THE CONTEXT

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Brooks Powell started his company, Cheers Health, in his college dorm room. He patented his formula, got on Shark Tank, and has pioneered the alcohol wellness industry for the past 10 years.

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As the founder, Brooks travels to dozens of trade shows and conferences all over the US to connect with potential partners and customers.

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However, as the company grew and Brooks' family grew (via a cute new baby) — he could no longer put in 80+ hour weeks and brute force his way through his to-do list.

THE ASK FOR HELP

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55 hours.

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That was the maximum number of hours he could spend on the business while still being present in the other areas of life.

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He needed to get back 20+ hours without removing any of the work. He needed leverage.

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Someone to...

• Help with the admin work (CRM database, SOP system, EOS - appraisal system)
• Handle follow-ups with potential clients after the trade shows/conferences
• Manage his schedule so he can take all of his meetings without overlaps
• Help with inbox management and ensure no responses are missed

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After not having an assistant for 6 years, and trying to work with another company but not following through - Brooks decided to partner with Oceans.

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Anjalie Rajapaksa jumped on board and found that he and his team were overwhelmed. They were struggling due to a lack of structure and systems.

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Thankfully, she was ready for the challenge to dive right in.

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THE EA+ SOLUTION

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STEP 1: Restructure calendar, email, and daily prep

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A. First thing first, Anjalie color-coded Brooks’ calendar according to different groups to make it easier to gauge the priorities of the day:

• Yellow - External meetings
• Lavender - Internal meetings
• Light Green - Travel
• Dark Green - Personal meetings
• Red - VIP meetings (investors, retailers)
• Blue - Events

B. Given the dozens of emails that Brooks receives, Anjalie reads every email, uses Superhuman, and labels his incoming emails accordingly: ‘BrooksHandle’, ‘Anjalie Handle’, ‘FYI,’ and ‘Likely Spam’. In doing so, Brooks only looks at ‘Brooks Handle’ emails unless Anjalie needs his input, saving him hours of time and decision-making power.

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C. Anjalie starts the day with a 30-minute 1:1 stand-up to run through everything Brooks needs to do and anything that needs his attention. She also sends a ‘Daily Briefing Summary’ via Slack to provide an overview of the day.

D. She rearranges his calendar to manage Brooks' time, ensuring he can attend all external meetings before noon and only internal meetings thereafter.

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STEP 2: Implement team management practices

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A. Anjalie set short daily standups with the whole internal team and implemented ‘Rapid Unbottlenecking’. This is a placeholder that keepsBrooks free after the standup for the team to take him through any concerns or matters that need his attention.

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B. Brooks loves to read management books. One of the books said ‘Never eat alone’. Now that Anjalie has been able to restructure his days, he has lunch with a different team member every day, fostering consistent and productive relationships with his employees.

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STEP 3: Become a proactive, second brain

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‍A. Anjalie drafts emails before Brooks needs to send them. He can easilyproofread and send them out without spending excessive time writing.She follows up with every meeting and lead to ensure that all potentialopportunities are met.

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ANJALIE'S DAILY SCHEDULE

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THE IMPACT

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Diving in wasn't so scary after all! Six months in, Anjalie has completely transformed Brooks’ life and his schedule.

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Now that Brooks has his meetings both externally and internally organized, he can manage his work within the 55 hours of office time he has. Clients are now followed up with via email and sent gift packages after meetings, and balls are no longer being dropped.

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Brooks found more time to spend with his team, whether that's for discussing new ideas, aligning on new strategies, or simply just catching up. He spends his time focusing on the important things instead of wasting hours a day looking through piles of emails that don’t need his attention. This has also enabled each of his team members to focus on their goals without worrying about taking on extra work and get unblocked much faster.

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All the while, Anjalie keeps the trains running behind the scenes via her shared calendar, spreadsheet, and Slack channel with Brooks, to proactively ensure nothing slips through the cracks.

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Everything has been going so well that they hired another diver, Nora, for social media marketing — we'll tell her story another day.

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And of course, Brooks now has time for his wife and his baby. Cheers to that.