How To Outsource

How To Outsource

Welcome to Diary of a Worthy Pursuit, where we delve into the intricacies of achieving success in both life and business. In today’s episode, “How to Outsource,” we explore the pivotal strategy of outsourcing tasks to optimize productivity and efficiency. We hear from James and Jenna as they share their experiences and insights into the value of outsourcing, emphasizing the importance of investing in services that yield a return on investment. From the significance of prioritizing revenue-generating tasks to the necessity of maintaining work-life balance, our guests provide invaluable advice on finding the right support to propel your aspirations forward. Tune in as we learn how outsourcing can be a transformative investment in the pursuit of our worthy goals.

Enjoy!

Podcast Transcription:

Speaker A [00:00:06]:

So I’m seeing it at my laptop putting together a social media post. And because I have a marketing background, how long it might take a normal person to do a social media post and how long it takes me are very different. Now it could also be because of perfectionist tendencies, and I should go listen to our own podcast about that. But what I noticed was buzz. I was trying to put time into growing my following and growing my business through social media, but it was soaking up so much of mine, and that’s when I found out I need to let this go. And so I looked for someone to outsource to, and it has saved me so much time. So that’s what we’re gonna talk about today.

Speaker B [00:00:48]:

Welcome to diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker A [00:00:50]:

Where we help you get what you truly want in life and in business.

Speaker B [00:00:54]:

So outsourcing. You know, the social media thing Specifically, it’s kinda interesting because I think here’s some dorky person that put together some platform in their garage, And all of a sudden now, every business owner or most business owners have to spend time putting stuff on that website.

Speaker A [00:01:10]:

That’s fair. That’s very fair. Well, I mean, you can think back to how computer started. Some dorky person built a computer in their garage, and now our lives revolve around these things. Right?

Speaker B [00:01:18]:

Right. Right. To the point they were easier. But now with the social media thing, there’s just gonna be 1 more platform.

Speaker A [00:01:23]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:01:23]:

And they don’t I don’t know necessarily that platforms seem to go away, but it’s interesting how the workload

Speaker A [00:01:29]:

Expands. Yeah. Absolutely. You know? And there’s 50,000,000 different ways you can grow a business. Right? So we’ve talked about in the past how you really have to be intentional about choosing where you’re spending your time. Mhmm. But I know that my audience is on social, and so this is an important area for me. Right.

Speaker A [00:01:43]:

But it’s taking up so much more time than it needs to.

Speaker B [00:01:46]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:01:47]:

And it’s not where my time is best spent, even if if that’s where my experience is. You know? I’ve worked in marketing for, I don’t know, 20 years, and it’s a situation where I know how to do the thing, but it’s taking more time to do the thing because it’s my own business. I found this as I’m marketing my own business that I am more particular, and that doesn’t serve me well. So I need to let go a little bit more and let someone else because it’s all gonna be okay. And

Speaker B [00:02:13]:

Comes down to opportunity cost, I suppose.

Speaker A [00:02:15]:

Absolutely.

Speaker B [00:02:16]:

So what what else could you be doing with that time?

Speaker A [00:02:18]:

Well and what else can only I do? Right? Oh, sure. Anyone not anyone, but there’s a lot of other who can do my social media. Mhmm. I can come up with a content. Someone else can make it look beautiful, do the scheduling, do the posting for me and all that. And what kinda time can I get back that then I can repurpose and try to grow my business in a different way that no one else can do for me?

Speaker B [00:02:37]:

Plus, I suppose you have a finite time. Yeah. 24 hours in a day. You wanna sleep some.

Speaker A [00:02:43]:

Yeah. Right?

Speaker B [00:02:43]:

You’re gonna eat, hang out with your kids, all that jazz. Yeah. You know,

Speaker A [00:02:46]:

I think people have tried, but no one has been able to buy more time. We’re, like, work hard enough to get more. We only all get a 168 hours in a week, so we gotta figure out out how we can leverage it.

Speaker B [00:02:56]:

Yeah. That math dialed in. Yeah. Well funny. You know,

Speaker A [00:03:00]:

when you’re optimizing time and helping people be productive, that’s a number that you

Speaker B [00:03:03]:

this I get it. I get it.

Speaker A [00:03:05]:

That’s cool. So social media is just one thing that you can outsource in your business, but there’s a lot of other opportunities of things that you can outsource. Before we go there, maybe we should talk first, though, about how to know when you should outsource. So for me, it was I noticed I was spending way too much time in something that, shouldn’t have taken me that long. You know? And I also think that just the overwhelm or the emotional toll that a certain task can take might be a good sign to say, I may not be the best person suited to do this for my business.

Speaker B [00:03:37]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:03:37]:

How about you?

Speaker B [00:03:38]:

I have found that if I have something on my desk or in my email inbox that I’m just not doing, I’m avoiding it.

Speaker A [00:03:45]:

Yeah. Down.

Speaker B [00:03:46]:

Then send outsource it because I know otherwise it won’t get done.

Speaker A [00:03:49]:

That’s a great point. Extremely fair.

Speaker B [00:03:52]:

So it’s one of those, like, it has to be done. Right? Whether that’s taxes or marketing

Speaker A [00:03:57]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:03:57]:

Or, following up with leads, something like that. Whatever it is, there are these tasks that I just like, I’ll get to that tomorrow.

Speaker A [00:04:05]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:04:06]:

Again, I should you know, now I’m thinking about this. I should make a snooze rule on my email because I use the snooze button on email way more than I should. Yeah? Try snoozing specific emails that they’ll come up at certain times of day Right. I know on my schedule when I see that email, hey. I can take care of that. Mhmm. And I’ll still be like, snooze that when it shows

Speaker A [00:04:25]:

up again. So what’s what’s so interesting about that is you’re the kind of person that strikes me as your alarm goes off in the morning or you get up without an alarm and you just get up and go. You don’t snooze. But you’re snooze and email.

Speaker B [00:04:35]:

Yeah. I totally snooze an email. I don’t use snooze on the alarm.

Speaker A [00:04:38]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:04:38]:

But I will lay in bed to think, well, what did I do last night to cause me Toals.

Speaker A [00:04:45]:

Not to to your locker. Yeah. Absolutely. So I I use this tool with my clients called the Freedom Compass. And Right. At the bot it’s a matrix of what are you passionate about and what are you proficient in. So those things that you’re really passionate about and really proficient in, that’s your desire zone. You wanna spend as much of your time as you can there in your business.

Speaker A [00:05:03]:

This. But the bottom, what you’re not proficient in and you’re not passionate about, that’s the drudgery zone. So these are things, and it depends on your strengths and what you’re interested in. Right? But like you, for me, it’s reconciling my credit card, sitting in my boxes on my finances. Right? And so I look at all these things in my drudgery zone and think, I’m not gonna do that, or I’m gonna wait longer than I need to, and then I’m gonna rush to do that thing, and then I have a question about that thing. But because I waited too long, now I can’t get that question answered. You know, how that it just rolls down the hill. Right? Yeah.

Speaker A [00:05:35]:

So those are perfect big things to outsource.

Speaker B [00:05:38]:

Alright. I also like to look at what is making me money. So what are the things that I do Mhmm. That make money versus the other stuff that you have to do that don’t directly make you money.

Speaker A [00:05:49]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:05:50]:

So whether there’s taxes or you could even argue pretty strongly that marketing Mhmm. Doesn’t directly make you money. So you hope that some of it works or something like that. But, whatever, there’s certain things like you, When you’re coaching your clients

Speaker A [00:06:03]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:06:03]:

You can’t really outsource that.

Speaker A [00:06:04]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:06:05]:

It’s not yet. Right? Right. So and me dealing with my employees, currently, that’s something that I have a hard time outsourcing.

Speaker A [00:06:14]:

Yeah. So it’s

Speaker B [00:06:14]:

one of those things like, okay. These are the things that I have to do Or that I need to do.

Speaker A [00:06:19]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:06:20]:

Get to do.

Speaker A [00:06:21]:

That only I can do.

Speaker B [00:06:22]:

Yeah. That only I can do, and I can see there’s a direct positive effect.

Speaker A [00:06:27]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:06:27]:

Profitable.

Speaker A [00:06:29]:

Absolutely. So the things that are tied to revenue, that’s extremely important. That’s the lifeblood. Right? Yeah. So I think also then being aware of the idea of when I am trying to focus on these things and there’s other things distracting me from that, that’s a good opportunity to outsource. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:06:45]:

Yeah. It’s interesting. And especially with employees, you gotta figure out who to hire.

Speaker A [00:06:50]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:06:50]:

Because it was interesting as I’m hiring, I hired 2 employees this past week, or the course of the past 2 weeks. I’m sorry. Okay. And it was interesting because I’m looking at what they do, their resume and all that kind of stuff, And interviewing them, and I’m looking for skills outside of the skills that we need for the job to see if there’s other things that I could give them to do.

Speaker A [00:07:11]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:07:12]:

A Knowing that they’re gonna have some downtime.

Speaker A [00:07:13]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:07:14]:

So, like, do they have a little bit of marketing? It’s not make or break for the job. Right? Yeah. You know, if you’re cool enough, you’ll get the job. But it’s one of those, like, who could I send video editing to Mhmm. Or marketing to or someone that’s gonna be consistent And but I already have them on payroll Right. So to speak.

Speaker A [00:07:33]:

Right. Yeah. Leveraging people’s strengths outside of their job description.

Speaker B [00:07:36]:

And it’s

Speaker A [00:07:37]:

a great opportunity for people to grow Totally. Yeah. You know? I think the other interesting thing when we think about, well, I wanna outsource that thing, but if I don’t like it, someone else won’t like it, so I’m gonna be sending them something they hate when it’s actually the opposite. Mhmm. There are people who love doing taxes. You know? It’s what they do every day. They enjoy that, and they would hate going to network or recording a podcast or doing marketing. Right? So I think I can’t

Speaker B [00:08:02]:

even imagine that

Speaker A [00:08:04]:

The word love. But thank god we have them. Right?

Speaker B [00:08:06]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:08:07]:

So it’s it’s good to remember that what I don’t like to do, there is someone else who likes to do it because then it lifts that weight of, well, I’m gonna be a burden on someone else to no. I’m giving this to someone else. That’s their strength. That’s what they enjoy, and I’ll probably end up paying them for the things.

Speaker B [00:08:23]:

Yeah. You know, this reminds me. We just had a logo redesigned for vet receptionist.

Speaker A [00:08:28]:

Okay.

Speaker B [00:08:29]:

Because you’re going to a big trade show, whatever. And the logo that we had, an employee put together, and it was okay. But it all it always bugged me. And I knew since we’re going to this trade show, we’re spending a lot of money to be at this trade show, and employees are asking for swag Mhmm. Hats, shirts, all that jazz. We need a big banner at the trade show.

Speaker A [00:08:47]:

Yeah?

Speaker B [00:08:47]:

So all I could think is I don’t wanna put this dopey logo on all this stuff. Yeah. So let’s get this changed. I went to school for graphic design, But I didn’t wanna take the time to design a logo. So I found someone, outsourced it to them in 3, 4 days.

Speaker A [00:09:04]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:09:05]:

Down. We had a logo dialed in. Like, all good. Fantastic.

Speaker A [00:09:08]:

Right. So another opportunity where you could have done the thing

Speaker B [00:09:11]:

Totally correct.

Speaker A [00:09:12]:

But that was not the thing that was tied to revenue or wasn’t a thing that someone else couldn’t do.

Speaker B [00:09:16]:

I knew or I figured. I guess what would happen is I would say, I can totally do this. And then time would go by, and I’d be like, oh, I should get to that. I should get to that. I should get to that. And then it’s 2 hours before the trade show, and I gotta put together a logo and then get stuff printed. It’s not gonna happen.

Speaker A [00:09:34]:

The laptop

Speaker B [00:09:34]:

using the old logo.

Speaker A [00:09:36]:

Right? Right. Exactly.

Speaker B [00:09:37]:

So it’s one of those outsource it to make sure it gets done.

Speaker A [00:09:40]:

Yeah. That’s that’s a really great point. So in addition to maybe the things that you could do but you’re not making time to do, another good leverage point. I guess it’s just looking at what are you staying up late to do that you shouldn’t? You know? We all should have some boundaries. We all should have some balance between work and life. What are those things again that you’re putting off, or where are you stretching your margins because you’re doing the thing? Mhmm. So that’s another red flag to say I really need to outsource to somebody.

Speaker B [00:10:09]:

I feel like you raise a good point about the the stuff that’s gotta get done. And I know I find this with people that are interested in getting calls on call Mhmm. Or other outsourced stuff. They look at the cost without the benefit.

Speaker A [00:10:25]:

Tell me more.

Speaker B [00:10:26]:

So they treat it as an expense

Speaker A [00:10:28]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:10:28]:

Instead of an investment. Mhmm. So we charge whatever. And they say like, oh my gosh. Now I got another bill every single month. Right? Mhmm. Like, I got my cable bill, my cell phone bill, my water bill, my light bill, all the jazz. Here’s 1 more bill

Speaker A [00:10:40]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:10:40]:

That won’t get any direct return. Bright. And I think or try to talk them into essentially, you could not pay your water bill, could not pay your electric bill, And you have a bad day. At least a very dark day. Yeah. Right. Right? So this is one of those things that you’re gonna pay for it, and you’re gonna be happy that you pay for that. Just like there’s some employees that I’m very happy to pay them Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:11:03]:

Because I know stuff is getting done. Down. So with call answering or somebody doing your marketing or something where you’re you get to the point where you understand that I’m Paying that, whatever. Let’s just say I’m paying a dollar. Mhmm. And in exchange, I’m getting a dollar 50 or $3 or something like that.

Speaker A [00:11:21]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:11:21]:

You’re getting some a return on it.

Speaker A [00:11:23]:

Right. So not only the return, but also what’s the cost of you not doing the thing. Totally. No. No. One of the best exercises I feel like I went through. I went to this retreat at the end of April, and I’m a solopreneur. I’m trying to grow my business by myself, and this coach to us through this thing of, okay.

Speaker A [00:11:41]:

What is your time worth? Put that here. For easy math, let’s call it $100. Let’s say your time’s worth $100 an hour. Great. And this project debt that you’re putting off. How long do you think that’s taking you? So I don’t know. Let’s say it’s my taxes, and it’s taking me 4 or 5 hours, whatever the thing is. Because gotta research this, research that, pull all the numbers, whatever, 4 to 5 hours.

Speaker A [00:12:00]:

Alright. That cost me 4 to $500. At the end of the day, might have it on might come up with more questions, but, you know, it’s probably done shoddy at best. Mhmm. Okay. Now what would it cost me to outsource doing my taxes to someone who’s actually qualified, could probably do it in an hour rather than my 4 to 5 hours. And if it’s if it’s a wash, then give it to the person who’s more qualified to do the thing and the the end product will be better, but maybe it’s cheaper.

Speaker B [00:12:26]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:12:27]:

You know? Maybe they only charge $250 an hour, and they can do your taxes in an hour. And it took me four to five. So it’s gonna cost me $500 to do my taxes, but it’s gonna cost me 250 if I have someone else do my taxes. Right. So when you think about it in that way, it’s really an opportunity cost situation that I don’t think people realize how much money they’re sinking into doing the thing by themselves.

Speaker B [00:12:48]:

Yeah. Totally agree. Plus we add in the aspirin, the headache. Right? So you got your hourly plus this is gonna be huge pain.

Speaker A [00:12:56]:

Yes.

Speaker B [00:12:56]:

You’re gonna be grouchy. You’re gonna hate the world. Every time you hit a pothole, you’re gonna think, oh, yeah. Taxes, whatever.

Speaker A [00:13:03]:

The emotional toll of it all. Absolutely. And that’s hard to calculate. Right

Speaker B [00:13:07]:

Sure. So at least double your hourly.

Speaker A [00:13:09]:

Yeah. Exactly. Alright. So we’ve talked about some things you can outsource. I’m sorry. We’ve talked about when to know you can outsource. We’ve also mentioned a few things that you could, but, so social media is 1. Marketing is another.

Speaker A [00:13:22]:

Mhmm. You mentioned briefly calls. Tell us a little bit more about the sorts of things people are outsourcing to you for.

Speaker B [00:13:28]:

Sure. So with calls on call, they’re outsourcing most of their calls. Some clients outsource their overflow calls. Mhmm. So they have crew already that answers phones. Some of that crew is not gonna be there all the time Mhmm. Or they’ll have multiple calls coming in, so then they just have it have the calls go to us. So we take care of the caller, schedule the caller, answer the questions for the caller.

Speaker B [00:13:50]:

We get trained by the client to take care of all that.

Speaker A [00:13:53]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:13:54]:

And the idea is that the caller doesn’t know that we are outsourced. Mhmm. The caller the whole idea is to keep the illusion that Caller believes that we, whoever is answering the phone, is in the office of that client.

Speaker A [00:14:06]:

Yeah. So they’re outsourcing their phones.

Speaker B [00:14:09]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:14:10]:

So either they’re getting so many phone calls, they don’t wanna to hire another employee. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:14:14]:

So

Speaker A [00:14:14]:

they’re saving money in that way, but they’re also outsourcing things scheduling.

Speaker B [00:14:18]:

Right. Money and headache.

Speaker A [00:14:19]:

Right. Money and headache, which is another huge thing.

Speaker B [00:14:22]:

Employees come with a little bit.

Speaker A [00:14:23]:

Yeah. Little bit. Minor detail. But, you know, especially when you get a bigger team, and then you’re managing a bigger team. Like, I’m I’m beyond having 1 receptionist. You know? If you really need 2 or 3 to handle your volume, a huge deal. Yeah. I really love this idea of outsourcing your scheduling because I think it’s highly underrated.

Speaker B [00:14:41]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:14:41]:

So when I before, I was a productivity coach, and I was just handling my schedule willy nilly and putting whatever I had here, whatever I had time for. I called it time confetti. Oh, you want you want an email or in a meeting with me. Cool. I’ll pop that here. Oh, and you want 15 minutes here? Great. And I’d have all these little pieces on my calendar and then, like, 15 minutes in between where I can’t get anything done Oh. In those little areas.

Speaker A [00:15:03]:

So what I love about scheduling is that then you can be like, okay. You’re gonna answer you’re gonna answer my calls. You’re gonna schedule for me anytime I’m gonna go out and do a prospect estimate or some if I’m a roofer, I gotta go out and do a quote. I’m only gonna take those calls on Monday Tuesday afternoons. And then I can say, okay. Then I know Wednesday, Thursday, Friday afternoons I can reserve for actually writing out the estimates and getting them back to clients or whatever the thing is. Right? So I may not the good at holding that boundary for myself, but you are because that’s the instruction that I’ve given you. So this whole idea of outsourcing scheduling, I think gives people more freedom than they realize, though it’s something that’s kinda hard to let go of.

Speaker B [00:15:43]:

Yeah. Totally. It’s very interesting. When we take on a client, We essentially have to create a system.

Speaker A [00:15:49]:

Yeah. Because a

Speaker B [00:15:50]:

lot of times, they don’t have a documented system. So it’s like starting a restaurant and trying to teach our employees It’s how to make a cheeseburger. Mhmm. They’re like, how do you want us to make a cheeseburger? Right? And just like, yeah. Whatever. Right? Some kid’s gonna make a buffalo burger. Right? So we try to pull out of their brain how they want stuff done.

Speaker A [00:16:08]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:16:09]:

And it’s and over the course of time, that evolves. Sure. Churn. Come up with the ground rules that they the client will come up with the ground rules that they think are in their head. Mhmm. And then after reschedule with those rules, they’re like, wait. My Thursday’s empty, and you’re and you say, you told us not to schedule anything Thursdays because you got your kid or whatever. Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:16:29]:

I only have my kid until 10 in the morning Or whatever. Mhmm. Or I go golfing at 3 PM every Wednesday or something like that. So work around that. Mhmm. They give us whatever the ground rules are, and we’re very good at following them.

Speaker A [00:16:41]:

Right?

Speaker B [00:16:41]:

Where they, a lot of times, aren’t. Mhmm. Because people wanna on the side of yes.

Speaker A [00:16:46]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:16:46]:

So if one of their customers calls and says, hey. Can you do this Thursday?

Speaker A [00:16:50]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:16:50]:

And they’re scheduled to golf, so they’ll be like, sure. Right. But we we don’t know.

Speaker A [00:16:55]:

You hold the boundary.

Speaker B [00:16:56]:

We hold the boundary. Yeah.

Speaker A [00:16:57]:

That’s so helpful.

Speaker B [00:16:59]:

Yeah. I always, I wanna say joke, but that’s not correct. I tell my crew, we are outsourced, Which means that we have to be better than if they did it themselves. Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:17:09]:

So I

Speaker B [00:17:09]:

think about if I fix let’s just say I do some plumbing repair in my house. Right? Fix a leaky sink. And now it’s not leaking as bad. It’s just gonna drip an hour. Stick a towel under it. We’re all good. Right? Maybe caulk that thing. We’re fine.

Speaker A [00:17:23]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:17:23]:

But if a plumber was hired and the plumber’s like, hey. Your sink is all fixed. It’s only dripping once an hour. I’d say This thing’s not fixed. Right. Right? You gotta do it like a real

Speaker A [00:17:35]:

All the way. On a

Speaker B [00:17:36]:

professional. Fix it. So we are held to a higher standard than an in house employee would be. Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:17:42]:

Because

Speaker B [00:17:42]:

in house employer, you’re like, you know, they messed up a little bit. Not the end of the world, whatever. Because you don’t wanna go through the whole hiring process mhmm. But if we mess up, holy cow, man. Clients let you know.

Speaker A [00:17:54]:

Right. Well and I think that that’s the that’s the hard part of outsourcing as an entrepreneur. Right? You know the quality that you want and that you would provide your clients. So this idea of systemizing the kind of service that you wanna provide, I feel like extremely important when you’re outsourcing. So that’s the next tip we have for you is to provide a system through which you can offload this stuff. And maybe you do this before you actually hire the people so you’ve got some time to work through it. You know, when you’re operationalizing or systemizing, there’s gonna be a lot of iterations of that stuff. When I was leading marketing teams and we would put together standard operating procedures of, like, here’s how we get access your Facebook account.

Speaker A [00:18:32]:

Mhmm. Here’s how we set up Google Analytics for your website. There’s multiple steps in that process, and they change weekly sometimes based on the technology. So it’s important to write it all down so that, you know, if this employee’s out, someone else can to do it, but also to understand that, yeah, now I can tell that client that here are the exact steps we need to take, and I don’t sound like I’m, you know, just pulling out of the cuff. You know?

Speaker B [00:18:59]:

But you it sounds like you would help the client figure that stuff out? Like, get a checklist to go through or something

Speaker A [00:19:04]:

like that? So we would create the checklist Right. And create the system so that whenever we had a new client who needed the thing, we knew the steps to walk them through. Yeah. But we had to create the system first and to walk through it then and figure out the kinks so that the kinks didn’t come through for the client.

Speaker B [00:19:19]:

Right. Very smart.

Speaker A [00:19:20]:

So then as as you looking to outsource. It’s good for you to look at and say, what is the the process that I would like said person to do for me, and how can I make that easier? Because then it’s gonna feel more like me then another company.

Speaker B [00:19:35]:

Right. Yeah. We we have to have that.

Speaker A [00:19:37]:

Mhmm.

Speaker B [00:19:38]:

Because the majority of our clients are fairly small businesses, They have no idea. Mhmm. They don’t know how they do what they do. They just they’re running by the seat of their pants. Seat of their pants are already on fire. People back in the day. How do you run with your pants on fire? You just do. Right?

Speaker A [00:19:54]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:19:54]:

So we have questions that we ask and all that kind of stuff that have been dialed in over the course time Mhmm. To try to get that system out

Speaker A [00:20:03]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:20:03]:

And get it documented. And we have had clients That have left for whatever reason. They grew. They outgrew us. Whatever. Yeah. And they’ve asked for that flow.

Speaker A [00:20:13]:

Oh, wow.

Speaker B [00:20:14]:

Wanna use that with their employees?

Speaker A [00:20:16]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:20:17]:

But then a lot of times they come back because that employee leaves.

Speaker A [00:20:19]:

Well, it’s a it’s a cool compliment, though, to show that the system that you’ve created for them was working.

Speaker B [00:20:25]:

Yeah.

Speaker A [00:20:25]:

And it also shows and how important said system was to being able to do it effectively.

Speaker B [00:20:31]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:20:32]:

So

Speaker B [00:20:32]:

Huge deal.

Speaker A [00:20:33]:

Right. So make sure you have a system in place.

Speaker B [00:20:35]:

Systematize everything.

Speaker A [00:20:36]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:20:37]:

Another thing that I found, and this is a little bit of a tangent, but I’m putting together A system for if and when I die. Okay.

Speaker A [00:20:45]:

That’s kind of more of a James, but

Speaker B [00:20:46]:

don’t be more Everybody dies. So it’s one of those things where

Speaker A [00:20:49]:

We are all headed there.

Speaker B [00:20:50]:

With my business, I do a lot of stuff, but I don’t do the frontline stuff. Mhmm. So I have crew answering the phones, all that jazz, taking care of administrative stuff. Great. Well, there’s 2 2 facets to this. 1 is if and when I die. 2 is if and when I ever wanna sell my business.

Speaker A [00:21:07]:

Right?

Speaker B [00:21:08]:

These are the things that I do Mhmm. That either someone else will have to do or it’s also giving me a list of what I can possibly

Speaker A [00:21:16]:

tours. Absolutely.

Speaker B [00:21:17]:

And how to. So Yeah. I started writing this. It’s way more complicated than I thought it would be. I didn’t maybe it’s just like I didn’t realize all the stuff that I did or I didn’t. It’s one of those things where I’m standing by the seat of my pants a lot of times, And you’re trying to document that. But, anyways, what I wanted to avoid the whole goal was what I wanted to avoid is if I get hit by a bus, My employees don’t lose their job. Right? Business goes under because, well, where’s James? We don’t know the answer to this question.

Speaker B [00:21:46]:

Like, I am trying to make myself not That important in the business.

Speaker A [00:21:51]:

Yeah. The single Well, first, I think it’s very humble of you to say I’m making myself not that important. But, also, what I love about how insightful that is is that it’s not only taking care of your employees, but it’s also giving you insight into, wow, all the things that I do to run a business, and what don’t I need to do? That’s Right. A great opportunity. Oh, really? It’s almost like a task filter to say, here’s all the things that I do. What don’t I need to do? Mhmm. Or what takes more time than it should? What could someone else do? Yeah. So systems could give you that great opportunity.

Speaker A [00:22:23]:

That’s been amazing.

Speaker B [00:22:24]:

Systematize everything. Right.

Speaker A [00:22:26]:

That’s the rule. Exactly.

Speaker B [00:22:27]:

That’s the rule.

Speaker A [00:22:27]:

Automate. Automate.

Speaker B [00:22:28]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:22:29]:

Alright. So the last piece of this is really just to evaluate. Like anything, you need some kind of after action review to give you an idea of what went well, what can be better, and what do you wanna, you the start or stop doing.

Speaker B [00:22:41]:

Mhmm. How do

Speaker A [00:22:41]:

you guys do this with clients?

Speaker B [00:22:43]:

Oh, man. So we I would say My perception or my thoughts about how the business was gonna go when we first started is not exactly how it ended up going. Mhmm. So in our mind, we are gonna create a system for the caller or I’m sorry, for the client. Callers are gonna call in, And it reminded me of a self defense class.

Speaker A [00:23:06]:

Okay.

Speaker B [00:23:06]:

I don’t know if you ever taken a self defense class.

Speaker A [00:23:09]:

I took Taekwondo as kid, but it’s self defense.

Speaker B [00:23:12]:

So self defense class, a lot of them that I’ve seen, especially with my kid Yeah. In his little karate class, whatever, They’ll say, I guess, self defense. Right? A kid comes at you or a person comes at you going to punch you. Mhmm. And then this is how you block, and this is how you counter and all that kind of stuff. And the funny thing is I would see these classes. I see these, shows, I guess they were. I don’t know what they call them.

Speaker B [00:23:41]:

And I was like, what if the the person coming at you to you didn’t take this class, so they punch you with an uppercut instead of a right hook. Right? So you’re like, I didn’t practice for

Speaker A [00:23:51]:

the uppercut.

Speaker B [00:23:53]:

So it reminds me of some of the calls that we would get because the client would say, these are the calls you’re gonna get.

Speaker A [00:23:58]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:23:59]:

And then we would plan for that. And then the 1st call we get is something it was the uppercut. Yeah. And the agent was like, That’s not a right hook. I don’t know how I’m supposed to do with this.

Speaker A [00:24:12]:

That’s a really great analogy.

Speaker B [00:24:13]:

So luckily, we had smart enough agents, that could roll. Yeah. And they understood, like, hey. This is a plumber, so, therefore, I know what plumbers do. Mhmm. I have enough life experience to just Figure it out.

Speaker A [00:24:24]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:24:25]:

And we set up rules like on the side of yes. Just say yes. If a caller asks if we can do this, say yes. Because it’s much easier to call back and say, Funny story. We can’t, but there’s someone else that we know that can. Right. Instead of saying no Mhmm. And then have them call the customer up and saying, funny story.

Speaker B [00:24:42]:

We totally do that.

Speaker A [00:24:43]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:24:43]:

I forgot.

Speaker A [00:24:45]:

Yeah. Fair.

Speaker B [00:24:46]:

So, anyways, we set up those systems. Yeah. And I also thought Once that system was in place, we don’t have to touch it ever again. Mhmm. Oh my gosh. Every single day, I would say at least half of our clients Reach out to us and say, hey. We gotta tweak this. Yeah.

Speaker B [00:25:02]:

We added employee. We subtracted an employee. We added a new thing that we do. We subtracted new thing that we do. Hey. We have this discount coming up

Speaker A [00:25:10]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:25:10]:

With this marketing, this group, this new whatever. Mhmm. Oh, we’re trying this new process because whatever. My phone died. Whatever.

Speaker A [00:25:18]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:25:18]:

Constant change.

Speaker A [00:25:20]:

Well and what I love about that is that it gives it helps train your clients to know that life is ever evolving and so is the system, and you can bend and flex with them.

Speaker B [00:25:31]:

Totally.

Speaker A [00:25:32]:

Have to. Yeah. Right. Because life is that way. You know? I think if I were starting to get inundated with all these calls or questions. I would be like, how can I build this system to build myself out of it? And I know that’s what you guys do.

Speaker B [00:25:43]:

Mhmm.

Speaker A [00:25:43]:

But then there’s even pieces like, there’s certain marketers out there who talk about homework selling. So this idea of before you even take that 1st prospect call, you expect the prospect to do a little bit of homework, and then it shows how invested they are. Alright. So, the example came from a pool guy out in the Carolinas, and he’s like, I would schedule these, opportunities to go out and tour somebody’s house and give them a quote on a pool, but I would send them a video series in advance. And I would make them agree to the fact that they were gonna watch said video series because then, one, they were more educated when we actually got to the house. But then we were able to have better conversations. I was able to give them a better quote when I got on-site because they knew the questions to ask. They already had all of these, like, kind of elementary questions out of the way because we answered them in the video series.

Speaker A [00:26:31]:

So what I think what’s interesting about that is you can learn the elementary questions things, and you can answer those. But then you might say, hey. Let’s evolve this process so the prospects coming in are better prospects. So they’re more qualified then so that it is a better sale for me. It’s a better opportunity for me as a business owner.

Speaker B [00:26:49]:

Interesting. I would challenge that a little bit.

Speaker A [00:26:52]:

Please.

Speaker B [00:26:52]:

And the reason that I would is because now This guy is probably super busy. There’s more business than he can handle.

Speaker A [00:26:59]:

Yeah.

Speaker B [00:26:59]:

So he has the liberty of being choosy.

Speaker A [00:27:02]:

Fair.

Speaker B [00:27:03]:

But if 2008 happens or something like that, I bet he would get rid of that.

Speaker A [00:27:07]:

That’s a great opportunity to tweak that process.

Speaker B [00:27:09]:

I bet he would be like, we don’t have any videos just if you have money. We will totally.

Speaker A [00:27:14]:

We will be to your house. If you have money

Speaker B [00:27:15]:

pool.

Speaker A [00:27:16]:

Want a pool, we’re in.

Speaker B [00:27:17]:

Yeah. Because it’s interesting how when money’s flowing, people put up roadblocks. Mhmm. And I call that roadblock that I don’t mean to be derogatory or anything like that because you want a smart client

Speaker A [00:27:27]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:27:28]:

Or a smart potential client because then you can have a conversation on the same level. Mhmm. A lot of times, people don’t know.

Speaker A [00:27:33]:

Right.

Speaker B [00:27:33]:

I wouldn’t wanna be a pool expert. From my point of view, I would wanna like, that’s why I’m hiring you.

Speaker A [00:27:38]:

Right. Hire the pool expert.

Speaker B [00:27:40]:

I just want the when it’s hot out, I wanna be able to jump in the pool.

Speaker A [00:27:44]:

Right. Right. I don’t care how I get there. Just give me the thing. Yeah. What is the the famous a missing by one of these marketing guys. It’s, you’re never buying the hammer. You’re buying the hole in the wall.

Speaker B [00:27:55]:

Oh, and not buying the drill.

Speaker A [00:27:57]:

Thank you.

Speaker B [00:27:57]:

Yeah. Okay. Yep. Not by the drill bit.

Speaker A [00:27:59]:

Yeah. Exactly. Okay. So, hopefully, today, we’ve provided you with some ideas on when you can outsource, what you can outsource and some different systems to put in place to help

Speaker B [00:28:10]:

you. How to outsource. And in the end, what do you end up with? More time? More freedom? More fun? Hopefully. And,

Speaker A [00:28:16]:

fully in, business that’s growing. Yeah. That’s what we all want. Right?

Speaker B [00:28:19]:

Doesn’t matter. Right? It’s all good. Thank you for watching. This is diary of a worthy pursuit.

Speaker A [00:28:24]:

Where we talk about how to get what you truly want in life and in business. If you’ve enjoyed this, please share it with someone else you feel could benefit from it, and we’ll see you next time.