Latest / TWRS-Leadership Straight, No Chaser / The Hidden Cost of Doing Everything Yourself

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The Hidden Cost of Doing Everything Yourself · TWRS-Leadership Straight, No Chaser

• George R. Dovolis: ⁓ Scott Brandt: So if we look, a lot of us operate out of alignment. And when we're not in alignment, it really hurts us in regards to what we're doing. Welcome back to Together We Are Stronger. Leadership Straight, No Chasers. And tonight we have Anna Brambilla on with us. Anna, when you kind look because looking at your one sheet, you figured you're like there's a bottleneck somewhere. And it's so much closer than a lot of people realize. And for yourself, what was it that kind of clicked and you're like, kind of the bottleneck with everything that's going on? Anna Brambilla: It was not an easy decision, obviously. It wasn't an easy because I realized I'm the bottleneck. And how many people want to, you know, look in the mirror and say, ⁓ wait, I'm the problem, right? You know. what happened was I was I was a franchise broker. I was doing very well, enjoying it, loved the connection with the clients and so on and so forth, but then realized that ⁓ was at the end of the day having to do all kinds of admin that I hated and was not good at, and it was taking me away from George R. Dovolis: Mm. Anna Brambilla: From the stuff that I wanted to do, which was my clients, or having, you know, having conversations with my with my clients or or being with my family or getting back to the reason why I fell in love with that particular franchise that I was doing. what was I just sort of slowly but surely noticed I had fallen out of love with my business. I started it because I wanted to make a difference in people's lives. I wanted to help people escape corporate America and get out of that. ⁓ George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Anna Brambilla: that hellhole for so many people. And that was why I started it. And I was doing less and less of my time with that. I was doing more of my time. You know, we all have those things, right, that we hate to do and we have to force ourselves to do them. Paying taxes, right? I, you know, I don't know many people who love paying taxes. If they do, you know, pay mine too while you're at it, right? But George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Scott Brandt: Mm. George R. Dovolis: Right here. Anna Brambilla: It's one of those things you have to do, but you have to drag yourself and you have to force yourself and it becomes this big boogie person, you know, in the room that, ⁓ God, I have to do it. And when I discovered that, then I said, you know what, there's gotta be a better way. So I hired my first virtual assistant and it was a game changer. I literally reclaimed between 10 and 15 hours per week to do the things that I love to do and that only I can do in my business. George R. Dovolis: Mm. Anna Brambilla: And I helped somebody who's loves doing that kind of work. She was loved doing the admin and behind the scenes and taking care of the business that way. And we were both much happier. So I reclaimed a lot of hours every week. And then I ultimately doubled and then tripled my revenue because I was doing the things that A lit me up, but that also advanced the work and the only the things that I can do. George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Anna Brambilla: So it was it was not fun looking in the mirror and saying, You're the problem lady Scott Brandt: Hmm. It's that accountability piece and it's hard for a lot of people to have accountability because they start freaking out and they're like, ⁓ my goodness, if it's me, like what does this mean? And it's George and I talk about this where a lot of people don't want to confront what really needs to be confronted, which is yourself, because you may have to confront beliefs that don't benefit you anymore, and you may have to give those up. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Anna Brambilla: Mm. Yeah. George R. Dovolis: you Scott Brandt: And it's scary because those served you, they protected you, but now they're not doing anything for you. it's a very interesting thing because you talk about getting in your zone of genius. ⁓ ⁓ knows I I like to hit on this because a lot of people think they're in their zone of genius, ⁓ then they look and they're not in the proper zone of genius. It's interesting. ⁓ and I have talked that with business owners leaders, sometimes you're not meant to run a business. Sometimes you're not meant to be the leader. Anna Brambilla: Yeah. George R. Dovolis: Exactly. Scott Brandt: There's individuals that I think it was called rocket fuel where the you have the visionary and then you have somebody to come along with you to throw rocket fuel on that vision to allow the visionary to keep growing and expanding the vision. but a lot of people have trouble of, I don't want to look like I'm not doing what I'm supposed to be doing, and then they don't confront and make sure that they're in their zone of genius. So when you look at leaders, ⁓ business George R. Dovolis: Hmm Scott Brandt: How often do they get confused of thinking they're in their zone of genius and then needing to confront that and say, Okay, what truly is my zone of genius that I need to tap into and give up what doesn't serve me? Anna Brambilla: Yeah, I I think every single client, by the time they get to me, they know something's wrong, right? They know that they're not in their zone of genius, whether they can pinpoint that or not. They just have that sense, something's wrong. I'm not, you know, I don't I got into this business to make a difference or I got in this business to to use my gifts. I I I prefer, in fact, almost work exclusively with what we call purpose-driven founders. So people who got into the business for a specific, you know, goal to whatever that is. And you know, making a lot of money is certainly a great goal, but I think that that's that's a temporary thing. It's better to really get into a business to make a difference in the world or whatever. by the time they get to me, or I'm just out there networking, they're like, I you know, I'm doing things that I don't want to be doing. George R. Dovolis: Mm. you Anna Brambilla: I I know I meant for better things or bigger things or I know that this should be different. I had a different image in my mind of what I should be doing. ⁓ I think you you sort of ⁓ hit the nail ⁓ you really touched on something. ⁓ a difference between the visionary and the operator, right? The visionary has that big idea and comes up with, you know, all kinds of we could do this and we can do that and we can do the other thing. ⁓ When visionary becomes the operator, then you have a problem. Because the visionaries and thinking in big in big terms and the operator needs to come in and, you know, do the the rocket fuel like you were saying. And so when people come to me, they know that something's wrong. They know that they want something, but they don't know what that is. And that's part of my role in helping them say, okay, describe your ideal life. Why did you get into this business? George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm Scott Brandt: Mm-hmm. Anna Brambilla: What's what's not filling your needs now? What's not filling your bucket now? And then let's go from there and help you find somebody to take those tasks off. Scott Brandt: Hmm. So it's interesting because one of our power partners we have is Dr. Joey. So I wanna give a shout out to Dr. Joey. Really his focus is helping business owners that are stuck at half a million in revenue to three million in revenue, trying to overcome to make more revenue. He also works with team members too because the team is there to help drive it. But the thing is a lot of us have these money blocks that we don't know about. And so that can stop us. So if you are a business owner that's stuck at half a million to three million in revenue and you're like, I don't know what to do, reach out to Dr. Joey. There'll be a link in the show notes. And that's what his really driving forces to help you, your team really overcome that, move forward and increase your revenue. I don't know, ⁓ you ⁓ ⁓ taken the assessments called your ⁓ working zone of genius? George R. Dovolis: Mmm. Anna Brambilla: I haven't. Ooh, I'm gonna have to write that down. That sounds fascinating. Scott Brandt: Yeah. So there's a gentleman I came across it and I believe it's twenty five dollars. was a podcast I was listening to, I think they had a discount code for a while for like five dollars off. But he highlights six different areas ⁓ within the working zone. And the interesting thing is he's he shared a a story of a lawyer that came in and was sharing ideas and it really helped the team out ⁓ the owners like ⁓ Are you sure you want to be a lawyer? And the guy's like, No, I need to be a lawyer because my family wanted me to be a lawyer. They found out he was in the wrong spot. They moved him to become an I idea ⁓ creates ideas. And by him doing that, he was able to feed the team, help them out. And so it is a very interesting thing when we look at teams, how they're built out, you may have people in the wrong seat. And so as the leader, if you don't know where you're at with your working zone of genius, that trickles down to your team. And so if you're struggling, you're like, okay, we need to focus, it it goes back to looking yourself in the mirror. But it goes to if I don't know what I'm doing, quote unquote, what does that do to my team? But the thing is if you're authentic and open and say, hey, I don't know everything, then it it does something different. George R. Dovolis: Yes. Scott Brandt: ⁓ but it's a very interesting thing how even leaders, because they don't know themselves, they start getting other people stuck in the area that doesn't benefit them. But it's because people are like, ⁓ you're great at this, and maybe they don't really thrive in that area, but because they've always been told you're great in that area, they get stuck. And then they have the burnout. And so it is a very interesting thing, the zone of genius piece, how as a leader, if you don't even know yourself. Anna Brambilla: Yep. Yep. Scott Brandt: People don't realize how that trickles down to how you lead others. Because if you don't know yourself, how do you truly go and help somebody else out that may be stuck? Anna Brambilla: Yeah. George R. Dovolis: Mm. Anna Brambilla: Yeah, that's so true. How do you do that? And you're setting the example. I, you know, I years ago in college and grad school took a classes on organizational development and organizational behavior. ⁓ of the things that stuck with me is that every organization takes ⁓ the qualities or the characteristics of the of the founder, of the principal, of the CEO, whatever it is, as as the top person. And you are modeling authenticity, George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Anna Brambilla: And humility and heck, I don't know what I'm doing, or heck, I'm not good at this. You're setting the example for your team to say the same thing. If you go in there and say, I got it all made in the shade, I know exactly what I'm doing. You guys, you know, whatever. That sets them up for poorly, right? And you want, I want my team to come to me and say, George R. Dovolis: yeah. Scott Brandt: Mm. Anna Brambilla: This ain't working for me, you know, I need to be doing this. This is where I'm gonna be in my zone of genius. And it's so important. And when you can build those systems and that and as you said, set the standard and set the example, ⁓ that's heaven. Scott Brandt: Mm. Yeah. it it's such a weird thing. because it's the that people don't want to show weakness. But the the thing is, is we have to under and I used to do college planning for families, so helping them out with their financial ⁓ aid and planning all that. It's so weird because like the SATA C T is like, ⁓ we need to focus on improving your weaknesses so you can show to be moderately strong in this area. Anna Brambilla: Yeah. Scott Brandt: And then we get into the real world and then it's like, let's focus on our weaknesses trying to improve those. And you're just wasting time, you're wasting energy. So really by being in your zone of genius, what is that that you're strong in? And then you go find people that have strengths to complement your weaknesses to really level up. But the thing is, is how many people want to say, Yes, this is my weakness, I need to find somebody that's going to complement. Anna Brambilla: Mm-hmm. George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Anna Brambilla: Completely agree. Scott Brandt: That weakness with their strength. Anna Brambilla: I have a of a great story for that because I completely agree. so back when I was getting my master's degree, my MBA, and I was taking a consulting class. ⁓ it was a friend and my and I were taking this class together and we're having fun. And ⁓ had to do a project. And so we were doing the project. Our particular project was helping a a team that are nonprofits sort of do some strategic planning. ⁓ we were moderating the the conversation. And was pretty simple. conversation, you know, and I was leading it because I love the interaction and making sure the facilitation, right? And she was doing all the note taking and capturing all the ideas and organizing them and great. And so this was, you know, 20, 30 years ago, and they were they were talking about, ⁓ get out of your, get out of your comfort zone. So she and I said, let's get out of our comfort zone. Let's switch places, right? I will do this and, you know, and we switch places. It lasted for about two seconds. We were miserable and we did a horrible job. And I hated it and she hated it. And everybody, the team that we were helping hated it. And finally we're like, you know what? Let's go back to our zone, you know, to our zone of genius. And it turned out the project we got we both got A pluses on the project because we went into doing what we do best. Scott Brandt: Mm. Anna Brambilla: And so I I'm writing a book and the chapter of one of of one of the chapters is going to be stay in your comfort zone. And I'm not I'm not saying you know you should never do something that you don't that doesn't stretch you. You should always do something like that. But more importantly, you should do the things that are your zone of genius. And you can expand your zone of genius to be sure, but don't George R. Dovolis: Thank Hmm Anna Brambilla: Don't try and be somebody you're not because you're robbing the world. That's why I say you rob the world of your genius when you leave your zone of genius. George R. Dovolis: incredible, you know, because everyone gets that comfort zone, but there's separate that type of comfort zone that people don't really move. They're scared. And, you know, I love the phrase that you put, founders doing work for $20, you know, and examples you give me ⁓ really ⁓ ⁓ Anna Brambilla: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. George R. Dovolis: entrepreneurs who are successful and they have a hard time letting it go. Anna Brambilla: Yep. I see that all the time. I think it's one of the hardest things is learning to delegate. And so I say, you know, you're a founder. You should not be doing $20 hour work. You should be doing the $200 or $2,000 an hour work, whatever your work is. I think what happens is is founders to become a successful entrepreneur, you do everything, right? You you don't go out and say, day one, and I'm gonna go hire this person and that person and that person. It just doesn't make financial sense. And so you George R. Dovolis: Yes. Yeah. Anna Brambilla: Grow up and you start, you know, you you start doing everything. And then finally you get to the point where like, ⁓ God, I I know I shouldn't be doing my LinkedIn posts. I know I shouldn't be managing my calendar. I know I shouldn't be ⁓ reminders or or whatever, but you it's just easier for me to do it than teach somebody else how to do it. And so that's what I'm talking about. Yeah. Scott Brandt: Yeah. George R. Dovolis: That's so great. We talk about founders and the one thing I love what people say and you said the same thing. No one can do it like I can. Anna Brambilla: Yep, yep. And it's true to a certain extent. George R. Dovolis: Right? It's like, yeah, no one could do what I could do. Right? And it's so funny how entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs, they get stuck in this, this rut that no one else can do it. And what happens Anna Brambilla: Right. George R. Dovolis: around you, everything falls apart. You're the vision where you want to take the customer or the company and getting someone like what you said in a sense of getting help allowed you to get 10 to 15 hours revenue went up ⁓ a lot of times people missed that boat. Why is that? ⁓ Anna Brambilla: Yeah. Yep. They do. Well, again, I think I think it's a lot of different things. I it's pride, right? I got myself here. I'm self-taught or I figured out the systems. I figured out what's best. And I don't begrudge anybody that. I mean, yes, of course you should be proud. Absolutely. But what happens is you become the bottleneck. And so all the decisions need to flow through you. And if the business is gonna grow, you get you have to make all the decisions and do all the work. I will tell you. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Anna Brambilla: Those first few days or weeks of working with your new person, the person who you found who can help you do grow and and expand, those things, those few days or weeks are tough because there is that temptation. I'm just gonna let's I I'm forget it, I'm just gonna do it myself. It's just easier. But once and we have a a wonderful program teaching you how to delegate and how to work with each other and learn that and learn these ⁓ styles to do that. George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Hmm. That's awesome. Anna Brambilla: But once you do, what you often find, which I found was they brought a sense and a perspective that were completely different from mine. And they ended up doing it better than I ever could because they thought about it in a different way. So yeah, it was hard. It was hard. And and what we tell our clients is start small, give them one or two things, just so you can, you know, get to know each other, and then you'll see how it expands very quickly. And you know Scott Brandt: Yeah. Anna Brambilla: Just a quick aside, if you don't mind, ⁓ I can't tell you the number of times I've had people come to me and say, can't imagine having more than maybe five hours a week for my virtual assistant to do. Maybe, ⁓ know, and that's a stretch. And then they come back to us literally two weeks later said, ⁓ yeah. She's already been working for me ten hours a week and I'm you know, we're working towards twenty or thirty hours a week and I've just given her a massive raise because she's giving me back on my time. And so yeah, that happens all the time. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Yeah, that's about the trust with your person because a lot of founders, CEOs and owners, it's that trust factor that they do not want to release, know, that the power because they, you know, we all want to have control of it. ⁓ a lot of times it's that trust factor that sits in, in that virtual assistant. Anna Brambilla: Yeah. Yeah. Scott Brandt: Yep. So right now, if you're getting ⁓ nuggets from the video, hit the like button. If you're looking for these types of videos, hit the subscribe button. if you are stuck, really you gotta take the time and say, okay, what is my zone of genius? ⁓ one of the things that I would highlight is go take the working zone of genius. ⁓ can kind of give you clarity. But if you're trying because the thing is like you can be like, Well, they're they're telling me to find my zone of genius. But if you don't know ⁓ as a person, that can be tough. So there's some self discovery here that you have to do. George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Scott Brandt: So if you're stuck, we we need to do some work here, figure out what we thrive in, and then start building off of that because that's probably your zone of genius there, but you still have to do the work. I laugh because when you hear people are like, ⁓ nobody can do it better than I can. The issue with that is you start closing ⁓ the opportunities to connect with people that can thrive and outperform you because you have this idea that nobody can do it better than I can. George R. Dovolis: Mmm. Now. Scott Brandt: And the thing is, is like to get from point A to point B, you could have ten thousand different ways to get there. But if you're you assume that your way is the only way, you're gonna cut off to find those people that are going to really compliment you because of just this thought that you have. And it's interesting how a lot of people overlook the power of their thoughts, the subconscious. then they're like, Why am I stuck? Well, you need to look at the words that you're using, your thoughts that you're speaking out loud, your beliefs. Because that is leading to why you're stuck. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Anna Brambilla: So true. So true. I I I think we all underestimate how important our mindset is on everything and on our success and our enjoyment of life. I I do that all the time. Yeah, I I'm still guilty of it, right? I I I proselytize this, but I keep thinking, ⁓ I'll I'll just do it myself, right? I'll I'll I'll just take care of it myself. And then realizing, wait, I'm stuck at the office until seven, eight, nine o'clock at night doing stuff that I absolutely hate doing. George R. Dovolis: Mmm. Mmm. Anna Brambilla: And I there's no reason I should, you know, I've got a team of people are phenomenal. That's the other thing, too. And you can find those people ⁓ fight figure out where they're meant to be. I was just ⁓ talking with my right-hand person. We were chatting on WhatsApp ⁓ earlier today, and we were saying and she was listing, okay, we got this person doing this work, and that person doing that work, and this other person doing this other work, and that person doing that work, and I'm doing this work. And I know those people and they are loving what they're doing and they're doing a phenomenal job. And there's no way, even if I had the time, I'd want to do what those people are doing because I would suck at it. You know, that's not who I am or what I'm good at. And so it really is about finding everybody's purpose and finding what they're good at. And again, not only do we rob the world of the z of our zone, ⁓ do we George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Mmm. Anna Brambilla: we rob the world of our genius when we leave our zone of genius? ⁓ rob the world of other people's genius when you're asking them to do things or not to or don't allow them to do the things that they love to do. Scott Brandt: It it's a very interesting thing because have you read the book Ten X is easier than two X? Anna Brambilla: Yes, I've I've I've read parts of it. I've never read the whole thing, but it's so true. Scott Brandt: So with what you're sharing it's it's very interesting because ⁓ a lot of it aligns with that book. And it's the fact that as you level up, you're gonna have to figure out what is that next two X that I need to cut. Because what helped you get to this level may not be part of that plan to move to the next level. So it's like we gotta chop that two X off, go ten X I I ⁓ laugh because as I'm listening it's just Anna Brambilla: Yeah. So true. Scott Brandt: seeing it, hearing somebody speak and not just reading a book, but seeing things that have happened before is a huge thing. And so when you are able to reclaim your time, because with the ten to fifteen extra hours that you're able to reclaim, what does that do for ⁓ individual when they have that time to reclaim back and ⁓ dive ⁓ what zone of genius is for them? George R. Dovolis: Hmm. you Scott Brandt: Whatever it may be. Anna Brambilla: Well, it and it depends on everybody, right? So for me, what it looked like initially was that I got more time with my son. My son at the time was nine years old. I wanted to be with him. I wanted to go on field trips with him. I didn't have to say, no, I can't pick you up from school because mommy has to stay at work until nine o'clock tonight doing admin stuff that I hate doing. So that was one of the things that happened for me personally. The other thing that happened was honestly, I fell in love with my business again. I liked it. I didn't wasn't dragging myself to the office to do things that I hated to do. I was looking forward to it, which made me a better founder, a better entrepreneur, a better franchise business coach, because that's my that was what I was doing at the time. ⁓ so I was better for my clients and my customers, which is huge. So I was being more effective. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. and Anna Brambilla: The other thing that it did is that it allowed me to be creative and to think of new ideas and what could I do next and how could I improve my business? How could I go out there and either do more sales ⁓ just enjoy my work again? So everyone's different. You know, some people find that it's really important for them to to more time on revenue producing. activities. Some people are like, you know what, I need more time away from the office. So everyone's different. Scott Brandt: Mm. So it is very interesting because another strategic partner that partnership that we have is ADP. And so really their zone of genius ⁓ is really the small businesses helping them with the back end. So payroll HR compliance, which business owners and leaders did not get into business to do that unless your zone of genius is keeping books. But you're probably not you're not running a business to keep books. So if you're struggling because you're outside of your zone of genius, like we're talking here. George R. Dovolis: Mm. Anna Brambilla: Exactly. George R. Dovolis: Well... Scott Brandt: And it's because of those three things or one of those three things, you need to reach out to ADP so that way they can come in, work with you hand in hand, and then you can focus on your zone of genius to continue to thrive. And then they take care of the stuff that is probably not for you. And but you still need it done because if that's not done, that's not going to be a good day if you get caught up with regs and regulations and everything else. So that'll be in the show notes. If you need to talk to ADP, this is something that you're struggling with, reach out, talk to them. because this is their zone of genius to help you put you in your zone of genius. ⁓ ⁓ I just laugh because it's it goes back to a lot of times where owners have to get out of their way. ⁓ owners have to let go of the ego and that they don't know everything because I believe it's either Apple or Google. One of their benchmarks is a forty percent failure rate. And these are big companies and it's they have this so that way their employees have freedom to try things. But how many business owners are like, yeah, let's go ahead and have a forty percent failure rate? Because if we fail, it's a bad thing. And so they end up holding themselves back because of this belief that failure is a bad thing. But failure is a opportunity to get feedback very quickly and then say, Okay, what doesn't work? What do we need to improve on? And what's that adjustment that we need to make? George R. Dovolis: Mmm. Scott Brandt: And so I find it very interesting when hearing that stat and it's big companies but people were like, Well, they got a lot of money. No, it's opening up their workforce to try different things and not have the fear of if this messes up, am I gonna get in trouble? Anna Brambilla: Yeah, exactly. And that goes back to what we were talking about before about being authentic as a leader, right? So as a leader, if you're saying, if you're giving your team permission to make a mistake, that's phenomenal. You're doing the great thing. What it was a Thomas Edison who said, I didn't ⁓ fail, I just discovered ninety-nine ways that it wouldn't work. I I'm I'm horribly mis ⁓ remembering his quote, but I think that's that's the exact same idea as what you're talking about. George R. Dovolis: Mmm Yeah, it's crazy when founders keep control of the whole company and really takes it down because people really do not get to go out and share their vision, have ideas, it's their way. And it's so funny about founders, they'll get so tired and frustrated, but they are so scared to ask for help. And why is that when you run against entrepreneurs who are like, I'm doing everything, I'm so tired? but they have this ego to keep everything and stop asking for help or not even ask for help. What stops them from really doing that? Anna Brambilla: think it's it's pride, right? What what as they say, what got you here won't get you there. But people don't realize that. They created this business. They did whatever it was to to get them to this point. And they think, well the only reason I'm at this point is because of what I did. So but it's pride. Both in a negative and a positive side. Pride, hey, I take pride in what I did. But then it's also pride as in I can't fail. I can't let anybody, you know George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Yep. Yeah. Mmm, yeah. Anna Brambilla: fail me or whatever. I that kind of thing. So I I it's it's it's hard. And and it's like like you said, the book, 10X is easier than 2X, because you have to think about what's the 10X. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. You know, it's just it makes me realize being an entrepreneur for 44 years. when I sit back, listen to you, I'm just like, Yep, yep, she's right. And Scott's over laughing because I was that guy. I got it all. I'm in control. I could do this. I started from the company from the ground up. And when you don't release those reins and it really just bottlenecks everything to slow down and you do see your revenue just Even out. And once you released and start growing and doing things, you really start to see everyone happier because everyone feels like they're part of the team and you know, they don't have to come to you all the time. And it's just a lot of times I've talked to entrepreneurs and founders and CEOs that really just want full control of everything. And that's why at times they get replaced because that vision, that clarity, throw it out there you got these people who are incredible who know how to do things and you're not allowed to do that and that's one of the things that when I asked you is when it comes to the role of egos how does that really do with a founder and the bottleneck I mean the egos get involved you know right in that bottleneck how do you handle something like that when you are with a client who is just it's all about ego Anna Brambilla: Keep in mind a lot of the times if they're coming to me, they know something's wrong. They know they're the bottleneck. They know that they are that something's gotta give, either their sanity, their family, or their business, right? That something's gotta give. so that's what they have a hard time is understanding how ⁓ an executive assistant or having the right team or having the right support can allow them to get past this bottleneck and not being the bottleneck. George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Yes. Hmm Anna Brambilla: But it's hard. You always, you know, you you guys know how it is. When you're in sales, you have to get to know your client and what's going on for them and meeting them where they're at. sometimes they're not ready. They say they, you know, ⁓ yeah, I definitely want an assistant, but you know what? I ⁓ just gonna do it myself. Great. How's that working for you? ⁓ You know? ⁓ sometimes you have to just be ⁓ with them and say, George R. Dovolis: Mmm, yes. Yeah. Anna Brambilla: Come to me when you're ready. The other time I have client like this right now who has these unrealistic expectations. She's like, ⁓ I want somebody who's gonna do this and do that and do this other thing. And ⁓ by the way, can you do it do this? And and you know, and she's giving this long list and it's like, No, it's gonna happen. ⁓ And have to be honest with them too. But ⁓ it comes down to mindset and it all comes down to a willingness. George R. Dovolis: Hmm Anna Brambilla: to let go immediat you know for the short term to really grow for the long term. other thing that came to mind when you were talking, George, is how many people ⁓ to be micromanaged? I mean, seriously, have you ever met anybody who's like, ⁓ want a boss that's gonna micromanage me? I I've never met anybody like that. ⁓ you the that person's either going to do a horrible job or leave after two seconds, but like, I I'm out of here. Peace out, buddy. Scott Brandt: Yeah, it it's a very interesting thing because I come from the military and so there is some of that stuff where it's the structure piece, but sometimes it it depends on what's going on. And then it's tough because going from the military into the civilian sector, lose the kind the stuff that's set in place, and that's tough for individuals. And it's it's a very interesting thing, but the the fact it it comes down to a lot of people It's a control piece. And so if they can't control one thing, they're like, okay, what can I control? But the issue is is when you try to control something, it's gonna make it ten times worse it's gonna fight you back. And so it's like, okay, I gotta let this go because if I hold on tight, it's gonna come swinging back at me, punch me in the face, and it's gonna hurt. And so it's like, you gotta let go. But the thing is, it's like if you control this piece here George R. Dovolis: Hmm Scott Brandt: What do you miss out on that actually is going to push you forward? And one of the things that George and I talk about, it was the first episode when we released the podcast, it was the aspect of clarity. And a lot of people miss out on having that clarity because we tell we we look at it as a filtering system. so you filter whatever shows up and you're like, okay, is this going to push me forward or is this going to derail me? Anna Brambilla: Mm. George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Anna Brambilla: Yeah. Scott Brandt: And it's it's very interesting because somebody asks what's the one piece of advice that hurts you in business? And I was like, This is not advice. This is something that everybody when I see a lot of people overlooking or missing, having clarity. And then with that clarity, it helps you build your team. And George and I talk about having five or six close individuals in your circle to be able to push and lean on because too many voices in there is gonna throw you out of whack, you're gonna be all over the place, and you just don't George R. Dovolis: Yep, you tried. Scott Brandt: don't know what to do. And so it is those two things really, and we joke, we're like, these are the two things that we started with because this is the biggest thing that a lot of people are missing out on. And then they wonder why they're stuck because they don't have their filtering system to run things through to say, is this something that I need to do? Or do I need to let this go, maybe come back to later? is it non existent because it doesn't l align with what I'm trying to do at the end of the day. Anna Brambilla: Mm-hmm. Well, I think that you're absolutely right. It's the clarity, but it's also choices too, right? I'm a huge believer in consequences. I'm trying to teach my now 18 year old son that there's consequences. There's good consequences and bad consequences. But ⁓ you stay up until two o'clock ⁓ and you have a a final the next day or a big test, you're be struggling, but you're the one that made the decision to stay up until two AM. George R. Dovolis: Mm-hmm. Hmm. Anna Brambilla: And I think the same is true for founders too, that when you you have a choice, continue as things go, okay, they're fine. Maybe you're liking your work, maybe you're not, but your your income is almost certainly capped at a certain point. Do you want to grow? Okay, well, then you're gonna have to make some choices. And there's good consequences and bad consequences. I like to think if you hire the right person and use our team to help you find the right executive assistant. George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Anna Brambilla: then or the right hand person or if you find them on your own, whatever it is, the good consequence is that you're going to grow and you're going to enjoy your work and you're going to get more revenue or whatever your goals are. But you know, some people are like, I'm fine where I'm at. That's wonderful. Good for you. George R. Dovolis: Hmm You know I gotta ask you this and I always ask everybody When everything is said and done and it's time, you know, good Lord takes you home. What legacy do you want to leave behind? For your your business your family people you touched whatever what legacy do you want to leave behind? Anna Brambilla: Well, unfortunately, but I forgot to close the curtains before we started, but you so you can see that's a heart shape ripple effect. want to be that little drop in the middle that created ⁓ shape ripples. If I could give you an example, I have a team of of virtual assistants. I've got a tw by a team of about twenty people over in the Philippines and some of the most amazing people I know. we recently asked them to do some videos about ⁓ they like being a virtual assistant for my company. And of them said, I love because I'm making money. I was made enough money to be able to buy a car so that I can then, you know, go spend more time with my kid for my kids, taking them to school, not to worry about the bus. I get to my family on vacation. George R. Dovolis: you Anna Brambilla: I get to make a difference in my clients' lives because you know she was working, she is working for a client of ours, actually a couple of clients. And then I started thinking about that. So that little drop, because I made that match, right? I I put somebody in touch and she's helping clients. Those clients that she's helping now are doing bigger and better things, and they're enjoying their work and they're affecting their clients. When she bought that car, she helped that car salesperson's life. George R. Dovolis: Mm. Mmm. Anna Brambilla: Right, because now he has created more sales and he can go on and do things. So at the end of the day, I I will never know some of the outer layers of the heart shape ripple. I'll I'll just never know what they are. But I like to think that in some way I help some car salesperson buy take his family on vacation. And that's that's what I want to be known for. George R. Dovolis: Hmm. Thanks Wow, that's incredible. ⁓ Scott Brandt: I think that yeah, I was gonna say it's one of those that really what's the bigger impact that's being created. a lot of people don't realize just those little things, how many lives are impacted. And so that that's a huge, huge thing on that one. ⁓ and so Anna, for individuals, if they were curious, because I know you had highlighted helping people kind of find in that proper ⁓ executive assistant, having that proper alignment there. Anna Brambilla: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Scott Brandt: If individuals are curious, kind of learning more about what you do, what you offer, where would that be for them to go connect and learn more about what you offer? Anna Brambilla: Great, great. I'm always happy to have have a conversation with anybody. go to virtuallyaligned.com slash podcast. And then just check out our website, get on my calendar, look me up on LinkedIn. It's LinkedIn.com slash in slash Anna Brahmbila. It's pretty easy to find. ⁓ You'll me there with the curly hair. I'm I'm hard to miss. you know, out my posts. ⁓ I'm ⁓ out what I'm doing. Get on my calendar. Let's have a conversation. Let's talk about what life could be like. we also have a phone number. I have to always remember, it's 650-420-2662. So that's that's our you know, our virtual answering system. But you know, check us out there and we'll be glad to get back in touch with you. George R. Dovolis: So when is your book coming out? I know you're writing it. You know I'm gonna ask you now. Anna Brambilla: ⁓ I'm yes, I'm glad. Actually it's interesting. was just talking to my own personal coach ⁓ I have a major deadline for next week to organize. It's about 80% written. So I have to organize it into the table of contents. So I'm actually hoping within well, it depends on who you talk to, right? Some people say, ⁓ you can get it out tomorrow. Other like, ⁓ no, it's gonna go through editing and it's gonna take years. George R. Dovolis: Yeah. Yeah. Anna Brambilla: I am going to put a stake in the ground and say I'm gonna get it up by Thanksgiving. Okay? Scott Brandt: Awesome. George R. Dovolis: Well, you make sure you let us know when that book comes out and we'll post that. I mean, it was awesome. Anna Brambilla: ⁓ well, thank you. I appreciate that. Scott Brandt: So yeah, if you're looking for these types of videos, hit the subscribe button. And then like we said, if you're stuck and you're like, I don't know what I'm doing, like I'm just all over the place, we need to filter and say, Okay, what is that zone of genius that you really need to focus on? But that's also the internal work because if you don't do the internal work, you're all over the place. So there's there's tools out there, there's individuals that you can talk to. It's just finding that resource that's gonna help you really overcome and get in that zone of genius that's gonna benefit you to benefit others. So other than that, we appreciate you guys coming along on this journey, allowing us to be part of your journey and we'll catch you on the next episode.