If You Don’t Have an Assistant, You Are One: The Real Cost of DIY Executive Tasks

Administrative Profession Partnership Strategic Business Partner May 2, 2025

I love this illustration of the simple economics of hiring an assistant. It’s from the entrepreneur, Jeff Hoffman.

One night Jeff went to dinner with an eminent heart surgeon friend of his by the name of Carl. Carl was sorting out his calendar for the next week when Jeff arrived. Jeff asked him what he was doing. Carl replied that he was organising his calendar. Jeff was flabbergasted and responded,

‘But aren’t you worth $500 an hour’?

Jeff says that if you don’t have an assistant, then you are an assistant.

Just think about that for a moment.

So, to all intents and purposes, Carl was paying his assistant $500 an hour to do his calendar.

How many things is your executive doing for themselves that the business currently pays them their hourly rate to do that you should be doing for them instead?

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