Ep. #45 - Renee Hastings - Transforming Business with Virtual Assistants

In this episode of The Crude Cast, Travis sits down with Renee Hastings, President and CEO of Executive Help Now, to talk about delegation, leadership, and why no successful business is built alone.

With 30 years of entrepreneurial experience and a background supporting senior-level executives, Renee explains how leaders get trapped doing work that doesn’t move the needle—and how the right executive support restores focus, productivity, and work-life balance.

This conversation covers:

• When executives should bring on help (earlier than most think)
• Why delegation is hard—and how to overcome perfectionism and control
• What a strategic executive assistant actually does
• Leadership lessons from Dale Carnegie

This episode is especially relevant for business owners and leaders in oil & gas and other high-demand industries who feel overloaded but know they can’t scale alone.

Guest Links:
Executive Help Now: https://executivehelpnow.org

https://www.facebook.com/ExecutiveHelpNow

https://www.linkedin.com/company/executive-help-now/

https://www.instagram.com/executivehelpnow/

https://x.com/executivehelpnw

https://www.youtube.com/@reneehastings
Tel: 678-782-8820

Host & Show Links:
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Transcript

Travis McCaughey (00:00)
So Renee Hastings, you're the president and CEO of Executive Help Now with 30 years of entrepreneurial experience. You're a Dale Carnegie leadership coach, certified administrative professional and business consultant.

Renee Hastings (00:17)
Yes. Yep.

Travis McCaughey (00:18)
That's quite the...

quite the hit list ⁓

Renee Hastings (00:21)
So,

it's been quite a journey. Let me tell you. ⁓

Travis McCaughey (00:25)
So what

kind of started your, did you have one moment that kind of started your entrepreneurial journey that kind of was the beginning and then how did that launch into this executive help now?

Renee Hastings (00:43)
Well, have my origin story actually starts from much younger than when I was quite a child. I was raised by a sharecropper who moved his family from the South to the North farming land. And he settled us in an Amish community in Wisconsin. And he instilled in us the importance of integrity.

having a hard work ethic, ⁓ being a people of our word, honest, dependable, reliable, because everyone in that community knew us because we were the only black family around. And we wanted their experience with people who look like us to be nothing but excellent. So it was from that foundation that was ingrained in me from, seems like infancy, that I did really well in school.

My city where I lived in Madison, Wisconsin, had a summer youth employment program. They assigned young people who weren't quite able to get work permits, work assignments, so that they could identify their gifts, natural gifts and skills and talents. And that's where I learned how much I loved organizing things, how much it just came naturally for me to...

work well with professional people in a professional environment. And so that's kind of how it all started. And then I graduated from high school at 16. And when I graduated, I also graduated with a one month old son. So I couldn't immediately go to college. I immediately had to start working. But because I had now three years of experience of

you know, leading up to this point, I was able to get a really good paying job in the administrative field working for the state of Wisconsin. So all of these things that happened along the way kind of prepared me for doing what I did for a living for 20 years, which was supporting senior level executives. And someone said, if you start a business, make sure you do what you know how to do and do what you love. So

I did what I knew how to do and what I absolutely love to do. And the business started with just me supporting executives while I still had my full-time day job, you know, that security of the golden handcuffs. And then from there, I did both, worked my full-time day job.

Travis McCaughey (03:04)
Right?

Renee Hastings (03:13)
and in my business on the side, but eventually because my clients kept seeing the impact that having an assistant had on their own lives, they kept telling their friends. And so before I knew it, I was spending more time working my own business in the nights and weekends than I was actually on my full-time day job. And when you're burning the candle at both ends, you're totally overwhelmed. The quality of your work just suffers, which we know is not acceptable, right? From that foundation.

Travis McCaughey (03:37)
Right.

Renee Hastings (03:39)
And so I knew something I had to change. And I got my first virtual assistant. And when I got my first virtual assistant and I was able to delegate those things that I was supposed to do for my clients to her, for her to handle during the day, it was just such a game changer in my own life, my own quality of life, my own ability to get some sleep and improve my overall experience in life.

because I had now someone to partner with me to do the things that needed to get done. And once I saw what a game changer it was for me, that's when I decided everybody needs to have one of these. And so I started scaling and building and now we have that virtual assistant is still with me today. And she's our virtual, she is our business operations manager. She oversees a team of three success coaches who oversee a team of 30 assistants.

Travis McCaughey (04:23)
Anyways.

and one.

Renee Hastings (04:33)
So

our team has grown quite a bit and they are all high level, highly educated, college degrees, US based, assistants who understand what it means to partner with an executive and to care for them and take care of them and be there for them in whatever they need in their daily life. So it's a...

It's been quite a journey. so there wasn't like one moment that said, okay, I'm going to start a business. except for the fact that my kid, I forgot this part, my kids left and I was an empty nester and I didn't have anything to do. And so that's kind of what got this whole thing started at the very, very beginning because my kids were grown and gone or had gotten out of high school and they were.

Travis McCaughey (05:10)
You

Renee Hastings (05:22)
doing their own thing. And so I had all this time on my hands and passion for serving. And so that's how it all really started. That was a super long answer to that question.

Travis McCaughey (05:30)
It's No, that's great.

I think that gives everybody a lot of context of, you know, where you came from. you know, this wasn't something that was kind of off the cuff. This is something that was your business was intentional and you being in that kind of servant role, you understand, you know, what the

what you wanted to provide, which is good. When you say senior level executive, what does that look like? And yeah, what would you consider or what maybe are your clients, what does senior executive kind of mean?

Renee Hastings (06:14)
So some people, when they think of an assistant, they think of someone that they have to tell every single thing to do. And they do just that. And if you want them to do more, you need to tell them to do more. Or they're very task driven as opposed to mission or strategy driven. Our team is all about the strategy, helping you work through the strategy.

Travis McCaughey (06:24)
Hmm.

Renee Hastings (06:40)
execute on it. So you cast the vision as the founder or funder of your business and once you cast the vision your person that that we partner you with understands that and helps you stay focused on attaining those milestones and objectives that help you reach your vision. So it's a whole business mindset that they have that

partner you with. Not just a task doer, but an actual partner, a strategic partner.

Travis McCaughey (07:13)
Is the assistance you say you pair them with, is there an interview process or some sort of onboarding where you would try and understand the business, the executive, and the assistant so you get a good cohesion there?

Renee Hastings (07:31)
absolutely. 100%. So when I'm meeting the potential new client for the first time, it's literally a discovery call to understand them.

their business, what it is their goals are, where they currently are, what do they believe is keeping them from getting to where they really want to be. And that helps me, gives me an idea of a foundation to start from, because my wheels start turning. And I'm like, okay, you're currently here, you want to be here. You think these are the things keeping you from getting there. Let us focus on these things that we are able to.

so that you don't have to focus on those things. And you can focus on the bigger things that actually move the needle to helping you reach those goals that you have for your business. And so when I learn that from you, then I am, again, wheels turning, who on my team would be the best fit for this? Who has the right skillset, the right background, the right capacity, the right...

temperament to deal with the personality of the person that we're meeting with. And once I find two or three, I'll share those profiles with the potential new client after we've signed all the paperwork and gotten all that out of the way. There is an agreement and then there's a retainer and that sort of thing. But then I'll schedule a meet and greet with the person that he selects, he or she selects from the profiles that I share with them. And our team

goes through a rigorous onboarding process, because not everyone who wants to be a member of the team gets to be a member of the team because of our high standard of excellence and our high quality of work and level of work. So there's, we've done the interviewing, the vetting, the training, the making sure that we do a values-based interviewing to make sure that not only do they have the skills, but their values match ours.

Travis McCaughey (09:11)
Mm-hmm.

Renee Hastings (09:30)
because that's what I have discovered leads to longevity and integrity.

Travis McCaughey (09:35)
What just kind of high level we're talking about your service for the executive, what are you looking for kind of more, maybe more specifically for the employee if there is somebody out there that is kind of in this role but wants to maybe make a change, what are you looking for in an employee?

Renee Hastings (09:59)
Mmm, so For to be a team member of executive help now We look for so we look for someone who is dependable honest reliable someone who has a track record of ⁓ supporting high-level executives They have at least five years of experience doing what we do and knowing how to operate in a business as a

Travis McCaughey (10:04)
Yeah.

Renee Hastings (10:24)
a partner to a senior level executive. We also look for someone whose values matches ours. So we are a faith-based company. And so a lot of the way I operate as a leader is along those lines. You know, there's a lot, we have a culture of collaboration and teamwork.

And so we pull on the resources available to us amongst all of our team members so that no one struggles with anything. It's like we have each other to bounce things off of, to troubleshoot things and that sort of thing. And so I'm looking for someone who is coachable, teachable, someone who cares and understands what it means to be a servant leader because that's what I'm developing, servant leaders.

Travis McCaughey (11:10)
When should somebody consider your service? Or maybe more commonly, when are people reaching out to you? Is it like the executive that, again, that feels like he's maxed out and he doesn't have any time left? I mean, I guess that's the one that jumps to my head, but kind of when should someone...

consider maybe earlier than later to reach out to you.

Renee Hastings (11:34)
Someone should consider reaching out to us when they find themselves spending time doing things that aren't adding dollars to the bottom line.

And that could start as soon as you open your business. And you said, look, I don't want to do all this paperwork that's required of me or of my funders. This is not where I want to live. I want to do the things I was funded for. That's where I want to live. That's where my value comes in. And so I think it's important for them to add a line item to their budget for support, back office support.

Travis McCaughey (11:50)
Right.

Renee Hastings (12:11)
so that they never have to deal with those things. But it is an investment that is one of the, those are the best dollars you'll ever spend in your business because it will enable you to have the capacity that you need to execute on your vision. And it will help you have better work-life balance so that you're not spending your time trying to wear all the hats that you weren't meant to wear. Like you have a gift.

We all have our own natural gifts and skills and talents. And if your gift is building widgets and you're over here trying to build a website or manage social media, that's not your lane. There are people who love to do that and wake up to do those things and do it really well, do it really fast. And that's their job. And so those are the people you need to add to your team so that they can do what they're meant to do and you can do what you're meant to do. So I would say that

Travis McCaughey (12:52)
You

Renee Hastings (13:06)
That was a really long answer again, sorry. I would say that the the best time is right at the very beginning so that you don't get overwhelmed. So and if you have already gotten overwhelmed, immediately reach out to us so that we can lighten your load, take things off your plate, give you back some capacity so that you can breathe.

Travis McCaughey (13:09)
Yeah, that's all good. Yeah, that's fine.

Renee Hastings (13:33)
so that you can be creative, so that you can be innovative and execute on those things that you love.

Travis McCaughey (13:38)
so could, can you give us maybe a broad overview of what an assistant may do? I think people probably think they have an idea of things that they would want to unload, but maybe there's stuff out there that we don't know that an assistant could do for us. Would you have a broad explanation of what an assistant may, may do for us?

Renee Hastings (14:05)
Absolutely. So some of the things that we get hired for overall, the most popular offerings are email management, calendar management, project management, travel arrangements, presentations, expense reports, all those things that the senior executive assistant in the office does, that's how we historically have been, that's what we've been historically known for.

We also of course can do proposals, paperwork, forms, filling those things out that are mandatory requirements of our clients that are done repeatedly like partnership agreements, whatever that looks like, you know, there's a template that just needs to be filled in with all the variable information.

Travis McCaughey (14:50)
Mm-hmm.

Renee Hastings (14:50)
taking

those things off of the plate of our executives. But there's so much more that we can do in terms of meeting planning and getting you together with other busy people who are just as busy as you. Because you definitely, if you're a $300 an hour person, you don't need to be trying to schedule a meeting with the assistant of somebody else who's just as busy as you are, another $300 an hour person. So delegate that.

Travis McCaughey (15:18)
Right.

Renee Hastings (15:19)
But there's so much more and to help people through that to understand what can a virtual assistant do for you or how do you know when you're ready? We actually have a freebie that we give away to those who text the letters B-A-N-O-W to 1-866-943-3591

Travis McCaughey (15:39)
You know, we're concerned with, you know, we bring this person on.

Are we typically signing a long-term contract for that person for a year or two years? How does the structure work there?

Renee Hastings (15:56)
So for us, our contracts start at six months because that gives us an opportunity to not only get up a learning curve. So just for your particular industry, there may be a smidge of a learning curve, understanding systems and processes and things that are specific to your particular area. But then once we get up the learning curve, then you want some time to see the difference that it's making.

Only time can show you that. So our agreements start at six months, and then they just automatically renew unless one of us decides that it's time to separate. Yeah.

Travis McCaughey (16:30)
Yeah. And you

said, I'm sure some of the, know, we talked about email management. You said all these people are in the U.S.? Okay.

Renee Hastings (16:39)
Mm-hmm. Yeah, so our

team, we have team members that are US based. We also have some that are offshore. But most of our team members are US based, college educated, at least five years of experience, and just come already knowing and understanding what it takes to serve a high level executive.

Travis McCaughey (17:01)
I see, like I read in the intro, you're a Dale Carnegie leadership coach. So what's one leadership principle that connects directly to delegation and or productivity? I guess who, maybe abroad.

Who is Dale Carnegie and what is that leadership like ⁓ coach? Yeah.

Renee Hastings (17:26)
Yeah, so

Dale Carnegie was a genius. And he was all about people and making sure he wrote a book called How to Win Friends and Influence People. And it's through the principles within that book that he created an entire breakdown of how to treat people.

Travis McCaughey (17:32)
You

Renee Hastings (17:52)
what means the most to people, how to take an interest in people, how to develop these relationships that seemed impossible. And it's through these tips and tricks and tools that he's provided that we're able to understand how to approach people, things that are important to people like their name.

Using their name people love to hear the sound of their name also, there's three C's don't condemn complain or There's another C But you don't do these things in front of other people You take them to the side and you have conversations with them about things that need to be addressed but and and you praise in public and you and you correct in private

⁓ those sorts of things. So anyways, there's so much that business leaders do well to want to know and understand how to do well because the team, your whole business is made up of your team and that culture and that relationship is so important that we want to be really, really, really good at it. And the Dale Carnegie leadership principles definitely help us to be better leaders for sure, 100%.

Travis McCaughey (19:03)
Is that something that the employees go through as well?

Renee Hastings (19:08)
Nope, that's just something that I happened to go through in a prior life before I started the business. ⁓ And I just took my learnings from that and it just has helped me to be a better leader for our teams. And our team, they're so quick to say, you you make it so easy to work with you and to serve our clients. You set such a good example. These are things that they've said to me. Because I don't.

Travis McCaughey (19:11)
Okay. Right.

Renee Hastings (19:33)
want to brag on myself, but they have said that they really appreciate my leadership style. And they've been in corporate America and some of them have been abused by corporate executives and you who treat them badly or speak down to them or insult them or embarrass them or just bad things happen in corporate America sometimes. And so they come out scarred and I understand that because it happened to me too.

Travis McCaughey (19:52)
Yeah.

Renee Hastings (19:58)
And so I learned lessons from those experiences of what to do and what not to do and how to treat people. And so I'm grateful for those experiences, even though they were super hard to deal with at the time. I'm grateful that I learned, I lived through it. I'm still here to tell the story. Yeah, for sure, for sure.

Travis McCaughey (20:19)
Well, I think that makes you better overall.

And was that something when you went through that leadership coaching program, was that something that you that was something you were looking for or something you felt like you were lacking or wanted more of? How did that kind of how did you search that out?

Renee Hastings (20:46)
So when that came about, actually it was one of my friends who had become a coach. She went through the program. She said, Renee, you would love this. This is right up your alley. You should definitely do this. And so she sent me the information and I looked at it and it was pretty pricey. I was like, I don't know. This is a, but my, showed it to my boss and I said, as part of my professional development, can I do this? ⁓

Travis McCaughey (21:06)
You

Renee Hastings (21:13)
And she took a look at it and said, yes, you can do this. We'll pay for this for you because I see potential in you and I can see how this could benefit you. So my company paid for it and I went through it as a participant. And when I learned all the different principles as a participant by the end of I believe it's an eight or 12 week program. It was back then anyway. I, by the time it was over, I was such a completely different person.

Travis McCaughey (21:34)
well.

Renee Hastings (21:40)
I saw people differently. I saw myself differently. I developed these skills I didn't even know I had because of this program. And at the end, they invited those who were interested to become coaches. And I was like, ⁓ yes, please count me in because everybody needs a transformation like this. And when I was in class as a participant, there were people who were sent there by their employers because they had

issues that they needed to work on. They didn't want to be there, like they were forced to be there as part of like a PIP or something. Performance Improvement Plan. And you could tell on their face they did not want to be there on day one. By the time it was over, they were the biggest advocates for the program because it was just so transformational.

Travis McCaughey (22:10)
Right.

Yeah, performance plan? Yeah.

Well, I think a lot of people, maybe not even leadership, but kind of, I guess when you get into the workplace, you're not given a lot of skills to work on a team or, you know, people might look at sports and say, sports is a reflection of how you can participate, you know, how you interact on a team. But I would say it's completely different once you get into kind of on a corporate.

side, you know, how you're supposed to behave and conduct yourself and be more professional. And while I haven't, you know, gone through that leadership course, I can see where that really gives people some skills that they can then turn around and deploy immediately or just going through their career.

Renee Hastings (23:20)
Yes.

Absolutely and every week we're giving it homework so we can practice and and do it as a participant and even as a coach When when we're doing going through the exercises we do the exercises like on level 10 Because when you do them on level 10 when you actually have to practice them in real life You only have to do them on a one or two But because you've been doing them on a level 10

Travis McCaughey (23:29)
Yeah.

Renee Hastings (23:52)
for all these weeks, doing it as a one or two is nothing. Do you know what I mean? So, ⁓ but there is, I like how you brought in the sports and relationship because there is a lot of correlation between a sports team and a really well-oiled corporate team. Because when you are on a sports team, it's like you are all operating together as one.

Travis McCaughey (23:52)
You

Yeah. ⁓

Renee Hastings (24:20)
There are no silos. You all depend on one another. You all freely share information. You share responsibility. You share the things that are important to the success of the game because it's about the game. It's about winning. And everybody on the team wants to win. It's no different in corporate America. When you have a department, you want your team to win. And the way they win is by working together well as a team.

not my Bob over here doing one thing and Julie over here doing another thing. You know, even though that might be their job descriptions and they have different tasks, they all need to have in mind, what is the end goal? What is the end game? Why are they doing what they're doing? How do their KPIs roll up to your KPIs so that you're all working together toward the same goal and objective? And it's in unity. It's not

divisive divided.

Travis McCaughey (25:19)
Yeah, you need some alignment with your team.

Renee Hastings (25:22)
Absolutely, 100%.

Travis McCaughey (25:24)
I have here that you spoke on NBC. So what was that like? And then you talked about the pandemic's impact on small businesses. So for all those people that think they want to be on TV and they're part of fame, good experience, bad experience, nerves, what?

Renee Hastings (25:47)
It was one of the most fascinating things I've ever done. So the opportunity presented itself for me to share my story of what life was like now during the pandemic because the business started, Executive Health Now started in 2014.

Travis McCaughey (26:08)
Okay. Yeah.

Renee Hastings (26:09)
Pandemic was until 2020.

So for six years, we've had experience of working remotely, because our operation is all remote. It's 100 % virtual and had always been from day one. So when the pandemic hit,

And one of our clients were like, what do we do? How do we set up people in their offices? What do we need to consider? if, you know, they're like, what help us? And I'm like, of course I'm happy to help you because yeah, this is what we've been doing. Like always. And so we were able to assist our clients and making that transition ⁓ from people going into the office to working remotely. And our business just took off from then. It was just.

I was actually literally that's one of the ways I got through the pandemic. I'm not saying it's the healthiest thing, but I was working from the morning to the evening, every day, all day of the pandemic. My husband was not a fan, but that was my way of coping with the situation. But during the interview, what the interviewer was asking me how

what impact it's had on virtual assistants. And for us, it truly was a game changer for us in terms of our volume of work that we were requested to do in terms of the size of our team. We just grew so much during that time. Because not only were the people still required to do the work,

that they were doing when they were going into the office. But because they were now blurred lines between work-life balance, there was no real work-life balance and the work still had to get done. And so we were there for them to be able to delegate things to. And so since then, since that interview, people have, the pandemic affected several people differently. And a lot of people,

took that time to reflect on what's important. Time with their family is important. Their kids are important. Their mental health is important. Their capacity and brain space is important. And they prioritize these things after the pandemic and refuse to go back in. You know, and so there was this great, they called it a

Travis McCaughey (28:13)
Mm-hmm.

you

Renee Hastings (28:33)
the great recession, that recession, was where people just didn't go back to work. And people just basically would quit their jobs so that they could find remote work opportunities. And so that's been a shift and where people even in business who hire us, our clients, they understand now that things that they used to require be done in the office can be done remotely. They don't have to have somebody come into the office to do things.

Travis McCaughey (28:38)
Okay.

Yeah.

Renee Hastings (29:01)
And so I think it's been great for us.

Travis McCaughey (29:03)
When you, for your assistance, you talk about work-life balance and being remote.

Are you supposed to be, how would that work if someone's in a different time zone? And then are you supposed to be on call? Are you supposed to be there working all day? How does that kind of work? I think it's kind of interesting.

Renee Hastings (29:32)
Yeah, so for us, one of the things that I ask in the discovery call is, daytime hours required? Do you need somebody to be available during your business hours? If you're Eastern time zone, Pacific time zone, does your person need to do the work during business hours? Are there any parts of this scope of work that require somebody to take action?

during the day. If so, I find you someone on my team who has that kind of capacity and availability. If they can do it in the evenings or on the weekends, then I take that into consideration in my submission of profiles for them to review. So I only share with them people who qualify for those specific parameters. Yeah.

Travis McCaughey (30:28)
Yeah, for what their

expectation is.

Renee Hastings (30:31)
Yes, absolutely. Yeah, but one of the things our clients love though is when they can just send off things to do, like this came in for them to do, they're like, let me forward this to my assistant and say, handle this. And then they come back the next morning and everything is all handled.

Travis McCaughey (30:46)
Right.

I just work on it overnight and when they wake up, it's all done.

Renee Hastings (30:52)
Yeah, yeah

exactly like just fairies like virtual assistant fairies.

Travis McCaughey (30:57)
Hehehehe

Yeah.

Can you share with us an example of how one of your team members has kind of transformed a business or an executive's business or personal life or...

Renee Hastings (31:21)
Yeah, for sure. We have several, so my wheels are turning again to pick one. ⁓ I have this Wheel of Fortune vision in my head right now. so one of our clients that I really like to talk a lot about is a client named Katie. I met Katie several years ago when I was in corporate America and shared with her when I started the business. And she goes, ⁓ I might need to talk to you about that.

Travis McCaughey (31:27)
You

Renee Hastings (31:45)
And so when we talked, I explained to her what I was doing, the business and what the model and that sort of thing. And she said, I run this business and it is ⁓ an IT company that supports senior living communities. And every week I have to pay my people.

And it's all very manual. have to half the time chase them down for their Excel spreadsheets. Half the time they're not done correctly. Half the time they're not sent in on time. And I have to chase and chase and chase. And then I have to correct and go back and forth with them. And then once I get all the numbers right on the Excel spreadsheet, I have to transfer that information into our payroll system. And that takes time. And then I have to actually run it. And then, you know.

by the time it's over, I'm just white. she said, if I could just take that off my plate, that would make such a difference. And so we, of course, took that off her plate for her. And we did it the way she had been originally doing it. when she came to me after that very first payroll run, she said, Renee, to run payroll, all I had to do was push a button. She said, that's it.

She had tears in her eyes and she said, I can't believe I've been doing everything by myself for so long. And you were here this whole time. And so you could just see the relief on her face to not have to have this kind of responsibility added to all the other things that she was doing. And so she, of course, was sold.

She was like, see the benefit of having this in my life right now. And so she goes, can you do this? Can you do this? Can you do that? How about this? And now, Katie has three assistants who each do something different for her business. And it's been a wonderful, wonderful relationship that we've had. And she's expanded the amount of time that she wants. I mean, it's just been a really great.

time that we've had together and it's I think we've been working together now about three years. So most of our clients are long-term clients once they get their person there they continue their journey with them and we're in it with them for the long haul. So it's been a wonderful experience and to just see the impact and her story is just one of many. And her business has just grown and scaled.

as a result of her not having to do all the things by herself. Because now she has more time. The time she was taking to do payroll, she can now do some more networking, sending out some more emails to potential new clients, developing those relationships. That's where the money is, right? Those are money-making activities, not just payroll business.

Travis McCaughey (34:39)
Yeah.

Well, you talked about,

you know, the client setting that vision. I'm sure it's hard to think about a vision when you got your head down chasing people all over town trying to get payroll done.

Renee Hastings (34:53)
Absolutely. Absolutely. Yes.

Travis McCaughey (34:55)
Why

do you think it is so hard for people to let go of these tasks? then maybe why don't people, this might be kind of a trick question in a sense, but why don't people consider these type of services? I mean, is it just a simple fact that they don't know they're available?

Renee Hastings (35:21)
Travis, there's so many factors. ⁓ I think one of the things is within our own selves. And I say this because this was my situation before I brought on my first assistant. I was a perfectionist. And I felt like no one could do it like me. If it's gonna be done right, I have to be the one to do it.

Travis McCaughey (35:24)
Hahaha

Renee Hastings (35:47)
I also discovered that I had trust issues when it came time for me to delegate something or release some information. That whole idea felt very cringey to me. I was like, why does this feel so weird to let somebody into my space, into my personal stuff? So I discovered I had some issues that I needed to get through.

Travis McCaughey (36:07)
Yeah. Right.

Renee Hastings (36:14)
And then some people also feel like to delegate effectively, they need to communicate tasks and all these things, and they just don't understand how to train well because your assistant isn't a mind reader. They don't know how to do all these things that you've been doing every day for who knows how long. So it takes time to get them up to speed and acclimated and they get frustrated through that process. But if they can get through that, they're setting themselves up.

for such a much more beautiful experience later. Some people fear mistakes, that if somebody makes a mistake that the business is just gonna crumble. Now, is that true? No, we all make mistakes, the business is still alive. And so they need to go through a mindset shift of what grace looks like and that sort of thing. when they, so their assistant who's worth their salt,

Travis McCaughey (36:54)
No.

Renee Hastings (37:09)
will learn from each and every thing that they do, take notes so that they don't repeat the same things over again and continue to grow and do well. And then also some people just fear losing control. They're like, if I hand this over.

There's that trust thing and then there's that control thing. And then it's like, they want to manage, be the owner of all the outcomes. But when they do this, they're just hurting themselves. They're putting too much on their own plate. And when they do that, they burn out. It's very possible that they miss other opportunities because they have.

missed something maybe in their email, somebody is trying to reach out to them, but because they're so inundated with doing all these things that they shouldn't be doing, they've missed them. And so I think that is a big reason why people don't delegate. It's an, and, there are plenty of people out here that they can delegate to, but they have to go through mindset shift in order to understand the value.

Travis McCaughey (38:11)
Hmm.

Renee Hastings (38:19)
of a virtual assistant, not just to their own personal life, but to their business productivity and scalability. No business has ever grown with one person.

Every business that has been super successful has had a team, at least one of several people doing several different things to help reach their goals. So you can't do everything, you can't scale by yourself.

Travis McCaughey (38:39)
Yeah.

Is that something you find or something you provide to is kind of this coaching aspect? Because I can see where

Just in the discovery part you're you're bringing on an assistant, but then you're turning over all of these rocks of the business and the workflows and then Is that something that you get in is like kind of business coaching or kind of the the psychology side of it as well?

Renee Hastings (39:16)
Mm-hmm. We

do, we do. And that's all, because I still continue to meet with our clients one-on-one, even after they've been assigned their assistant, because they meet with their assistant on a regular basis, whether it's daily for 15 minutes or whatever, the system that works for them. But I still stay in touch with them to understand, just catch up, see what's going on in their life.

how things are going, how they're doing, and to see if there's anything else I can do to help support them, especially if I know that this is an uncomfortable situation for them. Because we've been through this for many years and have seen several people going through the same thing and have had to coach them through it. And they appreciate that very much. And that's just something I do as part of our business relationship.

Travis McCaughey (40:08)
Yeah, that sounds, I can see where that would be very beneficial. Because I'm sure some of these businesses, they, again, you know, we talked about the person who has their head down doing payroll. You know, how many people are starting a business, it starts gaining traction and they don't know how to manage it, they don't know what direction they should be going. So to have that coach of someone

It's kind of been there and knows how to do it. Yeah, super important. ⁓ Where do you see your business going with AI and automation? It's the buzzword of the year. ⁓ Where do see your business going with that? Being more effective?

Renee Hastings (40:43)
Yeah, absolutely.

I'm

⁓

Yes, the short answer is yes. And I say that because one of the things that we encourage our team members to do is to become very proficient in all things AI. Because AI is not going to take over jobs.

But for those that do get eliminated, they can be replaced by someone who knows how to use AI and leverage it. So those skills and being able to understand how to fully leverage artificial intelligence is something I strongly encourage our team to do. And we actually have professional development opportunities and badges and things like that that get assigned to people who take that time to.

go through those exercises to learn different AI tools and processes and systems. And that makes them even more valuable and more easily placeable. I don't know if I said that right. It's easier to place them if they are AI proficient.

Travis McCaughey (41:56)
You

Yep,

they have that skill set or that kind of broad view of what it is.

Renee Hastings (42:05)
Yeah, exactly. And that adds value to us as a company because now we have this team of folks who are AI savvy and our clients don't have to worry about trying to figure out the latest AI thing because they can just have their assistant do it. And then everyone's productivity increases. So yeah, we absolutely love AI as scary as it is.

Travis McCaughey (42:30)
Yeah, it's moving very rapidly. feel like...

Renee Hastings (42:30)
⁓ yeah.

Travis McCaughey (42:34)
Yeah, even in just the last, we probably in the last year, it went from like somebody in the office saying, have you heard of this chat GPT? And it's like, well, that's kind of for, you know, that's a Silicon Valley thing to almost, you know, everybody fact checking everyone else on, know, just they run it through chat GPT or Claude or, know, whatever your, your flavor is.

Renee Hastings (43:01)
Mm-hmm.

Travis McCaughey (43:02)
⁓

to now I hear commercials about it and I'm just like, man, this thing is, it's moving very fast.

Renee Hastings (43:08)
It is absolutely moving at lightning speed. And Travis, the thing is, what we have today is the worst it's ever going to be. It's only going to get better, more accurate, faster, going to be able to do more things. I mean, it's absolutely changing the game in business and industries everywhere.

Travis McCaughey (43:18)
Yeah.

Renee Hastings (43:32)
everywhere, no matter what you do, nobody's safe. You have to get on the bandwagon and accept it. You don't have to learn all the tools. You can definitely bring on teams who already are savvy in those things. But when you are looking for someone to add to your team, make sure they have that for sure, 100%.

Travis McCaughey (43:35)
Yeah.

Yeah, so kind of like we kind of wrap up a little bit, you know, I when we were talking about doing this interview, it's not that, you know, hey, this is 100%. This is oil and gas related, you know, but this is your service is something that could serve people in the oil and gas industry.

You know, I think at all levels as far as the smaller, smaller independent operators, know, medium, large, potentially, you know, different oil companies out there. And yeah, if you're feeling overloaded, you want to get some stuff off your plate. Is this something, is your service, now that I'm talking about that, is this something like...

So I'm an employee of a company, this might be kind of sticky, that you could have while you're already employed at another company.

Renee Hastings (45:00)
Yes, the short answer is yes. And there are, most companies have NDAs that we will sign to make sure, for confidentiality, make sure that they are covered in that way. And it's an NDA with teeth and we happily sign it. We also sign NDAs with our own, I sign them with my own team members. Because everything that comes through us, we have to maintain.

Travis McCaughey (45:03)
Yeah.

Renee Hastings (45:27)
client data privacy and that too is one of those values that we look for and stress in our interviewing process is the importance of keeping private things private. And when you are an executive assistant to the C-suite and that's what you've done like your entire career, you already understand the role.

that as the gatekeeper of that person, you are privy to so much information that nobody else has before they know it. Before the rest of their team knows it. You are made aware of so much because a lot of times executives only have their assistants that they can talk to about things that they can't talk to anybody else about.

And so you're used to maintaining that confidentiality. It's like trying to get information out of us. It's like trying to get into Fort Knox. This is not happening because it's part of the job. It's just what we do. We have this trust of this executive who trusts us with information that he knows is not going any further than the four walls of that room wherever you all are meeting. You see what I'm saying?

Travis McCaughey (46:25)
Right ⁓

Yeah.

Renee Hastings (46:45)
So yes, folks who work for other companies do hire us. And if we need to get in, become, sometimes we might need email addresses that are part of the domain of the company. Sometimes we can just do things that are outside of that to get the work done, send it back to you and you send it back in as part of your responsibility. you see what saying? So you're still able to delegate the work.

We do the work over here, send it back to you and you present it.

Travis McCaughey (47:14)
Yeah, and I guess maybe to add to be more clear, is this something that a business is hiring on behalf of their executive or is this something the executive is kind of searching out themselves? And then both? Yeah, okay. Yeah. And then do you ever run into situations where...

the company I guess would say, know, we'd rather, feel more comfortable having that person be an employee of the company at that point versus kind of I guess being a contractor.

Renee Hastings (47:50)
Yes.

Yes. And it's so funny you asked that question because up until this year, we had a clause in our agreement that says you cannot have our person. And there's a not compete and there's all the things that I have them. And because good help is hard to find. when you find exactly. And so I was

Travis McCaughey (48:04)
Right

Right, yeah. There's like a buyout clause and...

Renee Hastings (48:19)
so opposed to having our people leave us. But I too am being coached and I have amazing coaches that still help me and my business as we are growing and moving into different levels. starting in Q4, that is going to be something we are going to offer is an opportunity for you to actually hire.

the person that you have as your team member, as your person. So that's it. Nobody knows that Travis. It's too cold. Right?

Travis McCaughey (48:48)
Very cool. Yeah.

This is got the scoop right here.

Just asking all those little questions.

Renee Hastings (48:58)
Definitely an insider. So

Travis McCaughey (49:04)
Cool, isn't it?

Renee Hastings (49:04)
yeah, so yes, that is a thing and it's going to be a thing for us coming soon.

Travis McCaughey (49:10)
Yeah. Is there anything that we didn't cover that you would like to?

Renee Hastings (49:15)
I think one of the things that's so important for executives and business owners to, do is to recognize their own value and that they are worthy of support. That it's okay for somebody to take care of them. And I think that sometimes people think that they have to be the ones to do everything. They have to be.

you know, I don't know, tough or Superman or whatever, and that they don't need anything. And that there might be some stigma attached with saying, I need help. But there's not. I equate an executive who acknowledges that they need help with self-care. That truly is self-care. When you come to that awareness and realization that I'm just one person, I'm just a human.

I need help and it's okay. That's a mindset shift that I wish all business owners and all executives would take on because that's where we can thrive together to help them be their absolute best.

Travis McCaughey (50:25)
That's nice. I like that. I've got some questions here for you. What's your favorite productivity app? What's your favorite app that you use?

Renee Hastings (50:35)
I would say our favorite productivity app is... and I might get paid to say this but it's ClickUp.

Travis McCaughey (50:42)
Okay, I haven't heard of that one.

Renee Hastings (50:44)
It's a project management tool that's an all-in-one communication, helps us stay on top of all of the different assignments for all of our clients and assign people different tasks and keep track of the status of all the different things. And when you have multiple clients who have multiple projects that you're working on, it's a tool that's super, super, super helpful.

Travis McCaughey (51:08)
interesting. What we talked about, Dale Carnegie, what any other book recommendations?

Renee Hastings (51:17)
Yes, one of my favorite books is called Profit First by Mike McAuliffe, who also wrote a book called ⁓ something about a pumpkin plan, The Pumpkin Plan. And The Pumpkin Plan is a lead into Profit First. And it basically is the basics of business and how to set up the different structures to make sure that you're getting profit.

Travis McCaughey (51:23)
Okay.

Renee Hastings (51:40)
from your business no matter how it's going. Because you could be making a million dollars, but if you're not keeping a million dollars, then it's what you keep that matters. And so those two books ⁓ are some of my favorites.

Travis McCaughey (51:53)
Well, how can tell everybody how they can reach you? What's the website and social phone number? How do they get a hold of you?

Renee Hastings (52:01)
Yes,

awesome. So our website is executivehelpnow.org and we're on all the socials at executivehelpnow. I also have ⁓ a YouTube channel called Renee Speaks where we also help business owners and entrepreneurs along their entrepreneurial journey to not have to make the same mistakes that I made as I was getting started. So we bring on subject matter experts to talk about different things, all business related.

We also, like I said earlier, if someone wants to know well what can a virtual assistant do for me or how do know if I'm ready, you can text the letters VANOW to 1-866-943-3591 and get a freebie that will help you process through those questions.

Travis McCaughey (52:48)
Very cool. Hey, I appreciate you being on today, Renee. I think this is gonna be pretty valuable. Hopefully you get some callbacks from being on here and I wish you all the success in the future. I really appreciate it.

Renee Hastings (53:05)
Thank you so much, Travis. This has been so fun, and I appreciate you and am just ecstatic to be here and grateful for this opportunity.