Regaining Professional Confidence and Mastering Executive Relationships Through Specialized Training

Mariana Forzano (00:00) Okay, so my name is Mariana Forzano. I'm the executive assistant of the owner of the franchise, so Jorge Gutierrez. So before I was freelance, I was leaving from where I'm from, Venezuela, and I used to do a lot of social media. And I kind of liked it, but it wasn't like my biggest passion. I did work for someone like kind of like an executive assistant, not as professionally like now, but I kind of got there by accident and I said, okay, I kind of like this because I'm someone who likes to work really organized wise and I like to organize people. So basically I see the role as an executive assistant as someone that organizes others in order to, you know, reach goals. So I was really interested about it. I like that it was remote. And I feel like it gives you a lot of skills that you're going to use in the future, no matter what you do. Yes, you do some part that is, for example, very administrative, like, search the email or something, but you kind of become this right hand for the person. And you learn a lot about the business, how, for example, executives think and how they operate in their business. So that was why I start to really get into it. I've learned a lot of new platforms, for example. So that was why, just by curiosity and seeing if I like it or not, know, I'm starting like kind of my career, I'm young in my career when it comes to that. So I was like, let's explore this. And that's why I decided to do it. the way they ⁓ ⁓ go with you, let's say, kind of guide you through it, you know, because most places say, yeah, you can do this without any experiences. What I liked about them is that they said, okay, you don't need experience, but we're going to give you tools in order to improve in your performance and understand truly how to help an executive. first of all, I always had support from them from day one till today. they offer education. did a I did actually kind of like a certification with them. I did a certification with them. And I liked that a lot because it made me realize also places where I was very insecure, I feel like if I'm ⁓ looking for a job in this position, I should know these things, but I don't. So they're offering that, the support and saying, it's okay if you don't. It's something that we're learning and we're also keeping updated with what is going right now, for example, AI and everything. That kind of is why I choose them because I feel safe with them, you know, to say, okay, I don't know how to do this. They teach me a lot on how to also manage the relationship with the executive because sometimes executives, know, they're always on the go and you need to help them say, okay, I understand. And when to say no, maybe later, you know, I think that's the main thing that I love about them is the support they give to the executives assistant. So. I feel like because you are kind of like this really important role for the executive. You also need to learn when to say no or maybe later, you know, and they truly teach me to do that. I with the experience that I had before working with someone as an AI, it happened that I didn't say no ever and it turned into a very ugly path let's put it like that so with them I learned to say okay no and also kind of like how to work around it to you to be fulfilled and also not burnout yourself and also help the executive and them, you know, be happy and do what they want. that's honestly something that I'm really thankful with Atlas is that they teach me how to properly manage the relationship with that executive. I think that's what they teach, you know, how to manage this relationship in order to, you know, reach the goal that we both want to go there. And for the executive to feel okay, you're helping me and you are actually like, prioritizing my goal. but also my well-being and our relationship in order to reach even more goals. I will say in my case when I started the company the company was also implementing new systems and so I helped a lot in that and for example in the new CRM and we were changing phone system and I started to check new things for Google Ads and I realized that I was like, okay, I'm not your assistant. I'm kind of like your partner when he said Tell me your opinion. What do you think about it? What are you learning? Tell me. Like I realized that. not only the job that I was doing for him, but my opinion, it has more value than what you think an assistant will have. So to me, that was kind of the moment I said, okay, so I'm starting to see that you're trusting my judgment when it comes to these things that I'm taking all the time. And another one was when I took an entire and entire task and something that it was kind of like one of the main things that my executive used to do and I kind of like start to doing it and I was kind of like the specialist about it said you know you go to the meetings you're the one that knows most about it and you're the one managing this I gained confidence because of Atlas. I used to come again from like a time period where... because I was freelance I was coming from one job and then going to another and I had that you know being freelance is something that's really nice but it can lead you to a lot of insecurities when it comes to your job and Atlas kind of like the community you know you have so many coaching calls and you have people all around the world that maybe are experiencing the same thing as you or they did so kind of like you know going through little schools and talking about, you know, this was my experience. wasn't that great. say, oh, you know, I've been there, you know, and, know, this is where I learned kind of like sharing this and having people that understand and the people there. I also have, for example, my supervisor, which is Cesar. He's always like, how are you? How are you doing? And that kind of gave me confidence. Like, you know, if I made a mistake, it's okay. It's part of the process. And I have people behind to say, okay, you're doing a great job or hey, here's where you need to fix, but a little from a place for you to grow, not to criticize you know they literally gave me back my confidence in my job I will say So if you're considering Atlas, I think you should actually do it. As someone who did a lot of interviews for different companies that kind of have a similar format each has their own but I would say this one is where I found first of all a good community that is actually taking care of you they actually want to hear how you're doing they not only care about the professional side of you but also the personal and they care okay how is your for example personality affecting your job and they prioritize that they make sure that the people, respect your hours, the time you're working and above all I think it's a community that truly is focused to grow as individuals and that's really something that I feel is special and something that I will say is the highlight and whenever someone asks me about working with Atlas I will say is they make sure that you're happy with the people that you're working in, Working with someone so closely as you do, executive assistant and executive is something that not everyone is compatible with everyone and they try their best I will say to you know for you to be happy with the person that you're working with because at the end of the day that's what's going if it starts great I'm pretty sure it's gonna you know move forward right so they make sure that you're happy with the person that you're and you're just not there because oh this is the person that I land with