether you're talking a fractional chief marketing officer or an IT professional or bookkeeper or executive assistant, is really allowing smaller companies, new startup companies to punch above their weight without of

money or make that big hire. Like, I need to hire a CFO or I need to hire a COO or a CMO.

You can get that fractionally now and with people who have that experience. And so I think it's a fascinating time to be running a business and being able to stay as lean as possible, as long as possible and grow appropriate to what your business is doing.

Jeffrey Feldberg: . And Ethan, while we're going down this track, it'd be helpful if you can give a little bit of context and differentiation, because I know for myself as an example, When we talk about a remote executive assistant, a remote assistant, you hear different things from different people out there. And for a lot of people, when we [00:15:00] think of that, okay, we're thinking somebody who possibly is offshore, maybe English isn't.

Necessarily the first language, we think of all these different stereotypes that you see out there on the internet with all these big rooms, lots of people. It's noisy. You're one of many clients that they have and all kinds of crazy things that are going on. So from that, perhaps stereotype, you'll tell us truth or fiction to where you're at, what you're doing, how your team is operating at, what are the differences?

What can we expect?

Ethan Bull: That's why it's such an interesting time. I mean, you go all the way back to 2007 when Tim Ferriss released the 4 Hour Workweek. That book really lionized virtual assistants overseas and told people that they could get a 5 virtual assistant overseas to run their million dollar business.

And You know what? If you can really source a great 5 an hour overseas assistant to focus on specific things in your business that they can take off your plate and it works, that's fantastic.[00:16:00] But what Stephanie and I found when we were looking at the overall virtual assistant space in 2017

Jeffrey Feldberg: Mm-hmm. 

Ethan Bull: Is that.

You had the overseas option, you have a lot of virtual assistant companies based in the U. S. who are using U. S. people to perform the assistant work, but, those folks are sometimes leveraging or being responsible for 6, clients a month and, Those companies, a lot of them are charging in that 40, 45 an hour range, and then turning around and compensating their assistant 20, 22, 24 an hour. And when we realized that, and that was kind of the model that was taken from overseas, it was just paying more so you could get a U. S. based assistant. Our executive assistant experience sent bells ringing off of. This doesn't work for you. You're a six figure executive assistant in a major metropolitan area.

You're usually only working for one, two, or maybe three principles. And so that's where [00:17:00] we saw the gap between what a virtual assistant US based company provides and what a full time executive assistant provides. And there are a lot of Six figure executive assistants in metropolitan areas who want to move outside of those metropolitan areas and in our model, we've found Even previous to starting ProAssisting when we were leading teams of assistants, that three to one executive to assistant ratio really works.

And so what we do is we don't charge by the hour. We charge a flat retainer rate and we pass 80 percent of that onto our assistants. And so what that allows is that allows our assistants to make north of 50 an hour that allows them to. Treat themselves as their own business under our umbrella. It allows for consistent compensation and they get one, two, or three clients that they can focus on Monday through Friday, nine to five, [00:18:00] and that's where.

They are really able to create that true principal EA partnership and really mimic full service support from a full time executive assistant.

Jeffrey Feldberg: So what's interesting, what you're sharing with us is you're providing really talented individuals, their career minded executive assistants. This is all they do, US based, they know the language, they know the cultures, they can get the little nuances that go on in the language that sometimes, and again, this is no deference to people who aren't born in the US or outside the US.

There's cultural things that if you're not in the country, if you weren't raised or, born in any particular country, you're going to miss things that are there. And so I'm wondering, how does that make a difference, Ethan, from what you've seen with your U. S. based, highly trained executive assistants as they go into powerhouse corporations, CEOs, entrepreneurs, business owners, who are really making a difference [00:19:00] out there.

How does that make a difference? Quite bluntly compared to some of the other options out there. And they'll remain nameless. They are what they are. We all know where we can go and what that could look like, but where will we see some of the differences and where I'm driving this from, Ethan, at Deep Wealth, in the Deep Wealth Mastery Program, our nine step roadmap, step two X Factors, it's all about how do you grow your company and part of that's the culture, part of that's the team.

The better the team, the more in tune the team is, the better off you're going to be as really company out there making a difference, having the opportunity to create a market disruption. As a CEO, as a leader, if I have more of my time back, I can spend that time that I would have been doing activities.

Maybe I'm not the best in, maybe it's eating up the clock. I can now take that time back and figure out, okay, how do I create a market disruption? How do I go into a new area, solve a new problem that no one's talking about? So from that vantage point, how can you and Stephanie ProAssisting, how do you [00:20:00] help unlock that?

Ethan Bull: First we, partner our EAs with clients based on time zone.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay.

Ethan Bull: So you're aligned from between nine to five, you are aligned with your EA. We provide after hours and weekend support in atypical situations, or if you're traveling, we want to be that go to person that you text, call, email, Slack message, any way that you prefer to reach out, that you have that true interaction.

And, that allows for that. The only, and given that we limit the number of clients that our assistants support to three, that really does allow them to be a true member of the team. Be that go to person that people are going to start reaching out to instead of the principal. The goal is to keep as many things off the principal's plate as possible and take things off that they don't need to be worried about.

So with us, first it's time zone.

Next, we focus on when we're deciding to partner with an executive assistant, [00:21:00] their hard experience, the background, what's on their LinkedIn profile, what's on their resume. We need to see that hard experience and it needs to ring true to us before we then have a conversation.

But then, and you got to something you said this. earlier, the nuance in conversation, the nuance in facial expressions, having the emotional intelligence and the soft skills to interact with everybody from the person who cuts your grass to the chairman of the board or your most important client.

And you want someone who has that professionalism, puts a great face on your office and your company in lieu of you. And when those outside people understand that Jane, sitting in your office, is the go to person, you're going to notice. Or maybe not, that you're getting called less, you're getting emailed less and those things are happening behind the scenes.

And so, yeah, it's, Danny Meyer, the restaurateur in New York City, he says, look, [00:22:00] we're a 49 51 company, meaning we look 49 percent at the hard skills and then we look at 51 percent at the soft skills and the emotional intelligence, because It's easier to teach the hard skills and to align on the hard skills.

The soft skills are harder and to communicate and you just have to, and that's the thing. When they have the experience and it's shown on their resume, that's an indicator that they do have the soft skills to sit in the seat for five years or 10 years or 15 years, and that they do get to create that relationship and know the ins and outs of Quote unquote, people.

I don't know, does that help answer the question?

Jeffrey Feldberg: Yeah. And it raises, of course, another question is, as we go down this, again you'll hear me talk a lot about the Deep Wealth nine step roadmap, because this is really where for business owners, we're helping them look at how do I grow this business? How do I increase the value of my business when I want to sell it, whether that's 20 years away or two years away [00:23:00] or something in between, and then how do I optimize for my post exit life?

And so with the nine step roadmap, one of the steps that we talk a lot about is step six, advisory team. And on the team, I would put particularly for the founder or the CEO, president and EA, and so I'm wondering, how are you looking at matching up an EA that you have? On the team already to, let's say I'm coming up today.

Okay, Ethan, let's work together. Here I am. Find me somebody who can really make that difference. What are you looking for? What are some of the red flags? Okay. This is not going to be a match, both great people, but for A, B, C, and D reasons, it's not going to work. Oh, look at this one over here. Okay. Yeah, these criteria are in place.

It's going to work. How are you sourcing and matching to get optimal results? What does that look like?

Ethan Bull: oN the client side it really it's all about alignment and it's all about us understanding what our business model actually is

And how that can fit into your [00:24:00] life. And so if that's not aligned. We're going to have problems right out of the gate because a lot of times either people say they need an executive assistant, you partner them with a great EA, and then they never leverage the support because they can't get out of that rut of, I need to offload these things to an EA, but it's going to take me too long to train or show what I need done.

And there are tricks of the trade to really speed that up. Or the other issue is someone saying, oh, I just have a couple of little things, that they can handle and take off my plate. And then you partner them with an EA and It's a full time job. And, they just push everything to the EA in a really short period of time.

And so as long as we're aligned on what the needs are, and that they do align with our business model, and then it comes about partnering them with someone. And the thing is, is that when you start. Dealing with an executive [00:25:00] assistant at a higher level, someone who's been doing it for a number of years in the C suite for most likely the CEO or business owner, and has had that partnership for years in a couple of different spots on their resume.

We really feel once we feel the connection on the emotional intelligence and the work ethic and the soft skills combined with that experience, they're really industry agnostic and principle agnostic. And we're not a shop that's going to have 20 assistants waiting in the wings and going to tell you, you need talk to five of them and pick which best ones, because 20 assistants waiting in the wings, I wouldn't sleep at night because.

I know they need to make money and have clients. So when we bring on an EA, we're going through our deep dive on them to make sure they're checking all of our boxes so we can commit to them. And we know we can go back and put them with pretty much , anyone who fits our [00:26:00] business model on the client side. And they will be successful. And so we are a person to person business. We don't always get it right every time. But we, I do pat ourselves on the back for being really good at getting it right. Most of the time that is proven out by the long term relationships that we have with clients going back five years since the inception of our business.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And let me ask you this, because I'm sure our listeners are wondering, okay, this all sounds really good. Always a but you know, what's this going to cost? What's it looking like on a monthly, on a yearly basis? And Ethan, I know, and you'd be so right to say well, Jeffrey, it really depends on who we're looking at, the type of company, what your needs are, but generally speaking, back of the envelope, what are we looking at?

Mm 

Ethan Bull: Going back to our business model, the three to one executive to assistant ratio. We start. Our pricing starts at 3, 000 a month for one third the resources of an executive assistant. That is support Monday through Friday, nine to [00:27:00] five, after hours. And on weekends, as I said, in atypical situations, or if you're traveling and they take Three clients like that and they feather the work in as needed throughout the day.

It's not based on hours obviously time is part of it, so if you took 177 hours, which is Monday through Friday, nine to five, you divide it by three, you're in the ballpark in terms of the time component, but with our executive assistants, you also have to realize you're paying for their.

Experience, their hard experience and their soft skills. You're paying for their exclusivity, meaning you know that they are only partnered with a maximum of two other clients. So you're going to be getting those responses and feedback quickly during the day.

And then the other thing that you're getting, which a lot of people overlook or can't conceptualize, is that when you start partnering with an executive assistant, there becomes legacy knowledge that builds up inside of that assistant [00:28:00] about you and your business and your processes and your clients and prospects and your community.

That builds over time and provides more value and makes them more efficient and allows you to have a shorthand conversation with them. And in five minutes, your to do list of 10 things goes down to two. And that does take time and it takes trust and partnership, but that is where the real leverage of an EA comes to shine.

And there is a price on that. And so for. 3, 000 a month, 36, 000 a year. We don't lock any of our clients into long term agreements. We think that is a great value proposition. And remember, 80 percent of that goes directly to the assistant. We're basically just an agency that is a conduit and around making sure that the client is aligned with.

The rules of the road, as well as the EA. And once that alignment is there [00:29:00] you take it from there. the beautiful thing is that we do offer higher level. Like, so you're at one third resources. Maybe you need more. We can go to 50 percent resources or even two thirds depending on. Who your EA is and what the availability and that's getting down the road.

But a lot of that comes through in in the discovery calls that we have,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Okay. Interesting. And so once the EA is placed, you're now in the background. If I'm having any difficulties, am I able to, Ethan, come back to you and the team? Hey here's what's coming up. Can you help me with this? Or what would you suggest? Are you inserting yourself in those instances or do you play a role?

What does that look like?

Ethan Bull: we do play a role. We play a role in coaching the client. We play a role in coaching the EA when needed. Sometimes we have to have difficult conversations with the client about their expectations. Sometimes we have to have difficult conversations with the EA about meeting those expectations if they're in line with our business, we're kind of that remote.

HR department in the sky [00:30:00] for you and your EA. And over the past five years, what's funny with, with a business is I'm sure, you know, in the beginning you have to take all comers, anybody who walks through the door. And now we're much more selective through our discovery conversations on. Are we aligned?

Can we have that conversation and make sure we're going to knock it out of the park? And that helps us get there in terms of making sure that we are aligned. We've worked with a number of clients who have, Brought on an assistant as, one third resource, moved up to two third resources, get to the point where they need a full time assistant.

And then we help them source that assistant interview that assistant, train that assistant, and then back out of the relationship professionally. So again, going back to that, it's a beautiful time to start a business because there are so many options as you grow to meet your needs. As opposed [00:31:00] to getting something that is more firepower than you need, if you will at that moment.

And you're taking a much bigger risk from a budgetary standpoint. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: And so what it sounds like when you match somebody, Ethan, you're also providing peace of mind. If there's any issues that come up, if that EA. Moves on to other areas. They get abducted by aliens, as I like to say. I can go back to you. I don't have to worry about it. You're there behind the scenes. You'll find somebody, life goes on relatively uninterrupted.

Would I be on base, off base with that?

Ethan Bull: yeah, no, totally on base. That's the name of the game. That being said. We do encourage our clients and our assistants

to have those open, honest communication and conversations. Our assistants are pros. They've done this. They've sat in the seat for years. We encourage our clients to not be afraid of criticism, of asking questions.

And the same goes for our EAs, [00:32:00] and we constantly check in with our EAs monthly but we also try and stay out of the relationship. I'm not here trying to pester the client to constantly give me feedback I leave the ball more in the client's court to come back to us if they have questions or things aren't going well.

I think. That's part of the reason why we want to serve the higher level EA community as opposed to trying to take someone that's never done the role and train them up and put them in spots. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Interesting. And let me ask you this. So thankfully we're looking in the rearview mirror when it comes to the pandemic. So the pandemic is well behind us. Hopefully it'll stay that way. But that said, some things really changed forever. Society will never go back in many ways to where we were pre pandemic.

And when it comes to finding world class talent, we've heard a lot about that, of people leaving, people [00:33:00] coming back, and everything else in between. Without using someone like yourself, you and the team, Ethan, to help find world class executive assistants, what are we up against? So a listener is saying, you know what, I hear Ethan, that's all fine and good, but you know what?

I'll do this on my own. I will find an executive assistant. I don't want to have a middle person. I will have the savings go back to my pocket and life is good. And that's always a choice. There's never a free lunch. There's always costs that come with whatever you choose. So for that listener who's saying, I'll just do it on my own.

I don't need Ethan and the team, even though they've been doing this forever and they know all the ins and outs and they have all the connections. I'm going to go on my own. I'll figure this out. I'll do it. What's in store for me? What can I expect, particularly post pandemic now?

Ethan Bull: I think that's awesome. We encourage our executive assistants when they have the resources to find clients outside of their relationship with ProAssisting. we have. Our first session was this past Monday launched the ProAssisting Academy the back half of the training focuses on how [00:34:00] EAs can present themselves and start their own business and work for clients as opposed to bosses.

And there are a plethora of EAs out there that have hung their shingle if you will, and are accepting clients. And what's great is you can go we started ProAssisting initially to fill myself and Stephanie up with clients. And that was an easier sell because you're talking directly to the person you're actually going to be working with, as opposed to someone like me, who I'm going to partner you with someone.

So we're all encouraging of that in terms of where to find them. I mean, you need to just look at LinkedIn and look at, searching the internet for remote executive assistant or virtual assistant or there are a lot of options out there. I also feel, which is a space we're not in right now, but I think targeted hybrid work is a really interesting thing from a fractional independent contractor slash service provider model where, you [00:35:00] know, those middle market cities or even those larger cities where.

Someone needs an assistant, but they do need someone to, when it happens, wait at their home for the contractor to show up so they can give them an estimate or do something in person that can mitigate or help in a way. So part of our training is encouraging that kind of. Thought process in terms of where do you live?

If you do live in Nashville, Tennessee, you may, there may be a real need for that targeted hybrid approach as opposed to fully remote. What we are seeing though, no doubt about it, is that executive assistants. No, they can move the needle remotely. And they a lot of them long to continue to do that even when they're being called back into the office.

And, I think C suites are coming to a an inflection point. Where they're not going to be allowed to not [00:36:00] have a hybrid work policy or the understanding the expectations around answering that email at 8. 30 at night or 9 at night or on a Sunday afternoon. And, pre pandemic, that was just kind of Assume that would happen and technology sped up and came along to where that would happen.

So I think as we move beyond the pandemic, we're just, again, at a really interesting time. And I just keep banging the drum on the idea that there are so many options out there and at various price points at various providing various services. To meet your needs, and so you, it allows you to use a scalpel instead of a, hammer.

Jeffrey Feldberg: And Ethan, let me ask you this, as we start to go into wrap up mode, I would be remiss if I didn't talk about artificial intelligence. I mean, every day there's a new headline, we're breaking new ground. And there's a school of thought, which is really [00:37:00] taking a view, the glass is half full or maybe half empty.

They're saying, Oh, this technology is so great. We're going to just be able to do everything and anything. And the glass half empty as well, it's also going to replace the entire workforce. We're not going to need a lot of positions anymore because AI is going to do that. Where are you on that? What do you see?

And as anyone's guess, I'm asking this question, it can change by the time this episode comes out, what we're talking about now could become obsolete and new things are on the scene, but AI and keeping a leader, president, CEO organized and replacing a human executive assistant, is that something on the radar?

Is it way out there? What's your best guess at this point?

Ethan Bull: Jeffrey, I'm going to be honest with you here I was kind of like an ostrich. I had my head stuck in the sand around AI. I, I'm very up on tech. I know that a lot of AI is happening behind the scenes without us even knowing it. I think that does help us when Google populates a calendar invite with the information from the flight I just booked [00:38:00] automatically.

That's a great help. But it's stuff like that happening behind the scenes where you don't have to take any action. Then chat. G p t came out and that's , the gun went off, and I had to pull my head out of the sand. I had to sit there and say, how is this going to change our business?

And it's scary when something like that comes along, that looking your business right in the eyes and saying, what are you going to do? Frankly, that is a reason why we launched the ProAssisting Academy, the training side of our business, to connect with the executive assistant side of our business.

We really feel that

A differentiator at our level, meaning higher level executive assistants, truly forming a personal partnership with your principles that is interacting day in and day out leveraging their emotional intelligence and soft skills. Is a differentiator and that a lot of our clients at their level wanna [00:39:00] know that their EA is leveraging AI on their behalf because they don't want to think about, how can I leverage an AI prompt to get what I need done here?

What they do wanna know is I can tell my ea, Hey, I need to write this letter. Can you throw something into AI and see what it comes up with? Maybe throw on some human pixie dust then you pass it to me let me take a look at it. Those kinds of things are I think a value add. That being said, I think when it comes to finding time on a calendar or finding the right flights or giving me a list of general contractors in my zip code to redo my bathroom, all of those kind of things, I think we are going to get to a point where Surrey or Google or any of the other voice assistants will potentially be getting much better.

So from our perspective, it's really about differentiating with emotional [00:40:00] intelligence, the soft skills, the personal touch. But as you said, We don't know where it's going and how it's all going to shake out. So my head is not in the sand anymore. We are tackling it fully head on and seeing and learning how we can incorporate it into our workflows in what we do

Jeffrey Feldberg: So Ethan, you can tell me if I'm on base or off base, really what I'm hearing you say. And it's a theme that I've heard with other world class experts out there, the thought leaders that we've spoken to on the Deep Wealth Podcast. Really what you're saying is, Jeffrey, it doesn't have to be an either or.

Either AI in its entirety or the human side in its entirety, why not blend the two? So what I'm hearing you say is a really good executive assistant will know how to leverage AI to get things done perhaps a little bit quicker, free up that EA's time to work on other more meaningful things. Perhaps that AI isn't there yet.

Thoughts about that? How would you?

Ethan Bull: Oh, it's a both and. Absolutely. Cause why would you wanna not have the AI [00:41:00] be able to do what it can do? And then why would you not want to have the executive assistant who can leverage that? I think we're a long way off terms of replacing the higher level executive assistant.

But as I said, I think there are going to be. Interesting things coming around that we don't see yet. And the trick is to stay up to date on it. And to be smart on it and see how you can incorporate it as it's coming. But it's definitely both, and not either, or

Jeffrey Feldberg: So within really, as we go into wrap up mode here, what I'm hearing you say is that you and the team at ProAssisting You're matching type A charging, people who are making a difference out there, all the business founders, the CEOs, the presidents, you're finding very high level executive assistants. And just like today I can bring on board a fractional chief financial officer or a fractional chief marketing officer, I can bring on board through you, through ProAssisting and executive assistant.[00:42:00]

Who would likely cost me over six figures if I had that person a hundred percent, but through you, you'll find that person at really a third of the investment for that. And behind the scenes, you're there if there's any hiccups or for continuity kinds of things that come up, you're really there behind the scenes to put that pixie dust in, as you say, and match that relationship on the business side, get that going and make sure everyone's off to a smooth start.

How am I doing with that?

Ethan Bull: yeah, no, I mean, you're hitting the nail on the head and that one third resources satisfies about 70 percent of our clients, the remaining 30 percent end up increasing their resources over time or come in at a higher level based on our discovery call. But yeah, again it's just such an exciting time.

I read a book recently by Arthur Brooks called From Strength to Strength. And it was very inspiring because I'm about to turn 50 this year and being a career executive assistant, and then seeing how I was able, along with my wife, we were able to [00:43:00] transition. What we were doing into a business and then now potentially showing other EAs how to do the same thing.

What technology and how startups are going and philanthropy and business it's offering a lot of options in terms of what are you going to do with the second half of your career and, a lot of people who were successful in that first half of their career, they leave those companies and they don't have support anymore.

And they realized, look, I want great support. I don't need full time and I don't care where you live. And that's where we come in. So

Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh, it's interesting. And thank you for making me aware of this. And it's so true. I can, so to speak, dip my toe in the water, start off with a third of an executive assistant's time. However, I really like what I'm seeing. And I say, you know what, that one decision this past month, that EA has an ROI 10 times as, Hey, Ethan, let's go from a third to two thirds, maybe to full [00:44:00] time.

I have that option and options are always nice. Am I correct with that?

Ethan Bull: absolutely.

Jeffrey Feldberg: terrific. Well, Ethan, one other question before we go into wrap up mode. And if it's really from a listener side of things. If there's one thing that you would have them do, because at every episode, before they go into that next phone call or meeting or pick up on those emails, we want to say, okay, do this one thing that can really move the dial for you and the business.

So when it comes to what we've been talking about, what you're doing at ProAssisting, when we're looking at, Hey, let's improve our culture. Let's free up some of our time. Let's improve the team by bringing on world class talent. If a listener could do one thing from your world. What would that one thing be?

What would be that one action that a listener could do that could really move the dial?

Ethan Bull: How is your business growing and what things are you changing to make that happen?

And we've had those seasons in our business over the last five years. I guess the one thing would be just have an open mind and understand that there are so many options out there [00:45:00] to accomplish. Your specific needs specifically that it really aligns with the cost and your budget and your needs.

And again, it's an amazing time to run a business.

Jeffrey Feldberg: Some words to the wise. And so with that, Ethan, it's a great segue to begin our wrap up. And I have a really fun question. This is a tradition that we have every guest. I have the privilege, the honor to ask this question. So let me set the question up for you. I want you to think about the movie Back to the Future.

And in the movie, you had that magical DeLorean car that will take you to any point in time. So Ethan, the fun part is tomorrow morning, you look outside your window. Not only is the DeLorean car there, curbside, door is open, waiting for you to hop on in, which you do. And you're now going to go back to any point in your life.

Ethan, as a young child, a teenager, whatever point in time it would be, what are you telling your younger self in terms of life lessons or wisdom or, Hey, Ethan, do this, but don't do that? What would that sound like?

Ethan Bull: I Have a 12 year old and an eight year old boy, two boys, [00:46:00] and obviously,

Jeffrey Feldberg: Oh, you're busy.

Ethan Bull: Stephanie and I say this all the time, I guess I would go back to my 12 year old self and tell him what we tell our boys, which is the goal in life is to meet all of your responsibilities, but have as much fun as possible. And that, it being on time, doing what you say you're going to do treating people with empathy and respect caring for the less fortunate, all of that is meeting your responsibility while having as much fun as possible.

Jeffrey Feldberg: I absolutely love that because really from both ends, it's a win for everyone involved in your life. You're respecting them. You're doing what you say you're going to do. But you're taking care of yourself. You're going to have fun along the way. And when you really blend the two together, what a terrific, that's a perfect storm just for having fun, getting things done, being known as a go to person, someone I can trust, someone who is really out there making things happen, [00:47:00] love that.

And for our listeners, you heard it right from Ethan from the trenches. What a terrific takeaway as well. Ethan, it's official. This is a wrap. I want to thank you so much for your insights and your wisdom today. And this is going to be in the show notes for our listeners who want to find out more about ProAssisting or perhaps have a question for you specifically, Ethan, where's the best place online that someone can reach you?

Ethan Bull: I'm very active on LinkedIn, Ethan Bull on LinkedIn and ProAssisting. com, you can ask us a question there, I get all of those emails and I love even having, discovery calls with people who never end up becoming clients because a lot of times on those calls I'm asking a question or pointing something out that they totally didn't think about.

And if. I had a doctor his physician wife who run a company have one of those calls with me. And I frankly said, look, we are not the right service, but this is what you need. And I went through that list of [00:48:00] what they need. And I do have a background in healthcare too. So I was speaking a little bit, their language.

As a referral fee. What can I send you? I'm like, you're not, no. And he said, look, if anybody in your family has a problem with their back, send them to us. We will take care of them for free. This was fantastic. And that's kind of how I want to look at it and be known as, just that go to person.

And when the stars align and our service is right for you, Hey, we're here. But if they're not. I really want to be known as that person who's going to point you in the right direction.

Jeffrey Feldberg: What a terrific attitude of service and going the extra mile, Ethan, and really want to thank you for that. And again, for listeners, all of this is in the show notes. It's a point and click. It doesn't get any easier. Take Ethan up on his offer. I have a discovery call with him. Perhaps you'll find some blind spots.

Here at Deep Wealth, we love to say, does the business run without you? And for most business owners, sadly, the answer is no. Ethan's a resource to turn that no into a yes. So on that note, Ethan, again, thank you so much for [00:49:00] sharing your insights and your wisdom. And as we love, absolutely love to say here at Deep Wealth, Ethan, may you continue to thrive and prosper while you remain healthy and safe.

Thank you so much.

Ethan Bull: Thank you. 

Sharon S.: The Deep Wealth Experience was definitely a game-changer for me. 

Lyn M.: This course is one of the best investments you will ever make because you will get an ROI of a hundred times that. Anybody who doesn't go through it will lose millions. 

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Sharon S.: It was the best value of any business course I've ever taken. The money was very well spent.

Lyn M.: Compared to when we first began, today I feel better prepared, but in some respects, may be less prepared, not because of the course, but because the course brought to light so many things that I thought we were on top of that we need to fix. 

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Lyn M.: The Deep Wealth Experience compared to other programs is the top. What we learned is very practical. Sometimes you learn stuff that it's great to learn, but you never use it. The stuff we learned from Deep Wealth Experience, I believe it's going to benefit us a boatload.

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Sharon S.: Hands down the best program in which I've ever participated. And we've done a lot of [00:51:00] different things over the years. We've been in other mastermind groups, gone to many seminars, workshops, conferences, retreats, read books. This was so different. I haven't had an experience that's anything close to this in all the years that we've been at this.

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Deep Wealth is an accurate name for it. This program leads to deeper wealth and happier wealth, not just deeper wealth. I don't think there's a dollar value that could be associated with such an experience and knowledge that could be applied today and forever. 

Jeffrey Feldberg: Are you leaving millions on the table? 

Please visit www.deepwealth.com/success to learn more.

If you're not on my email list, you'll want to be. Sign up at www.deepwealth.com/podcast. And if you enjoyed this episode, if [00:52:00] it added value, if you walked away with some new insights and strategies, please leave a review on your favorite podcast channel. Reviews help us reach new listeners, grow the show. And continue to create content that you'll enjoy and as we wrap up this episode as always please stay healthy and safe.