Executive & Personal Assistant / Bookkeeper (Chief of Staff)

Thank you for applying. I'm an entrepreneur based near Houston, Texas, and I'm hiring one sharp, trustworthy Executive & Personal Assistant to become my right hand across both my personal life and a portfolio of businesses — including MVK Construction (general contracting and custom builds), Next Space Realty (a real estate brokerage), and a couple of growing consumer ventures. You'd also help my wife with her company and her scheduling.

This is a full-time, long-term role for someone who wants to grow into a true Chief-of-Staff position over time. Day to day you'd help with things like:

- Managing my personal and business email and calendar, plus family and travel scheduling
- Supporting my wife with her company tasks and calendar
- Bookkeeping and managing finances — invoicing, AP/AR, reconciliations, expense tracking, and reports in QuickBooks
- Testing software — checking my apps and tools, and new software, then writing up anything that's broken
- Preparing documents from templates (proposals, contracts, real estate forms)
- Keeping real estate transactions and construction projects on track — chasing documents, deadlines, vendors, and permits
- CRM upkeep, follow-ups, online research, and errands handled from your desk

I'm looking for someone with excellent written English, strong attention to detail, solid bookkeeping skills, real discretion with personal and financial matters, and the kind of proactivity where you catch things before I have to ask. Comfort with software/tech is a plus. US real estate or construction experience is a bonus, not required.

--- HOW TO APPLY ---

Before we move to a Zoom interview, please send a reply that includes:
1. Your answers to the screening questions below
2. Your answers to the written interview questions below

IMPORTANT: So I know you read this whole posting carefully, please start your reply with the word "BLUEPRINT" in all caps. Replies that don't begin with that word won't be reviewed.

--- SCREENING QUESTIONS ---

1. Full name and current city/country
2. Your time zone, and which hours you can reliably work in US Central Time (Houston)
3. Are you available full-time (40 hrs/week)? If not, how many hours?
4. Earliest start date / current notice period
5. Years of EA / VA experience
6. Have you supported a U.S.-based business owner before? Briefly, doing what?
7. Have you done personal/lifestyle assistant work (calendar, travel, appointments, errands, family scheduling)? (Yes/No + 1 sentence)
8. Are you comfortable supporting two people (me and my wife) and handling personal/family + financial matters with full discretion? (Yes/No + 1 sentence)
9. Bookkeeping: What's your level — data entry, full-charge bookkeeping, reconciliations, financial reports? Which tools and for what kind of businesses?
10. Software testing / tech: Have you tested apps or websites and reported bugs, or used tools like Trello/Notion/Jira? (Yes/No + 1 sentence)
11. Any real estate or construction admin experience? (Yes/No + 1 sentence)
12. Your monthly or hourly rate expectation (state PHP or USD)

Tools — rate yourself 1–5 (1=none, 5=expert):
13. QuickBooks Online ___
14. Bookkeeping / reconciliations ___
15. Google Workspace (Gmail, Calendar, Drive, Docs, Sheets) ___
16. Microsoft Excel ___
17. A CRM (any) ___ — which one(s)? ________
18. E-signature tools (DocuSign / similar) ___
19. General tech comfort / software testing ___

Reliability:
20. Your home internet speed (Mbps) — run a quick speed test
21. Do you have backup internet and backup power? (Yes/No)
22. Do you work from home, an office, or a co-working space?

--- WRITTEN INTERVIEW QUESTIONS ---

Please answer each with a short, honest paragraph:

A. Why this role? What appeals to you about being one person's right hand across personal life, several businesses, and the books — and why are you a fit?

B. Prioritization: It's a busy morning. A client is texting about a late material delivery, an inspector needs a document in the next hour, and I've asked you to finish an invoice batch. I'm unreachable for 20 minutes. What do you do, in what order, and why?

C. Two principals: My wife asks you to rearrange her week because a family commitment moved, while I've asked you to keep my Thursday afternoon clear for a closing. The two schedules now collide on Thursday. How do you handle it?

D. Bookkeeping: Walk me through how you'd keep the books clean across several businesses — invoicing, categorizing expenses, monthly reconciliation. What's your process for catching errors?

E. Software testing: Have you ever tested an app or website and found problems? How do you approach finding what's broken and writing it up so the developer can fix it fast?

F. Ownership: Tell me about a time you caught a mistake or a dropped ball — financial or otherwise — before your boss noticed. What did you do?

G. Discretion: You'll see personal messages, family details, client contracts, and financial accounts. How do you think about handling sensitive personal and financial information?

H. First two weeks: If I hired you today, what would you do in your first two weeks to make my life — personal, business, and financial — easier, without me spelling everything out?

Take your time and be honest — this person will be close to my personal life, my family, and my finances, so trust matters as much as skill. If your answers are a strong fit, I'll invite you to a 30-minute Zoom call.

Looking forward to reading your reply.
Best, Vin (Vinesh Kumar) — Greater Houston / Tomball, TX