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Most of the small business and solo professionals I know don’t have an assistant. Whether they are an independent consultant, coach, professional speaker, writer, or even a startup CEO, they consider an administrative assistant a waste of money.

Why spend on an admin when I know how to use a computer and can do it myself?

Venture capitalist Mark Suster, 0n his blog Both Sides of the Table, made a compelling case for the value of an admin.

While I’m passionate about being scrappy when you start and controlling your costs, I’m equally passionate about performance when you have a bit of cash. And I’ve seen way too many CEOs/founders get bogged down in minutiae because they were used to it from the scrappy phase. They’ve struggled to scale.

Think about it. Your single most valuable asset in the early days is your senior team and presumably nobody is more valuable than the founding team. And you’re bogged down in expense claims, booking hotel rooms, scheduling meetings, dealing with a leaky toilet, processing payroll, ordering computers, etc.”

In other words, if you don’t have an admin, you are an admin.