Part-time vs. Full-time assistants: Why the former was more work

Item: Oceans Talent
Author: Ariana Gil

3 → 1

revolving part-timers to one dedicated EA+

Industry

Agency

Company size

Startup

Role

Marketing

Published

July 1, 2024

Meet Ariana Gil, The Founder of AG Consulting Group LLC

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AG Consulting Group, founded in Oakland, California in 2017 offers organizational development through equity, inclusion and belonging. To help their clients implement long-lasting changes, the company takes on a holistic approach to strategic planning, leader & team development, and more!

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In 2020, Ariana worked with many part-time assistants for 5-10 hours a week. She used matching companies and referrals in her network. Between rechecking, offloading, and figuring out what would work and what wouldn’t within those few hours - the time disappeared. She cycled through 3 different people. It turned out to be more work simply just to figure out what to offload to her part-time assistants than to do it herself, so much so that barely any of the work got done.

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Then came the issue of coaching and training. Her most recent assistant was hired for billing, accounting, and travel booking but she wanted more help on business. Ariana needed to train her in but she didn’t know how to. When they tried to “figure it out” one time, her website ended up shutting down for 6 months. She needed a different set of skills for her business and a different level of time commitment from her assistant.

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Ariana’s experience is the exact pattern we unpack in our fractional vs full-time EA guide.

Muzaina is great. We work very closely together and have systems for giving and receiving consistent feedback. Things that come up get talked about and Muzaina has been very responsive when asked to pivot. She is amazing to work with.

Ariana Gil

Founder & Principal Consultant

The solution

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Around March 2024, Ariana was listening to All The Hacks, a podcast by Chris Hutchins. After coming across an episode with Sam Corcos where they spoke about high level executive assistants and agencies that source them, Ariana researched the companies mentioned and found herself leaning towards Oceans.

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Ariana was keen on Oceans because she had a clear idea of how things worked;

The matching process
The level of training and coaching that the Divers received
The level of education and experience that Divers have coming into Oceans
The focus is on the personality match of the Divers and their clients

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She wanted holistic support: someone who could be there for her in all aspects of life, completely.

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In her experience, having a part-time assistant did not offer her any substantial support, but instead more work, simply just to train them. Ariana was looking for someone who knew what to do, was dedicated, and could be someone to bounce ideas off of.

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Oceans provided her with a personalized process to find the perfect EA+.

Meet Muzaina Mohamed - Ariana’s EA+

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Muzaina matched with Ariana relatively fast; they have similar interests and Ariana feels that they mesh really well because of their overlapping skills. Funnily enough, they both studied the same thing in university!

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Ariana now has a more clear, effective process to ensure her work gets done with someone she can trust, and work well with.

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Once Muzaina came onboard, Ariana was able to provide her with the full picture of her goals and her process which they could then discuss, and divide and conquer. Muzaina also helps Ariana navigate changes together smoothly, so they act more as thought partners in addition to her being integrated as an executive assistant.

Ariana Gil

Founder & Principal Consultant

AG Consulting Group LLC