Sidekick COO: Recent Episodes
Sandra B
I help overworked, overwhelmed, multi-hatted entrepreneurs like you become CEOs of your very own sustainably scalable and powerfully profitable business through proven business tips, practical processes, and a touch of tough love. Heavy on the love!
Let's take a fun journey through some fun and interesting AI tools that could change your business! We'll also cover some AI news about Searchie's up-and-coming features.
00:00 Introduction 00:13 beautiful.ai makes creating presentations incredibly easy - and beautiful! 04:40 AdCreative.ai creates great social media content with about a hundred options in seconds 09:02 AutoDraw from Google converts your squiggles into nice looking drawings 10:25 Noty.ai transcribes your Zoom calls, summarizes them for you, pulls out all of the action items, and even lets you create notes to yourself on the fly 17:20 Otter.ai doesn't seem to have many AI features... 17:57 Exciting new developments over at Searchie 21:40 Leave a comment!
Making an amazing prompt for ChatGPT is tough because it's hard to know where to start. But what if there was a simple trick? A trick you can just copy/paste giving it just the roughest idea of what you want, and have ChatGPT create the perfect prompt for you?
00:00 Introduction 01:00 The value of ChatGPT in generating content and research. 02:00 Introduction to Merlin, a Chrome extension to help with replying to texts. 04:00 Using ChatGPT for research, even though its knowledge is limited to September 2021. 05:00 Using prompt-based tools to improve interaction with ChatGPT. 07:00 Creating a custom prompt for finding the best project management tool. 09:00 ChatGPT recommends Trello for a one-person virtual assistant business. 11:00 Adjusting the prompt to include a budget constraint. 12:00 ChatGPT recommends Toggle Plan when given a budget of up to $50 per month.
Merlin: https://app.getmerlin.in/plans
The Prompt Template
Act as a prompt generator expert for ChatGPT. You will engineer the perfect custom prompt for me to use to [THING YOU NEED IT TO DO]. To do that, please ask a series of targeted questions one at a time. You will use the answer to each question to guide subsequent questions, refining the information you gather to ultimately generate a comprehensive and effective prompt that will yield the most useful and relevant response from ChatGPT. Consider the key elements of a good prompt, such as context and detail, to optimize the final product. Place any variables in square brackets.
This video is jam-packed with tips and tricks designed to help you surprise & delight your customers with knock-your-socks-off customer service, while SAVING YOU TIME and a lot of stress!
00:00 Intro 00:51 Have a customer service policy or process 03:21 Ask questions! 04:10 Delegate your customer service 05:20 Embrace good AND bad feedback 09:08 Negative feedback doesn't equal "not a fit" 13:07 Put your contact info and response time everywhere people might look for it 14:11 Set an out-of-office with a FAQ 15:01 How and WHY to send quick replies when you don't have time 16:55 FULL WALKTHROUGH - Setting up a Boomerang follow-up system 22:01 Quick review and summary
How do you go on vacation without your clients all leaving you? How do you go away without spending your entire time on your phone or laptop trying to keep everything together? Here are my big lessons on how to successfully go on vacation, come back, and feel refreshed and happy instead of rushed and anxious!
00:00 Introduction 00:30 What does a "successful vacation" even look like? 00:51 How to book in advance 01:46 Building in buffer days 02:20 Gather your documents in one place 04:21 Tell everybody and set boundaries 06:51 Remind everybody... OFTEN! 07:22 Set your "out of office" 09:24 How to use the buffer days 12:15 Summary of the main steps
These are the five things I wish someone had told me when I started my business. What are your top 5?
00:00 Introduction 00:20 No one knows what they're doing 03:55 Take advice with a grain of salt 07:12 Watch your cashflow 09:44 It's okay to say no 10:21 Sometimes you HAVE TO say no
#businesssuccess #professionaldevelopment #entrepreneurship
Here's my hard-won advice on how to handle hard conversations with clients - either they cut off contact after a proposal has been sent, or don't pay your invoices, or try to push you out of your scope of work. A process should be established with clear timelines and methods of communication outlined in the contract. Attention should be paid to any scope changes, and being understanding and kind is important when following up on invoices and payments.
00:00 Handling the Hard Conversations: Prospect Ghosting, Scope Creep, and Invoices
04:57 Establishing Processes to Handle Clients Who Ghost You
10:19 Learn How To Say No and Manage Invoices With Kindness and Compassion
It can be tempting to overspend on professional development! Professional development is an important part of businesses in terms of helping hone your skills, increase productivity, and enhance the business’s bottom line. To maximize the Return On Investment (ROI) of professional development, look at what you’ll learn and how the takeaways will impact your business when choosing a course.
But here’s the thing: the best option might not be to put that money in professional development. It might actually be better (and more cost-effective) to hire an employee or contractor. Keep track of the results of any investment and avoid spending more than 5% of your salary on professional development. On the advertising front, businesses should be thinking about why they are spending money and how the purchase will be utilized. Sometimes it just makes sense to Google it on your own rather than doing someone’s paid course.
Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) are the numbers that tell you what’s happening in your business. You can rescue a failing launch, get ahead of staffing problems, and see what’s coming ahead of time.
Brought to you by Scale Society
https://AnyOldTask.ca/Scale
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:12 The short answer
- 00:30 Cashflow
- 00:52 Revenue & Profit Margin
- 01:59 Your Main Number
- 02:55 Some good examples of “Main Numbers”
- 03:38 For everything else!
- 03:50 Profit per lead and conversion rate
- 04:40 Using KPIs in a specific project for time management
- 05:55 Finding KPIs elsewhere
- 06:25 Customer Service KPIs
- 07:02 Don’t look at too much data!
- 07:28 KPIs for a launch, and troubleshooting a launch
- 09:10 How many metrics should I be looking at?
- 09:30 Scale Society
No, it's not ActiveCampaign. It's not MailChimp. It's not even ConvertKit.
It's the one for your specific situation! Let's dive into how to avoid buggy software, dodge overly-complex money wasters, and discover the real tool that's going to work for your situation.
00:00 Introduction 00:23 What people further ahead are doing 01:09 When you're first starting out 01:25 If you have a clear process, step-by-step plan, and funding 02:16 For the solopreneurs and small business owners 03:04 How techy are you? Here's what to look for! 03:37 Some essential features 03:56 What a good basic email marketing tool looks like 04:20 WARNING about ActiveCampaign!! 05:29 Why you should avoid all-in-ones 06:11 A few recommendations for simple tools 06:45 Advanced applications of email marketing tools 08:22 Why you should avoid switching 08:49 What to do when you notice a function is missing 09:55 When to go to tech support 10:26 The consequences of switching platforms 12:04 Wrap-up
This is a NO MATH guide for small business owners, solopreneurs, or entrepreneurs, on how to best deal with revenue and other financial issues. This is the easy way to know the numbers in your business and understand what you're doing that's profitable or not profitable.
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:30 "Entrepreneurial Mindset People"
- 01:25 What you're more like
- 02:15 The first, biggest, most important things you outsource
- 02:47 Why you need a bookkeeper and accountant
- 04:30 What good accountants will do
- 05:18 Ask your bookkeeper to explain anything that looks confusing or out of place
- 05:38 When to tell your bookkeeper/accountant about changes
- 06:25 The kinds of things that change all the time
- 07:44 Cashflow basics
- 08:58 Your personal net worth (and Financial Planners)
- 10:55 Summary
If your VA keeps making errors, there are plenty of ways to address them. Oftentimes there are several straightforward ways to address what's happening, and I'll not just go through the process of getting to the bottom of the situation, but also cover several specific solutions that will work for everyone involved.
00:00 Introduction 00:15 A specific example - TYPOS! 00:55 Questions I asked about the VA 03:15 So what do you do when it's just this one thing? 03:34 Check the process! 04:02 What's the skillset? 05:50 What if everything seems to be in place but there's still a problem? 06:30 Is there a missing tool?
This covers a LOT of angles, so make sure to watch the whole thing! What do I do when I desperately need help but I can't afford to hire? There are LOTS of different reasons you might find yourself in this position, so let's go through all of the causes for tight funds, the different reasons you might need help, and the solutions to these problems.
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:50 First thing, no matter what, DO THIS
- 01:17 How to set proper priorities!
- 01:38 If you just need time to serve more clients, YOU NEED...
- 02:05 If you don't have clients, YOU NEED...
- 02:52 Revenue and Expenses - a bunch of easy expenses to cut
- 04:05 Basics of increasing revenue
- 04:24 Bartering services 101
- 05:25 Investing in your business other than money
- 05:50 The big 4 things you can invest in your business other than money
- 06:34 Taking Time back
- 07:13 Hustling the HEALTHY WAY
- 08:10 Taking back Energy, Effort, and Focus
- 09:13 What you need to do to get these things back
- 09:38 Streamlining and Automation
- 10:01 Streamlining basics
- 10:25 The easy approach to creating processes
- 10:45 Automating things the easy way!
- 12:33 How to find things to streamline - a few good examples
- 13:42 Starting small
- 14:35 What you should expect to pay (roughly) for 10 hours a month
- 15:15 Wrap-up
How do I get out of my own way and let my support handle things without me? There are many reasons someone might struggle with this, from communication issues to staffing issues to just plain old control issues. We're going to dive into ALL of it, and chart a path to being able to happily delegate tasks with confidence!
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:58 Get really clear on expectations
- 02:05 How to create a process for clear communication of tasks
- 03:18 Delegate outcomes rather than tasks
- 04:21 How to build a process designed around outcomes
- 05:15 For the micro-managers! Weigh the cost/benefit
- 05:55 Questions to discover where the real problem is
- 07:38 What if their work is poor quality?
- 07:56 Shifting out of micro-management mode and into a more productive process
- 09:11 What if you're missing information?
- 10:00 Structured check-ins
- 11:00 Dealing with repeated questions
- 13:56 Summary of all the steps
What do you do with random notes in your notebook, Post-It notes around your office, or things you jotted down in an app? The answer is simple, but chances are you aren't doing it! If your desk is covered with "oh right I have to remember to..." notes, you need this entire episode of Sidekick COO.
00:00 Introduction
00:31 A simple change that fixed a client's calendar
01:53 The big question!
02:30 The key to the solution
03:11 Step-by-step solution
04:01 Important note about where you put your notes!
04:15 When to deal with your notes
04:30 How to handle an individual note
05:07 After putting it where it belongs, where does it go?
05:44 Reminder about the key to the solution!
05:55 What if you have a VA? (Not what you expect!)
06:48 The problem with letting your VA handle your notes
08:00 Summary of the Important Parts of Your Notes Process
Motivation! Ever have a day where you know what you need to do, but you just can't make yourself do it? That's where being motivated comes in, and it's something you can control and work with over time. Here's how.
- 00:00 Introduction
- 00:17 First place to look
- 00:50 First way that I stay motivated
- 01:26 One way to stay motivated as an entrepreneur (actually a short list)
- 02:05 Here's what's wrong with the question
- 02:42 How to stay motivated as long as possible
- 03:20 Setting meaningful goals that make sense
- 04:35 Quick summary on meaningful goals
- 04:52 WHY you need to know what achieving that goal looks like!
- 05:24 Staying motivated is easy IF...
- 05:55 The biggest mistake people make delegating work
- 08:17 Quick summary of what staying motivated is all about
How do you know it’s even time to get advisors for your company? Do you need to hire, or would a free option be better? Here we’ll dive into the two main types of company advisors (Boards of Directors and Mastermind Groups), and talk a little bit about when to form them, how to find them, and which one would be the best fit.
If you want a stable business that grows and scales smoothly and successfully, whether big or small, this is a video you cannot miss. We’re going to do a deep dive into 2 habits you absolutely need to start building over time, without sugar-coating it or dancing around how hard building those habits will be. So, give it a listen, and let’s thrive together.
- 00:00 Introduction - today’s topic
- 00:25 Don’t Panic!
- 00:49 Atomic Habits by James Clear
- 01:11 What you’re in for
- 01:44 You know what you gotta do?
- 01:53 Habits take way longer to form than what people say they do
- 02:40 Quick note about Scale Society
- 03:02 Delegation (I know, I know!)
- 04:00 The weekly reminder that changes everything
- 04:54 Bonus habit!
- 05:38 Another spot to clear things off your list
- 06:00 Wait… do I need to do this?
- 06:56 Habit 2 - Project management tools
- 08:02 Why bother with a project management tool?
- 08:44 Benefits of having all of that information out of your head and into a project management tool
- 09:12 Setting priorities
- 09:55 Summary
Finding those first few clients seems like an impossible task, but it’s possible for anyone! Here are 4 methods I used to get my first clients, and establish a steady stream of new ones going forward. Let me know which is your favorite!
- 00:00 - Introduction
- 00:20 - Today’s Question
- 00:50 - First way I ever found clients
- 02:04 - Local networking 101
- 03:00 - How to leverage paid Facebook groups
- 03:47 - Strategy for making your clients LOVE you and recommend you to everyone!
- 05:20 - Recap and summary
- 05:34 - Important stuff!
Making your very first hire is a huge decision, and it’s not one you should take lightly. This is not the time for a one-size-fits-all solution! Rather, it’s time to take a look at not only your business but your entire life and decide where the biggest difference can be made with a hire. In this episode we’ll dive into how to do that, the tricks and gotchas that people get caught up on, and things to keep in mind along the way.
If you’ve heard about project management tools and wondered if what they’re all about, this short video is for you! I dig through what project management tools do, why you should use them, and make a very strong case for Teamwork as your choice. I’ll also go over my absolute favorite features of Teamwork and cover how you can customize it to make it exactly what you need to keep your projects and your team organized and on track.
Being a CEO is more than just “being the boss”, but it doesn’t mean that you have to give up doing what you love in order to run the business. It’s a very specific role that involves delegation of a lot of responsibilities, but there are certain things that you’re always going to be responsible for. Let’s break down how you can remain the caretaker of your business while still spending most of your time doing the things that you love and got you into this business in the first place!
Do you believe that having a mission statement is important? The easy answer is yes, but is it really that simple? In this episode, I dive into how people usually react to the idea of a mission statement, as well as how people often fail to leverage its power. From there we dive deeper into all of the places you can apply your mission statement, and cover the ongoing processes that bring you back to your mission over and over again.
Instead of going through a bunch of things you could find in Google, I’m going to give you my real personal opinion on 5 things you need to scale your business successfully that people miss the most often - and desperately need! Yes, there are many technical and strategic steps to scaling your business, but these are the 5 that generally people fail to mention but that you absolutely need to address if you want to grow. Here I’ll include enough information on each to help you find answers and take action on them today. They include: knowing yourself, delegating, self-care, facing uncertainty, and a basic belief that everyone shares a common motivation behind their actions.