I hired my best friend of almost 10 years. I know I know people always tell you that you shouldn’t mix work and friendships, but I totally didn’t listen. You see, my best friend Nikki just graduated college and was having a really hard time finding a job. She applied to so many I think we lost count. I started thinking that I needed a personal assistant and that my business is growing so much that I needed help in almost everything because not one person can handle everything that I was doing and keep their sanity. We had joked about her working for me for quite some time, more of in that, “Wouldn’t it be funny” sort of way. But when push came to shove and we started to really think about it, it was a smart move on both of our parts. 

Nikki is amazing at all things being organized and just being flexible in anything I need help in. I tell her a crazy idea I have and she gets started on it. She takes care of all of my emails and client conversations. I think that was the turning point when she took over the inbox. I felt so free because I didn’t have to worry about any more client conversations and I could focus on other things that I wanted to do to grow the business. 

After I designed my website, Nikki took over all of the small finishing touches; I would message her and say, “This needs fixed”. Neither of us are web designers, but after I told her what I wanted changed, she would contact the website experts and get it done. She posts my blogs, proofreads EVERYTHING, and manages my Pinterest account. If you’ve booked an event with me recently or messaged/emailed us, you spoke to Nikki; I sometimes jump in the inbox and answer a few but usually it’s Nikki! After a few weeks of training, she basically knows what I would want to say in most situations.

Now I must say that being best friends is a blast, we literally talk everyday, we have a wonderful work-life balance, and we also get stuff done. We have work meetings where we are super productive and laugh at random stuff at the same time. She has freed me up in time and has taught me that nothing is urgent, that I can take a break from working and focus on my health, and that if I want to take a week off.. I can and the business will be right there waiting. 

Nikki is seriously my soulmate and people often mistake us for sisters because of how we act around each other. We can just look at each other and know what the other is thinking. Believe it or not, we are 2 days apart! And we met freshman year of high school and were inseparable ever since. 

There’s something special about true best friends. We have this uncanny knack to know what each other is thinking, this wicked ability to drive one another crazy, this insane energy that only one another understands, and I swear we have ESP which has come in mightily handy working together. They say not to hire your friends, but I couldn’t have asked for a better person to create her own position and turn it into a “How did I ever survive without Nikki” role.

xoxo,
Katlyn