The Get Your Act Together Podcast: Recent Episodes
Kelly Reynolds
Welcome to the Get Your Act Together Podcast. This podcast is all about building well run and profitable businesses so we can create the lives we dream of. A new episode every Tuesday. Visit us at www.reynoldsobm.com for show notes and to find out more.
It’s hard to pick between more than one priority when you believe in each of them. In a perfect world you can delegate things. Bring in more people and accomplish more than you can do alone. Unfortunately there are things that you just can’t delegate. Some things are yours and yours alone. This podcast is one of those things for me. I get plenty of help with the editing and the promotion but I’m the one on camera. As summer approaches and I look at all the things on my plate I have to make some hard choices. Listen to this episode to hear how I look at this pod and the amount of my time it consumes.
Timestamps:
03:04- Scheduling 27 hours in a 24 hour world
06:25- The work you can’t delegate
12:41- Podcasting is hard
20:08- How I’m using a side project to test my skills
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Melinda Lee realized that her entire family line was full of silenced women. That realization led her to follow a calling as a communications and presentation coach. Melinda saw that a lot of the challenges we all have to clear communication and public speaking were things that had nothing to do with memorizing the words. In this interview we talk about dealing with “the inner critic”, how our bodies are living in the past, and the special needs that entrepreneurs have for presentation skills. Melinda also shares some practical tips for public speaking that include what footwear you should have on.
Timestamps:
02:48- An extraordinary history of silence
06:40- Should I write out what I want to say beforehand?
11:10- Speaking in person vs. Zoom vs. Podcast
14:07- “The Inner Critic”
16:58- Our bodies are living in the past
20:02- Entrepreneurs need to speak
26:12- The things we can do to prep to speak
Want more from Melinda?
Email her here:
melinda@speakinflow.com
Or connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mpowerall/
Follow her on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/speakinflow/
Or just go directly to her site:
www.speakinflow.com
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Email is still the best way to market to your audience. It builds familiarity, establishes authority and trust. It can also be horribly misused and cause a lot of ill will when done wrong. This week I talk to Liz Wilcox who teaches online business owners how to make email genuinely effective. Liz shares how to build a great welcome series. Explains why we should stop using the word “copy” and shows me that I’ve been making email much too complicated. This talk was a big help to me and I hope it saves you as much time as it’s saving me.
Timestamps:
01:36- A strange background
04:54- Lose the word ‘Copy”
14:10- It’s a newsletter not a novel
24:06- Repeating yourself
39:44- The biggest mistakes people make with email
41:55- Outsourcing your emails
46:20- Getting people to reply
Want to contact Liz? Visit her site:
https://lizwilcox.com/
Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/thelizwilcox/
Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/The-Liz-Wilcox-103239837942432
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Nathan Hirsch runs a bunch of companies. In college he bought and sold textbooks until the school hit him with a cease and desist order. Then he became a drop-shipper and sold millions of dollars of baby products. Later he and a partner would sell their company and walk away with life-changing money. So is he relaxing? Nope. Today he has a company that teaches small business owners how to hire, train, and use VAs and freelancers and another pair of companies that provide bookkeeping services to digital businesses. Nathan talks about how quickly he’s been able to get out of the day-to-day in his companies, how good SOPs and solid books set him up for a stunningly fast sale, and why he isn’t just sailing around the world in a yacht these days.
Timestamps:
02:53- When you have to pivot your entire business
07:37- The decision to sell the company
15:52- From Hiring VAs to teaching how to hire them
18:11- Walking away
24:10- What entrepreneurs need to focus on
Connect with Nathan on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathanhirsch/
Learn more about AccountsBalance (mention the show for 2 free months!):
Accountsbalance.com
Check out all of Nathan’s tools and resources for hiring and training freelancers:
OutsourceSchool.com
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Delegation is one of my most talked about subjects here on the pod. There's a good reason for that; I’ve spent a lot of time and energy thinking about it and building practices I can rely on to delegate effectively. The other thing is that when you run an agency you’re essentially a middleman between the delegation your clients use you for and the things you delegate to your team.
In this episode I break down some best practices on delegation. Things you should be thinking about from the moment you want to hand something off, to the way you can build practices to make the entire experience repeatable with a minimum of fuss.
As always, please take a moment and give the show a review. It makes a big difference.
Timestamps:
02:10- Hire for tasks not job titles.
04:10- Don’t try to make 5 jobs 1 job.
10:20- Make the Scope clear
13:54- The value of systems in delegation
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
What do you do when you have a breakdown after working for a tyrant of a boss… but the boss is you? That happened to this week’s guest Lydia Lee, who we spoke to in Bali where she spends half her year. It turns out that a breakdown like that is a real wake up call. Now Lydia coaches mid-career professionals who are looking for something different from the rest of their work life.
This is a great conversation about building the work life you want to live with; not a bigger career or a smaller career, just the right one for you. We talk about entrepreneurship, delegating work, running a 1-person company, who to work with and how to repell the kinds of people you want to avoid.
More than anything we talk about being deliberate with the choices you make about you’re work life. Consciously or unconsciously you’ll make a lot of choices and the quality of those choices will impact everything from your compensation to where you live to your health.
Timestamps:
03:32- The early mistakes people make when they start a business
09:34- Work can be joyful
13:04- Corporate jobs a damn risky
18:04- Making your business… smaller
24:15- Why Lydia won’t hand over content creation
30:44- Working in the Sweet Spot
33:45- Follow Deep Interests NOT Passion
37:40- Right… for right now.
45:16- Attract the right people. Repel the right people.
Want to contact Lydia? Email her at:
lydia@screwthecubicle.com
Follow her on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/cubiclecrasher/
Subscribe to her YouTube channel:
https://www.youtube.com/screwthecubicle
Connect on LinkedIn:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/lydiallee/
Watch her adventures on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/screw_the_cubicle/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Ads! The average American sees between 4000 and 10,000 every day. Most of them are junk. Some of them work. Marketing isn’t black magic, it’s a process you can be better or worse executing. Today I talk to Kristina Pierce who, for 25 years has been crafting, buying, and monitoring ads across a wide variety of media. From her HQ in upstate New York, Kristina now runs Pierce Media, an ad agency specializing in social media ads for service based businesses.
Kristina knows a tremendous amount about advertising and happily shares with me details about strategy, the math of advertising, and deep geek stuff about the platforms. Don’t just listen to this, bring a pencil.
Timestamps:
02:03- The conversation that happens before you buy ads.
07:20- People make decisions in a certain way.
12:42- Get yourself some specialists.
22:29- Testing Your offer
34:45- Vanity metrics
40:20- Pinterest, Bing & other useful forgotten platforms
Want more from Kristina? Visit her site or on social media:
Website: www.kpiercemedia.com
FB: www.facebook.com/kpiercemedia
IG: www.instagram.com/piercemedia
Linked: www.linkedin.com/in/kristinapiercemedia
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Let’s talk about money!
How much money should your business have put in reserve? How much in profit? How much money should you save in taxes? Should these bundles of cash be stored in one place or many… and where? Lots of businesses out there struggle to make the right moves with their cash. Many even struggle with the idea that there ARE right moves to make.
Yet clearly there are better and worse ways to manage your company’s cash. One of the better ways is to follow the “Profit FIrst” model which this weeks’ guest Jenni Davis is an expert in. Jenni’s company helps scores of small (and not so small) businesses to deploy the “Profit First” methodology in their finances.
Instead of assuming that what the business owner gets is what’s left over when the bills are paid, “Profit First” places the owner at the center of the business’s transactions. It says that the owner should be the FIRST person paid, not the last; and here at Reynolds OBM we agree.
This week while so many of you are thinking about tax day we thought it would be the perfect day to rebroadcast this gem. Originally episode 85, it returns now as the team here takes spring break. Enjoy!
If you’d like to know more about profit first contact Jenni:
https://jmdbusinesssolutions.com/
Check her out n FB:
https://www.facebook.com/JMDBusinessSolutions
Try this primer to Profit First:
https://reynoldsobm--jmdbusinesssolutions.thrivecart.com/profit-first-simplified-diy/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Jen has a lot going on. Like many entrepreneurs, this daughter of teachers was driven to business ownership by life events. In a twist of fate it was the forced choice to run her own company that convinced Jen she doesn’t have to make choices like that ever again.
Yes, you can have it all. Jen publishes the Becoming Iconic magazine, coaches business owners, and runs an agency which provides branding, marketing, and operations support to the female entrepreneur who refuses to compromise.
Jen and I explore a bunch of different corners of business ownership including just how underrated the difficulties are, the mental game of entrepreneurship, how being able to repeat things is what success looks like, solopreneurship vs. CEO, and a great deal more.
Timestamps:
00:47- Jen’s on a mission.
03:29- Why the company is called “Becoming Iconic”
09:49- Things go wrong.
13:00- When you have it all and still want more.
16:48- Innovation is at the core of entrepreneurship.
22:04- Why “solopreneurship” is overrated
27:22- The best piece of advice for entrepreneurs
30:11- You can’t enjoy things when you’re dead.
33:40- “Obsessive Gratitude”
39:15- How to enjoy life more than your husband’s next wife.
46:40- Listen to a dog bark
Want more from Jen? Follow and connect with her here:
Becoming Iconic
https://www.instagram.com/becomingiconic/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jen-szpigiel-931499195/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Bureaucracy. Even the word makes some people groan.
I had a realization the other day that a lot of small businesses don’t see any daylight between good systems and unnecessary bureaucracy and frankly that’s a shame. Just because you’re a startup doesn’t mean you shouldn’t be developing systems for doing things efficiently. Just because you’re an established company doesn't mean your systems are efficient.
Your goal as the business owner is to make sure that your business can run without you. IT’S ALSO YOUR JOB to see that your business runs the way you want it to. One without the other and you’re not going to be happy. In this episode I talk about a few ways that I run Reynolds OBM that should make sense to all of you. I talk about a few small projects you can start that will reduce the amount of questions you get, decrease the amount of time you spend looking for things and decrease the number of calls you get from people who don’t know what to do or where to look for something. Take a listen.
LINK TO KELLY’S FREE URL TRACKER:
https://www.getyouracttogether.co/urltrackersignup
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
There’s a trap that a lot of my guests recently have talked about. A trap of our own making that agency owners keep falling ito as they work to grow their businesses. We trap ourselves in our clients’ work. We know we need to get out of it and yet as hard as we try there’s always a good reason to stay involved personally. Always a reason to do their work ourselves instead of handing it off to one of our people. I’ve fallen into this trap many times myself so I thought I’d devote an entire episode to talking about it.
In this episode it’s just you and me and I’m going to show you exactly and specifically how this trap has snared me in the past. I’ll also show you what’s on the other side when you make the decision to slip out and run your company instead of work on your clients.
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Many small businesses start their own channels through podcasting to get exposure, build brand, and show expertise all at the same time. What they don’t know going into it is just how much work it’s going to be to run your own production company.
Stephanie Judice knows. She and her nine-person team produce podcasts for upwards of twenty clients every week. They’ve edited, post-produced, and distributed thousands of episodes content for their clients and today she joins me as a guest to talk about the challenges and successes along the way.
We talk about getting out of the day-to-day of the business, hiring for efficiency vs. hiring for redundancy, what you’re responsible for as the owner, and building and rebuilding of roles for people you want to keep. This is a great conversation, listen in!
Timestamps:
09:40- Perfectionist vs. Leader
13:00- I started asking my team what to fix
17:50- The upside of losing a good person
22:10- The pride of employing people
25:56- Building a team for flexibility
33:45- It’s probably your fault
35:30- 20 Clients, 10 team members, 2 kids
Want more from Stephanie? Visit her site or on social media:
Website: www.stephaniejudice.com
FB: www.facebook.com/stephaniejudicepodcastmanagement
IG: www.instagram.com/stephaniejudice
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Nobody wakes up in the morning and decides to be the worst business person they can be. Yet a lot of very talented, very skilled people from plumbers to lawyers and everything in between have trouble running their businesses and that very often comes down to how they deal with the money. Jen Paterson is a money coach for that crowd. I talk with her about everything from setting up bank accounts, to our attitudes towards money, to buying shoes guilt free. There’s a lot in here for every business owner regardless of their craft. Listen in.
Timestamps:
00:18- What a “Money Coach” does.
06:36- Pay Yourself
12:00- Reprogramming the ways you talk about money
23:28- Bank Account Architecture
29:08- Revenue rollercoaster
33:30- Picking your banker
39:27- Business is a different skill
Want more from Jen? Visit her site or on social media:
Website: https://www.dollardivas.org/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/jenpaterson.biz/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Nobody wants to feel like they’re being sold. Nobody wants to feel pressured or have useless information thrown at them. This is why it’s important to be thoughtful about how you design the flow a prospect goes through on their way to giving you money.
When his clients need help navigating the build of that process, James Hipkins takes their hand and dives deep. James and his team have been building large, corporate websites for 10 years and he’ll tell you the hard part is all the work you do before you start designing things. More recently James’s focus has turned to small businesses where he believes a lot more help is needed.
I talk to him about the things you SHOULD be thinking about when you design your website (hint: design is waaay last), not building on rented land, the cookie strategy, and a lot more.
Want more from James? Visit him site or on social media:
Website: https://red8interactive.com/
FB:https://www.facebook.com/inn8ly/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/inn8ly/
Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jameshipkin/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jhipkin/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Brandon Cockrell was a salesman knocking on doors in 100-degree heat in Georgia in a suit. That taught him that digital sales is pretty great. Today his team builds digital sales systems for companies that need people to sign-up, opt-in, book-now, or buy today. His wholehearted adoption of technology as a way to drive revenue has given him a lot to say and I talk to him about the “when?”, “how?”, and “how much?”
Timestamps:
02:37- Help an “Ops-Gal” get started with her sales funnel.
09:37- Proving out the hard stuff in your sales process
14:03- What ROI should you expect when you market?
24:20- TikTok
30:21- How many touchpoints for a conversion to a sale?
34:04- The value and trouble with organic reach
Want more from Brandon? Visit his site or on social media:
Website: https://www.linchpinsales.com/
IG: https://www.instagram.com/linchpinsales/?hl=en
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
This is a great episode! Christina Lenkowski is a veteran public relations expert. She’s worked for big companies like Cirque du Sole and Dark Horse Comics but what she’s discovered is that podcasts are the most effective form of publicity.
Now she helps her clients go from “Best Kept Secret” to “Go-to Expert” by raising their voice on other people's platforms. There’s a lot here as Christina shares how she gets her clients on 24 shows a year, how you can make it easy for show hosts to book you, and ways you can use the content you generate from appearances.
Timestamps:
02:02- What working remotely tells you about yourself.
04:56- The value of being a podcast guest
12:14- Share that content over and over
19:11- Anderson Cooper is not coming for you.
20:11- Pitching to podcasts
24:38- The first paragraph of a pitch to a podcast
29:15- Missteps when you pitch a show
32:23- You have to be visible to grow
36:36- It takes time to get on shows
43:16- Repurposing your interview as evergreen content
Want more from Christina? Visit her site or on social media:
Website: https://www.publicityxchristina.com/
Quiz: https://www.publicityxchristina.com/quiz-landing-page
FB: https://www.facebook.com/publicityxchristina
IG: https://www.instagram.com/publicityxchristina/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Amazing guest this week! Debra Joy is on her fourth business. One was sold, another went public, and one went nowhere. For the last 15 years she’s been a coach to entrepreneurs, executives, and creatives so they can achieve success with less stress.
We talk about the effects high stress can (and does) have on our bodies, the power and hazard of goal setting, and how leaders can unconsciously create traumatizing environments at work. Debra talks about helping clients achieve big things. She also talks about using the journey to become the kind of person you want your goals to make you.
Timestamps:
00:23- Somatic experiencing practitioner?
03:06- ...but all I wanted was to fix the world.
09:07- choosing when to overdue it
10:57- the goal VS. why they want the goal
14:49- A somatic practice as a perspective in coaching
18:06- Work as a traumatizing environment
23:30- habits
27:19- Kelly gets coached.
You can Find Debra here:
Website: http://www.debrajoy.me/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/withdebrajoy
IG: https://www.instagram.com/debrajoy_coach/
Linked: https://www.linkedin.com/in/debrajoy/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Ana Natkins had a career in the corporate world. There she developed and strengthened her natural ability to look at complicated workflows and break them down into small, digestible pieces. Today she runs Anna's Simple Solutions, where she and her team use those skills to help overwhelmed, neurodivergent business owners simplify their processes and increase productivity through the use of technology.
In this conversation I talk with her about the tools she uses, her love for Clickup and Airtable, and some basic things to remember about the neurodivergent and how they sometimes work.
Timestamps:
01:23- Neurodivergence in the workforce.
06:24- Mom + Entrepreneur = Guilt
12:45- Setting up your company so that your people can thrive.
15:25- Two Ops nerds geek-out on Airtable
25:00- Ana’s networking database is on steroids
ANA's Links:
Website: https://www.anasimplesolutions.com/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/AnaSimpleSolutions
IG: https://www.instagram.com/anasimplesolutions/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ananatkins/
Need help from Kelly?
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Laura Sinclair started her career in corporate social media at a time when corporations left “that social stuff” to interns. It didn’t take forever for her to get good and to realize that she could go out on her own. In 2014 she left corporate and bought a failing business which she swiftly turned around so dramatically that it was generating more money each month than she paid for it.
Forced to close a brick and mortar business during lockdown, Laura now shows other business owners how to market themselves and get on the same upward trajectory.
We talk about dumb ways to waste $10,000, working while scared, keeping yourself in the right mindset, how a lot of marketers make things more complicated than they need to be, and a great deal more.
Timestamps:
01:02 - Luxury auto to gym owner to marketer.
06:26 - $10,000 down the drain
09:42 - Marketing from Desire not Pain
15:16 - Confidence and fear
23:10 - Jazzed for January
25:00 - Marketers make marketing complicated
31:15 - Sales > # of Followers
40:10 - Yuckiness in sales
Want more from Laura? Visit her site or on social media:
Want help from Laura?
Visit: www.laura-sinclair.com
Or on IG: https://www.instagram.com/itslaurasinclair/
Need help with your small business or agency? Contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Jessica Armstrong is the owner of TC Created, a service agency that supplies realtors with transaction coordinators so they can spend their time in front of buyers and sellers. In this episode, Kelly and Jessica discuss how starting a business is a journey of self-discovery, how challenging it is to be objective when you delegate work to others, and how success in business has let Jessica to coach others.
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Thanks to Jessica for joining us! If you’d like to contact her try her site:
www.tccreated.com
To follow her on IG follow:
https://www.instagram.com/tccreated/
Timestamps:
2:19- Starting a business is a journey of self discovery
7:40- Important things to think about when you hand off work to your team.
12:22- How Jessica’s coaching practice is a result of trauma and generosity.
23:16- Getting salespeople to buy your service
What do you think will happen in 2023?
I think I’m getting flowers. “Why?” you ask. Because I’m planting flowers. You all know my love of good systems for everything from my clients to my garden. Today I’ve got for you today is a story about what happens when a client breaks all of those systems.
We don’t wake up everyday amazed that water comes out of the pipes and the trains come on time. Maybe we should. There’s a lot of work that goes into systems when everyone needs them to work. So what happens when the hub for all those systems gets improperly migrated? What happens when all the company’s documents, all the access permissions, all the SOPs, (each interconnected to the others with up-to-date links and passwords in a reliable filing system) what happens when they all get scrambled like an overturned scrabble board?
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
A special message from Kelly.
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Katie Suarez is a 5th generation Montanan with 20 years in the construction and building sector. When she launched her company it was obvious that she’d be serving the sometimes gruff, always direct entrepreneurs of that space and their softer, kinder cousins from the design industry.
Today, ‘Kate’ empowers residential contractors and interior designers to uproot traditional ways of working and seamlessly transition brick and mortar offices and studios into virtual businesses. Her goal is to release the pressure felt by small business owners by partnering with them to take on all of their "business-y" responsibilities, so they can focus on what they truly love and do best!
Timestamps:
07:25- When your ego gets in the way of letting other people do the work you need them to do.
11:10- How nitching down has given Katherine the ability to tell a client what they need just based on their current revenue.
20:07- How Kate gets clients
30:09- Hold on… is Katie married to Kelly?
31:01- Mistakes Kate made in the beginning.
35:24- How Kate puts her week together
40:11- Putting your neck on the line for your people
If you’ve been around here for a minute, you’ll know I love to talk about systems and having things run well. It’s been our focus over the last 6½ years as we help small businesses get organized and run better.
Throughout that time I’ve been a broken record that you need good systems to run things well. Maybe over the last few years you’ve wondered if it’s true. So I wanted to share two stories of how I had my systems tested just to show you that yes, it works.
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Full Swing is a PR Agency born in 2019 and has already become one of the 2% of women-owned businesses that generate greater than $1M/year in revenue. It didn’t start out that way.
Caitlin Copple Masingill and her co-founder are on a mission to give more women the power, money, and decision making authority to make a big dent in the world. She didn’t originally think that she was building an agency. She intended to build a small owner-operator business that could meet her goals. It didn’t take too long before she met people who helped her expand those goals. Now she’s proud to employ a team, offer healthcare on day one, and operate an unabashedly capitalist business in a markedly values-driven way.
Need help with your PR? Want to contact Caitlin? Visit:
https://fullswingpr.com/
Connect with Caitlin on Instagram:
https://www.instagram.com/fullswingpr/
If you need help with your small business or agency contact the Reynolds Online Agency:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
To get on the waiting list for Kelly’s group coaching program click here:
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
Join Kellys’ facebook community here:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
Timestamps:
05:18- The cool part about ignoring conventional wisdom
07:15- The thing that people don’t talk about enough
12:48- The team Caitlin built & planning future headcount
16:50- The single most game-changing thing that put her on the path to running a 7-figure company
23:21- How Caitlin gets clients
26:20- Who free webinars don’t work for.
29:42- A day in the life
34:58- The hard part of letting go of the work
38:54- The biggest mistake Caitlin made building the business
In the last few weeks, I’ve seen this trend in some businesses and since I like things to be streamlined and running well, it drives me mad. What I’m seeing is a push to go for the cheapest option by default.
I’m not talking about those of you who are just getting started and piecing it together. I’m not advising you to charge lots of things and go into debt. Admittedly, I know some of this is fear from the talk of recession and I’m not saying that cheap things don;t have their place but the cheapest option as the default choice is just DUMB.
You need to look at what you are getting for your money. What is the best value.
Need Help with your agency or small business? Contact Kelly Here: Reynolds OBM Agency
Join Kelly's facebook group HERE:Reynolds OBM on Facebook
Get on the waiting list for Kelly's next group coaching program: Get Your Agency Together Group Coaching
Luisa Alberto was variously told that she should be an artist, a physical therapist, a philosopher. Now she’s found her calling running People First Finance which is run by, staffed by, and supports female run businesses.
In this episode of our Agency Series, Kelly and Luisa talk about building a great business culture, the need for financial competence in business owners, and much more.
For more from Luisa visit her homepage:
www.peoplefirstfinance.com
Or on instagram @peoplefirstfinance
For help with your agency or small business contact Reynolds OBM at:
www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kelly’s facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
08:00- How a landlord accidentally set Luisa on a path to financial literacy.
10:30- The windy road to realizing you need to hire people
23:40- What brings her team culture together
28:12- Getting contractors to be every bit as devoted as employees
35:57- The problems clients keep showing up with and the core of Luisa’s business
44:43- Having enough space to look at your business objectively
Luisa Alberto was variously told that she should be an artist, a physical therapist, a philosopher. Now she’s found her calling running People First Finance which is run by, staffed by, and supports female run businesses.
In this episode of our Agency Series, Kelly and Luisa talk about building a great business culture, the need for financial competence in business owners, and much more.
For more from Luisa visit her homepage:
www.peoplefirstfinance.com
Or on instagram @peoplefirstfinance
For help with your agency or small business contact Reynolds OBM at:
www.reynoldsobm.com
Join Kelly’s facebook group:
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
08:00- How a landlord accidentally set Luisa on a path to financial literacy.
10:30- The windy road to realizing you need to hire people
23:40- What brings her team culture together
28:12- Getting contractors to be every bit as devoted as employees
35:57- The problems clients keep showing up with and the core of Luisa’s business
44:43- Having enough space to look at your business objectively
The other day someone told me, “You can’t scale a broken business, you need to fix it first.” It was one of those moments when something sounds so profound and so obvious at the same time. Like I already knew this but I was hearing it for the first time. This idea is one of those things that gets skipped A LOT but when you actually think about it, it’s so important. So today I wanted to talk about that, about not scaling a broken business.
In order to scale a business well, it needs to be running well or it all falls apart. It’s like an old car; at slow speeds for stops around town it’s ok if the brakes aren’t great and everything is being held together with rust. But when you hit the interstate you need all the parts to work.
Now, when you ask most entrepreneurs what their business needs, you will almost always get “more leads” or some version of that as the answer. So much focus is put on getting people in the door and selling and everything else is less important. Until of course everything breaks.
I’m a self professed ops nerd so I may seem a bit biased here, but hear me out. What if what you need isn’t just more business?
For help with your business visit Reynolds OMB.
Join Kelly's Facebook group.
The other day someone told me, “You can’t scale a broken business, you need to fix it first.” It was one of those moments when something sounds so profound and so obvious at the same time. Like I already knew this but I was hearing it for the first time. This idea is one of those things that gets skipped A LOT but when you actually think about it, it’s so important. So today I wanted to talk about that, about not scaling a broken business.
In order to scale a business well, it needs to be running well or it all falls apart. It’s like an old car; at slow speeds for stops around town it’s ok if the brakes aren’t great and everything is being held together with rust. But when you hit the interstate you need all the parts to work.
Now, when you ask most entrepreneurs what their business needs, you will almost always get “more leads” or some version of that as the answer. So much focus is put on getting people in the door and selling and everything else is less important. Until of course everything breaks.
I’m a self professed ops nerd so I may seem a bit biased here, but hear me out. What if what you need isn’t just more business?
For help with your business visit Reynolds OMB.
Join Kelly's Facebook group.
Once upon a time Mary Zargarian had a great life in corporate America. Now she directs all of her leadership skills and hard work into building her agency.
Zargarian Consulting helps its client roster of service-based, largely women-owned businesses and nonprofits optimize their workflows and free up time for their core priorities. On this podcast she gets specific about why she hires the smartest people she can, how to have tough conversations with clients, and how you can accidentally encourage bad behavior from clients.
Timestamps:
00:58- The change from solo operator to agency owner.
06:55- What offers Mary focuses on and why.
08:20- When clients say, “We don’t have systems.”
12:00- How Mary structures her agency
17:45- Why you should hire strong people that are smarter than you.
23:59- How agency owners get in trouble with the mis-match between client fees and sub costs
28:45- When you sometimes enable poor behavior from your clients
32:34- Having tough conversations with clients
42:10- Finding new team members
Visit Zargarian Consulting
Reynolds OBM's Homepage
Join the Facebook Group
So today is 100.
If you have listened for a while you've heard lots about where we have been already and right now I'm so focused on looking forward that I can’t wrap my head around looking back. I've actually been avoiding recording this episode for days and I think it’s just that I didn’t want to look back. There's too much excitement about what’s to come.
But first I want to celebrate. 100 episodes is a really big deal.
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
https://www.facebook.com/reynoldsobm/
http://www/reynoldsobm.com/gyat
On today’s episode from our Agency Series we meet Laura Kelly the Founder and CEO of TulaBooks, a modern bookkeeping business. I talk to her about why all of her people are employees and not contractors, how she chose to be an agency and not just a freelance CFO, and we nerd out on software that makes agency life easier.
Laura has more than 15 years of accounting, finance and HR experience, and she brings that knowledge to her small business clients every day. She is an expert number cruncher, but her true passion is storytelling and translating your numbers to show you what they really mean for your business and your life.
Timestamps:
02:20- Why are you not just a bookkeeper? Why make this agency?
05:25- Transitioning from an hourly CFO to an agency owner
08:10- wanting to burn it to the ground
18:15- Scheduling work for your team
21:00- Software to use on clients who don’t know where they spend their money
25:30- Being your “Numbers Translator”
30:15- How Laura picks her people and onboards them
40:32- The things that make Laura’s agency different
43:15- Why Laura has such low turnover
44:45- The benefits of becoming a “removable CEO”
Visit Tulabooks:
https://www.tulabooks.co/
Visit ReynoldsOBM:
http://www.reynoldsobm.com
Join the Facebook group:
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I see a lot of business owners jump around so much they never get to the success. Each time I talk to someone, they have a whole new offer, or team or strategy. When they don’t see immediate results, they change everything. I get it. As soon as I publish something and I have not sold a million of something I feel like a failure. But just because there aren’t immediate results, doesn’t mean it’s the wrong thing. It could just be no one saw it yet or that the messaging around the thing needs some tweaks.
Consistency is the long term payoff. If you knew that you would make a million/have success in 2 years if you just posted on LinkedIn everyday, wouldn’t you do it? But we don’t.
Ashley Weigl makes systems sexy. She’s a certified OBM, certified Dubsado Specialist, and Clickup Extraordinaire. Her boutique agency was born in the pandemic but she had no idea where how it would thrive. In Ashley's experience most small business owners don’t know how much they’re their own bottleneck. In this pod she gets honest about the challenges of matching contractor time with client time, how being detail oriented aids building culture, and she warns against letting negative thinking about the economy distract from the work of growing a company.
Join the waitlist for Kelly's group coaching program.
You can vist Ashley's homepage HERE.
when I started growing a team, I thought I had to train them on everything because I knew it all. Or I would be aggravated that they didn’t know how to do it exactly like me because I knew the only good way to do it. The only right way. I would freak out if they messed up and used that as proof that I was the only one who could do these things and it was proof that I shouldn’t delegate.
Sound familiar?
Kelly's group coaching program:
http://www.reynoldsobm.co/gyat
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Today I am here to remind you that you don’t know everything.
I’m not saying that you have to admit this to your significant other but you need to admit this to yourself.
One of my favorite things about my agency is that I get to work together with like minded people. They have fresh eyes and different experiences.
You will have to show them around yes and that’s what all those systems and processes are for. But please remember to create a culture where your team feels like they can speak up and give suggestions. Let them help you. They will know things, different things, that can make the service you provide to your clients better and your business stronger.
The group coaching program: Get Your Agency Together
Welcome back to another episode in our Agency Series! On today’s show:
Audra King (M.Ed.) is obsessed with making business building easy and accessible. She has built a 6-figure business by constantly asking herself (and her clients) "How can we make this feel fully aligned and fun?"
She backs up her big-picture planning and coaching offers with a full-service agency, so you can start, pivot, and grow your business with ease.
Her driving beliefs? When women create wealth, we make the world a better place, and to always Follow the Fun!
Timestamps:
00:53- Listen to a cat sneeze
04:15- How Audra started an agency without knowing it
09:16- Making choices about what you want to work on in your own business
11:57- The feeling that drove Audra to build her company’s strategy
14:33- The scary thing about narrowing a client base
18:20- How to know when you’ve taken on too much
28:38- How Audra structures her team
36:07- Audra’s three (or 3.5) step process for hiring
40:25- Why contractors with prices too low is a red flag
47:50- Matching up client payments to contractor payments.
Audra's workshops: shelovesherbiz.com/ftfworkshop
Audra's homepage: shelovesherbiz.com
Kelly's homepage: reynoldsobm.com
GROUP COACHING PROGRAM NOW OPEN CLICK HERE
I’ve been thinking a lot about how we compare our businesses to those of other people. Especially now and especially through social media lots of stories pop up about “six-figure” launches or “seven and eight figure” agencies.
Don’t compare yourself to these. You don’t even know what you’re comparing yourself to. You have no idea what’s happening behind those headlines. Those launches may be losing money. Those companies may be bringing home 1% of what they bring in.
You have to run your own race. Keep your head down. Build the business and get the lifestyle you want. Don;’t compare yourself to other people. Especially when you have no idea what their situation really is. Everything else is just flash and marketing. The only thing that matters is if you’re making progress against your own goals.
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Rachel Pereyra has always been the breadwinner for her family. When pandemic hit and she started her agency it had to provide for the family from the first day. In this episode we look at her journey and how she makes decisions for herself and her company.
About the guest:
Rachel is the queer founder of Mastermind Business Services, an operations agency built to help other women and LGBTQ+ led businesses generate a greater impact on the world. She has over a decade of operations + leadership experience between corporate and the online world that she leverages to lead her team and help her clients achieve their goals. Outside of her work life, Rachel is also a wife, a mother of two humans, and a pizza addict who lives just outside of Austin, Texas.
Timestamps:
00:55- Introducing Rachel Pereyra
03:42- The reckoning that Rachel sees in the online business space post-pandemic
07:38- How Rachel structures her team
10:37- Rachel’s plan to get out of the work of the business and let her team run
14:50- “F*ck it Mondays”
16:27- How do you look at the finances in your company? How do you decide to spend money?
19:57- Matching up client payments with contractor invoices
22:50- Making money as the agency owner and the time/money trade off
27:40- How Rachel runs internal communications between her team, her contractors, and her clients.
34:31- Don’t take on the energy of your clients.
38:20- Picking team members
45:04- Team members that are smarter than you.
Mastermind Business Services
Reynolds OBM Homepage
Kelly's Group Coaching Program
Take a step back and look at your business. To make the company what you want it to be you should ask yourself some hard questions.
This week I’m on vacation with family but while we sit on the beach my mind will still spend some time on my company. I’m asking myself hard questions that can reveal where I need to put my energy in the coming months. Here’s a few you should be asking of yourself. If you don’t know the answers you should be finding help.
Today I expand on each of these and others:
- How much can you let go in your business - realistically?
- Can your team run things without you?
- Will your business break if you brought on 5 more clients? What about 10?
- What happens if a team member leaves? What if it’s more than one? What if it’s your right hand person?
Visit the Homepage
Join the Facebook Group
Link to the Group Coaching Program
Take a step back and look at your business. To make the company what you want it to be you should ask yourself some hard questions.
This week I’m on vacation with family but while we sit on the beach my mind will still spend some time on my company. I’m asking myself hard questions that can reveal where I need to put my energy in the coming months. Here’s a few you should be asking of yourself. If you don’t know the answers you should be finding help.
Today I expand on each of these and others:
- How much can you let go in your business - realistically?
- Can your team run things without you?
- Will your business break if you brought on 5 more clients? What about 10?
- What happens if a team member leaves? What if it’s more than one? What if it’s your right hand person?
Visit the Homepage
Join the Facebook Group
Link to the Group Coaching Program
We continue the Agency Series with Erica Fullerton, CEO/Owner of Ovello, an agency that serves primarily small businesses and MLM/Network Marketers. Erica’s path to entrepreneurship started as a virtual assistant during maternity leave and has grown to a 15 person team. Today we talk about running a business, the challenges or hiring and building trust, how she came to choose the services she offers, and much more. Some of the highlights include:
Timestamps:
01:01- You’re offering admin and social media services. How did you pick those as offers?
02:17- Why Erica decided to go the agency route instead of another structure
03:23- How Erica structured her agency.
06:13- How Erica still spends her time.
07:25- How big is your team? Are they employees or contractors? How big do you want to get?
10:16- How do you prepare for the inevitable exit of your contractors?
12:08- What kind of focus do you place on culture internally?
15:30- How do you keep track of everything? What tools do you use?
20:52- What makes your agency different?
23:45- What are the tough parts of running your agency?
25:38- How do you pick VAs, onboard, and build trust so that you can hand them off to your clients?
30:06- How are you structured on pay? Are your people on retainer? Hourly? When do you pay them?
34:42- How have the last couple years affected your business? How are you looking at the next year?
Erica Fullerton-:
Ovello's Homepage: www.clubovello.com
FB: https://www.facebook.com/clubovello
IG: www.instagram.com/club.ovello
Kelly Reynolds:
Visit our Homepage
Check out the Facebook group
Join the waitlist of Kelly's group coaching program.
Mindset is the thing. It keeps you going and makes you successful. Every business owner has a crisis around mindset sooner or later, but there are reasons it’s particularly important for the agency owner.
Agency owners have a different challenge than other business owners. They hand off their work, and their relationships to their clients, much earlier. In a small business the owner is front and center. At a franchise they rely on the brand of the parent operation. In the agency very quickly the client is handed over from you as the business owner to someone executing the work. They represent you no matter how old the client or how new the team member.
In this episode we talk about some of the mindset issues that plague business owners and agency owners in particular. We also talk about some techniques to help you navigate through those challenges.
Reynolds OBM on Facebook
The Get Your Agency Together Group Coaching Program
Welcome to our Agency Series. This week we talk to Sadie Prestridge, Owner of Prestridge & Co., an Virtual Assistant Agency. Sadie talks about her journey from VA to owner of a 12 person team, the big mistakes she made early on, and much, much more.
Timestamps:
01:00- How I got into this business.
04:30- How I figured out what I wanted to offer my clients.
09:03- The difference between a VA and an EVA
12:00- What kind of people Prestridge & Co. works with
19:45- About the choice to work or spend time with family as an agency owner
24:26- How Sadie structured her company, who she’s hired and how they work with clients
28:56- tools for people that want to get their agency together
29:41- Keeping client work consistent when somebody leaves or goes on vacation
34:19- Getting out of the client work and adapting to the work of running your own company
39:50- Meetings, communication, and culture with a remote team
43:18- Hiring contractors or employees how to pay people.
46:39- Structuring client packages
51:30- Financial breakdown of a billable hour.
54:05- The hardest part of running an agency.
57:16- What makes Prestridge & Co. different
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Guest Links:
https://prestridgeandco.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Prestridgeandcompany
You’re probably not the right person to do the work of documenting all your systems. Why? Because you’re too close to them and too busy. Think about it. Systems are just documented processes and every time a person gets good at a process they find little shortcuts to do the work well. Sometimes those shortcuts are technological (the cache of your computer jumps you to the right page or a cookie remembers something for you) and as a result when someone tries to repeat a process there are obvious simple things that aren’t listed in the system. It could be passwords you keep on a sticky note or a website you use to convert a file before you work on it. Things like this are common.
Then there’s the time value. Remember that if you want a process to be repeatable by someone else you’re already admitting that it’s something you shouldn’t be spending time on. Documenting that process is even less effective use of your time… until you scale that across your whole company.
Today’s cast is a hard look at why you aren’t better systematized in your company and what you can do about it.
It’s good to be back! I’ve been gone for a couple months from the podcast booth and now I want to tell you about the giant wrecking ball that hit my business and kept me from recording.
About 60 days ago one of my largest, oldest clients decided to sell his business. This company has about a hundred employees and generates revenue in the low eight figures. This meant a lot of uncertainty for my company but it also meant a ton of extra work in the short term. This podcast is the story about what happened.
reynoldsobm.com
Get Your Agency Together Group Coaching
I was the one with the laptop on vacation with my family just answering one more email. I was the one with too many clients that were always on fire which stressed me out. I was the one that really wanted to bring on help but had no idea how to even start.
Since I started coaching, I would see these same things come up over and over. I would see those overwhelmed business owners try to start an agency without any idea of what to do first or next. There would be chaos. There would be times where the agency owner would be working so hard and couldn’t pay themselves because all the money went right back out the door.
I also found that some people that came to me for private coaching really needed more structure. More step by step guidance to find their path to the agency they wanted to build, that worked for their lives.
1-on-1 coaching goes where the client needs it to go but sometimes I just want to roll out big chunky, strategic tools that help the kind of situations I used to be in because I know how painful those situations are. My group coaching program is where I get to do that.
You can find out more about what I do by visiting Reynolds Online Agency.
You can find a link to the Get Your Agency Together program HERE.
First thing's first! Seats are available for Get Your Agency Together check it out HERE while you still can!
Today I have something special for you! Last week I asked my friend Jenni Davis of JMD Business Solutions to go live with me in my Facebook group to talk about Profit First which is a financial method for handling your business finances. And since my mission is to help service providers build profitable and sustainable agencies, I thought I would share it here on the podcast as well.
We get into what #ProfitFirst is, and how the process helps small business people. Jenni tells us a lot about how she advises and educates her clients so they can run their businesses without the financial whipsawing that can sometimes happen in a small business.
We talk about:
- Who much money a company should have in reserve
- How many bank accounts a small business should have & why (it’s more than you think!)
- How her clients learn to expand their margins
- Why so many small business owners get confused into thinking things are good when they look at their revenue
You can find Jenni HERE.
Join the Get Your Agency Together group now while there are still seats!
We start out just working hard to get clients. Then, there are so many things to get done for the clients that the working on our own businesses get pushed off. At some point, if all is going “well”, our business can’t function without us there all the time so we bring a laptop on vacation. Your business is not sustainable. For your health, your sanity, and your family’s happiness you can’t keep going like this.
It’s not about a certain amount of money or a certain team size. It's about making it sustainable and profitable. You need to be able to go on vacation. You need to know that nobody on your team can take you hostage by being irreplaceable.
I’m evangelical about this. You need to build things that don’t break. You need to build a thing that makes money for you and that doesn’t break if you get a sniffle. I’ve seen enough good hard-working people get dragged down by working 12 hour days.
Many people rely on my business. My family, and me team, for the income. My clients for the services. So I need to make that work in case I get sick or just need a break, and so do you.
Make sure to visit the website: Reynolds OBM Agency
To find out more about the group coaching program click HERE
2021 was a big year for me to try things out. I wanted to learn things and do things and take a crack at things I hadn’t done before. Boy, was it fun. Now, like a test kitchen for some high end restaurant, it’s time to shutter that part of the process and apply what I’ve learned to the menu.
When you’re in an intensive learning process you must conclude it to move forward. Students get a graduation but you never will. You’ll always have another thing to learn. In the academy you can go on learning forever. You can get more degrees and more certifications but in business the day comes when we have to take all that and go make money. We have to move forward because that was the whole point of learning something to begin with. If you get stuck in a learning cycle you won’t ever apply what you’ve been learning.
When you get to the end of a learning cycle for your business you need to decide if what you’ve learned is going to be part of your work or if you now know enough to hire well. If it’s going to be part of your work, what are you going to let go of? Last year I tried a lot of new things but I can tell you now, I’m not doing all of them these days. Instead, I know how to hire for them like a champ.
Featured on the pod today:
Reynolds OBM Agency
Get Your Agency Together Group Coaching Program
How many times have you thought, If I just had one day to catch up on this work I would be ok. But let me guess that day never comes and you are always behind. I have been here, friends. In this episode we’ll talk about why the day never arrives, how to finally get things done by using your schedule instead of a list, and why you should consider never doing anything from that list in the first place.
Links:
Visit us at: ReynoldsOBM
The details of my group coaching program are HERE.
These last few years have been crazy. So many things have changed; sometimes overnight.
Many of us don’t like change. We tell ourselves “Stay in your cozy corner. Be safe.” But that’s not how you grow. You’ve heard people talk about comfort zones and that you need to get out of them and it's true.
In this episode I talk about that feeling of wanting to burn it all down, drop all of your clients and start something else. DON”T DO THAT. You and your family have an addiction to food and shelter. Trust me I understand that urge but “embrace change” really also means “manage change responsibly”.
This episode of the podcast is brought to you by the Get Your Agency Together group coaching program. Another cohort opens this spring. You can be the first to get news about it by visiting Reynoldsobm.com and joining the waitlist. Click HERE for more details.
The purpose of my business is to create a lifestyle for me and my family. Everything I talk about on this podcast, everything I do as a teacher and coach, it’s all to help you do the same thing. It’s to help you build the lifestyle you want based on the needs of your life. Before I started this company, my corporate life was anything but geared to a family life. It’s why so much of my message is to avoid building a business that you don’t like.
With that in mind, I thought it would be fun to show you what it’s like around here, behind the scenes. What a typical week looks like. I thought about just showing you a day in my life but most of my days aren’t really that similar even if there is a rhythm to the week. Which is exactly how I like it.
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The next cohort of the Get Your Agency Together group coaching program starts this April. Get on the waiting list HERE.
As we approach 80 episodes, I’m suddenly aware that I’ve never talked about “offers” and I LOVE talking about offers. In my private and group coaching as well as my work in the DOO certification I love to push people’s assumptions about what they think they should be offering and why. There are tons of people I talk to who think they need to offer something they don’t like doing or need to keep offering something that isn’t making them any money. It’s crazy.
You’re the boss. The market will tell you what you can sell, not your clients or your history. Not only that but it’s ok to change your mind. Nobody says your company needs to keep its offers written in stone. As your life changes your offers may change too.
Here are some questions you should be asking yourself from time to time:
- What do you like to do?
- What don’t you like to do?
- What are you doing now that works?
- What are you doing now that doesn’t work?
- What do you want to be known for?
For more info and more great podcasts visit the show's blog page at Reynolds OBM. To be the first to know when the next round of Get Your Agency Together group coaching opens by joining the waitlist HERE.
You need to do the hard things. Running a business is really hard on the average day but there are always things that you hate to do more than all the rest; things that you’d put off and avoid if you could. Just like breaking up with a perfectly nice person when you’ve realized that it’s not the relationship that you want. You may hurt them but you’ve got to do it. Those are the kinds of decisions you need to embrace making for the sake of your business.
For example, I don’t tend to like the way I look on camera but video is such a powerful tool for my marketing and group program that I’ve had to make my peace with that. There are all kinds of uncomfortable things like that which you have to face to run your company well.
Do the hard things. Here are some of my hard things on my list:
- Ending relationships with Clients
- Ending relationships with your own people
- Using and appearing in different media
- Take opportunities to get in front of strange audiences
This time of year there’s a lot of talk about plans for the new year. We should all be deliberate about our growth plans if we can. That means looking hard at opportunities and plans you’ve made because there are three kinds of growth. This week I talk about all three.
There’s PLANNED GROWTH where you set out what you’re going to do to get to your goals. Then there’s SERENDIPITOUS GROWTH. These are the happy accidents and surprises that pop up along the way. Serendipity is a shortcut. It’s not being so rigid in what your want that you refuse something better. Then there’s DISTRACTING GROWTH. Distracting growth usually looks like a gift at the time but turns out to be a booby trap. It sucks time away and consumes resources. It’s the kind of client that pays well but has so many demands on you that you can’t make any headway on growing the business. Distracting growth is the big new contract that keeps you working 100 hours/week right after you make a goal of spending more time with family. Distracting growth is the kind that means you need to re-direct your budget to a new hire in a new skill when what you really need is someone for your company team not your client team.
In this episode:
- The importance of taking a moment to get a plan together for your growth
- Giving yourself the flexibility to accept serendipitous changes to that plan
- Making sure your conscious of the danger when an opportunity comes along that moves you AWAY from your goals
A few months back I made a commitment to run my business for four months just on the merits of the decisions and not on what would be comfortable. That was a lot harder than I expected. I had to learn a ton. Work really late. Confront hard deadlines and build things I'd never imagined building. But it was a great experience and I'm so happy and so proud of what I accomplished. Here's what happened.
In this episode:
- Everything I tried from building a funnel to paddle boarding
- Why I want this to be a permanent part of my life
- The things I'll change when I start this again
- The cost of being uncomfortable
For more visit: ReynoldsOBM
For my agency coaching group program: GetYourAgencyTogether
I was asked what I thought about the decision of a small online company to bring on 5 full-time professionals as employees after reaching only a couple hundred thousand dollars in annual revenue. At first my head exploded but the truth is that the question is complicated.
On the show today I talk about the ways you can look at this question and how you should be thinking about hiring for your company. The truth is that the answer to the question comes down to mindset and situation. The decision to hire or use contractors really comes down to you. Do you know your numbers? What work are they doing? How are you going to use them?
These and many more questions get addressed in this week’s episode.
If you are a long time listener, you know I have actively avoided launching for myself and my clients. And yet here we are, a few days since I closed the doors on my first launch ever for my new group coaching program Get Your Agency Together. How did it go? What did I learn? Will I ever do this again? Listen in today as I take you behind the scenes of all the craziness.
This week we’re replaying one of the most downloaded episodes from our archives… Episode 18: My Client Onboarding Process.
This was recorded in late summer of 2020 but I still use this process today. The beginning of anything is an important time to get things right. So in the spirit of starting 2022 off on the right foot this episode lays out how I start off work with a new client.
Stay tuned to the end for news about some of the exciting things I’ve built for 2022 including details on a group coaching program I’ve built especially for people like you.
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To create a process that ensures a smooth transition from prospect to client is no easy feat. In today’s episode of the podcast, I share my very own client onboarding process. I discuss the basics of what a client onboarding process is, as well as the tools I use to make it happen so that my clients get to experience a seamless onboarding experience.
Topics Covered:
- The basics of my client onboarding process
- Key tools/software to make the process easier
- How a great onboarding experience sets the tone for a great client experience overall
As we bring the year to a close here at Reynolds OBM we’re swamped with projects both professional and personal. So this week we’re replaying one of the most downloaded episodes from our archives… Episode 3: Focusing During Chaos.
This was recorded in April 2020 when the whole world was going to hell the first time around with the pandemic. With Omicron causing chaos and uncertainty, I thought this was the perfect thing to revisit.
Stay tuned to the end for a look at some of the exciting things I’ve built for 2022 including details on a group coaching program I’ve built especially for people like you.
For more info and show notes: http://www.reynoldsobm.com
As we bring the year to a close here at ReynoldsOBM we’re swamped with projects both professional and personal. So this week we’re replaying one of the most downloaded episodes from our archives… Episode 29: HOW TO TEACH YOUR SYSTEMS.
Stay tuned to the end for a look at some of the exciting things I’ve built for 2022 including details on a group coaching program I’ve built especially for people like you.
How do you teach someone else to do the thing only you know how to do? How do you get the knowledge out of your head and out to someone else so they can help you?
Let’s start with all the roadblocks we throw up:
- No one will do it as well as I do (yes buttercup, they can)
- It will be faster if I do it myself (this once maybe, but not not forever)
- What if they mess up? (they will, you will, we all will mess up at some point, deal)
- How do I train someone else without it taking over my life (let me show you)
We have spoken about figureitoutness before, where you let that smart person you hired figure something out. And that’s great. But sometimes there is a process that is long and complicated and instructions would be great. No one wants someone to guess at how to run payroll.
For more info & show notes: http://reynoldsobm.com/
Today’s podcast is a reminder to all of you out there who try to do all the things yourself that you need help to grow. Don’t go it alone. Bring in the people that can help you get out of your own way and focus on what you love to do and are good at.
After 5.5 years as an agency owner and a year plus as an agency coach, I have gotten the same questions over and over about building an agency. As I asked what the roadblocks to building an agency were for all of you, the same ones come up again and again. Today we are talking about what those roadblocks are and how asking these questions inspired me to develop my new group coaching program, Get Your Agency Together - starting Jan 2022. Sign up for the waitlist at www.reynoldsobm.com/getyouacttogether
In the beginning of September, I made a decision. I realized that I was avoiding making decisions and doing big things in my business because I was scared and didn’t want to be uncomfortable. So I decided to be intentionally uncomfortable for the rest of the year to see how that would change things. I am two months into this experiment with an update on my progress and hopefully inspiration for you to get uncomfortable too.
This time of year I anxiously await the arrival of my new huge desk calendar. Nerdy, I know, but hear me out. That calendar is the start of my end-of-year work and next year’s planning. I get to lay everything out and make intentional decisions for my business based around my family and life. Join me today to nerd out on planning!
“Clients only want to work with me.” I hear this all the time - but it’s not true. Today we are talking about this big roadblock many of you have when creating an agency. What do you do when a client only wants you? How can you show that that working with an agency has so many more benefits?
Over this past summer, I did a lot of thinking about what I wanted the next evolution of Reynolds OBM to look like. Everything is growing and growing and I wanted to make sure I was intentional with the decisions I was making. I didn’t want to work so hard to create something I didn’t like in the end. So today I am sharing the questions I tried to answer for myself to make intentional decisions on growth for my business so it remains something I love to do.
Last spring I started this podcast as a reaction to the pandemic. I wanted to help business owners not panic so they could get through the craziness. The Sink Handle name is an inside joke that I thought explained that mood, but wasn’t really a match with the rest of the business branding. So now I am changing that. Listen for all the details.
It seems everyone is talking about their comfort zone these days. It can be so hard to do things when they are uncomfortable or just don’t know where to start. And sometimes you have to power through and figure it out. But wouldn’t it be easier to get help from someone who’s been there? Today we are talking about comfort and delegating and my new workshop!
This is your reminder not to panic. The world is a little crazy, ok a lot crazy. COVID is making a mess of all our fall plans. It's heavy right now. But we have done hard things before. And we will be ok.
Since we have been talking about systems and delegation this past few weeks, I thought it would be a great time to revisit Ep 21 How to Delegate So You Don’t Lose Your Mind. This is where I break down my simple process to delegate including my task breakdown sheet which helps me figure out what I need help with, what job I am hiring for and then creates a plan for the new hire. Enjoy!
Bad systems can cause chaos in your business, costing you time, money and sanity. Last week we looked at how to spot bad systems in your business. And since I am a problem solver, I couldn’t just leave it there! So today we are looking at ways to fix those bad systems and the kind of impact that can have on your business.
Systems run businesses. They are how things get done. But what if your systems are in bad shape? What if those systems are making it harder for your business to succeed? Today we are looking at what bad systems look like and the kinds of problems they can cause.
As I sat at the pool last weekend, I thought I would quickly write up an org chart to lay out how my new and future team would lay out. But writing it down in black and white brought up a ton of questions about how I want Reynolds OBM to be structured now and down the line. Do I want to be involved in managing my team? Should I make the hires, and put them in the places others thought I should? Today I am walking you through my thoughts on the different pathways for team structure here and what is going into these decisions.
My team at Reynolds OBM has had some changes in the last few weeks. Since delegation is always a hot topic, I thought I would take you through the steps I am taking to delegate to new team members, how we are handling the changes on our team, and how the systems we have in place made it all easier.
Our businesses don’t exist in a vacuum. We interact with people all the time, we rely on our relationships. And as things change, those relationships change as well. What happens when a client or team member relationship ends? We are talking today about both the mindset and operations side of ending a relationship.
It’s late June 2021. We’re heading out of the house after a long pandemic hide-away. The 4th of July is in two weeks. This is a good time to remind you that it’s OK to take a break from your business and that when you do you shouldn’t need to check your email all day long.
You can build any business you want to. Build one with solid systems and a good team so you can go on vacation and then actually BE on vacation.
Today my guest is Viv Guy and we are talking all about what happens when we leave corporate and what that does to your mindset. What comes with us? So many “shoulds” (We should work 40 hours a week (or more)???) and habits that don’t serve us here in the entrepreneurial business world. So today we are shaking off the corporate bull and working to create businesses that are right for us and the life we want.
The online business world is full of courses and trainings that show you how to build a successful business just like some successful person on social media did. You can follow their framework and bam, success. But what you might end up with is this business that has nothing to do with you or what you want for your life. Today we are talking about how to build your business, not someone else's.
How do you run your agency without having all your time spent on managing your team? Systems and learning to let go. This week we dive into the systems part. What systems do you need so you are not the bottleneck, or the micromanager?
If you are a service provider and business is going well, you will get to the point where you are tapped out on time. You hustle harder and feel overwhelmed. You might ask for advice. And more often than not, that advice will be to build an agency. But is that the right move for you?
Small business evolves over time. It has to. We should always be looking at how to make this the best business for right now and the future. And since I have been getting some questions lately on business models and how my own business has changed over time, today I am walking you through the evolution of Reynolds OBM. From working part time for one person locally, to never wanting to leave my son once he was born, to building my agency and now expanding into new offers like VIP days and 1:1 coaching.
You work so hard to bring your company to life. You work so hard to build a team and find clients and do the job damn well. When it’s done with, you need just as good a strategy to pay your fair share but ONLY your fair share of taxes.
This is something I’ve been thinking about a lot recently. As small business owners we get whatever is left when the client’s checks cash and the bills are paid, but often somewhere between ¼ and ⅓ of what’s left goes to the IRS. Part of your job is to be as mindful of the strategies you use to minimize that amount as you are about every other dollar you spend.
In today’s episode I bring on a guest, Al Saverino of Edwards Ingram. They advise on tax strategies for small business owners and I can tell you from personal experience that they’re worth their weight in gold. Once he began looking at the way I’ve built Reynolds OBM, I knew I wanted him to be a guest on the show.
There is sooooo much talk about “6 Figure” businesses and how that is supposed to be a barometer for success. But revenue is not profit. Revenue just means that you brought the money in, not that you get to keep it. Profit is what we are after. If it all goes back out the door, no matter how much comes in, we are not successful.
I had to take a few days off last week because I was sick. I spent a lot of that time thinking about all the things I haven’t let go of yet in my business and how it was getting me upset to not be working as a result. A lot of us have this problem; we can’t get sick, or go on vacation, or spend the extra time with the family, because we have a fear of letting go of some part of our businesses. That’s what we get into on this week’s episode of the Sink Handle Podcast.
VIP Days seem to be everywhere these days and with good reason. They are a focused and efficient way to get a ton of expert help in just one day. In case you haven’t heard about them yet, or just aren’t sure what they are all about, we are talking VIP Days today. What they are, who they are great for and how they can give you a huge transformation in just one day. I loved the idea so much that I created the Get Your Act Together System Intensive to help small businesses get their back end ops in shape.
Last week we talked about WHY you need SOPs in your business for growth, sanity and to be able to take a vacation. This week is all about the whole. We are diving into my exact process of getting the knowledge out of your head, fast and easy. To get you started, you can get my very own SOP template that we use at Reynolds OBM every day. Go to reynoldsobm.com/getyouracttogether for your copy.
Today we are going back to basics, talking about SOPs, what they are and why every business, yes even yours, needs them. I am trying my best not to nerd out too much and just show that SOPs and systems are the way to growth, to delegating and to being able to take time away from your business. And if you want help getting started, check out the Get Your Act Together Systems Intensive that is a one day systems jump start to get you out of the day to day chaos.
When people contact me for help they fill out a form and one of the things I ask is, “What do you need help with?” A surprising number of them choose “I don’t know.” from the dropdown. They don’t know what kind of help they need, just that they are overwhelmed and exhausted. They need a plan. They need strategy. They need to be able to find things in the chaos.
Yes, these are the things I help with as a Director of Ops, but not everyone needs that level of service or is ready for it. So I have created Get Your Act Together as short intensives to get you set up for success in just a day or two. Today we are breaking down what these new services look like.
Endless spam-y emails. Content-less content. Constant asks for phone time from strangers. Disingenuous connection requests. These are just a few of the terrible sales tactics I’ve been hit up by in the last month. Why are so many people working so hard to come off so badly? And as business owners do we have better options to sell than these yucky tactics? Yes! Yes we do.
In my Get Your Act Together Strategy Sessions, we always start with Mission, Vision and Values. I think it’s incredibly important but I sometimes get push back that it’s only for big companies with lofty goals. But MVV is important for any level of business, even if it’s just you in your pjs working your side hustle.
How do you decide what you spend your money on in your business? Do you just try to spend as little as possible no matter what? Do you buy all the things because you hope one of them will work? Today we are talking about the 4 things I think come up when making these decisions and what we should focus on instead.
Someone recently told me that they were working on getting better at saying “no”. It’s a hugely important thing for business owners to be able to do.
In the last week I had a conversation with a client that woulds have been perfect for me. Right size company, right sector, needed everything that we do here at ReynoldsOBM. I walked away from the negotiation. Why? Because the way he wanted to work, the price he wanted to pay, and the problems he would have created didn’t line up with what I’m doing with my company. You have to be able to say no and walk away.
Bonus: a funny Thanksgiving story about how my husband told my grandmother that he didn’t mind if her cat got killed. (no cats were harmed as part of this story)
Whoops! This episode didn’t get out on time so instead of the subject I planned for I’m talking about how that can happen. How when you’re busy spinning a lot of plates you’re bound to have a few drop.
For a lot of us business owners there’s real tension between getting your clients’ work done and getting your business’s work done. It bothers me. I don’t like to drop the ball. It feels like going to school without having done your homework. But the truth is that this happens over and over throughout business and life. This episode is about being realistic with that fact.
ALSO: There’s also a sneak peak at an offer Reynolds OBM is building right now!
The inauguration this week got me thinking about the power and opportunity for women. On one hand, there is so much opportunity for women to be smart, make money and still see their families by working online. On the other hand there are the businesses that get the chance to work with incredible talent in different ways that don’t revolve around hiring a full time employee. The online space opens up a flood of talent that business owners have never had access to before and connects smart, savvy women so they can build success around the life they want.
If I ask 10 people what their goals are for 2021, I would bet at least 9 of them would mention how much money they want to make. But how many goals would they have that don’t revolve around revenue? Making goals in the vacuum of income means we leave out so much of the rest of our life: our family, our health, our sanity. And that is the good stuff we tell ourselves we are working for. Today we are looking at all the other goals we should making to have a well rounded and happy life.
It’s that time of year again! We get to make random money goals that don’t have any connection to our business! Of course we are not going to track our progress at all to know if we are even close over the year. Then at the end of the year we will find out that we definitely weren’t close and then will settle into our fate as failures. Avoiding numbers for the whole year because they are scary. Wait, what? That doesn’t sound fun? Of course not and today we are talking about how to break out of doing this on repeat. Because numbers aren’t scary, they are just facts
Don’t start the year feeling overwhelmed. Start the year by acknowledging that some things in your business aren’t going to work. In fact some things, you’re going to have to break. When you’re trying to grow, things break. We have to try and fail. That’s just collateral damage. Here’s how you should look at that to not get down on your progress or feel guilty about it.
After recently being asked when I would be taking off for the holidays, and realizing I had almost no downtime planned, I started thinking about how I spend my time. As I started thinking about how the last few months with all the crazy going on have played out, I was reminded that this is not the way I wanted it to go going forward. How do I want to spend my time? It’s so, so important yet it’s rarely included in our goals when we are planning. So I am going to be intentional about choosing what I spend time doing and making it part of my goals this year.
In the last few weeks I’ve been hiring for both ReynoldsOBM and for some of my client companies. We’re largely hiring outside contractors. This episode is a few “do’s and don’ts” for both sides involved in this process.
We are in the middle of bathroom renovation that has been a long time coming. When hiring someone to take care of it didn’t work out, we buckled in for a terrible stretch with a huge mess. But instead, I am embracing the mess and enjoying the process. Deciding it will be messy but that’s just part of the process, has made it more of an adventure than something awful. And has reminded me that I can enjoy the messy in my business as well, learn new things and be on my way.
Today we are going to #RallyTheGood. We are going to share all the love for other businesses, tell others about the awesome dinner or great haircut we had. We are going to share all those great experiences so that other people can find out about them and help support those businesses. Let’s help each other through the rest of this ridiculous year.
How do you teach someone else to do the thing only you know how to do? How do you get the knowledge out of your head and out to someone else so they can help you? How do you get over the fear they will mess up? Today we are talking all about how to train someone else your systems so you can do other things like the work you love or go on vacation finally.
As small business owners, we hear over and over again that we need to get out of our comfort zone and do big things. But how do you find the confidence to do these big things when the thought makes you want to puke? Today Megan Hamilton is going to help us fight that panic so you can get those big things done!
On today’s episode of the Sink Handle Podcast, I welcome special guest Dr. Holly Calloway, Owner of Powerhouse Consulting. Powerhouse is a business consultancy primarily serving women in the early stages of building their own business and who don’t necessarily know what the right next move is. Holly is expert at helping her clients niche down and focus on their specific target markets. She mentors groups of women through her community The Power House. Today we talk about:
- Vanity metrics
- Why talking to fewer kinds of people expands the number of people that will listen to you
- Why you have to keep in mind the need to sell something sooner or later
- The value of keeping a good group of other women (or close peers for you guys listening) around you.
Today I am so happy to welcome Teresa Cleveland to the podcast! She is my no nonsense friend who will tell me exactly what she thinks, especially about business. We both went through the OBM and Director of Op trainings but have ended up on very different paths. We are talking about why she loves to help business owners who have started the thing but hit a plateau, and how she helps them to get past it. Oh, and how there is enough business for us all.
We have reached 25 episodes!!! And in the great tradition of 25 being a quarter life crisis, I thought I would take a look at why I have this agency and how I got here. How I have come to see my business as the best way to do all the things I want in life, see my family once in a while and even have financial security.
As we are building our businesses, it’s so easy to fall into the trap of wanting someone to just tell us how to do it. But what we need is Figureitoutness. We buy courses and checklists so we know all the things. But we can’t know all the things. That’s why having figureitoutness is such a huge asset as business owners AND for the people we hire.
When you start getting things written down and SOPs created, it is really helpful if you can find them when you need them. Or someone else can find them so they can pick up a task, whether it’s for delegation or emergency. Today we are talking about my solution, the place to go to find everything.
Maybe you had plans and goals in January that haven’t exactly worked out since the apocalypse came in and made a mess. So let's take stock of where we are now after Q3, get rid of the things that aren’t working and make a plan to rock out the last 3 months of 2020. COVID be damned.
If you have decided to get help in your business, the next question is usually, “Where do I start?” Knowing what work to delegate and how to set someone up for success is vital to actually getting the work off your plate and not adding back a ton of time spent micro managing. Today we are looking at my system for how to figure out what tasks to start with, how to get the knowledge out of your head and easily transfer it to someone else.
This apocalypse thing is the gift that keeps on giving. This fall it’s creating crazy situations all around how our children are being schooled while we are working. My husband Brian and I are having conversations all the time about how to make this work so I asked him to be my guest this week to share what we are thinking, how we are planning and advice from our friends and colleagues on what is working for them.
When I first started bringing on team members, I made tons of mistakes. I didn’t set clear expectations. I didn’t give them the info and systems to be successful. Then blamed them for not being psychic. This may sound familiar to some of you, or maybe just a cautionary tale to others.
So today I wanted to walk through an overview of my team onboarding process in the same way I walked through client onboarding last week. Here are the basic steps and some things to look for to hire someone as a contractor and get them set up for success. These are the basics to either get you started if this is all new or to clean up your process if it isn’t exactly working.
How do you get a client from a lead to happily working with you? A great onboarding system. Today I am giving you an overview of how I walk a client through the process of getting started with Reynolds OBM so they feel taken care of and excited to get started.
This is not the time to panic and hoard your acorns. This is when we need to invest in ourselves and our businesses so we can grow in the crazy and be ready for the recovery.
In a crisis don't assume you know enough about suppliers and clients. What they do affects your business and it’s well worth a conversation to see how you could be affected and how you can mitigate that risk.
Being a Visionary, is all about big ideas and strategy, seeing the big picture. But lately I have seen that title used as an excuse for bad behavior. You can be a big thinker without being a jerk to the people around you.
These are some crazy times to be a business owner. We need to be realistic in where we are and not get stuck in the muck of thinking about where we “should be” right now. Let’s make some great decisions and rock this business gig.
There has been a lot of talk around here about getting help, but what kind of help do you need? Today I have asked Jenni David to help me walk through the different options out there, from virtual assistant to Director of Ops, and what you can expect.
I have encouraged you to delegate things in your business to help get more efficient. But, I don’t want to see you abdicate those responsibilities to someone else. You are the leader, you need to know what’s going on in your business.
Today I want to share the tools that have saved me time and money and sanity. I figured they might help you too, in this quest for getting more streamlined and efficient in the face of the apocalypse.
Scope creep is the worst. It feels like people are chipping away at your work. Making your offers clear makes everyone - you, your clients, and your team - happy.
Do you want to grow? Do you want to not be the only one who knows how to do everything? Do you want to go on vacation? Then you my friend, need systems.
Setting boundaries and expectations in your business are great for your sanity and making clients happy. And it’s way better than 4am panicked text message emergencies.
How much money are you leaving on the table while you work for free because you think it's cheaper to do it yourself? When we are trying to save money in our businesses, we often think if we do the work, it's free. It is not free. You are not free. This is not a hobby remember?
When we panic, we try to do all the things at once, fail miserably, then feel terrible. Instead, let's figure out what to prioritize and make a plan.
Who are you? Where do you see your business in the next 2 years? 5 years? What does your business stand for? All of these questions (and more) are covered in this week’s episode of the Sink Handle Podcast.
The stories we tell ourselves are everything. Just like when the guy in the movie gives himself a pep talk in the mirror, our mind listens to what we say. And we tell it a lot of bad things, like we can't. And it believes you.
Working from home is pretty awesome. I have been doing this for a few years and thought I would share some insight on what has worked to help everyone who is new to this thing. Especially when we are all stressed out. And remind you to shower for those video calls. Yes, we can tell when you don't
Working all day every day for free sucks, and it's also called a hobby. So let's have a business instead. Let's get the basics of finances in order so you know what's going on in your business. Let's also make sure we are as streamlined and profitable as possible. I know finances can be scary, but we can do this. No panic.
So with this whole apocalypse thing happening, everyone is freaking out. Especially small business owners. Except I think this is the exact time to remain calm, focused and make good decisions. So join me on this journey to fight panic and rock this business gig.
For more info on the Reynolds OBM Agency: https://reynoldsobm.com/