Working with a Personal Assistant

In the height of the COVID-19 crisis, many dental practices are being forced to pivot. Dentists must learn to navigate unchartered territory as the dental landscape transforms. From the finances to the business model itself, there is a lot to figure out. But hiring a personal assistant can help to alleviate some of the stress by enabling dentists to delegate tasks and focus on the responsibilities that keep the practice in motion. Adina DiGennaro has been my personal assistant for the last three years, and she joins me to help explain the process of hiring and working with a personal assistant, as well as the expectations you should set going into it.

More Hours in a Day

When Adina started working for me, she was clocking about five hours per day, four days a week. That alone enabled me to focus on things that I should be focusing on as a business owner while delegating non-priorities to Adina. Ask yourself, what is happening in your office, what parts are you doing currently, and if you had the freedom of time, what would you be doing instead? Hiring the right personal assistant will put that time back in your schedule. It takes a while for personal assistants to get acclimated. In Adina’s case, it was about six months before she had a full understanding of my workflow and the roles of every person in the office. But once everybody was on the same page, our office efficiency was drastically increased.

Focus on Running Your Business

Adina’s role does not take one form and she wears many hats around the office. But if I could summarize it in one word, Adina is a “facilitator” at Craig Cody & Co. She helps with the day-to-day by managing my inbox, my calendar, and my client and vendor relationships. She also helps with process implementations and process management while acting as a communication filter for me so I have time to focus on clients. We have tweaked our relationship dynamic over the years, but at its core, a personal assistant takes things off of your plate so you can focus on revenue-generating tasks that only the business owner can do. As always, please visit me at www.theprogressivedentist.com for more informative podcast episodes with other remarkable business leaders.