
QFF: Maximize Your Executive Assistant's Impact with Monique Helstrom: Discover Proven Strategies to Boost Business Growth and Efficiency, Transforming Your Small Business into a Powerhouse with Expert Coaching. (Episode 592 - Monique Helstrom)
Explicit content warning
11/14/24 • 17 min
QFF: Quick Fire Friday – Your 20-Minute Growth Powerhouse! Welcome to Quick Fire Friday, the Grow A Small Business podcast series that is designed to deliver simple, focused and actionable insights and key takeaways in less than 20 minutes a week. Every Friday, we bring you business owners and experts who share their top strategies for growing yourself, your team and your small business. Get ready for a dose of inspiration, one action you can implement and quotable quotes that will stick with you long after the episode ends! In this episode of Quick Fire Friday host Rob Cameron interviews Monique Helstrom from Monique Helstrom Coaching shares her expertise on leveraging executive assistants to enhance business efficiency and growth. Discover practical strategies for building a strong working relationship and maximizing your team's potential. Monique emphasizes the importance of tailored coaching for small businesses, enabling leaders to focus on their core strengths while empowering their EAs. Join us for valuable insights that can transform your approach to productivity and success! Key Takeaways for Small Business Owners:
Maximize Your Executive Assistant's Potential: Invest time in understanding how to leverage your Executive Assistant (EA) effectively. A well-coached EA can significantly enhance your productivity, allowing you to focus on strategic tasks that drive business growth.
Prioritize Relationship Building: Strengthening the relationship with your EA can lead to improved collaboration and efficiency. Regular check-ins and open communication help align your goals and expectations, fostering a more productive partnership.
Embrace Continuous Improvement: Even if you already have an EA, there’s always room for growth. Seek coaching to identify new strategies and areas for development, ensuring that both you and your EA evolve together as your business needs change.
Delegate to Elevate: Recognize that you cannot do everything alone. Delegating tasks to your EA not only frees up your time for high-priority work but also empowers your assistant, contributing to their professional growth and satisfaction.
Be Open to Learning: Whether through coaching or personal reflection, remain open to learning. This mindset will enable you to adapt and refine your management style, ultimately leading to better outcomes for your business and team.
Focus on Being Your Best Self: As a small business owner, it's crucial to prioritize your well-being. By optimizing your support systems, including EAs, you can avoid burnout and ensure that you are bringing your best self to your business every day.
One action small business owners can take:
One action small business owners can take, as highlighted by Monique Helstrom, is to invest time in training and developing their Executive Assistants (EAs). By providing resources, guidance, and mentorship, business owners can empower their EAs to take on more responsibilities and contribute to the strategic goals of the business, ultimately enhancing productivity and creating a more effective partnership. Do you have 2 minutes every Friday? Sign up to the Weekly Leadership Email. It's free and we can help you to maximise your time.
Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey. 👇
Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: You can't do it all, but you can be the best version of yourself — Monique Helstrom
Investing in your team's growth leads to greater success for your business — Monique Helstrom
Building a strong relationship with your assistant is key to maximizing your time and impact — Monique Helstrom
QFF: Quick Fire Friday – Your 20-Minute Growth Powerhouse! Welcome to Quick Fire Friday, the Grow A Small Business podcast series that is designed to deliver simple, focused and actionable insights and key takeaways in less than 20 minutes a week. Every Friday, we bring you business owners and experts who share their top strategies for growing yourself, your team and your small business. Get ready for a dose of inspiration, one action you can implement and quotable quotes that will stick with you long after the episode ends! In this episode of Quick Fire Friday host Rob Cameron interviews Monique Helstrom from Monique Helstrom Coaching shares her expertise on leveraging executive assistants to enhance business efficiency and growth. Discover practical strategies for building a strong working relationship and maximizing your team's potential. Monique emphasizes the importance of tailored coaching for small businesses, enabling leaders to focus on their core strengths while empowering their EAs. Join us for valuable insights that can transform your approach to productivity and success! Key Takeaways for Small Business Owners:
Maximize Your Executive Assistant's Potential: Invest time in understanding how to leverage your Executive Assistant (EA) effectively. A well-coached EA can significantly enhance your productivity, allowing you to focus on strategic tasks that drive business growth.
Prioritize Relationship Building: Strengthening the relationship with your EA can lead to improved collaboration and efficiency. Regular check-ins and open communication help align your goals and expectations, fostering a more productive partnership.
Embrace Continuous Improvement: Even if you already have an EA, there’s always room for growth. Seek coaching to identify new strategies and areas for development, ensuring that both you and your EA evolve together as your business needs change.
Delegate to Elevate: Recognize that you cannot do everything alone. Delegating tasks to your EA not only frees up your time for high-priority work but also empowers your assistant, contributing to their professional growth and satisfaction.
Be Open to Learning: Whether through coaching or personal reflection, remain open to learning. This mindset will enable you to adapt and refine your management style, ultimately leading to better outcomes for your business and team.
Focus on Being Your Best Self: As a small business owner, it's crucial to prioritize your well-being. By optimizing your support systems, including EAs, you can avoid burnout and ensure that you are bringing your best self to your business every day.
One action small business owners can take:
One action small business owners can take, as highlighted by Monique Helstrom, is to invest time in training and developing their Executive Assistants (EAs). By providing resources, guidance, and mentorship, business owners can empower their EAs to take on more responsibilities and contribute to the strategic goals of the business, ultimately enhancing productivity and creating a more effective partnership. Do you have 2 minutes every Friday? Sign up to the Weekly Leadership Email. It's free and we can help you to maximise your time.
Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey. 👇
Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: You can't do it all, but you can be the best version of yourself — Monique Helstrom
Investing in your team's growth leads to greater success for your business — Monique Helstrom
Building a strong relationship with your assistant is key to maximizing your time and impact — Monique Helstrom
Previous Episode

From Corporate to CEO: Jean Ginzburg's Journey Building Gipht with a Dedicated 3-Member Team, Mastering Digital Marketing, Driving Strategic Growth, and Leveraging Mentorship in the Evolving Corporate Gifting Industry. (Episode 591 - Jean Ginzburg)
In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Jean Ginzburg, founder and CEO of Gipht, shares her transformative journey from a corporate employee to an entrepreneur. She discusses the challenges of navigating digital marketing and the importance of establishing robust operational processes. Jean highlights how mentors and advisors have been pivotal in her growth, providing valuable insights into strategic development. Tune in to explore her experiences in the competitive world of corporate gifting and the lessons learned along the way. Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let’s get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions:
- What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Jean Ginzburg identifies the hardest thing in growing a small business as establishing effective operational processes. She emphasizes that having the right systems in place is crucial for scalability and delivering on client promises, underscoring the importance of operations alongside sales and marketing in achieving business success.
- What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? Jean Ginzburg's favorite business book is Abundance by Peter Diamandis. She appreciates how the book highlights positive advancements in technology and society, encouraging readers to focus on the optimistic aspects of progress rather than the negative narratives often presented in the news.
- Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Jean Ginzburg recommends Peter Diamandis's podcast, Moonshots, as a great resource for small business growth. The podcast features cutting-edge ideas and guests from various industries, focusing on technology, AI, and innovative solutions. These discussions can provide valuable insights and inspiration for entrepreneurs looking to advance their businesses.
- What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Jean Ginzburg recommends using a project management tool, specifically Trello, to help grow a small business. She highlights that having strong operational processes is essential for scaling, and a tool like Trello can effectively organize tasks, enhance team collaboration, and ensure that projects are managed efficiently.
- What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Jean Ginzburg advises that on day one of starting out in business, she would likely refrain from saying anything specific. She believes that the naivety of not knowing everything about the challenges of running a business is beneficial, as it encourages one to take the leap. Instead, she would encourage herself to focus on learning as much as possible, emphasizing the importance of gaining knowledge through experience while not dwelling on the fears associated with starting a business.
Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on iTunes or your preferred platform. Your feedback helps more small business owners discover our podcast and embark on their business growth journey.
Quotable quotes from our special Grow A Small Business podcast guest: Embrace the unknown of entrepreneurship; it's your naivety that will fuel your passion and drive — Jean Ginzburg The journey of entrepreneurship is less about knowing everything and more about being willing to learn and adapt — Jean Ginzburg The heart of a successful business lies in understanding your operations as much as your sales — Jean Ginzburg
Next Episode

From 1 to 15: Brad Riley of Infostatus Shares the Journey of Growth and Team Expansion, Highlighting Valuable Lessons Learned Over 11 Years—Discover How Collaboration and Learning from Others Fueled Their $3M Revenue Success. (Episode 593 - Brad Riley)
In this episode of Grow a Small Business, host Troy Trewin interviews Brad Riley, the founder of Infostatus, shares his incredible journey from starting with just one team member to now leading a thriving team of 15. He discusses the importance of perseverance through challenges and the invaluable lessons learned along the way. Brad emphasizes leveraging online resources and learning from the experiences of others in the industry. Tune in to discover how Infostatus achieved remarkable growth and generated $3 million in revenue over the past 11 years. Other Resources:
- NPS – An easy way to measure if your customers love you in 21 minutes – use the Net Promoter Score (NPS). And it’s FREE.
- Productivity increases 7%-23%, team engagement up threefold and retention from 5.4 to 9.4 years – why wouldn’t you consider an ESOP, Employee Share Ownership Plan. ESOP Subject Matter Expert talks other benefits, costs and time (Craig West)
Why would you wait any longer to start living the lifestyle you signed up for? Balance your health, wealth, relationships and business growth. And focus your time and energy and make the most of this year. Let’s get into it by clicking here. Troy delves into our guest's startup journey, their perception of success, industry reconsideration, and the pivotal stress point during business expansion. They discuss the joys of small business growth, vital entrepreneurial habits, and strategies for team building, encompassing wins, blunders, and invaluable advice. And a snapshot of the final five Grow A Small Business Questions:
- What do you think is the hardest thing in growing a small business? Brad Riley identifies that the hardest thing in growing a small business is navigating through tough times and maintaining perseverance. He emphasizes that challenges can take many forms, and what seems tough today may look different in the future. He believes that understanding and learning from both successes and failures, as well as leveraging resources and insights from others, is crucial to overcoming these hurdles and achieving sustainable growth.
- What's your favourite business book that has helped you the most? Brad Riley mentioned Annie Duke as a significant influence. Known for her work on decision-making under uncertainty, her insights have likely impacted Brad’s approach to managing challenges and strategizing in his business. Annie Duke’s books, such as Thinking in Bets, emphasize critical thinking and probabilistic decision-making, which are highly relevant for navigating complex business environments.
- Are there any great podcasts or online learning resources you'd recommend to help grow a small business? Brad Riley emphasized leveraging the internet to learn from others' journeys. While he didn't recommend specific resources, general suggestions include the podcasts "How I Built This," "The Tim Ferriss Show," and "Smart Passive Income," along with online courses from platforms like Coursera, LinkedIn Learning, and Udemy. You can also explore YouTube channels such as Gary Vaynerchuk and Stanford Graduate School of Business for valuable insights.
- What tool or resource would you recommend to grow a small business? Brad Riley recommends using online learning platforms to build skills, leveraging social media for networking and marketing, and utilizing project management tools like Trello or Asana to streamline team collaboration. Additionally, analytics tools such as Google Analytics can drive data-informed decisions. These resources collectively support efficient growth and operational scaling for small businesses.
- What advice would you give yourself on day one of starting out in business? Brad Riley advises his day-one self to stay resilient, reassuring that "it's okay, you'll be okay." He emphasizes the importance of perseverance, noting that tough times are part of the journey and that the challenges faced today will look different down the road. His key message: hang in there and trust that things will work out.
Book a 20-minute Growth Chat with Troy Trewin to see if you qualify for our upcoming course. Don't miss out on this opportunity to take your small business to new heights! Enjoyed the podcast? Please leave a review on
If you like this episode you’ll love

Becoming Your Best | The Principles of Highly Successful Leaders

Cold Call

Promote Yourself to CEO | Small Business Strategy for Women Entrepreneurs

Guy Kawasaki's Remarkable People

Building your LeaderBrand - Personal Branding, Social Media Marketing, Sales, Leadership & Expert Business for the Modern Entrepreneur
Episode Comments
Generate a badge
Get a badge for your website that links back to this episode
<a href="https://goodpods.com/podcasts/grow-a-small-business-podcast-519412/qff-maximize-your-executive-assistants-impact-with-monique-helstrom-di-78327496"> <img src="https://storage.googleapis.com/goodpods-images-bucket/badges/generic-badge-1.svg" alt="listen to qff: maximize your executive assistant's impact with monique helstrom: discover proven strategies to boost business growth and efficiency, transforming your small business into a powerhouse with expert coaching. (episode 592 - monique helstrom) on goodpods" style="width: 225px" /> </a>
Copy