Annie:
Welcome to The Whole Assistant Podcast. I'm your host, Annie Croner. I'm a former assistant who's passionate about our profession, and I'm also a certified coach who's invested in your success. You've come to the right place if you want to know what it looks like to stand in your power and achieve success as an assistant, without overwhelm and burnout. Now on to today's episode. Welcome to what feels like a very special episode of the Whole Assistant Podcast. And happy 4 July, especially if you're in the United States.
Annie:
I am really excited about this episode because whole assistant is now six years old, and if you would have told me that my business would have turned into what it is today back when I started it, I probably would have rolled my eyes. I didn't even know really about coaching when I started Whole Assistant, and I've been on such a journey with whole assistant over the last six years. I just want us all to take the time to celebrate our wins. And I'm constantly telling my clients this and we're constantly celebrating them when they have a win in their work life or even in their personal lives. And so I just want to take a moment to celebrate whole assistant and to thank you all for being here on this journey with me. I also, before I get really into this episode, just do want to share about an upcoming event that I'm hosting on July 11. So the first EA Mingle back in June was a big success. And so I'm going to be hosting another free EA Mingle.
Annie:
And the purpose of EA Mingle is just to get assistance together in the same space, sharing stories, connecting for an hour, just kind of building up camaraderie. We spend so much of our time siloed, so much of our time working and getting things done that it can be a challenge to actually connect with other like minded executive assistants. So the first EA Mingle I did, which was in June, was such a hit. I'm gonna be hosting them throughout the summer and they may carry over into the into the fall depending on how invested people are and how much people want this to continue. So stay tuned for that and you can go to wholeassistant.com/mingle to register. It's going to be an hour long on July 11 at 2:00 Central, so please join us for that. It's going to be a good time. The first one was a good time.
Annie:
I'm really looking forward to doing this again. So in case you guys hear my kids in the background, I am recording this podcast episode from Twin Falls, Idaho, which is my hometown. I was born and raised in Twin Falls. I'm visiting my parents this week for the 4 July. And so in case you hear my babies screaming and playing in the background, they are hitting a ball downstairs with their dad. My mom bought them these balls called Ollie balls, which are really cool. You could actually color them and do different things with them. My boys went straight to hitting the ball and kicking the ball and doing all of that.
Annie:
So if you hear that in the background, that is what is going on. I am totally okay with it because this is going to be a laid back week, and this is going to be more a stream of consciousness episode. This week marks the six year anniversary of whole assistant. And when I first started whole assistant back in 2018, I had no idea it turned into what it is today. Back then, I was really just looking for community, and I couldn't find a community online, so I created my own. And I also had some things to say about the role, some things that were perhaps different through a different lens and a different perspective, probably given my history of burnout. And I knew I'd share my story at some point, although that was a scary proposition for me at the time because it seemed like when I would share my story in work environments that my mistakes would be attributed to this thing that happened instead of to human error. And so it was probably just me being extra sensitive combined with other people's perceptions.
Annie:
But I just decided I wasn't gonna share my story for a long time. So when I started whole assistant, I just started out blogging, and I'll never forget having a conversation with my executive at the time saying, hey, I wanna start this thing and I want to share more about the EA role. And he was really, really encouraging, and I am so, so grateful for him and his voice in my life at the time and his encouragement. He too was an entrepreneur. And I think that as whole assistant grew, he was also extremely encouraging when I'd have a win. And that is the focus of this episode. We're going to be talking about celebrating your wins a little bit. And to set the example, I'm going to celebrate mine.
Annie:
Six years is a long time to do anything. I've spent a lot of hours up early in the morning, writing at 05:00 a.m. getting to the office really early. Before I had my babies, I actually started my family, got married right before I started whole assistant, and then started having kids a couple years into running whole assistant. And now I've got a two and a four year old. I've got a 15 year old bonus child who I love is my own, and life is good. It's challenging at times, for sure, when you're juggling a lot, as you all know. I'm sure.
Annie:
But I'm really, really thankful. And looking back over my journey, I can't even believe that I was able to have a full time job, have babies, and run this, like, business in the cracks of my life. That's kind of what it felt like at the time. Like I was building this brand, building this business, but I was doing it kind of in the cracks and crevices. The 15 minutes here, the ten minutes there. I was getting up early to write a lot of content. I was getting up early to prepare for trainings and things like that. And I never, ever saw, when I initially started, I never saw myself becoming a coach.
Annie:
And then what happened was back in 2019, I had my first baby in December. And then on March of 2020, we went in lockdown. So I'd only had my child maybe two or three months before we went in lockdown. I was just back at work maybe a handful of weeks, less than a month, I believe, before we were in lockdown. And so the world went on fire. And I'm like, okay, I'm feeling the pressure of everything. I'm sure all of my people are feeling the pressure of everything. And at the time, the only thing that I created that I was selling was my ultimate time management for assistance, time management course.
Annie:
And I decided to drop everything, kind of pivot my focus. I really wanted to help people in their lives, and I wanted to become a coach. I discovered coaching back in 2018 or 2019 and decided to become a certified life coach in 2020, 2020, and kind of started off from there just helping people with what was going on, helping people who were feeling siloed, helping people who are feeling disconnected from their executive at the office. And then in 2021, I went back and got a second certification, my dream certification, through the life coach school, and have been helping people ever since. So that's kind of my story of whole assistant. And I want you to also think about, like, if you have a passion, something that you're passionate about and you aren't sure where to start, my encouragement to you is just to start anywhere. To start anywhere is better than to not start. And there have been so many iterations of whole assistant, and I have made so many mistakes with it, and I am so proud of myself for sticking with it.
Annie:
I have kind of had the entrepreneurial bug since I was a kid. And I have also like done multitude of things. Like I ran a lampshade company for a little while where I designed and built custom lampshades. Believe it or not, I sold jewelry through a through a multi level marketing company that is now no longer in business. I have done a multitude of things over the years and whole assistant has been the one that has stuck. And I think the reason for that is I am just so passionate about the role of assistant or chief of staff or high level support. I am also super passionate about helping my clients take better care of themselves, leveling up, becoming more strategic in their thinking for themselves and more strategic in their thinking for their executives. So yeah, I know this is a really stream of consciousness episode, but I do just want to take a minute to celebrate whole assistant and thank you all for being here along my journey, along this path.
Annie:
And just to say that I'm really proud of what I created and what I've built over the years. But it didn't come without you guys. It didn't come without your feedback. It didn't come without you coming to me with different things. And so thank you. Thank you all for who are part of my journey. I want to thank my family and friends as well and any of my cousins who are listening. And that is basically the theme of this episode.
Annie:
So please pop me an email at [email protected] and let me know something you're proud of as well. I think we often override our wins or we downplay our wins and our accomplishments. And I think there's reason for that, right? Like whenever you believe in something so hard, it can almost feel inevitable by the time it actually happens. And then when it happens, it's almost like this letdown because there's been so much build up to it and yet you still believe so hard that it's going to happen. That when it actually happens, it's like, oh, well, of course it happened, and then we just kind of dismiss it and move on instead of actually celebrating the win. So I'm celebrating six years of whole assistant today and I'd love to hear what you're celebrating as well. Please feel free to email me at [email protected] to let me know and please join us at the next EA mingle on July 11. The link to register is below.
Annie:
And that is what I have for you guys today. Be intentional. Be whole. That is all for now. I help assistants apply the concepts I share on this podcast. If you're ready to take your growth deeper. And you're curious whether working with me in a coaching capacity is right for you, please email me at [email protected] to schedule your complimentary discovery call.
