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So… Apparently I’m Not an Admin.
I’ve been thinking a lot lately about what exactly it is that I do. Which is probably a dangerous question for someone who has spent the last six years building a business called Admin À La Carte. Because “admin” seems pretty straightforward. Except… what happens when it isn’t? I started this business because I was…
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Maybe the Goal Isn’t to Become Unnecessary
There’s a lot of business advice about making yourself replaceable. Build the systems. Delegate. Automate. Get yourself out of the day-to-day. And yes, I need to do more of that. But I don’t think my goal is to make myself unnecessary. I want to become necessary for the right things. I don’t need to personally…
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I Was the Calculation: Six Years of Admin A La Carte
On September 1, 2020, I took a gamble. I had quit my job. I didn’t have a cushion. There wasn’t a giant savings account waiting for me if this didn’t work. I was just determined that somehow, some way, I was going to make it work. Six years later, Admin A La Carte is still…
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Ask AI to Describe You as…
This one was kind of fun. The prompt is ask AI to describe you as if they were warning someone before they meet you… WARNING: You are about to meet Ande. Proceed accordingly. She is going to seem friendly, funny, capable, and relatively normal at first. This is how she gets you. Within an alarmingly…
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Being Needed Is Not the Same as Being Wanted
I’ve had a few conversations lately that have made me think about the difference between being needed and being wanted. Last week, I wrote about a business owner who told me how much he trusted me, especially because he doesn’t feel like he has many people around him he can trust. In a different conversation,…
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Apparently, People Are Paying Attention
Friday morning, I was sitting down with a new client. Except “new client” doesn’t really explain the relationship. I’ve known him for a while through the business world. Somewhere along the way, we went from people who knew each other professionally to actual friends. We’ve gone out, talked about our businesses, talked about life, and…
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You Can’t Spreadsheet Everything
I’m really good at solving other people’s problems. Need a system? I’ve got one. Need a process? I’ll build it. Need someone to organize the chaos? That’s literally how I make my living. But every once in a while life reminds me that some things don’t care how organized you are. The last couple of…
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Sometimes Healing Looks Like 79-Cent 3D Glasses
For the last few years, I was the Fourth of July party host. My house overlooked the biggest fireworks show in town, so everyone came to us. If there’s one thing my mom knows how to do, it’s host a party. She always had everything organized, the food ready, and people gathered together. It became…
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Sometimes the Internet Surprises You.
A couple of months ago, I stumbled across an ad asking people to nominate someone in their community who deserved a new roof. My first thought was immediately of my sister, Nicole, and brother-in-law, Chris. Their roof is original to the house. It’s been needing replacement for years, and it’s something we’ve talked about more…
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The World Doesn’t Stop for Grief
Last Sunday, I lost my dog. Even typing that sentence feels strange. Partly because I still don’t want it to be true. Partly because life has a funny way of demanding your attention even when your heart is somewhere else. I’ve gone back and forth on whether I wanted to write about this. Not because…
