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Image of Alicia Fairclough, Founder of EA How To. Text says '5 tools I need as an executive assistant with Alicia Fairclough, Founder of EA How To'

Executive Assistant Tools | 5 Tools I Use As An Executive Assistant

In this video, Alicia Fairclough, Founder of EA How To, talks about the 5 tools she can't live without as an executive assistant.

The 5 Tools I Need as an Executive Assistant 

 

Trello

Anyone who has been following EA How To for a while knows that first on the list has to be Trello. I’ve tried Asana and Monday but I always come back to Trello. It’s free, it’s incredibly easy to use, it’s beautiful and most importantly, it does exactly what I want (which is practically everything). 

I’m not going to do a demo because there are several videos on this channel showing how I use Trello already and if you’re an EA How To Plus member, you can watch the replay of my Ultimate Trello Tutorial for EAs through the members portal. 

What I will say is that Trello is my guiding light. It is all of my to do lists. It shows all of my progress and it stores all of the information I need to do my job. Trello is how I stay organised. 

A calendar scheduling platform 

The second tool on my list is a calendar scheduling platform. I was using Motion and for the most part, I was enjoying it but unfortunately the company currently holds some really inappropriate views about executive assistants so I cancelled that subscription and at the moment I’m using Calendly. 

There are loads of scheduling platforms out there. What is important is that you have one that works for you. The more customisable, the better. 

Time and Date

Next on the list of most useful tools is Time and Date. Pretty self explanatory. EAs are constantly dealing with people and meetings across lots of different times zones. Time and Date is your best friend. 

It’s amazing how many people get this very simple concept very, very wrong and with Time and Date at your disposal, there really is no excuse. 

Side note: When you’re arranging a meeting with someone in another time zone, I’m begging you to please, please, please include your time zone and the time zone of the person you are dealing with. 

For example, Jane is available at 15:00 BST / 10:00 EDT. Does this work for you? 

Dashlane

Number 5 on my list is a password manager. I have Dashlane on one laptop and 1Password on another. I’m happy with both of them. No matter what, in this day and age with the number of logins you need to keep track of and the number of logins you need to share as an EA, you absolutely need a password manager. 

I know I said I was giving you 5 tools but I do have 2 bonus tools to share. The first isn’t a tool but rather a resource. It is an EA community. I would be lost without the EA How To private community. It’s the most incredibly supportive community and among our thousands of dedicated, talented members, you can always be sure multiple people will answer your question and help you out. 

The other tool I use a lot which might not be essential for all EAs but it definitely essential for me is Canva. Video thumbnails, invitations, announcements, presentations… I do all of it on Canva and I’d be lost without it. 

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