Latest / The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson / The Freedom Formula with David Finkel

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The Freedom Formula with David Finkel · The SmallBizChat with Melinda Emerson

• 0:00
  3, 10, 1, 0, ignition, liftoff,
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  Ending small business failure.
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  Welcome to the Small Biz Chat podcast with a number 1 small business expert Melinda Emerson.
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  Bolinda's goal is to end small business failure, and she'll give you the information
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  you need to succeed and live the life you've dream of.
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  Now here's the small Biz lady herself.
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  Melinda Emerson.
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  Hi, everybody.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson, the small Biz lady, and would like to welcome you to small biz chat.
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  Now we have an amazing show for you.
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  For more than ten and a half years, I have been hosting small biz chat Now you guys know that
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  the whole reason why we started small business jet is to create a peer to peer opportunity for
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  you to get business advice that you don't have to pay for, but that you definitely need.
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  So listen.
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  We're gonna be talking to you about how to build your business without sacrificing your
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  family or your health.
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  I would love to introduce my very first guest entrepreneur David Finkle.
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  Now he is the CEO of the Maui Mass of mine, one of the world's premier business coaching
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  company, and he's worked with over 100,000 business leaders helping them grow their
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  companies And what he likes to say is that he helps his business coaches or the people that
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  he coaches grow their revenue five times higher than the average privately held company.
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  Well, now if that's not a result statement, I don't really know what is.
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  He's written over 11 books many of them are Wall Street Journal bestsellers, and his latest
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  book he's gonna be talking to us tonight is called the Freedom Formula.
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  With that, David.
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  Welcome to small business chat life.
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  Thank you so much, Melinda.
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  It's a pleasure to be here.
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  Oh, listen.
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  I always love to have a chance to speak with you.
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  Alright.
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  So let's get down to it.
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  Everyone talks about needing to work smarter, not harder.
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  But how do we do that in the face of all the stuff that coming at us.
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  You know, as a small bazaar, I got 10 full time jobs, David.
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  So tell me.
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  How in the world can I, you know, Email, staff challenges, customer fires?
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  You helped me.
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  I I wanna sit at the foot of the master tonight and learn.
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  How is it?
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  That I can work harder and not smart smarter and not harder in my business.
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  Yeah.
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  Well, first of all, the first thing I'm gonna say is it's not about more.
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  We all have this Mister Martha.
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  I've worked more hours.
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  I work longer hours.
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  I work nights weekends.
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  I'm gonna be successful, and we're inculcated.
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  And I called out the the time and effort economy.
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  We don't get paid for hours.
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  We don't get paid for effort.
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  We don't get paid for attitude.
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  We get paid for the results that we generate.
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  So we need time but we need a special kind of time.
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  We need some of our best attention carved out in blocks.
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  So the first thing I would share is we call it our buffet strategy.
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  And so I I love a good buffet.
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  And so when I go to a buffet, the most important plate of food in a buffet is your
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  first plate of food.
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  If I have that first plate of food with nutritious vegetables and good quality
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  proteins, I can eat the all the other junk and still make sure that I I partially filled my
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  stomach with the good stuff, and I've gotten the nutrition.
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  Well, most of us, Melinda, we're filling our business day with junk.
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  We're we're working hard.
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  We're working long, but we're putting all the good stuff in the remnant slivers of time.
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  5 minutes here.
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  10 minutes there.
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  So the first thing I would say to anyone that's watching this is carve out what I would call a
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  focus day.
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  Now focus day could be even just a a 2 hour block 1 day a week that you put as a recurring
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  calendar appointment.
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  And and just by doing that, you have 2 hours every week 3 hours if you can squeeze it in 1
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  day a week that you blocked off to do your high value activities in your best time.
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  Eventually, you'll grow that where you might do that 2 or 3 days a week.
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  Think about that for a moment.
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  You know that every week I have a 2, 3 hour block, and then on my other days, we call those
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  push days.
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  I'm just pushing the things that I'm working on.
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  Taking care of the function of my job, I can still give myself a 1 hour block, a 1 hour
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  block, and I I might only carve about 5 or 6 hours over an entire 40 or 50 hour week, but
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  that represents a full 6 to 12 weeks of my very best time focused on the most important things,
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  and I still have all this other white space, open space, clear space to do stuff.
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  And most of us don't do that.
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  What we do is we get into the mode of I'm working really hard jumping for email to
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  conversation to meeting, and it just is the wrong way to do that.
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  We need to batch and and collect and pull away some of our best time to give an uninterrupted
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  block to our most valuable stuff.
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  Okay.
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  So I need you to drill that down for me again because I heard what you said.
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  You said I need to set aside 2 to 3 hours of time.
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  Am I doing that every day?
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  Or I Great question.
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  I
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  I'm not really sad.
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  Yeah.
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  So I'm gonna start with, like, I was talking with a client earlier today, and and and one of
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  her challenges has always been time runs a an online retail business and also sells, gift
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  products in Hawaii all throughout the chain there.
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  So for her, she might choose 1 day a week, Tuesday, from 8:30 in the morning till 10:30.
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  It's just a 2 hour block once a week.
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  She puts it in her calendar as a recurring appointment, whether I use Google or whether I
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  use Outlook or whatever calendar program.
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  So it happens and it's blocked off.
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  That's my focus day.
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  Later on, I might build a second day or a third day, but I start with just one.
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  If I do nothing else out of this conversation and I did just that, I can count on 8 hours per
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  month that my very best time focused on those things that I know I should be doing that
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  matter that would progress my company, but in the past, I let get crowded out by all the
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  other junk that just overwhelms me.
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  So that would be the first thing to do.
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  The second thing would be on those other days, Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, depending
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  which day I choose for my focus day, I call that a push day.
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  I'm just pushing things one step further ahead.
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  I can still carve out 1 hour on those days.
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  I'll take the other 7 or 8 that I work to do time however I want to.
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  It's like that that first plate of food at the buffet, not 1 hour chunk of time or that 2 hour
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  chunk of time, I'm gonna fill it with the most nutritious business activities, the things that
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  actually make a difference.
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  And if I do just that, that's such a simple, easy thing to do.
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  I'm gonna see a real lift to my results.
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  We've watched it with hundreds of clients doing the same thing.
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  Alright.
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  So I know that you briefly talked before about this time effort economy, what are the five
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  chains that hold people back in the time effort economy?
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  That's a great question.
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  But the first one is actually a medical condition.
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  It's called controlitis.
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  It's the inflammation of your control gland.
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  And I don't know about you, Melinda.
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  I suffered from it, but, I mean, I I had a controlled land that wouldn't let go of
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  anything.
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  I can you can ask my kids.
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  You can ask my wife.
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  You can ask any of my team members.
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  And we got an amazing piece of advice.
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  1 of my one of my business mentors, her name is Stephanie Harkness.
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  She's actually my co author for one of my books, build a business, not a job.
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  And she had built and sold a a massive manufacturing company, former president of the
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  National Or Chairwoman of the National Association of Manufacturers, incredible woman.
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  She said, David, I want you to grab an index card.
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  So I did.
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  I grabbed a 3 by 5 index card.
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  She said write the following statement on there.
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  And I wrote it down, and it changed my business life.
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  I wrote down, I don't know.
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  What do you think we should do?
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  And she had me every time a staff member would come to me with question.
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  She said before you reflexively solve their problem, I want you to just pause, pull out
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  your index card and and ask I don't know, Sarah.
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  What do you think we should do here?
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  And on the flip side, I learned to add one more question.
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  If it were totally up to you, what would you do here?
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  And the interesting thing is probably depending on the staff member, 50% of the time, 80% of
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  the time, 90% of the time, their choice is a good choice.
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  And so when it is, I just simply say, you know what?
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  That sounds great.
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  Why don't you go ahead and make that happen?
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  2 things happen.
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  Number 1, they're empowered.
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  Number 2, I'm training them over time not to come to me with lots of stuff.
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  Right.
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  Times, they come up with a crazy idea.
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  I ask them, well, why do you think that's the right choice?
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  And if you couldn't do that, what else could you do?
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  So that's one of them.
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  Another one is a lack of strategic depth that if They look at their business.
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  What happens is they're the main person, and if they're not there to do something, they're in a
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  world of hurt, or they might have 1 or 2 key people So strategic depth we talk about in
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  chapter 4, the freedom form that says, I want to have the systems, the cross train team, and
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  the culture that says we back each other up.
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  And I can build that slowly over time so that Linda's not the only person in my company who
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  can do x.
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  There's a second person.
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  There's some documentation about it.
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  And when I do that and have a culture that says that's how we do it, that's how I can sustain
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  these gains over time.
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  And I I love that because like, with the don't be the mama.
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  Right?
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  Don't be in your business thinking for everybody.
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  So I actually teach people the exact same thing.
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  Now do you have 1 or 1 or 2 more you can share with us?
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  Yeah.
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  So another one would be an outdated time habits.
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  For example, We grew up in a world where time was something that we, we did get paid for
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  time.
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  We thought anyways, but now with ubiquitous you know, internet everywhere, smartphones chasing
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  us down with feeds about, you know, our my slack channel for for my staff asking
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  questions, WhatsApp messages, 1000 emails a week.
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  Our sense of how we we have a model of how time work hasn't changed, we haven't built the
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  buffers or filter.
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  So I'll give you one more example.
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  We call this the needle in the haystack.
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  So Andrea, who I was mentioning to you before, she used to be, like, on top of her inbox, I
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  would probably tell you 18 hours a day.
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  I mean, I I I wouldn't be surprised if she woke up in the middle of the night checking it.
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  That's how on top she was.
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  She was terrified that she would miss an email that would be from a major customer or a key
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  supplier.
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  And I asked her one day.
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  I said, Andrea, how often is there really a critical email out of how many emails before
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  there's 1.
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  She said, well, probably 1 in 5000.
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  I said, you're killing your quality of life for that 1 in 5000.
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  What if we designed this better rather than having people deliver that emergency message to
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  your in inbox, what if you gave them a different way for them to get you in that 1 in
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  5000 situation?
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  You know, some companies we work with have created a hotline of a of a cell phone that
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  gets transferred around or forwarded to different people Others have used WhatsApp or
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  something, but a different channel away from email so that you don't feel like I have to
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  always be checking during family dinners during my kids play during our vacation.
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  I've gotta create better filters, and that's an example for it.
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  Great.
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  Great.
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  So how do you get free.
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  I mean, like, you you you do a good job of showing us the bad stuff we're doing, but, you
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  know, how do you break free from this?
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  Yeah.
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  So it's incremental, and I'll give a quick example about that.
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  If I start carving out even just that focus day, let's say I take a 3 hour block once per
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  week on Tuesday.
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  And I start asking for myself this week what's the most important big rock that I could fill
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  into that 2 or 3 hour block.
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  Hi.
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  I'm Melinda Emerson small biz lady.
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  I know you might be thinking about quitting your business and going back into corporate
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  America, but wait.
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  Before you give up, my new book fix your business could give you a whole new lease on
• 11:28
  life.
• 11:29
  My twelve piece of running a successful business will walk you through step by step how
• 11:33
  to grow your business revenue, how to hire great people, and streamline your processes and
• 11:39
  so much more.
• 11:40
  Grab a copy today, affix your business, and get your life back.
• 11:47
  Hi, everybody.
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  Welcome back to small biz chat live.
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  We were just talking with David Finkle from his book, The Freedom for Imlot.
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  You talk about better ways to leverage a personal assistant, a better ways of, you know,
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  kinda handling email you talk a little bit about that?
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  Absolutely.
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  I'm gonna share 3 for just an assistant side, and these come from chapter 2 of the Freedom
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  formula.
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  But the first one I've been using an assistant now for 24 years.
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  You're gonna have different assistance over time.
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  So one of the key functions for your assistant should be for him or her to actually create the
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  system as they go of how to be a great assistant for you.
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  You're not gonna have the same assistant for years.
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  If they're really good, you're gonna promote them.
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  Like, for example, Teresa, who's my company, COO, About 11 or 12 years ago, she started as
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  my assistant, and she was too good to keep as an assistant.
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  Others will leave just because things go on.
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  2nd, know yourself.
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  Are you someone who likes to delegate by typing, by by by using some kind of text, or do
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  you like to do it auto totally?
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  If it's auto totally, My best suggestion, and I found this has saved me hours every week, I
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  don't wanna go meet with my assistant.
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  I use a simple app whether I use WhatsApp to do an audio recording straight to them.
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  I use VOXER, voxer.
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  And so what it does is it lets me, as a as a moment strikes, I can just grab my phone I can
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  press 2 buttons.
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  I'm recording on there.
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  And then all of a sudden, I can just say, hey, Emily, can you please take care of x, y, and z?
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  I'm done in 60 seconds.
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  She can listen to it more than once.
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  So when she goes through, I've learned that even if I delegate in person, I need to have
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  her record the sessions because I talk a little bit fast and I want her to go back a second
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  time.
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  If she still has questions, she'll ask me.
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  And the the final kind of, suggestion I have for the assistant one list to rule them all.
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  Don't have your assistant manage his or her deliverables and their inbox.
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  Worst thing you can do.
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  Whether you use Asana or a different project management tool, have them put everything that
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  they're doing for you on one rowing list, And as long as you see it on there, you start to
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  trust, they've got it covered.
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  And that's what lets me not have to micromanage Emily.
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  Although you'd have to ask her if I still do it by those little control glands kinda flare up
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  every now and then.
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  But in general, one list kind of like if you're a lord of the rings fan, one ring to rule them
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  all, one list to rule them all.
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  I sorry.
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  I'm a nerd.
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  That's okay.
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  I mean, I'm a big game of thrones fan.
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  So nurse nurse unite.
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  Anyway, so listen, Last question I have for you, what are some of the strategies that you
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  can use to sort of, like, recover from time and attention distractions?
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  Yeah.
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  So I'm gonna tell you that the 2 big things that have made a real difference, and I've
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  watched it with clients that we have.
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  Number 1, they block off some time each day for what they need to do from their business, but
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  also to block off a little bit of time for them personally, take a walk, get, have a healthy
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  meal, some of my clients really believe very strongly and I enjoy meditation.
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  My wife's into yoga, whatever it might be for you.
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  That's one.
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  Number 2, and I think this is really important.
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  You cannot live in the always on world of email.
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  The moment you're in your inbox, I promise you you're wasting so much other time.
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  So for me, I will oftentimes go work from a different space.
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  Like, for example, you can see my office behind me.
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  There's a couch area back there.
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  I do most of my riding on the couch there.
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  If I'm on my computer where email is, it's really a distraction.
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  Or right next door, I have my conference room.
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  I might go in there or I live in a small community called Jackson Hole.
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  I like going to actually, hotels, high end hotels, and going to the lobby, and I don't ask
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  for the internet code.
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  I know that seems crazy.
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  I I leave my phone off.
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  And so for a 2 or 3 hour period, I can get a week's worth of value, and it makes all the
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  difference.
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  There are women out here who who you say, okay, you're a man, and you're talking about how to
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  have better work life balance.
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  Like, you you gotta wipe So it's easier for you to have work life balance than it is for those
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  of us who are either single parents or, you know, managing children, business and work.
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  So family, business, and, you know, their life.
• 15:50
  So so talk to me about is this harder for women to do than it is for men?
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  Yeah.
• 15:56
  Well, first of all, most of the things that are there that are there, that's a very fair
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  question.
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  So I would tell you, first of all, I've used the ideas myself, but more importantly, half of
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  our clients, 50% of our clients are women.
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  Many of whom are are are moms, not all, but many of whom are 70% of our coaches are women,
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  and 80% of my team members, many of whom our moms and single moms use these ideas and and
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  that we work with.
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  So these ideas have been tested in the toughest laboratory of all the marketplace.
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  And so they work.
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  I get it as only a voyeur can get it.
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  I mean, my my friend, Stephanie, I mentioned the mentor that I had.
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  She'll be the first to say, you know, look, in her her life, she's in her seventies, growing
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  up, exceeding exceptionally, and she was on a presidential commission meeting once per
• 16:42
  quarter on the White House during the Bush administration.
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  I mean, remarkable woman.
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  She'll be the first to say everything in the business world, you have to be twice as good if
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  you're a woman, and I can't understand that.
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  But these time tactics absolutely work regardless of which even understanding that if
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  you're a single parent, let alone a single mom in that world, you're gonna have more on your
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  plate, which makes it even more important for you to do things these ways.
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  If you don't, you're starting with a, you know, one pace behind on the race time management.
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  You really need it even more.
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  Okay.
• 17:13
  Alright.
• 17:14
  What is your favorite business app?
• 17:17
  Yeah.
• 17:17
  By far, it's a app called or VO XER.
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  I use it with staff members.
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  I'm an auditory delegator, so I go ahead and leave messages.
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  I just make sure my staff knows they email me back because I read aster than I talk.
• 17:28
  I use it probably 20 to 30 times a day to hand off assignments and share information.
• 17:32
  Alright.
• 17:33
  Good stuff, David.
• 17:34
  What's your favorite podcast?
• 17:35
  Ted Radio Hour.
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  I just love the fact that it exposes me to ideas I wouldn't normally think about, and it
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  does it in a real year life.
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  The author who wrote it was Christian and and actually several other co authors phenomenal
• 17:48
  book to take a look at your business and your life together.
• 17:51
  Interesting.
• 17:51
  Alright, David.
• 17:52
  What's your favorite old school marketing tip?
• 17:54
  Yeah.
• 17:54
  By far, it's the telephone.
• 17:56
  I know it's annoying and not the robo call park, but actually having someone get picked up
• 17:59
  the phone to make some outbound calls.
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  You know, we have clients of ours that might have team members make a a hundred dials in a
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  day, and it's painful.
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  It's boring.
• 18:08
  And it's still works even though it's hard to get people to pick up the phone.
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  Alright.
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  Alright.
• 18:13
  I'm I'm ducking people like you.
• 18:15
  Okay.
• 18:15
  Alright.
• 18:16
  Now Thank you guys so much.
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  The mission of small fish chat is to end small business failure, and that is what we were
• 18:23
  doing tonight.
• 18:24
  I tell you I do this because I want you to win in business, and I I wanna leave you with this.
• 18:31
  Remember, you never lose business.
• 18:34
  Either you win or you learn.
• 18:36
  God bless everybody.
• 18:37
  This is Melinda Emerson, the small business lady, and we are out.
• 18:42
  Thank you for listening to the Small Biz chat podcast with Melinda Emerson.
• 18:47
  For more resources and small business success strategies, visit succeed as your own boss.com.
• 18:53
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