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Scaling Smarter with Strategic Support featuring Marney Lumpkin · Business Roundtable

0:13
Speaker 1: Welcome back to the Business Roundtable podcast. I'm your host,
0:16
Speaker 1: David Carr. Founders Through your Business. We bring people together
0:19
Speaker 1: to accomplish great things, aligning people, process purpose for confident
0:24
Speaker 1: and scalable growth. That's why I have a brand new
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Speaker 1: guest this week, Martie Lumpkin. She's the president of Strategic
0:30
Speaker 1: Management and Logistics. So get that management logistics. Her team
0:33
Speaker 1: provide a wide range of support from bookkeeping, hr project management,
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Speaker 1: social media, grandwriting, even cybersecurity, a lot of different things,
0:41
Speaker 1: and we're gonna unpack it. She works with solopreneurs and
0:44
Speaker 1: small businesses, nonprofits really to help address the burden of
0:49
Speaker 1: the day to day task that maybe you should not
0:51
Speaker 1: be focusing on. We're going to get into that. So
0:53
Speaker 1: if you're a business owner, maybe a nonprofit leader, feeling stretched, stuck,
0:58
Speaker 1: maybe doing too many things, you're going to get a
1:00
Speaker 1: lot of value out of this conversation today. Welcome to
1:02
Speaker 1: the podcast.
1:03
Speaker 2: Marnie, Thank you, David, thank you so much for having me.
1:06
Speaker 3: I'm excited, absolutely absolutely.
1:09
Speaker 1: You and I met through different networking groups, which is
1:11
Speaker 1: fantastic and I love that. And when we were talking,
1:14
Speaker 1: I said, Manie, you got to come on the podcast.
1:16
Speaker 1: Because your insights, your perspective is very much needed. I
1:21
Speaker 1: as a solopreneur, and I've worked with any of the
1:23
Speaker 1: business owners have got stuck in the minutia to our own,
1:28
Speaker 1: you know, disadvantage, and so I want to get though.
1:31
Speaker 1: I want to have you share a little bit about
1:33
Speaker 1: what brought you to creating SML and helping people get,
1:38
Speaker 1: you know, out of that minutia of the logistics and
1:42
Speaker 1: all of this other things that you know, they probably
1:44
Speaker 1: shouldn't be doing and they've been doing for too long.
1:48
Speaker 2: That's for sure. Yeah, yeah, let's see for me. You know,
1:52
Speaker 2: I I've had a couple of different career paths along
1:54
Speaker 2: the way, different degrees, you know, but I'm finally using
1:59
Speaker 2: one of them for the business, which I love and
2:02
Speaker 2: I think, you know, I have finally found my passion
2:05
Speaker 2: what I want to do. And it's so amazing to
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Speaker 2: be a small business owner supporting other small business owners.
2:13
Speaker 2: That's what's awesome about it. And also the ability that
2:17
Speaker 2: I have that I brought together a team of individuals
2:20
Speaker 2: so I'm able to allow them to shine as well
2:22
Speaker 2: with their aunties of knowledge. So that's what it's all about,
2:26
Speaker 2: just helping each other out you know, it can be
2:28
Speaker 2: something larger, it can be something small, it doesn't matter.
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Speaker 2: We're we're all here to help each other out.
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Speaker 1: I love that, Marnie, and that's why I want to
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Speaker 1: have you on the podcast because as we're a meeting,
2:38
Speaker 1: I saw that, Okay, there's different areas that you can
2:41
Speaker 1: help folks and focus on growing their business. And with
2:46
Speaker 1: your background he mentioned, I know you have a varied
2:48
Speaker 1: background in HR and education and and you know, I
2:51
Speaker 1: feel like you know, pulling from those things and then
2:53
Speaker 1: bringing these people together to help particularly solopreneurs, are those
2:58
Speaker 1: small businesses even larger business I know you can help
3:00
Speaker 1: in different aspects of that, but get out of their
3:04
Speaker 1: own way because you know, my passion with Steer your
3:06
Speaker 1: Business is the people side and incorporating that and helping
3:09
Speaker 1: build that leadership team. And I think you know there's
3:11
Speaker 1: a place where you have people outsourced and there's a
3:13
Speaker 1: place where when do I switch and actually have an
3:16
Speaker 1: employee and all of that, Right, Minie, you've seen that
3:19
Speaker 1: journey with the business owners.
3:21
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, and it can be a little Daunte. We
3:25
Speaker 2: all have small small business owners. We just we wear
3:28
Speaker 2: all the hats. That's what we get right, especially when
3:30
Speaker 2: we start off. That's just how the magic's going to happen.
3:35
Speaker 2: And you know, on the other side, it's kind of
3:37
Speaker 2: difficult sometimes to let go. You know, it really is,
3:41
Speaker 2: I'll admit it myself. You know, even when I first
3:44
Speaker 2: brought on my first team member, I was like, you know,
3:48
Speaker 2: oh my gosh, I hope this works. And you know,
3:50
Speaker 2: you can only prepare so much before you just have
3:53
Speaker 2: to let it go and hope that you brought on,
3:56
Speaker 2: you know, the right individual you've premared possible and mentor
4:01
Speaker 2: and work with them collaboratively in order to make magic happen.
4:06
Speaker 2: You know, I really do understand that. For me, you know,
4:10
Speaker 2: it is important to work with solopreneurs, small mid sized nonprofits.
4:15
Speaker 2: We're even into some federal and state subcontracting, which is
4:18
Speaker 2: very exciting myself personally because I never thought I would
4:23
Speaker 2: be in that space. But work and meet new people
4:27
Speaker 2: and becomes keep getting certified. I'm able to pursue some
4:30
Speaker 2: different opportunities, which is great. But my bread and butter
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Speaker 2: really is all of my private clients. And the beauty
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Speaker 2: is we're virtual industry agnostic. I mean, we are a
4:41
Speaker 2: very eclectic team and we have a very eclectic group
4:44
Speaker 2: of clients, you know, so we are never bored here
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Speaker 2: at SML. I love the variety, you know, showing that
4:53
Speaker 2: we can help different people. The majority of our clients
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Speaker 2: are very long term and across different support areas. Others
5:00
Speaker 2: they may just need help with a project or one text,
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Speaker 2: and that's okay too. You know, we never want to
5:06
Speaker 2: say no. If we can help. It doesn't matter how
5:09
Speaker 2: small it is or how long term of an engagement
5:13
Speaker 2: it is. If we can help, want to help. And
5:16
Speaker 2: I think you know, part of the draw, at least
5:18
Speaker 2: for us, is that once you're a client, you're kind
5:21
Speaker 2: of always a client. Come and go as you need to.
5:25
Speaker 2: There's you know, you don't have to we don't have
5:27
Speaker 2: to sign this huge contract and you know you have
5:31
Speaker 2: to give us fifty hours a week you know to work. No, No,
5:35
Speaker 2: we are just here to help and we can scale
5:37
Speaker 2: up or down whatever you need at that time, you know,
5:42
Speaker 2: because we all know sometimes the budget is just not there.
5:46
Speaker 2: That's just small business man's that's what it is.
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Speaker 3: Reality. Yeah, and it's okay to.
5:52
Speaker 2: Come to us and say we just need to hold off,
5:54
Speaker 2: but can we come back later. Absolutely, you send me
5:56
Speaker 2: an email and we can start right back up again.
5:59
Speaker 3: That's fantastic. I love that.
6:00
Speaker 1: I love that flexibility, and I'm the same way, Marnie.
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Speaker 1: I think that's why you and I connected. It's like
6:04
Speaker 1: when I'm looking at leadership and development, there's sometimes there's
6:07
Speaker 1: more of the team and sometimes you know, it's just hey,
6:09
Speaker 1: we just need to work with this individual or just
6:11
Speaker 1: me as a one on one, and sometimes there's a pause,
6:14
Speaker 1: and you know, there's different things, cash flow, there's lots
6:16
Speaker 1: of different issues that come up right in the business.
6:18
Speaker 3: But you've been there, Marnie. That's the good thing. You've
6:19
Speaker 3: been there.
6:20
Speaker 1: And one thing I wanted to highlight too, is that
6:22
Speaker 1: correct me if I'm wrong here? But as I was
6:24
Speaker 1: working in a website, everything everybody is at US based.
6:27
Speaker 3: Is that correct?
6:27
Speaker 2: Yes? Everyone is US based and they are background checked
6:31
Speaker 2: confidentiality agreements anyways, if the client request it, absolutely because
6:37
Speaker 2: that's just and you know, everybody has their own vibe,
6:40
Speaker 2: everyone has their own way of running their business. But
6:43
Speaker 2: that's just the way I wanted to is to make
6:44
Speaker 2: sure and you know, everyone on my team is no
6:48
Speaker 2: more than a second level connection out so I know
6:51
Speaker 2: them personally or that person knows them personally. You know.
6:55
Speaker 2: I think that helps kind of with the feel of SML,
6:59
Speaker 2: is that I really know each other, we really do collaborate.
7:04
Speaker 2: I may be the head of the company, but the
7:07
Speaker 2: boots on the ground for me are my team.
7:09
Speaker 1: I know that.
7:10
Speaker 2: You know. It's a very collaborative, open, welcoming environment, and
7:14
Speaker 2: we try to be that way towards our client as well,
7:17
Speaker 2: because we really do want to be you know, people
7:20
Speaker 2: always say it, but we really do believe it. We
7:22
Speaker 2: really do want to be a member of that client's team.
7:26
Speaker 2: We want to be a trusted resource, you know, even
7:29
Speaker 2: if it's not maybe transactional right away, maybe it's just
7:33
Speaker 2: helping each other out with networking or a request or
7:38
Speaker 2: a recommendation or a connection. That's what matters, you know.
7:41
Speaker 2: I always say good people know good people, and that's
7:44
Speaker 2: what it happened. You know.
7:47
Speaker 3: Well, I love that.
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Speaker 1: Marnie and I remember we were talking about when we
7:52
Speaker 1: were thinking about the podcast, and one of the things
7:54
Speaker 1: I asked you was like, to that point, you know
7:57
Speaker 1: these people, you're you're finding the right people because I'm not.
8:00
Speaker 1: I know I in the past I've used a different
8:03
Speaker 1: service and they said, you know, I was kind of
8:05
Speaker 1: felt like I had to pick. They didn't give me
8:08
Speaker 1: a lot of options and that wasn't the best bit
8:11
Speaker 1: and I had They were in a different time than
8:13
Speaker 1: in the US, was it not. I mean, I'm in there,
8:15
Speaker 1: we're on the East coast, West coast, but now they
8:17
Speaker 1: were like in a totally different time. It was challenging
8:20
Speaker 1: and I think we're how to hear you say, a
8:22
Speaker 1: Marnie is finding somebody that can help meet you where
8:25
Speaker 1: you're at and not make you jump through more hoops.
8:28
Speaker 1: Almost it's like, man, I feel like I'm having to
8:30
Speaker 1: do even more to get this person to quote help me.
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Speaker 2: Yes, that's that is not advantageous for anyone, because that's
8:38
Speaker 2: the other thing. You want to be able to bring
8:40
Speaker 2: someone on board into your team as a virtual business
8:43
Speaker 2: support person that's pretty much already up to speed right
8:48
Speaker 2: on the platforms that you need different skills, and it's
8:52
Speaker 2: not just about skill, it's also about personality as well. Yes,
8:56
Speaker 2: I have that personality match in order to make it
9:00
Speaker 2: really successful, and that that personal understanding and for me,
9:04
Speaker 2: you know, that's just really an essential piece of it.
9:08
Speaker 2: And you know that's what makes the clients keep coming
9:12
Speaker 2: back or even recommending us or referring us to others
9:15
Speaker 2: is because they know they're going to get something very
9:18
Speaker 2: authentic from us. You know, we've got you know, pretend
9:23
Speaker 2: that we are something we are not. You know, we
9:26
Speaker 2: are very clear also about where where our expertise ends.
9:30
Speaker 3: You know.
9:30
Speaker 2: As an example, currently we're bringing on a CPA partner,
9:34
Speaker 2: but currently it's not official and we have bookkeeping services,
9:39
Speaker 2: but we're not going to say we know how to
9:41
Speaker 2: do CPA. We know, you know, because we try to
9:45
Speaker 2: be really honest and helpful to the individuals and for us,
9:50
Speaker 2: that's that's a key component, is that you can say
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Speaker 2: I do this great, these are our areas, and we
9:57
Speaker 2: can knock it out of the park for you right away,
9:59
Speaker 2: become integrated very quickly. Other things, it's okay, it may
10:04
Speaker 2: not be a perfect match, and we're not you're not
10:07
Speaker 2: interested necessarily in making it more challenging for the client
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Speaker 2: or us on that at right, it's not a match.
10:14
Speaker 2: It's not a match.
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Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Marnie as a business owner sometimes because
10:19
Speaker 1: I get pitched every day. I'm sure you do too,
10:21
Speaker 1: selling me something and they're like, how do you know
10:23
Speaker 1: you're a match? You're just trying to You've got something
10:25
Speaker 1: you want to sell and you're just like trying to
10:27
Speaker 1: find anybody. I'm like, that's not the right way, Aback.
10:30
Speaker 1: I like how you said not just the technical skills,
10:33
Speaker 1: but you know, we and I talked about the five
10:34
Speaker 1: Voices as one of the tools. I use the frameworks,
10:37
Speaker 1: and I know myself, I am not about the day
10:40
Speaker 1: to day minutia kind of the checklist right the being
10:44
Speaker 1: very detail and I'm very future oriented. I'm visioning. I'm
10:47
Speaker 1: doing that which I need both, I need all of it.
10:50
Speaker 1: And to point your point, if and I and you,
10:53
Speaker 1: I think Marnie, when you when you're figuring this out,
10:56
Speaker 1: when you're working with a potential client, identifying with them too,
10:58
Speaker 1: like you said, if this is going to be a
10:59
Speaker 1: good or not, you're like, maybe I don't have the
11:02
Speaker 1: right I mean, yes, they could do that technical skills,
11:04
Speaker 1: but personality wise and the way the approaching is in
11:06
Speaker 1: the way that you're presenting yourself and if they're really
11:08
Speaker 1: really rigid, You're like, I don't know that that's going
11:11
Speaker 1: to be a recipe for success.
11:13
Speaker 3: Is that you have to do that sometimes?
11:15
Speaker 2: Well? Yes, And you know the other thing is there
11:19
Speaker 2: also could be you know, any number of reasons why
11:23
Speaker 2: maybe that doesn't work out. The positive is that I
11:26
Speaker 2: have a full team, so there's always another individual who
11:31
Speaker 2: may be presented that could backfill the role if for
11:36
Speaker 2: whatever reason, the first match isn't successful, or you know,
11:40
Speaker 2: if they're outsick, or you know, on vacation. It's okay.
11:44
Speaker 2: The rest of the team is still here, so you're
11:46
Speaker 2: never really you know, without support in any of those areas,
11:51
Speaker 2: which is I think is very helpful as well.
11:54
Speaker 3: Well. You bring up a good point as you're saying that. Mania.
11:56
Speaker 1: It just made me think even if you have an employee,
11:59
Speaker 1: let's just say, because I work at a couple of companies,
12:01
Speaker 1: they have some amazing employees, Marny, but that employee kind
12:05
Speaker 1: of knows everything, and if something happens to that employee,
12:09
Speaker 1: you're in trouble. Right, So if they're sick, they got
12:12
Speaker 1: to take maternity leave whatever, right, you know, I've had
12:15
Speaker 1: sick parents, whatever the case might be. That might be
12:18
Speaker 1: a great, great case in Marney to reach out to
12:20
Speaker 1: somebody like you and saying, hey, I'm going to have
12:21
Speaker 1: an employee out. I want to bring them back. I
12:24
Speaker 1: know they will come back. But I don't want to
12:26
Speaker 1: see hire another you know, I don't want to have
12:29
Speaker 1: hire another person. Could they come out to you, MANI
12:30
Speaker 1: and say you can help them uncover, like here's what
12:33
Speaker 1: all needs to be done.
12:35
Speaker 2: Yes, Yes, that that that is a perfect example of
12:38
Speaker 2: a short term engagement that we could absolutely support in
12:41
Speaker 2: any number of ways. And you know, we're just very
12:48
Speaker 2: we're very interested in becoming a member of the team
12:50
Speaker 2: I keep you know, I know I keep sick.
12:52
Speaker 3: Yeah. Absolutely, It's so.
12:53
Speaker 2: Important because it could be a short term engagement, but
12:57
Speaker 2: you never know what could happen in the future. Yeah,
13:00
Speaker 2: how you can help each other out, or you know,
13:03
Speaker 2: you just meet some other amazing people or another amazing
13:07
Speaker 2: organization and you don't know how that could you know,
13:11
Speaker 2: go down the road. What if someone else is looking
13:13
Speaker 2: for that amazing organization. You already know it and you
13:16
Speaker 2: can certainly recommend and have it. Just keep the good
13:20
Speaker 2: feelings flowing, you know.
13:22
Speaker 3: Oh I love that.
13:23
Speaker 1: I mean honestly, and I'm going I've been through the
13:25
Speaker 1: life cycle and you have two of businesses. So maybe
13:27
Speaker 1: you're offsetting their accounting part time. They finally hire an accountant,
13:31
Speaker 1: but then they need mother help.
13:32
Speaker 3: Maybe some other aspects of the business.
13:34
Speaker 1: Maybe it's a cybersecurity or some Yeah, I don't you know,
13:37
Speaker 1: there's another element right that they're growing. You're like, okay, great,
13:40
Speaker 1: you got that position filled. Fantastic, what other problems or
13:44
Speaker 1: hopefully as it goes this is growing. You can do
13:47
Speaker 1: the short term engagements, you can do augmenting them where
13:50
Speaker 1: they're at, and I thinks others you need to think
13:52
Speaker 1: a little bit more strategically. It's not all or nothing
13:54
Speaker 1: of like, it's either all this one person to do
13:57
Speaker 1: everything or how can I you know, think a little Usually,
14:00
Speaker 1: so you walk me through a little bit, Marnie about
14:03
Speaker 1: when you talk with you know, a new potential client.
14:07
Speaker 1: They might have one idea of what they think they need,
14:10
Speaker 1: but it might not be the biggest, you know, bang
14:13
Speaker 1: for their bucks, so to speak.
14:15
Speaker 3: You know, they come to you and say, hey.
14:16
Speaker 1: This is what I really I think I need this,
14:18
Speaker 1: and you're like, well, how do you unpack that and
14:19
Speaker 1: identify the real Like, here's why I feel like it's
14:21
Speaker 1: going to be the most impactful help for you know,
14:25
Speaker 1: augmented staff team member to come in Yeah, for sure, for.
14:29
Speaker 2: Me when I speak to a potential client, you know,
14:32
Speaker 2: I try to really kind of get to know them
14:35
Speaker 2: and connect on different levels. You know, you have a dog,
14:38
Speaker 2: I have a dog. You know you want to you
14:40
Speaker 2: want to know that, you know, just a little bit
14:42
Speaker 2: of like hard within the business conversation, and that strengthens
14:48
Speaker 2: that relationship, you know, because you work with people you like, Yes, absolutely,
14:54
Speaker 2: And you know, when I speak to a client, they
14:59
Speaker 2: may expe ress what they think they need, and usually
15:03
Speaker 2: they're pretty on top of it, they know their business.
15:06
Speaker 2: But I often go through my list of services with
15:10
Speaker 2: them during the conversation and that kind of seems to
15:13
Speaker 2: perk up different ideas that they may have them Oh well,
15:17
Speaker 2: I didn't know you knew how to do this that.
15:22
Speaker 2: And here at SML, you know, we very much do
15:24
Speaker 2: a soft cell. We're not gonna won't keep pushing, you know,
15:29
Speaker 2: you keep getting the emails and LinkedIn like, but look
15:32
Speaker 2: at me, I don't you know, you know how many
15:34
Speaker 2: emails I get David that say hey, are you interested
15:36
Speaker 2: in virtual support? Look? But you know we know we
15:44
Speaker 2: all get.
15:44
Speaker 4: Them, and it's just yeah, I just I don't know,
15:50
Speaker 4: you know, So for me, when when I speak to
15:52
Speaker 4: them and kind of go through that list, it kind
15:55
Speaker 4: of gives them an overarching idea and them as speak.
15:59
Speaker 2: More could be that there's a different support areas. They're like,
16:02
Speaker 2: wait a minute, maybe I need to get caught up
16:05
Speaker 2: on this or focus on this first, and then we
16:08
Speaker 2: could move on to the others. And for me, I
16:11
Speaker 2: create a support outline for the clients that say, you know,
16:14
Speaker 2: this is what we discussed, this is what the budget
16:16
Speaker 2: will look like. About how many hours anticipating all the details,
16:20
Speaker 2: and again we scale up or down. You know, it
16:23
Speaker 2: could be that we start with bookkeeping, but after a
16:27
Speaker 2: while they're like, okay, our social media is a methed
16:30
Speaker 2: out now we need to focus on this. And it's okay.
16:34
Speaker 2: You know, I include everything in the support outline, but
16:36
Speaker 2: it's not on your clad. We don't have to do
16:39
Speaker 2: everything all at once. That's just honestly not really realistic. Yeah,
16:45
Speaker 2: you want to focus on the few key areas that
16:47
Speaker 2: will be the most advantageous and impactful for the business,
16:53
Speaker 2: you know, because that's what you want to focus on,
16:55
Speaker 2: not the fluff. The fluff. Can you know, can I
16:59
Speaker 2: even do that my own business? You know, I have
17:01
Speaker 2: all these these great ideas, I really do. I'm always
17:06
Speaker 2: chatty with my team, and I'm like, what about this,
17:09
Speaker 2: we should do that? They're like, great, Marty, what about
17:11
Speaker 2: the other ten things they need to be a priority. Yeah, these,
17:17
Speaker 2: But that's why I have my team. They gott to
17:19
Speaker 2: balance me out.
17:20
Speaker 1: That's that's that's so important to have a side source
17:24
Speaker 1: of folks kind of giving you a reality check, Marnie
17:27
Speaker 1: if we don't. And I think that's why I love
17:29
Speaker 1: when you and I met with in the networking groups
17:32
Speaker 1: that we have. You're coming in, you're meeting with other
17:34
Speaker 1: business owners, You're hearing what's going on. I think that's
17:36
Speaker 1: so important. But sometimes speak to a little bit maybe
17:39
Speaker 1: about the business owner that might be self isolating or
17:42
Speaker 1: not knowing when to outsource, because they're just you know,
17:45
Speaker 1: for those that are listening hopefully, and maybe they're like,
17:47
Speaker 1: what are clear signes, like hey, you should probably be
17:50
Speaker 1: considering this.
17:50
Speaker 3: What are you experiencing?
17:52
Speaker 1: I mean, because sometimes when we're in the pressure, Marnie,
17:54
Speaker 1: I don't even think we realize how much pressure we're in.
17:57
Speaker 1: It's like we don't we're like kind of blind to it.
18:00
Speaker 1: And until we step out and we start talking about
18:02
Speaker 1: it and getting some outside insight and perspective, it's like, oh, man,
18:05
Speaker 1: I didn't. I didn't realize to a degree, I've had
18:09
Speaker 1: that happen to me. And I love to be in
18:10
Speaker 1: a spaces where we talk and open up things. I
18:13
Speaker 1: remember being in the networking group, even with you. I
18:15
Speaker 1: still remember some conversations that you were facilitating and bringing
18:18
Speaker 1: out and like.
18:19
Speaker 3: Oh, I didn't. I didn't think about it that way,
18:21
Speaker 3: you know, Yeah, because you're right.
18:24
Speaker 2: I mean, everyone has thrown perspective. That's what makes it great.
18:28
Speaker 2: You don't want to be in a room with people
18:30
Speaker 2: who just think like you all the time. That's not
18:33
Speaker 2: going to help you grow as a business owner or
18:36
Speaker 2: as a person, right, I mean you want to hear
18:38
Speaker 2: outside thoughts and ideas, and I do think that's really
18:43
Speaker 2: really essential for a business owner and for me. You know,
18:47
Speaker 2: I often find what I'm mostly hearing from my clients
18:50
Speaker 2: and from my own self is you know, the triggers are, Hey,
18:55
Speaker 2: have you been sitting at your desk the majority of
18:57
Speaker 2: the day and have no idea what you've done? We're accomplished.
19:01
Speaker 2: I know I've done that ten days, right, You're just
19:06
Speaker 2: I swear I was working all day, but I had
19:09
Speaker 2: I got nothing done that was actually real you know,
19:15
Speaker 2: for the business and or when you are wearing all
19:19
Speaker 2: the hats and it's stopping you from really growing your
19:22
Speaker 2: business and learning new things and just trying to expand it,
19:30
Speaker 2: versus you're just like, great, you know, now I have
19:32
Speaker 2: to I don't know, my calendar is the best. Now
19:34
Speaker 2: I don't know how to do now. Now my cybersecurity
19:38
Speaker 2: is failing, like you're just putting out little fires all
19:41
Speaker 2: day long, versus getting ahead of the game a little bit,
19:46
Speaker 2: you know. And I think oftentimes you know the issue
19:50
Speaker 2: or the challenge. Sometimes it's finding the right type of support,
19:54
Speaker 2: because that is important. You know, it depends what your
19:57
Speaker 2: budget is, what's your area of interest. Are you looking
20:01
Speaker 2: you know, for someone who speaks different languages, you know,
20:04
Speaker 2: in a different locale, you know what, what are you
20:08
Speaker 2: looking for? And you have to marry that with what
20:12
Speaker 2: are the possibilities because if you don't even think a
20:17
Speaker 2: little bit outside the box, you may be missing something great.
20:23
Speaker 2: You know. That's not just with support, that's just with
20:25
Speaker 2: right platforms at everything. You know, you just you could
20:29
Speaker 2: be missing out. Yeah, So you know that's what's kind
20:32
Speaker 2: of cool about it, and we just like able to
20:35
Speaker 2: jump in and help and we always try to ease
20:38
Speaker 2: ease in you know that are just a little a
20:42
Speaker 2: little shy about it because it's right, I mean, especially
20:46
Speaker 2: even the budget aspect. You know, we we now for
20:51
Speaker 2: many of our clients have put in this is your
20:54
Speaker 2: monthly budget. Although it's not a retainer, it's a budget,
20:58
Speaker 2: so it's a guarantee. We are just going to be
21:01
Speaker 2: doing work to do work about how it should be
21:06
Speaker 2: respecting that client budget and we get close. If they
21:10
Speaker 2: come up with something great for us to work on,
21:12
Speaker 2: we are all about it, but we make sure are
21:14
Speaker 2: you sure because this is going to max out the budget?
21:18
Speaker 1: You know, because you want to have that proactive about it, Martie,
21:21
Speaker 1: you're advising them to They're like, oh my goodness, I
21:24
Speaker 1: didn't realize you were doing all this thing and went
21:26
Speaker 1: way beyond what I originally envisioned or my budget up.
21:30
Speaker 1: You know, I was eating up by this and I thought, oh,
21:32
Speaker 1: I thought we were going to be able to get
21:33
Speaker 1: to this. And you're like, well, that's about being proactive
21:36
Speaker 1: project management, absolutely, Marnie.
21:39
Speaker 2: You know, showing that respect. You know, on both sides,
21:43
Speaker 2: you wouldn't want someone to do that to you, you know,
21:45
Speaker 2: no Minisoda wants to get a bill. It's just like
21:51
Speaker 2: at all, right, you know. And the other thing is
21:55
Speaker 2: you like, even with nonprofits, we give an additional ten
21:58
Speaker 2: percent off for each and it's for nonprofit because we
22:01
Speaker 2: love them and they're out there doing great work.
22:05
Speaker 3: Right.
22:05
Speaker 2: Yes, you want to find a company or a support
22:11
Speaker 2: group that shares the same overall values with you, right,
22:18
Speaker 2: that's the other thing, you know. If and it's a
22:21
Speaker 2: gut feeling too. I don't know how else to explain it.
22:24
Speaker 2: But when you talk to someone right, you either connect
22:29
Speaker 2: or maybe this isn't the right person for me. M
22:34
Speaker 2: You know, there are times when we've met with clients
22:36
Speaker 2: maybe it's not a great match for us, but we
22:38
Speaker 2: can we can certainly recommend them to others, right, Because
22:41
Speaker 2: you don't want to just not help somebody. You want
22:44
Speaker 2: absolutely you know, you know, wave in the wind like that's.
22:50
Speaker 1: Not I mean, that's why that's why I have business
22:54
Speaker 1: found Why have you on here and put all the
23:01
Speaker 1: show notes the ways you guys can connect with her
23:03
Speaker 1: and the SML team. But I think to your point, Marni,
23:07
Speaker 1: I have different voices on the podcast, some things that
23:09
Speaker 1: say they manage sound that the first blush, Oh, they
23:11
Speaker 1: did the exact same thing. But then when you dig deeper,
23:13
Speaker 1: it's like, oh no, they've got a unique perspective on
23:15
Speaker 1: it and take on it in their experience. And so
23:18
Speaker 1: you know, go and find out. That's what this whole
23:20
Speaker 1: podcast is about. Taste and see, learn a little bit
23:23
Speaker 1: more about you money. And I love that you also
23:25
Speaker 1: focus on nonprofits and everybody does that and and I think,
23:29
Speaker 1: you know, helping them because I think sometimes they don't
23:32
Speaker 1: always think.
23:33
Speaker 3: I'd love to get you this a little bit.
23:34
Speaker 1: I think nonprofits don't always think as a businusiness, but
23:37
Speaker 1: it is still as a business. It's just not making
23:39
Speaker 1: profits specifically, but it still needs to be run. Speak
23:42
Speaker 1: a little bit about your help for nonprofits and the
23:45
Speaker 1: impact you're making there.
23:47
Speaker 2: Yeah. For for us, for nonprofits, it typically falls within
23:52
Speaker 2: a few support areas that come up over and over again.
23:54
Speaker 2: One is HR oh boy OHR yep, the daily operationals
24:00
Speaker 2: as well as the deeper HR consulting. You know, at times,
24:04
Speaker 2: you know there's an employee relations issue or you know,
24:09
Speaker 2: I look at a date or now I want to
24:12
Speaker 2: start offering benefits to my team, but I have no
24:14
Speaker 2: idea where to start, you know, all those types of things,
24:17
Speaker 2: you know, and we do a lot of recruiting and
24:19
Speaker 2: background checks and all the good stuff in order to
24:22
Speaker 2: help them because you know, a lot of times they
24:24
Speaker 2: don't have a huge HR department in order to handle everything,
24:28
Speaker 2: and it's not it's not a common enough occurrence to
24:34
Speaker 2: have to have a team in place for it. If
24:36
Speaker 2: it's just once in a while, it's okay to outsource,
24:39
Speaker 2: you don't know worries. The other thing is it could
24:42
Speaker 2: be maybe you have someone doing the HR but they
24:45
Speaker 2: don't have time right or maybe that particular expertise, and
24:49
Speaker 2: that's okay. We can jump in and supplement it, you know,
24:53
Speaker 2: for as long as they need to, and then back
24:55
Speaker 2: off when they need us to. The other areas are
24:59
Speaker 2: definitely social media and websites for sure. Bookkeeping is huge
25:06
Speaker 2: for us as well, because you know, as an example,
25:12
Speaker 2: I know QuickBooks sort of quick books online, but I
25:18
Speaker 2: don't know everything. I am not an expert. Whereas I
25:21
Speaker 2: have someone on my team who is, and they're able
25:24
Speaker 2: to jump in and quickly acclimate it. They already have
25:29
Speaker 2: all that nonprofit bookkeeping experience, so they can come in
25:33
Speaker 2: and even make you know, maybe you guys need to
25:36
Speaker 2: do this the year'sations here, you know, because you want
25:40
Speaker 2: to support person that not only is doing the tasks,
25:45
Speaker 2: but you really have that gut instinct that they're looking
25:47
Speaker 2: out for you a better way to do something more efficiently,
25:52
Speaker 2: even if it maybe cuts out some of the work
25:56
Speaker 2: that we're doing. But that's okay because that's what it's about.
25:59
Speaker 2: It's about helping the company or the organization, and that's
26:03
Speaker 2: what we want to what we want to be known for.
26:05
Speaker 3: I love that. Well.
26:06
Speaker 1: I want to go back to one thing you brought
26:07
Speaker 1: up earlier was about the values. Do you know you
26:10
Speaker 1: have the conversation, but I think sometimes businesswmes we want
26:13
Speaker 1: to move too fast and slow down a little bit.
26:15
Speaker 1: Get clear on your vision, your mission, your values, because
26:19
Speaker 1: it's if they want to be able to express that
26:22
Speaker 1: to you so that you can say, hey, are we
26:24
Speaker 1: in alignment or we out of alignment?
26:26
Speaker 3: Right? You know Manie speaks a little bit to that.
26:29
Speaker 2: Yes, I mean it's it really is important to have that,
26:33
Speaker 2: you know, And it doesn't have to be some huge
26:36
Speaker 2: corporty yeah slogan or verbiage. It doesn't have to be
26:41
Speaker 2: It can be something very personal, a sentence, or two.
26:43
Speaker 2: That's it for each thing, just so that you have
26:47
Speaker 2: a clearer vision. And it not only helps business owner
26:50
Speaker 2: themselves right as they move forward day to day and
26:55
Speaker 2: as they grow, but it also helps whoever is on
26:58
Speaker 2: their team, whether it's an employee or fractional business support.
27:03
Speaker 2: They need to be able to understand what it is
27:06
Speaker 2: in order to make the most impact, you know. You know,
27:10
Speaker 2: for me, you know, it's very important to have that.
27:13
Speaker 2: Like even here at SML, I am you know, I
27:17
Speaker 2: send a monthly email to my team and I check
27:20
Speaker 2: in on them work wise, emotionally, physically. How are you
27:25
Speaker 2: guys doing? What do you need from me? Are you
27:28
Speaker 2: taking breaks? Are you taking care of yourself and your families?
27:31
Speaker 2: You know, because if you're not, if you don't have
27:35
Speaker 2: all of that, you can't show up fully at work.
27:41
Speaker 2: And that's that's an important piece to me. And you know,
27:44
Speaker 2: that kind of value system like do you really care?
27:49
Speaker 2: Are you talking about caring? Are you showing that you care? Right?
27:54
Speaker 2: And you know, and that that's an important piece. You know,
27:58
Speaker 2: It's also just that that friendliness feeling. Are we open?
28:02
Speaker 2: Are we friendly? If you know, it's one thing to
28:07
Speaker 2: be professional, but it's another thing too, you know, not
28:12
Speaker 2: be is outgoing. Yeah, with individuals, you know you have
28:16
Speaker 2: to you have to open yourself up just a little bit.
28:18
Speaker 4: Well.
28:19
Speaker 1: I appreciate that, Marnie, because the way you are, you're
28:21
Speaker 1: explaining that, you know, when I think of the fine
28:23
Speaker 1: voices frameworks that I use, that you have what I
28:25
Speaker 1: call a guardian approach, which is making sure everything is
28:27
Speaker 1: taking care of but also what I call nurturing as well,
28:30
Speaker 1: so being very present oriented about how people are doing.
28:33
Speaker 1: And I think sometimes you know, we have to feel
28:35
Speaker 1: like we have to do all of these things. And
28:37
Speaker 1: I said, my strength isn't the guardian. But I appreciate
28:41
Speaker 1: that voice of that person coming in asking me kind
28:43
Speaker 1: of the tougher questions. But have you thought about this?
28:46
Speaker 1: Where is this that you know? And and not taking
28:49
Speaker 1: it so personally, but recognizing they're trying to help me.
28:52
Speaker 1: And I think, you know, matching up people that, like
28:54
Speaker 1: you said, I think to be successful in this is
28:56
Speaker 1: working with somebody like you, Marnie.
28:58
Speaker 3: Are you coachable?
28:59
Speaker 1: Are you being able to to be received feedback and
29:03
Speaker 1: different than yourself?
29:05
Speaker 3: Right? That's important?
29:08
Speaker 2: M hm, it really is, you know, and you work
29:10
Speaker 2: with with us, We work with such a wide range
29:13
Speaker 2: of clients as well in different industries. It's just it's
29:17
Speaker 2: really varied, and you have to be able to go
29:22
Speaker 2: into that and be open, be willing to learn, like
29:24
Speaker 2: you said, coachable, willing to adjust easily, you know, because
29:29
Speaker 2: as long as the client is respectful, you should have
29:32
Speaker 2: no problem adjusting to what they need right now. That
29:36
Speaker 2: should not be a problem. If it is, then that's
29:39
Speaker 2: a different conversation. Because constantly growing as a person I am.
29:44
Speaker 2: You know, there's something new to learn or new platform.
29:48
Speaker 3: Absolutely way to do things.
29:50
Speaker 2: And you know, if we don't have that, we're just
29:53
Speaker 2: kind of dead in the water. We need to keep
29:56
Speaker 2: keep pushing ourselves in our team, you know, to really
30:01
Speaker 2: believe it and show it.
30:02
Speaker 1: I love that, Marnie. I know we're getting close to
30:04
Speaker 1: the podcast. You've got so many great insights here and
30:07
Speaker 1: I'm grateful to hear what has made successful clients and
30:12
Speaker 1: how you've helped them. I so appreciate what your perspective of,
30:16
Speaker 1: you know, meeting them where they're at and vice versa.
30:18
Speaker 3: That they need to be coachable too, and that's.
30:21
Speaker 1: Where I come into and building that leadership team of
30:23
Speaker 1: like how do you take care of it goes both ways.
30:25
Speaker 1: You're helping them, but then I think, as a business owner,
30:27
Speaker 1: how do I take care of those folks that are
30:29
Speaker 1: serving me, those vendors?
30:30
Speaker 3: How do how am I being aware of that?
30:32
Speaker 1: And so those of you that are listening as a
30:34
Speaker 1: business owner and you want to learn more about that,
30:36
Speaker 1: I've shared the five voices with with Marnie. You guys
30:38
Speaker 1: can reach out to me.
30:39
Speaker 3: I'm happy to share that with you as well.
30:41
Speaker 1: But Marnie, they can connect with you through the Strategic
30:44
Speaker 1: Management Logistics dot Com website LinkedIn if they've got a
30:48
Speaker 1: question Marnie and they're like, Okay, I'm hearing this, I
30:51
Speaker 1: want to get help. What would be the best where?
30:54
Speaker 1: What number one? Can they reach out to you? What's
30:56
Speaker 1: the best way to go through your website? What's the
30:57
Speaker 1: best way to reach you?
30:59
Speaker 2: Yes, yes, we would probably be email me directly at
31:02
Speaker 2: Barnie at v A s mL dot com or LinkedIn
31:06
Speaker 2: messaging No problem.
31:08
Speaker 1: There, Okay, great, great, So that's how you guys, go
31:11
Speaker 1: ahead and message her directly if you got questions like
31:13
Speaker 1: I'm not sure where to start. You know, maybe I've
31:16
Speaker 1: never done this before. There's a lot of people out
31:18
Speaker 1: there that quote unquote provide this these this but service.
31:21
Speaker 1: But I'm not sure because they're just pitching me anything
31:24
Speaker 1: and they're trying to sell me something, and Marnie is saying, look,
31:26
Speaker 1: I'm not going to sell you something.
31:27
Speaker 3: I'm going to find this right fit.
31:29
Speaker 1: So if if Marnie they reach out to you or
31:32
Speaker 1: you know what you know as we wrap up here today,
31:34
Speaker 1: you know, what would you say if we did anything?
31:37
Speaker 1: What you know in this journey if you're the if
31:39
Speaker 1: you're having started, or you're you're you're you're you're thinking
31:42
Speaker 1: about it, besides reaching out to you specifically, what should
31:45
Speaker 1: they else should they do?
31:46
Speaker 3: Should they consider Marnie in their journey here? As a
31:49
Speaker 3: business owner, Yeah, I.
31:51
Speaker 2: Would say one is look at kind of what your
31:55
Speaker 2: long term plan is and what resources you may need
31:59
Speaker 2: in order to get to that and as a stop
32:02
Speaker 2: gap if you need resources. And the other thing is
32:05
Speaker 2: to do research you know, as the as a person,
32:10
Speaker 2: you know, as a small business owner, I would want
32:12
Speaker 2: to do my research too. You want to make sure
32:14
Speaker 2: that you find the right fit for you. Don't let
32:17
Speaker 2: anyone push you into anything or bully you into anything
32:21
Speaker 2: that you don't want to do. Not what it's about
32:24
Speaker 2: it truly be support. And you know SML is full
32:29
Speaker 2: on back end support. You know, we have twenty three
32:31
Speaker 2: different service offerings, but you know we're here. We are
32:36
Speaker 2: here for you guys. But you know, we want people
32:39
Speaker 2: to do their research and to feel comfortable and open
32:44
Speaker 2: to the idea of speaking to virtual business support. And
32:49
Speaker 2: you know, I had a client recently she kind of
32:52
Speaker 2: was putting off having us start supporting her, and then
32:57
Speaker 2: she finally emailed and she was like, I'm just pulling
33:01
Speaker 2: everything up. I'm there's never going to be a perfect time, right,
33:05
Speaker 2: You're never going to have the full list. You want
33:07
Speaker 2: to have an idea what you can, you know, work
33:11
Speaker 2: on and pass off, but it's never going to be
33:14
Speaker 2: absolutely perfect, right, So you just you know, you just
33:19
Speaker 2: have to do your research and find the people that
33:21
Speaker 2: are going to work with you best, because that's that's
33:24
Speaker 2: what it's all about.
33:26
Speaker 1: Well, I'm so glad you're here, Marnie. Thank you for
33:28
Speaker 1: being on the podcast. Uh is it a pleasure having you.
33:31
Speaker 1: We hope you come back again.
33:35
Speaker 2: That was awesome. Thank you so much David for having me.
33:37
Speaker 1: Thank you absolutely absolutely, thank you all for joining us
33:40
Speaker 1: on the business rounding book podcast.
33:42
Speaker 3: Of course.
33:42
Speaker 1: If you enjoyed this, we love you subscribing and liking.
33:45
Speaker 1: Leave comments. We'll make sure Marnie can get them she
33:47
Speaker 1: can respond to them. Share this with others and come
33:50
Speaker 1: back into and join us on our next episode of
33:52
Speaker 1: the Business Around Table podcast.
33:54
Speaker 3: Thank you so much for being with us. Everybody fine out.
33:56
Speaker 2: Thank you,