ADHD fundamentally impacts executive function—the mental skills for planning, prioritizing, delegating, and following through. So, when an entrepreneur hires a VA and is expected to onboard, direct, and give detailed instructions, they’re faced with a mismatch: the very skills they struggle with are those they now must use to instruct their assistant.

Traditional VAs, trained to “do what they’re told,” end up sitting idle, waiting for direction, while the entrepreneur is paralyzed by indecision and shame. The result? Money is wasted, little is accomplished, and increased frustration, making it even harder to try again.

What if support could be different? What if, instead of looking for a “unicorn” VA who can do everything, ADHD entrepreneurs sought out “distant assistants”—human lifelines who specialize in executive functioning, regulated communication, and operationalized thinking?Today’s guest is Avigail (Avy) Schondorf, fellow ADHD entrepreneur, podcaster, and owner of the Alisto agency that trains and outsources distant assistants who understand what neurodivergent business owners really need.

This conversation is full of insights, humor, cringeworthy moments, and a new paradigm for shame-free support.

Here are 3 key takeaways for anyone considering hiring support:

• A “bad” solution is not worse than no solution. Many ADHD entrepreneurs avoid help out of fear that it won’t work, but that only fuels more shame and wasted energy.
• Don’t wait for the “perfect” moment or system. The real tipping point isn’t having more work—it’s being ready to ask for what you need, without shame.
• Stop looking for unicorns—lean into teams. Expecting one assistant to do everything sets everyone up for failure. Specialized support means you (and your VA) can play to your strengths.

If “doing it all myself” isn’t scalable OR sustainable, maybe it’s time to delegate differently—and embrace asking for help as a sign of strength.

About today’s guest, Avigail (Avy) Schondorf:

Avigail (Avy) Schondorf is a social worker turned entrepreneur who built two companies around the way her brain actually works.

She's the founder of Alisto Virtual Workforce, a team of Distant Assistants who specialize in supporting neurodivergent entrepreneurs — and AvyHD, her strategy and thought leadership brand where she gets real about ADHD, delegation, and building a business without burning out.

When she's not running her team or hosting the AvyHD Podcast, she's lifting weights, reading, or wrangling two very energetic daughters.

Connect with Avy:

• Website
• AVYHD podcast
• LinkedIn

Mentioned during this episode:

Avigail’s Octopus prompt

Jamie from Bottleneck Distant Assistant

My interview on Avi’s podcast, “Consistency, the Other C Word for ADHD Entrepreneurs”

Your ADHD-ish™ host, Diann Wingert

Diann Wingert brings decades of experience as a psychotherapist and serial business owner and is now a sought-after coach to entrepreneurs with ADHD traits. Her style is direct, strategic, and always honest—peppered with the insight of someone who lives and breathes the neurodivergent experience.

Diann is a fierce advocate for self-acceptance and meaningful growth at the intersection of neurodivergence and entrepreneurship. She is the creator of the ADHD-ish Method and host of the top-rated ADHD-ish podcast.

Links:

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Ready to work with an ADHD-informed business strategist and coach? Visit my website.

© 2026 ADHD-ish™ Podcast. Intro music by Ishan Dincer / Melody Loops / Outro music by Vladimir / Bobi Music / All rights reserved.

H: So I have to say, Avi, one of the most strenuous conversations I will frequently have with a new client is, do you have a virtual assistant and if not, why not? It's been so fascinating to me how much suffering solopreneurs in particular who have ADHD are willing to endure for the sake of this I don't know, is it rugged individualism? Sometimes I call it stubborn self sufficient efficiency. But the problem of being an entrepreneur with ADHD and trying to just like raw dog it by yourself is what we are here officially to talk about today because you have a very unique solution to all of that. So welcome, welcome and let's kick this off by talking about what are some of the myths and misunderstandings that you are aware of that folks like us have that prevent them from hiring a virtual assistant

G: Talking directly to folks with ADHD, the number one myth is that a bad solution is worse than no solution at all. This comes, I think, from the fact that we have spent our entire lives asking for very specific help in what we consider to be very clear ways. And we communicate stubbornly and aggressively and over and over and over again to try and get what we want until we stop. Because either you're not listening or you're too dumb or you just can't keep up, or mostly, as most of us internalize, something's wrong with me. The way I'm communicating is incorrect. What I'm asking for doesn't exist. People can't help me in the way I want to be helped. What I'm looking for just isn't possible. And I would rather not waste my precious time trying to find a solution that doesn't work than try something and be disappointed again.

H: Yeah, disappointment can land really hard with folks like us and to your point, we usually think it's us. But in all fairness, even though I agree 100% with these myths and misunderstandings, there are also some bad solutions out there and there are legitimate horror stories. And there are many of us who have attempted to get help from virtual assistants and ended up having a near traumatizing experience. So can we talk about when you are not working with someone who's well suited to working with an entrepreneur with ADHD? What are some of the more common scenarios? We don't have to talk about worst case scenarios, but what are some of the more common things that you're like, this is not working.

G: Yeah. So what normally happens is you'll get to a point where you're like, I clearly need some help, right? I can't do everything by myself, I clearly need some help. Lots of people work with virtual assistants, I'm going to get a virtual assistant. Ostensibly, I'm doubling my capacity, right? Doubling my brain power, doubling the amount of hands I have, I should be expanding capacity. However, where you struggle as a person with ADHD is in your executive function. So how are you supposed to onboard a virtual assistant? Delegate, prioritize, plan, assign deadlines. It's literally everything you don't know how to do. So every solution is a shitty solution if it's not the right solution for you, it doesn't make it a bad solution. It's just not going to work for you. Because the virtual assistant's job is to show up and do what you tell them to do. If they show up and they wait for you to tell them what to do, what happens in that gap of them staring at you expectantly is shame, decision paralysis, and avoidance. So then you spend a couple of thousand dollars over several months and you're like, I'm paying someone to do nothing and then you get rid of them.

H: Yep. I literally have encountered this so many times. And, you know, truth be told, this was me a number of years ago is feeling like I don't know what to give this person. And the fact that I have committed myself to paying them for a certain number of hours a week or a month, and they're fully expecting to be given tasks to do, and I'm paying for it whether I give them tasks or not. But not knowing what to give them, not knowing what turnaround time to expect, not knowing how much instruction, not knowing how to communicate my expectations, and then also feeling like, is it okay for me to say this isn't good enough and you need to do it over? Oh, wait, but then that means now I'm paying twice as much and what if they don't get it right the second time? And we get up all in our heads about that and it's like, you know what? Fuck it, I'm going to go back to doing this myself.

G: I'm just gonna do it myself. It's so much quicker to do it myself. And it might be quicker to do it yourself this time, but it's certainly not quicker to do it yourself every time for the rest of eternity.

H: Indefinitely. Now, for anyone listening who has not yet crossed this threshold, who has not yet said, you know what? I really am sick to shit of doing all this stuff myself. I know there's gotta be somebody out there that can help me. And I hear other people talk about my VA will take care of that, oh, my VA will get back, oh, let me have my VA handle that. And you're like, I want one of those. What would you say? Other than the fact that you clearly need someone who understands how to work with people with ADHD, is there, like a right time that if you're not quite there yet, you probably should hold off? Like, is there a minimum threshold in one's business where you probably should wait until you're at least at this point.

G: That's a very, very interesting question because traditional business advice will tell you 100%, yes. So let me go down that path first, traditionally, 100%, you should not onboard a monthly expense until such time as you can sustain comfortably that monthly expense. What that means for a virtual assistant is that you can sustain the amount of time and bandwidth that's going to require you to train and onboard this person. And your business can handle you being away from the actual business in the time that it takes to onboard that person. That's traditional business advice.

H: Sounds reasonable.

G: If you can't afford any resource. Yeah, can't do it. The piece for ADHD folks is until you are willing to ask for what you want without shame and what you need without shame, don't bother. My virtual assistant, her entire job is keeping me functioning as a human person. She makes sure that it is. I get on calls with people all the time. I say all kinds of shit, really smart stuff, and I will make all kinds of plans and promises and whatever things I can follow through on. But the second I click off that call, I forgot everything I said. My brain refreshes and I'm on to the next thing. So she walks behind me and combs my transcripts and pulls out the tasks, the things that I've already committed to, and makes sure that she does all of the things she can and that she's up my ass to do the rest of the stuff. But that's not a traditional virtual assistant task.

We don't normally expect our virtual assistants to be our, like, mommies and babysitters. But guess what? I don't need you to be my strategist or my graphic designer or my whatever. Maybe tasks like that will come up, I need you to be my executive functioning. And if I am in a place where I can't even fathom delegating executive functioning because I still feel like it should be easy for me to do the laundry on my own, don't bother. Because you're increasing your shame gap and giving it space to grow where it doesn't need to.

H: Damn. That had to be the best and longest mic drop moment I think I've captured in over five years of test interviews. Because you're so right, Avi, it's not a matter of do you have enough tasks that you could increase your capacity by hiring someone to do? Someone whose time bills at a lower rate than yours, ostensibly. But can you give someone responsibility for managing you in a way that you really struggle to manage yourself and to do so without shame? I know that managing our shame and trading it, swapping it out for radical self acceptance, is both a decision and a practice. It is something that takes time because the old habits die hard and get reactivated, you know, at the slightest. But it's such a fascinating way to think about what we actually need and normalizing it as someone else's job description. Not a chore or something that's so cringe like, who the fuck would want to do that?

G: My executive assistant assists my executive functioning. That's what she does, the whole front of my brain is a big vacation beach. So I can either feel bad about it, be on this awesome beach, and be like, I should really be…

H: I got sand in my pants, but I'm living my best life.

G: And I should probably be sailing now or put a lifeguard there. Never get in the water or install a lifeguard. There are options, there's still sharks. There's still stuff, there's still things. It's just can somebody help me? And am I okay with asking for help for stupid shit or shit that I've told myself is stupid.

H: Yeah.

G: Well, today is laundry day.

H: Yeah.

G: I don't do laundry in my house. I have delegated that task completely,nor do I do dishes. But if today were laundry day, for example, Tuesdays are laundry day. Then my assistant is going to ask me every time she talks to me if the laundry is in the machine. And if she's already confirmed that it's in the machine, then in about 45 minutes she's going to start asking me if I transferred it over to the dryer. Because gentle reminders are the only thing that works, don't rush me, don't tell me what to do. Give me an opportunity to remind me gently and there are lots of tools that you can implement.

Calendars, color coded calendars, reminders and apps and things and stuff. All of these tools require data input into the system in order to work effectively and to continue working effectively. That is where systems break down. I'm not going to consistently input the data into my system because it involves taking it out of my brain and putting it somewhere. I don't ever do that. I don't need to anymore. I talk at someone, they put the information in my system, and then my system can do its job. But if I tell myself consistently that I should be able to maintain a simple system on my own, that should is the gap in which shame grows.

H: It's such a fascinating reframe around this whole process of paying attention to the fact that we need help, taking note of it, recognizing that it is a problem that can be solved, not something we just need to live with and struggle with, that we can actually acquire the exact kind of help that we need, that that is a legitimate business expense, that it will undoubtedly make us more successful, more productive, make more money, but more profit. But to be able to say it's okay that I have this need and I'm okay with not only knowing that I need it but accepting it. I would imagine that there may be some people I might even just have to tear up a little bit here because I was always such a stubbornly self sufficient person myself. And it grew into my personality so completely that it was for many, many years a point of pride. I mean, I would carry out like an 80 pound bag of fucking groceries rather than let…

G: I still do all my groceries.

H: Well, maybe in lieu of going to the gym every once in a while, but, but literally, like I remember this somebody asking me, hey, can I, can I help you with that? Can I help you with that bag of groceries? And I literally shot back, do I look like I need help? And it was like, I wasn't trying to challenge you, miss and I'm like, and I walked outside, I'm like, you're such an asshole. But it was that, you know, recognizing that really is this something to be proud of that I do everything for myself. When you know damn well that you cannot scale anything about your business until you disavow yourself of that point of pride, having done so, you can then say, okay, what do I need help with? And I'm going to let myself receive that with the clients that you work with, do you find that by the time people are ready to work with you and your team that they're like, please just help me. God help me. I'm okay, whatever you need me to do, I'll do it. Or is there like an adjustment phase where they kind of have to get used to this new way of thinking about needing help?

G: Yeah, both, sadly.

H: Yeah.

G: Which is difficult because when you are at the point that you're just like, please, just anything, anything, anything, just help me in any way, you are opening yourself up to people taking advantage of you.

H: Bingo.

G: And that's just bad business. As an entrepreneur, allowing yourself to become overwhelmed is simply bad business. As an entrepreneur, you are the business and the business is you. If your executive assistant isn't taking care of every element of you as a human person, your business is going to suffer because you are your business. So if you ignore yourself and don't sleep on time and don't eat properly and don't get sunshine and don't move your body and let things pile up and, you know, smoke a lot of weed in the middle of the day and, you know, just try and help yourself in any way that you can to kind of cope through. By definition, that's bad business, by definition, it's going to compound. And by definition, any adjustment period that is necessary is going to feel like a solution that isn't working.

H: Absolutely. And I think this is where I have a little bit of a beef about this, because I have so many people who think ADHD is kind of a growth market right now. The number of people being identified with ADHD in adulthood I'm living my best life and so, because I always say, where there is opportunity, there are opportunists. And so because it is a growth market, a lot of people are just stapling, taping, duct taping, gluing ADHD on their business. If they're a business coach, now they're an ADHD business coach. If they're a life coach, now they're an ADHD life coach.

If they're a virtual assistant agency, now they're an ADHD virtual assistant agency. And as if it were just as simple as, oh, these people have difficulty with being organized and regulating their emotions and procrastination. I mean, like, how hard can it be? Do you think that a virtual assistant needs to either have ADHD or have worked with other people with ADHD for a certain period of time to know if this is something they can do like, how do you even prepare for a role like this?

G: Okay, so that's interesting. Two parts. Should your virtual assistant have ADHD? Not if they are your executive assistant.

H: Fair.

G: If they are your marketing virtual assistant, if they are your outreach virtual assistant if you need them to be you on LinkedIn right. My customer success manager, she has ADHD. Why? Because she has to be a mini me so she is a mini me. And that's with all like how we interact with our customers, how we engage is all the interpersonal stuff. Otherwise you definitely don't want someone with ADHD otherwise you're duplicating the same gaps. So for your executive assistant and paying for it, which is crazy. If you have an executive assistant, that's somebody who's going to be good at filling in the gaps in executive functioning so there's two parts to that.

One, are you a person who can work with people who have ADHD, which means that you have to have compassion. I was almost going to say patience, but it's not true. You don't need more patience for someone with ADHD than for somebody neurotypical. You just need additional compassion and additional understanding of where it comes from. So I believe that if you are going to be a virtual assistant who works as an executive assistant for somebody with ADHD, you need to not only train in all of the executive functions, you need to specifically train in regulated communication and operationalized thinking. If you don't have those three pieces of understanding and knowing how to fill in the gaps of executive function, how to communicate in a regulatory way, and how to think operationally and systemically, you won't be of service to your entrepreneur with ADHD.

H: Ba bam. And you know what, Avi? I would go further to say that because ADHD is so heavily represented across entrepreneurs of all stripes, from serial entrepreneurs, you know, founders, all the way to the micro service provider, barely beyond a freelancer. Like if we paint entrepreneurship with a very broad brush to include independent professionals, small business owners, entrepreneurs, creatives, freelancers, the likelihood, if you are a VA, that a huge percentage of your clients have ADHD, even if they don't, girl, even if they don't know it. Like I would think anybody who's working as an executive assistant or as an administrative virtual assistant, you better be prepared and gird your loins for dealing with all that goes with ADHD, because you're going to have a lot of clients who have it, even if they don't know they do.

G: And I'm going to take that one step further. In a global marketplace or in a global workforce where we've been relying on outsourced labor in the business process industry and the back end of businesses for 40 years at this point, and in the age of AI, where ostensibly humans can be replaced by AI, what is going to differentiate you as a successful virtual assistant is the training that you have and the understanding that you have. So there's very simple ways to train somebody. We do what's what we call a distant assistant training. You're not a virtual assistant. You're not a robot, you're not a bot. You can't be replaced with AI. You are a distant assistant.

You are a human being who is at distance from somebody else. But in order to claim that title, you need to understand that role. Understanding that role is who you are as a distant assistant. How that is a service oriented position. You want to be someone's lifeline. And if you don't want to be someone's lifeline, don't put yourself in that role. The success of their business lives and dies like rises and sets with you. You are the other half of their brain and you need to. I'm speaking directly to virtual assistants right now or soon to be distant assistants. You need to take that incredibly serious seriously because it is a servitude mission.

H: Because it's true, they may be across town, they may be in a different state, a different country, they may be on the other side of the world as your team is and as my team is. But you're not virtual. You're not a bot, you're not a robot, you're not a clone, you're not a chatbot, You're a human being and I think a lot of people, and I see people promoting become a virtual assistant. It's kind of like the wording of these sales pages and these ads reminds me almost exactly of the kind of sales pages that you'd see for getting people enrolled in your multi level marketing organization. Work from home, spend more time with your kids, work your own hours, make good money, be your own boss.

And I'm like, are we selling Amway or what here? But in truth, you almost need to have the mindset of someone who goes into health care, which is that I am willing. Not only willing, I'm comfortable. I'm eager to become that integral to this person's business. Like I want them to depend on me. I want them to be, I want to be that person that they depend on, that they know has their back, because that will help them be more successful. And I'm not just not willing to do that. Because I can work from home and spend more time with my kids, but because that's gives me a sense of significance, meaning, and purpose.

G: It has to well, otherwise your entrepreneur with ADHD is going to make you crazy. Because it seems like they're not sticking to the plan. It seems like they're changing all the time. My team loves me, they will follow me into fire. They see my iterations as in pursuit of a greater purpose because I've included them in the plan. I'm an excellent communicator. When I messed up, I've told them I messed up. I told them exactly where I messed up and how we were going to do it differently next time if they didn't have any of that context all I am is annoying as fuck. Changing my mind all the time. Showing up at the beginning of the day, not knowing which direction I'm going in today, not remembering what I did yesterday. I agreed to something and I changed my mind. I'm looking at it again and I think something different. I'm annoying with the context. When we're on a mission together, I bring the creative, you bring the execution. That's not annoying, that's just me playing my part.

H: You may be the only other entrepreneur with ADHD and who's part of my professional circle that refers to themselves as annoying.

G: I know I'm annoying as fuck.

H: I know I'm annoying as fuck too and also, sometimes I go beyond annoying all the way to obnoxious. Confusing, frustrating, like, what the hell? But bringing people into, you know, like giving them the backstage pass and saying, and this is why I'm like this. And this is why I need you so much, because you're not like this at all. And if you don't think, oh, my God, why can't she just because I'm not like you, bitch. Why can't she just stick with the plan, stop complicating things. You know, do what she said she was going to do, not go gallivanting off in 10 different directions. Oh, because then I wouldn't be me and you would miss out on all the other exciting parts that you and everyone else love so much. But it comes back to what you said before.

It's like, no shame and you call it no shame, I call it radical self acceptance. It's like, I know who I am, I actually do know most of the time how my behavior affects other people who are not like me and I know how many of them really don't care to be around It. But for those who are like, you're really a curious kind of person because you have all these strengths, like I wish. But then you the hard stuff is easy for you and the easy stuff is, I mean, it's really very interesting. And I think the people who don't look at us with shock and horror, but who actually look at us with curiosity, I call them enthusiasts. You know, they're ADHD enthusiasts. They may not initially understand us, but they're willing to because our complexity is not a turn off. It actually makes them lean in.

G: Well, you could be Jane Goodall or you could be a poacher, it's your choice. But like, she learned a lot more and the fur or whatever you get from poaching doesn't last quite as long as the knowledge and information.

H: Fair enough. Now, I do have to say that before I started working with my current team that has been with me more than five years, I had had several previous Filipino VAs. And prior to that, I had, I think, three different American based Vas and so I initially found VAs because they were referred to me. And I had a couple of not so great experiences and one really bad experience. When I started working with Filipino VAs, I realized, oh, this is not just a difference in terms of the exchange rate, which is what most people talk about when they recommend, you know, working with a distant assistant from the Philippines is because of the favorable exchange rate. You can pay them what is a very good wage in their country and it's much more comfortable on your pocketbook. But it's also the culture of the Philippines and how service minded the people are naturally, it's what we might think, oh, I don't want to ask her to do this she'll think it's a bother. She's like, ask me like, please, can you speak to that specifically?

G: Yeah. So it's a double edged sword. First of all, the reasons Filipinos are awesome without trying. Everyone on my team has at least a bachelor's if not a master's, everybody.

H: Highly educated country.

G: Highly educated, excellent English. If you can put up with a slight accent, you'll be fine. You will always find people who, when they interact with anybody who speaks accented English will, you know, divert to does this person even speak English? Yeah, you should. If that is your feeling, you should 100% recruit from North America. It's just going to be easier and more palatable for you. But for people who are open to working out of the Philippines or to interacting with the global workforce in the Philippines, you need to remember that the BPO industry, which is the behind practice operations of all of corporate America has been in the Philippines for 30 to 40 years.

H: Yep.

G: They know more about American business than you could ever know about American business. Because my team worked in Telus, in massive health care companies, in massive communication companies, in massive customer service teams. It is a very customer service oriented country, super family oriented, super, super, super community oriented. People of faith, generally speaking, very principled, very moral. The other side of this, they will say yes to anything.

H: I know, it's like talking to chat GPT until you get them.

G: Well, yes, absolutely.

H: Just is like always tells you you're brilliant and never pushes back which is why I went to Claude. I need some me, I need me some pushback.

G: Right. So that is the other side of being trained as a distance assistant to work with somebody who has ADHD.

H: Yes.

G: Clarity is kindness. If you do not push back and you see or anticipate a problem that you've decided not to say anything about as the distance assistant because you don't want to be rude or, over ideas inherently not doing your job and providing a direct disservice to your client. It is a requirement if you are going to be executive functioning, it's a requirement to act that way.

H: Indeed. I've talked about this, well, it's in a way, it's kind of, it's like a parallel process. Avi, because you're saying, I know this is the cultural norm is to be supportive, to just go along to do whatever is asked of you. And you know, but what I actually need you to do is I want you to ask more questions. Not assume, you know that I've given you everything that you need. I want you to not worry that you've already asked me questions, because if I didn't give you enough detail for you to confidently go forward, ask more questions, you're not annoying me. You are showing me respect and good judgment. If I ask you to do something a certain way and based on your previous experience, you actually know a better way, by all means, speak up. You're not being a smartass. You're not being a know it all.

You're not showing me disrespect or acting like you're smarter than I am. You are showing me the utmost respect to share everything that you know with me. But, you know, it's been a process. You know, I've been working with Leslie and Sarah now for, I don't know, over five years. And I would say over time, we needed to have a series of conversations and communications where no, I really. It's not, I know you respect me. I know you do, and I respect you and here's how you can help me in the way that I most need to be helped and no one else can do it, because you're literally the backbone of my business. Don't go along with everything I say and this was at a critical point. This was several years ago, and I was just popping new ideas left and right.

And every time I would pop a new idea, I would be like, hey, team, you know, and at first it was like, okay, now we've just dropped everything that we've been working on, like, midstream, half baked, half finished. Now we're running in this whole new direction after that happened a couple of times, and then it's like fucking whiplash. You got halfway into that new thing, and now I'm swinging you around to some other thing. Finally, Leslie said, can we talk about priorities because we can't we're not finishing anything because we keep changing direction. And if that's exactly what you want, like, okay, we're along for the ride, but I'm pretty sure that isn't what you want. I don't think I even really realized that I was doing that.

And of course, I did have to have a moment with myself and be like, I'm so embarrassed. But then I thought, you know what that is probably the most important breakthrough I ever had at that point, having assistance. Because I don't think anybody ever questioned my decision making before. And when I think back on that now, I realize that was really what solidified my relationship with this team and why they're still with me years later. Because evidently we had reached a point where they knew it was not only safe to push back, it was absolutely necessary. Yeah, but it won't happen naturally because of the cultural differences. So anyone listening to this is like, yes, it can be frustrating to have to teach someone to override their natural instincts to just give you what you want, but when someone will give you what you actually need, they're a keeper and they want stable employment as much as you want it.

H: Yep.

G: So now whenever I say something like, hey, I'd love to launch a course, my team runs Octopus. OCTOPUS is our operational prompt. It's the thing that allows you to have eight arms all at once. And Octopus will, you can give it as much or as little information as you want, and it gives you the outcome, the desired outcomes, the constraints, the timelines, the obstacles, the priorities, the urgencies in the systems that are going to be required to accomplish whatever it says that you need. And if there are any gaps in information, the prompt, it's an AI prompt run by a human, will flag any outstanding gaps in information that you're going to need to fill in from your client. But as the distant assistant, when you come to your client and you say, cool, you said you want to launch a course. What does that mean? What are we doing? What are the goals? When are we doing it? Then automatically you're prioritizing it because that means your team has captured the idea that is fresh in your mind. Maybe they'll put it on your calendar for 6, 8, 12, 19 months from now, but they'll have all the information to be able to do it at the correct time with minimal effort.

H: So for folks who are listening, who are going, where have you been all my life? Let's wrap up with a couple of questions about your business because clearly, my friend, you created the business that you need and that many other people like you and I need too. So what are some of the ways briefly that people can work with you and with Alisto? I know of some of them because I recently referred one of my current clients to you, but I don't think I was aware of the academy, so do tell.

G: Yes, we do a bunch of interesting stuff. So a couple of ways if you're already working with virtual assistants, we have our distant assistant training academy that has multiple modules. The first is communications, regulated communications specifically. The goal of learning that method of communication is to make sure that your client actually answers the messages that you send them actually with the information that you actually needed. And not I'll get back to you, let me look at this, not answering at all.

H: Yeah.

G: Which is my most common. And then of course, operationalized thinking and for marketing, virtual assistants or distant assistance also content flow and breaking down a large form piece of content, like a podcast, into a bunch of small form pieces of content so that you can get your existing virtual assistant up to speed and where they need to go. If you're looking for your own distant assistant, we work to place executive assistance into existing businesses, but we mostly work with a team model, meaning that if you have a lot of different needs in your businesses, all in your business all at once, we will put a fractional team in place that handles each of those individual tasks within their own lane.

H: Trying to find that unicorn assistant who is skilled in every fucking thing you need. Copywriting, web design, marketing, video editing, administration, inbox, writing sops like, yeah, that'd be nice. It's almost thinking, like, expecting yourself to be able to do all those things, but now you think you're going to find a distant assistant who can do all those things. Doesn't it just make so much more sense to work with someone who has a bunch of specialists and all of them work for you in their area of specialty? It's a really elegant solution.

G: Thank you. Well, even if you do find that unicorn, and my presumption is that entrepreneurs with ADHD are looking for that unicorn, because they are that unicorn.

H: Yeah, it's true.

G: Even if you find them, you're going to break them.

H: Guilty.

G: You're going to break them. I broke mine. She had to take two years off and go work at McDonald's to de stress from me.

H: I thought you were going to say she had to go into rehab or something.

G: That's basically rehab if you have to go to McDonald's to de stress.

H: Yeah.

G: And today she's my executive assistant again. But we literally had to deprogram her from who I was when I first started the company so that she could work properly in the way that it is now.