Pat Flynn on how to onboard an assistant you just hired:
Day one. Your first day, what do you do?
So, we call this day:
- Virtual Onboarding and Introduction
So, first of all, a welcome email. Maybe that gets sent before their official first day to send them a warm welcome, right?
- Introduce yourself,
- introduce any other team members
- talk about the company, the company culture, who do you serve…
…all those kinds of things. And you wanna make sure to include any essential details like,
- what their work schedule’s gonna be, like,
- time zone,
- any specific tools that they might need to get hooked up with, or that they’re going to eventually get access to, so they’re ready for it.
On Day 1, I would highly recommend a video call. So, schedule a video call to personally welcome them. So, discuss their roles, and responsibilities, and expectations.
You can answer any questions they might have. Address any initial inquiries.
Alright, Number 3 — this is, again, all on Day 1 — Day 1 is a heavy one because it’s kind of getting everything set up.
Speaking of setup, Number 3 — The Tech Setup. This is a big one. So, access credentials. You wanna provide login details for any of your systems, email, project management tools, Slack, or any of that stuff.
Make sure you have either 1Password set up or LastPass. I’m a 1Password fan, myself, and that is a tool that you can use to give access to different tools without having to give the actual password.
It’s just, you just give the 1Password, and access to all of them to your assistant and, if something were to happen, or if, like, they go AWOL, or whatever — hopefully that doesn’t happen — or if— if they move along or or you fire them, whatever, you can just disengage that password that’s just for them that then gives them access to everything else.
You don’t have to ever change your passwords from there. So, 1Password is amazing, LastPass is another option.
Help them through installing any of that software should they need time to do that. And, I think any communication tools are gonna be probably most important, especially to start.
But, anything related to document sharing, or if you happen to do time tracking. And, then, security measures, again — remind them of the security protocols have a—
This is a big one — I didn’t even mention this to Derek — have a secret word that they have to ask you. You tell them what the word is. But, this is— so, for example, if somebody hacks into the system and asks your executive assistant for passwords, or to pay for something (this is becoming very common — somebody will pretend to be you).
Maybe they get access to your email, they pretend to be you, and they ask your assistant,
- ‘Hey, can you pay for this invoice really quick? Here it is — I need it paid within three hours, or else, we’re in trouble.’
[Your assistant:]
- ‘What’s the secret code?’ (or ‘What’s the secret word?’)
It could be anything. Have that word be known so that, if something were to be weird, or strange, they can ask you to make sure that that’s the case.
Creators can learn a ton from online OG’s like Pat (I’d actually never thought of using 1Password in the way he described).
Hiring editors is pretty straightforward, but I think missing step-by-step basics like these often makes YouTubers, in particular, delay way too long hiring that badly needed first EA.
— Tang
Pat Flynn’s owned platforms include: Smart Passive Income, Switchpod, and PatFlynn.com.
