Latest / Glovisor Podcast / Stop Doing Everything: How to Delegate and Grow Your Business - Freedom Makers [Ep 99]

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Stop Doing Everything: How to Delegate and Grow Your Business - Freedom Makers [Ep 99] · Glovisor Podcast

0:00
Speaker 1: The secret to growing your business isn't working harder. Maybe
0:03
Speaker 1: it's learning what to let go of. Welcome to the
0:09
Speaker 1: Glowvisor podcast, where we explore business growth, communication, and personal
0:12
Speaker 1: development through real conversations with people who make an impact.
0:17
Speaker 1: Our guest is the president and founder of Freedom Makers,
0:20
Speaker 1: a company that connects small businesses with talented military spouses
0:24
Speaker 1: who provide flexible virtual assistants. Glowvisor welcomes... Laura Yang Renner.
0:31
Speaker 2: Thank you, Joe. Nice to see you.
0:32
Speaker 1: Oh, likewise. All right, Laura. So let's start it off.
0:36
Speaker 1: Tell us what your business is all about and who
0:39
Speaker 1: do you serve?
0:41
Speaker 2: As you mentioned, we primarily, we support small business owners
0:45
Speaker 2: and military spouses. So we help small business owners who
0:47
Speaker 2: need support, but they don't need enough support that would
0:51
Speaker 2: merit an employee, like even a part-time or full-time employee.
0:55
Speaker 2: They just need some sort of like micro time support. Meanwhile,
0:59
Speaker 2: we also support military spouses because then they can have
1:01
Speaker 2: the flexible work that they can take with them no
1:04
Speaker 2: matter when or where they're moving throughout the country and
1:06
Speaker 2: the world.
1:07
Speaker 1: Now, that's a really good idea. So how did this
1:10
Speaker 1: all start?
1:11
Speaker 2: Yeah, so I was doing recruiting for small business owners
1:14
Speaker 2: and I was just meeting a lot of business owners
1:16
Speaker 2: who needed help, but they didn't need enough help to
1:18
Speaker 2: have an employee, right? And then just with my military background,
1:23
Speaker 2: I was in the military and my brother is a
1:26
Speaker 2: And he was getting ready to move. And I found
1:28
Speaker 2: myself having that repeated conversation with my sister-in-law about what
1:32
Speaker 2: she was going to do for work at their next location.
1:35
Speaker 2: And it just made me think, here's this unmet need
1:37
Speaker 2: on the small business side and this untapped source of
1:40
Speaker 2: talent on the military spouse side. And that's what led
1:43
Speaker 2: me to pivot and start offering this matching service.
1:46
Speaker 1: How do you connect them? Because, I mean, I can
1:49
Speaker 1: imagine these families are moving around all around the world, right?
1:54
Speaker 1: And then you have these businesses that you're providing these
1:56
Speaker 1: service to. How do you coordinate all of this?
1:59
Speaker 2: We're always accepting spouses and we keep, they all have profiles, right?
2:04
Speaker 2: So we keep a community of where we know what
2:07
Speaker 2: they're interested in, what their strengths are, their availability, things
2:10
Speaker 2: like that. And then when a business owner comes to us,
2:12
Speaker 2: we actually meet with them and outline what kind of
2:15
Speaker 2: support they're looking for. And then, you know, freedom is
2:18
Speaker 2: a part of our name. It's also our guiding principle.
2:20
Speaker 2: So we don't ever, um, We don't force freedom makers
2:25
Speaker 2: to do work they don't want to do that they're
2:27
Speaker 2: not interested in because that's not freedom for them, right?
2:29
Speaker 2: So when we work with the business owner and we
2:32
Speaker 2: identify the kind of support they want, we then share
2:35
Speaker 2: that with the entire community of freedom makers. And whoever
2:38
Speaker 2: is available, interested, and considers himself qualified can ask to
2:43
Speaker 2: be considered for it. So from the ones who submit
2:46
Speaker 2: to be considered, we select up to four who we
2:48
Speaker 2: think are a good fit for the client. And then
2:51
Speaker 2: the business owner speaks with those four and they choose
2:54
Speaker 2: who they think is the best fit for them after
2:56
Speaker 2: they speak with those four. But also the freedom maker
2:58
Speaker 2: gets to say, too, like, yes, I still think I'm
3:01
Speaker 2: a good fit for that client as well. So we
3:03
Speaker 2: basically help them select each other, if you will. We
3:07
Speaker 2: take that overwhelm out of finding a client on the
3:10
Speaker 2: freedom maker side and finding support on the business owner side.
3:13
Speaker 1: Can you share some of the most common services that
3:15
Speaker 1: you provide?
3:16
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I'd say our common requests are things that
3:19
Speaker 2: require consistency, but not necessarily urgency, right? So posting on
3:23
Speaker 2: social media, managing the email, managing the calendar, and then
3:28
Speaker 2: managing follow-up, if that includes a CRM. Some of our
3:32
Speaker 2: business owners, their businesses are so small that they don't
3:35
Speaker 2: have a CRM, or maybe they're big enough, they just
3:37
Speaker 2: never had a CRM, but they need to follow up
3:39
Speaker 2: with their clients and their prospects and their partners. So
3:42
Speaker 2: relying on their freedom maker to take care of things
3:44
Speaker 2: like that for them, where Like I said, it's not urgent.
3:48
Speaker 2: It's not like, hey, I got this meeting in 15 minutes.
3:50
Speaker 2: Was it is it on Zoom or Google Meet or
3:52
Speaker 2: in person? Like that's not really how a virtual assistant
3:56
Speaker 2: can help because they may or may not be online
3:57
Speaker 2: at that moment. But the things that, like I said,
4:00
Speaker 2: require that consistency that you as a business owner may
4:04
Speaker 2: not be able to get to each day as you're
4:06
Speaker 2: working with your clients.
4:07
Speaker 1: Many business owners struggle. to delegate? Are they not ready
4:13
Speaker 1: to accept this new role in being able to just
4:16
Speaker 1: delegate some of those extra services?
4:19
Speaker 2: They can be. And that's part of it is helping
4:21
Speaker 2: business owners identify when are they ready to let go?
4:25
Speaker 2: And if so, what are they willing to let go of?
4:28
Speaker 2: And so if they're not ready to let go, then
4:31
Speaker 2: it's kind of like we never get off the ground
4:33
Speaker 2: with them, right? So that's one of the things we
4:35
Speaker 2: look for is are they ready to let go? And
4:37
Speaker 2: that's not That's partially mentally, are they prepared to let
4:44
Speaker 2: go of their baby? But it's also, are they set
4:47
Speaker 2: up to let go, right? Or is everything still in
4:49
Speaker 2: their head? And which is fine, but do they have
4:52
Speaker 2: an idea of how they can get it out of
4:53
Speaker 2: their head and into someone else's head? That's what we
4:57
Speaker 2: look for to make sure that they are ready to
4:59
Speaker 2: work with a virtual assistant.
5:01
Speaker 1: Yeah, because some of us are micromanagers. So sometimes it's
5:04
Speaker 1: a little tough to just say, here's my baby, as
5:07
Speaker 1: you said. And be able to just walk away.
5:09
Speaker 2: Yeah. So I remember hearing someone say, like, even micromanagers
5:14
Speaker 2: can delegate. When it comes there, it just comes down
5:18
Speaker 2: to being able to communicate the expectations and how often
5:22
Speaker 2: you want to be updated and what you want to
5:24
Speaker 2: be updated on, that type of thing. It's the ones
5:27
Speaker 2: who are so overwhelmed that they can't communicate or they
5:32
Speaker 2: can't check in with their assistant on, you know, hey,
5:35
Speaker 2: I want you to take care of this. And then
5:37
Speaker 2: the assistant takes care of it, and then the business
5:39
Speaker 2: owner never responds because they don't have time to review
5:42
Speaker 2: what the assistant did. That's the part is being ready
5:46
Speaker 2: to let go in that regard.
5:47
Speaker 1: You're the professional, and this is possibly the first time
5:51
Speaker 1: that a business owner has dealt with this situation. I'm
5:55
Speaker 1: sure there has to be a little bit of an
5:56
Speaker 1: educational component to it for them to learn what they
6:00
Speaker 1: should be separating between what they're going to hand off
6:03
Speaker 1: to someone or not.
6:05
Speaker 2: Yeah, and we actually have on our website, it's called
6:08
Speaker 2: a task audit. And it's where it can help business
6:11
Speaker 2: owners figure out what they should let go of, what
6:13
Speaker 2: they're ready to let go of, and what only they
6:16
Speaker 2: can do. So, you know, there are some things where,
6:18
Speaker 2: you know, standard business wisdom is the owner should not
6:24
Speaker 2: be doing X, Y, Z, but it really depends on
6:27
Speaker 2: what the owner is ready to let go of, right?
6:28
Speaker 2: So as an example, I remember someone telling me that
6:34
Speaker 2: I shouldn't be doing payroll as the owner because, you know,
6:38
Speaker 2: that's something that the finance team could take care of.
6:41
Speaker 2: And at the time, I mean, we were small enough,
6:43
Speaker 2: we didn't have a finance team, but at the time
6:45
Speaker 2: I was like, no, I can't, you cannot mess up
6:49
Speaker 2: people's pay, right? And this is our freedom maker payouts
6:53
Speaker 2: as well as our internal team payroll. I'm like, you
6:56
Speaker 2: cannot mess that up. And as a small business, you're
6:59
Speaker 2: always balancing what cash you have versus what you got
7:02
Speaker 2: to pay out. So to me, I didn't want anyone
7:06
Speaker 2: else to do it because I had to make sure
7:07
Speaker 2: it was right, even though others were saying that's something
7:11
Speaker 2: that a business owner typically doesn't take care of, right?
7:13
Speaker 2: So that's an example of, yes, there are common things,
7:17
Speaker 2: quote unquote, that business owners shouldn't be doing, but it
7:21
Speaker 2: really comes down to what are you willing to let
7:24
Speaker 2: go of, right? And so that task audit can help
7:26
Speaker 2: people figure out what they're comfortable letting go of.
7:30
Speaker 1: How long does it take to complete one of those
7:32
Speaker 1: task audits?
7:33
Speaker 2: It depends on because we broke it down in different
7:36
Speaker 2: sections like operations, marketing, finance, right? So the more of
7:40
Speaker 2: those you select, the longer it would take. But it's just,
7:43
Speaker 2: you know, some quick clicks on only I can do.
7:47
Speaker 2: It's like what you select and then some of the
7:50
Speaker 2: common tasks in those functions. And then you're selecting only
7:55
Speaker 2: I can do it. Someone else can do it or
7:57
Speaker 2: it could go either way, that kind of thing.
7:59
Speaker 1: Does it end up with a report of, Joe, you're
8:02
Speaker 1: the bottleneck of your own business?
8:06
Speaker 2: Maybe.
8:09
Speaker 1: Once it gets there and I'm reading this and it says, Joe,
8:11
Speaker 1: you're the bottleneck of your own business. Now what happens?
8:15
Speaker 1: I'll contact you with my report or you'll just automatically
8:18
Speaker 1: contact me.
8:19
Speaker 2: In general, there is a way to schedule a call
8:23
Speaker 2: with us after, but yet that's where that call happens
8:26
Speaker 2: is kind of outlining that. what all you want support
8:29
Speaker 2: on and how that might work using a virtual person, right?
8:34
Speaker 2: Like sometimes we'll get something where people are like, oh,
8:36
Speaker 2: you know, I know they're virtual, but can they be
8:39
Speaker 2: in the same time zone? And especially as a military spouse,
8:43
Speaker 2: they might be in the same time zone right now,
8:45
Speaker 2: but it doesn't mean they will be a year from now.
8:48
Speaker 2: So instead, what we advise is, how about we just
8:52
Speaker 2: ask if they're available to work in your time zone?
8:56
Speaker 2: So that way, you know, we actually had someone who
8:58
Speaker 2: was in Germany and she worked East Coast hours. And
9:02
Speaker 2: I don't know how she did it for three years,
9:04
Speaker 2: like that, because that's during dinner time in Germany, right?
9:06
Speaker 2: But she did it. And so, you know, if they're
9:08
Speaker 2: willing to work whatever hours their client is in, we
9:12
Speaker 2: can screen for that so that it doesn't, even when
9:15
Speaker 2: they move, the client's not impacted, right? So those are
9:19
Speaker 2: the kind of things that kind of conversations we have
9:21
Speaker 2: with the business owner on what kind of support they're
9:23
Speaker 2: looking for and, if they have questions about, well, I
9:27
Speaker 2: want to let go of sales. And it's like, how
9:31
Speaker 2: would I do that? Then we'll talk about, well, what
9:33
Speaker 2: parts of sales? Does it make sense to let go
9:36
Speaker 2: of the whole thing? Or are there certain parts of
9:38
Speaker 2: it that would make sense to have someone else do
9:40
Speaker 2: for you? And are you set up to have someone
9:43
Speaker 2: else do it for you?
9:44
Speaker 1: Would you be able to share a little bit of
9:46
Speaker 1: how AI is impacting the whole virtual assistant market?
9:53
Speaker 2: At least I can speak for us. And, you know,
9:56
Speaker 2: what we're seeing is it's really freeing up the business
10:00
Speaker 2: owner and the freedom maker to get more done in
10:05
Speaker 2: sort of, I want to say kind of on a
10:09
Speaker 2: deeper level, if that makes sense. Like, for example, I
10:12
Speaker 2: was just talking with someone the other day, you know,
10:14
Speaker 2: now she's using AI to write her social media posts, right?
10:19
Speaker 2: So what would have taken hour, two, three hours now
10:22
Speaker 2: takes less than five minutes because AI writes it for her.
10:27
Speaker 2: But she still reviews it. And that's the key point, right?
10:30
Speaker 2: She's still the human in the loop. You got to
10:32
Speaker 2: have the human in the loop. So she still reviews
10:34
Speaker 2: it before she posts it. So what used to take
10:37
Speaker 2: her one to three hours now takes her five minutes
10:41
Speaker 2: to review it and then post it. So now she's
10:43
Speaker 2: got this time where she's doing other things. She might
10:46
Speaker 2: be writing even more blogs or she's able to follow
10:49
Speaker 2: up with her prospects that she hadn't been able to
10:51
Speaker 2: follow up before. Right. So it just, it's creating more
10:55
Speaker 2: time to get more done. So even though people that
10:59
Speaker 2: kind of the thought is it's going to replace humans,
11:03
Speaker 2: we're not seeing that. What we're seeing is that they're
11:06
Speaker 2: actually relying on their freedom maker more to do even
11:09
Speaker 2: more than they were before. Right. And the business owner
11:12
Speaker 2: is able to do even more than they were before.
11:15
Speaker 2: So we're seeing is actually making us busier. with we're
11:19
Speaker 2: just be able to get more done. And so I
11:21
Speaker 2: think that's the key piece is thinking through what should
11:27
Speaker 2: the owner do? What should AI do? And what should
11:31
Speaker 2: another human do, right? And making sure they're all working
11:35
Speaker 2: together to get even more done, right? And to create
11:39
Speaker 2: even more capacity to serve the clients of that business.
11:43
Speaker 1: Now, can you share a client success story that's really,
11:48
Speaker 1: shows the transformation of your work?
11:50
Speaker 2: Oh, that's a good one around some of the, I
11:56
Speaker 2: think I would struggle with some of the specifics around it,
11:59
Speaker 2: but we hear stories around, I remember one, she was
12:05
Speaker 2: excited because a big thing for her is swimming. And
12:08
Speaker 2: once she started working with her freedom maker, she got
12:11
Speaker 2: to go back to swimming on Saturday mornings. We had
12:14
Speaker 2: another one where the freedom maker built out, they were
12:18
Speaker 2: a restaurant and the freedom maker built out their entire
12:21
Speaker 2: social media platform with presence, which they didn't have prior.
12:26
Speaker 2: And so I think for us, the success stories are
12:28
Speaker 2: around when they hire their, or they engage their freedom
12:32
Speaker 2: maker for one task. And it is so going so
12:36
Speaker 2: well that they then add other responsibilities to that freedom
12:40
Speaker 2: maker to take on even more. Right. And so, so
12:43
Speaker 2: for example, like that restaurant, they, they had them, um,
12:47
Speaker 2: not only did they build their social media presence, but
12:49
Speaker 2: then they, you know, gave her other things to take
12:53
Speaker 2: on as well. So those are kind of what we
12:56
Speaker 2: see as a success stories is not only does it
12:59
Speaker 2: free the business owner up to go back to having
13:03
Speaker 2: a life, but then it also lets their business grow. Right.
13:07
Speaker 2: And then we see that on the freedom maker side,
13:11
Speaker 2: we see a lot of freedom makers where they, I
13:16
Speaker 2: don't know how to describe it. It's almost like they,
13:18
Speaker 2: they kind of lose themselves in, you know, cause the
13:23
Speaker 2: military detects dictates so much of their life. And, and like,
13:29
Speaker 2: especially if their service member is deploying constantly, like I
13:32
Speaker 2: knew someone who said, you know, my husband's gone to
13:36
Speaker 2: an undisclosed location for an undisclosed amount of time. Right.
13:40
Speaker 2: And so not knowing when he was going to come back,
13:42
Speaker 2: not knowing where he was, And usually they were like
13:45
Speaker 2: two or three week missions. They weren't, you know, super long,
13:50
Speaker 2: but she had young kids. And so she's now managing
13:53
Speaker 2: the house by herself because her partner is unreliable, not
13:59
Speaker 2: because of who he is, but because of the nature
14:01
Speaker 2: of his work, right? And so because now she was
14:04
Speaker 2: focused on managing the house, managing the kids in a
14:09
Speaker 2: life that she didn't get to dictate what was happening.
14:13
Speaker 2: you almost kind of lose yourself, right? And so then
14:15
Speaker 2: we see that with spouses who become freedom makers is
14:19
Speaker 2: they get something that's their own and they have agency
14:22
Speaker 2: over it and it's theirs, right? And it's no one else's,
14:25
Speaker 2: it's just theirs, but they get to bring their strengths
14:28
Speaker 2: to it as well and their experience and their skills.
14:33
Speaker 2: And so that's really cool when we see those types
14:35
Speaker 2: of stories as well around getting to have something that's
14:39
Speaker 2: a little bit of their own.
14:40
Speaker 1: It sounds very rewarding.
14:42
Speaker 2: Yes, for sure.
14:43
Speaker 1: You've discussed different parts of it throughout our conversation here today,
14:48
Speaker 1: but if one of our listeners wanted to work with you,
14:51
Speaker 1: can you share with us the step-by-step process that you
14:54
Speaker 1: would take them through?
14:56
Speaker 2: It's typically a three-step process. That first step is having
14:59
Speaker 2: a call with us and outlining what kind of support
15:02
Speaker 2: they want, right? And how that would work as far
15:06
Speaker 2: as like the different type of tasks, the time zone,
15:09
Speaker 2: the estimate of hours, because again, going back to freedom,
15:14
Speaker 2: we don't have minimum hour requirements. But, you know, like
15:18
Speaker 2: if someone wants someone for a one hour a month,
15:22
Speaker 2: we want to make sure we find a freedom maker
15:24
Speaker 2: that is willing to do one hour a month, or
15:26
Speaker 2: someone wants someone for 40 hours a week. We got
15:28
Speaker 2: to make sure it's someone who's available, right? That kind
15:30
Speaker 2: of thing. So we kind of outline what they're looking for,
15:35
Speaker 2: kind of maybe the kind of person like, you know,
15:37
Speaker 2: someone has a dry sense of humor or someone is
15:40
Speaker 2: really direct or, you know, that, that type of stuff
15:42
Speaker 2: where they want someone who can handle that type of,
15:46
Speaker 2: those type of nuances. Right. And then the work, like
15:49
Speaker 2: sometimes we get people who are like, I need someone
15:51
Speaker 2: to cold call. And so making sure that we find
15:54
Speaker 2: someone who's comfortable with that. Or I, I remember someone
15:58
Speaker 2: once said, I need a professional nag who's going to
16:01
Speaker 2: make sure I stay on top of my tasks. Right.
16:03
Speaker 2: So someone who wasn't going to get annoyed with, with
16:06
Speaker 2: the nagging or whatnot.
16:08
Speaker 1: Right.
16:08
Speaker 2: And so, We outline all that, and then we go
16:12
Speaker 2: through what I mentioned earlier around we send that out
16:15
Speaker 2: to the whole community. Whoever is qualified, available, and interested
16:19
Speaker 2: has to be considered. And from there, we narrow it
16:21
Speaker 2: down to four, and the client and the four freedom
16:25
Speaker 2: makers speak, and then they choose if they want to
16:28
Speaker 2: work together. So that's the second step. And the third
16:31
Speaker 2: step is a kickoff call that we host, and it's
16:34
Speaker 2: a chance to make sure, kind of build that foundation
16:36
Speaker 2: of the relationship. Like we make sure certain things are covered.
16:39
Speaker 2: Like how often are you going to meet? Maybe if
16:42
Speaker 2: you can schedule that meeting now, right? How do you
16:46
Speaker 2: want to communicate? Text, Slack, email, phone? Like what do
16:50
Speaker 2: you want to communicate? What's the default turnaround time? You know,
16:54
Speaker 2: and so if it's maybe default is 24 hours, but
16:57
Speaker 2: if I need it faster, then I'm going to say that.
16:59
Speaker 2: Or if I don't need it that fast, I'm going
17:00
Speaker 2: to say that, right? Like that kind of stuff. Because
17:04
Speaker 2: we don't have minimum hours, we ask like, how do
17:06
Speaker 2: you want to handle the hour fluctuations, right? That kind
17:10
Speaker 2: of thing. So we cover all that in that kickoff
17:12
Speaker 2: call to get them started on that sort of that
17:14
Speaker 2: foundational relationship. After that, they're off and running with us
17:18
Speaker 2: checking in to see how things are going and to
17:21
Speaker 2: address any questions or concerns if they come up. And
17:24
Speaker 2: then they're off and running together.
17:26
Speaker 1: One thing that does come off very often when I
17:28
Speaker 1: hire different people, you know, in the past, you get
17:31
Speaker 1: the opportunity to everyone's perfect in the beginning and sometimes
17:35
Speaker 1: things change and there's some personality clashes. Has that come
17:40
Speaker 1: up and how do you handle those?
17:42
Speaker 2: And not only personality clashes, but then the work changes
17:46
Speaker 2: and it might be like, well, I asked you to
17:47
Speaker 2: do this, but I want to, I want you to
17:49
Speaker 2: do this instead, or you're crushing it. Can you also
17:53
Speaker 2: do this? Right. So, yes. So we try to maintain
17:58
Speaker 2: that when it, when it comes to the work changes,
17:59
Speaker 2: we try to maintain that flexibility and, One of the
18:02
Speaker 2: things we talk about with clients is levels of delegation,
18:05
Speaker 2: which I know this doesn't answer your question, but I'll
18:07
Speaker 2: get back to it. So levels of delegation. So we
18:10
Speaker 2: kind of go off of, I saw it online. I
18:12
Speaker 2: can't remember who came up with it, but it's like
18:13
Speaker 2: the five levels of delegation. And level one is basically
18:17
Speaker 2: do exactly what I said, how I said to do it,
18:19
Speaker 2: when I said to do it. And level five is
18:22
Speaker 2: I trust you completely. Just take care of it. I
18:24
Speaker 2: don't even need updates. Right. And then two, three and
18:26
Speaker 2: four kind of in between. So when we're talking with
18:29
Speaker 2: the business owner on what the kind of support they want,
18:32
Speaker 2: we're also asking them what type of level do they want, right?
18:36
Speaker 2: So we call it stay within the lines or take
18:39
Speaker 2: it and run with it. And so stay within the
18:41
Speaker 2: lines is like that level one, level two, like do
18:43
Speaker 2: exactly what I said, how I said to do it,
18:45
Speaker 2: when I said to do it and take it and
18:46
Speaker 2: run with it is when they're like, here, fix this.
18:48
Speaker 2: And they just hand something off with vague or ambiguous instructions, right?
18:53
Speaker 2: So we, and so because we're asking the clients to
18:58
Speaker 2: delineate what level they want, then that's also what we're
19:02
Speaker 2: screening for, right? Now, you do get personality clashes as well.
19:06
Speaker 2: And when that happens, we do offer to replace, if necessary,
19:09
Speaker 2: a freedom maker. And we offer that.
19:13
Speaker 1: Moving forward, where is freedom makers headed?
19:18
Speaker 2: Great question. So we continue to try and support business
19:22
Speaker 2: owners and spouses. Since the beginning, we've always had more
19:27
Speaker 2: spouses than business owners. And so we actively try to
19:32
Speaker 2: gain more clients. So we create even more work opportunities
19:35
Speaker 2: for military spouses. We're also looking at, we built our
19:40
Speaker 2: own in-house time tracking and billing system because we couldn't
19:43
Speaker 2: find one that worked with the way our model was
19:47
Speaker 2: off the shelf. And we found that we think clients
19:50
Speaker 2: and freedom makers, or really anyone who kind of bills
19:53
Speaker 2: by the hour, might want to use this same software.
19:57
Speaker 2: So we're looking at commercializing it to offer it to
20:00
Speaker 2: other businesses as a way for them to streamline invoicing
20:06
Speaker 2: and time tracking processes. especially if they have contractors as
20:08
Speaker 2: well who bill them by the hour, it would streamline
20:12
Speaker 2: how they can invoice their clients.
20:14
Speaker 1: And at this juncture, who should be contacting you right now?
20:19
Speaker 2: Business owners who are ready to let go and they
20:23
Speaker 2: have an idea of how they want to let go.
20:26
Speaker 2: So what I always say is what we look for
20:28
Speaker 2: in clients is ones who are system oriented. They may
20:33
Speaker 2: not need to have systems in place, but if they
20:35
Speaker 2: have in their mind, okay, I'm going to take care
20:39
Speaker 2: of steps A and B. My assistant is going to
20:41
Speaker 2: take care of C, D, and E, and then give
20:43
Speaker 2: it back to me for steps A, B, C, D, F,
20:46
Speaker 2: and G, right? Then if they can at least see
20:49
Speaker 2: it in their brain, we can run with that, right?
20:53
Speaker 2: And so that's why I say if they're systems-oriented, they're
20:56
Speaker 2: ready to let go, and they're nice. Those are the
20:59
Speaker 2: things we look for in clients. So Yeah, so someone
21:02
Speaker 2: who has an idea, even if it's vague, but have
21:06
Speaker 2: an idea of how they would let go of the
21:09
Speaker 2: work they want help with, then we'd love to chat
21:13
Speaker 2: with them.
21:14
Speaker 1: That assessment, does it also have the nice mode there
21:17
Speaker 1: as well?
21:18
Speaker 2: I'm not sure it does, actually.
21:22
Speaker 1: If I call you today and I need someone right away,
21:26
Speaker 1: how long would that process take? How fast can you
21:29
Speaker 1: place someone for it?
21:30
Speaker 2: Great question. So we, it takes us about two or
21:33
Speaker 2: three weeks because we're not the ones who were going
21:37
Speaker 2: back to that freedom side, right? We don't just assign
21:39
Speaker 2: someone to someone, right? We want to make sure that
21:42
Speaker 2: they want to work together. And so that's that part
21:45
Speaker 2: where we get an outline of what the client's looking for.
21:51
Speaker 2: And then we screen our community for that match. And
21:57
Speaker 2: then the client gets to choose. So that, generally takes
22:00
Speaker 2: about two to three weeks to get through all that.
22:03
Speaker 1: Any final thoughts that you want to share with our listeners?
22:06
Speaker 2: We kind of touched on a little bit, like it's
22:08
Speaker 2: their baby or some of the other things I hear
22:12
Speaker 2: is they think no one else can do it as
22:14
Speaker 2: well as them. Or that I don't want to ask
22:19
Speaker 2: someone to do something I'm not willing to do. And
22:21
Speaker 2: then cost, right? So those are some of the things
22:26
Speaker 2: I hear that, business owners might struggle with. And I
22:30
Speaker 2: definitely understand the baby part for sure. Cause you know,
22:32
Speaker 2: freedom makers is my baby and being, going, understanding where
22:37
Speaker 2: I was holding it back helped me to let go
22:39
Speaker 2: of things. Right. And then the, like, no one can
22:43
Speaker 2: do it as good as me. Yes. And no, cause
22:47
Speaker 2: there are some, like, I'm not a rocket scientist. I
22:49
Speaker 2: can't build rockets as good as, you know, SpaceX.
22:52
Speaker 1: Right.
22:53
Speaker 2: So yes, there are, you gotta recognize that. Yes. There
22:56
Speaker 2: are things that people can do better than you. But also,
22:59
Speaker 2: I think that when people say that, it's more that
23:04
Speaker 2: they have a set vision of how they want it
23:07
Speaker 2: done because it is their baby. And that's absolutely okay, right?
23:12
Speaker 2: But I'm willing to bet there are things that a
23:14
Speaker 2: business owner does that is not as important to them
23:18
Speaker 2: when it comes to their business, right? And so those
23:21
Speaker 2: are the things they could delegate, the ones where they
23:23
Speaker 2: can tolerate a mistake or it not being up to
23:26
Speaker 2: their expectations, right? And then they can work toward the
23:30
Speaker 2: other things as they build trust with their assistant. Not
23:37
Speaker 2: being uncomfortable to ask someone to do something you're not
23:39
Speaker 2: willing to do. Again, that goes back to, you know,
23:42
Speaker 2: there are things that people love doing that you don't
23:44
Speaker 2: love doing and you have to recognize that and you
23:46
Speaker 2: have to accept it, right? Like, and that's the thing
23:48
Speaker 2: I've noticed about military spouses, no matter their education, their skills,
23:53
Speaker 2: their experiences, Every military spouse I've spoken to have three
23:57
Speaker 2: things that they are capable of doing. One is adapting.
24:01
Speaker 2: They have to. When they're being moved all the time, right,
24:03
Speaker 2: they have to be able to adapt. The other one
24:05
Speaker 2: is research. They can research like there's no tomorrow, right?
24:09
Speaker 2: And that's part of it. You know, you're moving somewhere,
24:11
Speaker 2: you don't know anyone, and you may not get to
24:14
Speaker 2: go there first to check it out. So now you've
24:16
Speaker 2: got to find a house. You've got to find schools.
24:18
Speaker 2: You've got to find, you know, a community support team.
24:21
Speaker 2: Like you got to find all those things so they
24:22
Speaker 2: can research like there's no tomorrow. And the other thing
24:26
Speaker 2: is the resilience, right? They keep going no matter what.
24:31
Speaker 2: And so, and those are things that a small business
24:33
Speaker 2: owner needs. And so when a business owner is like, oh,
24:38
Speaker 2: I don't like doing it. I don't feel right asking
24:40
Speaker 2: someone else to do it. I guarantee you there's someone
24:42
Speaker 2: else who loves doing it, right? That's the other thing, organizing.
24:46
Speaker 2: They can organize like there's no tomorrow, right? because they
24:49
Speaker 2: have to be right. They have to, they're managing so
24:51
Speaker 2: many different things without support. So they have to be organized.
24:55
Speaker 2: And so, and again, that's another thing that a business
24:57
Speaker 2: owner needs.
24:58
Speaker 1: Right.
24:58
Speaker 2: And so, and then when it comes to costs, like
25:01
Speaker 2: I was, I was talking to someone the other day
25:03
Speaker 2: and you know, she was using someone offshore. And so
25:06
Speaker 2: she's like, how do, how can I justify the cost
25:09
Speaker 2: of an American based assistant? And I'm like, well, you
25:12
Speaker 2: can't look at it as like, hourly costs, or even
25:16
Speaker 2: like looking at it in the mindset of 40 hours
25:18
Speaker 2: a week cost, right? Because maybe you only need them
25:22
Speaker 2: one hour a week. And so let's say you use
25:25
Speaker 2: them one hour a week, maybe 15 minute increments or whatnot.
25:29
Speaker 2: And then that one hour lands you a client. Does
25:32
Speaker 2: that client pay for that one hour? And so when
25:37
Speaker 2: you break it down into that smaller chunks, it might become,
25:42
Speaker 2: the cost becomes less an issue, right? Especially when you see,
25:45
Speaker 2: what you might get in return from a revenue standpoint.
25:48
Speaker 1: It really makes sense when you see it from the
25:51
Speaker 1: ROI concept. You're like, if that's the return on my investment, well,
25:55
Speaker 1: let's do $ 100. Because if for every hour I'm going
25:58
Speaker 1: to get a client, hell, let's do this.
26:00
Speaker 2: Right. But can you handle 100 hours worth of clients, right?
26:05
Speaker 2: And that goes to your point about, and kind of
26:09
Speaker 2: alluding to what you were talking about with AI too,
26:11
Speaker 2: like at some point you can't productivity hack your way
26:16
Speaker 2: out of a capacity problem, right? At some point you
26:19
Speaker 2: might add extra hours. We don't need to say people
26:21
Speaker 2: because people means full time, right? Like add extra hours
26:24
Speaker 2: for a capacity standpoint, right? And so that's where it's like,
26:28
Speaker 2: you know, I think something that business owners face, what
26:33
Speaker 2: they need to ask themselves is, does the business need
26:36
Speaker 2: me as the owner to work harder? Or is it
26:40
Speaker 2: that I, how much of the business, it still needs me,
26:46
Speaker 2: relies on me alone, right? So when you flip the
26:49
Speaker 2: question to not do I need to work harder, but
26:54
Speaker 2: rather how much of the business needs too much from
26:58
Speaker 2: me or too much of me, and that's the part
27:00
Speaker 2: that I can let go of to create that capacity
27:04
Speaker 2: to grow my business.
27:06
Speaker 1: And I think the more you can let go of
27:08
Speaker 1: and the business can run without you, the more successful
27:11
Speaker 1: you could become. And the more of a business you
27:13
Speaker 1: have versus a very nice, career.
27:16
Speaker 2: Yes. I read a book the other day and it
27:19
Speaker 2: was a leadership book. And the question stuck with me.
27:22
Speaker 2: And that is, if you were to step away tomorrow,
27:25
Speaker 2: not hypothetically, but actually step away tomorrow, what would break first?
27:30
Speaker 2: And then what would break second? And it's not that
27:34
Speaker 2: will something break? It's something will break, but what will
27:37
Speaker 2: break first? And that's what you focus on around okay,
27:41
Speaker 2: if this is going to break, how do I get it?
27:43
Speaker 2: Like exactly like you said, so that it can run
27:45
Speaker 2: without me because then it becomes a real business and
27:47
Speaker 2: not just a job. Right. And, and so it might be,
27:51
Speaker 2: maybe it won't break, but then you ask yourself like,
27:54
Speaker 2: what do I start with? And it's the work you
27:56
Speaker 2: dread doing, right. Or the work that takes you too
27:58
Speaker 2: long to do because you're not good at it, which
28:01
Speaker 2: was my problem. Um, Or, and then, you know, so
28:07
Speaker 2: you start with like the work that's always on the
28:08
Speaker 2: bottom of your to-do list that you never get to
28:10
Speaker 2: or that you dread doing it or work that takes
28:13
Speaker 2: too long or that you're not good at. And then
28:15
Speaker 2: eventually you get to the work that doesn't require you
28:19
Speaker 2: as the owner. It doesn't require expertise, right? So that's,
28:21
Speaker 2: especially like the ones where it's their baby and they don't,
28:25
Speaker 2: they think no one can do it as good as them.
28:27
Speaker 2: I can honor that, right? But there's something you dread
28:32
Speaker 2: doing And it's always on the bottom of your to-do
28:34
Speaker 2: list and you might not get to it. And that's
28:36
Speaker 2: the one you can start with letting go, right? So
28:38
Speaker 2: like an example I like to give is if you
28:42
Speaker 2: think about dinner, let's say it takes 30 minutes to
28:46
Speaker 2: prepare a meal and it takes 30 minutes to clean up.
28:49
Speaker 2: If you love cooking, you might actually come out of
28:52
Speaker 2: that with more energy, with more ideas around what, you know,
28:56
Speaker 2: what you want to do next in your business, because
28:58
Speaker 2: you get that You get into that flow while you're
29:02
Speaker 2: cooking or your brain is able to start thinking about
29:05
Speaker 2: other things. But if you dread cooking, you're going to
29:09
Speaker 2: come out of that even more tired than you were
29:13
Speaker 2: before going into it, right? And same with the cleanup.
29:16
Speaker 2: So in the example I share is both of those
29:20
Speaker 2: take 30 minutes in this scenario, right? One might actually
29:25
Speaker 2: give you energy and the other one's going to drain you.
29:29
Speaker 2: So when you think about all the things you do,
29:32
Speaker 2: especially if you're that perfectionist who wants everything done a
29:35
Speaker 2: certain way, some of those tasks drain you. And those
29:40
Speaker 2: are the ones you should look at letting go first
29:42
Speaker 2: and only focus on the ones that give you energy
29:45
Speaker 2: or work toward focusing on the tasks that give you energy.
29:50
Speaker 1: I'm going to think about this from now on every
29:53
Speaker 1: time I'm cooking. And by the way, I love cooking.
29:55
Speaker 1: I don't like to clean up.
29:56
Speaker 2: See, I'm the opposite. I love cleaning. I don't like
29:58
Speaker 2: the cooking.
30:01
Speaker 1: Do you have someone to do the cleanup maybe for
30:03
Speaker 1: an hour that I can hire?
30:06
Speaker 2: Right. So, and for, I'll specify too, I like doing dishes. Cleaning,
30:10
Speaker 2: I don't like doing, but I love like hand-washing dishes
30:14
Speaker 2: gives me, there's something peaceful about that for me, like
30:17
Speaker 2: bringing order to that chaos of the kitchen sink. Right. Yeah.
30:22
Speaker 1: You are the right guest to invite over for dinner.
30:28
Speaker 2: And I eat well, too. So, yes, maybe I am
30:30
Speaker 2: a good guest.
30:34
Speaker 1: I got to jot that down. Well, Laura, please share
30:40
Speaker 1: with us. Where can people connect with you? Find out
30:42
Speaker 1: more about your work and continue this conversation.
30:45
Speaker 2: Yes, our website is freedom-makers.com. People can find the audit there.
30:50
Speaker 2: They can also schedule a call with us there. I'm
30:53
Speaker 2: on LinkedIn as well, Laura Yang Renner. People can find
30:55
Speaker 2: me that way. But for sure, if they want to
30:58
Speaker 2: chat with any of us about what it takes to
31:01
Speaker 2: delegate or to engage a freedom maker, do the task audit,
31:04
Speaker 2: they can do all that on our website.
31:06
Speaker 1: Excellent. Well, Laura, thank you so much for your time
31:08
Speaker 1: and all of the information.
31:10
Speaker 2: Thank you. It's been great.
31:12
Speaker 1: Thank you, everyone, for listening. If this episode inspired you,
31:14
Speaker 1: make sure you share it with someone. And don't forget
31:16
Speaker 1: to follow the Globalizer podcast for more conversations that make
31:19
Speaker 1: an impact. Till the next time.