It was 7:30 a.m. I’d been up studying all night for the full load of classes I was taking. I opened the door to my new office and was overcome by defeat, anxiety and disgust all at the same time.  I took one step in and was surrounded by traffic cones, neon vests, old citation booklets, prehistoric equipment, piles and piles of paperwork and invoices…somewhere under all of it, there was a desk and a computer.

Looking back at my first job in an office setting, I can finally laugh at the disaster that I walked into. The assistant before me sure did have his priorities straight. After “calling in sick,” he appeared on the cover of the college newspaper celebrating the school’s football victory. After he was quickly terminated, I was hired on to pick up the pieces he left astray.

From the moment, I began, my desk was immediately flooded with paperwork. No matter how hard I worked, I could not keep my head above water…I was drowning in a sea of papers and traffic cones.  The more sheets of paper that piled on my desk, the deeper I sank. The quality of my work was consistently decreasing.

After a couple of months and when I was on the brink of an anxiety attack, I recognized that a cluttered workspace equals a cluttered mind and ultimately, an unproductive worker. With help from a coworker, I attacked the mess and created an effective filing system, standard procedures and equipment inventory and storage methods.  I immediately felt a weight lifted off my shoulders.

That challenging experience taught me that being organized facilitates meeting deadlines and achieving goals. It can also lead to increased productivity and profit. As an executive assistant at Servcorp in Los Angeles, I often witness that people working for themselves – entrepreneurs – struggle to get organized and stay organized. This is largely due to the fact that these individuals don’t have an administrative support system to facilitate such tasks. However, a simple concept that would benefit many entrepreneurs if they simply realized it, is that working for yourself does not mean working by yourself.

On-hand secretarial support, such as what I provide through Servcorp, eliminates the interview and training process and the overhead cost of a full-time assistant. In my role, I receive ongoing professional development training, which prepares me to help clients lighten their load and enables them to focus on what’s really important to them…their business. Servcorp clients who sign up for secretarial support can book services for as little time as they need, even 10 minutes, and be assured they only pay for what they use.

I find that the intimate knowledge I have of my clients’ businesses helps me to create and implement unique systems that work for them. I am able to handle the initial implementation, which is often the most time consuming element and once systems are established, it is easy for my clients to stay organized.  During periods of high activity or growth, I am able to step in and support them as needed.

Allowing someone to support you and your business can be easy. The best part is that doing so brings someone like me joy! It is truly satisfying to help clients get organized and contribute to their success.

Written by Servcorp Los Angeles executive assistant, Cindy Muñoz