“You’re Hiring Help Already?”

You know the deal and you’ve heard it a million times—you’re a founder, so that automatically makes you the head of everything.

You’re the visionary. The strategist. The bookkeeper, BDM, therapist, admin, and if I’m being brutally honest… the one making the Canva graphics at midnight because you’re obviously a master of brand strategy and marketing too.

In the early days, this all feels pretty normal. Scrappy, even. It’s like a startup rite of passage. You say things like “it’s lean” and “I’m still early stage” to anyone who raises an eyebrow.

I’ve been there—both deep in the trenches as an Executive Assistant for a founder who tried to do it all… and now most recently as a founder myself.

But here’s the thing no one tells you: what starts as hustling can quickly morph into chaos. And worse—it can become a bottleneck. You, the founder, become your own growth ceiling.

So what’s the fix?

It’s simple: you bring in someone to help before you think you need the help.

That someone? A Fractional Executive Assistant.

Can I just stop you there….

Being busy isn’t the flex you think it is. It’s not a sign that your startup is thriving. It’s a sign that you’re doing too much.

Busyness is not the same as progress. It just feels like it, because ticking off 57 tiny tasks gives the illusion of productivity.

But if you’re spending your day knee-deep in emails, scheduling meetings, tweaking your Notion board, sending Stripe invoices, or following up on that one Slack message from last Tuesday that you swear you replied to… You’re not building.

You’re maintaining. Managing. Surviving – not Thriving.

That’s not why you became a founder, right?

“I need to hit £X in revenue first.”
“I’m not ready for a team yet.”
“I can’t afford help right now.”

Believe me—I’ve heard them all. I’ve said them all.

But the founders who grow faster, smoother, and saner? They’re the ones who build in the support before they think they deserve it.

Because when you wait until you’re in the weeds, you’re not hiring strategically—you run the risk of panic-hiring.

Let’s set the record straight. This is not “just” admin support. You’re not hiring someone to fetch coffee and colour-code your diary. A great fractional EA is your strategic co-pilot. The one who steadies the ship while you’re plotting the course. Here’s what that can look like:

• Inbox triage: you only see what matters

• Calendar control: no more meeting overload

• Client onboarding systems and CRM: built and run for you

• Ops docs and SOPs: captured before chaos hits

• Project management: you get nudged, not nagged

• Performance data tracked: so you stop guessing

They’re not “just” assistants. They’re enablersof momentum.

Let me tell you this from experience: you don’t need a million-pound business to deserve support.

Do you have:

• Recurring tasks you hate
• Some chaos you’d love to tame
• A deep desire to focus on what you’re actually good at

Then you deserve support to take this off your hands. A fractional EA can start small—maybe only 5 hours a month. No large overheads. No team onboarding headaches. Just the breathing space you desperately need to think clearly again.

And as your business grows? So does their role. Simple.

I get it. Letting go is terrifying. As founders, we’re control freaks. (Yes, I said it.) I am absolutely one as well!

But delegation isn’t about giving up control—it’s about creating capacity. You’re not stepping away from your business. You’re stepping into the role your business actually needs from you.

You can then start making decisions from your CEO brain—not your “did-I-pay-that-invoice” brain.

The best founders I’ve worked with? They didn’t just delegate tasks—they built trust with their assistants, had honest and transparent communication lines, and implemented processes and systems early. That’s what made them scalable.

This is the part no one warns you about.

When you finally realise you need help, you’re probably already underwater. That’s when hiring feels like another task you don’t have time for, and that’s when things slip. Worse than that, it’s when burnout hits.

But it doesn’t have to be that way.

Hiring a fractional EA early is about avoiding the burnout, the bottlenecks, and the breakdowns. It’s about creating calm before it turns into chaos.

And yes, I’ve seen it firsthand—founders who got their weekends back, reconnected with their “why,” and finally had space to scale their business properly.

If you’ve read this far, you probably already know what I’m going to say:

Bring in support. Do it before you think you need it. Don’t wait for perfect timing (spoiler: it doesn’t exist). Just start.

And if you’re wondering what a fractional EA could actually take off your plate?

Let’s talk.

Because trust me—there’s a much less chaotic, way more organised version of you waiting on the other side of a little delegation.

And I’d love to help you meet them.