The Second Brain Hire with Anna Brambilla

You can feel it when your business starts pulling you out of your best work. The inbox grows teeth, the calendar turns into a puzzle, the CRM becomes a guilt trip, and suddenly the thing you built to create freedom is eating your attention. We sit down with Anna Brambilla, founder and CEO of Virtually Aligned, to talk about a simple but powerful fix: hiring an executive virtual assistant who functions like a second brain.

We dig into what separates an executive VA from a basic task doer. This is the kind of support that doesn’t just “complete tasks” but learns how you think, anticipates what you’ll need next, and brings you options and a plan. We share real examples like travel planning with minimal input, calendar management that stops you from self-sabotaging, research that actually saves time, and the daily operational work that keeps founders stuck. If you’ve ever said “it’s faster if I do it myself,” you’ll recognize the hidden tax that mindset creates.

We also get practical about hiring: common mistakes like hiring through personal connections, how delegation trust gets built, and what the numbers can look like when you hire Philippines-based talent in the $10 to $15 per hour range plus a one-time placement fee. Along the way, we talk about where AI fits, why discernment still matters, and how the right onboarding and training makes delegation stick.

If you want more time in your zone of genius and less time buried in details, listen now. Subscribe, share this with a founder who needs relief, and leave a review telling us what you’d delegate first.

The Personal Operating System Course will help you become more focused, efficient and effective in your work. The Course will be available on June 25th! Here's the good news: it is a $199 value we're releasing initially for only $27. Link to the course on June 25th!

Transcript

The “Second Brain” VA Idea

SPEAKER_02 0:00

We place executive virtual assistants who are going to be that second brain, that are going to be those people who are going to anticipate your needs, who are going to know what you're looking for ahead of time and prepare that for you. Where you can just say, I'm going to Dallas. I want to leave on Monday and come back on Friday. They can do that. They might even anticipate that you need to go to Dallas.

Podcast Mission And Host Background

SPEAKER_00 0:32

Welcome again to the Commission Code Podcast. We appreciate you taking the time to listen and join us here today. We're here to help you increase your business revenue and have time to enjoy it. I'm your host, Morris Sims, and I've been consulting and training business people for, well, let's just say over 40 years. We're focused on increasing revenue and having time to enjoy it. After years as a professional salesperson, I spent 32 years in the corporate world. I retired as vice president and chief learning officer of the sales department of a large insurance company where we designed and built and delivered training for over 12,000 professional salespeople. Now I get to consult one-on-one, helping people grow their business and organize themselves to make the most of the time they have. We also build online courses to support business owners in their work as they strive to build the business that they've always wanted. Our objective is really very simple. It's this we're here to help you get what you want from your business and your life. So right now, let's get on with this episode.

Staying In Your Zone Of Genius

SPEAKER_00 1:43

Welcome to the Commission Code for your success. Anna Brombilai is our guest today. Anna is the founder of or CEO of Virtually Aligned. And uh boy, I tell you, she's going to talk to us today, with us today about a number of different things. But one of those is how to how to remain aligned and stay in your zone of genius without letting all of the the you know what drag you down. And that's something that we all have to deal with from time to time. So Anna, thank you so very much for being with us today.

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Thank you so much, Morris. I'm so thrilled to be here.

SPEAKER_00 2:18

Would you please share with us a little bit about what you do and and who you are and how you can help us a little bit, maybe?

SPEAKER_02 2:26

Absolutely. So I work with founders, purpose-driven entrepreneurs who started their business to make a difference and they love it, but they are getting out of their zone of genius because they're doing the admin, they're doing all the things that don't light them up. And they're finding that either A, they're becoming the bottleneck of their business, right? That they cannot grow because they're doing everything. Or sometimes, in addition, not it's not either or, they're not loving what they're doing anymore because they've stepped out of their zone of genius. I really believe that we rob the world of our genius when we step out our outside of our zone of genius. We were all put on this world for a reason. We all have a reason. If you start a business, you're doing it because you want to, because you want to make a difference. And when you're doing all the admin and doing all of the back-end stuff, and you're doing all of the things that are not pushing your business forward, you're robbing the world of something. And you owe it to the world, and the world needs to hear your message. And that's where an incredible executive virtual assistant can come in and be your right-hand person and be somebody who is going to take all of that stuff off of your plate so that you can get back to doing what you love.

SPEAKER_01 3:57

That's that's uh in a nutshell what uh what the business is all about.

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Oh, so now I have so many questions.

Why VA Hiring Often Goes Wrong

unknown 4:05

Good.

SPEAKER_00 4:06

Oh, this is gonna be fun. Ana, tell me a little more about this. I mean, I need a virtual assistant, let's say, and I know I need help. I don't know I need a virtual assistant. I know I need help. That's my problem. I've got all this stuff to do, and I've found myself worrying about how I'm gonna write marketing and how I'm gonna do all of the financial stuff and everything else, and I don't have time to do what my zone of genius is. How do I how do I find that right virtual assistant? And and how do we how do I know? And and how do you what do you uh what do you do to get started?

SPEAKER_02 4:45

That's the biggest thing I think so many founders and entrepreneurs face, right? They they know they need somebody, but don't have uh don't even know where to start, are exhausted.

SPEAKER_00 4:55

The idea of even or worse yet, or worse yet, they hire their best friend's wife. Yes, or something like that. And I've got seen that one blow up a hundred million times. Well, you know, my neighbor is looking for a job and she's pretty smart, and I'll just hire her to come in and do my marketing, or I'll hire her to come in and help me with my and it always tends to blow up in their face.

SPEAKER_02 5:18

Absolutely, 100%, or not even just the close personal relationship, like your best friend's wife, your best friend's VA. They did a great job for your best friend. So they is the natural fit and it blows up, you know, or I I don't know where to begin, I don't know how to delegate. Uh it's just easier for me to do it myself than train. I get that all the time. I get all the time, I I don't think I have more than five hours a week for my for my potential VA. And three weeks later, they've bumped that person, their VA, up to 20 hours a week. I see that all the time. And in a very short period of time, too, because that's just you know how things work. And so um, that's what virtually aligned was designed to do is take that pressure off of you. So I found virtual assistants now, gosh, eight, nine years ago. And it was a game changer because I could do the things that only I could do and that I loved and that pushed my business forward. I was a franchise business owner at the time, and again, loved what I was doing. It was a great franchise, it was a great business, it was soul filling. And at the end of the day, I was spending more and more time updating my CRM or doing the admin or following up on clients or whatever it was, and I hated it. I hated doing it, I hated that it took me away from my family, I hated that it wasn't what I was good at. And I just found a virtual assistant and she took all of that off my plate, and I reduced the number of hours I had to work. So I literally reclaimed between 10 and 15

A Great Assistant Changes Everything

SPEAKER_02 7:05

hours per week and doubled and ultimately tripled my revenue because again, I was back in my zone of genius.

SPEAKER_00 7:13

Wow, that's cool. And you know, I can I kind of understand. I had an executive assistant when I was in New York for 20 years, and at first it was, I don't know what to ask this lady to do. Yeah, she happened to be a lady, and and I I don't know what to ask her to do. I don't know what to do about this. Learned how to delegate, and then uh about three assistants later, Stephanie came along and changed my life.

SPEAKER_01 7:41

Tell me more. What did she do? How did she change?

SPEAKER_00 7:43

Oh my, she was she could we got so good that she could think for me and she was thinking ahead of me. All I had to do, Anna, was say, Stephanie, I gotta go to Dallas next week. I need to get there on Monday before lunch. I want to come home and be home in time for for uh Friday lunch to be able to take the kids out to you know, whatever. And that's all I had to do. We had systems in place where she knew exactly what airline, exactly where to book me, what hotel, how to make sure all the T's were crossed and the dies, I's were dotted, transportation to and from everything you can think of. Yeah, Stephanie put together and had it in okay, back then it was a actual paper file folder. What can I say? I'm old. Right, right, right. But she would hand me that file folder on my desk the day before I traveled, and I knew all I had to do was show up at the airport. My only concern in New York was making sure I got to the right airport. Because it's a real pain when you wind up in Newark and you're supposed to be at LaGuardia. Let me tell you, that ain't good. No kidding, no kidding. But no, I mean she was she was great. She would, I would say, gee, I need here's a contract, copy of a contract I just negotiated. I need to make sure I can find this when the time comes. And if I file, if I file it, I'll put it in a black hole and never see it again. Here, take these and all contracts and make sure I can find them when I need them. Yeah. I don't have to tell her how to do it, just had to tell her what to do. So, anyway, that was a wonderful experience. And to this day, I miss Stephanie. It uh it was just so nice having her there to do that.

SPEAKER_02 9:18

Yeah. It's it's what I find is that they become your second brain. And not only do they know your style, okay. I know how to book him on a trip to dollars or whatever it is. What I found too, I mean, and that's hugely important, don't get me wrong, that's hugely important and it's wonderful, but they start to anticipate what you're going to need. Yes. And they start to say, okay, this has happened to me multiple times, where I'm like, you know, I've been thinking this might be initiate an initiative that we try or tweak to the business. And like, oh yeah, I've already thought of that. And here's my 10-point plan to get you there. Okay, you know, and that's what the power of a really good executive virtual assistant can do. And I'm I'm stressing the executive because there are a million wonderful people, but they're

Executive VAs Versus Task Takers

SPEAKER_02 10:15

task takers, right? They or task doers rather. They they, you know, okay, if then then be, you know, if this then that, whatever it is. And that's great. Frankly, I I worry for those jobs because AI can take off so many things off of their plate. And instead, we place executive virtual assistants who are going to be that second brain that are going to be those people who are going to anticipate your needs, who are going to know what you're looking for ahead of time and prepare that for you. Where you can just say, I'm going to Dallas, I want to leave on Monday and come back on Friday. They can do that. They might even anticipate that you need to go to Dallas, right?

SPEAKER_01 11:01

You may not even know that you have to go there yet.

SPEAKER_02 11:03

And they can anticipate that. So that's the power of an executive virtual assistant who can really take that off of your plate.

SPEAKER_00 11:11

Oh, it is. It's wonderful, wonderful to have someone that can do those kinds of things for you. I guess the one thing that has stopped me personally, and I bet some other folks as well, from entering into this space is the cost. I it was fun in New York because I didn't have to pay for Stephanie, the company did.

SPEAKER_01 11:31

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:32

Like the attorneys. We had two floors in this big office building on Madison Avenue. Two floors full of attorneys. I I had my own law firm. All I had to do is pick a phone and call. But now when I call my attorney, he sends me a freaking invoice. Yeah, Anna, it's terrible.

SPEAKER_02 11:47

Yes, I know. Well, that's why I am in love with the team in the Philippines. All of our VAs currently are in the Philippines,

Cost Breakdown And Philippines Talent

SPEAKER_02 11:55

although we're expanding into other parts of the world, uh, specifically Africa. And what I love is the cost. A really good executive virtual assistant. It's going to cost you between $10 and call it $15 an hour. You can't get anywhere close to that here.

SPEAKER_00 12:14

That's true.

SPEAKER_02 12:15

And these are people who are going to work in your time zone. These are people who speak, write, learn, you know, read English, frankly, better than I do sometimes. And I was born and raised here. I mean, yes, I've lived abroad, but I was born and raised here. So that's the kind of thing that I why I love. The other thing that I love about virtually aligned is that we charge a one-time only placement fee. So there you there's no agency markup, there's no um, you know, commitments, number of minimum of hours, maximum number of hours, depending on the level. But for a true executive virtual assistant, we charge $1,600. Which and we do everything. We say that the hardest part of our process is choosing among the top two to four candidates that you interview. We've gotten that feedback again and again and again. I don't know who to interview. I don't know who to choose, rather, because you guys have done it all for us. So that's that I think it's a beautiful marriage. And what I love is when you you hire that person directly. So that person becomes a member of your team. She becomes usually she, but can't it can be he you know, becomes a member of you manage that relationship, they they become your second, you know, second in command sometimes. And the what's nice is that we find retention increases dramatically. So I've been working with VAs now again, eight or nine years, and now have a team of 20 virtual assistants. Not a single person has left voluntarily because we teach that we treat them well and we teach our clients how to keep that too.

SPEAKER_00 14:11

What sort of things uh you know, I know what what I would do, but what sort of things do you see folks utilizing their executive

What Delegation Looks Like Day-To-Day

SPEAKER_00 14:20

virtual assistant to help them with?

SPEAKER_02 14:22

Well, I I think you hit the nail on the head similar to when you were talking about your trip to Dallas. But we see a wide variety of things. Um typically people start with calendar management, and that's one of the things that I love. You know, if you more say, and frankly, even just getting on your calendar to do this podcast, my VA uh did everything. My EA did everything. So I said, you know, we communicated through PodMatch and we said, yeah, this is something great. My EA did everything so that all I had to do is show up for this. And forgive me, I don't remember if you had some questionnaire. Sometimes, you know, the pod. So, you know, sometimes they have a questionnaire. My EA can fill that out most of the time. Sometimes I have to go in there and put my personal stamp on it, but that kind of thing, calendar management. I meet somebody at a networking event. Oh, you sound like of somebody I really want to get to know. Hey, Bell, can you make this happen? So that's where I start with, and that's really helpful. Email is a huge thing, it's a it's a beast. And uh full disclosure something we're still trying to work out because it's one of the hardest things to give up. But email is phenomenal, especially when you're focused on a project or something. Um graphics are great. I I joke with my team because they know me so well. I'm often saying, just go build me a house, right? Yeah, and I I just need a house. And they know me well enough that some of the stuff they can they can build, but they also know the questions to ask like how many stories, how many square feet, what color walls do you want, that kind of thing. So that's the that's the kind of thing that they that you get to. Um, other things that are helpful, um following up with clients, updating your CRM. I depending on CRM you have, it's uh it can be a nightmare. Mine is we're constantly looking for that. I had to hire a salesman.

SPEAKER_00 16:29

Oh, well, now I have to ask what CRM do you use? Uh go high level. Another new one I've never heard of.

SPEAKER_02 16:36

Yeah, it was recommended by somebody I was not working with, and my team said, did the research. See, that's another example, right? Yeah, they did the research, they looked at all of them, they looked at pricing, and they say, based on everything, this is the one that you want to go with. And I trust my team. I mean, that's happened more often than I can tell you. My billing system, um, my legal, you know, getting the contracts out. You know, I needed to hire a new sales coach recently because I was like, you know what? I need to get better at sales. And so I they have access to the networking groups that I belong to. They scoured that, found four or five sales coaches that would be good, passed it off to my fractional COO. He looked at that, said, Yep, these are the ones that you want to go to. I said, I trust Eric. If Eric says these are the ones I want to talk to, my EA went out, found, you know, scrubbed them, scrubbed their websites, gave me a list, um, and scheduled the appointments. Even today, for example, I have uh a full, you know, so many of us have a full day of appointments. So she scheduled, she put it out there and said, Okay, at 10 o'clock your meeting with so and so, at 11 o'clock your meeting with so and so. Here's the Zoom link, and here's a little blurb about who you're meeting with. Yeah, and that goes. So that's very helpful. So that you know, it you it grows, you the the list grows, but it gives you some idea of how I use my own EA.

SPEAKER_00 18:03

Oh, that's great. Yeah, yeah, calendar was always a challenge for us because I'd get in and screw it up. Yep. If I had just turned it loose and allowed her to deal with it, I would have been fine, but I always would get in there and move things around and do stuff and just mess up the whole nine yards. But it worked out pretty well in the long haul anyway. But I like uh I like what you're saying there for sure. Right now, I I I just finished a podcast recording with a uh young lady who is all about words and language and marketing, copywriting. And the I do a there are a lot of folks out there with marketing as their a part of marketing is their

Marketing Support Plus Smart AI Use

SPEAKER_00 18:45

their zone of excellence. And we talk about it, and I I keep thinking, gee, that's great. I need to do that, and then I never do. I I mean I could use an executive assistant that would help me write and make sure that I was consistent with putting stuff out on the web and around and about for marketing. Would that be something that would uh one of your people would work with?

SPEAKER_02 19:08

Yeah, absolutely. We uh in fact, I have another executive assistant who is doing my my outreach on LinkedIn, right? Because that's where I'm finding a lot of my clients. So she's managing that. Um, and yeah, and again, we use AI, you know, people are saying, well, AI is going to take over the business, and then you know, to a certain extent it is, but you still need that human vision and that human touch and that human discernment, for lack of a better word, right? Yeah, yeah, and so that's something. So um, my EA who's doing my marketing, she's posting on LinkedIn, she's you know, responding to things on LinkedIn, she's finding groups, she's posting to Facebook and Instagram. To be honest, I don't know who where she's posting because I I work with, you know, I know she's good and I I let her go. Because I'm the guy, I I don't like details. I I tell my team, if you expect me to edit an email, yeah, good luck. You know, you're gonna have to chain me to my desk to make sure it happens because I that's just not where that's not my zone of genius. My zone of genius is talking and proselytizing the beauty of virtual assistant. So, but yes, there's so many different ways that that they can help and take things off of your plate. And and you know, full disclosure, it takes some time to to establish that trust and establish that relationship. You can't just do it, and

Matching Process Training And Guarantee

SPEAKER_02 20:30

that's probably the hardest part for a lot of our clients is that initial, okay, what do you know, how do I start? But we've got a phenomenal training program to help you learn how to delegate and take you through. And we work with you and your VA step by step by step. So by the time you by the time we're done with that training, you guys have got a foundation. You still have to learn, you still have to get each other's styles, but it's one of the things. The other thing, if I could brag on my team for example for a second, because I I think they're just some of the most incredible people I've ever met, and they do matchmaking. So when I had to hire somebody, they didn't just say, okay, these are the top people, and they took them through our very rigorous 20-step process, and this is how you you uh go forward. Um, and you know, just okay, these are the top candidates. They know me, but they also know when we're working with any client, they say, What kind of personality is that? And how's gonna who's gonna be a good fit? Because you're gonna have two candidates who are both equally qualified and both equally nice and know all the same skills, but one's gonna be a personality fit, the other one's not, and they're gonna give you the person who's a good personality fit. I when they told me that, I was like, Of course you do. You guys are brilliant.

SPEAKER_00 21:58

Oh, that's amazing. Absolutely amazing. Anna, what else can you tell us to wrap us up here that people need to know or understand about utilizing a virtual assistant, how it's going to help them so much in their business?

SPEAKER_02 22:13

Fundamentally, if you're doing things that you don't love to do, you need a virtual assistant.

SPEAKER_00 22:20

I love it. That's a great tagline. I love it.

SPEAKER_02 22:23

That's what that's what we're here for. And once you've decided that you need a virtual assistant, and virtually everybody does, then we will take the entire stress off of you. We'll have an intake call with you. Talk about what it is that you want to do and who you are. Who what do you want your VA to do? What does life look like when you're not doing the things that you don't love to do? And then we send you a job description. Once you approve that, we're off to the races. That's when we work really, really hard and do the take every candidate through a 20-step process. Just to give you an idea, for every job that we post, we get between 600 and 900 applicants. Lord.

SPEAKER_01 23:18

We do all of that for you.

SPEAKER_02 23:20

Yeah. We do take everything off of your plate. So the next step is for you to show up for the interviews. That's all you have to do. And you interview them and we set it up. So it's usually back to back to back. So you know, you we typically present you the top two to four candidates. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 23:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 23:38

You don't want to go through 900 resumes. You don't want to have to do all of that. We take care of it.

SPEAKER_02 23:45

Exactly. That's for sure. And then once you choose that person, you hire them directly, they become part of your team. We stay with you. We've got a 90-day guarantee. So God forbid it doesn't work out in the first 90 days, which is extremely rare, but you know, sometimes it happens because of family or or whatever. Then we uh we will replace that person for free. But that's what we do. And we're we love what we do. We we my my vision is to to create win-win-win solutions. That's my vision. That's who I am. That's what I want to do. I want to help my clients get back into their zone of genius so that they can help their clients. I want to help the VAs have a better life because they love it and affects their family and their community. And then I want to feel good at the end of the day that I've matchmade and my team has set the processes in place to allow people to again stay in their zone of genius.

SPEAKER_00 24:51

Oh, that's great. Ah no, thank you so much for being on the Commission Code today. Really appreciate it. It's been fun. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 24:58

I'm very much enjoyed it. Thank you so much, Morris. Thank you.

SPEAKER_00 25:00

You're very welcome.

Closing And Where To Learn More

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the Commission Code to success in your business. Remember, go to MorrisSims.com for more information. And in the meantime, hey, have a great week. Get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time right here on the Commission Code. Best wishes, I'm Morris Sims.