Episode 30 - Why Leadership Feels So Heavy (And How to Put the Weight Down), with Renee Hastings

 If leadership has felt heavier than it should, you're not alone. Most leaders don't get stuck because they lack talent. They get stuck because they're carrying the whole operation on their own shoulders — and they've quietly become the bottleneck.

In Episode 30, Jay sits down with Renee Hastings, President and CEO of Executive Help Now, to unpack the difference between tactical and strategic leadership: why it's so easy to get trapped in the weeds, what's really keeping you there, and how to free up the brain space to finally lead. Renee shares her story — from a farm in an Amish community to becoming a teen mom at 16 to building a fractional back-office company that serves leaders across the country — and the exact mindset shift that lets you hand work off without it falling apart.

**You'll learn:**
- The first signs you're stuck in tactical mode (hint: decision fatigue and being the approver of everything)
- The $10 Canva test: why your time math is costing you more than you think
- What's really underneath the inability to let go — fear, ego, perfectionism, and trust
- The difference between delegating a task and delegating an outcome
- Why "I tried delegating and it didn't work" almost always traces back to training, not the person
- One thing you can do this week to start digging out

**Chapters:**
00:00 Leadership shouldn't feel this heavy
02:10 Meet Renee Hastings
02:35 From an Amish-community farm to a love of organizing
07:41 Teen mom at 16 — and a mother who said "keep going"
09:59 The friend who reminded her she was built for this
15:02 The first signs a leader is stuck in tactical mode
18:10 The $10 Canva decision (and the cost of your time)
20:50 What's really keeping leaders stuck: fear and ego
23:48 Strategic vs. tactical: freeing up space to cast vision
25:51 Why "delegation didn't work"
28:29 Delegating a task vs. delegating an outcome
33:33 Why this isn't just for big companies (the fractional model)
36:28 The mindset shift: letting yourself be served
40:27 Realistic expectations and the learning curve
44:53 The one thing she swore she'd never give up — her calendar
51:51 More than a doer: thought partners on your team
56:20 One or two steps for the overwhelmed leader this week

**Try this this week:** Set a 15-minute timer and write down everything that's overwhelming you. Then circle what could go to someone else, and cross off what doesn't need doing at all. That single list is the start of getting your time back.

**Connect with Renee Hastings:**
- Website: executivehelpnow.org
- LinkedIn (company): https://www.linkedin.com/company/executive-help-now/
- LinkedIn (personal): https://www.linkedin.com/in/reneehastings17/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/executivehelpnow/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ExecutiveHelpNow
- Podcast: https://www.youtube.com/@reneehastings

**Connect with Jay Boykin:**
- Website: https://www.jayboykin.com
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jayboykinofficial
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jayboykin/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/jayboykinofficial/
- Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/just-human/id1773095157
- Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/2zWqEiYcawOXnhC1tTtaW4
- Newsletter (Book of Jay): https://jayboykin.com/book-of-jay

If this one hit home, hit subscribe, leave a comment, and share it with a leader who needs to hear it. It helps more than you know.

#JustHuman #JayBoykin #Leadership #StrategicLeadership #Delegation #AuthenticLeadership #SelfAwareness #PersonalGrowth #Entrepreneurship #ReneeHastings #ExecutiveHelpNow #Burnout #TimeManagement 

Transcript

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Jay Boykin (00:01.454)
If leadership has felt heavier than you feel like it should, you are not alone. So many leaders get stuck, not because they lack capability, not because they lack talent. They get stuck because they are carrying so many things on their plates and they've got so much of the operations on their own shoulders. And so today we are going to be exploring the difference between strategic

and tactical work and why it is so easy to get trapped in the weeds. And my guest today has some amazing insights for us. So stay tuned.

Jay Boykin (01:01.996)
Well, welcome to Just Human. And in this space, we have some real conversations about what it takes to lead, what it takes to build in today's world. And we are exploring the intersection of business and leadership and personal growth. We talk about the practical stuff. We talk about the human stuff because success is not just about what you build. It's who you become while you are building it.

My name is Jay Boykin. I'm your host. am so thankful for you to be taking some time out of your busy days to listen. I know that you have so many different things that you could be doing and listening to just human. We're so thankful for that. We are available all of the places that you can get great podcasts. We're also available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple podcasts. So thank you so much for choosing to be with us. My guest today,

is Renee Hastings and she is the president and CEO of Executive Help. Now, Renee, how are you?

Renee Hastings (02:10.561)
Jay, I am fantastic. Thank you.

Jay Boykin (02:13.992)
It is so good to have you here. You have this amazing business that you have built and we're going to talk about that along with strategic and tactical leadership. But do me a favor, tell my listeners a little bit about your background and how you ended up where you are today.

Renee Hastings (02:35.389)
Well, thank you so much for this opportunity, Jay. My background really starts from when I was quite young. My grandfather was a sharecropper from the South of the United States, and he moved his entire family from the South to an Amish community in Wisconsin. And when he moved the family there, as for those that are in listen-only mode,

I'm a black woman. My whole family is black. And for us to live in an Amish community and on a farm, we were the only ones in the whole area. And so if anything ever happened, everyone, from someone in our family, they knew it was our family, because there was no one else. So my grandfather instilled in us a very strong work ethic.

He taught us how important it was to be dependable, reliable people of our word, hardworking. And that was just the expectation that we grew up with and that everything we did had to be done with excellence because it was a reflection of our family. And we wanted everyone's experience in that community with people who look like us to be nothing but excellent.

So that's the foundation that I grew up with in terms of mindset and intestinal fortitude to expect nothing but the best. And that's.

Jay Boykin (04:11.157)
That's a powerful, sorry, I didn't mean to cut you off. That's a powerful foundation. you know, especially being in a place, like you said, it's not like you could hide. And so having that foundation of excellence was an amazing, amazing start by your grandfather.

Renee Hastings (04:29.053)
Yes, and I'm so grateful to him for that. Shortly after that, so I grew up on the farm. We worked the land when I was smaller, but my mom ended up leaving. She was a single mom and we ended up settling in Madison, Wisconsin. And Madison, a university town, go Badgers. Madison had a city of Madison summer youth employment program. And my mom encouraged me to

participate in this program because it was a way for young people to get off the streets during the summer, discover some employable skills, get exposed to different things. And the first place they placed me was at the Madison Urban League. And the Madison Urban League, they took me to this room that was piled high and deep with books, books on top of books. And they said, by the end of summer, we want them all categorized.

We want them all organized. We want them all put up nicely on these shelves. And we want them logged so we'll know where to find them. And so I did all of that and discovered I had a natural gift for organizing things. And I really liked it. And I loved creating categories and subcategories and sub subcategories. And so by the end of summer, the library was finished and I felt very accomplished. I was 12 years old.

Jay Boykin (05:39.233)
Okay.

Renee Hastings (05:54.639)
when this happened. And it was just a wonderful experience that they gave us to discover these things. The next year, I supported a woman who, a Black woman who owned a Norrell temporary services agency, a temp employment agency. And my job was to hand out the papers to the people coming in looking for work.

and then take them back and type them into the computer so that they could become members of the agency. And as I was sitting there typing and I'm listening to the clickety clack sounds of the keyboard, something just dropped into my spirit. And I just said, this is such great work. One of these days, I'm going to run an office or I'm going to own my own business. I was 13 making these intervials of what I'm about to do.

And, but I did. So I dedicated all of my school classes to learning all about business, typing, shorthand, dictation, DECA, all of the marketing things. I wanted everything to do with business. So I took all the core classes, know, basic, you know, English and math and all the other things. But business is where my heart was.

And so when I, because I took all these classes, I was able to graduate early. So I graduated high school at 16 years old with full intentions of going off to college and starting, you know, getting my degree and that sort of thing. So I could start this business. Well, when I graduated from high school at 16, I also graduated with a one month old son. So that's

Jay Boykin (07:41.569)
Okay.

Renee Hastings (07:44.141)
kind of changed the trajectory of my life for a moment. My mom, who was so supportive all through my whole education, she saw how smart I was and how I maintained the standard of excellence. She said, just because you have a child as a teenager doesn't mean that your life is over. It just means it's going to be harder. It was already going to be hard because you're Black and because you're a woman. Now you're a teen mom. But

It doesn't mean you still can't achieve whatever you set your mind to. So with that support and that encouragement, I was able, in all the past years of job experiences that I've had, I was able to leave high school and immediately get a job working for the state of Wisconsin. And so because I had this well-paying job, I was graduated from high school, I ended up becoming emancipated, getting my own apartment.

Jay Boykin (08:34.418)
Okay.

Renee Hastings (08:41.644)
raising my family, and that is where all of my experiences started and created this foundation to help me develop the mindset that was going to be needed later to become a whole business owner.

Jay Boykin (08:57.589)
Wow, that is very, very powerful when you think about the early days with your grandfather and then, you you reached a point in your life that I love the fact that you looked at it and your family encouraged you to look at this as just not anything that completely

redefined you or completely changes your directory that you can still achieve all of the dreams that you had, they were just going to be a little bit more challenging to get to. You were going to have to work a little bit harder. So that's a very, very powerful message, Renee, and thank you for that.

Renee Hastings (09:38.446)
course. Of course.

Jay Boykin (09:39.849)
So you get to this point in your life, you're working for the state, and at what point did you decide that you were going to start your own business, that you were gonna get on this entrepreneurial path?

Renee Hastings (09:59.049)
it's so funny, Jay, that you asked this question because you said, when did I decide? And it's so funny because, I had spent all of my years growing and out through the ranks, gaining more experiences, working in office settings, always supporting executives. And after about 20 years in corporate America, my kids are grown and gone now and I have, I'm fully completely content working my corporate day jobs.

Jay Boykin (10:04.705)
Ha

Renee Hastings (10:29.1)
with my benefits and paid vacations and all the things. And I had a friend back in 2012, she said to me, you know you're supposed to own your own business, right? And I had completely forgotten about this interval I had made like all those years ago, right? And I was like, no, I'm not. No, I'm not. And she said, yes, you are. And I think one day you will.

And so, you know, it just takes one person to see something in you, to bring back those thoughts that you had that were already in there and completely forgot about. And then, so I'm working and for some reason I'm becoming more and more discontented with this corporate life. And I'm thinking, okay, what could it really look like if I kept my corporate day job and maybe got a couple of my own clients on the nights and weekends?

And I'll just test it out to see what it's like. That was in 2014. And because of how I was improving the lives of my clients, my own clients, I was like, maybe there is something to this. This feels really good that these are my clients. I found them. They want me to work with them. And we have these great relationships. And so I just continue to.

enjoy that feeling of being valuable and valued by my own clients at that time. And so I continued to dabble and kept my full-time corporate day job, but really started taking it seriously in 2019, just prior to the pandemic, when I met someone through my small group Bible study that I was leading. we were learning about what each other does and

for a living and she worked for this organization that set up black and brown young people for success by providing them with paid internships at Fortune 100 and Fortune 500 companies. And I was like, wow, how exciting that must be. And then I told her what I did. I had this virtual assistant service that I offer. And she said, well, really? She says, my boss needs an assistant. He hasn't had one in a year and you can tell.

Renee Hastings (12:56.334)
So she introduced us and that once he finally understood the concept of having a virtual assistant, like someone who never came into the office, you could see the confusion in his face when he was trying to wrap his head around it. And he was like, so you would never come into the office? I was like, no, but we can zoom every morning if you want. And he was like, huh.

Jay Boykin (12:56.466)
Ha ha ha.

Renee Hastings (13:22.818)
Well, I'll try it. And so he tried it. And once he finally understood the concept and saw how well it was working and how much money he was saving, he's like, you know what? You need to figure out how to scale this thing because I'm telling everybody. And he did. Like he told all of his friends and our business just literally blew up from that relationship.

Jay Boykin (13:47.434)
Wow, that is amazing. you started your business prior to the pandemic. And I think that many people, many of us experienced the transition in life because of the pandemic where, you know, myself and others, we were used to going to an office every day and being in that physical space every day to now having to pivot and using more of

these virtual tools. And it feels like that's when you began to see more of the virtual assistance type of businesses. It seemed to take off more in that time. But the truth is, that, you you got your foundation before the rest of us were transitioning to

to the virtual world.

Renee Hastings (14:48.334)
Oh yeah, yeah, we were virtual before it was popular or before it became necessary. Yes, absolutely. Our model was from day one, 100 % remote.

Jay Boykin (14:52.232)
Ha ha ha ha.

Right.

Jay Boykin (15:02.529)
So Renee, you're working with these leaders, your team is working with these different leaders and I'm sure that you see executives in many different stages. And so when we start thinking about a leader perhaps being stuck, what are some of the first signals that you might notice?

that indicate that a leader might be stuck in what we're calling this tactical mode.

Renee Hastings (15:39.951)
So one of the indicators, some of the first things that I see is that the leader is a bottleneck. Like the leader is because he's taking on so much responsibility, because he feels he or she, typically most of my clients are men. So I say he a lot. But most of them feel like they have to be the approver of every little thing.

They have to look over every little thing to make sure that everything is correct. And because we're now in this age of AI and things are done quicker, there's more decisions that need to be made. You can see the decision fatigue all over their face. You can just see it. It's in their body. There's this tension.

Because now not only are they the decision makers from before AI, you know, where they had to do all of the things, which they really shouldn't have been doing all the things they should have been delegating. But you can start to see that they are the ones being tactical with their hands in every single thing instead of allowing other people to operate in their gifts, trusting their teams to do the right things.

to help make these decisions and then holding them accountable for whatever the parameters that get set up. That's what should be done, but they're the ones doing it all. And I think a lot of it, unfortunately, leads back to either fear or ego, or both.

Jay Boykin (17:22.665)
Wow. Okay, so we're coming back to the fear and the ego here in a moment. But Renee, for the sake of my listeners, describe, we started talking about this tactical mode and you talked about all of these decisions that are having to come to these leaders. We aren't talking about just

big decisions. We're talking about even little things like, you know, when to order office supplies or all of these various things. What are some examples of these types of decisions that leaders are making where they are just too much in the weeds?

Renee Hastings (18:10.286)
Yeah, exactly. Like what you just said. Like when to order office supplies or approving a $10 Canva subscription. Like, no, you're the boss of a whole company. You should have people that you trust, that you have trained, that who know you, know your vision, know the vision of the company, have bought in to the vision and are there for you as a partner to join with you on this journey.

to make those decisions for you so that you as the founder or executive can focus on doing the things that only you can do, especially when it comes to building those relationships with potential new clients, that's where your focus should be and doing the things that are worth your time. If you think about the value of your time and how you're spending it.

Should your very valuable time, if you say pay $300 an hour, should you be being paid $300 an hour to make a $10 decision on Canva? Absolutely not. It makes no sense.

Jay Boykin (19:23.425)
So good, I'm so glad that you mentioned that because in my experience, in my business, I see a lot of this and many leaders are not thinking about their time in the same fashion that they would think about other people that are on their team and what they're getting paid. And so yes, if...

you think about that in terms of an hourly rate and then decide at what level, you know, it's not that you're better than anybody else, but you know, there are certain decisions in your business that only you can make. There are other people in your company that can make the decision about a Canva subscription.

Renee Hastings (20:14.734)
Absolutely. If your approval isn't required by law or if it's a decision that someone else could make, those are decisions that should go away. You should no longer be making those decisions.

Jay Boykin (20:36.897)
So you alluded to this a moment ago, but when you have a leader that's in that mode, what's going on underneath? What's keeping them in that space?

Renee Hastings (20:50.882)
Well, they could have come from a time and place when that was the norm, right? We have a thing that needs approval. We send it up the chain, get it approved, comes back down, and then we do the rest of the work. Times have changed. And I know we just spoke a little bit about the fear. That all plays a role. There could be a fear of loss of control.

There could be a fear of.

Renee Hastings (21:24.782)
where people are perfectionists. I'm sorry, I'm struggling with this word. They're perfectionists and they don't believe that someone else can do it as well as they can. Right? Or there are these trust issues that they may not have even realized they had until it came time to give away something or allow somebody in. That was my story. As I was building my business.

Jay Boykin (21:32.321)
That's okay.

Jay Boykin (21:37.799)
Nobody can do it like me.

Renee Hastings (21:54.605)
I was shocked to know that it was a thing for me. But that's how I know. So because it was my situation and I see it every practically every time we bring on a new client, you know, who hasn't if they have never had an assistant before or if they were so used to doing everything on their own and it comes time to let go of some things. There's all this trepidation inside this shakiness as heart racing feelings of anxiety.

Yeah, it all stems from a deeper rooted, there's a deeper cause, there's a deeper root to those emotions that are going on at the thought and idea of handing something over.

Jay Boykin (22:39.361)
So Renee, this is really fascinating because I think that in the culture that we live in today, we live in a busy culture, a hustle culture, where sometimes the idea of sitting back and taking a moment might feel like you're being lazy. And I think that

for certain leaders being freed up from these tactical type decisions gives them the opportunity to start thinking strategically about their business. Can you help to describe for the listener who may not be clear on the difference?

What are your thoughts about the strategic areas that a leader could be focusing on when they're too busy focusing on these areas in the weeds?

Renee Hastings (23:48.119)
Yes. So this is a great question. I love this because it reminds me of one of our clients. When we first met, he had so much pressure on him. He was putting out fires left and right. was wearing, he was doing the payroll. He was supervising all the people. He was doing all the marketing, doing all the network and outreach. He was wearing all the hats and was so inundated with so much responsibility.

He had no capacity to even think about what his future could look like for himself personally or for his business. Then we came in and started taking some things off of his plate, freeing him up. He no longer has to be the one to follow up with all the networking, the people that he would meet or schedule all the meetings or check the emails and all the things that was taking so much time.

once all of these things and even accounts payable, billing to people, all the things, once all of these things were no longer his responsibility and he was able to delegate those things, he told us for the very first time, he's now able to cast vision for the business because he has brain space and capacity to think about something other than.

what fire needs to be put out because now there's no more fires. The fires have been put out because he's had the time freedom from these things to focus on those fires, get them out. And now that those are out, he can now focus on what the vision is supposed to look like for the business. And he would express such gratitude to me for this business and for our team being such a huge resource to him.

basically allowing his business to blow up, catch fire and expand in ways he never thought possible.

Jay Boykin (25:51.914)
So good. So, Renee, I'm sure that you have heard this before, but if you have a leader that says, you know, I tried delegating things and it just didn't work. What's usually the real issue that's going on there?

Renee Hastings (26:11.338)
Yeah, so there could be a number of things. One of the things that's so important when you are delegating is to not to assume that the person you're speaking to knows what you're talking about. They may have a very high level understanding of some topic, but it's important to go into those nitty gritty details of what it is

why it is, why it's important, what it looks like now, what you want it to look like. And when you take that time to explain in the beginning, and it will take some time, I think you need to wrap your head around that, it will take some time that you need to dedicate to training your assistant so that they, because we're not mind readers and we don't know everything.

we have to be taught some things. And once we are taught, we take our notes, we refer back to our notes so that we are making sure to execute on what you're looking for well from the beginning. But if there's all these gaps in what it is that you're trying to explain and you're saying, here, here's my billing, go do it. No, that doesn't work. So yes, of course it's not going to work because there's been no training. We need to be trained and you need to take the time. And I shouldn't say you need to.

But I encourage you to take the time to train thoroughly from the beginning. Allow your assistant, another thing that's important too, is to allow your assistant to get to know you. Get to know who you are, what makes you tick, the things you like, the things that you don't like, what your hopes are for the business, for the future, what you have planned coming up down the pike.

so that your assistant can now be mindful of these things as they are executing on things on a daily basis. The more you get to know your assistant, the better the relationship gets and the stronger it gets and the easier it is for us to be able to anticipate your needs. If we don't know what your needs are, we can't help anticipate.

Jay Boykin (28:29.129)
Renee, one of the things that I've seen that can be really interesting is when you have a leader who is wanting to delegate some things and they are wanting things done step by step the exact same way that they would do it.

Talk to us a little bit about the difference between delegating a task and delegating an outcome.

Renee Hastings (29:07.486)
I love this question because we can certainly follow instructions. And if all you want is a doer, then there's a person for you. But if you want someone that you can say, is where we are today. This is where I want to be by this time next quarter. And you allow that freedom of creativity and innovation to flow.

to your assistant or to your team, then what matters is the outcome. If all that matters is the outcome, how we get there is less important. And as long as there is communication about a plan that has been thought through, milestones and check-ins and things like that to make sure we're on track and make any necessary adjustments, then that is how you will accomplish the big things that you want to get accomplished.

You allow the people who have those natural giftings and skills to operate in their gifts and skills to get you where you want to go. And when you let go of telling every single thing to do the way to do it, it could probably be done quicker, more efficiently, because this is their area of expertise. And even though you may have been doing it this way for a long time and it has been working, maybe there's a way to streamline it.

Maybe there's now technology out there to help us automate some things so we can get more done in a shorter period of time and maybe even reach that goal sooner than what you had anticipated. So I think it's important for leaders to understand that, yes, they have gotten to where they are and that's great, but what got you here isn't going to get you to the next level without allowing other people in to be a part of your team to operate in their gifts.

Jay Boykin (30:46.934)
Right.

Jay Boykin (31:07.317)
You know, it's one of the ways that I think about it is, you know, so Renee, you live in Georgia. I live in Colorado. If I were going to drive from Colorado to Georgia, and I'm responsible for choosing the route and paying attention to the traffic conditions, paying attention to the weather.

and I am in control of this thing the entire way. That's one way. If I get to a place where now I'm not driving to go see Renee, I'm gonna fly to go see Renee. I'm not over the pilot's shoulder telling them exactly how to fly the plane, in which direction to fly the plane. Ultimately, I'm paying for the outcome as you describe it.

just get me to Georgia, just get me to Atlanta's airport and I'm not gonna worry about all the details of how we got there, I just wanna get there safely and I think that you said it so eloquently that you could have someone who is now assisting you that has gifts and abilities and knowledge that I may not have and they could do it so much better.

Just step off step back and let them do what they do

Renee Hastings (32:36.846)
Exactly. And they like it. There's so many things that founders do or executives do. They hate it. They absolutely detest doing a particular task, but they still hang on to it. Why? Why are you doing that? There are people who love to do that thing. Delegate it.

Jay Boykin (32:39.401)
Yes.

Jay Boykin (32:57.323)
That's so good. So Renee, I'm sure that there's probably someone listening who may be thinking that having a virtual assistant hiring a company like yours is only for those people that are at that elite status, the larger companies. Can you describe the

You've got a pretty diverse set of clients, don't you?

Renee Hastings (33:33.867)
Yes, we do. Absolutely. And one of the things that endeared us to them was the model that we have where we remove that bariated entry by making different tiers of service level offerings. So one of the largest expenses in running a company is labor. And part of the reason is because of the fringe benefits that you have to pay health insurance, pay time off.

Sometimes if you're in a physical building, footage, office supplies, all the things, there's a lot of expense associated with bringing on an employee. And that keeps some people from growing or building their companies because they're like, I just can't afford it, it's too much. So the way that we work, we act as a fractional back office support person for you.

So we have business operations managers, US-based business operations managers, project managers, senior level executive assistants who actually come in and we are embedded into your internal operations, basically white labeling the work that gets done on your behalf to your clients. And that's what's needed. They need somebody to partner with them as thought leaders, as strategic.

thinkers of to be able to execute on what needs to get done or what this department needs or this executive needs or that sort of thing. But they don't need someone to do it eight hours a day. They might only need somebody to do it three hours a day, two hours a day. You know, that's how we can help because our packages start like that. And that's so we can meet that executive right there where they are. And there's no benefits that they have to pay.

There's no paid vacations, there's no health insurance, there's none of these expenses that come with an employee when you bring on a company like ours.

Jay Boykin (35:40.214)
So Renee, I'm sure as successful as you have been at building your company and as successful as your team has been in serving the clients that you have, I'm sure that you've probably had some scenarios where it didn't work so well with a client. When you've got a leader,

We've got somebody out there who's thinking about bringing in some support. What type of mindset should that leader begin to develop in order to give it a higher probability of success?

Renee Hastings (36:28.782)
So one of the first things that the mindset shift that needs to happen, I remember we talked earlier about the fear and the ego. When you bring on an assistant, there is a certain level of vulnerability that is required. And that means that you have to open yourself up, be willing to open yourself up and allow someone to serve you.

That could be a challenge for some people if they're not used to being served. And it can be a challenge for people who are used to being responsible for everything. So that mindset needs to be, okay, I'm gonna let them take care of me. I'm gonna let them come in. I'm gonna let them, you know, I'm gonna give them these things. I'm going to train them well on how to do them. I'll check in with them to see how things are going. And I'm going to allow myself to be served. That is...

one of the greatest mindset shifts, if that is not who you are right now, then that is something to be developed and to practice because the more you do it, the easier it gets. And then before you know it, you can't delegate things quick enough because you've developed this trust with your person, with your assistant. And once you give them things and they repeatedly and consistently provide excellent

work for you and returns on what it is that you're looking for. You will develop the confidence in them to be able to give them more things that have higher value or higher responsibility or whatever that looks like. And that's how the relationship grows. that mindset shift, that mindset needs to be one of openness and vulnerability and allowing someone in to serve you.

Jay Boykin (38:21.833)
And you alluded to this earlier that the expectations have to be realistic as well, right? You can't expect that, you know, week one and maybe even month one that things are going to be perfect. They're much like with training a full-time employee that you hire. There's, there's a learning curve and you have to have realistic expectations. So if I go into this.

and one week into it, it's like, they're making too many mistakes. can't handle this. Then I went into this with unrealistic expectations. So that's gotta be a part of it too, right?

Renee Hastings (39:04.03)
Right, absolutely. You have to have realistic expectations. There is a learning curve. Your industry might be one that they might need to get familiar with. The language that's spoken in your industry, the acronyms, the key people who are important to you. All of this is information that's brand new to your assistant. You know this because this is how you operate every day, all day, and so it just comes easily and naturally for you to just know these things.

but your assistant doesn't know these things until you tell them and explain and help them understand what the priorities are. Because a lot of times what can happen is an executive will say, here, do this and this and this this this and this and I need it by tomorrow. Without explaining which one has the higher priority, which one carries the most weight.

to help us prioritize all these five things you just gave us to do to get back to you by tomorrow. So all of this is super helpful in setting your assistant up for success. The more you communicate, the more you explain, the more you help them understand and get them up to speed in your business and who you are and the things that are important to you, the quicker the relationship develops and the easier it is for them to get up that learning curve.

Jay Boykin (40:27.519)
So Renee, obviously, as the president and CEO of your own company, you take your own medicine. And so as you think about things that you now have support on from your team, what's one thing that you, and I'm putting you on the spot here, what's one thing that you thought that you might never give up?

and delegate that now perhaps you can't even imagine that coming back to your desk.

Renee Hastings (41:04.962)
Wow. One of the things I thought I would never give up, one of the things I probably my calendar, access to my calendar, because as a business owner, you know, you're meeting people, you're scheduling meetings, you're, you know, doing all the things. And I live by my calendar. If it's not on my calendar, then it doesn't happen. And if it's not on my calendar, it never happened.

Jay Boykin (41:16.097)
Okay.

Renee Hastings (41:34.959)
You know what Like that's the foundation of truth is my calendar. And so I held onto it very tightly. But then as my assistants started supporting me and they say, well, we need to know what your availability is. so I let them in. I opened the, you know, I let them in behind the curtain and they were able to see all that is my life and my calendar.

And once I did that, they were like, well, you've got this going on here. What do you need to get prepared for that? You've got that going on over there. What do you need to get prepared for that? And that opened up new conversations I hadn't been able to have before because I was doing all the things. Right. So now that someone else is helping me get prepared for things, I'm like, I can't believe I held on to that for so long. I don't want it back. I really want them to be able to

Look at my calendar, see when I'm available and see what is coming up to help me get prepared. And they're amazing at that.

Jay Boykin (42:39.859)
And do you find, you know, we, for, for anyone who is searching for ways to be more productive, you know, we hear things all the time about time blocking. Do you find that your assistants are really helping you to become more efficient in that manner where if, if, if you've got a day where you're going to be spending a bunch of time.

working on strategic aspects of your business that they will intentionally protect that time and stack those things that go really well together.

Renee Hastings (43:19.648)
Yes, absolutely. even like for this color coding that they do that is so incredibly helpful. And even for like a meeting, like a podcast, there's a 30 minute block before the podcast that says prep. And then there's the actual podcast time block. And then after the podcast, there's another 30 minute block that says follow up. And then those things that need to get done are

If I need to do those things in those blocks, because if they don't get done in that block and I have to keep shifting it down, it increases the probability that it won't get done. So time blocking is critical. And when you can color code your time blocks, you can see how you're spending your week. Am I spending most of my time networking? Those are yellow appointments. Am I spending my time in strategy meetings? Those are gray appointments. Am I spending my times on podcasts? Those are purple meetings.

And you can at a glance see your week and see where might I need to make some changes if I'm needing to make some adjustments. internal meetings are blue. My team knows if there is an important client meeting that needs to get set up, they can shift the blue meeting. Put a green meeting there. Those are the client appointments. And so there's a whole communication that goes on between me and my assistants.

that they know and understand how to manage my life based on these time blocks and these colored appointments.

Jay Boykin (44:53.951)
Renee, your company, you've got clients of varying sizes and you also have clients that are all over the country and the world actually, isn't that correct?

Renee Hastings (45:08.885)
Yes, that is correct.

Jay Boykin (45:11.527)
So as you are, for the person that is out there, they're thinking about this, what should really, I guess, when you're thinking about onboarding a new client and trying to see if it is a good fit, there's...

There's no, what's the process look like? So if I get ready to call you, is that first phone call? Should I have my credit card ready to go? Should I have my checkbook out? What's that look like?

Renee Hastings (45:47.843)
He he.

Well, our process is super easy. So it starts out with a discovery call with me. And that's where I get an understanding of who you are, a little bit about your business. I'll do my research on you and what it is that you do. But when we have a discovery call, you tell me about where the gaps are, what your pain points are, what needs you have. Even maybe a couple of the first few things you would delegate once you got a person.

I understand that. I actually go into our database of team members to determine who best fits this bill, who can do all of these things. And if I have someone who can do most of these things and someone else on the team can do one of these things, then I'll bring them both. And then I'll schedule a meet and greet.

We'll go through paperwork first, of course, sign agreements, know, paying invoices, that sort of thing. And I schedule a meet and greet and I explain who their point person is. um, but even before then I will share with them three profiles of different people that they could choose that meet this bill. And I will, once they make a decision of who they want, then I will schedule the meet and greet.

with that person that they selected. So once they do that, then they actually schedule a time for training and will schedule, you know, exchange information and then it takes off from there. And so it's easy, you know, it starts with the discovery, take care of the paperwork, meet and greet, training, get started, done, five little steps.

Renee Hastings (47:42.931)
And, but they are life-changing steps because once you start on this journey, you'll see that your life is never going to be the same again. And it'll be improved for the better because now you'll have someone to delegate things to not just tasks, but outcomes. And you'll see the outcomes start to be achieved and accomplished.

tangible ways that actually move the needle for your business and free you up to go and do those things that only you can do.

Jay Boykin (48:17.557)
We are talking to Renee Hastings, the president and CEO of Executive Help Now. And we are talking about the things that leaders need to do in order to really allow themselves to elevate their lives and elevate their businesses. And again, thank you for joining us on Just Human. Would love it if you hit the subscribe button if you're watching.

no matter where you are taking in Just Human, if you leave me some comments, leave me a review, that helps me to get better. So thank you so much for that. So Renee, I have one more question about that process, and then I wanna talk to you a little bit about your podcast because you mentioned your podcast. So.

You, I think that many times people will think about a virtual assistant and executive assistant and they're thinking about things like, you know, my calendar, you're, taking care of my calendar, but you've got people on your team with talents that are much bigger than that. Aren't you doing things like project management and, and, know, these, these broader tasks that can help a business.

Renee Hastings (49:45.152)
Yes, absolutely. There are certain companies where you just give them a task to do and they do the task and that's the thing they do is just the task. Our team members, like I said, are US based team members who have experience working in US businesses and partnering with senior level executives of many well known companies.

And so their experience is very deep. The years of experience is numerous. so they're not just a doer. They're the ones who have these experiences and frames of reference to share with you. As the executive, they can see a situation in how you're doing something and say, you know, I see how you're doing this and this is awesome. Have you thought about this, this, this or that?

If you do it this way, then maybe this could happen. And so they bring with them their thought leaders and thought partners with you to help you consider things from another perspective and kind of widen your scope and level of information because they bring it with them.

And the other great thing is that because they're on our team and we have such a collaborative culture, if there's something that you're going through or something that needs to get done and they don't know, we have a wealth of other team members who have information and experiences to lend themselves to that. And so we reach out to one another and say, hey, this is a situation. How did you handle this? Or I need to do this and this isn't my...

zone of the genius, can someone else help me with this part of the project, you know, that sort of thing. And we use each other as resources. And so the client gets the benefit of not only their own person, but the whole entire team is a resource to them. So they get the benefit of that as well.

Jay Boykin (51:51.037)
Renee, what's the best way for people to get in touch with you via your socials, your website, whatever the case may be? How can people reach out and connect?

Renee Hastings (52:02.647)
Yeah, so our website is executivehelpnow.org. We're on LinkedIn at Executive Help Now. I also have a personal page on LinkedIn that I'm very active on, Renee Hastings. But on Instagram, we're at Executive Help Now, Facebook at Executive Help Now. And those are the easiest ways to reach me. We also have a digital profile I can share with you for the show notes that people can check out.

who we are and what we do and how we help different industries. That could be super helpful as well. If anyone has a question about, you know, whether or not the time is right for them or how we might be able to support them.

Jay Boykin (52:46.113)
Excellent. Now you mentioned that you've got a podcast. What's the name of your podcast and when do you find time to get a podcast done?

Renee Hastings (52:56.335)
So the name, I love our podcast. The name of the podcast is called Renee Speaks. And it was actually birthed out of executive help now. Because one of the clients that we have is a former Sony music executive and he was producing shows. He turned to professional podcasting. He was producing shows and we had an opportunity to meet on one of the shows he was producing.

And he shared with us how he does what he does because he didn't want to do it anymore. And long story short, he taught us how to do a show. We were doing his shows for a year. And then my team said to me, Renee, you should do a show. And I was like, when, y'all? When am I going to do a show? I'm already so busy. And they said, we'll do everything. We'll find your guests for you. We'll.

do all the coordinating, we'll get them on the calendar and get them scheduled and we'll record everything all in one day. So I batch record anywhere between five and eight shows on the first Friday of the month. So I only record once a month. We record all of our shows. One of the shows is live at one o'clock and they literally, my team does everything from soup to nuts, producing the show, you know, all the pre-show activities, the day of the show activities.

the post-show activities, editing, and getting things posted on socials. And I literally just show up and talk. And I talk to women. That started out me just talking to women business owners who were maybe also struggling in building their businesses like I was when I was first getting started. So I bring on subject matter experts to talk about everything business and all the things that you need to be aware of as a business owner.

to be successful in business. And it's every Friday at one o'clock a new episode drops on YouTube.

Jay Boykin (54:53.707)
That is amazing. And you've been doing this, you we were talking earlier before we hit record. And I definitely admire all of the things that you're doing and appreciate everything that you're sharing. you've got a number of episodes out there. you know, the level of perseverance and consistency that you're showing is so admirable. And I thank you for that.

Renee Hastings (55:22.639)
Well, thank you so much. It is truly so much fun. We were talking about the statistics and you said that there are millions of podcasts out there and that only 5 % get past episode 10. I think that it's crazy. And so we are on episode number 137.

Jay Boykin (55:39.411)
Yeah, it's a crazy statistic.

Renee Hastings (55:51.008)
So super, super, super excited about that accomplishment and that achievement because all of our guests are so amazing. And I learned so much. I feel like I'm getting a whole college degree just through the episodes that we have and so many great connections and great new clients come out of it. And it's a really wonderful experience. And I just love it. And I can't ever see not doing it just because the guests add so much value to the listeners.

Jay Boykin (56:20.895)
Well, I can definitely attest to that because, you know, having amazing people like yourself here on Just Human, I feel the same way. I feel like I get an education every single week as we're speaking to people. So, Renee, as we get ready to wrap up, I have one question for you. So for that, that listener who is sitting in that space, that leader that is sitting in that space where they are

feeling so overwhelmed. What are one or two things that they can, one or two actions, one or two steps that they can take over the next week to begin to put them on a path to healing and put them in a place where they can start to really change the trajectory of their life and their business?

Renee Hastings (57:20.193)
One of the first things I would encourage any overwhelmed leader to do is to start making a list of what it is that's overwhelming them. And sometimes the idea of doing that could be overwhelming. But trust me when I tell you, it will serve a purpose in the end. Because when you can see what it is that you're doing, it's easy for you to circle things that can be given to somebody else.

Cross off something that isn't necessary. And as you go through these different exercises, it doesn't have to take a lot of time. It could take 15 minutes. Whatever you can think of in the first 15 minutes, write it down, save it, and then get in the head space that, yes, I'm ready to give this to somebody else. And I'm going to do the work on myself internally to get okay with delegating.

There is some internal work that may need to be done. I had to go through it myself, but I did it and I'm glad I just felt the fear and did it anyway. And I'm on the other side now here telling the story with an amazing testimony of freedom. And then think about how bringing on an assistant, I equate it to self-care because when you are able to lighten your load,

You are able to provide this relief for your own mental state, your own physical state, your own emotional state. is getting an assistant is like self care. And that's what I want people to think about and allow themselves to be cared

Jay Boykin (59:04.371)
So, so good. And Renee, I'm very much planning on being one of your clients here really soon, if I can get through the onboarding process, if I can pass muster. So I'm looking forward to the opportunity of working with you and your team for the foreseeable future. So thank you so much for being with us and sharing your

Renee Hastings (59:20.003)
Thank

Jay Boykin (59:33.223)
amazing story from your youth and how you have built this amazing business that you've got now.

Renee Hastings (59:41.219)
Well, thank you so much, Jay. You are an incredible host. This has truly been such a wonderful experience, and I hope I've added some value to your listeners today.

Jay Boykin (59:51.937)
You absolutely have and I take those kind words, you know that that that touches my heart I appreciate for for someone who has is is doing the same thing with the podcasting and running a business but you're you're definitely further down the path and I'm gonna continue to to reach out and and Seek your guidance and seek your counsel as I continue to develop my business. So don't be surprised if if

your assistant is like, Renee, that J guy's emailing you again.

Renee Hastings (01:00:24.783)
Well, I'm looking forward to it, Jay, honestly.

Jay Boykin (01:00:29.467)
Absolutely. Thank you so much. So for my listeners, again, thank you so much for being here. We've been talking to Renee Hastings, the president and CEO of Executive Help Now. We've been talking about the difference between tactical and strategic leadership and some of the things that we as business owners, we as leaders, that we can do to take our careers and take our businesses to the next level.

And that's what it's all about here at Just Human. We are trying to learn and to grow and just to get better every single day because life doesn't come with instructions. And so until next episode, I want you to keep growing and keep being kind to yourself. We'll see you next time.