What is this thing called “delegate?” Why do entrepreneurs often find themselves controlling everything? When do we learn to let go and delegate?
On a recent episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon, I had the pleasure of speaking with entrepreneur and founder of Team Delegate, Tonya Thomas, about a challenge facing almost every business owner today: how to stop doing everything yourself.
Tonya’s story resonated deeply with me because it reflects the journey so many entrepreneurs experience. For years, she successfully worked as a virtual executive assistant. She had clients, a thriving practice, and a growing reputation. Then one day, a business coach said something that stopped her in her tracks:
“You don’t have a business. You’ve created a job for yourself.”
At first, she resisted the idea. But over time, those words became what I often call a “mirror moment.” She realized she had reached a limit. There were only so many hours in a day, only so much she could scale alone, and only so much impact she could make without building something larger than herself.
That realization led to the creation of Team Delegate.
Delegate to Reclaim Your Time
One of the most important insights from our conversation was Tonya’s distinction between reactive and proactivesupport. Many leaders believe they have delegated because they hired an assistant. But if they are still directing every detail, reviewing every step, and carrying all the mental burden, they haven’t really let go.
Tonya explained that a proactive executive assistant takes ownership. They anticipate needs, manage workflows, protect the leader’s time, and help prevent things from slipping through the cracks. This is very different from simply responding to instructions.
As a corporate anthropologist, I see this often in growing companies. Founders become the center of everything. Every decision, every process, every approval flows through them. Eventually, they become what Tonya called “the bottleneck.”
And once that happens, growth slows.
Why You Must Be Ready to Delegate in an Age of AI
The conversation also explored how AI is changing work. Some people assume AI will replace executive assistants entirely. Tonya disagrees—and I agree with her.
AI can make work faster. It can organize inboxes, assist with research, and automate repetitive tasks. But it still requires human judgment, emotional intelligence, strategic thinking, and contextual understanding.
In fact, Tonya believes AI makes great executive assistants even more valuable because they can manage the tools while leaders focus on thinking, innovating, and growing their businesses.
That point struck me deeply.
I recently shared with Tonya how quickly AI helped me draft responses for a media interview request. It accelerated the process tremendously. But AI did not replace my judgment, my voice, or my experience. It simply freed me to focus on higher-value thinking.
And perhaps that is the real opportunity in this new era: not replacing people, but helping people work better together—with technology supporting human capability rather than substituting for it.
A Lesson on How to Delegate for Entrepreneurs and Leaders
What I loved most about this conversation was Tonya’s passion for helping entrepreneurs reclaim their time and energy. Her clients are often consultants, coaches, and service-based businesses—people who are brilliant at what they do but overwhelmed by trying to do everything themselves.
Sound familiar?
Many leaders are excellent operators but poor delegators. They worry nobody will do the work “right.” They stay trapped in daily execution instead of stepping back to think strategically about where the business is going.
As I shared during the podcast, many CEOs can run a business—but nobody is truly driving it because they remain consumed by day-to-day tasks.
Delegation is not weakness. It is leadership.
Rethinking Growth—and Retirement
One of the most fascinating moments in our conversation came when we discussed retirement. Tonya admitted she doesn’t envision simply stopping work one day. Instead, she sees herself evolving into new roles—perhaps coaching entrepreneurs or mentoring leaders—even after eventually selling her business.
That conversation tied beautifully into the themes of my new book, Rethink Retirement. So many people assume retirement means withdrawal. But increasingly, people are looking for reinvention, meaning, purpose, and contribution.
Tonya’s journey is a perfect example.
She is not building a business simply to escape work. She is building something meaningful that creates freedom, impact, and opportunity—for herself and for others.
Final Thought
If you are overwhelmed, stretched thin, or feeling like your business cannot grow without you doing everything yourself, this episode is for you.
Tonya left listeners with one powerful reminder:
“Don’t become the bottleneck.”
Simple advice. Transformative insight.
You can listen to the full episode of On the Brink with Andi Simon featuring Tonya Thomas and learn more about how leaders can delegate more effectively, reclaim their time, and scale with confidence.
To learn more about Tonya Thomas connect with her:
Or visit her website at: teamdelegate.com
Connect with me:
- Join my Substack Newsletter Rethink Retirement
- Website: www.simonassociates.net
- Book Website: www.andisimon.com
- Email: info@simonassociates.net
- Learn more about our books here:
Now–it is time to share our new book with you!
Rethink Retirement: It’s Not The End–It’s the Beginning of What’s Next
Out on Amazon and WalMart, and in your local bookseller and Rethink Retirement: The Workbook
Listen + Subscribe:
Available wherever you get your podcasts—Apple, Spotify, Stitcher, YouTube, and more. If you enjoyed this episode, leave a review and share with someone navigating their own leadership journey.
From Observation to Innovation,
CEO | Corporate Anthropologist | Author
Simonassociates.net
Info@simonassociates.net
@simonandi
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If you would like to dive into the text, read on…
Andi Simon 00:00:02 Welcome to On the Brink with Andy Simon. I’m Andy and as you know, we’ve been doing this for eight years. You our audience, has made us number 18 among the top 100 podcasts on the topic of change. What’s our job? To help you get off the brink. To help you see, feel and think in new ways so that you can adapt to these fast changing times. Now remember, humans hate change, so if you’re feeling a little stressed, it’s not uncommon. But today, Tonya Thomas is here with us today, and she is a wonderful woman who’s got a great company, and the company is here to help you get off the brink. And so team delegate is about how do we change the way we get things done. And I’m going to let her tell you more about her own journey. But I want you to listen carefully to the ways in which you can do things better, simpler, more efficiently that you may or may not be familiar with today, and why she has some methodologies that will help you change? It’s a fresh lens.
Andi Simon 00:01:01 It’s what we love to do. Tanya, thank you for being with us today.
Tonya Thomas 00:01:05 Thank you for having me.
Andi Simon 00:01:07 Tell the listener or the viewer who is Tanya? What’s your journey been like? I know you’ve been doing this for a long time, but I think you have a great company. Please help us.
Tonya Thomas 00:01:16 Sure. Yeah. I’ve been in the industry for over 20 years. I started out being a virtual executive assistant myself, back in the early 2000, and it seems like that was so long ago. I did spend an enormous amount of time back then educating people on what it was. but yeah, it is definitely advanced over the years. So I spent about 18 years, I guess, doing it myself. I do remember maybe 80% into that journey. Having a conversation with my then business coach, and she tells me, you don’t have a business, you just have a job you’ve created for yourself. And it’s like, okay, you know what? What are you talking about? I have clients, that website, all that.
Tonya Thomas 00:02:04 I am running my own business, and it just didn’t hit well about fast forward, I guess maybe 2 or 3 years after that, and I begin to feel some type of way about coming in here into my office. And her words hit home. Then they resonated and I knew exactly what she meant. And I toyed with, you know, what I wanted to do, but I knew I didn’t know I no longer wanted to be the person providing the service, but I loved helping entrepreneurs be able to get that support. So that’s when Teen Delegate was born. and so I decided to scale the company at that time and take myself out of it. But we help leaders, you know, be able to delegate effectively by providing them with a remote virtual EA who works proactively with them to be able to help them get out of the weeds so they can focus on, you know, what it is that they want to do in their business. so that they’re not, you know, doing it alone. And they’ve got that right hand partner helping them.
Andi Simon 00:03:08 That’s so interesting. So this came out of that moment when somebody said something to you and gave you what I like to call it, mirror moments. You looked in the mirror and the first thing you said was no. And then over time something triggered a switch that went she’s right. I’m a solopreneur for better or worse. And I’m at a point now where I’m perfectly happy. The last thing I want our staff but it’s scaling is limited. There’s only so much one can do oneself. Right. Right. Podcasts, speaking engagements. Writing books. Promoting books. Selling so many hours in the day. You could be good at all of them. But there are only so many hours in the day. So tell us about what you created and how it’s evolved. Because I have a hunch it is growing and scaling. But you’re learning stuff too.
Tonya Thomas 00:03:57 Yes. And so having that the ability I think as for me, I’ve been on both sides. So that’s been helpful for me because I was an executive assistant.
Tonya Thomas 00:04:07 So I know what leaders need. And I’ve been in their role now as a scaling entrepreneur, knowing what type of support you need to help you. So just kind of marrying those two together. But I meet with a lot of people who were matter of fact with someone, I guess. Last week I was talking with another entrepreneur, and she says, well, I have an assistant, but so I it’s two, I guess, camps. I need people who have never had an assistant before, and those who have one and but it’s not working well and I guess those who three, three, I guess those who struggle with delegation. And she was telling me, she said, well, you know, I have an assistant, but it’s like I’m still doing everything in a sense because I’m leading her and everything that she needs to do. And that’s and I always tell people it’s two different things. You have proactive and reactive. And so in her instance, it was her not having a proactive executive assistant.
Tonya Thomas 00:05:11 And I think that’s the difference because you have, you know, a regular assistant who can support you, but you’re telling them everything to do. You’re doing all the thinking, and they may be doing it, but that’s still not really releasing you because you still have a hand in what’s being done. So there’s still some frustration there. So those are things that, you know, we work with leaders to be able to do our EA’s work proactively with them, but then we also kind of coach them and help them, you know, know how to work with an executive assistant, because a lot of people get in that, that realm. If they do have one that’s not working, they know it’s not working because they’re still not really feeling free. and then, like I said, those that have never done it and don’t really know where to start. So we help them along too. In terms of, you know, providing guidance as well as they’re working with their assigned day on how to work, how to work with them.
Andi Simon 00:06:14 Now, you designed this from scratch or was it a model like a franchise or just you invented it yourself?
Tonya Thomas 00:06:23 Well, there are, you know, other agencies. so it’s not something the concept of the agency model is not something that I designed, you know, on my own. but it’s definitely a way, like I said earlier, you know, to be able to help more people because, like you talked about earlier, when you’re solo, there’s only so many people that you know you can support and help. And the two, it kind of goes hand in hand too, with business owners. So when you were saying that I was thinking about the same thing, even though sometimes people can be solo business owners and they may want to stay that way, it’s still helpful to not going alone because you can still, you know, burn yourself out in the process if it’s just you, you know, doing everything. So even if you’re somebody who’s solo, I always tell people to, you know, it’s helpful to have that support as well.
Andi Simon 00:07:17 Now, do the support folks come in different flavors small, medium, large people who are local, people who are not. I mean, give us some flavor for the way in which you’ve designed the, the interim support or the virtual assistance, because I do think they’re not all the same, are they?
Tonya Thomas 00:07:35 Correct. And so, yeah, our ideas are all here in the United States. there is a difference in support. And again, I was talking with someone the other day and she’s like, well, my understanding executive assistant support, it’s kind of like a higher level. Correct. unless what I was talking about earlier. that support is different in terms of that, how that person supports you. So that’s why that is our focus. to provide executive assistant support.
Andi Simon 00:08:06 Versus a virtual assistant or just somebody who’s your secretary?
Tonya Thomas 00:08:10 Correct.
Andi Simon 00:08:12 and the kind of work that the folks do. Would be interesting to know more about. What kinds of scope do they do? I mean, can you give them a marketing job and let them develop a marketing plan? How? How far can they take you?
Tonya Thomas 00:08:23 Exactly.
Tonya Thomas 00:08:24 So, for example, managing calendars, inboxes, you know, travel, all of those things that are kind of those are our three probably core that everybody wants. And then after that it’s a little bit, you know, based on the client, because everybody’s business is a little bit different. But that’s pretty much the core. Some of the core areas where we do support that’s similar for everybody, I would say. and just to give an example of kind of the thinking and sort of the difference in how someone would be able to provide the support in those areas. You do have, you know, different tools now that you can use. You’ve also, you know, got AI and things like that. But I know those when we use some of those things. But it still takes some human ingenuity, to be able to guide those tools. But for example, say someone’s managing your calendar for you and you’ve given them the parameters to be able to do that. And they can. For example, some team members are helping with time blocking and things like that.
Tonya Thomas 00:09:35 But taking it another step because, for example, there may be some a time block on there for you to do something once in a while. And so that person is going to make sure the reminders are on there. They’re maybe going to set a reminder on their end just having that, that, that extra support to make sure that nothing slips through the cracks. Yep. Owning and managing those tasks as opposed to just doing them. but really fully taking ownership of them.
Andi Simon 00:10:04 Now, do you train your executive assistants?
Tonya Thomas 00:10:07 We they provide. You know, because everybody that comes in are coming from a corporate background. So they already have experience supporting leaders. But, you know, they do still get professional development, you know, as there, you know, working along with us.
Andi Simon 00:10:25 Yes. And you find that most of them that you hire hang around for a long time are perfectly capable of this. This is a long time position, and a career move for them.
Tonya Thomas 00:10:34 Correct? Yes. so it is, you know, everybody nowadays, you know, for when the pandemic hit, you know, there were a lot of remote opportunities.
Tonya Thomas 00:10:43 But of course, now as things are kind of falling back into normalcy here, that is not. It’s still there, but, you know, not as prevalent as it was before. So this allows people to have some form of flexibility.
Andi Simon 00:10:58 It’s such an interesting field. And you are growing, I’m assuming, and growing well. And are you finding that there are some things that are coming up that need to be addressed differently? I mean, is AI and machine learning changing the roles of your executive assistants? I always love to understand change and how it’s developing in your particular business. What do you think?
Tonya Thomas 00:11:26 Yes. And so, you know, I was, as a matter of fact, you know, at the conference there was someone who approached me, was like, well, is this going to just wipe, wipe you all out? The answer is no. You know, if anything, it’s enhancing what we do in making our work more efficient. And some things, you know, that we did by hand before, you know, AI has helped to increase the speed of that.
Tonya Thomas 00:11:53 for example, if you are doing some in-box management, you know, when using categories and things like that, it can do that with, you know, the EA’s help. Like I said, the guide and make sure that everything is correct and what it’s doing and telling it. You know what to do, but it is cutting that time down. research as well. So different things like that, if anything. Yeah, is just helping make us be better at what we’re doing.
Andi Simon 00:12:22 And do you find that some of your clients, rethink their executive assistants and turn them into staff people in some ways, or, you know, is there a career path there? I’m sort of curious about the culture of an executive assistant today.
Tonya Thomas 00:12:37 In our line. because we have a couple of ways, you know, people can my company is designed where if someone wants a full time person, you know, we can do that, for them in terms of kind of like recruiting. But then we also offer, you know, part time contract basis for clients who don’t need full time support.
Tonya Thomas 00:13:01 So, you know, what I find with those types of clients, a lot of times they do that long term, because they find that that works for them.
Andi Simon 00:13:13 Interesting. Are there certain categories or industries across the country that seek you out more easily than others? I mean, are there some who really understand the value here and come out and say, I need more of you guys? You know, which ones are your fans?
Tonya Thomas 00:13:28 Yeah. I would say for us it’s been consultants and coaches. We do have some other industries, but and coaching for me because I think back to early on when the coaching industry was new or so was the virtual assistants at that time. So that was primarily who I worked with back then too. But yeah, it’s kind of sort of stayed the same that way. of course, more people now know about this industry and are utilizing it, but I would have to say that’s still probably the core of us and just service based businesses.
Andi Simon 00:14:06 That’s really cool.
Andi Simon 00:14:08 because in some ways, they’re right and in the right place to take the new technology and operationalize it, learn it. And if they’re talented, they can add great value. and you don’t have to worry about firing them. They’re there. You need them, but you need them to be faster and easier. It is so interesting. I had a request from a PR from this morning for a talk with a newscaster about rethinking retirement, and, so, so tell me a little bit about it. So I went to my chat buddy and in no time at all, I had the questions he answers. I modified them for my voice and send them back over. And I said, how’s this? He said, you should be in the business of news, whoever turns out things as fast anymore. I said, we all do. because it just changes the speed of thinking. Right. I had to give the right prompts. I had to give them the right categories, but it drafted it and made it look really pretty.
Andi Simon 00:15:04 I didn’t need a secretary. Not yet anyway. But it was. It’s really fun. So. So are there some, new directions that you’re going? Or major upheavals that are coming? What do you see?
Tonya Thomas 00:15:18 That’s one that I would say. And something that I heard when you were talking there and we were talking about AI and that right now, because there’s always change. I mean, you know, that’s just the thing I think even when Covid happened there, you know, was change there. And now, you know, we’ve got AI. And so that’s I think the thing for us right now in the industry is I was talking about that conversation before. But the other side of that is I think people sometimes think, well, you know, now I can just use AI, but there’s still some complexities there from your time standpoint too. Yeah. Because you’re it’s another tool for you to manage and deal with and learn and still tell it what to, you know, what you wanted to do for you as opposed to, you know, having someone else, like in our role, to be able to manage those tools for you and still get those things done.
Tonya Thomas 00:16:15 But I think that’s one of the things that I think is probably a little change there. So just providing that, and I think people realize that over time because your time is valuable. And that’s what we’re providing here in the service is giving people back time. And so that’s one thing I’d just like for everybody to keep in mind is they’re dealing with AI and stuff like that. It can do a lot for you, but it still can be a time issue as well. If I’m making sense.
Andi Simon 00:16:47 Well, absolutely. And I was interviewing someone not too long ago, and they were talking about how their job is to give people time and let them use it more wisely so they can think as well as act. people get into particularly small and mid-sized companies. They end up doing more than thinking. and I’m a Vista speaker, and many of the CEOs of mid-market companies are told they can they can run the business fine, but nobody’s driving it. And so you can add a whole opportunity for them to step back for a moment and begin to think about, where am I going? You know, what’s my plan? If you build a strategy plan, why don’t I have anyone to run it? So you’re in charge.
Andi Simon 00:17:27 You know that’s your plan. Well, you know, how do I get the day to day done? I said you’re still doing what you used to do. You don’t need to do that anymore. You know, hand it off. Oh, will it be done right? I said, well, it would be done, so someone’s right. Maybe not your right, but it’s a time for a change. It’s interesting. How is this affected you personally?
Tonya Thomas 00:17:47 It’s just in terms of. And there’s so much in there. Doctor Andy, about what you said, because you kind of segue there into a little bit about the delegation, too. So I in terms of personally, to answer your question, it, it how it has personally, I guess, is just always having to evolve, you know, always having to stay make sure that I’m keeping my, you know, ear to the ground or whatever and learning and knowing, keeping my like I said, when I went to the conference and someone said that, it’s like, that’s good getting out there to hear what people are thinking.
Tonya Thomas 00:18:25 Yeah, but that’s I that’s what I would say is the way it has changed me. You know, always having to evolve and know how to do that. No. definitely as a leader. But yeah.
Andi Simon 00:18:37 If you were an entrepreneur, as I think you are, you’re already seeing gaps that can be filled by new introductions of new services and are things I used to have my clients sit on the phone and listen to where people were asking for, and they weren’t asking for what you were selling. They were asking for what they need. So are there a particular thing that you’re hearing coming in now, or is there still a deep freeze and people are afraid to make any decisions? What do you see?
Tonya Thomas 00:19:03 I don’t I don’t think it’s that because I think some people are still you know, the bottom line is, you know, they still need help in terms of delegating like you were talking about there. And they know that. I think more people are realizing it now, though, than a few years ago.
Tonya Thomas 00:19:22 Because now, like I said, I run more into the gamut, mainly of people who have support, but it’s just not working well for them as opposed to people who don’t have it at all. So I think people are realizing that, and it’s just the fact of learning and knowing how, like you were talking about just a second ago when the person was saying, world? Will it be done right or. I think that’s the biggest challenge, though, is knowing how to delegate and delegate effectively so that you get the outcome that you want.
Andi Simon 00:19:56 I’m curious, do you do a free three months or any kind of incentive to let people try people or that doesn’t work or it’s not appropriate?
Tonya Thomas 00:20:06 We I, we don’t do that. and that’s something that I’ve never the question I’ve never done inside of the business. but people, you know, they’re not really tied down, you know, to anything. Because when you work in this way, it’s a little fluid. So they have the opportunity, you know, with after, you know, if they it’s not working for them, they definitely have the opportunity to, you know, shut it down.
Tonya Thomas 00:20:33 So that’s not something that we’ve set up before, but our clients tend to stay with us long term, fortunately. Yeah.
Andi Simon 00:20:42 I was.
Multiple Speakers 00:20:42 Thinking that.
Andi Simon 00:20:43 I mean, listening to you, my hunch is that once they find you, they stay. And all of a sudden, there’s an unmet need and you’ve solved it. And they didn’t know that they could solve it before.
Tonya Thomas 00:20:54 Right, exactly.
Andi Simon 00:20:56 I think this is great. So now you’ve grown. Do you have growth objectives for yourself for the next stage, too?
Tonya Thomas 00:21:05 Yes. you know, definitely still trying to grow the company. But also, I’m not I’m not getting any younger. so, yeah, definitely thinking about also that exit stage and what that looks like. But I don’t in terms of seeing myself, you know, just not doing anything at all. I, I don’t see that, you know, it may shift in what I’m doing and how I’m doing it, but not just completely shutting it down.
Multiple Speakers 00:21:35 Yeah.
Andi Simon 00:21:36 Because of the Rethink retirement work that we’re doing.
Andi Simon 00:21:39 and the fact that we refuse to retire, or at least for the moment, the conversation Endlessly is about the dilemma of I’m really happy with working, but am I missing something by not retiring? and if you like to grow your business, my husband grew his and sold it very effectively and then joined mine, and, and I was writing about that to someone and they said, well, can I join yours too? And I said, oh, that’s an interesting idea. What can I get you to do work on? but it is a time of change and the transitions are unsettling. and if you love what you do, I love what I do. Why should I give it up? I can shrink it a little bit, but I don’t need to give it up. And I wouldn’t know what to do with. I reinvent myself to do the same thing. So.
Tonya Thomas 00:22:25 Exactly. So I’ve been thinking about that. as a matter of fact, even when I decided to scale, I had that in mind.
Tonya Thomas 00:22:35 Is that next stage look like. So I had a goal you know, and at some point, you know my goal is to, you know, try and Sell my company. And so after that I want to continue in this line of work. But just like I said, just it just looks differently. Maybe it’s just me, and an EA or something like that where I’m, you know, coaching people out of delegate better, but continuing on because I just couldn’t see myself not doing that. You know, even though if I consider myself to be, I guess not totally retired, but semi.
Andi Simon 00:23:14 Yes, I know, but you have so much to share and you have such purpose and passion. I love listening to you because this isn’t a job. I’m the gal said you’ve worked yourself into a job, but it really isn’t for you. It really is. Why, who am I? What am I doing? How am I helping others? I think it’s just a beautiful job. So tell me, if they want to reach you, how can they get Ahold of you? And what kinds of things do you? So you have two folks here.
Andi Simon 00:23:38 You have clients who need an AA and you have EES who want clients. You’re the broker. Right.
Tonya Thomas 00:23:45 So. But I guess so to say. But. Yeah. Because when the EA’s are a part of the team, you know, they’re part of team delegates, so.
Multiple Speakers 00:23:53 Right.
Andi Simon 00:23:54 And so if people would like to work with you or get you to work with them, what would be the right way to reach you?
Tonya Thomas 00:24:00 I am a very active on LinkedIn. Tonya Thomas and then our website is team delegate.com.
Multiple Speakers 00:24:08 Good.
Andi Simon 00:24:09 And I suspect all the jobs are listed there or not. Yes, they are. So this is pretty cool. But I was I was serious. You’ve become a broker now. An agent representing one side and another. I mean, there are all kinds of words out there that are sort of reflective of what you’re doing. But you’re a business owner who now has a really vibrant business. Isn’t this exciting for you? I love it.
Tonya Thomas 00:24:33 Yes, it is. And yeah. And yes, it was good to hear that.
Tonya Thomas 00:24:38 You see the passion that comes through. Because, you know, I tell the people that that work with me on my team is just like sometimes that it gets challenging because you are so involved and you really want to help people. Yeah. and so, yeah, it’s just that I think then till you get so involved, wanting to do that. But you can help, only help those that want the help. So that’s just how it is.
Andi Simon 00:25:05 But sometimes you need to help them know that there are some solutions and they work. So I think this is terrific. and is it’s just interesting to listen and watch you because, this isn’t just in any old business. This is something that matters.
Tonya Thomas 00:25:22 It truly does.
Andi Simon 00:25:24 That’s great. Best place to reach you, though, would maybe be LinkedIn, right?
Tonya Thomas 00:25:29 Yes. Or like I said, our website team delegate.com. I mean, if you go to our website for sure there’s a, there’s a way to contact me on there. so yes, there’s a contact Us page.
Andi Simon 00:25:44 I’m going to urge our listeners and our viewers to think about what Tanya is saying during these changing times. You may think that I can’t I don’t know what kind of assistant to hire, but maybe you just need a good, talented, proactive executive assistant who can take charge of many things, freeing up your time so you can think about the business and run it, as opposed to do it because you know what happens? You get dragged into the littlest stuff. I remember my husband, who ran his own business, was packing boxes with educational tests and said, what are you doing? He said, I’m packing the boxes. He said, so how many jobs do you have here? Well, let’s see, I’m the chief financial officer, the chief backer of the boxes, the chief development officer, the chief. And I said, okay, I got it. At some point, you got to grow out of being the chief of everything and.
Tonya Thomas 00:26:29 Right. Exactly.
Andi Simon 00:26:32 this has been such fun. So, any last thoughts you would like for our listeners or our viewers? And then I will wrap this up because it’s been a great podcast.
Andi Simon 00:26:40 What do you think?
Tonya Thomas 00:26:41 Thank you. Yes. It has. And so just wanted everybody to keep in mind as you were just sharing. don’t become the bottleneck. I mean, you know, in your business with your time, if it’s just you that’s bottleneck in your time, if you’re trying to scale this bottleneck in you from scaling. So that’s my final thought. Don’t become the bottleneck.
Andi Simon 00:27:03 No bottlenecks. I can see the visual now without bottlenecks. I heads in the bottle. So for all of you who come, I can’t thank you enough. I know I tell you often, you have ranked us 18th among the top 100 podcasts on the topic of change. I love to help you do something you hate to do, which is to change. And you are saying to me, really? They said, yes, humans are really resistant to change. It protects you. But it’s a time to change. And Tanya Thomas today has been telling you about how to grow and scale your business using executive assistants who are well prepared to help you do just that.
Andi Simon 00:27:39 And they’re not going to wait for you to tell them they’re going to come and help you really leverage what you’ve got. So all of our books are on Amazon. Please go and enjoy them. and our new book, Rethink Retirement, is there in all its flavors. And it loves your reviews. And I actually was reading it the other day preparing for a podcast, and I said, this is a good book. I like this book. It’s all about how to maybe not retire. But if you’re going to how to think about it intentionally so that you don’t fall into a trap of saying, I made it and then I have nothing to do. No purpose, no meaning, no friends, no identity. Oh my gosh, what did I do for myself? And on that note, remember to take your observations like Tonya did and turn them into innovations, because this kind of business was waiting for her to create it. And with the quality that she offers, it’s really transformative and it’ll help you transform yourself.
Andi Simon 00:28:33 Thanks again, Tonya. It’s been a pleasure. I appreciate it and all of you. Come. Please have a wonderful day. Bye now.
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