Executive & Personal Assistant to a Founder (Long-Term)

I'm a founder. I co-founded a US home care company that now has its own team, and I've built a few of my own software products that are close to launch. A big reason I'm hiring is that those products aren't across the finish line yet, and I need a genuine right hand who keeps me on track and helps me push them over it. Someone sharp, organized, and reliable who takes real work off my plate and owns it, rather than waiting to be told what to do next.

This role centers on my ventures and my personal life. The home care company is a meaningful secondary part of the job. Its own team handles day-to-day operations, so where you'd help me is with higher-level projects to grow the business. That means you should get genuinely fluent in what the company does and how we operate. Your main focus, though, is moving my other projects forward and keeping my life organized.

It's a wide role. You'll keep me organized, research questions and come back with recommendations, coordinate people, plan my travel, and run projects end to end. If you're the kind of person who spots what needs doing and handles it, we'll work well together. If you need constant direction, this isn't the right fit.

Above all, I'm looking for an accountability partner, not just a helper. Someone who keeps me on schedule, holds me to my commitments (both the deadlines others give me and the ones I set for myself), and won't let me overthink a decision or quietly let something slide. When I start to drag my feet, I want you to keep after me until it's done, firm but always on my side.

This role is meant to grow. As my ventures scale, the right person can grow with them into a chief-of-staff or operations-lead role. I'd rather find someone excellent and build a long future together than just fill a seat.

PAY: $5-8/hr USD during the paid trial, based on experience. When you move to full-time, this becomes a fixed monthly salary for a set weekly schedule, with room to grow. Paid weekly.
HOURS: Starts part-time (around 20 hrs/week) as a paid trial, then grows to full-time (around 40 hrs/week) if it's a strong fit.
START: ASAP

HOURS & SCHEDULE: I'm mainly based in Vietnam, one hour behind Manila, so most of the time my working hours fall within your normal daytime, which should be convenient for you. I travel often, though, and during those periods my hours shift and I need someone who can stay flexible when they do. Much of the time it's an easy daytime schedule, but some stretches flex to US hours.

Part of this role is simply being available. During your set hours I need you near your computer and responsive, even on lighter days when there isn't a full load of tasks. I may also text you now and then for something urgent. This isn't a 24/7 on-call job, just genuine availability during your scheduled hours, plus the occasional emergency.

THIS STARTS AS A PAID TRIAL. I want to confirm we work well together before either of us commits long-term, so the role begins as a paid trial. If it's a strong fit, it grows into a full-time, long-term position, which is what I'm ultimately looking for. Please apply only if you want that long-term role.

WHAT YOU'LL BE DOING:
- Keep me organized: manage my tasks, calendar, and follow-ups so nothing slips.
- Hold me accountable: track my commitments and deadlines, follow up, and keep me moving until things are done.
- Manage my inbox: triage email, draft replies, and surface what actually needs me.
- Research and recommend: dig into what I hand you and come back with a concise summary and a clear recommendation, not just a list of links.
- Plan my travel and personal life: flights, accommodation (2-3 vetted options with a recommendation), reservations, appointments, and personal projects as they arise.
- Coordinate people and projects: schedule calls, follow up with others, and keep things moving.
- Own recurring processes: once I show you how something works, take it over for good.
- First project, an app launch: for a new app that helps families record their aging parents' life stories, you'll help find people to try it, schedule feedback calls, track usage, and organize what we learn. I'll give you everything you need, and you'll run the process around it.

WHAT I'M LOOKING FOR (must-haves):
- Excellent, highly fluent English, written and spoken. This is essential. You'll write messages and summaries I can send with almost no editing, and you'll sometimes be on calls, so both your writing and your speaking need to be strong. I'll verify with your voice note and a short call.
- Punctual and reliable. You start on time, stay reachable during your hours, and never go quiet. If you commit to something, it gets done.
- Accountability, with warmth. You're comfortable telling me the truth, pushing back, and keeping me on track, including on the deadlines I set for myself, because you're on my side, not to be difficult. If you're a pushover or an order-taker, this isn't the role, and if "firm" means cold to you, it isn't either.
- A rock-solid power and internet setup. This is a hard requirement. In my experience, outages are the single biggest problem with remote work. You need reliable electricity and internet, plus a backup for each (a battery or generator, and pocket wifi or a second connection). Recurring "the power went out" or "my internet was down" won't work here. If your setup isn't genuinely reliable, please don't apply.
- Committed to a long-term, full-time role, not a temporary or part-time-only gig.
- An ownership mindset. You follow through without being chased. This is the most important trait.
- Organized and detail-oriented. You keep track of everything and close loops.
- Tech-savvy, comfortable with common tools and quick to learn new ones.
- Fluent with AI. I use Claude (not ChatGPT). You should be comfortable using AI to work faster, and able to show me how you already do.

BONUS if you already know tools I use: AxisCare or similar scheduling software, QuickBooks Online, RingCentral, Google Workspace, Canva, CapCut, and Claude.

ALSO A PLUS: experience as an EA/PA to a founder or business owner; travel and personal-life management for a busy person; growing Instagram or TikTok accounts (I'd like to grow accounts too); project coordination or operations experience; customer research, outreach, or community management.

HOW TO APPLY: I read every application carefully and only respond to those that follow the instructions below. A large share of applicants don't read job posts fully, so this is how I find the ones who do. If you skip a step, change the format, or send a generic template, I won't move forward.

Please answer in this exact numbered format so I can compare everyone fairly:
1. Full name
2. Desired starting rate (USD per hour). This isn't fixed and can grow over time, so just tell me where you'd want to start.
3. Availability and commitment:
a. How many hours per week can you commit?
b. Are you looking for a full-time, long-term role? (yes/no)
c. Your normal weekly availability in Philippine time
d. Can you stay flexible when my schedule shifts during travel? (yes/no)
4. Your power and internet setup: internet speed (Mbps), your provider, and exactly what your backup is if power or internet goes down
5. Your last 2-3 roles: company or client, your title, what you did, the dates, and why you left each
6. Your top skills and the tools/tech you're comfortable with, with rough years of experience, and note any of the tools I use above
7. Which AI tools you use, one concrete example of how AI helped you on a task, and whether you're comfortable using Claude specifically (yes/no)
8. Whether you've grown an Instagram or TikTok account (your own or a client's). If so, share the handle and the numbers. Optional, but a real plus.
9. Ownership scenario (3-5 sentences, in your own words): "I ask you to find 15 people to try a new app and set up short feedback calls with me. After a week, you've posted in a few places but only 3 people replied and none have booked a call. You haven't updated me. What went wrong, and what do you do now?"
10. A real example (be specific): tell me about an actual time you kept a boss or client on track when they were overthinking something or letting it slip. What did you do and say, how did they respond, and how did it turn out? Real details, not a hypothetical.
11. A short task: name an online community (a subreddit, Facebook group, or forum) where adult children caring for aging parents spend time, with its rough member count, and in 2-3 sentences, how you'd genuinely (not spammily) invite a few members to try a free app for recording a parent's life stories.
12. Anything else I should know about you, and why this role fits you.
13. A voice note: record about 45 seconds on ---------- introducing yourself and why you'd be a strong right hand, and paste the link. I want to hear your spoken English. No voice note, no interview.

ONE MORE THING: so I know you read to the end, make the very first line of your reply the single word OWNERSHIP. Applications that don't begin with it won't be reviewed.

AFTER YOU APPLY:
1. I review the applications that follow all 13 steps and begin with the read-check word.
2. Strong candidates have a short written exchange or a quick call.
3. Finalists complete a small paid trial task or trial week and share one or two references I can check.
4. If it's a strong fit, we move forward from there.

WHY THIS ROLE IS WORTH IT:
- Fair pay, weekly, with room to grow as you prove yourself
- A real path to grow: as my ventures scale, this role can grow into a chief-of-staff or operations-lead position for the right person
- Real ownership and variety across work and personal life, not busywork
- You work directly with me, and your work matters

If you're organized, take ownership, have a reliable setup, have excellent English, and want to be someone's genuine right hand for the long haul, I'd like to hear from you. Follow the 13 steps and start with the read-check word.