Scale Your Small Business: Recent Episodes
Jillian Flodstrom
The Scale Your Small Business Podcast helps entrepreneurs and small business owners put simple systems in place to see exponential growth. It’s hosted by serial entrepreneur, Jillian Flodstrom. If you need help mitigating the feelings of overwhelm and confusion when it comes to leading and growing your business this show will help you calm the chaos, increase productivity and grow your revenue.
Mastering cashflow management is crucial for business success, and financial expert David Safeer offers valuable insights to help entrepreneurs navigate this complex task.
Safeer emphasizes the distinction between profits and cash, highlighting that profitability on paper doesn't guarantee cash availability.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode of the Scale Your Small Business podcast, host Jillian Flodstrom introduces Adam Rundle, the founder and CEO of Clever Profits, a company that offers fractional CFO services to businesses of all sizes.
They discuss the importance of understanding the profitability of a business and how fractional CFO services can help small business owners achieve sustainable growth.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode of the Scale Your Small Business podcast, host Jillian Flodstrom interviews entrepreneur Jeremy Gotwals to explore the critical aspects of hiring and retaining talent.
Jeremy emphasizes the significance of aligning vision, character, culture, and personality when selecting candidates, prioritizing qualities like passion, spirit, and a love for people.
He values employees who can work quickly, adapt to change, and possess emotional intelligence and business understanding.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Veronica Romney, an expert in building dream teams and training marketing leaders, shares valuable insights on creating and managing successful teams in this podcast episode. She emphasizes the importance of looking beyond impressive resumes and instead focusing on passion, fit, and fair compensation when hiring team members.
Veronica discusses the significance of effective communication, intentional engagement, and delegation of responsibilities within a team. Her expertise highlights the importance of prioritizing these factors to empower teams and achieve outstanding results.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
This podcast featuring Dr. Josh Funk offers an invaluable opportunity to gain insights into the world of physical therapy, entrepreneurship, and leadership. As a doctor of physical therapy and the founder of rehab to perform, Dr. Funk brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to the table.
Through his personal experiences, he provides practical advice and strategies for aspiring entrepreneurs, healthcare professionals, and anyone interested in personal growth.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
This podcast episode provides valuable insights into the power of marketing automation and its potential pitfalls.
Host Jillian Flodstrom and guest Laura Kerbyson's engaging discussion sheds light on effective strategies for implementing automation tools to enhance business growth and customer relationships.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this podcast episode, Jillian Flodstrom interviews Hector Castaneda, a financial expert who has more than 10 years of experience in Fortune 200 companies.
Hector discusses the key components of customer service in the financial industry, which includes finding a good fit with a client and being transparent in communication.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this podcast episode, Pieter van Nuenen, the founder of The Portugal Company, talks about the challenges of buying property in Portugal and how technology is used to make the process smoother.
Van Nuenen explains that the timeline for buying property can vary greatly, and that his company helps clients who want to buy property in Lisbon.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this podcast episode, host Jillian Flodstrom interviews Renia Orr, an international business strategist and founder of LDV Elite, on the importance of customer service in building a successful brand.
Orr shares that client experience is a reflection of a company's values, vision, and mission, and that customer service is a big part of brand perception.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit
https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this podcast episode, Mind Surgery Method practitioner and business coach Mindy Lanae shares her insights with host Jillian Flodstrom on how she helps successful entrepreneurs elevate their lifestyles and businesses to new heights.
With her extensive experience in sales and entrepreneurship, Mindy combines neurolinguistic programming and mental and emotional release techniques to help her clients overcome limiting beliefs and negative experiences.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Scott Belsky, the CEO and founder of Behance, discusses his experience starting and growing his business and the challenges he faced along the way.
He emphasizes the importance of having a mission, but being flexible in how it's accomplished, as well as the importance of product development and management, seeing them as two distinct disciplines.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
David Neagle, a successful entrepreneur, coach, and speaker, recently discussed his sales experience and philosophy during his interview with Jillian Flodstrom on the Scale Your Small Business podcast. He emphasized the importance of active listening, asking questions, and communication skills in achieving success in sales.
David believes in treating customers like human beings and helping them make a decision that's best for them, rather than trying to convert a "no" into a "yes." He recommends following up with leads and prospects in a respectful and productive way and identifying potential red flags in sales.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode of the Scale your Small Business podcast, Jillian Flodstrom welcomes sales coach Nicole Cramer to discuss effective strategies for building relationships with potential clients and becoming a successful salesperson.
Nicole emphasizes the importance of being visible and networking in person, even with strangers in everyday situations.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Nick Mullin, a direct response marketer with expertise in Facebook ads and targeted advertising campaigns, was interviewed by Jillian Flodstrom in this episode of her podcast Scale Your Small Business.
During the interview, Mullin shared his background in marketing and e-commerce, and explained why he decided to specialize in direct response marketing.
He also discussed common mistakes that businesses make with their advertising campaigns, and provided advice on how to focus on the target audience and create effective Facebook ads with clear messaging, compelling headlines, eye-catching visuals, and social proof.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode of the Scale Your Small Business podcast, Brittany Hodak, an award-winning entrepreneur and author of Superfans, joins host Jillian Flodstrom to discuss the importance of customer centricity and how it can help build an army of superfans who will advocate for a business.
Brittany explains the difference between traditional loyalty strategies and creating superfans, emphasizing the need to align everyone in the company around a singular mission.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Hilary Billings, a viral video creator and strategist, shares her expertise on creating viral content, building relationships with followers, and demystifying TikTok.
She stresses the importance of starting with creative content, being intentional about the process, leveraging the psychology of attention, and targeting the audience.
Hillary emphasizes the need to remove emotional investment and focus on the process of content creation, adapting to the changing environment.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Abraham Casallas shares his experience with creating and selling digital products in this Scale Your Small Business podcast episode with host Jillian Flodstrom.
He emphasizes the importance of researching the market and asking potential customers about their pain points to avoid creating something that nobody wants or needs.
Abraham also talks about the significance of using different platforms to push out digital content and testing pricing strategies to find what works best for the market.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
This week’s episode, Patrick Farrell, an online entrepreneur and community builder, discusses the importance of combining personal growth with actionable strategies in building successful online businesses.
He emphasizes the role of content creation and community building in effective marketing, and encourages individuals to overcome their fears and start somewhere, even if it means starting small. He also highlights the importance of trusting oneself and connecting with one's audience while being mindful of not getting lost in analytics.
Ultimately, he believes that building a heart-centered online business that brings happiness to clients and communities is the key to success.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
On the Scale Your Small Business podcast, host Jillian Flodstrom interviews Corey Ahern, the founder of Connect Rebuild. The episode focuses on the challenges of managing and prioritizing daily tasks while ensuring they align with the company's goals.
Corey stresses the importance of regular meetings with department heads to review the day's fires, potential tomorrow's fires, and debriefing yesterday's solutions.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
On the Scale Your Small Business podcast, host Jillian Flodstrom interviews Rob Fraser, the CEO of Outweigh Socks. During their conversation, Rob shares his journey starting the company and his vision for the future of the fashion industry.
Outweigh Socks is a sustainable and environmentally conscious company that offers all-day comfort, performance, and style. Rob also discusses the importance of recognizing the hard work of team members and staying up to date with industry trends and competition.
He mentions consuming information from various sources and the role of technology in business, such as using Shopify and free tools like Clavio.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In the latest episode of "Scale Your Small Business" podcast, host Jillian Flodstrom interviews serial entrepreneur and investor Hamza Alamtab, who shares his experience and insights on scaling small businesses.
Hamza runs Tamba, a digital product studio, and Routines, a website that curates daily routines of successful individuals. He discusses the importance of good communication in remote teams and Tamba's use of daily standups to stay connected.
Hamza also highlights the challenge of choosing the right tools for a team, mentioning that Tamba uses Notion for documentation, which has replaced multiple tools. Hamza's interview provides valuable insights on entrepreneurship, remote team communication, and choosing the right tools, making it a must-listen for entrepreneurs looking to improve their team's productivity and scale their small businesses.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Welcome to the Scale Your Small Business podcast, where we help entrepreneurs and small business owners take their business to the next level. In this episode, we have a special guest with us, Jessica Shraybman, a lawyer who specializes in business and intellectual property law.
Jessica helps entrepreneurs and creative professionals manage their intellectual property portfolios, and is a member of the Florida Bar's Intellectual Property subcommittee, as well as serving on the Intellectual Property Board certification task force.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode of Scale Your Small Business, guest Jordan Abaroa shares his personal experiences as an entrepreneur and dad, and how he helps other entrepreneurs achieve freedom at work and maximize their impact at home through the use of information technology.
He explains how focusing on impact, instead of balance, and utilizing automation and systems can help entrepreneurs save time and increase productivity, allowing them to spend more time with their families.
He also covers the importance of being present and efficient enough in any situation, whether it's a client meeting or spending time with family, in order to have a great impact.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this episode, Paul Minors shares his expert insights on how small businesses can use tools like Asana, Pipedrive, and Zapier to increase efficiency and grow. He recommends setting aside time to improve systems and processes, and advises finding the right tools that meet specific business needs.
Paul also emphasizes the importance of learning and properly utilizing productivity tools to achieve long-term success.
He offers guidance on using tools like Apple Notes and file management systems like Dropbox or Google Drive, and recommends using tools as intended to avoid overwhelming organization.
Paul's website is a valuable resource for small business owners seeking guidance on using productivity tools to achieve growth.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In this podcast episode, Jillian Flodstrom and Kevin Allgaier delve into the topic of technology and productivity consulting for small businesses. Allgaier, an expert in the field and the owner of a consulting company that helps clients optimize their technology investments, shares his insights on the challenges of choosing the right tech solutions and finding the right balance in investing in technology. He offers practical advice, such as staying informed through technology podcasts and considering employee needs and opinions, to help small business owners navigate the ever-evolving world of technology. Allgaier also emphasizes the importance of aligning technology with a business's growth and needs.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
On this episode of the Scale Your Small Business podcast, we welcomed Jason Benedict, the founder of the Automation Agency. His company helps small businesses improve their sales and marketing efforts through automation, leading to increased revenue, more customers, and more efficiency and freedom for the business owner. Jason shared his insights on how automation can help businesses grow and reach their full potential.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
In the episode, Mandowsky discusses common obstacles that business owners face when trying to scale their businesses, such as getting caught up in the hustle and not taking the time to slow down and identify challenges. He also discusses the importance of setting clear goals and how they can drive the design of business systems. Mandowsky is an expert in designing systems to help leaders scale their organizations, and he uses his proprietary six P playbook to help early stage founders transform their operations.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
This Scale Your Small Business podcast episode features a guest, Ray Berardinelli, who has been in the physical therapy (PT) business for 15 years and has founded two medical technology innovations that have changed the way PT practices operate.
He has designed automation software to help companies work more efficiently and provide an all-in-one clinical service. The technology is like a business partner that takes care of clients and pays attention to their needs. The guest discusses how he started creating the software to improve business operations and the importance of thinking outside the box and using technology to improve the client journey.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Andy Kaufman is an expert on leadership and project management, helping organizations around the world improve their ability to lead and deliver. He has worked with leaders at organizations such as the United Nations World Health Organization, NASA and other global clients, to improve their ability to deliver on their initiatives. He’s with us on this episode to help you improve your ability to lead and deliver within your small business.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- A big part of leadership is surrounding ourselves with people and empowering them - something that small business owners often struggle with when trying to do everything themselves.
- Project management is about getting stuff done efficiently, understanding stakeholders (those who are being impacted by a project), setting deadlines, using tools effectively, etc.
- It is often difficult to get people to change or take action if they are not dissatisfied with something.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Our guest on this episode of Scale Your Small Business is Sean Orr. He’s held a range of senior executive positions, including President, Corporate CFO, Operating CFO, and Corporate Controller roles at such notable com companies as PepsiCo, Frito Lay and Readers Digest.
Today, he's an effective business advisor and coach who believes in making big lasting impacts by building businesses properly from the foundation up using a value-based approach and here to help us with some common operational challenges that we have as small business owners and how to resolve them.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- Never be reluctant to invest in yourself.
- The challenge for smaller startup businesses is to recognize when it is time to make the transition for more scalable processes and tech support.
- All businesses have common operational issues regardless of how big or small they are.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
Today's guest learned how to build a business from nothing. After a partnership, the breakup left him with no clients, no cash flow, and no work backlog, and almost a half a million dollars in debt. He spent most of his early career obsessing about understanding what drives business success, but more importantly, how to create a life by design through entrepreneurship and business. Today, he helps business owners and entrepreneurs build meaningful businesses so they can have more profit fans and freedom. Meet Mel Abraham and what your small business can do to prepare for and protect your finances during a recession or a potential market downturn.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- One of the first things we should be doing is spending time with our credit card statements and our profit and loss statements. If you aren't good with reading financials, now is the time to do it. Take a look at everything that's going out and make sure that it makes sense and that it's bringing something else in.
- Get your team on board to create an optimized organization, optimized business, and think through the eyes of impact and profits. Things will then start to shift, because you have everyone in the boat rowing the same way.
- When we have community, we can find some solace and peace in knowing that we're not alone. It also provides a sounding board that allows us to bounce ideas, massage ideas, and check perspectives that maybe we wouldn't otherwise have if we're siloed.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today's guest, Sharlene Mohlman, is a published bestselling author who is very passionate about helping to empower professional women eliminate their debt and build successful financial portfolios so they can achieve financial freedom and create generational wealth. She's created a community of like-minded women who wanna live life more deliberately, but more importantly, abundantly. Please welcome Sharlene Mohlman.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- It's important to grow your savings as you're eliminating your debt. That could mean doing 50/ 50 for a while - 50% going on your debt and 50% going in your savings.
- We don't know the future and it's such a gamble and a risk, and if we don't have anything there to back us up we're just gonna continue into that pattern of more debt.
- It's important that when you're finally starting to make a little bit of extra money that you pay off your debt and put money aside so that you're able to grow and scale your business. If you don't have money set aside and something happens, you're just going to keep getting further into debt.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
On this episode of Scale Your Small Business Podcast we have with us, Sarah Quiggle, an advanced certified QuickBooks ProAdvisor and a very detail orientated bookkeeper. Many small business owners don't know what they’re doing when it come to their finances and find it hard to admit they need some help. She'll talk to use about how to remove the mystery around our business finances. We're going to dive deeply into QuickBooks on this episode and discover how easy it really is to use!
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- Keep personal and business finances separate.
- QuickBooks has an enormous amount of features. You can pick and choose which ones you want to use.
- It can be confusing for people who are just new to QuickBooks to understand credits and debits. Thankfully, if you choose to use QuickBooks you don't have to know debits and credits.
- The beauty of Quickbooks is it takes the stress of like managing your finances and passed it on to somebody else, but you still have control and visibility over it.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today's guest on this Scale Your Small Business episode is Paul Long, a business banking leader with 24 years of experience who works with business owners across Washington State. He is partnered with Gisa Credit Union (the second largest credit union in the state), where he is their SBA lending manager. His goal is to assist small businesses in restructuring their balance sheet, purchasing equipment, or acquiring another business.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
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Business owners are coming to the banker too late. They get themselves into a contract that they can't get out of and don't even know if they can get the loan or not.
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Be prepared financially and build a relationship with the banker before you need to do something large.
-
A big obstacle to growing your business is too much debt. If you're thinking of growing, get out of the debt situation that you're in. In some cases you can do that, but in most cases it's not gonna work.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
In this episode of Scale Your Small Business, we have bookkeeper Heather Hitchcock with us. She’s teaching us how to know when its time to hire a bookkeeper, the value and benefits a bookkeeper will bring to your business, and how to find the right one for your business.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- A bookkeeper is important because it's the best way to know what you can actually pay yourself. They can help you understand how much money your business is making and how much money you can take home.
- The two biggest things that are most important when hiring a bookkeeper are finding somebody that's gonna be straight with you and push back when you know you're overspending and the other is experience.
- One of the best things a bookkeeper can a business owner get comfortable with are their financial statements. The more you review them together the more you start to understand what you're looking at, what it means, and why you have all this income but don't have cash in the bank.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
In this episode of Scale Your Small Business, we’re shining the spotlight on the Chief Operating Officer of Exeter Building Company, Steven Dunn. He will share with us how to negotiate with vendors effectively and how to handle and prevent the “fires” that small business owners encounter every day.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- It's critical if you have a team to leverage them. When you experience fires, it's important to involve them to help you problem-solve. This helps your team grow and shows them you have confidence in them to solve problems.
- Negotiating on more than just price is critical. Focusing on just price can lead you into traps, but you learn every time.
- Review and rate your vendors regularly. Consider their importance to your business. What is their cost? What is their work quality? Get feedback from your team. Use the feedback to negotiate with your vendors by comparing them to their competitors.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Multiple business owner Dr. Alex Tam joins us on the show this week to show us how you can run multiple businesses efficiently and what to do when fear and procrastination are keeping you from moving forward in your business.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- Having people and systems together makes the day-to-day running of a small business easier to run and more efficient. For example, in Dr. Tam’s medical practice he has the doctors, the nurse practitioners, and his office manager all integrated doing the same thing and working together after the same goal.
- Always look for employees who have the will and the adaptability to be able to learn more so that they can grow with the business.
- By the time you’ve thought of hiring an employee, you probably needed one a few months ago.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Emerging business leader Dara Forleo is joining us on the show this week to help us understand how crucial your business plan is and the importance of setting up policies and procedures to support your growing business.
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- You're going to make mistakes in your business, Dara recommends that you budget for somebody to help you like a mentor or a business coach.
- Put processes and procedures in place. Be stringent with your policies, procedures, and daily planning in order for your business to run smoothly.
- Business plans are your foundation. Once you start building on your foundation, you're going to find that your plan will try to go in other directions. You will be met with little curves and hiccups, so you’ll need a secondary way of doing things or another thought of "How am I going to work around this?" Flexibility is important.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today’s guest started a business from literally nothing. She miraculously built it into a massive business, sold it, and then started a new business.
This is encouraging for all entrepreneurs!! Yes, you can start from nothing, grow it, sell it and start a new business!
Here are the top takeaways from this episode:
- How to grow outside of your comfort zone as a business owner
- How to identify your strengths and weaknesses
- How to prepare to sell your business for the highest dollar possible
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
In this episode of Scale Your Small Business, we are talking about how to explode your income and achieve quantum leaps in all areas of life with speaker and sales coach, Elyse Archer and your host, Jillian Flodstrom.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to feel worthy of setting and achieving big goals
- How to heal your relationship with money and why it's probably holding you back
- How to explode your income and have quantum leaps in your business
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today on Scale your Small Business we are talking about all things real estate. Our host, Jillian Flodstrom, is interviewing real estate agent, Joannine Kramarsic is dedicated to helping her clients find the home of their dreams.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- How to stay in the forefront of people's minds with consistent communication
- How to keep it simple and be consistent by using your calendar
- The many different platforms, places to market yourself, and ways to connect with your clients
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today's guest began his company with one simple goal, providing the best technology support to local small businesses and giving back to the community. For over six years, that simple formula has led to a great deal of success with his company, Tech Masters Computer Services.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The importance of tracking your company's technology
- How to track the costs that come with tech
- How to find the right IT professional for your small business
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link -https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link -https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link -https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link -https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
- Pinterest Link -https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Returning to the show today is James Gardiner, he’s a high-performance Olympic rowing athlete, high-performance coach, and author of the powerful new book ALL IN WITH LOVE: my journey to the hero within. In his book, he chronicles how he turned bad choices into a recipe for personal growth.
The inception of James’ book came from a creative spirit that needed to get out. Admittedly, he’s lived a colorful, interesting life with plenty of successes and just as many pitfalls. During the writing of his book, he was sharing his process with his community via social media. In doing that, he found that his community was growing with him, and was getting many new clients from his posts. Because he had so much visibility, he decided to fund the book’s publishing through crowdfunding on IndieGoGo, which allowed his audience to help support the work he was doing.
He was able to share his campaign through his regimented social media schedule–it wasn’t the same content going out on every platform every day. The posts James was making were intentional. They were consistent. And they were full of energy.
The key was personally reaching out to each and every individual who supported the book through his crowdfunding campaign. No templated responses, either. It took a lot of work, but the proof is in the pudding.
In his crowdfunding campaign, he gave donors five different options so they could choose the level at which they wanted to support. It included a signed copy, hardcover, coaching sessions, and big-ticket items like speaking events.
For those who didn’t find the book through the campaign, James’ publisher helped get the book into different locations for folks to purchase: Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Kindle, etc. In addition, James utilized his marketing knowledge and simply rinse and repeated what he had already been doing: sharing stories.
Planning was an essential part of the process. He used spreadsheets outlining posts when they’d go out, where, and what they’d say. He had a two-week build-up to a six-week campaign. But the beauty of the planning was, that once he began to implement the process, he reached a flow-state where he always knew what was going out and when.
Key Takeaways
Crowdfunding a book is a creative way to build a community, gain clients, and fund your story.
Consider going the extra mile and personally reaching out to those who support you.
Planning is an essential part of the process. Once you have everything in place, you’ll reach a flow-state where everything comes naturally.
LINKS
https://www.theherowithin.ca/
@JamesGardiner
james@theherowithin.ca
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Joining us today is Steph Tuss. Steph has always had a passion for education, and when her firstborn faced health problems, she overhauled their diets to find the root cause. After earning her Master’s Degree in holistic nutrition, she opened a practice to help families facing similar challenges. Fast forward, Steph hired a business coach in David Neagle and his team at Life is Now Inc., where she now sits as CEO.
We’re taught from a young age that mistakes are a horrible thing. But when you take a step back and look at every aspect of business, you begin to notice that mistakes are necessary. You don't grow without making mistakes. With many small business owners, there is a deep fear of making a mistake, as they’re portrayed as an embarrassing, negative thing. You either win or you learn. Just because it’s painful doesn’t mean you aren’t growing from it.
Those mistakes often manifest in sales. Steph reminds us that when someone says ‘no’ they’re not saying it to you, they’re saying it to themselves. Sales is a vulnerable practice—don’t make it personal. The goal of the sales conversation is to create clarity—identifying a problem and presenting a solution. It’s about coming from a place of service.
If you're talking more than your prospect is talking, Steph points out, that's not a good sales conversation. A sales conversation should be full of questions. The idea is that you’re info gathering in a way that serves both of you. Take control of the conversation to put your potential client at ease. People are looking for confidence. Steph has seen people struggle when they try to use a script. Avoid dumping information on someone–listen, don’t convince. Ask what the client needs, their goals, and their desired end results. Understand their fears and what happens if they can’t solve their problem.
People don’t buy the “thing,” they buy the result the “thing” is going to provide. When making an offer, it’s easy to get into the nuts and bolts of what you can give them, but in the end, that isn’t what matters. It’s about connecting what you can do to what result they are looking for, and building excitement around the desired end goal.
Listen to changes in tone and be mindful of emotional responses. While you’re in a conversation, be aware of any shifts in the way they are speaking—getting quiet may mean you’ve hit something that’s important to them, whereas shutting it down means they may not be interested at all in what you’re saying.
Being an active listener is essential. Put the script down and give yourself permission to mess up. Take a few breaths after your potential client finished speaking and set a pace to make sure the client feels heard.
Not every conversation is going to be great—there will be moments where you’ve felt like you’ve totally bombed. That’s okay. When this happens, Steph would journal about the conversation, listening back to a recording to find where the conversation went off the rails. This isn’t self-flagellation, it’s about understanding how to improve. Don’t be afraid to call someone back and try again.
Finally, remember: sales is not doing something to someone, it's doing something for someone.
Key Takeaways
When you take a step back and look at every aspect of business, you begin to notice that mistakes are necessary.
Sales is a vulnerable practice—don’t make it personal.
People don’t buy the “thing,” they buy the result the “thing” is going to provide.
Put the script down and give yourself permission to mess up.
Links
https://successfulmindpodcast.com/
@stephtuss
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Joining us today is Steph Tuss. Steph has always had a passion for education, and when her firstborn faced health problems, she overhauled their diets to find the root cause. After earning her Master’s Degree in holistic nutrition, she opened a practice to help families facing similar challenges. Fast forward, Steph hired a business coach in David Neagle and his team at Life is Now Inc., where she now sits as CEO.
We’re taught from a young age that mistakes are a horrible thing. But when you take a step back and look at every aspect of business, you begin to notice that mistakes are necessary. You don't grow without making mistakes. With many small business owners, there is a deep fear of making a mistake, as they’re portrayed as an embarrassing, negative thing. You either win or you learn. Just because it’s painful doesn’t mean you aren’t growing from it.
Those mistakes often manifest in sales. Steph reminds us that when someone says ‘no’ they’re not saying it to you, they’re saying it to themselves. Sales is a vulnerable practice—don’t make it personal. The goal of the sales conversation is to create clarity—identifying a problem and presenting a solution. It’s about coming from a place of service.
If you're talking more than your prospect is talking, Steph points out, that's not a good sales conversation. A sales conversation should be full of questions. The idea is that you’re info gathering in a way that serves both of you. Take control of the conversation to put your potential client at ease. People are looking for confidence. Steph has seen people struggle when they try to use a script. Avoid dumping information on someone–listen, don’t convince. Ask what the client needs, their goals, and their desired end results. Understand their fears and what happens if they can’t solve their problem.
People don’t buy the “thing,” they buy the result the “thing” is going to provide. When making an offer, it’s easy to get into the nuts and bolts of what you can give them, but in the end, that isn’t what matters. It’s about connecting what you can do to what result they are looking for, and building excitement around the desired end goal.
Listen to changes in tone and be mindful of emotional responses. While you’re in a conversation, be aware of any shifts in the way they are speaking—getting quiet may mean you’ve hit something that’s important to them, whereas shutting it down means they may not be interested at all in what you’re saying.
Being an active listener is essential. Put the script down and give yourself permission to mess up. Take a few breaths after your potential client finished speaking and set a pace to make sure the client feels heard.
Not every conversation is going to be great—there will be moments where you’ve felt like you’ve totally bombed. That’s okay. When this happens, Steph would journal about the conversation, listening back to a recording to find where the conversation went off the rails. This isn’t self-flagellation, it’s about understanding how to improve. Don’t be afraid to call someone back and try again.
Finally, remember: sales is not doing something to someone, it's doing something for someone.
Key Takeaways
When you take a step back and look at every aspect of business, you begin to notice that mistakes are necessary.
Sales is a vulnerable practice—don’t make it personal.
People don’t buy the “thing,” they buy the result the “thing” is going to provide.
Put the script down and give yourself permission to mess up.
Links
https://successfulmindpodcast.com/
@stephtuss
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re with Jeremy Weber, founding member and Director of Strategist & Partner Relations at Brand Builders Group. Over his 15-year career, he has founded, sold, and helped to grow multiple companies but now focuses on building personal brands. His work has supported New York Times bestselling authors, celebrity influencers, a Shark Tank investor, and 7-figure entrepreneurs across many industries.
Jill and Jeremy discuss what a personal brand really is. It’s simple, Jeremy says, it’s ‘you.’ You are good at something–you solve a problem and bring value to those around you–it’s probably how and why you started your business in the first place. Personal branding is taking that offline reputation and bringing it online so you’re recognized broadly. It helps magnify the great work you do and drive growth for your small business.
Building your personal brand starts with differentiating yourself. You can still do conventional marketing, but it’s important to include that key element that you have that others do not. From there, it’s about intentionally elevating the awareness of what you do. Exploit your uniqueness in the service of other people. You can find that uniqueness through a Brand DNA Helix, used by Brand Builders Group, a six-question breakdown of what you do. And at the top of that list is discovering what problem you solve for the world. It helps get clear on who and how you’re serving.
The biggest mistake growing businesses make is not listening to consumer trends. National studies show that consumers want their professional services provider to have an established personal brand. They want to know that who they’re working with is good at what they do. They want to know the individuals. Beyond that, businesses don’t go deep enough. Connecting with an audience in an authentic way takes intentional breakdowns of what it is you provide.
On the website front, Jeremy’s advice is to really consider what it is your business does and is doing. In many cases, if the business is yours and you’re a key player in the operation and service that the business provides, it’s worth keeping a business website and making alterations to better highlight you and others that your clients may interface with. When you break up your website, you’re diverting traffic, so if you’re going to do so, make sure it makes sense for the kind of brand you’re trying to build.
Driving awareness, bringing value, and sharing information is at the heart of a content strategy. Therefore, blogging serves as an incredibly valuable tool. As a personal brand, you need to give your audience a way to sample you to build trust and recognition, eventually funneling them to do business with you. Don’t build your business on rented real estate. Algorithms change, platforms shift, and other variables come into play in many respects. Playing on those platforms is important, but so is building the foundation of your brand by pulling them from social media to your content. A blog acts as a hub of your content on your website, a place where you control the user experience. Video is worth baking into your strategy using your blog as the content or vice versa–video to a blog post.
Key Takeaways
Personal branding is taking that offline reputation and bringing it online so you’re recognized broadly.
Building your personal brand starts with differentiating yourself.
Driving awareness, bringing value, and sharing information is at the heart of a content strategy. Therefore, blogging serves as an incredibly valuable tool.
Special offers
Book a free brand strategy call with Jeremy at https://freebrandcall.com/jw/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom as we celebrate the 3rd anniversary of the show! Thank you for being part of the past two years, and helping foster the community we're building together. We’re excited to move into the 3rd year of the podcast and make some exciting changes.
The foremost goal of the show is to add value every time you tune in. Our first change to the show will be frequency. We’re all busy people, and sometimes two episodes a week can be a lot. So, we’re going to transition into one episode per week, every Thursday.
There will still be a combination of guests and solo episodes, so you’ll be sure to get the same great tips and knowledge from every show.
We’re going to shift the show’s focus to what’s most relevant to you as a small business owner. We’ll hone in on marketing, sales, fulfillment, customer service, HR, operations, the all-important IT, administration, and finance. These topics were chosen to help drive growth for you and your business.
Next, we’re excited to welcome more guests both locally, nationally, and internationally to the show. Jillian will sit down with the best thought-leaders in each of our topics and help get an inside view into how they approach business growth.
Don’t forget to leave a review of the show. Your feedback is incredibly valuable and helps drive the direction of our episodes! Be sure to share with anyone you think would get value from the podcast and help continue to build our wonderful community.
Key Takeaways
One episode per week, each Thursday.
A combination of guests and solo episodes
New topics: marketing, sales, fulfillment, customer service, HR, operations, the all-important IT, administration, and finance.
More thought-leader guests both locally, nationally, and internationally to the show.
Today's guest is Brenda Markstein, a highly regarded woman in many global publications for her extensive knowledge in design along with being recognized as an Emmy Award-winning television and film producer. During the global shutdown, she made the decision to sell her home in Las Vegas, and follow the call of her heart making her way to her ranch in San Diego where she invites others to heal just as she (and the ranch itself) did.
Brenda feels as though she has lived four lifetimes, having climbed Kilimanjaro, bungee jumped in Thailand, had children, attended the Design Institute in San Francisco, became a designer and costume designer on stage, and traveled to dozens of countries, speaking to spiritual leaders. Through all of it, though, she realized that having the ranch and helping others heal was an accumulation of a life of experiences. There, people feel like they've arrived home. No judgment. Whatever you brought, you leave it at the gate, and then you come into your experience.
For Brenda, the pandemic presented an opportunity. Having just spent time traveling the world and meeting amazing people, she had a renewed perspective on the human condition. When she went through a split, the ranch offered itself as a place to heal. In a moment of clarity, she realized we are all in some sort of form of healing.
Brenda’s support system was built naturally through beliefs. The people that came to work for her all came with a passion to create, heal, and help. She hired people based on their gifts, not anyone else’s weaknesses.
Be comfortable with the uncomfortability. Because if you were doing that, that means you're growing out of the pattern that you've already done. It’s okay to have that little bit of excitement as you take your first steps–they are the hardest. But once you take it and you establish your vision, you’re in a powerful position of growth.
Key Takeaways
We are all in some sort of form of healing.
Don't hire to your weakness, hire to the gift.
Be comfortable with the uncomfortability. Because if you were doing that, that means you're growing out of the pattern that you've already done.
LINKS
https://rocasretreat.com/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re going to run through some tips regarding finances–a topic that can be intimidating to new business owners. Planning for the future of your business is one of the keys to setting yourself up for success. Let’s break it down.
First things first, you've got to know where you're at–you've got to know your finances. It can be stressful and scary, but you’ve got to have a starting point to move forward. That can be as easy as printing out your bank statements, your credit card statements, and looking them over.
Make sure you know where your money is going. You might be losing money on something that you didn't even know was still being taken out of your account. Essentially, check your iPhone. There's a subscriptions tab inside the settings—you could be paying for things that you signed up for at one time, and have been charging you on a reoccurring basis without you realizing it. Look for other reoccurring transactions in your life. Do you really need all seven TV streaming services as well as cable?
Create a budget. Develop a spreadsheet with all your recurring transactions to hone in on your money’s path. When you create this sheet, you’ll be able to tell if the outgoing is higher than the incoming. Then, sit down and consider everything coming out of your accounts and see if you can cut back anywhere.
Allow yourself to dream. Have debt? Imagine your life without it. Want a second home? Imagine life with it. Whatever your goals, it’s important to envision them. Set a plan, and find a financial advisor to help maximize what you have.
If you start today, you can change the future of yourself and your family. It’s never too late.
Key Takeaways
It can be stressful and scary, but you’ve got to have a starting point to move forward.
Make sure you know where your money is going. You might be losing money on something that you didn't even know was still being taken out of your account.
Create a budget. Develop a spreadsheet with all your recurring transactions to hone in on your money’s path.
On the show today, we have an intuitive, empowering, and creative women's business strategist, Danikah Rose. She works on mindset and rewiring limiting beliefs and has a huge passion for authentic marketing and staying true to core values in the public eye. She teaches courses on attitude, gratitude, self-awareness, self-care, and goal setting, along with authentic marketing. She wants all women to know that everything they desire is readily available when they're operating in their truth and their inner wisdom.
The best way people can boost their confidence right away, Danikah shares, starts with practice. It’s not something that’s automatic–it takes intentional cultivation from a place of truth to build it. Things like affirmations are crucial to changing the way you think about yourself. You can become your own hype-man. If that isn’t your game, find a coach that can help you. You can build a hype-squad around you to keep that momentum going.
When you’re building that squad around you or looking for a coach to work with, you want them to look like what you want your future self to be–someone you can admire. They’ve got to match your vibe. Be with someone who is already looking to work with you. Really read into it and take your time, it’s worth being intentional. There’s no rush in making decisions–talk to at least five people and find someone who is going to pour as much into your business as you do.
Comparing ourselves to others can hinder personal and professional progress. A key to breaking that habit (or any habit) is to replace it with something else. It’s not about resistance, because that causes discomfort and isn’t sustainable. Instead of pushing outside your comfort-zone, move your comfort-zone forward with you.
Having the right mindset is the foundation of a successful business. You can stay making decisions based on what’s not going right, or you can make a choice to move forward and think ahead to how you can overcome your challenges. It's not about anyone else. Business is very individual. It's about you and what you're trying to cultivate.
If you know you need to make a change, Danikah recommends starting with getting support. Don't feel ashamed or worried because you haven’t hit certain milestones yet. You’re learning and may not yet have the tools you need. From there, it’s about asking the right questions. What can I do about it? What is the solution? What can I talk about that will serve my customer? The trick with finding support is to flip those questions around. What challenges do you face? What’s the solution? It's about implementing people who know more than you. Not everyone knows everything–everyone has their own zone of expertise. But it’s important to have the support around what you’re creating.
Don’t be afraid to go back to basics. Backspace as much as you need to and reinvent what you do. Accept that something isn’t going to be working the same way they were when you first started. People will believe in you, but you have to put in the work to get there.
Danikah’s last piece of advice is to tune in because there is a lot of noise that can distract you from being your authentic self.
Visit Danikah’s Instagram Bio links to check out her upcoming Mastermind!
Key Takeaways
Confidence is not something that it's just automatic
When you’re building that squad around you or looking for a coach to work with, you want them to look like what you want your future self to be–someone you can admire.
Don’t be afraid to go back to basics. Backspace as much as you need to and reinvent what you do.
LINKS
www.Instagram.com/danikahrosecreative
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re going to break down the steps and key moments you’ll encounter when you update your business’ website. It can seem like an overwhelming project, but it’s possible to calm the chaos.
One of the most important things to remember when you’re building your website is this: your website isn’t about you, it’s about the problem you solve. People are purchasing things from us because they have a problem and need to purchase the solution. By making that crystal clear for people, it makes so much easier that decision-making process and leads to people buying more. If your competitor has a much clearer, easy-to-use website, people will automatically go there first. Make sure your website’s images build trust with your potential clients. It’s okay to use stock images, but you should have photos of yourself if possible.
Websites are living, breathing things. It's not a set it and forget it—you will always be updating it. Change happens all the time, and you want to keep up with it to make sure your clients are getting the best experience possible. Showing people how easy it is to work with you starts with your website.
Make sure that your top navigation bar is easy to understand and that things are grouped together the way they should be. Making sure that your customers can communicate with you easily is a huge step in the right direction. If someone has a question, it should be simple to start a chat. As far as pop-ups go, if they’re annoying to you, then don’t use them. Be intentional about how and when they are used.
Another big item you can add to your website is testimonials. Now keep in mind that yes, you are selling something. So you want to provide people's feedback of how they felt after they purchase your product, and what that product did for them. What problem did it solve? These testimonials will allow you to paint a picture for the viewer of your website and your potential client of what they can expect.
Make sure you have a mock-up of your website and get feedback before you go live. Feedback from strangers is best because they’ll give you the most objective perspective on what you have to offer. It can be easy to overcomplicate a website! Take feedback to heart and make changes.
Key Takeaways
Your website isn’t about you, it’s about the problem you solve.
Websites are living, breathing things. It's not a set it and forget it—you will always be updating it.
Testimonials will allow you to paint a picture for the viewer of your website and your potential client of what they can expect.
Welcome to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest is Gina Mote. She has started many successful businesses, most recently a virtual, at-home DIY woodworking and painting workshop called Little August Ranch. She's with us today to talk about her experiences as an entrepreneur and share her best tips for growing a small business.
Gina’s inspiration for Little August Ranch came from the intersection of her love for crafts and scrapbooking, her favorite month, and her and her family’s move from chilly Idaho to a small desert ranch in Arizona. Her passion naturally scaled into a successful business by sharing her work on social media. From there, it was craft shows and scaling.
A primary challenge Gina faced when scaling her business was physically hauling the materials to craft shows. To combat this, Gina pivoted to online selling through Etsy and her personal website, which comes with its own set of challenges. However, this allowed them to introduce a monthly subscription box, which streamlined much of their sales through the website.
Etsy originally served the purpose of running credit cards for Gina’s business, but after building her own website, she realized Etsy had many other perks that are incredibly useful for what she was doing. Etsy has already done the work of building an audience to come to your page, something you’d have to do yourself with a personal website. Because she has a robust understanding of SEO, she was able to catapult her sales. From Etsy, you can build your own website once your customer base starts to form. Building a Shopify website allows for Facebook integration, further driving leads to your product.
Now that her business is streamlined and scaled, the biggest challenge is time. She overcomes this hurdle through delegation and finding what it is she is best at, and offloading the rest. She considered what it is she wanted to spend her day doing and hired out the rest.
Gina uses skills from completely different businesses in her current work. She noticed that the world was shifting online, so she built processes around that to set herself up in the future. Plus, throughout her time scaling other jobs, she was taking training and building up her know-how. She recommends building pieces and seeking out coaches as you go.
For those who are struggling to find their creative outlet, Gina recommends listening to what people are saying, checking out Pinterest, and finding what speaks to you, what you think you could do, and what you’d enjoy creating. All it takes is the desire to create.
Key Takeaways
Moving online is a great way to scale and streamline your business.
Etsy has already done the work of building an audience to come to your page, something you’d have to do yourself with a personal website.
Find skills that will be applicable to other jobs to ease transition paralysis.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re tackling overwhelm. It’s something we all are challenged with, but for some reason struggle to talk about. We’re going to talk about some strategies that can help you get out of that cycle quickly.
Sometimes, procrastination is both a product and a cause of and for overwhelm. Just as often, the source of the overwhelm is a task that is smaller than we think but has been left to fester and grow into something that encompasses us.
A good place to start is getting focused on priorities. It’s important to know what you need to get done first. Start with what makes you money, or what has a firm date deadline. A lot of overwhelm stems from way too much to do.
Depending on what your procrastination destination is, you may be getting sucked in to hide from a task. No matter what the action is, you've got to get around it. Try making a list of every single thing you’re overwhelmed by. Getting things out of your head and onto paper can make it much easier to attack.
If you’re avoiding your overflowing email, start with organizing your inboxes. When things are laid out for you, it can become more manageable.
Create a workspace free of clutter. Turn off all your devices, and let yourself focus.
Finally, break larger tasks down into smaller, more digestible ones. Write them down on sticky notes and keep track of the to-do, in-progress, and completed sections of your Kanban board (check out our other episode on them!).
Key Takeaways
Sometimes, the source of the overwhelm is a task that is smaller than we think but has been left to fester and grow into something that encompasses us.
Try making a list of every single thing you’re overwhelmed by. Getting things out of your head and onto paper can make it much easier to attack.
Finally, break larger tasks down into smaller, more digestible ones.
Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom. Joining us today is Marilyn Barker, she is a motivational speaker and educator both online and offline through her seminars and upcoming book. Coming from a place of personal hardship and growth, she understands that life can be overwhelming. She's able to offer advice and guidance from a uniquely personal space.
Marilyn has struggled with depression and anxiety as far back as she can remember. Especially when she started her own business, there were a lot of trial and error, failures, and difficult challenges. But she came out the other side with an understanding that she can now offer to the people she works with, offering tools to overcome that and take the next step.
Vision boards are a huge part of Marilyn’s process, and is something she works with her clients on. A vision board is a visual representation of your goals, your dreams, and your visions of where you want to see your life and your business. It’s a visual ‘to-do’ list, but unlike a ‘list’ it is a reminder and motivator of and towards your goals.
Your aspirations may change, so it’s worth making a vision board or updating your current one every quarter, Marilyn suggests. These boards are meant to grow with your business and benefit your life and your family.
Vision boards work–the proof is in the results. Many people Marilyn works with say the benefits are twofold–they are either motivated by what they see to where they accomplish their goal, or they realize that goal wasn’t important. It helps prioritize your business while keeping you focused on what matters.
It can look however you want, but it’s meant to be nice to look at. It can be hands-on or digital (or both!). All you need is a small posterboard (it doesn’t have to be giant at first), glue, scissors, and Google or a magazine. From there, you can digitize it with a photo and carry it with you on your phone anywhere you go. You want to be able to archive these boards to record the progress you’ve made, develop new goals, and continue achieving.
What you’re focused on is what will motivate you–what makes you think of that goal and keeps it at the forefront of your thoughts. Go beyond that and consider the action steps it will take to get to that goal, and include images that remind you of those too.
Use your planner in conjunction with your vision board. Physically block out times of your day where you’re focused on those action steps. That way your mind is freed from the constant “when will I do this” feeling and dedicates uninterrupted time where you can work towards your goal.
Key Takeaways
A vision board is a visual representation of your goals, your dreams, and your visions of where you want to see your life and your business. It’s a visual ‘to-do’ list, but unlike a ‘list’ it is a reminder and motivator of and towards your goals.
Focus on what will motivate you–what makes you think of that goal and keeps it at the forefront of your thoughts.
Your aspirations may change, so it’s worth making a vision board or updating your current one every quarter.
Links
https://www.marilynbarker.com/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re going to spend some time talking about how to most effectively share something that you’re excited about. We’ll dive into how to let people in on a process, a system, or whatever else that you’re passionate about and the steps you can take to do so.
One of the most important things you can do, especially when you’re excited about sharing a new project with others, is to explain the intent behind the new implementation. When you’re passionate about something new, it’s easy to forget the ‘why.’ But, it’s crucial that everyone understands how the new system will work with what they’re doing.
Implement new systems the same way you would start a new habit–adding it to an existing thing that you and your team do. Habit stacking makes new implementations feel less invasive and easier to swallow.
It goes without saying, but when you’re implementing a new system, share it with others! We often keep our goals under wraps, but sharing them can help with accountability and will let you look back at your goals with your team and supporters once you’ve hit them.
Things don't have to be complicated. Whatever makes it easier for you is how you want to go. Nothing is going to be perfect all the time–it’s important to give yourself grace and allow mistakes to happen along the way. Whatever you're doing, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. We are changing our lives one small step at a time.
Key Takeaways
One of the most important things you can do, especially when you’re excited about sharing a new project with others, is to explain the intent behind the new implementation.
Habit stacking makes new implementations feel less invasive and easier to swallow.
Nothing is going to be perfect all the time–it’s important to give yourself grace and allow mistakes to happen along the way.
Welcome to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest is Gina Mote. She has started many successful businesses, most recently a virtual, at-home DIY woodworking and painting workshop called Little August Ranch. She's with us today to talk about her experiences as an entrepreneur and share her best tips for growing a small business.
Gina’s inspiration for Little August Ranch came from the intersection of her love for crafts and scrapbooking, her favorite month, and her and her family’s move from chilly Idaho to a small desert ranch in Arizona. Her passion naturally scaled into a successful business by sharing her work on social media. From there, it was craft shows and scaling.
A primary challenge Gina faced when scaling her business was physically hauling the materials to craft shows. To combat this, Gina pivoted to online selling through Etsy and her personal website, which comes with its own set of challenges. However, this allowed them to introduce a monthly subscription box, which streamlined much of their sales through the website.
Etsy originally served the purpose of running credit cards for Gina’s business, but after building her own website, she realized Etsy had many other perks that are incredibly useful for what she was doing. Etsy has already done the work of building an audience to come to your page, something you’d have to do yourself with a personal website. Because she has a robust understanding of SEO, she was able to catapult her sales. From Etsy, you can build your own website once your customer base starts to form. Building a Shopify website allows for Facebook integration, further driving leads to your product.
Now that her business is streamlined and scaled, the biggest challenge is time. She overcomes this hurdle through delegation and finding what it is she is best at, and offloading the rest. She considered what it is she wanted to spend her day doing and hired out the rest.
Gina uses skills from completely different businesses in her current work. She noticed that the world was shifting online, so she built processes around that to set herself up in the future. Plus, throughout her time scaling other jobs, she was taking training and building up her know-how. She recommends building pieces and seeking out coaches as you go.
For those who are struggling to find their creative outlet, Gina recommends listening to what people are saying, checking out Pinterest, and finding what speaks to you, what you think you could do, and what you’d enjoy creating. All it takes is the desire to create.
Key Takeaways
Moving online is a great way to scale and streamline your business.
Etsy has already done the work of building an audience to come to your page, something you’d have to do yourself with a personal website.
Find skills that will be applicable to other jobs to ease transition paralysis.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re going to spend some time talking about how to most effectively share something that you’re excited about. We’ll dive into how to let people in on a process, a system, or whatever else that you’re passionate about and the steps you can take to do so.
One of the most important things you can do, especially when you’re excited about sharing a new project with others, is to explain the intent behind the new implementation. When you’re passionate about something new, it’s easy to forget the ‘why.’ But, it’s crucial that everyone understands how the new system will work with what they’re doing.
Implement new systems the same way you would start a new habit–adding it to an existing thing that you and your team do. Habit stacking makes new implementations feel less invasive and easier to swallow.
It goes without saying, but when you’re implementing a new system, share it with others! We often keep our goals under wraps, but sharing them can help with accountability and will let you look back at your goals with your team and supporters once you’ve hit them.
Things don't have to be complicated. Whatever makes it easier for you is how you want to go. Nothing is going to be perfect all the time–it’s important to give yourself grace and allow mistakes to happen along the way. Whatever you're doing, it doesn't have to be all or nothing. We are changing our lives one small step at a time.
Key Takeaways
One of the most important things you can do, especially when you’re excited about sharing a new project with others, is to explain the intent behind the new implementation.
Habit stacking makes new implementations feel less invasive and easier to swallow.
Nothing is going to be perfect all the time–it’s important to give yourself grace and allow mistakes to happen along the way.
Thanks for joining us on today’s episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom. Joining us today is Marilyn Barker, she is a motivational speaker and educator both online and offline through her seminars and upcoming book. Coming from a place of personal hardship and growth, she understands that life can be overwhelming. She's able to offer advice and guidance from a uniquely personal space.
Marilyn has struggled with depression and anxiety as far back as she can remember. Especially when she started her own business, there were a lot of trial and error, failures, and difficult challenges. But she came out the other side with an understanding that she can now offer to the people she works with, offering tools to overcome that and take the next step.
Vision boards are a huge part of Marilyn’s process, and is something she works with her clients on. A vision board is a visual representation of your goals, your dreams, and your visions of where you want to see your life and your business. It’s a visual ‘to-do’ list, but unlike a ‘list’ it is a reminder and motivator of and towards your goals.
Your aspirations may change, so it’s worth making a vision board or updating your current one every quarter, Marilyn suggests. These boards are meant to grow with your business and benefit your life and your family.
Vision boards work–the proof is in the results. Many people Marilyn works with say the benefits are twofold–they are either motivated by what they see to where they accomplish their goal, or they realize that goal wasn’t important. It helps prioritize your business while keeping you focused on what matters.
It can look however you want, but it’s meant to be nice to look at. It can be hands-on or digital (or both!). All you need is a small posterboard (it doesn’t have to be giant at first), glue, scissors, and Google or a magazine. From there, you can digitize it with a photo and carry it with you on your phone anywhere you go. You want to be able to archive these boards to record the progress you’ve made, develop new goals, and continue achieving.
What you’re focused on is what will motivate you–what makes you think of that goal and keeps it at the forefront of your thoughts. Go beyond that and consider the action steps it will take to get to that goal, and include images that remind you of those too.
Use your planner in conjunction with your vision board. Physically block out times of your day where you’re focused on those action steps. That way your mind is freed from the constant “when will I do this” feeling and dedicates uninterrupted time where you can work towards your goal.
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, Jillian is sitting down with Annette Lennerup, a fashion designer, product developer, and teacher with more than 15 years of experience in the fashion space, with education in design from the London College of Fashion. She helps start-ups and small fashion brands learn about the industry and take their design to production.
Annette’s passion for fashion started innocently, pretending to be a designer with her friend while growing up in Sweden, which didn’t have much access to fashion education. Then focused on graphic design, she moved to London where she pursued her dream of working in the fashion industry.
Many challenges are specific to the fashion industry, such as getting your design to production. Even having worked in the space and having contacts, it can still be challenging to have your product come out the way you’d like. With the ocean of information out there, it can be overwhelming to get everything in gear, as it’s a much larger process than anyone expects.
It starts with understanding what you’re designing, who you’re designing it for, what role it plays for the customer, and having a grasp of industry trends before even considering production. From there, there are patterns, fabric samples, colors and Pantones, fitting, and more than all need to be tweaked. No matter the size of the company, these are all the same steps. Often, it can take up to 8 samples to get the right style. All in all, it can take 6 months to get to production. With the impact of COVID, that can take even longer.
Trends have changed with the times too—athleisure has burst onto the market in a way that’s forcing establish brands to adjust and giving opportunities to new brands to find their niche.
It’s a lot to get a design to the production floor, and that’s where Annette comes in. Because she’s been in the space so much and has so much experience, she can provide insider strategy for her clients. But beyond that, she’s an entrepreneur herself–constantly learning and breaking down how to scale a business. How to make your stock last longer than a season, marketing ideas, and other tips are at the intersection of her expertise.
The most important thing, Annette says, is to find a niche that you can thrive in and fill a gap in the industry. Speak with someone in the industry who understands the in’s and out’s. Do your homework before you dive in, because there can be some unique roadblocks in the fashion world.
Annette is building a 6-month program called Fashion Design Tribe, which starts at the inception of your product and moves through to production. This means you’re breaking down design, sales and marketing, as well as the production process.
Check out the Facebook Group in the links below!
Key Takeaways
Some challenges and processes remain in the space you’re working in, no matter the size of the business.
Getting a product from design to production can be a much larger process than many think.
Find an expert in your field to better understand the industry before you dive in.
LINKS
https://lennerup.com/
https://m.facebook.com/fashiondesigntribe
There will always be times when life comes first–and it should! Holidays, new members joining your family, vacations, or maybe just a moment to step away from your business shouldn’t add more stress to your professional life. So, how can we best plan ahead to make sure everything runs smoothly in our absence? Let’s dive in.
Firstly, it’s important to keep your team in the loop. Everyone needs to be on the same page, whether it’s an extended period of time off, the plan of action while you’re gone, or even if there comes a busy time of year, the people you work with should be in the know. Create a business that’s easy to work for. Have plans and avoid urgency.
Plan things out by month. Get out a calendar for the year and consider what needs to be done in that period of time. Almost everything can be scheduled ahead of time, so get it on your calendar early so it can be blocked out. Having a visual reference will help stay on track. Have a physical and digital version for everyone to access.
Ramp up your automation. Utilize things like Calendly to automate your scheduling. In addition, double-check your current automation before you go to ensure everything is operating when you leave. Be sure to give yourself and your team enough lead time to work this automation into their day-to-day so you aren’t introducing a new process while you’re gone.
Finally, make sure your clients are aware of your absence. Give them enough space to contact you and be available to them so nothing festers while you’re away.
Key Takeaways
It’s essential to keep your team in the loop. Everyone needs to be on the same page.
Create a business that’s easy to work for. Have plans and avoid urgency.
Plan things out by month. Get out a calendar for the year and consider what needs to be done in that period of time.
Ramp up your automation.
At 43, today's guest committed to leaving the alcoholic version of himself in the past. By age 49, he began his personal challenge to defy the limits of what's humanly possible, transforming physically, mentally, and spiritually well into his 50s. Now, he’s competing in ultra-endurance events. He recently published a book, Do it Anyway, which follows him, Scott Harlow, on his journey from a self-destructive and insecure young man to a fitness coach, actor, and athlete.
The decision to become an ultra-endurance athlete came slowly at first, starting with getting off the couch and making the choice to become healthy. While on a trip to Rome with his girlfriend, Scott came upon a book called The Paleo Solution by Robb Wolf. This was a lightbulb moment–he realized he was getting older and wasn’t in the shape he was and wanted to be. So, just like that, he cut gluten, dairy, and sugars and began to run around the streets of Italy. When he returned with a refreshed perspective, he picked up where he left off and continued his fitness journey.
He wanted to become healthy more than I wanted to consume unhealthy drinks and foods. Quitting drinking alcohol he had to make and still makes every day. He knew if he made the decision to change, he would follow through with it. He knew that if he put his mind to it, he could certainly do it. And it's the same for anybody, he says, it starts with a decision. Paralysis through analysis is the biggest hurdle. It’s about starting–you don’t need motivation when you have discipline.
Everything is geared around making things easier, which can lead to building perceived mental limits. It is easy to become complacent. The growth is in stepping out of your comfort zone and crawling past that challenge. To combat this, he recommends never taking more than one day off in a row.
It starts with the mentality of “I'm going to do the things that I need to do to make my business successful.” Thoughts lead to actions, which lead to endorphins and momentum.
That same mentality is what pushed Scott to train for and compete in ultra-endurance events, where he focuses on positive speaking and breath control to calm the mind and bring clarity while you’re in high-pressure and high-stress situations and push you forward, especially when you don’t want to.
Key Takeaways
Paralysis through analysis is the biggest hurdle. It’s about starting–you don’t need motivation when you have discipline.
Thoughts lead to actions, which lead to endorphins and momentum.
The growth is in stepping out of your comfort zone and crawling past that challenge.
LINKS
https://www.scottharlow.ca/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! On today’s show, we’re taking a look at Health Insurance. It can be a dizzying experience with a seemingly endless pile of options that can leave you confused and unsure where to start. Let’s calm that chaos.
The first thing to consider when you’re scaling your business is simply offering a health insurance package to your current (and potential future) employees. There are many employees looking to switch jobs but don't because they have awesome benefits. If you're hoping to attract those employees by having that benefits package, offering a great package could do the trick.
Next, consider the level of plans of packages and the variability of the cost. Costs can vary in price range based on the size of your group, your location, or the type of business. Reaching out to a local licensed agent is the best thing that you can do. Be sure that this person is someone that is going to be able to grow with you because your business is going to grow.
Don't feel like you have to add everything to your health insurance package in the first year. You can start with a basic package and add on additional benefits as your team needs them. By expanding your package, you’re scaling your business by bringing in new talent.
Talk with your employees about the package you’re offering. It helps employees understand not only the cost but the decisions that you're making and what benefits you're bringing to them.
Key Takeaways
The first thing to consider when you’re scaling your business is simply offering a health insurance package to your current (and potential future) employees.
Consider the level of plans of packages and the variability of the cost.
Don't feel like you have to add everything to your health insurance package in the first year.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today’s guest is Elyse Notarianni, a writer with a passion for all things digital. As the President and Founder of Townie Creative digital media marketing agency, Elyse is making her way in both the digital marketing and writing worlds. She’s here today to break down how to easily break into the digital marketing space.
Elyse comes from a space of high-end journalism, writing cover stories on celebrities like Queen Latifah for print magazines to marketing summer camps for a big summer camp company and major sports teams. She’s worked with Lady Gaga’s Born This Way Foundation, co-authoring a New York Times Best Seller, “Channel Kindness.”
We all want to grow our business. But where do we start? Elyse reminds us to get back to basics. It’s about ensuring you have everything available to people to make visiting your business and working with you as easy as possible. A clean website with information on what you do and how to contact you are the foundation. From there, it’s building a brand, which isn’t as complicated as some make it. Develop a social media strategy that provides value and allows people to create a community around what you do. It's not about showing off. It's not about pretty pictures. It’s not about likes.
The best place to invest your money when you’re looking to grow your online presence is in people. People who can do what you need and are exceptionally good at it. While it’s easy to believe we can do everything ourselves, experts in their field will bring an incredible amount of value to your brand.
It’s okay to have a simple social media presence. It doesn’t have to be perfect! Create a calendar, put three posts on it every week. One post is an informational post about what you do, what your services are, and what sets you apart. The next is an educational post that gives value to your customer that offers them something for free. Then something entertaining!
Batch your posts so you’re only spending a few hours a month creating (that time will go down as you get better at this sort of thing) and use a scheduler to get your posts out consistently. Start simple with static posts, then once you’re more comfortable, dip your toes into video content.
LINKS
http://towniecreative.com/
https://www.elysenotarianni.com/
@TownieCreative
Key Takeaways
Make sure you have everything available to people to make visiting your business and working with you as easy as possible.
The best place to invest your money when you’re looking to grow your online presence is in people.
Batch your posts so you’re only spending a few hours a month creating (that time will go down as you get better at this sort of thing) and use a scheduler to get your posts out consistently.
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! With everything out there about social media, it can be very complicated to figure out which platform is the right one for you. Today, we’re talking about how to choose and how many is too many. Let’s dive in.
The most important thing about social media is that you don't have to be all the places all the time. Some people will tell you to get on as many channels as possible, but it’s more than okay to go with the platform you’re already comfortable using.
Be mindful when you’re using a platform like Instagram or other scrollable social media that you aren’t sucked into the eye candy. Some are useful, but a lot will just be distracting. Set limits and respect the boundaries you set for yourself.
Keep it simple. The most important thing is that you’re being consistent. Don’t overcomplicate your social media trying to reach millions of followers every day. Start small and speak to the people who are supporting you and enjoy your content. The priority is creating quality posts that we’re proud of and meaningful to your audience.
Ensure you’re carving out time to respond to people on your social media. Comments, DMs, and other interactions should all get attention. Make sure people feel heard and are able to communicate with you freely.
Make sure you’re maximizing the platform you’re on. Use the properly sized images, appropriate captions and tags, make sure your videos are a length that makes sense, and keep your bio easy to read and up to date.
Key Takeaways
You don't have to be all the places all the time. Choose a platform you’re comfortable with and stick with it.
Keep it simple. The most important thing is that you’re being consistent.
Ensure you’re carving out time to respond to people on your social media.
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! On today’s show, we’re with Allyson Chavez, a prosperity transformation coach with a passion for teaching ambitious, women and men how to get out of their own way so they can easily and consistently hit their targets while feeling peace and joy as they go.
There is a difference between challenges and struggles, Allyson says. Challenges lead to progress, while struggles stall that progress. Struggle is filled with frustration, irritation, and impatience. There is no value in struggle, but challenge presents immense value and usefulness. We’ve been taught that you must have struggled to have deserved success. This doesn’t have to be the case!
It’s all about mindset. When we marry systems and structures with mindset that is a power couple. Overwhelm is just living in the future. We're meant to live in today. Use the tools that you have and do what you can do today. Focus on one thing at a time and watch as the day smooths itself out.
We have a tendency to compare ourselves to others with no regard to where that person is in their professional journey. You may not see it, but there’s a good chance there’s a team of people supporting the person you’re comparing yourself to. A one-woman show is going to feel a lot different than someone with 30 people in the background. When you’re just starting, you may not have had the experience of leading a multi-million dollar team in a corporate setting–and that’s okay! You're still going to learn, skill up, and scale your business.
We often fall into the trap of perfectionism, Allyson notes, and that can make us lose sight of why we got into the business in the first place. It’s okay to take something and see how far you can go with it. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and you don’t have to eat yourself alive if something doesn’t work.
Allyson is the host of the podcast The Prosperity Approach, where she talks about the inner, mental game of business. Many people play to not lose, whereas she teaches others to play to win. On the show, she shares practical tips that you can apply to your business to grow. Money doesn’t bring peace, peace brings money. So finding peace first will help you in the long run. It doesn’t have to be complicated!
Allyson developed an online workshop for listeners! Head to https://prosperityapproach.com/workshop to find out how you can work with Allyson in implementing tools that are made for you.
Links
https://prosperityapproach.com/workshop
Allysonchavez.com
Key Takeaways
Making money doesn’t have to be hard–you can make money your way.
Struggle and challenges are vastly different. One stalls progress, the other creates it.
Money doesn’t bring peace–peace brings money.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! There are a lot of people in business who talk about mindset, many have even joined us on the show. They’re all great! But, there is a lot of noise on the internet. Today, we’re going to cut through it and break down how you can form your own affirmations to get your mindset where it needs to be.
First things first: an affirmation is a statement you make to yourself every single morning that propels you, your team, and your business forward. For affirmations, imagine your future self is looking back, talking to your current self.
The great thing about affirmations is that they can be whatever you want them to be. Your verbiage is up to you. They can be in the morning, one in the afternoon, and one in the evening before bed. The point is, by doing them every day they become ingrained in your mentality. Sometimes you just have to sit down and dream. What does your business look like in 10 years? Be grateful for why you do what you do, and for those things you might not have yet, but are coming.
The human brain is a powerful thing. The thoughts you have put that energy into the world. While thoughts can be the root of many anxieties, they can also be the solution. When you say things over and over again, it becomes truth to you and eventually manifests to fruition.
In the same way your affirmations are pulled from dreams, they’re also a big part of your goals. If there’s a big project you’re working through that’s causing some stress, base your affirmations on that–you WILL get it done.
It’s important to remember that affirmations take work and take time to create. Make sure it’s something you truly believe in. Don’t allow any room for negativity in this process, because you’re going to carry them with you every day, everywhere you go.
These are clear, positive statements that you should consistently offer to yourself. Whether you seek out an expert or not, make this process your own. It doesn’t have to be perfect!
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re sitting down with entrepreneurial power couple, Dr. Dallas Buchanan, and his wife, Michelle.
While they didn’t start out their professional careers with entrepreneurship in mind, it was clear that the best path forward for Dr. Buchanan and his wife allowed them to make the rules and call their own shots. Michelle, who also has a background in nursing, threw Dallas a proverbial life-raft to his practice and allowed them to open their options and eventually tag-team the process of opening a practice.
Just like any business, Michelle and Dallas had to consider the market where they wanted to open their practice. They had to look at competition, the people they’d serve, and every other factor that comes with starting a new location. But, in medical training, there's no entrepreneur training and certainly no business management training. It is a daunting task—how often do you hear of a medical practice going under? But, as Michelle and Dallas both agree, eventually, you just have to take the plunge. If you have a product or service that you think that the community is going to receive well, and you're passionate about what you do, there is room to grow. You just have to accept that you're going to stumble, and you're going to make some mistakes. And in the end, you're going to come out and more positives than negatives, and you'll continue to grow from there.
Having a supportive spouse as your partner in the process is a plus, but reaching out to friends and business leaders helps smooth out the logistics of starting a business on the backend. The truth is, people, want to see you succeed.
Delegation, as we’ve mentioned on the show before, is crucial when running a business. For Michelle and Dr. Buchanan, hiring an accountant, an attorney, and front-end folks to handle client contact was the first place to start. You're going to find your strengths and weaknesses, whether you want to admit them or not, they say, so having support to manage all the moving parts is an essential lesson. Plus, watching the people you trust knock it out of the park is satisfying.
In the end, starting this practice was about the autonomy to do things in their style. when you don't own the ship, Dallas says, you can't choose the direction that the ship gets steered. The buck stops with you. There has got to be something you can tweak to make it your own.
Starting the practice didn’t come without surprises. Learning everything that was previously not on the radar is humbling. In addition, the amount of work it takes can come as quite the jump for some. After the patients go home, there is still work on the business side to do. Working so closely with your partner has pros and cons as well. It’s incredibly rewarding to watch something you built together grow, but you have to be very intentional about the boundary that separates professional from personal life.
LINKS
https://vivifyps.com/
@vivifyplasticsurgery
Key Takeaways
If you have a product or service that you think that the community is going to receive well, and you're passionate about what you do, there is room to grow.
You're going to find your strengths and weaknesses, whether you want to admit them or not
Starting your own business comes with a daunting set of challenges, but in the end, you call the shots.
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, we’re diving into something we all deal with but somehow always want to ignore: our messes. That big pile of everything sitting in the corner of your room that you walk by every day is certainly daunting, but Jill is going to break down how she tackles “Monica’s Closet.” First thing’s first: get rid of any trash. Coffee cups, wrappers, or even old paperwork that you know you don’t need to have on hand anymore. Get the easy stuff out of the way so you can dive into organizing what needs to stay.
Next, you need something to put everything in. Do your best to stay consistent with your drawers, bins, or baskets, and don’t be shy when you buy them. Anything extra will definitely find a use.
Now that you have your storage in place for things, take it one thing at a time. There’s a good chance this pile has been overwhelming and the idea of tackling it seems scary, but when you are able to only focus on one thing, the pile starts to melt away.
Have a designation for your bins to keep you focused. Technology, binders, and other categories of things will help you stay on top of it. Make sure to label, though, so you’re able to replicate the process!
When you’re making your categories of bins, do what makes sense for you. For some, one ‘binder’ drawer is enough. For others, they may have 10 different kinds of binders that they need to have access to.
Consider the space you’re in and think about if going vertical makes sense. Stacking bins is a great way to save space. Alternatively, if you have a flexible space, wheels on a shelving unit can help make space where you need it.
Key Takeaways
Do your best to stay consistent with your drawers, bins, or baskets, and don’t be shy when you buy them. Anything extra will definitely find a use.
Have a designation for your bins to keep you focused. Make sure to label, though, so you’re able to replicate the process!
When you’re making your categories of bins, do what makes sense for you.
Consider the space you’re in and think about if going vertical makes sense.
This week on the Scale Your Smal Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom, Jillian is sitting down with Johanna Buchweitz. Johanna uses her time helping female entrepreneurs use theirs efficiently. She’s developing an app that helps women in business get immediate, actionable answers to some of the most pressing questions in entrepreneurship.
Johanna sees a common thread running through the clients she works with, no matter their industry or where they are in their growth: mindset. Having the right mindset can make all the difference in the world. Mindset fills the gaps that strategy doesn’t cover. By eliminating doubt within yourself, you eliminate it from the person you’re selling to.
Johanna’s inspiration for developing her app sprouted from her background in tech and her passion for helping women maximize their talents. The purpose of the app is to provide you with exactly what you’re looking for. Through an AI-built algorithm, Frankly Co provides a search engine where the answers are catered to what you need, customized for you, your industry, and anything else you can imagine. Plus, it goes the extra step giving actionable steps to utilize all the information that’s out there. That way, you’re saving time, money, and energy. As an example, scaling your business through hiring can be made easy through an app that tells you how to get help, where to look, and what to pay.
As the app is powered by AI, the most beta testers it can get before its full release, the better. It helps build out the algorithm to help women find the answers they need to scale their business, and it helps work out any kinks along the way. You can sign up for early access and help this revolutionary app become the best next thing at franklyco.com.
Johanna is also the host of the Limitless podcast, where she has honest, frank discussions with driven female leaders. The point of the podcast is to give listeners actionable items they can take with them and implement immediately.
LINKS
franklyco.com
Key Takeaways
Having the right mindset can make all the difference in the world. Mindset fills the gaps that strategy doesn’t cover.
By eliminating doubt within yourself, you eliminate it from the person you’re selling to.
Frankly Co provides a search engine where the answers are catered to what you need, customized for you, your industry, and anything else you can imagine.
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom, Jill is breaking down vision boarding. Making a vision board can be fun, it can also be very inspiring for your business, and it can keep you laser-focused on your goals. Often, entrepreneurs don't allow themselves to dream and get bogged down in the day-to-day slog of it all. Let’s calm that chaos.
First things first: a vision board can be whatever you want it to be. It can be the traditional, large poster style board, it could be purely digital visualization, it could be a Pinterest board, or it could be a small page in your planner. Your board could be purely visual, it could incorporate text, or it could be purely text in the form of a word bubble. It’s easy to forget your ‘why’ and creating this vision board can be a place for us to dream, get excited about your business again, check in with our goals, and make sure we're on track for where we need to be.
When building your vision board, be intentional about your objective. This could be where you want to be at the end of the month, quarter, year, or even 10 years down the road. Whatever works best for you is what you should do. Set aside time to make it, and consider going through the process with a friend.
Fear can be huge for a lot of entrepreneurs. There are a lot of unknowns out there. Calling that to the front of your mind and knowing no matter how difficult, you’re prepared, is even bigger.
Another thing to keep in mind is where your vision board is going to live. This may dictate the size and style of your board but doesn’t change the goals. It can live on your wall, in your planner, or on your phone. Wherever it is, make sure you check off things or cross them out when you achieve them. They can be daily goals, weekly, or even bigger.
Finally, you’re going to evolve, your business is going to evolve, and so will your goals. It’s okay to alter your vision board as you go!
Key Takeaways
A vision board can be whatever you want it to be.
When building your vision board, be intentional about your objectives.
Keep in mind is where your vision board is going to live.
You’re going to evolve, your business is going to evolve, and so will your goals. It’s okay to alter your vision board as you go!
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, Jillian is sitting down with Christy Primmer, a world-renowned thought leader on self-care and financial empowerment for women. She spent two decades facilitating trauma counseling, and recently retired from The College of Social Workers and Social Service Workers and Health Canada. Now she’s transitioned into the speaking and coaching industry. As a personal development author, Christy is obsessed with helping women create their epic life.
Christy’s background is in counseling, and after 23 years of helping men, women, and youth improve their self-confidence and self-esteem, she recognized that while rewarding, the line of work was exceptionally draining. However, at its core, trauma counseling is rooted in the mentorship of a therapeutic relationship. And so that mentorship translated to successful coaching naturally.
In her work with women, Christy believes the biggest thing holding women back when it comes to finances is confidence. It's shaped by our upbringing, but every day is a journey of growth and empowerment.
The first place to start building that confidence is by making the decision that you want to live differently. Once you make that decision, take action. Christy sees women holding off on big leaps of faith and investments, but it’s okay to start small. Micro-doses of change are consistent and sustainable and will get you to the same goal.
Stop negotiating your boundaries. When you stop breaking promises to yourself, Christy says, you’ll see massive improvements in your financial and personal growth.
As the world transitions back into in-person conferences and events, Christy’s number one tip when getting into the scene is to reach out beforehand. DM people on Instagram prior to the event and let them know you’re going and would love to meet them. That way, the ‘meet you there’ feeling is mutual, and the ice is already broken.
Christy’s biggest piece of advice is to invest in your mindset. Allow yourself to understand your money, your process, and your trajectory. Having a mentor can help you increase that rate of growth and get you over challenges with ease.
Key Takeaways
The first place to start building that confidence is by making the decision that you want to live differently. Once you make that decision, take action.
Stop negotiating your boundaries and stop breaking promises to yourself.
Invest in your mindset.
Links
https://primetimecs.com/
@christy_primmer
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Busines Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today, we’re talking about delegation. Where to start, how to keep it going, and where you can actually end up making more money. Let’s dive in.
The best way to start thinking about delegation is through a list. List out everything you have to do on that day. Once you’ve laid it out, simply pick your least favorite item on the list–bam, there’s your first delegated item.
By delegating your least favorite task, not only do you get the time back in your day, you get the mental space and energy back. When you have a task you don’t want to do, you naturally tend to procrastinate. And we all know what happens when we procrastinate–more procrastination.
If there’s a difficult task that would take time to learn, there’s a good chance there’s someone out there who specializes in it. When you do that, you’re supporting your own business by hiring an expert, plus you’re supporting another small business in a ripple effect.
When we go back to the list we made, it gives us an opportunity to consider combining tasks into a larger position that can be group-delegated to a specialist. Then, you’re able to free up even more time in your day in one swoop.
If something pops up, write it down! Keep your list going as tasks evolve. Use a notebook, a phone, a napkin–just list!
If you’re wondering how you’re going to afford all this, that’s the easy part. When you have such a significantly large chunk of your day given back to you, it gives you room for ideas and space to create more streams of revenue.
Key Takeaways
The best way to start thinking about delegation is through a list.
Once you’ve laid it out, simply pick your least favorite item on the list–bam, there’s your first delegated item.
If there’s a difficult task that would take time to learn, there’s a good chance there’s someone out there who specializes in it.
Today, we’re talking with Jaime Diehl. She helps female entrepreneurs, professional service providers, and mompreneurs master the power of personal style to align their internal identity with the external identity. Through style development and coaching, those she works with feel more empowered, proud of their work, and confident to be visible, attract more clients and charge what they're worth.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Be intentional about your vibes! Style impacts energy and mood–both your own and your potential clients.
- There is so much more to clothing than just looking good. Presumably getting dressed is the first thing you do before you leave the house. It sets the tone for the rest of the day.
- Take a moment and envision what your business and brand will look like in ten years, and dress for that.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
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- Pinterest Link - https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
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Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Our guest today is Claudine François, a Certified Professional Health & Weight Loss Coach who helps successful women lose weight, gain energy and feel fabulous in their bodies by eating food they love. By helping entrepreneurs find their zen, she helps launch them into success.
A health coach is someone who holds you accountable for the things you want to achieve, helps develop strategies to get there, and builds a plan around your health. Just like a business coach, a health coach is there to support you along the journey.
As a former CFO of a multi-national company, Claudine found herself in a constant state of stress, which led her into a cycle of over-indulging in what she later discovered to be harmful foods to her body, and reeling from the consequences (frequent headaches and migraines, sluggishness, inflammation, bloating, leaky gut, and weight gain).
She decided to take control of her life by achieving lasting energy, the patience to deal with life’s twists and turns, and eating nourishing foods that taste great! She now helps women entrepreneurs find their own zen, fabulous sleep and vibrance, and effortless weight loss with her own practices and lifestyle strategies.
Sleep is the number one thing you can do to improve your health. Without proper sleep, you’re not going to have the cognitive ability to accomplish anything, nonetheless business operations. Make yourself a priority–when you get less sleep you tend to eat more sugary things. It’s a win-win. If you still need that boost in the afternoon, consider a walk!
Stress happens. Deep breaths actually stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of fight or flight, and adaptogens can help your system work through the stress better. Meditation is great for just getting refocused if you need to.
LINKS
https://www.weightlosswithclaudine.com/
https://ingoodcleantaste.com/
Key Takeaways
A health coach is someone who holds you accountable for the things you want to achieve, helps develop strategies to get there, and builds a plan around your health.
Sleep is the number one thing you can do to improve your health.
Stress happens. Deep breaths actually stimulate our parasympathetic nervous system, which is the opposite of fight or flight.
Today, we’re going to quickly and concisely break down what exactly a small business is, its definitions, and types, and get some clarity on what type of shop you run.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- A small business by definition is any business that has no more than 1500 employees and less than $38.5 million in revenue.
- About 90% of small businesses have less than 20 employees
- Small businesses with that many employees make up 89% of all businesses in the nation
- There are four types of small businesses: sole proprietor (one-person show), partnership (two people), corporation, or LLC.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Our guest today is Christy Pennison, board-certified counselor and founder of Be Inspired Counseling & Consulting in Alexandria, LA. She has coached and advised dozens of women, mental health professionals, and business owners from across the country to help them grow through the many challenges they face. She is highly recognized by other professionals in her field. As a result, she was awarded the 20 under 40 Acadiana Leadership Award.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Don't quit before the miracle happens.
- You have to be able to be pivot
- Get in consulting groups where there are other businesses like yours that are like 10 steps ahead.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
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In today’s episode, Jillian is going to give a window into a mistake that was made, how it was addressed, what was learned, and how she and her team came out better than before.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Mistakes happen, and they can sneak up on you.
- The answer is checks and balances.
- The flowchart is the living breathing document for this process.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Today, we’re talking with Josie May, Business Coach and Strategist. Josie is cohost of the popular podcast The Money Mavens and has worked with over 200 international business owners supporting many to make 6 figures and multi 6 figures each year.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- To be successful in business, you've got to take action.
- Being brave is a muscle you can build.
- There are things you can do to get braver. First, make the commitment to confront what’s scary. Secondly, be accountable.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
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- Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom
Today, we’re talking about something that’s often overlooked, but still prevents many small business owners from taking the next step–it’s health care. Don’t worry! There are options that work for you.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- It’s important that you get a health insurance agent on your dream team.
- There are two types of health insurance: individual and group.
- When you’re looking for a plan, know that cheapest is not always the best.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
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This week, we’re with Mia LaMotte, Brand Strategist and Transformation Coach. She helps womxn entrepreneurs and disruptive corporations find their brand voice with the help of her unique background in image consulting, leadership development, and transformation coaching.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Your mindset has to be that you can be whatever you want to be and have what you want to have.
- We are walking, talking billboards for our businesses.
- You’ve got to surround yourself with people who believe in you and want you to succeed.
- Finally, work on your mindset daily. Business growth comes from personal growth.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
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Today, we’re taking a deep dive into ways you can combat the wide array of distractions that come with working from home, or even in the office. Let’s take a look at some tips you can use today to manage your focus.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Airplane mode is your friend! Before you know it, those 30 seconds it takes to reply to those texts have added up.
- If you have a movie, soundtrack, or something that puts you in “work mode” don’t be afraid to put it on in the background. But be mindful that it doesn’t become a distraction.
- Make sure that the hours that you're working are when you're most efficient–morning, night, early hours of the day–whatever works.
- A simple step you can take to handle distractions is investing in a pair of good-quality headphones.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
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Our guest today is a digital marketer that helps businesses scale by teaching them strategies to create online marketing solutions that supplement and grow their businesses. Krista Greener is going to dive in with us on making that lifestyle change. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Be consistent with your posting.
- Don’t be afraid to hire someone to put your ideas into writing!
- Monetize your blog! Especially in times like these, it’s important to have multiple streams of income.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
- YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
- LinkedIn Link - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
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Today, we’re deep-diving into goal-setting—how to prepare to set your goals, breaking down those goals, and keeping up with the bar you set. Goal-setting is a process that can be broken down, so let’s get granular and make sure each quarter ends with a celebration.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Look at your last quarter’s goals: what worked, what didn’t? Then, repeat the process for your annual goals.
- Create a list of goals that did fit into the previous year/quarter.
- Once you have your list of goals, it’s important to be realistic.
- Keep track of your goals and the pathway to them on a digital calendar like Google Calendar or on paper.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today we’re talking with Nicola Fernandes, who helps big-hearted leaders and achievers (whose life looks perfect on the outside) to drop the fear, disconnection, and need for external validation so they can live the lives they want. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Self-love has everything to do with money. Money is just like any other relationship–it’s like a partner.
- Just because others around you live disconnected to themselves doesn’t mean you have to be.
- Find another emotion to tie to what that fear represents and reframe that challenge.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re going to dig into what an EIN is, how to apply for one, why it’s important, and everything in between.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- An EIN is also known as a business tax ID. Think of it as a social security number, but for your business.
- Applying online is easy, walks you through the process, and automatically gets you your EIN.
- Having an EIN allows you to separate your personal and business taxes and accounts.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
- Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Today, we’re sitting down with Christina Howard, founder of Intently, keynote speaker, and IPEC-certified coach who helps corporate leaders find deep levels of fulfillment in their work.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Leaders have to understand how to be empathetic towards themselves so they can hold space for their team.
- When you become more self-aware or self-accepting, you’re able to metabolize feedback much more effectively because you don’t get stuck in self-doubt.
- A team can only grow at the pace of the leader. If the leader is not evolving, then the team is going to get stuck at a certain level too.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Many small business owners mention how overwhelmed they are and the majority are simply just stressed out. Today, we’re breaking down how you can calm some of that chaos.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Don’t bring your work home all the time. Give yourself time to unwind.
- If you've got too much on your plate, you've got to say no and you've got to delegate.
- Get big tasks out of the way first to avoid tasks piling up behind it.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re sitting down with Stacy Phoenix, a high-level manifestation coach. She helps people create a mindset to get where they want to go—including making more money.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Manifestation is more of a mindset. It’s about focusing on what’s going on within your heart and mind, so you can determine what’s in the way.
- Money is constantly flowing to you. You just have to be open to receiving and accepting it.
- We have to align ourselves with the amount of money that we desire.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Today, we’re diving into calendar blocking. This is much, much more than a to-do list, folks. It’s a crucial part of your day that can seriously help calm the chaos.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Calendar blocking is actually putting those tasks from your to-do list on your calendar. By doing this, you are carving out time inside your calendar to get each and everything done.
- If you find yourself running out of time, consider breaking down your tasks even further, down to 2-minutes. You’ll be surprised at what can be accomplished!
- You’ve got to be willing to say no. There is a give and take with everything in your life. You can’t do it all, and we often will overload ourselves.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Our guest today is the wonderful Rena Weme. She’s a leader, advocate, speaker, and author who empowers women to fully accept and love themselves through her Self-Worth Pillars approach, which focuses on creating mental, physical, financial, and spiritual harmony.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Self confidence gets developed when you don't let yourself down, you keep going even through the valleys and the lows.
- Create the mindset that you’re committed to yourself. By doing that, you provide yourself with a well to pull from and can bounce back even quicker.
- Your heart tells you who you should be working with. Create a team that will be steps ahead of you, not behind.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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In this episode, we’re running through some tips that will help you survive and thrive during tax season. Operating a business is hard enough, let’s make sure you’re prepared for taxes.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Hiring a CPA is crucial. They are skilled in this exact sort of thing and can help you sort out liabilities and write-offs you may be missing.
- The more prepared you are, the better.
- Keep your business separate from your personal funds.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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This week, we’re sitting down with Corine Lafont, host of the Between the Lines podcast, business owner, speaker, author, and outstanding PR consultant. She’s here today to share her thoughts and practices when it comes to all things public relations.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Public relations and marketing are not the same things.
- PR is about building relationships and the image you’re putting out there.
- It’s all about the individual experience–there’s a reason why seemingly identical stores have diehard supporters for one or the other.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Today, we’re running down a list of a few must-read business books that can help you get back on track, maximize your workday, and calm the chaos. In this episode, you’ll learn:
- You can take this information and make it work for you.
- Audio Books are just as effective as physical copies!
- If there’s a book that really resonates with you, get a physical copy and take notes!
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today’s guest is Lesley Logan, a Nationally Certified Pilates Teacher, author, and business owner. After years of teaching regular mat classes around Los Angeles and traveling to teach workshops, Lesley wanted to create a way for more students to enjoy more Pilates.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The truth is, if you build it, people won’t just come. You’ve got to make sure your stuff solves the problem they have.
- Done is better than perfect.
- Be very clear on what you do, what you automate, and what you hire for.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re wrapping up the Scale Your Small Business Podcast System and breaking down what you can do next. Make sure to look back and listen to each pillar’s episode to get the scoop on how you can scale your business in a way that feels great to you.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Each of these steps has a unique role in scaling your small business.
- If there's a pillar you’d like to know more about, reach out to Jillian!
- When we help each other, it truly does make both businesses that much better.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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From a challenging upbringing to a teenage published author, broadcast journalist, and college instructor, “The Excitable Introvert” Jacqueline Shaulis leveraged her successes, failures, quirks, and proficiencies to become an international speaker, global bestselling author, and advisor to hundreds.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Introspection is not a detriment to your work
- An introvert is just the term for someone who processes stimulation internally.
- A great technique to getting seen and testing the waters is to create an empowered alter ego through the assign and delegate technique.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today we’re going to run through some of your questions and feedback from our last Scale Your Small Business Process episode on Recalibration.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The best way to ‘keep score’ is to have a planner where you keep your goals, but no more than three.
- Have a section in your planner for strategy, tactics, results, and reflection.
- Start your 12 week year when it works best for you!
- If 12 weeks doesn’t feel good, your year can be as long as you need it to be.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re sitting down with Bridget Flynn, owner of Divine Organizing, a boutique home organizing and decorating firm. She has a keen understanding of how energy affects space and helps clients shift the energy in their environment and achieve their organizational and design goals.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- A home, Bridget says, has a very specific purpose–it’s meant to be our haven.
- It’s crucial that you keep your work space and energy properly siloed from the rest of your home.
- When it comes to your space, you're the CEO, you are the visionary, you are the visionary of your business, you know, it's up to you to hold it and to and to be the guiding force.
- No matter your budget, you can decorate your space. The best thing you could do is I want you to bring in representations of your brand.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
- Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
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Today’s topic is recalibration–an incredibly important pillar of the Scale Your Small Business System. This week is all about moving forward and reevaluating all those goals you set at the start of your journey.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- The 12-week year system is a great way to break your work year into manageable, trackable, chunks.
- When you frame the year as 12 weeks, you have more urgency and energy to accomplish goals.
- After your 12 weeks, it’s time for planning, process control, measurement, time use accountability, commitment, and recognizing greatness in the moment.
- Start slow and ramp-up. The goal is to do these small steps are moving forward every 12 weeks.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Our guest today is Matthew Hoffman, who is on a mission to help others prioritize the number one relationship in their lives. He’s the author of the new book, Kickass Husband, and he’s here to share with us his perspective on tactics you can immediately begin using in your own relationships.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Your relationship with your partner has an impact on the work you do, and vise-versa.
- 3 C’s that are easy ways to improve that number one relationship: commitment, communication, and conflict resolution.
- Your partner may not be your business partner, but they are your partner in life. So value that relationship and communicate with them about your business. They are part of that journey and can offer support in so many ways.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Many folks downloaded the checklist from our last episode on reviews. Today, we’re going to run through some of your feedback and help calm even more chaos
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- It’s okay to do one thing. Start with one win and let it build momentum.
- Update your software before you’re stuck in an untimely updating situation.
- Organize your emails with folders that determine your actions with them.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today’s guest is an inspiration, growing up humbly, and experiencing intense loss at a very early age. Through her determination, Lia Key built a successful jewelry business and now has the perspective she can share with us all.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Your circumstances do not determine your destiny.
- Consider beyond what you do–how does it change someone’s life?
- Think as if your business is already huge.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re celebrating 100 episodes of the podcast by reflecting on the top five things that made a real difference since starting our journey to help folks calm the chaos.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Batching work can make your life efficient and easy.
- Know that you have folks in your corner supporting you.
- Consistency is key.
- Just start. Get going and build momentum.
- Become a better listener. In a time dominated by social media, genuinely listening can make a huge difference.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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We’re with award-winning wealth advisor Chris White. Chris has over 20 years of experience working with thousands of families, entrepreneurs, and executives, helping them clarify uncertainty, right the planning wrongs, and develop multi-generational legacy plans they can be proud of.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Time waits for no man, and that means your financial future is at stake, too.
- The first small step to getting the process started is having a good team around supporting you.
- Finding good advice is a Google search away, but do your due diligence and ensure the information you’re getting is from a reliable source.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re going over the 8th pillar of the Scale Your Small Business System: Review. It’s important to recognize that it’s crucial to take time to pause, reflect, and evaluate. Otherwise, you may make things much harder than they need to be.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- A weekly review is an essential step to prepare you for your week ahead and prevent tasks from slipping through the cracks
- Your weekly review can be whenever and for however long works best for you--but make sure you take the steps necessary to give a good look towards your week.
- Sometimes the smallest tasks make the biggest difference. Don’t ignore the little things!
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
- Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today, we’re sitting down with Mark Marino, a leading physical therapist with 25 plus years of experience and an expert on the topic of wellness. After he beat the odds of recovering from an accident, Mark helps anyone with overwhelming stress, whether it's emotional or physical pain, and lack of focus to unleash their potential.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Shifting your mindset allows you to refocus
- Focus on what you want, not the problems surrounding it
- Have a proactive positive mindset. Having clarity lets you find answers to challenges you’re facing.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
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Today, we’re diving into your feedback from our last pillar of growth, time management. No matter if it’s you, an employee, or someone else in your life that’s letting time slip away–you’re not alone.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- A good place to start when you think about time-wasting is understanding what time and when you’re most productive.
- Start with a perfect scenario where everything fits within your schedule without a hitch.
- Track your time so you can really see what time is being wasted and where.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
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Today’s guest is Matt Davis, author of The Art of Preventing Stupid, speaker, and attorney. Matt believes we should protect, improve, and grow through smart business decisions and shows struggling entrepreneurs how to weed out the stupid mistakes they're making so they can move forward.
In this episode, you’ll learn:
- Legal issues are a symptom of an underlying issue.
- The most common issue Matt has seen in practicing law is people getting into unnecessary business partnerships that typically end in nasty business divorces. Those can be expensive and business-killing.
- It’s important to look at your systemic internal and external vulnerabilities.
To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.
If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:
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Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving into time management. This can be a big topic that spans many areas of your business, but that means it’s just that important. Let’s break it down.
When we think about time management, it’s important to avoid ‘analysis paralysis.’ This is a loop where you get caught preparing to the point where you can’t execute. Being so terrified of failure and making a mistake that you’re unable to get off the ground will hinder your progress. You can’t continue waiting for a sign–it’s time to get it done.
A great way to start moving through procrastination is to shorten the amount of time you have. By removing ourselves from the annual mindset–12 months=a year–to a 12-week mindset, you create an urgency for yourself to get whatever you have to do off the ground.
Key Takeaways
- Analysis Paralysis, or planning until you can’t execute, will halt your progress. Don’t be afraid of failure!
- Eliminate procrastination by allowing yourself less time to do so.
- Shorten your annual mindset from 12 months to 12 weeks.
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Our guest this week is Erin Tarr, a sought-after keynote speaker, parenting consultant, host of the Fierce & Flourish Podcast, and a thought leader in the youth confidence space.
Erin’s inspiration for her business comes from her experience as a tween girl herself, and now raising three girls in that space. She wanted to be for her children, but that drove her to want to help every girl she possibly could.
Erin gets to be a cheerleader in their corner. She’s someone not related to them but can offer judgment-free help that can aid in problem-solving and making big decisions. She helps build habits and attitudes that will help tween girls be successful in life.
She helps girls learn how to choose their thoughts and create a life they love. She works together with her clients and their families to help build healthy habits adaptably.
Erin had a cloud of mentors growing up. It started in college, went to my first leadership conference where she heard from the likes of John Maxwell and Patrick Lencioni. By learning what their learning looked like, Erin was able to find inspiration and help everywhere. Mastermind courses are great because it isn’t just videos anymore. Information is nothing without application, so being able to work through ideas alongside peers helps tremendously.
It’s easy to get stuck in self-doubt. Erin’s advice is to build a network of people smarter than you. Continue to aspire–how can I run in their circle? How can I learn from them? How can I be held accountable by them?
Erin’s biggest win in business is when we clients win. When a person she works with gets into a college they applied for, had a difficult conversation, or otherwise, Erin feels that victory.
Losing fierceness happens, but sometimes that just means you need rest. Aside from that, return to your “why.” What’s your purpose? It can be personal or world-impacting. It’s about finding ways to reconnect. That means is surrounding yourself with people who remind you what your goal is.
LINKS
https://erintarr.com/
Key Takeaways
- Build a network of people smarter than you. Continue to aspire.
- Let your client’s wins be your wins.
- Reconnect to your “why” as often as possible.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving into the feedback you had on our last installment on automating processes and systems within your business. Let’s talk about how you can calm the chaos.
A primary reason people want to start automating is ironically the same source of stress about automating. It can be a daunting process, but the truth is, until you solve what is causing you stress, it will continue to boil up until it overflows. So, the best place to start thinking about where to automate is to look at what continues to add stress to your day, you just need to take the time to sit down and consider your list of things to do.
Consider taking notes in the little pockets of time you have during the day. These notes can be about anything, but it can be helpful to write down where you left off on a project if you have to switch gears and move your focus elsewhere temporarily. That way you can come back without missing a beat.
Give yourself time for your brain to cool off. Work for a set amount of time and break for a set amount of time.
Key Takeaways
- The best place to start thinking about where to automate is to look at what continues to add stress to your day.
- It can be helpful to write down where you left off on a project if you have to switch gears and move your focus elsewhere temporarily.
- Give yourself time for your brain to cool off. Work for a set amount of time and break for a set amount of time.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. On the show, this week is Ed Howie. Over the past 30 years, Ed has up with amazing brands like Chick-fil-A, 7-Eleven, KFC, H-E-B Supermarket, Kroger, and Massage Heights to help them find their uniqueness.
If people don't recognize how you're different, why would they want to give you attention? The words “common” and “commodity” are very similar. You're definitely not a commodity. They are common and the market controls the value. By being distinct, you are able to influence the value you bring to the market. Then, the market looks to reimburse you for that.
It’s easy to lose sight of the overall enterprise. Remember, your uniqueness is what is going to help you stand out from the rest of the crowd. You have to have a good, solid product or service, and is has to be consistent, but so does your branding.
For Ed, profits are an indicator of stewardship, which is how you create more than what you started with. Leaders want to create something of value that is distinct and unique. If you cannot operationalize your brand, you’ll struggle. It doesn't matter how charming Tony the Tiger is. If the cornflakes suck, who cares how clever the brand is.
Ed’s all about “wooo” Winning Others Over and Over. His belief is that every customer can be won over. We are constantly assessing the ‘wooo’ and ‘pooo’ levels of every interaction. Great brands wooo. It starts with truly understanding what your customers want and then delivering on that over and over again. Once you can not only systemize perfection but systemize what to do when you fall short of that, you’ll be able to provide what your customers want. Set standards and keep to them. Good brands are well-orchestrated, operationalized, and optimized. Bad brands do one of them poorly.
LINKS
https://edhowie.com/
Key Takeaways
- If people don't recognize how you're different, why would they want to give you attention?
- You have to have a good, solid product or service, and is has to be consistent, but so does your branding.
- Good brands are well-orchestrated, operationalized, and optimized. Bad brands do one of them poorly.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re breaking down automation. What should you automate? When should it be automated? What systems actually work better automated? Let’s dive in.
Automation is an absolutely incredible process that will make your business flow more efficiently and with much more ease.
When you consider automation, it’s all about identifying what to automate, documenting the process, identifying the solution, and then implementing the process. When you’re in a high-volume or high-stress moment within your work, automation can be a lifesaver.
A place to look at for automation is your calling–outgoing, incoming, or somewhere in between. Automating your phone system with a call center frees up time by eliminating back-and-forth messages, frustrating hold times, and other annoying barriers.
Along with automating your phones, you can integrate that process with your scheduling system, so your entire process from the first call to a meeting is automated, freeing you up to focus on what you need to.
Google Forms is worth a look when you’re thinking about automation. Through Google Forms, you can collect relevant data from your clients and have it automatically fill a spreadsheet for your use.
Finally, and this is a simple one, is email templates. This is as easy as a copy/paste. When you find yourself typing the same thing over and over, it might be time to automate. By having a template, you can just fill in information and keep the rest.
Key Takeaways
- When you consider automation, it’s all about identifying what to automate, documenting the process, identifying the solution, and then implementing the process.
- Automating your phone system with a call center frees up time by eliminating back-and-forth messages, frustrating hold times, and other annoying barriers.
- Email templates are an easy way to prevent yourself from typing up the same message constantly.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Foldstrom. Our guest today is AJ Vaden, who was recently named one of the top five personal branding speakers of 2019. She is the co-founder and CEO of Brand Builders Group, an international speaker, a million-dollar consultant, and the host of The Influential Personal Brand Podcast.
Diving in, it’s important to recognize if you’re talking to the right group of people. Data can help, AJ says, but it’s really a personal question. Ask yourself who you want to serve, who you want to reach. It has nothing to do with what the economy is doing, or what the market is saying, or what your competitors are doing.
You are best positioned to serve the person you once were, AJ says. Where do you have a personal affinity? What types of customers do you feel naturally drawn to? Typically, you need to know the demographic specifics, but those are general. Think about who your work is built for. It’s a person, not a group of people. What does this person care about? What are their fears? What keeps them up at night? What are their passions? What are their dreams? What questions do they have? What are they searching for? The more products and services you have, the different your audience is, but your message is consistent. Your audience can evolve and change and mature, but there is a shared set of values that AJ and her clients share.
AJ doesn’t believe in competitors. She believes what makes us truly unique are our personal experiences, our personal expertise, our personal values, missions, and beliefs. No one in the world has those same personal experiences and knows exactly what's important to them. Consider what your alliances are. Celebrate each other's differences and not try to absorb every single client, but instead share them.
It’s about finding your uniqueness. First, what problem do you solve? That is the number one key to building a best-selling brand is becoming known and becoming synonymous with a problem that you solve for your audience. It’s one word that you’re paired with. Then, what are you passionate about? What fills you up? Next, what is your expertise? Pair that with what your first-hand experience is. Finally, what would people buy from you? This is paired with what business we want to be in.
AJ and her team conducted a study run by an independent Ph.D researching firm to find out how personal brands impact America today. They found 74% of Americans said that they are more likely to trust someone who has an established personal brand. It's not a celebrity. It's not an influencer. It's not someone who has a book or a podcast. Americans said that they thought at the end of the day, a personal brand is simply someone whom they recognize. The three most significant or credible titles that people said they deem as most credible and most trustworthy were CEO, owner, and expert. The most impactful and most significant thing in influencing purchase decisions are third-party testimonials from your clients.
LINKS
https://brandbuildersgroup.com/
Key Takeaways
- Ask yourself who you want to serve, who you want to reach.
- You are best positioned to serve the person you once were
- It’s about finding your uniqueness.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week we are taking a look at your feedback and questions from our episode in which we talked about building a team. It’s a big project that takes a lot of careful work, so let’s dive in.
Firstly, make sure you’re doing the work ahead of time. This makes a huge difference in the entire process. You’re able to find the right person the first time, and if they leave, you aren’t stuck with a giant hole in your team.
Help your team recreate their jobs as they fit into your team. If there is an aspect of their job that they don’t love, consider how you could maximize what they do love and delegate the parts they are struggling with. This also means being flexible. People leave jobs because they’re unhappy. Some people work better from home! Have the ability to open up the conversation.
Some other feedback was regarding the organizational chart. How do you get started? It’s about starting with yourself and filling in the blanks. What would make your job operate more effectively? More efficiently? When you have a group of those things, think about if it’s a full-time position. It’s possible it could be a contractor position. As you go through your delegation and automation checklist, you’ll see positions start to create themselves.
Keep these descriptions handy, so when you have to replace someone in a position, you’re ready to go and find the right candidate.
Key Takeaways
- Make sure you’re doing the work ahead of time. This makes a huge difference in the entire hiring process.
- Help your team recreate their jobs as they fit into your team.
- Keep job descriptions handy, so when you have to replace someone in a position, you’re ready to go and find the right candidate.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Joining us this week is Radon Stancil, CFP, a best-selling author and founder of Peace of Mind Wealth Management, a firm committed to helping individuals retire with excellence. As the Co-host of the ‘Secure Your Retirement’ show his insights have been featured in Forbes and many others.
After being raised by an older father, working in a family-run heating and air-conditioning business, Radon went down the path of finances, going to school, and becoming and certified financial planner. Now, he helps people build a solid retirement plan.
The biggest fear Radon finds in his work with people is the fear of running out of money. It makes sense–for decades people do a good job of saving. They work, save, don't touch those accounts. And then, one day, they decided to retire. Suddenly that hard work that they put into building those accounts is not being drained. It is an emotional situation.
Investment strategy certainly dictates the quality of a person’s retirement. Many people lived through a very volatile market, watching their investments rollercoaster as time went on. Radon works with a more sound strategy–one that will earn consistent returns without risk.
He believes in getting a financial planner as early as possible. That way, the person can start understanding saving and set goals for themselves. It's good to work with somebody who's a certified financial planner because they have a wide array of understanding of financial planning. It’s important to work with a fiduciary, so you know they have your best interests as a priority.
If you are a solo, self-employed person and you don't have any employees, you can easily set up a solo 401(k). Charles Schwab will allow you to set up a solo 401(k). And that allows you to start putting away money that you can match yourself. It helps you out on your current taxes, as well as getting some money into savings. In a Roth IRA, everything you put in is going to now be able to grow potentially for decades, all tax-free. Whatever you put into a Roth, you can take back out with no penalty (up to a certain amount).
Getting a loan as a small business owner should only happen after you’ve had as much growth without one as possible, even if that means that your growth is a little bit slower than what you want. if you have to take that loan on, make sure you have a business plan that can pay it back in a short period of time. It should generally be going back into the business as an investment.
Checking in on your finances quarterly is crucial to keep tabs on how your money is doing. Radon’s clients get a report from him in the form of a 10-minute video that makes sure they know what the market is doing every week.
Radon has a book named after his podcast, Secure Your Retirement. It’s a guide to help think through a lot of the questions you may ask. How should I be looking at my investments? How do I prepare for an income plan? What do I need to know about IRAs? What do I need to understand about the economy, just to look at the economy? How do I pick a financial advisor?
LINKS
https://pomwealth.net/
Key Takeaways
- Investment strategy certainly dictates the quality of a person’s retirement.
- Get a financial planner as early as possible.
- If you are a solo, self-employed person and you don't have any employees, you can easily set up a solo 401(k).
- Getting a loan as a small business owner should only happen after you’ve had as much growth without one as possible, even if that means that your growth is a little bit slower than what you want.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving into the fifth pillar of the Scale Your Small Business Process: Teams. We’re breaking down how to build a team, establish workflows, and communicate effectively and efficiently.
The best analogy for building a team is building a home. It’s not all shiny faucets and new paint–it’s about the foundation and the blueprint. From there, you set the framing and hire your contractors, and build up the walls. It’s the same organizational symphony that happens when you create a team.
The first step is getting clear on an organizational chart. Create descriptions of positions you want to fill in the future, so when the right person comes along, you’re ready to bring them on. Think about what you’d like to delegate and go from there.
Think of it as a funnel. As tasks go down the funnel, we’re going to eliminate, delegate, and automate. If you procrastinate a task, it goes back to the top of the funnel until it falls into one of those categories, or is focused on.
Finding out what team member is right for what task is as easy as asking them. Consider asking “What do you love to do? Is there something that you're not doing that you would love to be in charge of?”
Sometimes when going through the funnel process you’ll realize something would be more effective or cheaper if it were automated. Things like training and project reminders can be laid out ahead of time, minimizing distractions and maximizing communication and flexibility.
Key Takeaways
- Building a team is like building a house. It takes a blueprint, a foundation, and a frame before the walls go up.
- Get a clear organizational chart so you know what positions you want to fill when you find the right person.
- Create a task funnel that allows you to eliminate, delegate, automate, or focus on.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Joining us this week is Caroline Schaefer, a woman who is on a mission to inspire change and growth for both mental and physical prosperity. She's a firm believer in self-education and is constantly improving.
Caroline is no stranger to adversity--but she’s no stranger to overcoming it as well. Facing sexual assault, a dysfunctional home life riddled with conditional love and yelling, Caroline found strength. She needed that to overcome a traumatic and difficult pregnancy where she battled sickness, paralyzation, and depression. With her “light off” she went to Tony Robbins’ Unleash the Power Within and it lit a fire beneath her. She began asking herself "Why? What's my motive? What's my reasoning? Why do I think that?" and it shifted her perspective. Now, her foot is on the gas and it’s not coming off. She won’t fail because she simply won’t quit.
Caroline is all about change. She believes change equals growth. When you're not growing, you're stagnant. The only way for fulfillment is constant growth. That mentality has carried into her podcast, The Vitality Feed, where she inspires others to continue to change. Caroline’s focus is now working 1:1 coaching people to build that mentality and learn that it's okay to pivot, it's okay to change things. It's okay to continually learn and adjust.
Key Takeaways
- Adversity happens--you can overcome it with your mindset
- You can’t fail if you don’t quit.
- Change is necessary for growth and success. Don’t be afraid to pivot.
LINKS
https://fitframeworks.com/
The Vitality Podcast
caroline.schaefer on Instagram
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving into your questions and feedback from last week’s episode on operational systems. We’ll break down which systems to focus on, what categories to start with, and more.
A primary question that was received was what systems to focus on. This entirely depends on you. The first thing you want to create an operational system for is the one you know you shouldn’t be doing.
Next, storage is a crucial aspect of your operational systems. Consider managing your projects in a platform like Asana and saving all your materials in Dropbox or G Suite. That way, when you’re trying to delegate training or allow your team to learn for themselves, they can find everything they need.
It’s certainly a lot in the beginning, getting everything up and running.
Categories can be an incredibly useful strategy for staying organized as a new business owner. Some umbrella categories that fit into just about any business are these: Finance and Accounting, Marketing and Sales, Services and Products, and Delivery and Team. Think of these as an outline with subcategories to specify where to save your work.
Key Takeaways
-
The first thing you want to create an operational system for is the one you know you shouldn’t be doing.
-
Storage is a crucial aspect of your operational systems. Consider managing your projects in a platform like Asana and saving all your materials in Dropbox or G Suite.
-
Categories can be an incredibly useful strategy for staying organized as a new business owner.
Welcome back to the Scale your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week’s guest is known as “the man who can” and he lives up to it. Steve Sims is the best-selling author of "Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen", a sought-after coaching speaker, and has worked with the likes of Sir Elton John and Elon Musk, to name a few. He’s breaking down his mentality and how he gets it done.
Steve rolls with some of the most important people out there. Starting with just 93 clients, more than two thirds were and are billionaires. Because of his massively connected network, he was features in Forbes and became known as the guy who can get things done when no isn’t an answer and money isn’t a problem.
As entrepreneurs, Steve says, we have a tendency to become our own biggest critics. But even though we are resilient, sometimes outside influences can get to us. When that happens, sometimes it makes sense to ignore it and move on, but for Steve, he addresses those problems directly and with intention. The message that you are putting out there is irrelevant. It's how it's being received that is the truth. You may think what you are saying is positive and uplifting, may be alienating to somebody else.
There's been many times in our life where we, as entrepreneurs, have paid that bill late. We've trusted someone that screwed us over, we've listened to someone that never had the authority or education or credibility to have our attention and then it's led us down the wrong path. In those moments, we are creating our ability to rise above it and learn lessons of empowerment.how empowered do you become when you actually get out of that dumpster? How much stronger are you when you get over those dark times? Why would you remove that education from someone? Why would you remove that empowerment? That's your kryptonite, that's your shield, that's your cape. Wear it with honor.
There is a distinct difference between entrepreneurs and want-treprenuers. If you haven't been ripped off, lied to, spat on, laughed at, gone broke, got sued, then you are not an entrepreneur. Be not the person that wants all the limelight without doing the hard work. That's the want-trepreneur's badge of honor. When COVID hit, want-treprenuers looked for the best show to binge. Entrepreneurs got better at what they do.
Steve’s superpower is ignorance--which isn’t as harsh as it may seem. It's because while others are planning it and forecasting it and getting out the trigonometry charts to see how this can possibly be done, Steve is out there trying it.
Steve’s book “Bluefishing: The Art of Making Things Happen” is built around a core philosophy--be impossible to misunderstand. Identify a problem, and focus on creating a message and a solution that's impossible to misunderstand. Make sure when you amplify your message it is so clear that it’s impossible to manipulate. Because when someone has a problem, no one cares about the logo--they want something that will find them their solution the fastest.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Busines Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re tackling another pillar in the Scale Your Small Business Process. Today is all about organization--we’re diving into operational procedures. Keeping your team on track and on the same page is key, so let’s talk about project management.
It’s crucial that you have software that can help you manage the work your team is doing. Consider tools like Asana to break down the steps of each of your business’s projects. Do your research and find which one works best for your needs.
Dropbox or G Suite are other great tools that can work in conjunction with your project manager. The key here is making sure you’re clear and consistent with how you’re labeling your files. The objective is to make everything as easy to find as possible. Use this technique for your client files as well, so if you need to search for anything, there is a convention that you know you can navigate.
Be sure to share your story and feedback about your operational procedures! Let’s keep the dialogue going next week when we dive into any questions you may have.
Key Takeaways
- Find a project management tool that works best for you and your work. Do your research and make a choice that makes sense.
- Dropbox and G Suite are great tools to help manage your files.
- Have a consistent naming convention for all your files for easy searching.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re having a discussion with a true survivalist and business owner, Wes Harper. Wes has appeared three times on Discovery Channel’s hit show, Naked and Afraid, and is the President of a successful IT solutions operation, LightWire, Inc.
The show Wes appeared on, Naked and Afraid, is an exercise in true survivalism. Dropped in a remote area with little resources (and no clothes) to survive with a partner for upwards of 40 days. This test of physical strength is only surpassed by the mental fortitude required to thrive under such harsh conditions. The mental attitude you have, Wes says, can be applied to both survival and business ownership. Being stubborn and being positive are two of the most important traits you can have in both situations. The truth is, you’re going to fail constantly. Business ownership, especially small businesses, requires a certain amount of grit and persistence to be successful. In the same way a survival mentality can help with businesses success, it can go the other way as well. Being in small business ownership for nearly 20 years allowed Wes to build up the mental toughness he needed to succeed.
Specifically, this experience forces one to consider what is and what isn’t truly important. Much like survival, it’s about prioritization. As you grow, you may find yourself in a situation where you’ve outgrown people you’ve had as clients in the past. Some clients are not worth the energy and effort you’re putting forth. Once you make the mental prioritization, understanding it’s costing more than you’re getting, everything improves. Once you know your target audience, you know not to answer the door when it’s not them knocking.
LightWire, Inc is one of the fastest-growing IT companies in North Carolina. For a flat fee, they provide IT services, including wireless systems, email, servers, and cloud services. Founded in 1996, technology has evolved, and it’s evolved quickly--LightWire has evolved alongside it. Change is the only constant--it’s about changing as tech changes.
Cyber attacks are getting worse. In just North Carolina, millions--sometimes billions of dollars are lost in blackouts caused by cybersecurity attacks alone. And it doesn’t matter the size of your business--if you store data, you’re a target. There are a few simple things you can do to make sure you’re safe. First, go to your box store and purchase a reliable firewall. Make sure you’re amply supported with updates and management. Secondly, back your data up often. If you’re hacked and your data is backed up, you’re set. Finally, we are our own worst enemies with cybersecurity. Have antivirus and antimalware installed, and educate yourself on what to watch out for. Phishing and hacking attacks are getting smarter, and so should you. If you get an email you're unsure of, call them. Just call them and say, "Did you send me this email?" That will save you more hassle than you could ever imagine. On top of that, consider self-evaluating every 6 months to find any holes that may have appeared in your security.
Key Takeaways
- Operating a small business is all about a survival mentality. Adapt and evolve!
- Prioritize what is going to serve you and your business best. If it’s not your ideal client knocking at the door, don’t answer.
- Take your cybersecurity seriously. Back up your data and make sure you have antimalware and antivirus software installed.
LINKS
https://lightwireinc.com/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving into questions and feedback from our last episode about filling in the gaps. This is an important pillar of the Scale Your Small Business Process, so it’s crucial that we’re clear on how to do it best.
The most frequently asked question from the last episode was “where do I get started?” The best place to start is with a system you use most frequently. Even the smallest tweak to a system you use daily can help a world of headaches. It can be overwhelming to realize how many gaps that appear as you’re auditing your systems--but you’re not alone. Take it step by step and methodically close those gaps.
Another question that came up was how to know when all the gaps are filled? The truth is, they may never be--and that’s okay. Create a list as things come up--they will always be in flux. As time goes on, return to that list and revisit gaps that you now have the ability to close. Taking on one gap at a time is totally fine, but so is handling multiple (if you feel like you can). If you do, it helps to keep an ongoing notepad of what you’re working on so you don’t lose track.
Key Takeaways
- The best place to start is with a system you use most frequently.
- Even the smallest tweak to a system you use daily can help a world of headaches.
- Create a list as things come up--they will always be in flux. As time goes on, return to that list and revisit gaps that you now have the ability to close.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest is Alec Watson, best known for his advertising work, Alec Watson is a multi-disciplinary digital media artist. As a photographer, his work has graced magazine covers, movies posters, album covers, and a multitude of advertising from Britney Spears, to Coca-Cola and Starbucks.
Alec is no stranger to working with big companies. His key to success isn’t what you may think. Being interesting and engaging at lunch can be one of the most powerful tools you have. In small businesses, it’s all about relationships. If you’re conversational, you can become friends with your clients and those who you work with, which can help you understand their stories.
When you’re a small business trying to scale, it’s about setting yourself apart by being adaptable. In Alec’s case, being able to understand the brand’s story and communicate that back through film. When you can capture the passion of the client through their story, you create an enticing product. Because story is the most important aspect of the branding, film is more effective than still imagery, in that you can demonstrate values more clearly. From there, you can cater the experience to what they are all about.
When you’re on a big stage, especially when you’re trying to scale, imposter syndrome can set in. You don't have to be bigger than you are. You just have to be enthusiastic, hardworking, and honest.
Alec has a course on visual branding that can be found at yourvisualbrand.com and now includes a Zoom to help you define what your story is.
Key Takeaways
- Being interesting and engaging at lunch can be one of the most powerful tools you have. In small businesses, it’s all about relationships.
- When you’re a small business trying to scale, it’s about setting yourself apart by being adaptable.
- You don't have to be bigger than you are. You just have to be enthusiastic, hardworking, and honest.
LINKS
Yourvisualbrand.com
https://www.alecwatson.com/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re diving back into the Scale Your Small Business Process with another pillar of success. Today, we’re taking a look at how we can close the gaps that are preventing us from reaching that next level. What does that look like?
Once you’ve developed a list of systems that you’re using in your process, it’s time to identify where the gaps are. This pillar is all about finding the weaknesses in your systems and creating some actionable steps that can make it better or help you find a replacement. The first step is going through and looking into each system and saying, “what are the other possibilities?” Do your research--go to YouTube and educate yourself on the systems you’re considering. If you do decide to replace a system, make sure you’re saving all your data that was being used in it. As you refine each one of these systems, it's just going to get easier and faster, and most importantly, save you some money.
Key Takeaways
-
Once you’ve developed a list of systems that you’re using in your process, it’s time to identify where the gaps are.
-
go to YouTube and educate yourself on the systems you’re considering.
- As you refine each one of these systems, it's just going to get easier and faster, and most importantly, save you some money.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re chatting with David Neagle, best-selling author of The Millions Within and known as one of the architects of the coaching and personal growth industry itself, having worked alongside other well-known mentors like Bob Proctor, Marianne Morrisey, Tony Robbins, and the like for decades.
David’s journey to success started with a near-death experience he had in his early 20’s. Working as a forklift driver, David realized soon after his accident, that there had to be something more. When he sought help from people older than him, they all gave him an answer he couldn’t accept. The conclusion he came to was this: it was an attitude thing. By shifting his attitude, David was able to more than double his income just a month later. To get there, David chose someone he believed had the attitude necessary for success, then emulated it.
For David, a business is a reflection of what’s going on in an entrepreneur's mind. It’s about how we are raised and conditioned to think. For many, they are in a constant state of survival. There is an understanding that everything could collapse at any moment. This mindset is rooted in fear and limits your ability to grow. By making the shift from fear to gratitude, you are able to see opportunity and scale incredibly quickly.
Know that everything is cause and effect. If you are struggling with something now, it isn’t a cause, it’s an effect of something deeper. Once you recognize the source you can begin to make massive strides.
Key Takeaways
-
Shift your mindset from fear to gratitude
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Everything is cause and effect
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Find someone with the right attitude and emulate them
LINKS
https://successfulmindpodcast.com/
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Last week, we dove into assessing all the systems you may have in place. This week, we're going to talk about the feedback that we received from the community.
Many folks were wondering where to get started. It’s important to have a baseline so you can work in a system to your business, assess how it’s going, and pivot if you need to. Otherwise, it’s hard to tell where the holes are.
To demonstrate a place to get started, we can look at scheduling--specifically with Google Calendars and Calendly. In combination, not only can you have a highly-customizable and shareable calendar, but you also allow people to schedule themselves into your day. Be mindful, though, to block out time in your day for appointments, travel, etc. so clients are booking themselves at a time where you’re not available. In return, you’re saving time scheduling, plus people can write themselves in after your office is closed. Plus, they can reschedule too! Calendly also allows you to be available for a specific kind of appointment--so you can further narrow down what you’re spending your time doing every day. From there, it’s all automated--reminders, invitations, etc are all taken care of. All you have to do is show up!
Another question that came up is how to manage what systems you’re using and paying for? Best practice is a Google Spreadsheet. Keep columns of what the system is and when you’re paying for it. Have sheets for each month!
Key Takeaways
- Having an online calendar is a great place to start implementing systems.
- Calendly is a great tool to give your clients flexible scheduling.
- Keep track of your systems and when you pay for them in a Google Sheet
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest is from across the globe in Australia--Megan MacNeill is the founder of Relevant, where she’s helping ambitious industry leaders get noticed, get relevant and stay remembered by creating strategies that increase their impact and influence where it matters to them.
Megan’s take on why branding matters boils down to understanding that people are going to brand you if you don’t get ahead of them and brand yourself. Taking control of your own personal brand is having a bit of an impact or an influence on what people think, feel, and say about you. Some people still won't like you, and that's totally okay. You don't have to be everyone's cup of tea.
If you’re a solopreneur, or you've got a small team, then the best logo you're going to have is your face. Your face is your logo, and you take it with you through your career. You take it with you when you start your first business. You take it with you when you start your next business. It's your values. It's what aligns with you. The biggest thing is to be you.
It’s important to have a color palette that goes with what you're doing. when you turn up in person, you have a certain look, you might have a color.
The best way to increase our brand's recognition, nothing is stronger than face-to-face, but it’s hard to scale. The next best thing is if you can get on a stage. When you're in a room with someone, they feel like they really know you. Even though we’re in a period where that’s hard to do, you can still do that one too many in the form of webinars or being a guest speaker at online conferences, or going live on LinkedIn, Facebook, or Instagram. Follow your audience.
LinkedIn is a powerful tool. Think of it as a landing page, not as a resume. Never mind putting all of your jobs and all of the skills that you have and all the little tasks that you've done because people don't really care. They just care about you. They care about your stories. They care about how you can help them. So start thinking of it with that kind of mindset. Never mind all the experience and all the stuff down at the bottom, take your time filling that in. Get that top part filled in first, because most people don't scroll down.
Remember, articles on LinkedIn don’t get priority. If you're making videos or images, things that do get priority on LinkedIn, you might see a spike in the number of people that are seeing it, engagement, etc, whereas those metrics may go down for your articles. But, the shelf life of articles is amazing, and in three months or in three years’ time, someone could be reading that article.
Key Takeaways
- Branding matters boils down to understanding that people are going to brand you if you don’t get ahead of them and brand yourself.
- Your face is your logo, and you take it with you through your career.
- LinkedIn is a powerful tool. Think of it as a landing page, not as a resume.
LINKS
relevantbusiness.com.au
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re diving back into the Scale Your Small Business process. In this episode, we’re taking on the second pillar within the nine fundamental steps to scale your business: evaluation and assessment.
Often times business owners overlook the not-so-pretty stuff. You may be go-go-go and not take the time to pause, catalog, and inventory what’s going down with your business. The phrase “you have to slow down to speed up” rings true here. If you’re not taking that time, one, you’re putting yourself at risk if anything happens to your business. And two, you won’t have a fundamental understanding of the baseline of your business, which makes it hard to scale. The reality is you don't know what best practices are across every aspect of your business. By taking time to pause and look at your current systems, you're going to be able to close all those gaps.
This week’s exercise is a systems inventory audit. Take every system in your business--CRM, email systems, Google accounts--and give them a closer look. Is something missing? Does something need to change? Add anything? Delete anything? This is an opportunity for you to look at everything and see what you've got. Are you currently using it? Do you need to get rid of it or do you just need to remind yourself and start using it? Don’t make this more complicated than it needs to be. Just write down everything that you're currently using as you go about your day-to-day over this week.
From there, shoot Jillian a message with any questions you have and we’ll answer it on next week’s Q&A episode!
Key Takeaways
- You have to slow down to speed up
- The reality is you don't know what best practices are across every aspect of your business.
- Take a systems inventory audit of every system that you use in your day-to-day and find out what needs to stay, go, or change.
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest is Dr. Yishai Barkhordari, a Psychologist, Executive Coach, and Consultant who helps entrepreneurs and business leaders learn to make adaptability their superpower to transform challenges and exhaustion into energy, excitement, and excellence for themselves and their business.
As a Doctor of Psychology, Dr. Yishai was passionate in his ability to help individuals navigate conflict, often in regards to leadership. He aids in their communication upwards, demonstrating to leadership their needs are, what they’re saying, and how they’re saying it. On the entrepreneurial side, this application of adaptation to leadership themselves, giving them the tools to create wins for themselves and their teams.
Dr. Yishai realized adaptability was a superpower through his own journey. He realized that if you don't have systems and processes for your business, you're going to end up spending too much time and energy trying to get things done, whether it's for yourself, for the people, your teams. That's going to get in the way of being able to get your business running smoothly and fast. That’s why it's really important to develop habits. The other side is having adaptability outside of that system. However, if you work one too much, the other becomes frail and useless.
The key to skyrocketing success is being able to switch from habit brain to adapt brain. If you want to be able to supercharge your business and grow, you need to be adaptive both to what's happening as the business grows, the systems, the processes on the inside, as well as when your clients come to you and tell you things, complain, or are frustrated. These are data points you can use to grow and adapt. There can be interference, of course. You have to be intentional in when and how you switch from habit to adaptive brain.
If you want to pursue and develop your adaptability, find and get around people who can help you do that.
Your adaptive brain is designed with three purposes in mind. Its job is to generate new awareness, new analysis, and new action. It does that is by actually trying to provide you with data, direction, and drive. In order to adapt, you really need those three things. If you don't have one of them, you are going to really struggle.
Tune in to hear Dr. Yishai’s top tip for entrepreneurs!
Key Takeaways
- If you don't have systems and processes for your business, you're going to end up spending too much time and energy trying to get things done.
- The key to skyrocketing success is being able to switch from habit brain to adapt brain.
- Your adaptive brain is designed with three purposes in mind. Its job is to generate new awareness, new analysis, and new action.
LINKS
dryishai.com
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re tackling some questions that came in from our last topic--the Scale Your Small Business Process. We’ll dive into everything on your mind and dig deeper into last week’s work.
A major question that arose from our last topic was how does an individual get unstuck--either through bad luck or other circumstances. First things first: we’ve all been there. What you can do is allow yourself 24 hours to be upset--after that, pick yourself up and get back to what you were doing. Giving yourself a deadline gives you the time and permission to feel and do what you need to while ensuring you’ll bounce back even better. If not, you become vulnerable to sinking into an insurmountable hole.
Another question that came up was about routines--how do you get started? The most important thing that you need to do in that scenario is tracking your time. By making sure that you are seeing what you are doing over the course of a week you can see what is really serving you and your business and what needs to be cut back. Create a spreadsheet or just do it on your phone--whatever you need to do to visually represent the time you’re spending during the day. Plus, you’ll find small pockets of time that you can use for personal development or to decompress.
Finally, there were a few questions on vision boards. How often should you be creating one? A good starting place is once every quarter. What’s great is you can make a digital vision board and have a huge resource that is the internet for your board. Use it as a desktop wallpaper, a background on your phone, whatever it is, make sure you see it and see it often. It may feel like you don’t have time, but it’s imperative that you take a deep look at the work you’re doing and keep your eye on the dreams you have. At the same time, keep your priorities in line--if there isn’t time, that’s okay. There will be eventually.
Key Takeaways
- Allow yourself 24 hours to be upset--after that, pick yourself up and get back to what you were doing.
- Track your time to get a visual representation of how you’re spending your day.
- Use your vision board as a wallpaper so it’s at the top of your mind all the time.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re sitting down with Stephen Scoggins. He’s helped Fortune 500 leaders, professional athletes, entertainers, hardworking individuals, and everyone in between exceed their wildest expectations in their life, business, and career. He spent three decades of setbacks, failures, breakdowns, losses, successes, and comebacks. Uses that knowledge to guide others toward lasting breakthroughs in any area of their life.
Stephen has faced an incredible amount of seemingly insurmountable challenges and overcome even more incredible odds, including homelessness, to get to the place of success he has achieved today. He says it comes down to understanding that your level of expectation becomes your level of excellence. The expectations your set for yourself become reality. If you expect your lights, your water, your everything to get shut off--they will. Often, we get indoctrinated in the wrong direction. Unless we shake out of that, we ultimately lose sight of who we really could become if we really tried. If you're so focused on the problem, you're never ever going to be able to build momentum towards the solution. Part of breaking that cycle is finding a mentor who can raise that energy level, not one who is going to detract from yours. Isolating is a dangerous thing to do as an entrepreneur! It’s never been easier to find a coach like that. Find someone you can learn from and emulate to find your own processes. From there, master them. If you can’t get a mentor in person, there are plenty of virtual and online coaches, but in addition, there are thousands of helpful books and digital assets you can discuss. Be mindful, though. If you’re spending all your time absorbing you’re not doing and DOING. If you become a personal development junkie, you won’t actually get anything moving forward.
Stephen has an event coming up with 13 amazing thought leaders coming in. Tom Bilyeu, Lisa Bilyeu, Anthony Trucks, Evan Carmichael, Amberley Lago, Ray Higdon, Ira Davis, Mark Drager, Mel Abraham. This event is designed to meet you where you are and physically grab your hand and take you where you need to go. Over the course of three virtual days, you’ll learn how to take action and make moves so you can level up to the capacity you want. If you keep hitting around the nail practicing your swing, you’ll never actually hit the nail--this event helps you drive it into the board.
Key Takeaways
Your level of expectation becomes your level of excellence
Finding the right mentor can break you out of a cycle of negative mentality
Don’t become a personal development junkie--you have to spend as much time doing as you do learning.
LINKS
https://go.stephenscoggins.com/vault/transform-u-live/info/
https://stephenscoggins.com/stuck-to-unstoppable/
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Join Jillian as she breaks down her Scale Your Small Business process, a 17-week program through eight fundamental steps that will truly scale your small business. Today’s topic is the first and incredibly important step: getting your mindset in gear.
On September 26th, 2016, Jillian was in what seemed like a trivial fender-bender accident. What she didn’t know was that little bump in the road changed her life forever when she was diagnosed with a concussion. This accident transformed her life forever--she couldn’t work, function, or live her life the same way anymore. She had two options: give up, or find a way to make it work. So, Jillian took a step back and really evaluated every aspect of her business and realized there were people who really boost the work she was doing in a way that had never happened.
Here’s the thing: everything can change in an instant. Can you make the decisions necessary to change your business in a moment? To change your business, you have to change yourself. Especially in a post-pandemic world, it’s important you make the start now. So, let’s dive in.
This first week, your work is to document your current routines. If you don't have one, that's okay, but if you do, write down every step to get a better look at how you operate.
Key Takeaways
- Everything can change in an instant
- It all starts with mindset
- To change your business, you have to change yourself.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today's guest is Joe Sanok, a keynote TEDx speaker, business consultant, and podcaster. He has the number one podcast for counselors, The Practice of the Practice Podcast, and has interviewed people like Pat Flynn, John Lee Dumas, and Lewis Howes. He's also written five books and is a writer for Psych Central, has been featured on the Huffington Post, Forbes, Good Magazine, Reader's Digest, Entrepreneur on Fire, and Yahoo News.
Joe got started helping others grow their practices and businesses after he realized he was making more in his side counseling gig than he was at his primary job. But, it didn’t just happen. He was putting in the work reading, listening to podcasts, and sharing what he learned outside of grad school, like building coaching packages, mastermind groups, a membership community, and hiring other consultants.
Mindset is, of course, a crucial part of building, growing, and scaling a business. Joe points to three things top performers have internally and naturally. The first is curiosity. It didn’t kill the cat, but it is a trait that high-performing individuals have. The second is the ability to see things from an outsider’s perspective. Being able to shift the way a problem is approached is a superpower. The third is not being paralyzed by perfection. There is a spectrum, Joe says, from speed to accuracy. In some cases, it makes sense to opt for accuracy over speed, but in many businesses scenarios, speed is the way to go.
When you’re looking for a mastermind group or partner, there are a few key things to remember. Joe breaks down the steps: before you even have a mastermind group, look at what you're doing now and make sure you have the space for it. Then, make sure you’re clear on how the partner thinks and what they’ve done--you want to make sure you align. Finally, make sure you’re part of a community. Meeting people on the way up is the way to go.
When you’re scaling a business, it can be difficult to pinpoint what you should be doing and what you should put a halt on. Joe is the mind behind the Thursday is the new Friday model--one whose philosophy is based on when you give yourself less time to do things, you naturally will drop the ball -- and it’s good to drop the ball. When you have fewer days to work, the most important things float to the top of your priority list, and the things that sink to the bottom you probably should be outsourcing or delegating. Beyond that, do it for your staff. Joe asks his staff three important questions: What do you love about your current position, what do you hate, and where do you want to grow. These simple inquiries result is happier team members who stay longer and build a position best suited for them.
Give your staff permission to be creative and innovate on their own terms. Empower them to move forward without you, and offer feedback.
Joe’s book, Thursday is the New Friday, is a menu of tools that can help you grow, think, experiment, and adjust. It goes beyond typical prescriptive narratives and focuses on how we slow down. It’s about being intentional and optimizing how you operate.
Key Takeaways
- Be curious. Shift your perspective. Opt for speed over perfection.
- Make sure you align with a mastermind partner, coach, or group.
- Allow the things you love to do to float to the top. Delegate or outsource the rest.
LINKS
Joesanok.com
Purchase five or more copies and gain access to mastermind groups and other free digital bonuses that go beyond the book. You can submit your receipt at thursdayisthenewfriday.com
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re talking about insurance policies. These crucial aspects of your business can make or break you in moments when you need it most. Let’s look at the tools you can use to make sure you’re ready when the time comes.
The first tip may seem obvious: make sure you’re working with an insurance agent. 800 numbers are great, but having an individual you know you can count on for answers, help, feedback, and act as team member for you is game-changing.
Carefully consider if you should file a claim or not. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense when you take a look at your deductible. Plus, if you file small things constantly, you run the risk of your insurance agency dropping coverage. If that happens, you’ll be high and dry when something significant occurs.
Make sure you understand your policy and keep it updated regularly. You don’t want to find yourself in a situation where you’re without a paddle and have no idea what’s going to work.
Prepare yourself for how long the process of filing a claim can take. Be clear on what your insurance provider requires to file a claim and understand that if there is a question, things will not move forward until it’s answered. It can take even longer the more parties are involved.
Document everything! Take pictures and keep them in a large, secure digital storage space. This way, you can share everything you know with your agent, and everything is on hand when it’s needed.
Key Takeaways
- Make sure you’re working with an insurance agent. 800 numbers are great, but having an individual you know you can count on for answers, help, feedback, and act as a team member for you is game-changing.
- Carefully consider if you should file a claim or not. Sometimes, it just doesn’t make sense when you take a look at your deductible. Plus, if you file small things constantly, you run the risk of your insurance agency dropping coverage.
- Make sure you understand your policy and keep it updated regularly.
- Document everything! Take pictures and keep them in a large, secure digital storage space. This way, you can share everything you know with your agent, and everything is on hand when it’s needed.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s guest took the leap from 20 years in a traditional career as a successful medical doctor to a non-traditional career as a successful coach and business mentor for wellness entrepreneurs. Dr. Kim Foster is here to chat with us about her mentality as she made the transition to coaching.
Making this change took a long time, Dr. Foster admits. It was like jumping out of a perfectly functional airplane without a parachute. Since she was 17, she knew she wanted to be a doctor, so her biggest fear was stepping outside the lines. She recognized that she was stepping away from financial security, the lifelong just job security, and the respect that comes with being a medical doctor. There was going to be scrutiny, and she knew it. What kept her stuck for so long was her identity being tied to this profession.
Dr. Foster handled the feedback and questioning she encountered. She felt like she was betraying her education and the people she served. In fact, she kept this entire transition to herself for as long as possible. She felt like she wasn’t giving herself permission to live the life she wanted.
The difference-maker was this mental shift: I cannot live my life thinking or worrying about what other people think. Through coaching, journaling, and meditation, Dr. Foster understood that she wasn’t burning it to the ground, she was taking what she had and building on it.
Of course, there was fear that came with the transition, but Dr. Foster points out that we can follow that fear to motivate us and drive us to out next goal. If you’re fearful of something, that means there’s something big on the horizon.
Freedom and security are two core principles Dr. Foster lived by, but at some point, she realized that she was sacrificing her happiness for security, and that needed to change. It wasn’t just about coming to terms with the risk, it was about trusting herself. It was a commitment to making it work no matter what. She was relentless in her goal and flexible in her approach. \
Now, Dr. Foster works with people in all stages of business scaling, helping people who are from healthcare, like doctors and nurses and physiotherapists and social workers build a foundation for their businesses. Dr. Foster mentions that so much of business is people--understanding what motivates people, what speaks to people, and what really connects with people. Her mentality is this: if I can help the helpers, who then go out and help a whole bunch of people, then I've made so much more impact.
You can learn all the business strategies that you want in the world. But if you don't have your mindset on right to implement and to actually take that action and to face the fear and do it anyway, then this is not going to help you, Dr. Foster says.
Key Takeaways
- Give yourself permission to pursue the life you want.
- Don’t sacrifice happiness for security.
- If you can help the helpers, you’re making an even bigger impact.
LINKS
@drkimfoster on Instagram
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re talking about moving offices. This transition can be overwhelming, and it always seems like an endless task that somehow gets crammed into a short period of time. This week we’re breaking down some tips that can help you calm the chaos.
First, before you even begin your move, collect your favorite things. These are your everyday use items–your notebooks, planners, pens–anything essential you need to run your businesses. This way, you know the things that matter are already taken care of.
Another tip is grouping and packing all the things you know for sure you won’t be using during the move. Here’s the second part: label everything with where it goes. Consider numbering the boxes and keeping a master list to refer back to once you make your move.
Once everything is categorized, change your address. Make sure you do this soon enough to give yourself time to transition. By getting ahead, you leave yourself room to move from one place to another. The sooner the better.
Get ahold of movers early, and share your moving schedule with everyone involved. This includes your team, the movers, and your landlord.
Create a checklist of every single item you’re bringing with you. This is a super simple way to ensure nothing is slipping through the cracks without taking up space in your brain.
Don’t be afraid to purge! This is a great moment to clear out any unnecessary items that you don’t need to bring with you. Encourage your team to do the same!
Have some fun! Check out new decor that you’d like to have in your new office!
Once you’re ready to go, double-check to ensure all your drawers, cabinets, and lockers are empty.
Make sure you have some snacks at hand. Moving is stressful, tiring, and can work up quite the appetite. You don’t want to be hangry while you move!
Bring extra extension cords! You never know how many plug-ins you’ll need.
Finally, give yourself more time than you think you need.
Key Takeaways
- Before you get started moving, collect your favorite things and organize all the things you know you won’t need during the move.
- Label, label, label. Create a master checklist of every item and where it goes so it doesn’t take up space in your head.
- Give yourself more time than you need! Moving comes with it’s own set of potential twists and turns. Allow yourself to have a buffer.
We’re back with the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week’s guest is Wade Stewart. He’s a small business owner in Tacoma, WA. After enjoying several years of success in his business, the long hours had taken their toll and he was unhappy. Once he went on his own Personal Retreat, he found a renewed sense of purpose. This Retreat was so successful he has written this book to help others who might find themselves in a similar place.
When Wade started his business, he had built a robust, thoughtful plan to scale at a reasonable pace. What happened, though, was an incredible amount of growth. Things started ramping up fast than expected, which snowballed into more exponential growth. This eventually spiraled out of control, and not wanting to go bankrupt and leave his family out to dry, Wade found himself working 15 hours a week, every day of the week. This lead to eating poorly, little sleep, no personal time, and the emotional manifestations matched the severity of his physical symptoms. All in all, it wasn’t a good way to live. Trying to wear that many hats at once wasn’t sustainable and Wade ended up reaching a breaking point.
Recognizing the slowly growing heat isn’t easy, but it’s an important step in scaling a business. When you notice other things outside of work are starting to suffer, it can be a good indication that it’s getting a little disproportionate work-load wise. Just like you can get addicted to anything else, getting that next client, and the chase of that client, can become all-encompassing, and you can lose sight of what matters. The next step is confirming this is an ongoing thing, not just a bad string of months.
This is all to say that it’s about loving the work you do. It’s worth looking back--what is it you were passionate about in high school? College? Identify the little nuggets of your work that you really, really enjoy.
A great way to take stock of how you’re balancing your work and avoiding burnout is through a Personal Retreat--something Wade does and has done in the past. Your retreat and analysis can happen as often as you think is necessary. And your retreat can happen anywhere that works. For Wade, he found solitude in an empty park and in a busy Starbucks. Really, it’s about finding a place you can get into a zone. It doesn’t have to be exotic--but it does have to be a place you can focus.
LINKS
https://www.personalretreat.training/
Key Takeaways
- It’s important to take stock of how you’re doing. Burnout is brutal and can sneak up on you, but it is avoidable.
- Find a time that feels right for you and analyze your business. Return to what it is that you’re passionate about and expand it.
- Your retreat doesn’t have to be anywhere exotic. It could be a park or a Starbucks. Find somewhere you can get in the zone.
This week on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, we’re talking about everyone’s favorite: iPhone Apps. We’re diving into some of the most useful, efficient, and effective apps available that you can start using today (and keep using from now on) to run your business.
The first app on the list is Calendly. Calendly allows you to create completely customizable appointments based on timeframe, topic, or any other category you can think of. You can decide what is public or private--whatever you need it to do, it’ll do it.
Next up is 1Password. This app is exactly what it says--it’s one password. You can create different ‘vaults’ for contractors, allowing them controlled access to what they need to work. You’re always able to revoke access at any time without worrying about changing passwords.
Another app to use is called MileIQ. MileIQ captures your drives automatically. The app runs in the background on your phone, tracking your miles and creating a comprehensive record. At the end of the year, you can print off a report that has all your mileage.
Slack is an easy, consistent way to stay in touch with your team wherever you go. This messaging app lets you keep track of what’s going on even when you aren’t at a computer.
Google Calendar is another big one--it has an immense amount of uses and allows you to connect with so many different scheduling apps. It’s a clean, efficient way to see all your appointments in one place.
Dropbox is an incredible storage platform that allows you to share and store large files. They even have an app that allows you to upload directly from your phone to your team all over the world.
Remitly is an app that allows you to transfer money into your employee’s bank account without lag-time. You can send money overseas conveniently and securely.
Asana is a powerful platform that lets you layout projects step-by-step and assign tasks to individual members of your team.
Rev.com is an app and website where you can upload media and they will transcribe it automatically. This is a great tool when you’re on the go and want to have a transcription made of a presentation or project you’re proposing.
Evernote allows you to take pictures of your planner pages and catalog them digitally. In conjunction with Scannable, you can have a library of ideas at your fingertips.
An app that helps deliver content on time and consistently is Hootsuite. This app lets you schedule posts over a huge timeframe.
TeuxDeux is a powerful, incredibly clean app that lets you schedule recurring tasks on your to-do list.
If you’re an Apple fan, AppleNotes is a great utility app to have on hand to copy-paste important links, content, and ideas. Apple products on the whole have seamless connectivity that helps you keep a consistently smooth process to running a business.
Key Takeaways
- Apps can help you make your current processes better, and introduce improved methods of running your business.
- Find and try apps that work best for what your needs are. Pick and choose how you use them.
- Apple products on the whole have seamless connectivity that helps you keep a consistently smooth process to running a business.
Today’s guest helps small business owners create a new level of influence to help land their dream opportunities. This week, we’re chatting with Marlana Semenza, international photographer and visual strategist. She’s worked with athletes, celebrities, WWE Superstars, and public figures including Miss North Carolina. She’s going to break down just how we can teach people how to view us.
It’s important to realize when you’re creating a brand and producing images, it isn’t just a pretty picture--it’s a conversation. You have to understand who you’re speaking to and what you’re telling them. It should show them “why you.” What you would be like to be around, be friends with, work with. It’s for you to use to communicate that. Your brand is your business. When people come to work with you, they are coming to you, not your business. You carry that influence with you everywhere you go.
When a business is ready to build a brand and start making connections, it’s crucial that you’re clear about who you’re speaking to. Speak to the “one”--your ideal client. The conversations you have with different people will have different needs, priorities, and goals. Make sure you’re communicating effectively what it is you do and who you serve.
You have to show up on purpose. That means have a strategy and intention for what you’re creating. Don’t just post to post--speak to who you’re speaking to and connect with purpose.
Identify what makes you unique! Consider how you tell your story--you’re more than a photo of you at a computer. What makes you ‘you?’ These images play a huge role in creating your entire brand. By deciding what you want to represent and show up you teach people who to think of you. Steer the conversation.
Marlana’s process starts with an extensive questionnaire that gives her an idea of who you are, what you’re about, and what your social media circumstances are now. From there, a conversation is had that goes beyond the surface-level information the questionnaire offers. That is the jumping-off point. From there, of course, there are in-person photos happen, but also FaceTime photos allow Marlana to take high-quality photos of anybody, anywhere. All with the same process. Expect instead of Marlana Semenza taking the photo, she coaches her clients in positioning, lighting, location, and posing. All that adjustment happens via FaceTime.
Key Takeaways
- It isn’t just a pretty picture--it’s a conversation.
- Get clear on who you’re speaking to and communicate why ‘you.’
- You carry your influence everywhere you go. Make sure you’re showing up with intention to every client.
LINKS
Social media channels:
https://www.instagram.com/marlana.semenza.photo/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/marlanasemenza/
https://www.facebook.com/Marlana-Semenza-Photography-129332310573483
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC3wRcnYROOe3qO4b-_KK3kQ
Website:
www.marlanasemenza.com
This week on the Scale Your Small Business, we’re breaking down the weekly review. This crucial time of reflection can have a massive impact on your development, growth, and success. The best part? You only need five minutes.
Before we dive in, remember that this can happen any time of the week. Whenever works best for you--whenever you’re getting ready for your day.
Five minutes all you have to spare?
First thing’s first--clean up your area. This doesn’t mean deep-clean every inch of your space, but do take care of your workspace and desk. Throw away any trash, coffee cups, whatever it is. Make sure it’s ready to go when you come in the next day.
Next, get all the paperwork from your desk clean up and get it into one pile so you know where everything is.
Then, brain dump. Get everything out of your head and onto paper, word document, phone note, whatever it is.
15 Minutes?
If you have more time, review your previous calendar and make sure you didn’t miss anything along the way.
From there, review your upcoming calendar so you know what’s on your plate the week ahead.
Additionally, empty out your voicemail and inbox. This doesn’t mean address every single item, but do take stock and make sure you know what you have. Form a habit of deleting anything unneeded.
This is the time to make sure you haven’t forgotten anything.
Go through your text messages to make sure you don’t have any outstanding texts you need to reply to before you start your week.
30 minutes for your weekly review? Do everything up to this point, and add these:
Sort through your pile from early. Perhaps some are more urgent, things you need to file, whatever it is, put it where it needs to go.
Write your weekly to-do list. Sometimes, this will spark your memory and remind you of items you may have forgotten about. Also, review last week’s to-do and move whatever you need to.
Write out your ‘waiting for’ list. These are things you may be partnering with someone or a team member is working on.
If you have an entire 60 minutes to do your weekly review, here are some additional practices to consider:
Review your projects. Especially when you have a larger one, break it down into small chunks. Ensure nothing has been forgotten or fallen through the cracks.
Review your ‘someday maybe’ list. This list is for you to remind yourself of what you may have time to take on.
Next, consider creating a ‘43 folder’ system, where there are folders for every day of every month of the year. From there, you can put in any items, invitations, or important files based on the day they need to be reviewed.
Schedule next week’s weekly review. If you can do this at the same time every week--awesome, but don’t let a reschedule stop you from doing this important work.
Update any software you may have waiting. You can perform other tasks on this list at the same time!
Empty your digital and physical trash cans. This seems minor, but this small step makes a huge difference. Something as simple as making sure your desktop and actual desktop will give you a truly fresh start.
Key Takeaways
- A weekly review is an essential step to prepare you for your week ahead and prevent tasks from slipping through the cracks
- Your weekly review can be whenever and for however long works best for you--but make sure you take the steps necessary to give a good look towards your week.
- Sometimes the smallest tasks make the biggest difference. Don’t ignore the little things!
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, your host Jillian Flodstrom is sitting down with Jill Sussman, owner of Sky Realty, where she helps people build wealth and legacy through real estate.
Jill found her passion for reality as a 13-year-old child while going around looking for houses as her parents went through a divorce. She found joy in imagining her life in these places but at the same time, her parents taught her the in’s and out’s of finances and things that may be off-limits to other kids at that age. She started paying attention to pricing and other real estate-related information. A few years later, she worked at a rental company where she would build a portfolio, call landlords, and handled everything that came with the job. From there, she realized real estate was the ticket to the life she wanted to live. To this day, the skills she learned she still uses.
Standing out from the crowd is a major aspect of being a successful real estate agent. Jill never worked at a traditional real estate agency, so she was different out of the gate. Jill decided she would get her license for herself. From there it grew organically, which set her apart of the rest of her field. She attributes this quality to being intentionally and consciously different than other people. With the energy she brings she makes a point to be different than others.
Jill says consistency is the hardest part of growing your business. But beyond that, it’s timing. You have to have the desire to grow, but you also need to have the energy and the will to match it. Understand the ‘why’ of your growth. Consider how and when you’re at your best, and maximize that!
Being discouraged is a natural part of growth. Return to your vision. Sometimes, it’s about having the introspection of when to move on. Don’t try to create a mechanism that won’t work. Don’t force your vision into a medium that isn’t working. Don’t be afraid to start over. Be consistent and concentrate on your energy. Your energy will attract people to you.
Mentorship is an important part of personal growth. Finding the right mentor is imperative. It can help you more than an employee at the onset of your business’s growth. They can help you stay on task, focus on what’s important, and guide you along the process. Connect with people in your network and identify who may be a great mentor. Be open and willing to learn at every moment. Don’t be afraid to pay for mentoring--the return is huge.
Key Takeaways
- It’s not just about having the desire to grow. You have to have the energy, the willpower, and the timing to get there.
- Being discouraged is a part of growth. Return to your vision and trust that your passion and energy will attract others.
- Mentorship is imperative. Be open and willing to learn from a variety of perspectives.
LINKS
https://jillsussman1.com/
Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom, we’re breaking down the pros and cons of working from home versus working from an office. There are benefits and challenges with both, and especially as we handle the pandemic, this question is more relevant than ever.
One of the first things you can consider when comparing working from home and from an office is commuting. If you’re spending all your time running around, driving from location to location, you’re losing valuable time that could be spent doing something far more productive. By working from home, you allow yourself that time back.
Secondly is workflow. When you work from home, you’re able to make your hours work for you. If you’re an early bird or a night-owl, you can take time to focus on priorities other than work without sacrificing any productivity.
Next, is attire and dress code. When you’re working from home, you can wear pretty much whatever you want. This may be great for you, but over time, many will find that it impacts their productivity. Consider if you’re the kind of person that needs to get ready from the get-go in order to get things done.
A primary reason many people choose to work from home is for family and pets. You’re able to give them the time they need to tend to their needs while being able to work at the same time. This is a very important aspect for many business owner’s work-life balance and should be considered.
Working from home allows you to take breaks when you need them. You’re able to go for a walk, stretch, get some sun, whatever you need to do to decompress. Conversely, when you’re working from an office, there are absolutely no distractions or uninterrupted.
Considering the cost is a huge part of working from either home or an office. Make sure you’re clear on the cost of renting an office space and everything associated with having that space.
Finally, the most important thing to consider is understanding that you’re sharing a space when you’re working from home. With your kids, partner, pets, visitors, you name it--you share it. It can be difficult to have professional phone calls with this number of distractions. At an office, you can sit down and work without worrying about sharing your space or attention.
Key Takeaways
- You’re sharing a space when you’re working from home. With your kids, partner, pets, visitors, you name it--you share it. At an office, you can sit down and work without worrying about sharing your space or attention.
- By working from home, you allow yourself to work when it makes sense for you, no matter the time of day.
- Consider costs, work-life balance, and comfort v.s. productivity when choosing to work from an office or home.
Thanks for joining us on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom! This week, we’re joined by Dr. Alan Chong. He’s been a doctor of chiropractic for over 27 years and has built two thriving clinics. Now, he shares his knowledge by mentoring and coaching other healthcare professionals and offers guidance on his podcast, Practice Mastery.
Dr. Chong’s favorite part of building, growing, and running his spine clinic is working hands-on with patients. Beyond that, now with two clinics, he was able to create a business within a business, each complimenting each other and further finding a niche from which comes more cash flow.
Now in his 35th year of practice, Dr. Chong was presented with an opportunity to purchase and take over two clinics and do it all on his own. As a result, he was working 55 clinic hours a week--a massive amount of time. The key to lowering that to 32 hours is hiring.
His tips for hiring start with making sure they are like-minded individuals. Ensure that you’re both aligned in your top 3 core values. If they're totally off the wall from yours, probably not a good hire, regardless of how good they look on paper. Additionally, he asks his interviewees what their references would say about them.
COVID has been one of the most difficult challenges Dr. Chong, and many other small business owners have faced. There will moments where many will feel like quitting. Fortunately for Dr. Chong, he found that personal development and finding that drive within saved his business.
The biggest piece of advice Dr. Chong would give himself is to have asked for help sooner, and more often. Especially from his team. In addition, being more transparent, authentic, and real with clients and team members is crucial. When he did, he realized that bricks and mortar--the place in which you work, needs to be inspiring. There’s a good chance you may just tolerate it--don’t. If you can’t stand your office, bring something into it that will make it personal.
Dr. Chong’s approach to coaching is based on mindset. He asks simple questions to his clients. What makes you tick? What motivates you? What's going on in your head? What's holding you back? What are you angry about? Sometimes it's purely a mind shift to move on. If you have a mind, you better get your mindset in order. It's not a Monday to Friday, it's every single day of the week. Affirmations don't build your processes, They build your mindset. They build your mental fortitude. Your brand is all about your mindset. How stable and consistent are you with your processes? What's your personality like? Are you a driver?
Dr. Chong’s advice to those struggling to break through to that next level is this: each deep inside and think about why you went that direction anyways. Revive the passion--remember what your first passion project was.
LINKS
DrAlanChong on Instagram & Facebook
Dr. Alan Chong on LinkedIn
Practice Mastery Podcast
Key Takeaways
- Hire like-minded individuals. If they're totally off the wall from yours, probably not a good hire, regardless of how good they look on paper.
- Ask for help sooner and more often.
- Building mental fortitude is not a Monday to Friday, it's every single day of the week. Affirmations don't build your processes, They build your mindset.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, Jillian is diving into an incredibly important subject for a business owner of any size, but especially one that’s looking to grow, scale, and thrive. We’re talking about contracts--why they’re important, how to make sure you’re going through the process properly, and what to look out for.
On a personal side, Jill has had a first-hand experience with the importance of contracts. She was in business with her former business partner for over 10 years. She’d invested her entire being into that business. There was a succession plan they had in place: he was going to retire, and she was going to take over that business. Then unbeknownst to Jill, she was notified along with others in the company that he was selling the business--but not to her. There was no courtesy of a personal conversation, just an email. Had there been a more formal, written contract and not just a verbal one, this would’ve been a completely different story.
Sometimes involving attorneys and your team in certain business dealings can be uncomfortable, but it is super important because if you don't, if you don't have anything in writing, if things are not spelled out, you could be left in the lurch. Right now, you may be getting along with the person that maybe you're in business with, or you want to get in business with, but things can change. The person can change. Their decisions can change. Sometimes mental health needs to take priority.
If these essential documents are written out, it becomes something the court could enforce.
Even with close friends, family, and loved ones--sometimes they don't have a choice. Sometimes you are collateral damage. By getting these contracts in place ahead of time, you set yourself up to feel much better. If something comes up, it's very easy to edit it now, while you're both still friends.
Consider everything--EVERYTHING--when writing out your contract. If it's something that you're going to take possession of a business on a certain day, what day is that? What is the plan once you've taken possession? Are you taking over clients? Are you starting over fresh? What about those systems that the current business might be using? Review, review, review before you sign.
Make sure you build a team around you that you can lean on, rely on, and look for guidance.
Finally, don’t do this under stress. Think carefully and do it with intention! Make sure you have your ducks in a row.
Key Takeaways
- Involve attorneys and other legal help to ensure everything is clearly spelled out in every business dealing you’re involved in.
- By writing out these contracts, you give the court something they can enforce.
- Don’t shy away from contracts with loved ones. Edit and review now, while things are smooth to lay a safe foundation for your business partnership.
- Make sure you build a team around you that you can lean on, rely on, and look for guidance.
- Don’t do this under stress. Think carefully and do it with intention! Make sure you have your ducks in a row.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week’s guest is Darla Delayne, a 35-year business veteran, an inspirational powerhouse coach, speaker for women who lead their business empires. She helps women entrepreneurs fine-tune their greatness and light up the world with the fire within them.
There are often barriers women run into when starting to grow their businesses. For Darla, she believes women need the permission to know that success can happen the way they want it to happen, and it can resonate with them. They don't have to watch everybody else and do what everybody else is doing. It's getting back to what makes women powerful, their intuition, inspiration, where we're creative, and how that fits within those beautiful structures and systems so they have a foundation. Often, she says, women don't trust themselves, don't think it's for them, or don't feel they have permission to really do it because, face it, historically, that’s what women have been told.
Her advice is this: you can do this, anyone can do this. There are customers for everyone, and to stay with your unique self and who you are and what you do and don't try to be somebody else. Then you'll hear that intuitive gut feeling to know and that competence will come out.
Darla prides herself on running and teaching others to operate a heart-run business. Seven years ago, everything came crashing down in her life, but Darla declared that her number-one priority would be her happiness. To make sure she did that, she started tracking her happiness by the hour. Once she became aware of her own happiness, before long, one hour turned to two, two to four, and eventually, her entire day was filled with joy. The kicker is this: she also charted her income at the same time. Guess what? A perfect correlation revealed itself.
It’s about watching how you feel, and understanding that your productivity and the way you show up is directly tied to your happiness. In the end, if you’re not enjoying it, you’re preventing yourself from getting what you want. YOU are the magic sauce that makes money happen.
Now that she’s helping other women grow their business, Darla reminds us not to throw the baby out with the bathwater. Systems are in place to help you, it’s about incorporating the heart. Your brain is filled with what you put in it--plans to predict outcomes and results. Your heart is filled with infinite possibilities. Remove “goals” from the thought and replace it with “visions.” By doing this, you’re setting yourself up to focus on what really matters. Even though it’s a business, it’s still connected to how you feel.
A massive fear women face when starting and running a business is imposter syndrome and not believing they’re capable of doing what they're doing. Darla notes that this is a stress response--it’s something your brain was designed to do to keep you alive. The thing is, you dictate your mindset and your limitations there.
It’s about getting out of your own way. You don’t have to have a ceiling. by saying yes to yourself, and knowing that you're fine, no matter what happens, you're okay. Go for it. Do it. If it falls apart, you'll figure out a way to put it back together.
Finally, Darla’s last piece of advice is to invest in a coach. You need someone looking from the outside that can guide you through. Stop DIYing your business. Why waste time trying to invent the wheel when you've got someone there that can really help you?
Key Takeaways
- There are customers for everyone, and to stay with your unique self and who you are and what you do and don't try to be somebody else.
- It’s about watching how you feel, and understanding that your income and the way you show up is directly tied to your happiness.
- Your brain is filled with what you put in it--plans to predict outcomes and results. Your heart is filled with infinite possibility.
- It’s about getting out of your own way. You don’t have to have a ceiling. by saying yes to yourself, and knowing that you're fine, no matter what happens, you're okay. Go for it. Do it. If it falls apart, you'll figure out a way to put it back together.
LINKS
DarlaDelayne.com
@DarlaDelayne on social
Quickstartbusinessschool.com
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. On this week's episode, we're discussing organization charts. Jillian is here to share some tips on why organization charts are important for your business, even if it's just you by yourself or if you have a small team.
Every business requires a clear structure for their company, and an organization chart can really help with that. An organization chart can make your team understand the hierarchy of your organization and what channels to go through when they’re working on a project. A visual representation of the structure can help your employees understand their relationship with other groups within the company and how they can contribute over all.
By clearly communicating how each group of staff members relates to each other, the organization can experience greater growth by avoiding unnecessary conflicts and confusion. An organization chart can also help assess employees workloads. This can clearly illustrate where the loop ends, where the buck stops, based on every person that's in your organization on your org chart.
Identifying opportunities for collaboration is a massive benefit of having an org chart. Which employees work in which departments, which might be good a resource for another employee, can be huge when determining where in an organization, especially if you have a large one, where people should go to find other people to collaborate with.
In the same way, an org chart can show you holes in the structure of your organization. It can point to bottlenecks where things are getting slowed down. Important functions that no one is accountable for are immediately apparent in an organizational chart.
Finally, it’s always fun (and surprisingly useful) to plan out the future of your business. You can visualize how you want to look after you’ve grown.
So, don't discount an organization chart just because you might have a smaller business, you might be by yourself. Give yourself the ability to dream about what your organization could become and you never know, those future spots on the organization chart just might be filled with awesome people.
Key Takeaways
- Every business requires a clear structure for their company, and an organization chart can really help with that.
- An organization chart can make your team understand the hierarchy of your organization and what channels to go through when they’re working on a project.
- Identifying opportunities for collaboration is a massive benefit of having an org chart.
- An org chart can show you holes in the structure of your organization. It can point to bottlenecks where things are getting slowed down.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re welcoming number one award-winning account executive and a super successful sales coach, Nicole Cramer. Nicole is here to share with us her unique perspective on shifting our mindsets to a place of service and how we can avoid being ‘salesy.’
Nicole believes sales can be fun. It doesn’t have to be a big, scary thing. The key is shifting your perspective. Serving is selling, and selling should be serving. Nicole reminds us of this: if you’re feeling salesy, the chances are you’re making it about you. You're making yourself the centerpiece, and that's not why you started a business, right? If you're not telling your customer how you can help them, then you're not really doing what you said you wanted to do, which is to help others. We have to be willing to get uncomfortable and take some of those risks in order to fulfill this passion.
A major challenge Nicole sees business owners make is distracting themselves from what they are afraid to do with other tasks and things that they feel productive with. When you're focused on, "I need this website to be up and running before I can help people." The website doesn't give you any better ability to help people. It's a distraction that makes you feel good because you're doing something, but it's not actually a revenue-generating activity. And if you aren't generating revenue in your business, then you don't have a business.
Additionally, business owners often fall victim to bright shiny object syndrome of trying to do too many things all at once. Those who do this are just distracting themselves and keeping themselves stuck where they are.
Many people have the fear of being too pushy. Nicole’s advice is this: If you're selling ice to a polar bear, then you're selling a polar bear something that he doesn't need. So are you selling people something that they don't need? You're being salesy because you're selling people things that they don't need. Don’t let your fears or insecurities prevent you from helping and serving people. The truth is, most people aren’t going to need what you have, and that’s okay.
Personal growth plays a huge part in professional success. From Nicole’s perspective, your first couple of years of entrepreneurship have nothing to do with growing your business. It has everything to do with your own personal development journey. If you don't focus on that first and foremost, you are going to take yourself out of the game. You need to be so committed to why you want to do this and you need to be able and willing to recommit every day, sometimes every minute.
90% of this is mindset and 10% of it is strategy. Invest in yourself, hire a coach. A doctor does not perform surgery on herself. You are not meant to go through this alone. That can look like investing in a coach. Maybe that means investing in whatever your success team is, therapists, mentors, guides, anything that would help.
Nicole’s final piece of advice is this: you either get to fight for your limitations or fight for your possibilities. You can see it through either lens, but when you continue to see it through the lens of your limitations, you will continue to see more limitations. If you shift your perspective, you’ll see your potential.
Key Takeaways
- Serving is selling, and selling should be serving.
- If you’re feeling salesy, the chances are you’re making it about you.
- 90% of this is mindset and 10% of it is strategy. Invest in yourself, hire a coach. A doctor does not perform surgery on herself.
Links
https://www.healthystepswithnicole.com/
https://www.instagram.com/healthystepswithnicole/
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today’s an exciting day, as we’re welcoming our first guest to the show. Joining us this week is James Gardiner, he’s a high-performance athlete who helps entrepreneurs face their challenges, uncover their secret sauce, and help their lives and businesses thrive. This week, he’s breaking down his success and how he uses Conscious Leadership to help people find theirs.
James first found his interest in helping entrepreneurs achieve because he saw the similarities between his own, competitive, high-performance mentality and theirs. Entrepreneurs are creative, driven minds, and there's no secret why many high performance athletes end up being coaches and business advisors.
With that, some of the same challenges are presented for both high-performance athletes and high-achieving entrepreneurs. Everyone comes to the table with his or her own unique skillset, strengths, and of course, challenges. It’s about wearing multiple hats and learning how to juggle the different balls of what it means to be in business for ourselves, to be of service, and also to run a business. Following through on each of those can be difficult. On the other side of the spectrum are those who only do follow-through, and lose sight of the bigger picture.
So, how do we combat those challenges? James points to a constant process of assessing, reassessing, course correcting, and moving forward. This helps to mitigate some of those challenges and within those challenges, understanding or labeling the severity of them. Which are my bleeding artery challenges? Which are my just kind of nicks that are like a paper cut? Have a group of team members that you consult throughout to stay on track. Hand in hand with that is personal growth alongside professional growth. Misalignment will always show itself, always.
It’s about understanding what gets you out of bed in the morning. We were all a young Beethoven once, and we had the ability to create our Ode to Joy, our masterpiece. James feels like we owe it to ourselves to take that journey.
If anyone knows the mentality between athletes and entrepreneurs, it’s James. For him, it’s an unwavering discipline towards a commitment, towards a contract with your soul. a true athlete understands all that encompasses how they show up in that sports arena. Why do I do the training I do? What effect does certain training have on my physiology? In the same way, taking into account everything that makes up being a successful entrepreneur is paying attention to how you’re developing alongside the work you do. Everything that needs to go into having a vision, to creating a tangible concept of that vision, bringing people in possibly to champion the final product needs to be considered.
It’s about showing up every day, but it’s about balance. James reminds us of the importance of not needing external validation to equate your internal (and actual) value. You can’t take anything with you when you die, so it’s vital that you pay attention to areas that need it. Build in the ability to pause.
If you find yourself on the struggle bus and aren’t sure where to make that bus go, James says to get crystal clear. Ask yourself, what do I want? What does it look like? How does it make me feel? Anchor those questions in emotion. Don’t get caught up in the big step--take as small of a step as you need to move forward.
There are folks out there that just don't want to do what it takes to get the result that they want. The same way there are very few people who put in the work to become a professional athlete, it’s the same with entrepreneurs. As Jill calls it, “Destination Procrastination.”
Reach out to James Gardiner on Instagram and Facebook, and visit his website at theherowithin.ca to schedule a complimentary 45-minute hero discovery call.
Key Takeaways:
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Everyone comes to the table with his or her own unique skillset, strengths, and of course, challenges. It’s about wearing multiple hats and learning how to juggle the different balls of what it means to be in business for ourselves, to be of service, and also to run a business.
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It’s about showing up every day, but it’s about balance. James reminds us of the importance of not needing external validation to equate your internal (and actual) value.
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It’s about understanding what gets you out of bed in the morning. We were all a young Beethoven once, and we had the ability to create our Ode to Joy, our masterpiece.
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Ask yourself, what do I want? What does it look like? How does it make me feel? Anchor those questions in emotion. Don’t get caught up in the big step--take as small of a step as you need to move forward.
Want more information? Connect with James Gardiner at his:
Website - https://theherowithin.ca/
Instagram: https://instagram.com/jamesgardiner___?utm_medium=copy_link
Facebook: https://m.facebook.com/jim.gardiner.canordinaryinspire
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/james-gardiner-b157b5163
YouTube: https://youtube.com/c/JamesGardiner
We’ve officially made it to “halftime” here on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast. That’s right, this is episode 52 and we’re celebrating the one-year anniversary of the show. It’s been an incredible journey and we can’t wait to share with you what’s coming next -- we'll be talking with our upcoming podcast guests about topics you care about most. Stay tuned to hear from some of the brightest minds in business.
Jill is excited to share with you a mix of systems and processes that she uses daily with all their information partnered with their wisdom and insight. We would love for you to join us for two episodes per week! Shorter episodes with Jill will come on Thursdays, and guest episodes will be released on Tuesdays.
If you’ve enjoyed our show, we would love for you to rate this podcast, leave us a review, send Jill a message on Instagram. She would love to continue the conversation there.
Key Takeaways:
- Thank you for one year of success and scaling your small business!
- Looking ahead, we’ll be producing two shows--one solo, and one with an expert guest!
- Stay tuned to hear from some of the brightest minds in business break down their success.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re going to talk about why it’s important to plan, layout, and execute your content in an intentional way. We’ll break down strategies that can help you get ahead in case of unexpected challenges, build an audience, and calm the chaos.
So, why is it crucial that you plan your content ahead of time? It’s simple. The more content you have ready to go, the more flexibility, the more control, and the more lead time you get when it comes to putting out content. Not only do you give yourself space to change your strategy, but you also can keep track of all the moving parts that come into play when producing content for your business.
The truth is, getting a system in place will come with some challenges. You’ll run into hiccups as you iron out what works best for your team, and that’s where most people fall off. But if you stick with it and let the process fall into place, you’ll see the results in return.
For our example, we’ll talk about the Scale Your Small Business podcast.
This system is simple but incredibly effective. It starts with a big calendar where all the content is laid out with episode numbers, air dates, social media posts, etc. That way, there are weeks and weeks of buffer time to make changes.
Then, we move to a shared spreadsheet that gives the team a robust look at the workflow. The first columns have dates when the raw file for an episode can be expected. Once that box is checked, the audio editors know to work their magic, all by the date on the spreadsheet. From there, once the box is checked, it can move to show note writing, social media content, and publication.
Not only does this spreadsheet keep everyone informed, but it increases efficiency when people know when their expertise and role is needed in the workflow. Think of it as a ripple in the water. As that ripple goes out, it gets farther and farther and farther. We want to make sure that all this content that we're creating, all the hard work that goes into it behind the scenes, that it launches when it's supposed to in a timely manner and we're not running to catch up.
Key Takeaways
- The more content you have ready to go, the more flexibility, the more control, and the more lead time you get when it comes to putting out content.
- Not only do you give yourself space to change your strategy, but you also can keep track of all the moving parts that come into play when producing content for your business.
- Getting a system in place will come with some challenges. You’ll run into hiccups as you iron out what works best for your team, and that’s where most people fall off. But if you stick with it and let the process fall into place, you’ll see the results in return.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. As any entrepreneur knows, time is an incredibly valuable resource. In fact, it might be the most important facet of running your business. But there will always be areas where we’re losing time, and if it can be prevented, why not save your time and money? This week, we’re talking about time management.
Lauren Vanderkam’s book I Know How She Does It breaks down, in depth, how many hours we're actually working in any given day. That’s where time-tracking comes in.
This exercise can be catered to your work schedule, but the idea is to break down your day into chunks, 15, 30, an hour, whatever works, and log your activities for that time chunk. Consider using a split schedule. Oftentimes, our workdays are broken into different parts of the day--maybe you leave work early and pick it back up later in the evening.
If you’re losing traction on important projects, it could be because of how much time you’re spending scrolling, watching TV, or even doing laundry. The good news is, your logs will show you that, and then you can begin to take that time back.
Remember: interruptions are not breaks. They merely tire you more because they are not planned, and because they constantly leave you behind schedule. If you check your Facebook profile just five times a day, and you spend no more than 10 to 15 minutes each time, you've already lost an hour. Those distractions within an eight-hour workday could lead you to work more than 14 hours a day.
There are five more key components to managing your time:
One, get your big projects out of the way first. You’ll thank yourself for the relief later.
Two, manage your meetings. If you can shave off 10 minutes from an hour-long meeting, you’ll be surprised with how much time you get back.
Three, commit to your free time. Block out the time that you consider ‘free’ to ensure you have structure to complete tasks for yourself.
Four, plan your week ahead. If you go in with a plan, you won’t feel like you’re flying by the seat of your pants every day. Set your goals and a pathway there, so if any fires arise, you can adapt and continue.
Five, find your drive. When you carve our time for your work, you leave time to follow other passions. If you are interested in creating that side hustle, creating that other job to replace your current job, getting focused and scheduling out that time on your calendar will give you the ability to make that happen.
Finally, be mindful of family time. When we look back at the memories in our lives, we're not thinking about that big work project that we completed.
There is enough time. You just need to change your daily schedule. Nobody's perfect, and nor should we dream about being perfect. It's just not going to happen. We need to cut ourselves a break. Focus on the things that are important and ways that we can manage our daily schedule so that we have more time to spend with family and focus on the work that we love and brings us joy.
Key Takeaways
- Log the time you’re spending in 15 minutes chunks to identify areas where you’d losing traction on bigger projects.
- Get your big projects out of the way first. You’ll thank yourself for the relief later.
- Manage your meetings. If you can shave off 10 minutes from an hour-long meeting, you’ll be surprised with how much time you get back.
- Commit to your free time. Block out the time that you consider ‘free’ to ensure you have structure to complete tasks for yourself.
- Plan your week ahead. If you go in with a plan, you won’t feel like you’re flying by the seat of your pants every day.
- Find your drive. When you carve our time for your work, you leave time to follow other passions.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. A question that almost always comes up when hiring a new team member is “how many hours should they work” Today, we’re going to take a look at how you can make that choice, what to expect, and how you can maximize the efficiency and efficacy of your new hire.
The best part about being an entrepreneur is you call the shots. That means you get to decide who gets hired, what tasks they do, and how many hours you need them to work for. You can tailor the job to what you need most. But with that comes some necessary introspection.
Firstly, make a delegation list. On this list you’re going to include tasks you don’t want to do, don’t like to do, don’t have time to do, or don’t know how to do. Have your list broken into columns: I do this, I need to do this, someone else could do this, and not applicable. Go through this list and consider every task, no matter how mundane, and ask “do I really need to be doing this?” If you find yourself saying ‘yes’ a lot, dig a little deeper. There could be things that other people may be better suited for.
Now that you have your list laid out, begin clumping tasks together and see if a position arises from there. Things like checking emails, sorting communications, transcribing voicemails, and other tasks could be done by someone else. Remember, though, it’ll take time for them to reach the pace at which you can do these tasks. Once they’re in the groove, it’ll be worth it.
Once you’ve got a good idea of what kind of hire you’re looking for, head to a hiring resource like Virtual Staff Finder. Work with a representative there to tailor a position that works best for you. Remember, you’re in charge here. You get to decide what this looks like.
It’s important to shift your mentality when making a hire. Yes, there are costs associated with hiring, and you will need to spend money to find the right person to pay to do these tasks, but the money will come. You’re going to be freeing up hours upon hours of your day--what can you do in that time? There are going to be places you can cut costs to make this happen. Whatever your destination procrastination is, you can hire someone to free up that time.
Key Takeaways:
- The best part about being an entrepreneur is you call the shots. That means you get to decide who gets hired, what tasks they do, and how many hours you need them to work for.
- Make a delegation list. On this list you’re going to include tasks you don’t want to do, don’t like to do, don’t have time to do, or don’t know how to do. Have your list broken into columns: I do this, I need to do this, someone else could do this, and not applicable.
- If you feel like you need to handle most things, dig a little deeper and consider that someone else may be better suited for what you’re looking to have accomplished
- It’s important to shift your mentality when making a hire. Yes, there are costs associated with hiring, but the money will come. You’re going to be freeing up hours upon hours of your day--what can you do in that time?
Organizing paper can be daunting, especially when you have a giant pile of it and it's overwhelming. The key is just getting started. Today on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, Jillian is breaking down her systems for calming the chaos when it comes to filing storage and organization.
A powerful tool when organizing paper is the 43-folder system. In this system, you have one folder for each month. Within each month are folders 1-31--one for each day. Hanging folders work best because you're going to be putting other folders, invites, just anything that's related to specific dates that you can’t or would rather not scan, but need to keep a hold of. If it’s client work, you can use this system in conjunction with a CRM reminder so you can go into the date and have everything waiting for you.
For current projects, you’ll have a ladder file folder where scribbled notes, print outs, whatever it is, so it’s self-contained. If it’s something for the future, consider a 44th folder that you can revisit when the time comes.
Bank statements and receipts need their own system as well. Consider a folder that has 12 subsections, one for each month. This allows you to put every single month's bank statement, as well as an envelope with all your dated receipts, inside that folder. When everything is done and taken care of, you can clear those folders out (be sure to check with your accountant before you do that!).
You can always utilize digital tools for long-term storage like G-Suite and Dropbox, but if you’re keen on using the paper method, especially with client files that were a no-go or have been dormant, you can purchase boxes from an office supply store and label them with the appropriate information. Be sure to keep these safe, and when they start to pile up, go through the files and eliminate those that no longer serve a purpose.
Key Takeaways:
- When organizing papers, hanging folders work best. You're going to be putting other folders, invites, and anything related to specific dates that you can’t, or would rather not scan, but need to keep a hold of.
- For Bank statements and receipts, use a 12-section folder, one for each month. This allows you to put every single month's bank statement, as well as an envelope with all your dated receipts, inside that folder.
- You can always utilize digital tools for long-term storage like G-Suite and Dropbox, but if you do store paper files, keep them secure and eliminate those that no longer serve a purpose.
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re taking a close look at DISC profiles. These assessments have the ability to offer insight into your communication, as well as your teams. This powerful tool can lead to better, healthier personal and working relationships. Let’s talk about it.
DISC profiles get their name from four distinct categories of personality types: decisive, interactive, stabilizing, and cautious. Each of these aspects play a key role in how an individual communicates, gets work done, and generally move throughout their world.
Understanding DISC profiles not only equips you with knowledge of yourself and others, but it helps you identify traits that can help you see what kind of communication would be best suited for the person you’re working with.
In a sales environment, chances are you’ll be in a situation where you’re making a sales call in some form. This is a great place to see different personalities within the DISC profile in action.
For example, a decisive person would want a sales call to be short, sweet, and to the point. An interactive person would want to let the conversation go longer--similarly, a stabilizing person would let the conversation as long as it had to be. While a cautious person would rather get the cliff notes and know the facts, no matter the situation.
Making purchases is the same way--these concepts are personality types and how individuals interact with the universe.
Decisive: Short and sweet
Interactive: Not cut off or rushing
Stabilizing: No pressure
Cautious: Important details only
Shoot Jillian a DM to get the visual of the DISC system and to chat further into how this incredible tool can be utilized.
Key Takeaways:
- DISC profiles get their name from four distinct categories of personality types: decisive, interactive, stabilizing, and cautious.
- Understanding DISC profiles not only equips you with knowledge of yourself and others, but it helps you identify traits that can help you see what kind of communication would be best suited for the person you’re working with.
Decisive: Short and sweet
Interactive: Not cut off or rushing
Stabilizing: No pressure
Cautious: Important details only
Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we’re taking a close look at DISC profiles. These assessments have the ability to offer insight into your communication, as well as your teams. This powerful tool can lead to better, healthier personal and working relationships. Let’s talk about it.
DISC profiles get their name from four distinct categories of personality types: decisive, interactive, stabilizing, and cautious. Each of these aspects play a key role in how an individual communicates, gets work done, and generally move throughout their world.
Understanding DISC profiles not only equips you with knowledge of yourself and others, but it helps you identify traits that can help you see what kind of communication would be best suited for the person you’re working with.
In a sales environment, chances are you’ll be in a situation where you’re making a sales call in some form. This is a great place to see different personalities within the DISC profile in action.
For example, a decisive person would want a sales call to be short, sweet, and to the point. An interactive person would want to let the conversation go longer--similarly, a stabilizing person would let the conversation as long as it had to be. While a cautious person would rather get the cliff notes and know the facts, no matter the situation.
Making purchases is the same way--these concepts are personality types and how individuals interact with the universe.
Decisive: Short and sweet
Interactive: Not cut off or rushing
Stabilizing: No pressure
Cautious: Important details only
Shoot Jillian a DM to get the visual of the DISC system and to chat further into how this incredible tool can be utilized.
Key Takeaways:
- DISC profiles get their name from four distinct categories of personality types: decisive, interactive, stabilizing, and cautious.
- Understanding DISC profiles not only equips you with knowledge of yourself and others, but it helps you identify traits that can help you see what kind of communication would be best suited for the person you’re working with.
Decisive: Short and sweet
Interactive: Not cut off or rushing
Stabilizing: No pressure
Cautious: Important details only
This week on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom, we’re breaking down hiring a virtual assistant or freelancer. There’s a lot to unpack when you start to consider outsourcing work that means a lot to you, and even more logistical things to keep in mind. But with the right attitude and a little insight, you’ll be happy you have the help--and talent--that’s out there.
A question that’s often asked is “how do I pay my freelancers and virtual assistants?” First things first--the chances are you’re hiring these individuals to make your life easier. So why make it harder than it has to be?
Different platforms and services offer different methods of payment for their freelancers. Places like Upwork and Fiverr use an escrow system, which is when payment for a project is held by a third-party, offering the protection of your approval of the final product, as well as security that the money has already been deposited for the freelancer.
In the end, what’s important is that you find a service that works for you. Consider exchange rates, transfer rates, deposit time, automatic payments, and security. All of these aspects have a major impact on the relationship you have with your freelancer or VA. Especially if you’re hiring outside of the US, there are some important things to research. Remember, you’re aiming to make everyone’s lives easier.
Knowing the numbers before you look to hire is crucial. Some rates to consider: If you're just looking for a general virtual assistant, someone to maybe help you go through emails and other general tasks, $450 to $700 a month. If you’re looking for someone to write articles, content, things like that, that goes up significantly. If you're looking for someone full-time, that might be five to $700 a month. For blogs or social media, $500. Press releases, six to $800. eBooks, between $700 to a thousand. A full-time SEO specialist, $800. A full-time web developer, $800 to a thousand a month. A graphic artist full-time would be $700 to a thousand dollars a month.
Finding the right fit for your business can be daunting, but using services like Virtual Staff Finder can make your life much, much easier. Through this service, you can have people found for you who align with the work you’re looking to have done and the culture you have at your company. DISC assessments, English proficiency, and other important aspects of their work are all considered.
In the end, it’s all about being clear and concise about expectations when searching, hiring, and paying a virtual assistant or freelancer. You get what you pay for, so be sure to do your due diligence or risk paying the price later on.
Key Takeaways:
- You’re hiring these individuals to make your life easier. So why make it harder than it has to be?
- Consider exchange rates, transfer rates, deposit time, automatic payments, and security. All of these aspects have a major impact on the relationship you have with your freelancer or VA.
- services like Virtual Staff Finder can make your life much, much easier. Through this service, you can have people found for you who align with the work you’re looking to have done and the culture you have at your company. DISC assessments, English proficiency, and other important aspects of their work are all considered.
- You get what you pay for, so be sure to do your due diligence or risk paying the price later on.
scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/freecall
This week, Jillian is tackling overwhelm. So many people are finding themselves with too much on their plate, not enough hours in the day, and become paralyzed by the number of tasks that pile up, seemingly out of nowhere. But, there is light at the end of the tunnel, and today we’re talking about systems that can get you through your day.
Before we dive into Jill’s Get Clear System, it’s always important to remind ourselves that ‘no.’ is a complete sentence all by itself. Not every ‘no’ needs an explanation.
The first step in the Get Clear System is Collect. This step has different sub-steps to it, one being getting a planner or notebook and filling it with every meeting, sticky note, thought, whatever it is you have in your brain. Then, put everything into your current, up to date calendar so nothing slips through the cracks. Gather everything into one space.
The second step is List. In this step, you’ll want to list out everything that you gathered in your last step. Don’t worry about organizing it and give yourself time to list things out--you’ll probably come up with a few things after a while of wringing out your brain.
Three, Evaluate. This is a big one. Within this step, you’re first going to go through your list and itemize it by anything that has a firm, date, deadline, anything that makes you money, or any tasks that you can accomplish in less than two minutes. For those tasks that take over two minutes, we're going to formulate a system that will help you through that task. From there, you’re going to engage. Do you need to reach out to any members of your team? Add to your team? If these are big tasks, consider delegation. Then, estimate. Take a hard look at that task and give yourself an estimate of how long you think it will take to complete.
The fourth step is Act. That means go through your list and do everything that takes two minutes or less. Next, delegate anything that is outside of your skillset. Then, schedule any remaining tasks on your calendar. When you schedule things and stick to them, sometimes you’ll get a bonus if you complete a task sooner than you thought it would take.
The final step in Get Clear is to Review. Did you reach your goal? And if not, how much closer did you get? What worked and what didn't? What do I need to improve on? How do I feel about my progress?
Any new system is going to take a little while to adjust to, but be cognizant of those feelings, allow them to be felt, and see what you can do to improve in the future. Don't just try something once and give up. This is the long game. So just like if you were training for a marathon, you wouldn't give up after your first mile.
Key Takeaways:
- Get Clear: Collect, List, Evaluate, Act, Review.
- ‘No.’ is a complete sentence all by itself. Not every ‘no’ needs an explanation.
- Any new system is going to take a little while to adjust to. Be cognizant of those feelings, allow them to be felt, and see what you can do to improve in the future.
This week on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast, Jillian is breaking down best practices for storing, sharing, and saving important information. In a professional world increasingly dictated by technological advancement, it’s crucial that you stay ahead of the curve when it comes to taking care of your business’s virtual and online data. Let’s talk about some of the easiest tools you can employ today to get started.
There are a few different possibilities for sharing and saving files for your business, the two most helpful being G-Suite and Dropbox. Today, we’re going to focus on Dropbox.
While Dropbox has a free version, the paid option has a fair share of beneficial aspects that you may find useful. This version allows you to easily recover deleted, manipulated, or otherwise messed-with files. No matter what happens, you are always in control of your data.
Dropbox also has some solid security, but always remember to do your own research first. Dropbox offers a dual authentication service that will prompt anyone signing in or out to use two forms of identification to authorize their login. This way your files stay secure, especially if you have a large team all over the world.
Also helpful if you have a large team, remote or not, is how easy it is to share files. You can download them in different places, make edits, upload data for your team or for your review, and more. Dropbox is also available offline. That means all your files are available anytime, anywhere.
Everything on Dropbox is saved to the cloud, which makes your files safer, more accessible, and easier to use. If you’ve got multiple devices, you can download them or access them online depending on your hard drive space. You can upload from any device as well!
Key Takeaways:
- Dropbox allows you to easily recover deleted, manipulated, or otherwise messed-with files. No matter what happens, you are always in control of your data.
- Dropbox also has some solid security, offering a cloud-based saving method and a dual authentication service.
- If you have a large team, remote or not, Dropbox makes it easy to share files. You can upload or download from many different places. It’s available offline, which means all your files are available anytime, anywhere.
Thanks for joining us for this week’s episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. The journey of building and scaling a business is filled with a few dangerous pitfalls that can spell doom for your business. However, it’s certainly possible to get ahead of those problems and prepare yourself and the work you do so you can grow rapidly, and in a healthy way.
The first challenge you may have to overcome is identifying busy work vs. productive work. Are you actually accomplishing tasks, or are you occupying yourself with things that could wait? Constantly reorganizing and being in a state of perpetual adjusting simply won’t pay the bills. Focus on what you need to first, otherwise you can create a bottleneck and slow the entire process of growth.
Another mistake that you may encounter is simply networking too much. Overnetworking can happen easily, but it’s important to recognize that this too can become busywork. Consider if the networking you’re doing is moving the needle. Don’t get sucked into situations where you are providing more than you’re getting from things like networking groups, etc.
Another thing--don’t expect your employees to love your business the same way you do. It’s your baby, it’s your blood, sweat, and tears. They may not understand that. Communicate with them the importance of the work they're doing and it’ll go smoothly.
Make sure you’re not spending money without realizing it. Check your accounts regularly and ensure that you know where your money is going. Avoid paying subscriptions you no longer use and disallow things to slip through the cracks.
Try not to use your personal cell phone for business work. This opens a pandora’s box of problems that blur the line between your home and work life.
Your business needs to be able to run without you there. Don’t wait for an accident or emergency to test it. Delegate, delegate, delegate. Allow and trust your team to perform the tasks your business needs to survive at the same quality you would if you were there.
Key Takeaways:
- Identify busy work vs. productive work. Are you actually accomplishing tasks, or are you occupying yourself with things that could wait?
- don’t expect your employees to love your business the same way you do. It’s your baby, it’s your blood, sweat, and tears. They may not understand that.
- Your business needs to be able to run without you there. Don’t wait for an accident or emergency to test it. Delegate, delegate, delegate.
Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re going to take a close look at scaling your business and brand through social media. It can be a daunting task to dive into, but with the right mindset and proper preparation, you can make an impact.
The number one thing to remember when you’re jumping into a presence on social media is to be consistent. Yes, you can plan for things, but plans change. What makes the difference is being active, engaged, and having a steady flow of content for your audience.
Sometimes you want to be that picture-perfect person for social media. Remember that you can’t compare yourself as a beginner to someone who is much further along than you are. What matters is that you’ve started your social media journey and you’ll improve with time.
Be kind to yourself. The social media world can be a cruel and occasionally unforgiving space. There are a few things to do here. First, have a plan for when that happens, don’t forget that some people just aren’t happy in their own lives and that your content is being seen by a ton of people. Try to meet that energy with kindness and you’ll get a long way.
Work out a process, kinks and all, and repurpose content to make sure you’re posting as much as is needed for your brand. Chop up other things you’ve done into bite-sized, social media-able pieces.
Don’t feel like you need to use every single social media platform out there. It’s much more effective to find where your audience is and learn that space inside and out. For example, Instagram has many different forms of content you can put out, which allows you to post multiple times in a day (if you have the content).
In the end, create something that is yours. Whatever it is you do, whoever it is you are, don’t be afraid to share it. Chances are, people will connect with what you have to say and relate to your experiences.
Key Takeaways
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Be as consistent as possible on social media. Post engaging content actively!
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Be kind to yourself. Don’t compare yourself to others and give yourself a break if you see any nasty comments.
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Create something that is yours. Whatever it is you do, whoever it is you are, don’t be afraid to share it.
This week on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with Jillian Flodstrom, Jillian is answering the question: “how do I give back to my business?” Often, entrepreneurs may have an aversion to posting about giving back on social media out of fear of being misinterpreted and coming off as shallow. But in reality, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that should be praised and replicated. Let’s talk about some ways you can start doing just that.
First, offer your services to the community. There are lots of ways you can do this--you can give back monetary donations, volunteer your time, or volunteer your employees time and pay them for it. In many ways, volunteering is more valuable, in that you are connecting with your community in relation to something you’re passionate about. Allowing your employees to volunteer and get paid is a win-win. Your community gets the benefit of volunteers and your employees get to feel good about what they’re doing while still getting paid.
Secondly, consider signing up for events as a company. It could be as small as picking up trash along the road, or as large as a fundraising event like a fun-run. The point is, you’re building a closer relationship with your team and the community you work in and serve.
Third, allow local nonprofits and charities to advertise in your business. This could be as simple as a poster in your window, or putting a Toys for Tots box in your lobby. Something that you know is going to make an impact that you have the resources to provide your community. Fundraise with and for these organizations and encourage other businesses in your community to do the same.
You’d be surprised at how much help these organizations could use, so rallying around them is always a good thing.
Key Takeaways
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Offer your services to the community. There are lots of ways you can do this--you can give back monetary donations, volunteer your time, or volunteer your employees time and pay them for it.
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In many ways, volunteering is more valuable, in that you are connecting with your community in relation to something you’re passionate about. Allowing your employees to volunteer and get paid is a win-win.
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Consider signing up for events as a company. It could be as small as picking up trash along the road, or as large as a fundraising event like a fun-run. The point is, you’re building a closer relationship with your team and the community you work in and serve.
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Invite local nonprofits and charities to advertise in your business. This could be as simple as a poster in your window, or putting a Toys for Tots box in your lobby. Something that you know is going to make an impact that you have the resources to provide your community.
- Fundraise with and for these organizations and encourage other businesses in your community to do the same. You’d be surprised at how much help these organizations could use, so rallying around them is always a good thing.
LINKS
If you're an entrepreneur or small business owner and are looking to calm the chaos, increase productivity and grow your revenue, I want to give you a special invite to request a free strategy call with me by visiting scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/freecall.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, Jillian is going to share a few of her personal strategies that have made an immediate impact on both her professional and personal lives. From the tactical to the intangible, there are plenty of small changes and pivots you can make to see real growth.
Jillian’s first tip is that you get one day to wallow. Whatever happens or has happened to you, whether it makes you upset, angry, or some concoction of negative emotions, you get exactly 24 hours before you need to start searching for a solution. This is a short amount of time, and may not fit into every circumstance, but the point is that you give yourself a limit before you start to pick yourself up and start again. These feelings shouldn’t, and won’t stop you.
Second, develop a routine. Having a set series of things you do every day helps keep your business, mind, and body running smoothly. It can help you gear up for a big day, brainstorm, or clear your head. Either way, make sure you have a process and stick to it.
Third, be kind to yourself. You may be doing something you’ve never done before, facing challenges you haven’t seen yet, or overcoming a difficult hurdle. Offer yourself some grace. It’s easy to beat yourself up over every moment of the day, but understand that you are always learning, always growing. That’s what matters.
Fourth, set achievable goals and take breaks. Consider blocking your goals out in chunks. Start small and get the little things done--they add up. Once you start achieving, you get into a flow and achieving becomes a habit. Before you know it, you’re moving forward and hitting every mark.
Fifth, write everything down. Every random thought, idea, question, or answer that pops into your head should go down on paper of some sort. It’s easy to convince yourself you’ll never forget, but when the time comes, it’s safer to have it in front of you. Get a cute notebook you know you’ll love carrying with you!
Finally, don’t be afraid to ask for help. Believe or not, there is probably someone out there who can do something better than you--and that’s okay. If you find yourself stuck and try to power through, you’ll end up burning out fast.
Key Takeaways
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You get one day to wallow. Whatever happens or has happened to you, whether it makes you upset, angry, or some concoction of negative emotions, you get exactly 24 hours before you need to start searching for a solution.
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Develop a routine. Having a set series of things you do every day helps keep your business, mind, and body running smoothly. It can help you gear up for a big day, brainstorm, or clear your head.
-
Be kind to yourself. You may be doing something you’ve never done before, facing challenges you haven’t seen yet, or overcoming a difficult hurdle. Offer yourself some grace.
-
Set achievable goals and take breaks. Consider blocking your goals out in chunks. Start small and get the little things done--they add up.
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Write everything down. Every random thought, idea, question, or answer that pops into your head should go down on paper of some sort.
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Don’t be afraid to ask for help. Believe or not, there is probably someone out there who can do something better than you--and that’s okay.
LINKS
scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/freecall
This week, we are going to break down a few of the most useful, most effective, and easiest to use backend systems that you can implement and see an immediate impact on your business. There are plenty of important front-end, client-facing processes, but without a solid foundation behind the scenes, you may not be getting the most out of your business. Let’s talk about it.
The first backend system we’re going to touch on is appointment software. Having consistent, clear appointment scheduling software is essential for the growth of your business. Scrambling, ‘surprise’ visits, or missed meeting all together can negatively affect your work in multiple ways. Calendly and AppointmentCore offers systems that allow you to have a clear flow of appointments.
Next is texting software. Texting software allows clients to text a business phone number versus having to have a personal cell phone always in use. This way, you can have the same phone number clients can call or text without purchasing an entirely new phone line.
CRM’s are massively important, but be sure to choose one that is a good fit for your business. Think ahead and adapt to your business’s future growth and make sure you already have a system that you won’t have to replace multiple times as you expand. You can go big with something like Infusionsoft, or start simpler and more affordable with MailChimp.
File sharing in a quick, efficient way is a great way to boost productivity within your business. Using Dropbox or G Suite allows you to instantly share files of any size and encourage collaboration across the board.
Communication is paramount in any business, as it facilitates every inner working of what you do. Slack is a professional, clean instant messenger that your employees can use for quick, efficient communication in an individual or group setting. It alleviates email inbox clutter and on the whole, makes life a whole lot easier.
Password protection software may be the single most important investment you make for your business. 1Password and LastPass give you the ability to share a confidential password quickly, and revoke privileges if necessary. Keep your business safe!
Finally, having a team Kanban board software like Asana lays out projects clearly, step-by-step, and with assignments. With Asana or Trello, you can have multiple things going on, but it’s all there for you to look at without being overwhelming. This software prevents all those small things from slipping through the cracks.
Key Takeaways
- Having a consistent, clear appointment scheduling software is essential for the growth of your business. Scrambling, ‘surprise’ visits, or missed meeting all together can negatively affect your work in multiple ways.
- Texting software allows clients to text a business phone number versus having to have a personal cell phone always in use. This way, you can have the same phone number clients can call or text without purchasing an entirely new phone line.
- CRM’s are massively important, but be sure to choose one that is a good fit for your business.
- File sharing in a quick, efficient way is a great way to boost productivity within your business. Using Dropbox or G Suite allows you to instantly share files of any size and encourage collaboration across the board.
- Maximize internal communication and alleviate email inbox clutter with Slack, a professional, clean instant messenger that your employees can use for quick, efficient communication in an individual or group setting.
- Password protection software may be the single most important investment you make for your business. 1Password and LastPass give you the ability to share a confidential password quickly and revoke privileges if necessary.
- Having a team Kanban board software like Asana lays out projects clearly, step-by-step, and with assignments. This software prevents all those small things from slipping through the cracks.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today’s topic is an important one--transitioning your in-person business to be fully or partially virtual and online. This can be a daunting task, but we’re going to run through some actionable tips that will help smooth out the process and result in more business and less stress for you and your operation.
First, consider getting a business phone number. Having an online VoIP allows you to keep your work and professional lives separate, have someone on your team handle calls when you aren’t available, and makes it easy to manage relationships. By having a separate number, you’re able to establish a number that you can whole-heartedly say is always available for your client’s use without guilt. You can even answer that number on the same phone through an online app!
Second, focus on text and email. These forms of communication are often quicker, clearer, and easier for your clients. Sometimes, folks don’t need an entire phone call--they may just need a fast answer between meetings. Texts and emails should move up on your priority list, as it’s an effective way to manage client relationships. By going one step further and getting an automatic texting platform, you can also let them know automatically if there may be a delay in your response. These platforms also allow you to see the text or email in many different forms.
Third, think about online scheduling. While it can seem scary at first, online scheduling allows clients to schedule, move, and cancel appointments themselves, saving you a ton of time. It will send you an email and automatically update your calendar so you can use your valuable time working on something other than dozens of short phone calls.
Key Takeaways:
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Consider getting a business phone number. Having an online VoIP allows you to keep your work and professional lives separate, have someone on your team handle calls when you aren’t available, and makes it easy to manage relationships.
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Focus on text and email. These forms of communication are often quicker, clearer, and easier for your clients. Sometimes, folks don’t need an entire phone call--they may just need a fast answer between meetings. Texts and emails should move up on your priority list, as it’s an effective way to manage client relationships.
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Think about online scheduling. While it can seem scary at first, online scheduling allows clients to schedule, move, and cancel appointments themselves, saving you a ton of time.
This week, we’re answering the question “what is an LLC?” An LLC, or limited liability corporation, is one type of legal entity that can be formed to operate your business. It can certainly be intimidating to consider making this switch, but it's important that you know what it is. Today, we’re going to break down the pros and cons of becoming an LLC.
As we saw before, an LLC is or limited liability corporation is one type of legal entity that can be formed to operate your business. LLCs are popular because they provide the same limited liability as a corporation, but are easier and cheaper to run. If you're starting a business or currently running a business as a sole proprietor, you might consider forming an LLC. This is especially true if you are concerned about limiting your personal legal liability, as much as possible.
First, let’s go over the benefits of starting an LLC for your business.
Number one is personal asset protection. As its name states, an LLC provides you and/or your business owners with limited liability. That means that you, the LLC owner, are generally not personally liable for any debts incurred by your LLC business or most business-related lawsuits. Because you're not personally liable, creditors or people who file lawsuits against your LLCs can't collect against your personal assets, like your personal bank accounts, personal car loans. They're limited to collecting your LLC's assets, like the LLC's bank account.
The second benefit of an LLC is pass-through taxation. The profits or losses that the business incurs pass through the business to the owner's personal tax return, such profits are taxed under the owner's personal tax return. Single-member LLCs are usually taxed the same as sole proprietors. The owner reports the LLC's profits, losses, deductions, or schedule Cs and files it with his or her personal tax return. An LLC with two or more members is usually treated as a partnership for tax purposes. The profits or losses are reported on the owner's personal tax returns and taxed at their personal rates. Because LLCs are usually pass-through entities, their owners can qualify for special pass-through tax deductions. This deduction took effect in 2018 and is scheduled to continue through 2025. Again, consult your tax professional for specifics, anything to do with tax laws.
One note about taxes: LLCs can also choose how they want to be taxed. They are usually taxed as sole proprietorships or partnerships, but multi-member LLCs or sole proprietor LLCs have the option of choosing to be taxed like a corporation. This is easily accomplished by filing a document called an election with the IRS. With corporate taxation, the corporation pays taxes on the business profits at the corporate tax rate. With S-corporation treatment, the LLC remains a pass-through entity with profits passed through the business to the owners to be taxed at their individual tax rates. But such distributions are not subject to social security and Medicare taxes.
Number three, simplicity. An LLC is the simplest business entity to form and operate. Unlike with a corporation, it's not necessary to have officers, directors, a board or shareholder meetings or other administrative burdens that sometimes come with having a corporation.
Fourth is flexibility. LLCs provide enormous flexibility when it comes to ownership, management, and taxation, there's no minimum or maximum limits on the number of owners, also called members. Many LLCs only have one member, like me, but an LLC can have five, 10 or hundreds of members. LLCs can be managed by their members, that is, all the owners share responsibility for the day-to-day running of businesses. They also have the option of designating one or more managers to run the business. Managers can be designated members, non-members, or a combination of anything in between.
Forming an LLC to own and run your business helps give you credibility, it reassures customers that yours is a real business. You'll also have an official name to use!
Now, let’s talk about some possible downsides to an LLC.
Number one: cost. It generally costs more to form and operate an LLC than to just be a sole proprietor or a partnership. Filing fees must be paid to legally establish the LLC. Although not legally required, it is highly desirable for LLCs to adopt a written LLC operating agreement, laying out how the LLC will be governed. Once the LLC is formed annual fees and taxes will be paid to the state. This can vary from state to state, so again, check with your expert team and your state laws.
Number two is investment disadvantages. LLCs are not ideal for business owners who seek outside investors. This is particularly true if you're looking for funding from venture capitalists who ordinarily will only fund corporations. Corporations work best for outside investments because stock can be issued in exchange for investor’s money. Outside investors can invest in LLCs and receive LLC ownership interests, but this can be more complicated than with a corporation.
Key Takeaways
Pros of LLCs:
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Personal Asset protection. As its name states, an LLC provides you and/or your business owners with limited liability. That means that you, the LLC owner, are generally not personally liable for any debts incurred by your LLC business or most business-related lawsuits.
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Pass-through Taxation. The second benefit of an LLC is pass-through taxation. The profits or losses that the business incurs pass through the business to the owner's personal tax return, such profits are taxed under the owner's personal tax return.
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Simplicity. An LLC is the simplest business entity to form and operate. Unlike with a corporation, it's not necessary to have officers, directors, a board or shareholder meetings, or other administrative burdens that sometimes come with having a corporation.
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Flexibility. LLCs provide enormous flexibility when it comes to ownership, management, and taxation, there's no minimum or maximum limits on the number of owners, also called members.
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Credibility. It reassures customers that yours is a real business. You'll also have an official name to use!
Cons of LLCs
- Cost. It generally costs more to form and operate an LLC than to just be a sole proprietor or a partnership. Filing fees must be paid to legally establish the LLC.
Investment disadvantages. LLCs are not ideal for business owners who seek outside investors. This is particularly true if you're looking for funding from venture capitalists who ordinarily will only fund corporations.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we’re diving into the namesake of the show--scaling your business. There are a number of steps you can take to effectively grow a healthy business, but first, you need to lay the foundation. Today, we’re talking about a few actionable steps you can take to see an immediate impact.
On a weekly basis, log on to your bank accounts. Not only to check your balances, to ensure things were paid on time, and clear any outstanding transactions, but also to solidify that no unnecessary, or even non-authorized money is moving out of your accounts.
Scan and file all your paperwork from the previous week. During this weekly review, look at your previous calendar data, making sure that if anybody you need to follow up with this week from the previous week are added to your schedule. You’re reviewing my upcoming appointments to make sure you have adequate time to plan, prepare, get water between meetings, and anything else you need time for. Once it’s on paper, you don’t need to stress so hard about it. Then, look at your ‘next actions’ list to mentally prepare what’s coming up and what’s on your plate.
Keep track of when you’re spending money. On every 10th and 25th of the month, pay those bills. Add up all the new deposits in your receivable accounts for each separate business you have. Then, multiply them by whatever percentage you’ve chosen. Make sure you start small--don't start with 15%. Finally, make your transfers. From your receivable account to your profit account, then again from receivable to your tax account, then from receivable to payable. And any other money that's leftover gets transferred from receivable to your vault account. Check out previous podcasts to hear how Jillian breaks down her accounts!
Every quarter, check your credit score. Just like checking your bank account balances every day, it's something that you can catch ahead of time. Fraud can lock up your credit score and hurt in the long run, so stay vigilant and get on top of problems early.
File your annual report for the business. This is something you may want to defer to your accountant to make sure that you may be paying quarterly versus annually. Make sure that you check with your team and your experts on that before making those payments.
Key Takeaways
- Weekly: Log on to your bank accounts. Not only to check your balances, to ensure things were paid on time, and clear any outstanding transactions, but also to solidify that no unnecessary, or even non-authorized money is moving out of your accounts.
- Weekly: Scan and file all your paperwork from the previous week. Double-check that meetings from the previous week are added to your schedule. Make sure you have adequate time to plan, prepare, get water between meetings, and anything else you need time for. Then, look at your ‘next actions’ list to mentally prepare what’s coming up and what’s on your plate.
- Monthly: Keep track of when you’re spending money. On every 10th and 25th of the month, pay those bills. Add up all the new deposits in your receivable accounts for each separate business you have. Then, multiply them by whatever percentage you’ve chosen. Move your transfers appropriately!
- Quarterly: Check your credit score. Just like checking your bank account balances every day, it's something that you can catch ahead of time. Fraud can lock up your credit score and hurt in the long run, so stay vigilant and get on top of problems early.
Yearly: File your annual report for the business. This is something you may want to defer to your accountant to make sure that you may be paying quarterly versus annually. Make sure that you check with your team and your experts on that before making those payments.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! This week, we’re talking about choosing a life insurance policy. This is an incredibly impactful and important choice that can often leave your head spinning. But, if we take it slow, break it down, and walk through the process, you’ll come out informed and confident in choosing a plan that works for your and your loved ones.
As you get started selecting a life insurance policy, consider where you are in the walk of life, what your needs are, and what your goals and desired outcomes are from making this choice. Get clear on your situation and allow it to guide your selection.
Understand that there are different types of plans and policies, the most common types of life insurance policies are term versus permanent. Term policies are like renting a house--you're also renting the insurance. So, just like when you're renting a house, when the term has expired, the policy's over with. Just like when you rent a home, when you move out of the home, you take your stuff, but you don't get any of the equity. Flip-flop that and you have permanent policies--ones that come with you regardless of term. It has cash value, the same way purchasing a home would when you go to sell it.
Consider how much coverage you really need. You don't want to ever be over-insured. Ask yourself, “If something were to have happened last night, what would I need? This will put the policy you need into perspective. You want to make sure that you have enough money to make any payments that you want to make, pay anything off you need to, but also give yourself adequate time to grieve that person's loss and to ensure that your lifestyle doesn't have to change because that person is no longer there.
Get familiar with the application process. It’s fairly easy--you fill out an application and have a medical exam performed. That information is sent to the agent and reviewed in the form of a medical credit report. From there, adjustments can be made. Don’t worry though, not all adjustments are bad! You may be in better health than you expected.
Finally, it’s up to you to choose where you purchase your policy. Your choices are a smaller local agent or a large national agency. Larger agencies have the benefit of being around for a long time and offer decent ratings on a large scale. Local agents are able to communicate and build a relationship with you throughout the process and tackle any challenges that come up in-stride and alongside you.
Key Takeaways:
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Get clear on your situation and allow it to guide your selection. Know where you are in the walk of life, what your needs are, and what your goals and desired outcomes are from making this choice.
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Consider how much coverage you really need. You don't want to ever be over-insured. Ask yourself, “If something were to have happened last night, what would I need? This will put the policy you need into perspective.
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Get familiar with the application process. It’s fairly easy--you fill out an application and have a medical exam performed. That information is sent to the agent and reviewed in the form of a medical credit report. From there, adjustments can be made.
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Choose where you purchase your policy. Your choices are a smaller local agent or a large national agency. Larger agencies have the benefit of being around for a long time and offer decent ratings on a large scale. Local agents are able to communicate and build a relationship with you throughout the process and tackle any challenges that come up in-stride and alongside you.
LINKS
hijillian.com
This week’s topic on the Scale Your Small Business Podcast is a hot one. Every successful business utilizes technology, but how can you ensure your company is making the most of the software you have? This week, we’re breaking down what programs you should have to streamline, organize, and scale your small business.
First things first: if you’re going to look into purchasing or implementing new software or technology, make sure you check with your team--especially your back-end team and accountants--to ensure that they can coordinate with it. It’s not worth investing time, money, and energy if your team can’t actually use the software you’re looking into.
QuickBooks is an extraordinary online tool that can help you keep your bank statements, accounts, purchase orders, and more organized. This program can identify frequent areas of purchase, allows you to quickly swipe through purchases, placing them in the correct folders, and manage transactions.
While software is an additional initial expense for your business, when combined with a skilled bookkeeper, it becomes a worthwhile investment that will save you stress, money, and time.
No matter what software you choose to go with, set a deadline and sit down with your accountant to make a choice. Start getting into a habit of downloading bank statements early and often, and give your business the headstart it deserves.
Key Takeaways:
- Make sure you check with your team--especially your back-end team and accountants--to ensure that they can coordinate with it. It’s not worth investing time, money, and energy if your team can’t actually use the software you’re looking into.
- QuickBooks is an extraordinary online tool that can help you keep your bank statements, accounts, purchase orders, and more organized. This program can identify frequent areas of purchase, allows you to quickly swipe through purchases, placing them in the correct folders, and manage transactions.
- While software is an additional initial expense for your business, when combined with a skilled bookkeeper, it becomes a worthwhile investment that will save you stress, money, and time.
- No matter what software you choose to go with, set a deadline and sit down with your accountant to make a choice. Start getting into a habit of downloading bank statements early and often, and give your business the headstart it deserves.
Today’s topic is an important one and one that you simply can’t ignore as a small business owner. Separating your business and personal expenses is a crucial aspect of running a successful business and plays a huge role in the health of you, your employees, and your company. The longer you commingle things, the harder it's going to be to separate them. Let’s talk about it.
Before you get started, make sure you’re surrounded by professionals who can help you transition to a business tax ID, or if you’re using a personal social security number, your growth, how much your making, and other important aspects. The point is, you don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t want to make an expensive mistake.
The first step you can take to separating your business and personal expenses is to have separate bank accounts and credit cards. This is super easy if you have a business that you have already established, that has a separate tax ID number that you can apply for credit cards and bank accounts separately Not only are you building up credit for your business, but it also makes it much easier for your bookkeeper or tax preparer as your business grows.
You also want to make sure that you have a separate budget for your business. You can just write it down in your notebook, keep a spreadsheet, whatever works for you. The point is, it’s easy to get sucked into purchasing all the bells and whistles for something for your company, and pretty soon you've created a pile of expenses and may not even realize it because it's all been coming out of your personal account.
Ensure that you keep a separate receipt collection organized. Either manually in a folder or digitally with something like QuickBooks, where you scan your receipts, keep them in order because it can get out of hand really quickly. Filing taxes has become so much easier that way.
When talking with your accountant, you might also want to mention when's a good time for me to start taking a salary. What type of salary? Should I be giving myself W2 income? Should I be giving myself 1099? What does this all look like? They're the best persons to give you those recommendations.
Finally, set a date that you’re going to do all of this. You’re going to have to, so rip that band-aid off and get it done.
Key Takeaways
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Make sure you’re surrounded by professionals who can help you transition to a business tax ID, or if you’re using a personal social security number, your growth, how much your making, and other important aspects. You don’t know what you don’t know, and you don’t want to make an expensive mistake.
-
Have separate bank accounts and credit cards. This is super easy if you have a business that you have already established, that has a separate tax ID number that you can apply for credit cards and bank accounts separately Not only are you building up credit for your business, but it also makes it much easier for your bookkeeper or tax preparer as your business grows.
-
Have a separate budget for your business. You can just write it down in your notebook, keep a spreadsheet, whatever works for you. The point is, it’s easy to get sucked into purchasing all the bells and whistles for something for your company, and pretty soon you've created a pile of expenses and may not even realize it because it's all been coming out of your personal account.
-
Ensure that you keep a separate receipt collection organized. Either manually in a folder or digitally with something like QuickBooks, where you scan your receipts, keep them in order because it can get out of hand really quickly. Filing taxes has become so much easier that way.
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Set a date that you’re going to do all of this. You’re going to have to, so rip that band-aid off and get it done.
This week’s topic is a tough one, and it’s something that many business owners have done and every business owner hates to do. Firing an employee is a difficult, albeit necessary measure that can often leave your work better than it was. However, there is a right way to do it--with empathy and compassion. Today, we’re talking about some tactics you can use to make sure you’re equipped.
The most important thing that you have to remember is that this is not only a difficult conversation for you, but it's also a difficult conversation for them. When they wake up tomorrow, they don't have a job to go to. And that can be terrifying. This is a hard decision for you, but it's also going to be even more difficult for them. So be compassionate. One thing that you can do too when you are letting someone go that is physically with you, is you can wait till the end of the day and walk out with them.
Make sure you’re ready to have the conversation. If you need someone present (like HR), make sure they’re aware. Know when and where you’ll have the conversation. Have a list of things you need back from them, accounts that need to have rights revoked, keys, and badges. Having to make a call afterward is awkward and can be viewed as disrespectful.
This is not a begathon. The decision has been made. They no longer work here, which means you have to have this conversation in the past tense. There should be no inclination that they may be able to come back, negotiate with you, any of those sorts of things. This is a cut-and-dry situation. Most importantly, you don't want to drag your feet. You want to get it done. Don't talk about a whole bunch of stuff. Come to them and say, "Listen, I have some bad news for you today. Today's your last day." Be transparent about your reasoning and communicate, but be short and sweet.
Remember to speak with your team as well. Losing someone who you spend every day around can be traumatic, to some degree. You don't need to tell them exactly what happened, but do tell them how roles will be divvied up and the direction you’re going forward. Make sure they’re aware that it’s a one-off event to avoid any worry of more firings. You can reassure them that their jobs are not in danger.
While firing can be difficult, more often than not you will feel better and your business will be better for it.
Key Takeaways
- This is not only a difficult conversation for you, but it's also a difficult conversation for them. When they wake up tomorrow, they don't have a job to go to. And that can be terrifying. This is a hard decision for you, but it's also going to be even more difficult for them. So be compassionate.
- Make sure you’re ready to have the conversation. If you need someone present (like HR), make sure they’re aware. Know when and where you’ll have the conversation. Have a list of things you need back from them, accounts that need to have rights revoked, keys, and badges. Having to make a call afterward is awkward and can be viewed as disrespectful.
- The decision has been made. They no longer work here, which means you have to have this conversation in the past tense. This is a cut-and-dry situation. Most importantly, you don't want to drag your feet. You want to get it done. Be transparent about your reasoning and communicate, but be short and sweet.
- Remember to speak with your team as well. Losing someone who you spend every day around can be traumatic, to some degree. You don't need to tell them exactly what happened, but do tell them how roles will be divvied up and the direction you’re going forward. Make sure they’re aware that it’s a one-off event to avoid any worry of more firings. You can reassure them that their jobs are not in danger.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom.This week, we’re going to talk about quarterly distributions. Everyone’s favorite question for their accountant is “how much money do I get to spend?” When the answer isn’t what you want to hear, it can be frustrating. But, there is a way to see the money you earned and spend it how you want. Let’s talk about it.
In Mike Michalowicz’s book Profit First, he talks about moving your money into different accounts every month to budget and keep track of your money, but he also talks about celebrating successfully managing and saving money, paid for with money they’ve been able to save by using this process. So, how do we get there?
The account we’re talking about today is the profits account. This is where you’re going to be looking every month. First, you’re going to pay off any debt or any outstanding balances you need to pay. Additionally, you’re going to pull from this account to save for a purchase for yourself, your business, pleasure, whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this technique.
As this distribution to your accounts is quarterly, you’re going to be moving this money four times a year. You do have to be, of course, disciplined in transferring the money over every paycheck. Start small, but make sure that you are upping those percentages as much as possible--monthly, quarterly, yearly, up to you!
The point is that your motivation for saving, budgeting, and managing your money is that you can spend YOUR profit how YOU want. By taking that money out of the profit account, you get to spend it wherever you want, whether that is a really expensive handbag or a fancy car, or just something small. It really could be anything that you want. It's your money to spend throughout the year.
Key Takeaways
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Pull from your profits account. You’re going to be moving money from your paychecks to your Profit Account. From there, pay off any debt or any outstanding balances. Additionally, you’re going to pull from this account to save for a purchase for yourself, your business, pleasure, whatever you want. That’s the beauty of this technique.
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Be disciplined. Start small, but make sure that you are upping those percentages as much as possible--monthly, quarterly, yearly, up to you!
Spend YOUR profit how YOU want. By taking that money out of the profit account, you get to spend it on whenever you want, whether that is a really expensive handbag or a fancy car, or just something small. It really could be anything that you want. It's your money to spend throughout the year.
Welcome back to this week’s episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Many small business owners are looking to uplevel their practices as they expand by joining Mastermind groups. While these communities are incredibly powerful tools to help you take the next step, it’s important to be intentional about where you spend your money, what groups you join, what they offer, and how you can maximize your experience. Let’s take a look at those questions!
To preface this episode, Jillian is involved with three different mastermind groups that all meet at different intervals, offer different things, and provide different perspectives, all valuable to the growth of business mindsets. Two of her groups meet monthly and one is a weekly group. All of these groups have different sizes, different compositions, and different focuses! While most have shifted to Zoom during COVID, but the value remains. In fact, in some ways, the groups have improved as the groups have been concentrated into those who are hyper-committed to the benefits a mastermind can provide, and it allows for the participants to engage on an even deeper level.
While it can seem intimidating at first, paying for access to a mastermind class is a worthwhile investment. You then have skin in the game--a reason to grow and make the most of your time in the group. In addition, there may be periods where you can join a meeting or two to see if it is a good fit for you and that you’ll get the value that you need. Consider who is in the group, what the topics of the group are, the size, meeting time, and overall vibe.
Mastermind groups are also an incredible opportunity to network and reference (and be referenced).
A major benefit of a mastermind group is the perspectives that are brought to the table. They can offer thoughts, give honest feedback, and spark new ideas. Sometimes, you can be too close to your business to see some crucial changes that you could be making. Bringing in an outside view can give you a holistic approach to growth. The feedback you get from people who may be your friend, but not someone you’ve known forever is incredibly valuable. They can tell you when something is great, but they won’t hold back if something stinks. Getting constant “positive” feedback isn’t always helpful. You can get that on social media. They’ll offer solutions and pathways that can break down hurdles you may be facing.
Being in a mastermind group opens you up to accountability. Setting goals is a massive part of owning, building, and scaling a business of any size. But what happens once you set that goal? Having a group of like-minded individuals meeting with you weekly to check in on your progress is an effective way of staying on top of your checkpoints.
Key Takeaways
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While it can seem intimidating at first, paying for access to a mastermind class is a worthwhile investment. You then have skin in the game--a reason to grow and make the most of your time in the group. In addition, there may be periods where you can join a meeting or two to see if it is a good fit for you and that you’ll get the value that you need.
-
Consider who is in the group, what the topics of the group are, the size, meeting time, and overall vibe. The feedback you get from people who may be your friend, but not someone you’ve known forever is incredibly valuable. They can tell you when something is great, but they won’t hold back if something stinks. Getting constant “positive” feedback isn’t always helpful.
- A major benefit of a mastermind group is the perspectives that are brought to the table. They can offer thoughts, give honest feedback, and spark new ideas. Sometimes, you can be too close to your business to see some crucial changes that you could be making. Bringing in an outside view can give you a holistic approach to growth.
- Being in a mastermind group opens you up to accountability. Setting goals is a massive part of owning, building, and scaling a business of any size. But what happens once you set that goal? Having a group of like-minded individuals meeting with you weekly to check in on your progress is an effective way of staying on top of your checkpoints.
Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. If you’ve been a solo entrepreneur for any amount of time, you probably know that you need help. Everybody tells you that you need help, but you have no idea who this first person that you should hire, what they should do, who they should be, maybe even what to look for. Today, we’re answering the question: who should be my first hire?
Hiring can be emotionally draining. It can also be expensive. You want to make sure that you find the right person upfront, that way you don't have to worry about any potential problems down the road. You have to ensure that your first hire is especially good so you can build confidence in hiring and allow yourself to go with your gut.
When you’re looking to hire or bring someone onto your team, it’s important to first get clear on what this person can help you with. Is there a task that you consistently procrastinate doing? Is there an aspect of your business that is outside of your zone of genius? These are all great qualifiers that can help you make the right choice. For Jill, this meant finding a top-notch video editor that can bring her personality through in her videos. This also meant finding someone to help manage, organize, and label the seemingly endless stream of emails.
You want to get as granular as possible when you’re making that first hire. Be very aware of what this job looks like now and what it’ll look like in the future. That way, you build a position with longevity and efficacy, and you’ll be able to write a proper job description should you need to rehire.
Hire people who really want it. Consider offering your candidates a project to complete with a deadline to make sure their skills, whatever they may be, are up to your standard. Sometimes people can be great interviewers, but not great workers. Give them a chance to prove themselves early so they can keep that energy as they join your team.
Your new hire doesn’t necessarily need to be in your timezone. Don’t hesitate to go outside of your area to find an assistant. There is a pool of incredible candidates that are ready to work for you virtually, and who have something to prove. You won’t regret it.
Key Takeaways
- Hiring can be emotionally draining. It can also be expensive. You want to make sure that you find the right person upfront because when your first hire is especially good, you can build confidence in hiring and allow yourself to go with your gut.
- Get clear on what this person can help you with. Is there a task that you consistently procrastinate doing? Is there an aspect of your business that is outside of your zone of genius? These are all great qualifiers that can help you make the right choice.
- Be very aware of what this job looks like now and what it’ll look like in the future. That way, you build a position with longevity and efficacy, and you’ll be able to write a proper job description should you need to rehire.
- Hire people who really want it. Consider offering your candidates a project to complete with a deadline to make sure their skills, whatever they may be, are up to your standard. Sometimes people can be great interviewers, but not great workers. Give them a chance to prove themselves early so they can keep that energy as they join your team.
- Your new hire doesn’t necessarily need to be in your timezone. Don’t hesitate to go outside of your area to find an assistant. There is a pool of incredible candidates that are ready to work for you virtually, and who have something to prove. You won’t regret it.
Title: Empowering Your Evening Routine
Quotes from this episode
“The entire day can go by, you fall into bed exhausted and you're like, "What did I get done? What happened today?"
“I'm a growly bear if I don't get enough sleep.”
“Sometimes my brain is going a million miles an hour, so I always have a journal by my bed too so if there's something that I think of in the middle of the night, I will write that down.”
“Getting sleep is super important.”
Shownotes
Just as important as gearing up for your day in the morning is the way you decompress and wind down at the end of it. By adding structure to the end of your workday, you allow your mind and body to process, reorganize, rest, and reset. Today, we’re breaking down Jill’s evening routine.
Just like many folks, Jill’s workday ends at 5:00. After work, doing a short 30-minute yoga practice can help decompress the stress built up in your body, allowing you to wind down for the day. From there, having dinner, reading, watching TV, and being with family releases the built-up pressures of the workday.
Another useful thing you can do in your evening routine is organizing past, current, and future projects around the house. This is a great time to purge unwanted junk, itemize what you have around the house, and file what needs to be filed. That way, if you ever need to move, downsize, or locate an important item, you did that after work one day!
Now that you’ve successfully wrapped up your evening, prep for the morning. That means taking care of yourself overnight: brush your teeth, have water handy, lay out clothes if you need to, have your morning self-care ready to go. That way, when you wake up, you don’t have any extra work you need to do that could put you off track.
In bed, Jill recommends reading from a real book--avoiding blue light. While it can be nice to watch a YouTube video or read on your phone, the light can wake you up instantly and prevent you from falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting the rest you need and deserve. If your mind goes a million miles an hour, instead of going on your phone, keep a journal next to your bed where you can jot down ideas and thoughts and dreams.
It’s important to remember that there is a natural ebb and flow to life--you’re not going to be doing yoga at the same time every day, you may have to adjust, and that’s okay! The goal is to set yourself up for success by allowing your body to rest. A routine is the fastest way there!
Key Takeaways
- After work, doing a short 30-minute yoga practice can help decompress the stress built up in your body, allowing you to wind down for the day. From there, having dinner, reading, watching TV, and being with family releases the built-up pressures of the workday.
- After work, organize past, current, and future projects around the house. This is a great time to purge unwanted junk, itemize what you have around the house, and file what needs to be filed. That way, if you ever need to move, downsize, or locate an important item, you did that after work one day!
- Consider reading from a real book--avoiding blue light. While it can be nice to watch a YouTube video or read on your phone, the light can wake you up instantly and prevent you from falling asleep, staying asleep, and getting the rest you need and deserve. If your mind goes a million miles an hour, instead of going on your phone, keep a journal next to your bed where you can jot down ideas and thoughts and dreams.
- It’s important to remember that there is a natural ebb and flow to life--you’re not going to be doing yoga at the same time every day, you may have to adjust, and that’s okay! The goal is to set yourself up for success by allowing your body to rest. A routine is the fastest way there!
On this week’s episode, we’re going to talk about morning routines. We’ll take a step by step walkthrough of Jillian’s process in the morning and how each aspect brings something new, productive, and effective to the table. With the right tools and the right mentality, you can set yourself up for a good day, every day.
Start your day early--Jill wakes up at 5:45 to get her routine started. If you’re not used to waking up that early, or you find yourself clinging to your bedspread in the cold morning, check out a Sunrise Alarm Clock from Amazon. It’ll get you up in a much more gentle, natural way.
Structure is key when it comes to setting up or revamping a morning routine. Having dedicated periods or blocks of time for certain preemptive preparation for your day will make sure you cover your bases and give yourself the best shot you can at an outstanding day.
5:45 - 6:00 is a great time to get the essentials out of the way. This time is for using the bathroom, brushing your teeth, get dressed, and situate yourself for the day.
At 6:00, it’s time to get breakfast, take your vitamins, and start your Miracle Morning. If you aren’t familiar, Miracle Morning is a series of 5-minute meditations, 5 minutes of visualizations and affirmations, 15 minutes of reading a self-improvement book, and a 10-minute journaling session. During this time, it’s also important to remember to drink as much water as possible!
6:45 - 8:15 is dedicated to getting a workout in, stretching, drinking more water, as well as replying to comments, checking YouTube videos, and checking social DMs. It’s good to bake in professional activities into your morning as you’re taking care of things to give yourself a head-start.
8:15 to 9:00 is a learning and implementation block. This time is for any courses you’re taking to improve your business, fleshing out any ideas you’ve had, and in general learning and educating yourself. Spend this time looking through coaching materials and getting your brain going before your start your workday.
There are things you can put in place at the end of your workday to keep your momentum into the next morning. Creating a routine in the evenings, after your work, will clear the space in your head to start again the next day.
Start by writing down your next day’s to-do list and review your affirmations. Use this time to solidify your goals and put your mindset where you want it to be before you step out the door. Plugin your devices and set up your workspace for success. Consider laying out vitamins, piling papers on your desk, and filling a Yeti cup with ice so when you sit down in the morning it’s ready for you!
If you are interested in finding more about Jill’s morning routine, let her know!
Key Takeaways
- Structure is key when it comes to setting up or revamping a morning routine. Having dedicated periods or blocks of time for certain preemptive preparation for your day will make sure you cover your bases and give yourself the best shot you can at an outstanding day.
- 5:45 - 6:00: Get the essentials out of the way. This time is for using the bathroom, brushing your teeth, get dressed, and situate yourself for the day.
- 6:00: Get breakfast, take your vitamins, and start your Miracle Morning, a series of 5-minute meditations, 5 minutes of visualizations and affirmations, 15 minutes of reading a self-improvement book, and a 10-minute journaling session.
- 6:45 - 8:15 Get a workout in, stretch, drink more water, and take a moment replying to comments, checking YouTube videos, and checking social DMs. It’s good to bake in professional activities into your morning as you’re taking care of things to give yourself a head-start.
- 8:15 to 9:00: Learning and implementation block. This time is for any courses you’re taking to improve your business, fleshing out any ideas you’ve had, and in general learning and educating yourself. Spend this time looking through coaching materials and getting your brain going before your start your workday.
Today, we’re taking a look at a super useful tool that helps you visualize your work, limit your work in progress, and maximize your efficiency. The Kanban Board is an organizational poster-style home for your tasks, projects, and important reminders. A simple, three-sectioned board divided into quarterly goals. If you’re looking for a way to keep your eyes on the prize, this is the way to go.
The Kanban Board’s three columns use Post-it notes--to-do, doing, and done. On each post-it note, you’re going to put whatever it is that you think you need to focus on. It can be as large or as small as you need it to be, the task can take two-minutes or it could take 2 years. The point is that you have a visual place to keep track of everything that’s on your plate. No matter how much comes at you, a Kanban board is there to make sure nothing takes more time than it needs, and nothing slips through the cracks.
In the to-do section, it’s helpful to break down what it is you need to get done by the day of the week. So, within your to-do column, you’re looking at what your priorities are for the day without getting bogged down by other tasks. Instead of saying “Okay, I have this to do” you can say “I’m doing this on this day of the week.” It holds you accountable and ensures you stay on top of things, especially the small ones.
The ‘doing’ section is where your to-do tasks go as you start the project. Any type of task you have to do can be moved from the day it’s supposed to happen to the day it’s happening. This way you can glance at your board and remind yourself of what you may still need to get done or notice that you can move it back to the to-do or forward it into the ‘done’ section.
The third section is the ‘done’ column, where you move everything you’ve accomplished throughout the day. Sometimes it can feel like we have wasted our day away doing nothing or spending too much time on menial tasks. This section is great for giving you concrete evidence that you have been productive. It’s super gratifying.
Another cool aspect of a Kanban board is how it offers a physical representation of taking on too much. You can break this down into 90 days to see what is manageable for you.
Jill’s technique of breaking down tasks that take minutes or less works well with a Kanban Board. When you write down your tasks on sticky notes, you realize just how much you can get done in a focused, intentional period of time. Plus, it feels really good to move a lot of stuff to the “done” section! With larger goals, it can be equally gratifying to finally move that sticky note to the other side of the board. And from there, you can keep a collection of them and go over your accomplishments at the end of the year!
Game Changer: you can have an online Kanban Board through platforms like Asana and Trello. These project-management sites work the same way your personal board does, but here you can share it with your team members who are tasked with certain aspects of a project.
Other quick tips:
-Only use 3M sticky notes. You want to make sure these last and can handle being moved!
-Consider color-coding types and varieties of tasks. There are tons of colors out there!
-Use an apothecary jar to collect your biggest accomplishments.
Check out Jill’s Instagram to learn more about Kanban Boards!
Key Takeaways
- A Kanban Board is an organizational poster-style home for your tasks, projects, and important reminders. A simple, three-sectioned board divided into to-do, doing, and done. It uses Post-it notes to keep track of what you need to get done, what you’re doing, and what you’ve accomplished.
- Break your sections down to a weekly schedule to keep on top of what needs to be done at what time.
- Kanban Boards can live online in the form of Asana or Trello. These platforms allow you to have a shareable, team-based project and task manager that works the same way as your personal board.
LINKS
Hijillian.com
@jillianflodstrom
The question we’re answering today is this: how often should you meet with your team? It can be difficult to balance over and undermanaging, and thinking about team-meetings can be overwhelming. How much is too much? What is too little? What other forms of communication work? Let’s dive into today’s episode and find out.
Jill’s team meets once a week. She feels like this is a good balance of checking on what happened last week and also getting ready for the week coming up. But that doesn’t mean they don’t use other tools constantly. Slack is a good platform to keep in communication throughout the day if there is a quick question that needs answering right away. Email is too slow, clunky, and unnecessarily busy. By using a chat, you increase effectiveness and efficiency. Additionally, Asana is a project-managing platform that Jill’s team uses to house all project-based conversations or questions.
Jill suggests meeting on Monday afternoon. Yes, you read that right, Monday afternoon. This is because if your team is international or live in multiple different time zones, you can accommodate each member of your team.
Using Google Calendars to schedule meetings keeps everyone informed and puts the meeting at the forefront of their mind and top of their priority list without forcing them to search for a Zoom link in their email, resulting in them forgetting about the meeting or coming late.
Jill also recommends an accountability system that ensures members of your team are in meetings on time. While holding employees accountable for meetings, it’s important to remember to ask “how are you?” and “how are things going?” These are essential questions to ask, as we all know that things can be thrown up in the air in our personal lives all the time. Also, be respectful of your employees’ time and hold yourself to the same standard!
Key Takeaways
- Meetings once a week is a good balance of checking on what happened last week and also getting ready for the week coming up, but keeping in constant communication through a platform like Slack and/or Asana is key. Email is too slow, clunky, and unnecessarily busy. By using a chat, you increase effectiveness and efficiency.
- Use Google Calendars to schedule meetings to keep everyone informed and put the meeting at the forefront of their mind and top of their priority list without forcing them to search for a Zoom link in their email, resulting in them forgetting about the meeting or coming late.
- Hold your team members accountable, but hold yourself to the same standard. Be cognizant of time zones, unexpected hurdles, and anything else that could come up. It’s important to remember to ask “how are you?” and “how are things going?”
We’re all about saving time, being efficient, and being productive. When you’re in the business of producing content, there’s a practice many utilize to get material ready ahead of time: batch filming. You’d be surprised at how much content you can pump out in a short period of time when you allow yourself to sit down and get to work.
Certain periods of the year are going to be busier than others for your business, that’s just how it works. And in times where there is a holiday or another engagement, you want to be prepared for that break where you won’t be able to produce content every single day. You need something in the hopper!
Consistency is key when it comes to content, so making sure you’re producing on a committed schedule.
When you’re sitting down to batch film your videos, the first step is to map out how much time you’ll need to get it done. Include any periods of time you’ll need to pause, take a break, download videos, upload videos, eat, do laundry, you name it. You’ll thank yourself later by setting expectations early on.
If you’re a beginner, don’t overwhelm yourself with a crazy amount of filming off the bat. But once you’re ready to film, there are a few things you can have ready to go:
First, have your outfits planned, ironed, and laid out for you to swap your look between videos. This way, as soon as you finish filming an episode, you can start your upload and change your shirt between filming sessions. When you change, don’t get lazy--hang up your outfits so when you’re done filming, you don’t have to worry about the aftermath.
Additionally, consider how much time it’ll take for you to do your hair, makeup, and anything else you need to do to get ready to get in front of the camera. Remember, the camera will make you appear more pale than usual, so consider darkening your normal makeup!
Make sure you stretch! Sitting in a chair for hours is no different than riding in a plane. It’s important that you reset, give your muscles a break, and come back fresh so you don’t appear tight or tired in your next video.
Key Takeaways
- Certain periods of the year are going to be busier than others for your business, that’s just how it works. And in times where there is a holiday or another engagement, you want to be prepared for that break where you won’t be able to produce content every single day. You need something in the hopper! Consistency is key when it comes to content, so making sure you’re producing on a committed schedule.
- Map out how much time you’ll need to get it done. Include any periods of time you’ll need to pause, take a break, download videos, upload videos, eat, do laundry, you name it. You’ll thank yourself later by setting expectations early on.
- Have your outfits planned, ironed, and laid out for you to swap your look between videos. This way, as soon as you finish filming an episode, you can start your upload and change your shirt between filming sessions. When you change, don’t get lazy--hang up your outfits so when you’re done filming, you don’t have to worry about the aftermath.
- Consider how much time it’ll take for you to do your hair, makeup, and anything else you need to do to get ready to get in front of the camera. Remember, the camera will make you appear more pale than usual, so consider darkening your normal makeup!
- Make sure you stretch! Sitting in a chair for hours is no different than riding in a plane. It’s important that you reset, give your muscles a break, and come back fresh so you don’t appear tight or tired in your next video.
Sometimes, when a person leaves your company things can, unfortunately, go south. Perhaps this person managed content, finances, or even crucial data. Today’s question is a big one: how do I protect my business information from someone who has access to everything? There are steps you can take before you even hire a person to make sure your business is secure.
You want to set up your business to be able to shut off access easily, and there are ways to do that in just a few clicks. If you’ve made the decision to move ahead, you don’t want to give a person a chance to delete, steal, or otherwise manipulate your business in a way that could be detrimental to your work. To prevent this, you need to make sure you have an “off” switch that you can flip to restrict access to your accounts.
When you’re hiring, consider using a program called 1Password. This tool allows you to set up your employee’s platforms and allow them access through their own password without ever seeing your personal information. The only usage they have is at your discretion, and those platforms appear as hidden passwords in their vault. The only information they get is an access key, which you control. With this program, you’re able to revoke or change access privileges with just one click. That way, not only are you protecting yourself against outside hackers, you’re adding a layer of safety by being the sole owner of your content and information.
Another layer of protection is part of the platform Dropbox. Dropbox is a content uploading and downloading service that allows you to give access to content, but the key here is that it cannot be deleted without your approval. If the content in your shared Dropbox folders is deleted, you have 30 days to recover it.
With all of your platforms that you’re sharing with employees, make sure that you are the only administrator to the accounts. Otherwise, you can be removed from your own platforms, including most social media accounts. Allowing editing access prevents this from happening and is an easy fix, but an important one in the long run.
If you’re in a situation where you need to pull the plug on something like a Google account, you are able to ‘log out of all devices.’ This way, you can restrict access to all of your accounts and reset your password without sharing that information.
Having a spreadsheet with all your accounts is not only insecure but a hassle if you’re in a situation where you’d like to change your passwords. If you’re using 1Password, you’re able to not only keep your passwords and access codes safe, but you’re able to easily change them as you see fit.
Key Takeaways:
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Set up your business to be able to shut off access easily, and there are ways to do that in just a few clicks. If you’ve made the decision to move ahead, you don’t want to give a person a chance to delete, steal, or otherwise manipulate your business in a way that could be detrimental to your work. To prevent this, you need to make sure you have an “off” switch that you can flip to restrict access to your accounts.
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When you’re hiring, consider using a program called 1Password. This tool allows you to set up your employee’s platforms and allow them access through their own password without ever seeing your personal information. Their ability to manipulate content and data is at your discretion and can be revoked at any time.
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Dropbox is a content uploading and downloading service that allows you to give access to content, but the key here is that it cannot be deleted without your approval. If the content in your shared Dropbox folders is deleted, you have 30 days to recover it.
-
With all of your platforms that you’re sharing with employees, make sure that you are the only administrator to the accounts. Otherwise, you can be removed from your own platforms, including most social media accounts. Allowing editing access prevents this from happening and is an easy fix, but an important one in the long run.
-
If you’re in a situation where you need to pull the plug on something like a Google account, you are able to ‘log out of all devices.’ This way, you can restrict access to all of your accounts and reset your password without sharing that information.
Today's question is this: when do I know the right time to invest in technology? There are certain things that can make my life easier, but those come with a pretty hefty cost. So if you’re evaluating if it's worth it to get that technology, tune in to hear Jill’s process on determining what to spend money on.
The first step is obvious: do your research. Consider what problems this piece of technology or program solves for you. Does it solve more than one problem? Is there a system that you’re currently using that this system could take over that system as well as solve the new problem? Could I absorb that cost that I'm already paying into this new cost to help offset it? Conversely, is this product a one-trick, expensive pony?
If you’ve decided you’d like to consider trying a system or product out, try setting the cost of the service aside for a few months in advance to feel out how the pricing fits into your budget. Then you can evaluate at the end of each month: am I missing money? Do I need to pull from other accounts? All while actually saving money if you decide to hold off.
Sometimes you can fall into a technology pit. There will be systems that require other systems, systems that improve existing systems, and systems that provide additional upkeep. Keep an eye out for programs and tech that offers a free trial of their product, or even a free version. That way, you can see how much you’ll actually use it, if it’s effective, and if it solves those problems you are looking to put an end to. Compare and contrast items in a spreadsheet with all of the services they offer and the pros and cons of each.
Make sure you go through these steps before locking yourself into a contract. Sometimes circumstances change, problems change, and budgets shift. Double-check that you’ll really make good use of what you’re spending money on and aren’t left with regret. Don’t fall victim to the bells and whistles!
Key Takeaways
Do your research. Consider what problems this piece of technology or program solves for you. Does it solve more than one problem? Is there a system that you’re currently using that this system could take over that system as well as solve the new problem? Could I absorb that cost that I'm already paying into this new cost to help offset it? Conversely, is this product a one-trick, expensive pony?
Try setting the cost of the service aside for a few months in advance to feel out how the pricing fits into your budget. Then you can evaluate at the end of each month: am I missing money? Do I need to pull from other accounts? All while actually saving money if you decide to hold off.
Compare and contrast items in a spreadsheet with all of the services they offer and the pros and cons of each. Keep an eye out for programs and tech that offers a free trial of their product, or even a free version. That way, you can see how much you’ll actually use it, if it’s effective, and if it solves those problems you are looking to put an end to.
Today, the question Jill’s answering on the podcast is “"How do I create a monthly budget?” This is an essential task that is going to benefit you in the long run. How do you prepare for slower months? How do you maximize a smaller budget? How can we make our money do push-ups? This week, we’re digging into everything budgets.
First things first: it’s time to print out the last three months (at least) of bank statements from all of your accounts. Get these organized by month so you can start to break them down. From there, you’re going to grab a few of your favorite highlights and dive in. Your first stop is to identify all of those things you’re spending money on that you just don’t use anymore, or whose cost outweighs the usefulness. When you’ve adequately gone through and eliminated the low-hanging fruit, you’re going to find out how you can cancel those subscriptions. Depending on how urgent it is, you can also close or cancel the card it’s attached to. If you have to, set notes and reminders to cancel those services or tools that just don’t make sense to keep paying for.
Next, you’re going to take a different colored highlighter and go through your statements again. This time, you’re taking a look at the harder to cut things. You’re identifying, evaluating, and deciding here. Consider these questions when you’re evaluating: How many times in the last week did you use it? How many times in the last couple of weeks? How many times in the last month? Will I use it in the future? If you’re not using it around 19 times a month or so, or if you feel like it is time to move away from it, make sure you aren’t under contract and make the cut.
You’ll have to make some difficult cuts, without doubt. But, when all is said and done, you’ll be saving yourself money that you can put wherever you need. Repeat this process as many times as you need to to make your budget work.
Once you’ve done all of this, it’s time to keep track of what you ARE paying for. Jill suggests a Google doc, where you can set the dates you’re taking money from accounts, manage how much is being spent, and where that money is going. This way, you can catch any changes that may occur and actively rebudget if you have to. Round numbers up to stay ahead and save even further. It’s important to include accounts that you aren’t looking at every day, as well, to make sure you don’t forget something you’ve put on a credit card.
Key Takeaways
Print out at least three month’s worth of bank statements and use a highlighter to identify things you’re paying for that you may have forgotten about, or services and tools that just don’t make sense to spend money on anymore. Cancel them!
Go back through your statements and identify, evaluate, and eliminate the harder to cut things. Consider these questions when you’re evaluating: How many times in the last week did you use it? How many times in the last couple of weeks? How many times in the last month? Will I use it in the future?
Keep track of what you’re paying for now. Use a spreadsheet, where you can set the dates you’re taking money from accounts, manage how much is being spent, and where that money is going. This way, you can catch any changes that may occur and actively rebudget if you have to. Round numbers up to stay ahead and save even further.
How do we keep track of our priorities? How do we know what we should be prioritizing in the first place? Are there places you can make those priorities more efficient? These are all questions Jill is tackling in today’s episode. Making your business run smoothly while maintaining your sanity is essential. Let’s break down how you can do just that.
First things first: organize your task list and identify things that will take you two minutes or less. This time is longer than it seems with it’s hyper-focused. You’d be surprised at how much you can get done in that much time or less. These tasks can quickly fall through the cracks if you don’t get them out of the way first.
Once you’ve done that, you can start looking at tasks that you just don’t have the skillset to complete efficiently. These are the things you need to delegate. You can consider looking at members of your existing team who fill the niche you need to be filled. There is a good chance someone who isn’t you is specialized in the work you need to be done. Successful teams have a diverse set of skills so things can get covered and can save you money. If you aren’t able to find someone on your team, try checking out sites like Fiverr or Upworks for a person who can support your business. From an efficiency standpoint, you’re winning here. From a money-saving standpoint, you’re winning. Plus, you’re supporting other small businesses at the same time.
Once you’ve narrowed it down to your remaining tasks, Jill suggests blocking out time to ensure you can work uninterrupted. By blocking out time for these things, you make sure you’re on top of what needs to get done. When you’re working on things sporadically it’s easy to lose your train of thought and will lead to tasks being left unfinished or taking more time than they need to. So, by blocking out this time, you’re saving even more money.
Keep an eye out for Jill’s downloadable PDF infographic of her Get Clear system!
Key Takeaways
Identify tasks that take two minutes or less. This time is longer than it seems with it’s hyper-focused. You’d be surprised at how much you can get done in that much time or less. These tasks can quickly fall through the cracks if you don’t get them out of the way first.
Identify tasks you can delegate. Consider looking at members of your existing team who fill the niche you need to be filled. There is a good chance someone who isn’t you is specialized in the work you need to be done. If you aren’t able to find someone on your team, try checking out sites like Fiverr or Upworks for a person who can support your business. From an efficiency standpoint, you’re winning here. From a money-saving standpoint, you’re winning. Plus, you’re supporting other small businesses at the same time.
Block out time to work uninterrupted. By blocking out time for these things, you make sure you’re on top of what needs to get done. When you’re working on things sporadically it’s easy to lose your train of thought and will lead to tasks being left unfinished or taking more time than they need to. So, by blocking out this time, you’re saving even more money.
This week, the question Jill is answering is an important one: how can we stay at the top of an ideal client’s mind? Sales are like dating. You wouldn't go on a first date with someone and say, "Hey, do you want to marry me?" The process is more similar than you think! Today, we’re breaking down what you can do to make a sale naturally.
Selling is a sensitive, relationship-driven process. Everyone has gotten those super aggressive LinkedIn messages that are just “Hey! Here’s what I’m selling!” without any context or conversation. When you’re trying to connect, avoid those automatic emails or messages that are overwhelming. It feels gross and is ineffective. You see it the most in MLM’s. Those messages telling you how much you need to lose weight and how they can do it for you. No one likes that! Instead, be consistent in your content and make sure you bring value every time.
The key is to lead with a conversation and connection, not a sale. Pushing your service or item down their throats means nothing if it doesn’t solve the problem they have. So, your job is to learn about that ideal client’s needs. Try following them on Instagram and take the time to learn what they are all about. That way, not only do you come off as a human and not a sale-bot, but you’ll identify what their pain points are and if you can help solve them. Once you’ve done that, you can start building your target market and look for trends and what kind of things they respond to. Again, it’s about being consistent. Put content out that your audience will find value in and will want to have a conversation about. You’ve already opened the door for them, so just be inviting! People need to be able to feel your passion, they need to feel your consistency.
It’s important to understand how you make your money and what channels are most effective for that. For example, if you sell things through a swipe-up link on Instagram, you’ll obviously want to bring or build your audience there. However, remember that you need to meet your ideal clients where they are first. If they are on Tik Tok, get on Tik Tok and show them the value of Instagram! When you’re consistent, they’ll see why it’s worth following you there. People go with the path of least resistance. So, make sure you have sections on your website specific to what you’re talking about on social, and be sure that your website is the first thing that comes up when they search you on Google.
Key Takeaways
- Be consistent with your content. Put content out that your audience will find value in and will want to have a conversation about. People need to be able to feel your passion, they need to feel your consistency. Getting in front of an ideal client multiple times will help ease into a sale.
- Lead with a conversation and connection, not a sale. Pushing your service or item down their throats means nothing if it doesn’t solve the problem they have. So, your job is to learn about that ideal client’s needs. That way, not only do you come off as a human and not a sale-bot, but you’ll identify what their pain points are and if you can help solve them. Once you’ve done that, you can start building your target market
- Meet your audience where they are! It’s important to understand how you make your money and what channels are most effective for that. For example, if you sell things through a swipe-up link on Instagram, you’ll obviously want to bring or build your audience there. However, remember that you need to meet your ideal clients where they are first. If they are on Tik Tok, get on Tik Tok and show them the value of Instagram!
- Make it easy for your clients! People go with the path of least resistance. Make sure you have sections on your website specific to what you’re talking about on social and be sure that your website is the first thing that comes up when they search you on Google.
LINKS
hijillian.com
On this week’s episode of the Scale Your Small Business podcast, Jill is breaking down how best to communicate with your team. In today’s working climate, there’s a good chance your team is spread across the globe. When you have so many moving parts in so many places, it’s absolutely essential that your communications are down-pat.
First thing’s first: the cleanest, fastest, most efficient way to fire off a quick message or question is a program called Slack. This is a free communication platform that, when things get nuts towards the end of a deadline, is a lifesaver. This program has a different notification message from email, so you’ll know someone is trying to get a hold of you in real-time. These questions and comments can be addressed first and faster than an email, which is all-important when in a crunch.
For questions and conversations related to a specific project, Jill recommends using a platform called Asana. This is a tool that allows you to create a “board” where you can set tasks, assign them, and everyone can keep track of what step each project is on as they are completed. With this way of organizing responsibilities, if there is a question regarding a part of a task, you can quickly see who is assigned to it and find any links, materials, or content you need. The only major challenge here is the initial set up. Remember, if there’s a useful tool that you don’t quite understand how to use, don’t shy away! Find someone to help you!
On both of these platforms, you can tag teammates to reference them when you need them. That way, people are confused by conversations they aren’t involved in and can keep on task where their attention is needed most.
Once you’re in on these platforms, consider using ScreenFlow to train and coach new team members in how to use them!
With everything together, you’re sure to increase your team’s efficiency and efficacy over time. You won’t regret it!
Key Takeaways
- Use Slack, a professional messaging platform, to quickly address questions and have on-the-fly conversations. Slack is great when you need to get things done fast--who doesn’t love that?
- Asana is a great platform to keeping tasks, assignments, and responsibilities straight. With this tool, you can keep track of what steps need to be done on a specific project and communicate with relevant team members.
- Don’t forget to use ScreenFlow to train new hires on these platforms, so that they can transition smoothly into their new position.
Today's question is, when is the right time to choose accounting software? And when should you hire an accountant? And the answer is now. If you have not chosen accounting software or don’t have an accountant just yet, the time has come. In this week’s episode, Jill is digging into all things money management.
There are many things that can make your life easier as a small business owner. One of those all-important things is accounting software. Jill uses Quickbooks Online, which she has found smooths out the accounting process and makes the purchase-to-file pipeline easy. This program allows you to swipe through your transitions and file them into the appropriate category. Not only that, but Quickbooks will remember those transactions, so the next time they appear, they’ll be suggested for that same category. From there, you can do this work while the kids are at soccer practice, while you have a quick break, or while your car is in the shop.
Many business owners wait until the last moment to sort these transactions and will even file for an extension to file in October. Jill recommends breaking this habit by being honest with yourself and considering hiring an accountant. This vital addition to your team can save you time and effort, and generally will give you peace of mind that your transactions are sorted and your ducks are in a row when the time comes. Delaying this crucial step can, and will cost you money. When you wait, you forget. And when you forget, things slip through the cracks. This team member will help you sort and organize what you need when you need it. A
In addition to an accountant, a bookkeeper is an incredibly helpful person to bring on your team. This person is going to be SO helpful with keeping you in the loop with your finances. They can lift a huge, huge weight off your shoulders and can help you manage some of the things you dislike doing the most, things that take you the most time, and things that cause you frustration.
All in all, these three tools will be sure to smooth out your accounting process!
Key Takeaways:
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Utilize online accounting software like Quickbooks to smooth out the accounting process and make the purchase-to-file pipeline easy. This program allows you to swipe through your transitions and file them into the appropriate category and remembers your transactions to make your accounting even more simple.
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Consider hiring an accountant. This vital addition to your team can save you time and effort, and generally will give you peace of mind that your transactions are sorted and your ducks are in a row when the time comes. When you put this off, you wait. And when you wait, you forget. And when you forget, things slip through the cracks--money lost.
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A Bookkeeper is an incredibly helpful addition to your team. This person is going to be SO helpful with keeping you in the loop with your finances. They can lift a huge, huge weight off your shoulders and can help you manage some of the things you dislike doing the most, things that take you the most time, and things that cause you frustration.
hijillian.com
Saving is an essential practice for businesses of every size. But it can be hard! The benefits of saving are monumental, and the downsides of doing it improperly can be crippling. Debt, business expenses, and other costs can add up. So, how do we get ahead? Today, Jill is breaking down her tips for saving.
There are certain priorities when it comes to saving and paying off essential expenses. Firstly, if you have debt, then it’s crucial to pay that off first. However, there are ways to shave off percentages of your profit and tax accounts to lessen the overall blow and account for those costs slowly over time. It doesn’t have to be a debt either--it could be any large, lump sum that you have to save for or even something like a trip for you and your employees.
In the end, it’s about developing good habits early on, so you can create a cushion for yourself by saving at the same time.
By creating multiple accounts, you can better adjust percentages of other accounts to make a saving account work.
Remember to start small--1%, 2%, 3%. You don’t want to go all-in at 25%, because you’ll get hurt. These habits of taking a small percentage of certain accounts to save for another are building blocks. You can focus on these habits long-term and reap the benefits. When you couple this with lowering your cost of living, you can really establish healthy accounts.
Jill recommends having a separate account for just about everything that has a cost. That way, you’re able to physically look in an account and see where you are at, which is much more effective than a spreadsheet. Also, you’re able to move and make adjustments as necessary in real-time.
Jill’s process is this: take the total of whatever it is that you're saving up, and I divide it by how many months you have left. Then, take the new dollar amount that you’re being charged, because it might've changed, and build in a little bit of an extra. From there, take that bumped-up number, divide it by however many months are left, and use that new percentage to go off of. And then that is what I'm transferring out every single month. By the time you need to pay, you're already used to having that amount taken out of your budget.
As an extra tip: make the accounts you normally borrow from, the ones you’re saving with, as inaccessible as possible. This is a little mental trick to help you get into a rhythm.
Key Takeaways:
- If you have debt, then it’s crucial to pay that off first. However, there are ways to shave off percentages of your profit and tax accounts to lessen the overall blow and account for those costs slowly over time.
- It’s about developing good habits early on, so you can create a cushion for yourself by saving at the same time. Start small--1%, 2%, 3%--These habits of taking a small percentage of certain accounts to save for another are building blocks. Long-term, you’ll reap the benefits.
- Have a separate account for just about everything that has a cost. That way, you’re able to physically look in an account and see where you are at, which is much more effective than a spreadsheet. Also, you’re able to move and make adjustments as necessary in real-time.
Welcome back to the Scale your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom! Today’s topic is hiring. How do you know when it’s time to bring someone on? How do you navigate the budget around that? What roles would you hire for? All of these questions can be overwhelming, but in today’s episode, Jill is breaking down the basics.
Jill’s first tip when it comes to hiring new team members is to start with an extensive list. On this list, you’re going to want to include everything that a hire would be doing. Consider what their job is going to look like, but also consider the core reason behind your need to hire them. Is it because you’re disorganized? Will this person save you time on projects that usually take longer for you to complete? If someone can complete a task for you in half the time, is it worth it to include them in the work you’re doing? Your list should have the answer to all of these things. Your future self will thank you when you are able to train your new hire more efficiently. By knowing the in’s and out’s of what you want their position to look like, you can more effectively communicate their responsibilities.
While you’re making this list, keep in mind what your budget looks like. Jill suggests setting aside what you would normally pay this person before you hire them to ensure you can afford the next step. Think about the sustainability of it, and if you can explore subcontracting options or only need them for a brief period of time.
Moving forward in the process, it can be a daunting task to actually FIND someone who fits your needs. Jill’s primary resource is through warm referrals. If someone knows your personality, knows the type of work that you do, and they know someone that thinks could be a good fit for them, it's probably going to work for you too. Other options include your own network or bringing on a part-time contractor to full time and include what benefits you can. You can also check out job boards, Fiverr, or Upwork to find someone who knows the ropes and gets your vibe.
Jill has found great success with Virtual Staff Finder. That is an organization that helps you find people overseas to do amazing work. It's amazing when you can find someone that is in a completely different country, in a completely different time zone, but they totally get you and they want to see you succeed as much as you want to succeed.
Before you think about hiring someone, make sure you have your interview process is clearly defined. Have your questions lined up beforehand so you can weed through applicants that don’t fit your needs. This allows you to see if the potential new hire is aligned and flexible to what your needs are. Often, things can be automated, which may not be ideal for the industry you’re in. At the very least, it allows you to convey your needs clearly so you can sift through applicants. Additionally, it makes sure that you can clearly offer the position, as to not squelch any enthusiasm or lose an awesome employee.
Key Takeaways:
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Start with an extensive list. On this list, you’re going to want to include everything that a hire would be doing. Consider what their job is going to look like, but also consider the core reason behind your need to hire them. Your future self will thank you when you are able to train your new hire more efficiently. By knowing the in’s and out’s of what you want their position to look like, you can more effectively communicate their responsibilities.
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Be intentional with where you look. It can be a daunting task to actually FIND someone who fits your needs. If someone knows your personality, knows the type of work that you do, and they know someone that thinks could be a good fit for them, it's probably going to work for you too. Other options include your own network or bringing on a part-time contractor to full time and include what benefits you can.
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Have your interview process is clearly defined. Have your questions lined up beforehand so you can weed through applicants that don’t fit your needs. This allows you to see if the potential new hire is aligned and flexible to what your needs are.
Today’s question is a big one: where do I start when it comes to social media? This is a major player in today’s game, especially as a small business owner. If you’re looking to get more visible, attract clients, and build a community around your brand, social platforms are the place to be. But, how can we overcome the pitfalls that come with it? In what ways can we maximize our impact and outreach with this incredible tool? Jill’s breaking that down and more in this week’s episode.
Social media is everywhere and factors into almost every aspect of our lives if we let it. It’s a powerful tool that we can utilize to scale and build a community around our brands. With that being said, it can be absolutely overwhelming. In some cases, you can be active on as many as 8 different platforms. That’s a lot to manage, and even more content to worry about.
Here’s Jill’s first tip: don’t “create” content as much as you document. Now, this doesn’t mean record the PB & J you just made and put it on your Instagram story, but it does mean you can point out highlights throughout your day that would be a nice peek into your life. What made today different than yesterday? Share with people value and share it unique to you. Often, we can fall into the worry of “why would anyone watch this?” The truth is, if there is someone else out there doing what you’re doing, they still aren’t living your life. The value you bring is unique to you--don’t forget that.
Don’t get Jill wrong--there is a time and place for planned, curated content. These are where you invest effort into lighting, videography, editing, makeup, you name it. Those areas are important to, but don’t fall into the trap of comparing yourself to others. Here’s the thing--everyone evolves. Their content evolves, their tactics evolve, and technology evolves, too. We are always, constantly changing. You are not going to be in the same place Gary Vee is in your first week of producing social media content--and you shouldn’t be! Everyone starts somewhere--be gnarly and just do it.
Once you’ve created a system of content generation and documentation that you’re comfortable with, you’re going to want to make a plan. You may not have the best equipment yet, but what you do have is value and consistency on your side. Just like the news, people want to be able to expect when they can hear from you and take in what you have to say. Over time, this can build your audience and you start to build a robust posting schedule.
A few things about your posting plan. First, remember that you don’t have to take on every social media channel at once. Start small! You can bring just as much value with a focused lens and with a broader one. Secondly, expect to make tweaks as you go along. Almost nothing ever works out the exact way we lay it out, and we learn things as we go. You’ll get feedback from your audience in regards to what they find especially helpful, what they engage with the most, and what doesn’t land the way you thought it might. Of course, there will be trolls, but they can be tuned out. Finally, be flexible and plan ahead. Know that your team is working with you and it’s worth the effort to make sure you can help them as well.
Key Takeaways:
- Document, don’t just create. Sometimes, sharing an interesting update and point out highlights throughout your day that would be a nice peek into your life. What made today different than yesterday? Share with people value and share it unique to you.
- Make a plan. Once you have a system in place for generating content, lay out what you want the schedule to look like. Start small, be flexible, and make tweaks as you gain feedback.
- Remember that everything evolves. Content evolves, tactics evolve, and technology evolves, too. We are always, constantly changing. Don’t worry about comparing your start to other’s ends. You are not going to be in the same place Gary Vee is in your first week of producing social media content--and you shouldn’t be!
LINKS
hijillian.com
Trying to get work done through constant distractions and interruptions can be frustrating. Putting out fires left and right, answering the same question multiple times, losing your train of thought, and bouncing between mental spaces is exhausting and inefficient. Today, we’re going to talk about how you can effectively manage these interruptions to make sure you have the capacity to check things off your to-do list without sacrifice.
The first step to managing interruptions and distractions is to make sure you’re scheduling dedicated time during your day to get work done. That means putting it in your calendar, sharing it with your team, silencing notifications on your computer, and yes, turning your phone onto airplane mode. Remember to turn off your smartwatch, too. This may even help you realize you had distractions that you weren’t even aware were pulling you from your work.
The next move is to make sure you’ve scheduled an “open door” period, where your team knows you’re ready and fully available for any questions they may have. With many people working from home, this may look like a slack message or a quick Zoom call. This period of time is for them to have full access to you and your brain. Of course, you can’t tell a family member or a child to only come in during this period, but it’s important to set expectations for yourself and everyone in your life so you can keep on track as best as possible.
When someone does have a question or needs your help, consider training your team to get right to the point. That way, there is no beating around the bush, and valuable time isn’t lost trying to outline the question at hand. It’s absolutely important to remember that when someone comes to you with questions, it’s more than likely they don’t want to be interrupting you either. They know you’re busy and are busy themselves, so keep that in mind when the moment comes. It’s all about a mutual respect.
If you do get interrupted, it’s easy to lose track of the task at hand. It can take 10, 20, or 30 minutes to get back on track and regain your momentum. I great way to combat this is with brief voice memos. Use your phone or a program that sends your memo directly to your email so you can jump right back in.
Additionally, use these moments to further smooth out your process. If you find you’re fielding the same questions day-in, day-out, it’s worth considering a program like ScreenFlow so you have pre-build videos that can make your communications more efficient. From there, open it up to your staff and allow them to self-manage and answer each other’s questions. Their time is valuable as well, so give it back to them!
Key Takeaways
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The first step to managing interruptions and distractions is to make sure you’re scheduling dedicated time during your day to get work done. Make sure your staff is aware, and silence any and all notifications.
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Dedicate an “open door” period where your team and others have full, unabated access to you and your brain. Set those expectations early!
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Use voice memos to keep you on track if you get distracted or interrupted. It’ll save valuable time usually wasted regaining your train of thought.
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Train your staff to effectively get the answers they need. That means getting right to the core problem they are having, setting up pre-built videos with answers to common questions, and allowing them to collaborate and regain lost time.
LINKS
hijillian.com
Show Notes
There are tons of options for you when it comes to choosing a planner or notebook. It can be overwhelming and confusing, and can often lead to throwing your hands up and going on without that essential tool. Today, we’re going to take a look at the different types of bindings and uses for a variety of planners so you can find one (or a few) that work for you.
Our first stop is at the classic spiral binding. This is the same kind of notebook you may have used in school. These are usually smaller and come with lined paper. It’s clean, useful, and can be super handy when you need something to jot down notes on.
Next is the wire O-binding. This is an affordable option that’s widely used by corporations and companies across the nation. It’s really popular in the planning community, but be wary of the rings themselves--they don’t connect completely, which can lead to some troubles turning pages.
Then is the ring planner. These have 6 rings that hold any number of things--papers, dividers, folders, you name it. There are seemingly endless amounts of things you can do with these binders, and you can customize each one with a few clicks of the rings.
Finally, we have a disc-bound planner. The benefit to this type of planner is the flexibility of bending the planner over itself like a spiral-bound, but you have the option to hole punch and add in pages as you see fit, just like a ring binder.
There are a few things to consider when selecting a type of planner. First, you have to recognize which planners have limitations, what they are, and how they will impact your use of the planner itself. For example, if you feel like you’re going to want the ability to add in pages or folders, a spiral-bound notebook wouldn’t be the best choice. Some planners have differently spaced ringer or discs, so it’s worth considering what sort of hole punching you’ll need to do as well.
Beyond that, ask yourself “how do I want to break down my planner?” If you’re looking to divide your planner into notes, lists, to-do’s, or anything else, a disc or ring planner would be the road to take. If you like to look back through your planner to refresh your memory of things, a spiral-bound or wire O-binding might be your best bet, as they have pre-determined endpoints.
Remember, you don’t have to lock yourself into one type of planner for every aspect of your life. There will be moments where you find yourself leaning towards one variety or the other--don’t be afraid to branch out! One word of caution--make sure you know what works for you before you jump into the planner rabbit hole. There are tons of matching planners of every kind that can be fun to get into!
Key Takeaways:
- There are a huge variety of sizes, bindings, and organizational styles of planners. It’s worth doing your research and finding what works best for you.
- Consider what you’re going to use your planner for. Will you want to add more pages? Will you want to look back through the notebook? These are questions that impact your choice.
- You’re allowed to have one, two, three, or as many planners as you want--and the great thing is, they can be whatever type that works for you in that moment.
LINKS
Hijillian.com
Show Notes
A clear and clean working space is an essential part of the work that you do. Having a place that is free of clutter allows you to think clearly, stay focused, and get things done. But this begs the question: how do you get started? If you know anything about Jill, you know that she is an organizational fanatic. Today, she’s breaking down how to optimize your workspace.
First things first: it can be overwhelming to tackle your entire house at once. Start small! Especially if this is your first time organizing--take a look at a drawer, a surface--something that’s just driving you nuts. If you have a pen, pencil, highlighter drawer, dive in. This is a space you probably use multiple times throughout your day and holds things you need all the time!
From there, find a cleared-out space where you can dump everything out. Here is where you make the edits--take a look at what’s in front of you and decide what you need and what you don’t. Those little things that you thought you’d get use out of but didn’t, gone. Pass them to a friend, donate them, or give them to clients. Whatever it is, get it out of your space.
Once you’ve purged everything out, it’s time to take a look at what organizers you need for your uses. The first step here is to take measurements of the space you’re working with so you can find containers and things that fit properly and make sense. If there’s room in your budget, buy some extra organizers in case some don’t work out the way you thought they would. Leave the tags on in case you have to return anything! Once you find something you like, you can use it anywhere else in the house that works for you.
LINKS
Hijillian.com
We’ve all been there--it’s a Monday, you’re still easing into the week ahead, and suddenly you get to your desk and there are 500 things you had forgotten about, things that came up at the last moment, and even more things that just need your attention now. It can be overwhelming and can start you out on the wrong foot for the rest of the week. Today, we’re going to talk about how we can get ahead of that feeling and set ourselves up for a smooth, productive start to your workday.
The name of the game is weekly reviews. This is something that people like David Allen and Michael Hyatt use to get out in front of their upcoming week. For Jill, it starts with a cleanup. Right now, many of us are working from home, and things can get a little messy. Gathering up everything on your desk and putting them in a pile is a good place to start. Now, everything that was on your desk is still accessible, but it isn’t cluttering the place in which you need to work to achieve your tasks.
This is also a great time to go through voicemails, emails, and paper mail. Sometimes we respond to things or take care of tasks during the week, but those communications stay at the top of your inbox or at the forefront of your mail pile. Sifting through these things lets you start fresh next week. Starting with a clean slate is refreshing!
From there, a brain dump is definitely in order. We’ve heard Jill talk about this before, but it’s important to remember the importance of getting your ideas down on paper to avoid the moment your head hits the pillow and a million ideas come flooding into your head. Over a period of time, you’ll find that you’re sleeping better, waking up ready to take on the day, and generally feeling like you have a head start.
As you gear up for the week coming up, writing out your to-do list prevents you from overloading one day or another. As you’re doing this, take a look at the previous week’s to-do list and move anything that needs to be rescheduled. That also means organizing and sorting emails (check out the episode where Jill talks about that!).
While you’re doing this, remember to set up a timer, silence your phone, and see what you can get done with uninterrupted focus. It might take longer at first, but once you establish a system, you’re going to thank yourself at the start of next week.
Key Takeaways:
- Getting ahead of your upcoming week can set you up for a successful, productive workday, every day.
- Gather up everything on your desk at the end of the week so you can start fresh on Monday!
- Dump every idea you have onto a centralized place so nothing slips through the cracks and pops into your head as it hits the pillow!
- Review last week’s to-do list and draft next week’s so you don’t overload one day or another.
LINKS
Hijillian.com
For many of us, there is an untamed beast that lives in our computers--it’s our inbox. Organizing your email can be a daunting task, especially if you’re sitting on 54,000 read, unread, drafted, spam, and otherwise out of control bits of correspondence. If you’re looking to calm that chaos, here are a few helpful tips that can get that little red number down to zero.
Today, we’re going to be using Gmail. Of course, there are other email platforms, but this one is widely available and easy to use.
Here’s the key: priority folders. Yes, there are built-in snooze, draft, and starred functions, but they can quickly become overrun and overwhelming. Even if you’ve already set up folders based on a topic or subject, they can fill up fast.
Jill dives into the first folder: 1A. This is the folder that needs your attention and it needs it now! Emails that are put into this folder are usually same-day, customized responses, or emails that you’ll need to address at the highest capacity. These can take any form depending on what it is you’re prioritizing. By having and holding a space for these emails, you’re able to make sure they get the TLC they need and get it on time.
The second folder she breaks down is 1B. This folder is still urgent, but slightly less so. These emails can and should be replied two within the week or in the next day or two. This space is something you can dip into as the week goes on so you can keep the number of urgent emails stays manageable.
Next, Jill talks about 1C. In this folder, you’re putting emails that you know you’re going to want to read or have a special interest in. These communications don’t necessarily need a response or if they do, it’s not time-sensitive. Sometimes, you’re in the middle of something and don’t have the time to read an entire email, even if you wanted to. Just throw those emails here and get to them when you have time.
Folder 1D is an especially useful place. Here, you’re putting emails that you can reply with a pre-written, canned response. In Gmail, you can create templates of emails that you can drop in the body of the text. For example, if someone is requesting a meeting, you can put your pre-loaded reply with any appropriate links and you’re good to go. Now you don’t have to spend time re-writing the same thing over and over again.
Onto folder 2, which is the archive folder. This one is simple: it’s good to keep records of everything that’s going on. It empowers you when you need to go back to strategize and evaluate where you are.
Folder 3 is another easy one. Delete! Remember, though--it’s good to go back through your trash and spam once in a while to make sure something didn’t end up there that doesn’t belong.
In folder 4, you’re deleting AND unsubscribing. These are the ones that don’t really have a place in your busy inbox.
Folder 5 is a game-changer, because sometimes you get emails that have an important or otherwise interesting link, quote, idea, or copy that you’re really interested in. Where else could these live? Taking up valuable space in your inbox or your bookmarks doesn’t make sense. This folder is for you to come back to and check out.
Now that you have your folders set up, talk yourself through your inbox as you organize your emails every day. A big, really helpful step you can take is to record yourself organizing and talking through why and what emails you’re putting where. Eventually, if you decide to outsource this task to another person, now you have a training video ready to go for them to follow along with.
Hopefully, you can take these quick, simple organizational tips and get a hold of an unruly email inbox!
Key Takeaways:
- Organizing your email inbox into priority folders is a great way to keep track of what needs your attention first.
- Having a record of your past emails can pay off down the road.
- Compiling email templates can save time by using a canned response to certain types of communications.
- Recording your organization allows you to educate and delegate to a team member.
LINKS
hijillian.com
There are plenty of ways to keep your day on track. Planning takes effort and can end up being a big part of your week. Making sure everything is laid out is the first step in having a productive day. Today, we’re going to talk about a few different strategies you can use to point yourself in a direction, hit your goals, and calm the chaos.
First, let’s talk about using paper planning systems. Spiral-bound, ring-bound, and O-ring wiring are all great options for a planner, the point is that you use the one that works best for your needs. Regardless of what type of paper planner or schedulers you use, the point is that you have a place to write down everything that comes up the moment it arises. Like so many people, it’s easy to lose thoughts or miss appointments because you noted it down on a piece of scrap paper that’s blowing somewhere in the wind. Having a place where your brain “lives” prevents things from slipping through the cracks.
On the flip side, there are some seriously useful digital planning tools that can help you organize your day. Lots of folks know and are familiar with Google Calendar, but using the program to it’s highest potential takes some intentional work. For example, Google Calendar is great because you can link any of your other digital calendars to it, block out chunks of your day to accomplish big projects without being interrupted, and coordinate with clients and teammates on availability. Jill and her team use an app called Calendly to schedule, reschedule, or cancel appointments or meetings at their own convenience. That way, you can avoid those annoying 3-4 threads of emails trying to find a time that works for both of you. Additionally, with Google Calendar, you can set aside time to finish those short tasks that can get lost while you’re focusing on a bigger project. It can be personal appointments, professional housekeeping, or even paying bills. Either way, you’ll get a notification that will remind you to get it done. Plus, it’s color-coordinated!
Finally, and in many ways, most importantly, use these tools and check-in with your partner or spouse. Right now, things are crazy with COVID-19 still part of our everyday lives. In many homes, there are multiple people working in a small, sometimes cramped space. Communicating who is going to be where, doing what, and when, helps ease everyone’s mind. Even when it’s personal tasks, having it on a calendar where you can see, plan, and remember what’s on your plate in the coming months can be a massive boost to your life.
Key Takeaways
Having a paper planning system gives you a place to jot down anything that comes your way as it arises. There are dozens of options to choose from, but the point is that they work because they are handy, practical, and house all your ideas, appointments, and off-the-cuff tasks.
Digital planning systems are great, and diving into them can make them even more useful. Don’t be afraid to get creative with your Google Calendar. It’s great to block out time to be uninterrupted, align with your team, and have a reliable app that notifies you of important tasks that may have otherwise slipped through the cracks.
Communicating your schedule with your partner or spouse is essential, especially in today’s climate. With multiple people working from home, it can be hard to find time to accomplish certain things. There are always a million things popping up, so keeping things on the right path with your significant other prevents future troubles.
Today on the Scale your Small Business podcast, we’re talking about project planning! It can be easy to get lost in the chaos these days. With everything going on in the world right now, sometimes keeping track of your projects--what they are, when they should be finished, who is working on them--can be especially difficult. But there are methods and practices you can use right now that will help you get a good grip on your schedule.
Jill’s first tip is to have a centralized location for all of your projects and what comes with them. She recommends some sort of planner or notebook where all those important ideas live. This is crucial because there are always those moments where you have a great idea, jot it down on the back of an envelop, a sticky note, or on a napkin and before you know it, it’s gone. That wonderful thing you thought of is lost somewhere in the pile of scrap paper who knows where. Resist the urge! You’ll thank yourself later.
Another step in this project planning process is the brain dump. This is when you’re letting your brain take over and scribe anything that comes to mind associated with that project. This is a great way for you to jog your memory now and in the future, it’ll spark ideas you hadn’t thought of before and will let you clear your head to execute the tasks at hand. Even in the middle of the night, writing down those things will let you revisit and revise in the future. Remember to put enough information that will allow you to remember what that original thought was, otherwise you’ll be asking yourself “what was I thinking here?”
Once you’ve got all your ideas down, the next step is refining your tasks to those that take two minutes or less. This is super important when you’re creating your schedule. What can happen is smaller, but equally important tasks, can fall through the cracks and you won’t realize until it’s too late. By blocking out time for these things, you make sure you’re on top of what needs to get done.
Finally, keep your delegation lists handy. That way you can keep track of what you can accomplish yourself and what other people on your team might be better equipped to handle. It doesn’t make sense to muddle through a task and struggle when you’ve got someone working with you who is an expert!
If you enjoyed these quick tips, be sure to subscribe to be notified when the next episode airs!
LINKS
heyjillian.com