The slump continues…I’ve spoken with several assistants this week who continue to report feeling as if they are in a bit of a slump.

Contributing factors

Weather

If you are in a hemisphere where the world where the days are growing shorter and the weather is getting wetter and colder

More overload

With recent layoffs, redundancies and furlough assistants that have remained on staff are now expected to cover more work and support more managers and executives

Pandemic Purgatory Fatigue

General anxiety of the unknown. When will we feel safe? Still figuring out the balance of home and work life? When will we go back to the office? Will they let me continue work from home? Will my partner ever wash another dish again?!

This wasn’t the year I thought it would be.⁠
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Today is my birthday and I’ve been thinking about where I was this time last year and all that has happened up to now.⁠
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I was just barely a month into launching The Officials as a full training platform, hoping that my idea had legs and would help admins and assistants far and wide. I gave myself 6 months to prove the concept. ⁠
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Six months in I had proven the concept. The Officials had grown 6x what it was when we started. The feedback was incredible and I knew I was helping so many across the globe. I was ready to push hard to let every admin and assistant know that there was an affordable option out there that brought them the quality training our industry is so thirsty for….then lockdown hit and the demand for affordable online training went through the roof. Now are growth is 30x what it was when we started. I am so happy that we were able to be there for those who needed to differentiate themselves, excel and frankly…distract themselves from the news of the world.⁠
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But I did not get here alone. When I think of the success The Officials has today, I think of the people. ⁠

My own wedding taught me a HUGE lesson in negotiating with vendors and about sales in general. I even used this lesson when I would negotiate my salary with new employers.

My husband and I had an unconventional relationship. For starters, he lived in London and I lived in Pittsburgh a mere 3,700 miles away. He proposed the day before Thanksgiving (after about 1.5 years of dating) and we were married less than 3 months later. In fact I quit my job the Monday after he proposed, not to return and flew off to London with him a week later until just before our wedding when we returned to Pittsburgh to get hitched.

If you have ever felt isolated and stuck in your career…please read this. It will only take a moment. This was written by our founder, Lauren for our weekly newsletter, The Dossier. It originally appeared on October 14, 2020.

I have to share this with you! Yesterday I heard news that made me cry.

An Official had been presented with an amazing opportunity and after asking for some advice she was able to negotiate for payment she wouldn’t have believed possible 6 months ago. She is worth every penny and more. She always has been. But she was telling me that since finding The Officials she felt the support she craved to help boost her to that next level…to be honest, she is skipping levels. The sky’s the limit for her and for you.

Lauren Bradley was a guest on The Leader Assistant Podcast with Jeremy Burrows. In this episode, Lauren talks about company culture, managing interruptions, being a strategic partner with your executive, owning mistakes, and more.

At the beginning of each interview, Jeremy likes to asks guests to give one of their favorite leadership quotes. Here is the quote that Lauren cites