Amanda Hamilton Of Hamilton Raye: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times
An Interview With Fotis Georgiadis
Get clear on your priorities. Being laser-focused on what matters most to growing in your role requires having the ability to step back from menial tasks.
As part of our series about the “Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During Turbulent Times”, we had the pleasure of interviewing Amanda Hamilton.
Amanda Hamilton is the founder of Hamilton Raye “Your Outsourced Admin®”, which brings professional remote administrative support to startup organizations and businesses.
With a decade of experience in the corporate retail industry, she learned best practices for staying organized, managing constant changes in priorities, and finding process efficiencies to reduce workload.
Content with her career but Amanda longing to work remotely in order to live and work anywhere she pleased, Amanda decided to take her fate into her own hands and start Hamilton Raye “Your Outsourced Admin®”.
Finding that the founders, CEO’s, and small business owners she partnered with were wearing multiple hats and looking for more time in their days and weeks, Amanda realized that the most necessary piece of being a business owner is to maintain maximum efficiency and productivity, by keeping your schedule moving and remaining highly organized. That was how she developed the concept of maximizing her clients’ time by providing knowledgeable admin professionals who could act as a trusted extension of their team.
Thank you so much for your time! I know that you are a very busy person. Our readers would love to “get to know you” a bit better. Can you tell us a bit about your ‘backstory’ and how you got started?
Prior to starting Hamilton Raye, I spent ten years working in the corporate retail industry in Columbus, Ohio. After spending several years in burnout and no longer feeling fulfilled, I decided to make a life change and leave my job while also moving to another city. I spent a little over a year working odd jobs to pay my bills such as the front desk at Orangetheory Fitness and working as a virtual assistant for an agency out of Georgia. While working as a virtual assistant, I identified an area of opportunity for small to mid-sized businesses with the skills I’d developed throughout my corporate career, I realized I could provide a higher level of support as an executive assistant and bring a thought partnership relationship to the table.
In March of 2020, I officially launched Hamilton Raye and, as any business owner in this moment, had to pause and identify the best way to move forward, given the state of the world. Fortunately, the swift shift of moving to fully remote for most organizations brought a lot of great opportunities to Hamilton Raye. People were no longer concerned about hiring a fractional executive assistant that lived in a different part of the country and it became more of the norm.
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lessons or ‘take aways’ you learned from that?
When I first started my business, I was working on a client account, and we’d just started working together. He needed me to book travel for him within days of the trip and he needed to leave at a specific time and return at a specific time. He was open to traveling between airports to manage these timelines. I remember being up late at night, searching for an accommodating flight. I finally found the perfect option and booked the car service he needed to get there. I came to find out a few days later that I’d booked the car service for the wrong day. Upon learning this, I was mortified and thankfully we were able to get the car service there on time without any impact on his travel time. But this triggered multiple lessons for me.
First, don’t force yourself to work when you’re exhausted because it doesn’t benefit anyone! Secondly, have multiple checks and balances in place to avoid oversights like this in the future. I’ve used this mishap as a very funny story to share with my team to remind them that we are all human and mistakes can be made. However, it’s how we learn from them and move forward that’s most important.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story?
That would be my mentor. When we first met, back in 2019, I was a very young and naive entrepreneur. I was clueless regarding how to identify my ideal client or go about building a marketing strategy. He kindly and politely offered to mentor me and in the first 6 months, we spent several hours working together to build the business I am now so proud to have started. I remember when we were brainstorming on identifying the best name to go with “Your Outsourced Admin” and we had several funny moments of name options such as “Miss Hamilton” that we still laugh about today. He continues to be a listening ear when I need him and always provides me with positive and constructive feedback to continue to improve. I’m forever grateful for his guidance and support.
Extensive research suggests that “purpose driven businesses” are more successful in many areas. When your company started, what was its vision, what was its purpose?
Our ultimate goal and mission at Hamilton Raye is to give back time to our clients by providing businesses that do not have the need for a full-time administrative associate with an experienced professional for a fraction of the hiring cost.
Our mission: “Our mission is to provide Founders, CEO’s and Small Business Owners with reliable, professional, and trustworthy support to unlock their most valuable asset. TIME.”
Our vision: “We are here to create accessibility for all-size businesses to an experienced administrative associate.”
Our difference: “At Hamilton Raye, we are focused on providing our clients with experienced professionals that will seamlessly integrate into your business and provide you with reliable and high-end support.”
Thank you for all that. Let’s now turn to the main focus of our discussion. Can you share with our readers a story from your own experience about how you lead your team during uncertain or difficult times?
In March of 2020, I officially launched Hamilton Raye. I had been working in the industry for a little over a year at that point and had been working towards an official launch that month. We had a small client portfolio at the time, but I was the main point of contact amongst the majority of our clients. Then March 14, 2020, happened and the news of the world shutting down went global. At this moment, I was very uncertain of the impact this was going to have on the business. While we were fully remote, I did not know whether our clients would be negatively impacted which would cause contract cancellations and ultimately a failing business. It was during this first month that I had to be strategic and pivot while maintaining an optimistic attitude with my team. I was consistently in communication with them, checking in to make sure they felt safe, supported, and ultimately healthy. People appreciate knowing they are supported, and in a turbulent time such as the COVID pandemic, this was the most important part of leading. Ensuring that the team had the right amount of support was a priority for me.
The benefit for Hamilton Raye was that everyone had moved to a fully remote organization, which allowed businesses to realize they did not need a full-time and in-office executive assistant and that a service like ours was needed. Our mission is to find more time in the day for our clients, so based on already having an existing infrastructure for a remote business, it was an easy transition for existing clients to expand with us.
Did you ever consider giving up? Where did you get the motivation to continue through your challenges? What sustains your drive?
I definitely have moments where I feel exhausted and don’t have the drive to continue forward but, then something wonderful will happen. It’s usually when a member of the team has a positive experience with a client or impacts another team member in a positive way. Those small moments throughout the days and weeks give me so much joy that is motivation and it’s enough to keep going. Our ultimate goal is to give back time to our clients so they can use that time to be present with family and friends and when we see our work paying off it’s extremely motivating.
What would you say is the most critical role of a leader during challenging times?
To be there when your team needs you. Challenging times can mean something different for everyone and having the ability to be a listening ear or to provide a sense of security for your team is key. As a leader, you will gain respect and maintain a positive working environment when your team feels supported in any type of circumstance.
When the future seems so uncertain, what is the best way to boost morale? What can a leader do to inspire, motivate and engage their team?
Maintaining a positive and optimistic attitude. I truly believe that a positive and optimistic attitude can get anyone through challenging times, both personally and professionally. It is the job of a leader to assess the team and determine their status on the mood elevator.
What is the best way to communicate difficult news to one’s team and customers?
Open and honest communication. Even in difficult situations and while sharing difficult news, it is so important to lead by honesty while maintaining an optimistic attitude. A leader’s thoughts and attitudes set the tone for the rest of the team and if they come across negatively or as a pessimist that will naturally exude onto the team and ultimately the client base.
How can a leader make plans when the future is so unpredictable?
I think it is very important to have weekly, monthly, semi-annual and annual plans. It all starts out with The One Thing and identifying what your main priority should be weekly, monthly, semi-annually, and annually to achieve your goals.
It is necessary to reassess within each timeline to determine if a different decision is required to pivot and adjust within certain circumstances. The pandemic in 2020 was a perfect example of a time when businesses might have had different goals in March of 2020, and everyone had to step back and assess the current environment and how to best move forward without a complete disruption of the business.
Is there a “number one principle” that can help guide a company through the ups and downs of turbulent times?
Remaining true to the organization’s mission and core values. The values adopted by a business serve as the basis in which to remain engaged and carry out major initiatives with a strong sense of purpose. This helps create a culture and environment that can withstand any challenge or obstacle. In my experience, a solid company mission and meaningful core values to stand by and embrace can steer the entire organization in the same direction because of a shared mentality and desire for growth and progression. The proper mindset truly matters.
Can you share 3 or 4 of the most common mistakes you have seen other businesses make during difficult times? What should one keep in mind to avoid that?
- Not listening to their customers.
- Allowing challenging times to bring toxic behaviors into their work environment.
- Making impulsive decisions.
I think the two most important aspects of running any business is listening to your customers and your team. In a service-based business, your team is supporting the client. If the team member is unhappy, there is a great possibility that the client will not receive the level of service you desire. In turbulent times, continuing to monitor your employees’ satisfaction can be extremely difficult but, making the effort to always resort back to the core of any business — the people — and making that a priority is key.
Generating new business, increasing your profits, or at least maintaining your financial stability can be challenging during good times, even more so during turbulent times. Can you share some of the strategies you use to keep forging ahead and not lose growth traction during a difficult economy?
I think this ties back to identifying short and long-term goals and continuing to review and assess what needs to be done to achieve those goals. A turbulent moment, such as the pandemic, brought nuances to navigate that was never expected. It was necessary to sit down and assess the current financial status of the business and determine what would need to happen to sustain business versus growing the business.
One strategy I use is evaluating how we’re growing our business — whether that concerns identifying new client opportunities or building within our existing client base. I knew that when the pandemic came into play, I might not be receiving as many referrals to grow the business as I’d initially anticipated, so I came up with a new plan to identify new business opportunities outside of referrals. Additionally, I started connecting with our existing clients to determine what needs they had and found by hiring a few different specialists, we could support our existing client base with different levels of work allowing us to continue to grow.
Here is the primary question of our discussion. Based on your experience and success, what are the five most important things a business leader should do to lead effectively during uncertain and turbulent times? Please share a story or an example for each.
- Master the art of delegation. Delegating tasks to trustworthy team members is a great way to decrease your stress level and minimize interruptions to your daily routine.
As a business leader, you need to delegate with intention to open up more capacity to focus on your expertise and the value you can provide the business. We have a client that started working with us in 2019 and initially we managed a small percentage of her daily tasks which ultimately caused her stress and burnout. As soon as she delegated with intention to allow herself the time to open up her creative space her business has more than tripled in the last year.
2. Expand your team. Building an admin team of professionals who can help you run your business grants you more time to focus on growing.
In a larger business it’s not always about one admin team member there could be a need for multiple. We find success with having one admin per three to four executives within an organization. This allows focus on building relationships and learning personalities and preferences.
A client recently made the shift to having three admins supporting the three different levels of leaders within the business and it has allowed for efficiencies with calendar management as well as coordinating team and offsite activities. This has led to them having more time on engaging and developing their team rather than managing all of the administrative pieces that go into a leadership role.
3. Focus on what matters most. Having reliable administrative support allows you to focus on critical tasks and meet business growth goals.
It is always important to continue to focus on the core values and purpose of your business. When you stay focused on the core this allows the entire team to march in the same direction. Allowing an administrative professional to take on those menial tasks will give you more time to focus on the critical tasks. I had a client share that the support we provide him has given him and his family more time than he could have ever imagined without our administrative team.
4. Create a robust team that runs without your input. Trained professionals can pick up the slack on your behalf, which allows you to focus on what you do best.
They say culture is what happens when you are not around and focusing on team development and happiness, in the beginning, will reward you in the long run. When I first started Hamilton Raye, my focus was to build a culture of openness and happiness. My priority has been building the correct infrastructure around training and expectations so that as a team we are unified with our thinking and approach.
5. Get clear on your priorities. Being laser-focused on what matters most to growing in your role requires having the ability to step back from menial tasks.
It all goes back to focusing on your “One Thing” every day, week, month, and year. After I read the book The One Thing I started to focus on my priorities differently and this opened up my capacity both personally and professionally. Rather than creating a long to-do list, I would never accomplish, I started focusing on a success list and identifying the one or two priority items I would need to accomplish to move the business forward to meet our goals.
Can you please give us your favorite “Life Lesson Quote”? Can you share how that was relevant to you in your life?
“Every problem is a gift, without problems we would not grow.” — Anthony Robbins
My most challenging moments throughout my life have been the biggest lessons. Looking back at those moments makes me realize that I was given those tumultuous moments to really learn and grow into the person I am today. Life is a journey and there are ups and downs on all of our respective paths. But it’s how you take the downs and turn them into ups that make the ride worthwhile.
How can our readers further follow your work?
Hamilton Raye Social Media Accounts & Website:
Website: www.hamiltonraye.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hamilton_raye/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/hamiltonraye
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/HamiltonRaye
Personal Social Media Accounts:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/admindiaries
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/amanda-raye-hamilton/
Thank you so much for sharing these important insights. We wish you continued success and good health!
Amanda Hamilton Of Hamilton Raye: Five Things You Need To Be A Highly Effective Leader During… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.
