Monday, June 25, 2012

If I Had An Assistant







When visiting an Amish community, I came across a plaque that said: The hurrieder I go, the behinder I get. Like most writers, time management is a constant issue.

Many people dream of hitting the lottery. Not me. I dream about making enough to hire a full-time assistant. I even have a job description ready if that day should ever come:

1.  Organize my office and files. This item alone should keep the person busy for a year or so.

2.  Update my telephone/address book. Instead of digging through several folders with scraps of paper, I could have the information at my fingertips.

3.  The assistant must be a genius at formatting manuscripts. I'm not, and it's a constant struggle.

4.  Research savvy. Wouldn't it be nice to have someone pull together all the little facts and figures I need for my latest WIP? Now that would be a serious time saver.

5.  If the assistant also functioned as a prayer warrior, a supplier of encouraging words, a brainstorm specialist, and a baker of chocolate chip cookies, I wouldn't mind a bit.

Feel free to chime in! What time-saving jobs would your ideal assistant perform? Let's have some fun with this. :)


Photo: nksz

20 comments:

Hilary Melton-Butcher said...

Hi Susan .. all of those - teach me some new more efficient ways of doing things on the m/c .. transcribe my dictation - ie note taking for new posts ...

.... some dusting?!

Cheers have a great week - Hilary

April Gardner said...

An assistant! YES!! THAT'S what I need. I recently read that a good assistant pays for herself. She frees you up to make more money, which pays her salary, which keeps her working for you, which give you more time to make MORE money, and so on. Nice concept. If anyone tries it and finds it works, let me know! LOL

Carol J. Alexander said...

Rather than an office assistant, I'd like a housekeeper. Since that is just NOT in the budget, I recently subscribed to a menu planner service. That, by itself, should save me a couple hours a week and pay for itself in one day. If it truly helps, I'm going to give it a big review on my blog.

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Hilary - LOL! A bit of light housekeeping is a great idea. I'm adding that one to my list.

Hi April - I thought this post might find an enthusiastic audience.

Hi Carol - I've never heard of a menu planner service. Since I don't have kids, I'd go with the housekeeper or even a weekly cleaning service. (Of course, I'd have to hit the bestseller list multiple times to afford any of this.)

Blessings,
Susan :)

Cindy R. Wilson said...

This is fun! At this point, my assistant would actually be called a nanny :) I don't mind doing all the hard work myself, all the filing, the research, the formatting, everything, but it would be a whole lot easier if I had someone to watch the three littler ones for an hour or so each day :) Okay, maybe a little longer, because then I could ask my assistant to do a couple loads of laundry for me!

Karen Lange said...

I am officially applying for this job when your ship comes in. I'll have to move, or perhaps you will, but we could work it out. I can do all of the above. For the record, my chocolate chip cookies are fabulous, if I do say so myself. :)

Happy Monday,
Karen

Loree Huebner said...

I would love to have an assistant!

I would love one to help me with my platform building.

Sarah Forgrave said...

I love this, Susan! Hmm, If they could do all those things and be a live-in nanny, I'd be set. LOL

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Cindy - A mother's helper would certainly free up a lot of your time.

Hi Karen - LOL! You're at the top of the list although I think Jeff might be reluctant to move.

Hi Loree - Oh, that's a great item to add to my list as well.

Hi Sarah - Maybe you could barter for baby-sitting time with a friend. :)

Blessings,
Susan

P.S. All of you are fabulous! This is more fun than eating a plate of brownies...well maybe not THAT much fun.

Dorothy said...

Oh, I love this, Susan. I talk about this dream all the time with my family.

My dream is to have a sweet, older married couple 'take over'. She will clean, shop and prepare all meals. He will potter in the garden, fix things and chauffeur the little people around.

I think I'm dreaming of having my Mum and Dad come live with us... :)

Blessings
Dotti xx

Kathleen said...

He or she would fold all the underwear. They'd read the pile of books on my table & then give me their cliff notes ... in a powerpoint. They'd double as a masseuse for afternoon respites.

I just know I could come up with 3 dozen more tasks given another 45 seconds :)

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Dottie - Your dream might just come true!

Hi Kathleen - I think I'd prefer to read the books myself. After all, with the assistant performing the other tasks, I'd have plenty of time. :)

Blessings,
Susan

Melanie N. Brasher said...

I too could use a housekeeper so I can concentrate on writing. :) Fun post, Susan!

Jean Fischer said...

Oh, could the assistant be a male? Not for any other reason than I'm SO in need of a Mr. Fix-it, someone who plumbs, paints, builds, moves heavy furniture . . . bonus if he cleans the house and bakes chocolate chip cookies! Fun post, Susan.

Have a great week! -- Jean

Anonymous said...

I would love to have someone to do all those things for me....
...But then again at it also sounds like a good job too. lol

Just so you know, I make a lot of different types of cookies well. ;)

Kathryn Neff Perry, PhD, MA, LMHC said...

Susan,
I love this post. It made me laugh, but it's so true. I was gone from the 26th of April until the 8th of June. How much do you think a personal assistant would cost? I'm saving now! :D
Hugs
Katt

Unknown said...

What a fun post, Susan! I'm liking the chocolate-chip cookie part & I'd definitely add closet organizer and house cleaner! But seriously, the more tech savvy the better. I'm in need of a new website and if an assistant could help - I'd be uber grateful! Have a great week! Hugs!

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Emily Ann - It looks like I'll have a stack of resumes if I ever hit the big time. LOL!

Hi Katt - For what I need, she'd be worth her weight in gold. And, you know how much gold is going for these days.

Hi Maria - I refuse to even think about a website at this point. All the techy stuff makes my brain swim. Maybe I need to add an IT specialist, as well as a personal assistant.

Blessings,
Susan :)

Kathi Oram Peterson said...

Susan,
I'd looooove to have an assistant. One big problem I have is organizing my computer files. And cleaning out old emails. Problem is, I'm that one who knows what's important and what isn't, so I'm pretty stuck.

Susan J. Reinhardt said...

Hi Kathi -

I don't mind email, and no one would have a clue about my computer filing system. (Sometimes I get lost among the files.)

Blessings,
Susan