AssistPro® featured in The Mentors Collective Read the article online here:

Jenna Spencer is the Founder and Visionary of AssistPro®, an executive assistant matching service created to free up time and create growth for busy leaders. Since founding AssistPro in 2014, Jenna has worked with hundreds of clients, helping them find the ”Right-Fit Assistant™ and teaching them how to delegate and develop their assistants into leaders, as well. 

Under her direction and leadership, AssistPro has grown more than 50% each year since its founding and, for the second consecutive year, has just been named to the Inc. 5000 list of the fastest-growing private companies in America.

Her unique business success story began in 2013 when she took the biggest risk of her career – leaving her corporate banking job and setting her sights on finding a work-from-home job that would enable her to grow and learn personally and professionally while also providing her with the opportunity to achieve that important work-life balance. 

After months of searching for the right opportunity, she took a chance and answered an Atlanta Craigslist ad – and was lucky to reach out to two EOS Implementers who would end up becoming her invaluable mentors – not only taking the job as their assistant but effectively doing the job from her home in South Carolina. She quickly fell in love with not only the role but the process and culture of EOS®.

During a “Visionary Conversation” with her clients just six months later, the idea of AssistPro was created. With their mentorship, guidance, and promotion, Jenna was able to pay forward the amazing work-life balance that she found to now help others within her network searching for the same things.

A sought-after speaker for her expertise in issues surrounding entrepreneurship, leadership, management, and Delegation Mastery™, Jenna is an active member of several local and national professional and community organizations, including Women Entrepreneurs Inc. and Strategic Coach.

For more details, visit their website here.

Here we sit down with Jenna to know a bit more about her journey as an entrepreneur.

Q. Tell us a little more about your journey as an entrepreneur – how did you get started? What inspired you?

Jenna: I have been an entrepreneur from a very young age. I made and sold Christmas ornaments, had a lemonade stand, and just always seemed to have that independent thinking style. As for my current business, this is how it all began. I was a young mom who was away from my children more than I wanted to be. 

I walked away from my corporate career and took a part-time position as an executive assistant working from home for two amazing business coaches and entrepreneurs. Soon after I started, their friends and colleagues saw what we had and began asking how they could find an assistant. 

One night standing in my kitchen with my husband I realized that I could create this opportunity to help others. Other women were like me going to work and leaving their children every day, and I wanted to show them that they could work and be home with their children. I knew in that moment I had to do it. So, what inspired me was the opportunity to help other women achieve what I had found.

Q. What entrepreneurial tricks have you discovered to keep you focused and productive in your day-to-day busy schedule?

Jenna: First and foremost is having an assistant–someone that I can bounce things off of. I don’t have to be organized. I can come to my assistant messy and just say here are all the things going on and she organizes and strategizes to keep me where I need to be. 

The other thing that keeps me focused is listing out my priorities for the day and setting my intentions for the day. Understanding the night before what I have to do the next day and what is priority for that day keeps me from spending my time on things that don’t matter.

Q. How do you stay organized with such a busy schedule?

Jenna: First, once again, is my assistant. The second is living and breathing by my calendar. Everything is on my calendar from the moment I wake up to the moment that I go to bed. I look at my calendar all throughout the day. 

I also compartmentalize things on my calendar. This allows me to go into different concentrated zones and have my brain focused on a singular thing without worrying that I will lose something. This way, by the end of the week, everything that is essential gets done. 

Also, delegating. Asking myself, do I need to do this? Can someone else do this for me? Making sure that I’m only doing the things that are absolutely necessary for me to do.

Q. What is the most memorable thing you’ve done since you started your business?

Jenna: My most memorable success story to date is making the 40 under 40 and the Inc 5,000 in one year. 

I never really considered this was even a possibility for myself, but it was really cool that it happened. The best part is that it came from the success of every single client, assistant, and employee that’s on our team.

Q. If you were to write a book about yourself, what would you name it?

Jenna: I’m going to have to pull a name from a movie and my favorite podcast, but “Earning Your Happy” or “The Pursuit of Happiness” because I believe that happiness is a choice and it is something that we have to actively seek in our lives.

Q. What motivates you?

Jenna: My children, my family, all the people and the staff that we have, all of our assistants, freedom of my time. Also, music!

Q. What is one of the best or most worthwhile investments you’ve ever made?

Jenna: The number one investment that I’ve made is into my children and to helping them become the best people that they can be. 

The next would be the investment into my business and into the people that are in my business. I also think investing in personal and professional development has been very valuable to me.

Q. What key activities would you recommend entrepreneurs invest their time in?

Jenna: Delegating. What are your top three priorities? What are the things that you need to do today that move your business forward? 

What is absolutely essential, and what can be delegated off of your plate that somebody else could do for you so you can focus on where you want to go?

Q. What is your ‘one-sentence’ piece of advice you’d like to give to someone who wants to become an entrepreneur, coach, or business owner?

Jenna: In five years, would you rather say I tried my best or I wish I had started five years ago?

To keep up to date with Jenna and her journey, connect with her on Facebook.