Scale Your Small Business

Today, we're diving into your feedback from our last pillar of growth, time management. No matter if it's you, an employee, or someone else in your life that's letting time slip away–you're not alone.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• A good place to start when you think about time-wasting is understanding what time and when you're most productive.
• Start with a perfect scenario where everything fits within your schedule without a hitch.
• Track your time so you can really see what time is being wasted and where.

To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.

If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:

• Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
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Today's guest is Matt Davis, author of The Art of Preventing Stupid, speaker, and attorney. Matt believes we should protect, improve, and grow through smart business decisions and shows struggling entrepreneurs how to weed out the stupid mistakes they're making so they can move forward.

In this episode, you'll learn:

• Legal issues are a symptom of an underlying issue.
• The most common issue Matt has seen in practicing law is people getting into unnecessary business partnerships that typically end in nasty business divorces. Those can be expensive and business-killing.
• It's important to look at your systemic internal and external vulnerabilities.

To access the full video, show notes and resources from this episode, please visit https://scaleyoursmallbusiness.org/blog/.

If you have any comments or questions about the podcast, please connect with us using one of the options below:

• Website Link - https://www.jillianflodstrom.com
• Facebook Link - https://www.facebook.com/jillianflodstrom/
• Instagram Link - https://www.instagram.com/jillianflodstrom/
• Twitter Link - https://twitter.com/jflodstrom
• YouTube Link - https://www.youtube.com/c/JillianFlodstrom
• LinkedIn Link - https://www.linkedin.com/in/jillianflodstrom/
• Pinterest Link - https://www.pinterest.com/jillianflodstrom/boards/
• Clubhouse Link - jflodstrom

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we're diving into time management. This can be a big topic that spans many areas of your business, but that means it's just that important. Let's break it down.

When we think about time management, it's important to avoid 'analysis paralysis.' This is a loop where you get caught preparing to the point where you can't execute. Being so terrified of failure and making a mistake that you're unable to get off the ground will hinder your progress. You can't continue waiting for a sign–it's time to get it done.

A great way to start moving through procrastination is to shorten the amount of time you have. By removing ourselves from the annual mindset–12 months=a year–to a 12-week mindset, you create an urgency for yourself to get whatever you have to do off the ground.

Key Takeaways

1. Analysis Paralysis, or planning until you can't execute, will halt your progress. Don't be afraid of failure!
2. Eliminate procrastination by allowing yourself less time to do so.
3. Shorten your annual mindset from 12 months to 12 weeks.

Thanks for joining us on another episode of the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Our guest this week is Erin Tarr, a sought-after keynote speaker, parenting consultant, host of the Fierce & Flourish Podcast, and a thought leader in the youth confidence space.

Erin's inspiration for her business comes from her experience as a tween girl herself, and now raising three girls in that space. She wanted to be for her children, but that drove her to want to help every girl she possibly could.

Erin gets to be a cheerleader in their corner. She's someone not related to them but can offer judgment-free help that can aid in problem-solving and making big decisions. She helps build habits and attitudes that will help tween girls be successful in life.

She helps girls learn how to choose their thoughts and create a life they love. She works together with her clients and their families to help build healthy habits adaptably.

Erin had a cloud of mentors growing up. It started in college, went to my first leadership conference where she heard from the likes of John Maxwell and Patrick Lencioni. By learning what their learning looked like, Erin was able to find inspiration and help everywhere. Mastermind courses are great because it isn't just videos anymore. Information is nothing without application, so being able to work through ideas alongside peers helps tremendously.

It's easy to get stuck in self-doubt. Erin's advice is to build a network of people smarter than you. Continue to aspire–how can I run in their circle? How can I learn from them? How can I be held accountable by them?

Erin's biggest win in business is when we clients win. When a person she works with gets into a college they applied for, had a difficult conversation, or otherwise, Erin feels that victory.

Losing fierceness happens, but sometimes that just means you need rest. Aside from that, return to your "why." What's your purpose? It can be personal or world-impacting. It's about finding ways to reconnect. That means is surrounding yourself with people who remind you what your goal is.

LINKS

https://erintarr.com/

Key Takeaways

1. Build a network of people smarter than you. Continue to aspire.
2. Let your client's wins be your wins.
3. Reconnect to your "why" as often as possible.

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Today, we're diving into the feedback you had on our last installment on automating processes and systems within your business. Let's talk about how you can calm the chaos.

A primary reason people want to start automating is ironically the same source of stress about automating. It can be a daunting process, but the truth is, until you solve what is causing you stress, it will continue to boil up until it overflows. So, the best place to start thinking about where to automate is to look at what continues to add stress to your day, you just need to take the time to sit down and consider your list of things to do.

Consider taking notes in the little pockets of time you have during the day. These notes can be about anything, but it can be helpful to write down where you left off on a project if you have to switch gears and move your focus elsewhere temporarily. That way you can come back without missing a beat.

Give yourself time for your brain to cool off. Work for a set amount of time and break for a set amount of time.

Key Takeaways

1. The best place to start thinking about where to automate is to look at what continues to add stress to your day.
2. It can be helpful to write down where you left off on a project if you have to switch gears and move your focus elsewhere temporarily.
3. Give yourself time for your brain to cool off. Work for a set amount of time and break for a set amount of time.

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. On the show, this week is Ed Howie. Over the past 30 years, Ed has up with amazing brands like Chick-fil-A, 7-Eleven, KFC, H-E-B Supermarket, Kroger, and Massage Heights to help them find their uniqueness.

If people don't recognize how you're different, why would they want to give you attention? The words "common" and "commodity" are very similar. You're definitely not a commodity. They are common and the market controls the value. By being distinct, you are able to influence the value you bring to the market. Then, the market looks to reimburse you for that.

It's easy to lose sight of the overall enterprise. Remember, your uniqueness is what is going to help you stand out from the rest of the crowd. You have to have a good, solid product or service, and is has to be consistent, but so does your branding.

For Ed, profits are an indicator of stewardship, which is how you create more than what you started with. Leaders want to create something of value that is distinct and unique. If you cannot operationalize your brand, you'll struggle. It doesn't matter how charming Tony the Tiger is. If the cornflakes suck, who cares how clever the brand is.

Ed's all about "wooo" Winning Others Over and Over. His belief is that every customer can be won over. We are constantly assessing the 'wooo' and 'pooo' levels of every interaction. Great brands wooo. It starts with truly understanding what your customers want and then delivering on that over and over again. Once you can not only systemize perfection but systemize what to do when you fall short of that, you'll be able to provide what your customers want. Set standards and keep to them. Good brands are well-orchestrated, operationalized, and optimized. Bad brands do one of them poorly.

LINKS

https://edhowie.com/

Key Takeaways

1. If people don't recognize how you're different, why would they want to give you attention?
2. You have to have a good, solid product or service, and is has to be consistent, but so does your branding.
3. Good brands are well-orchestrated, operationalized, and optimized. Bad brands do one of them poorly.

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week, we're breaking down automation. What should you automate? When should it be automated? What systems actually work better automated? Let's dive in.

Automation is an absolutely incredible process that will make your business flow more efficiently and with much more ease.

When you consider automation, it's all about identifying what to automate, documenting the process, identifying the solution, and then implementing the process. When you're in a high-volume or high-stress moment within your work, automation can be a lifesaver.

A place to look at for automation is your calling–outgoing, incoming, or somewhere in between. Automating your phone system with a call center frees up time by eliminating back-and-forth messages, frustrating hold times, and other annoying barriers.

Along with automating your phones, you can integrate that process with your scheduling system, so your entire process from the first call to a meeting is automated, freeing you up to focus on what you need to.

Google Forms is worth a look when you're thinking about automation. Through Google Forms, you can collect relevant data from your clients and have it automatically fill a spreadsheet for your use.

Finally, and this is a simple one, is email templates. This is as easy as a copy/paste. When you find yourself typing the same thing over and over, it might be time to automate. By having a template, you can just fill in information and keep the rest.

Key Takeaways

1. When you consider automation, it's all about identifying what to automate, documenting the process, identifying the solution, and then implementing the process.
2. Automating your phone system with a call center frees up time by eliminating back-and-forth messages, frustrating hold times, and other annoying barriers.
3. Email templates are an easy way to prevent yourself from typing up the same message constantly.

Thanks for tuning into the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Foldstrom. Our guest today is AJ Vaden, who was recently named one of the top five personal branding speakers of 2019. She is the co-founder and CEO of Brand Builders Group, an international speaker, a million-dollar consultant, and the host of The Influential Personal Brand Podcast.

Diving in, it's important to recognize if you're talking to the right group of people. Data can help, AJ says, but it's really a personal question. Ask yourself who you want to serve, who you want to reach. It has nothing to do with what the economy is doing, or what the market is saying, or what your competitors are doing.

You are best positioned to serve the person you once were, AJ says. Where do you have a personal affinity? What types of customers do you feel naturally drawn to? Typically, you need to know the demographic specifics, but those are general. Think about who your work is built for. It's a person, not a group of people. What does this person care about? What are their fears? What keeps them up at night? What are their passions? What are their dreams? What questions do they have? What are they searching for? The more products and services you have, the different your audience is, but your message is consistent. Your audience can evolve and change and mature, but there is a shared set of values that AJ and her clients share.

AJ doesn't believe in competitors. She believes what makes us truly unique are our personal experiences, our personal expertise, our personal values, missions, and beliefs. No one in the world has those same personal experiences and knows exactly what's important to them. Consider what your alliances are. Celebrate each other's differences and not try to absorb every single client, but instead share them.

It's about finding your uniqueness. First, what problem do you solve? That is the number one key to building a best-selling brand is becoming known and becoming synonymous with a problem that you solve for your audience. It's one word that you're paired with. Then, what are you passionate about? What fills you up? Next, what is your expertise? Pair that with what your first-hand experience is. Finally, what would people buy from you? This is paired with what business we want to be in.

AJ and her team conducted a study run by an independent Ph.D researching firm to find out how personal brands impact America today. They found 74% of Americans said that they are more likely to trust someone who has an established personal brand. It's not a celebrity. It's not an influencer. It's not someone who has a book or a podcast. Americans said that they thought at the end of the day, a personal brand is simply someone whom they recognize. The three most significant or credible titles that people said they deem as most credible and most trustworthy were CEO, owner, and expert. The most impactful and most significant thing in influencing purchase decisions are third-party testimonials from your clients.

LINKS

https://brandbuildersgroup.com/

Key Takeaways

1. Ask yourself who you want to serve, who you want to reach.
2. You are best positioned to serve the person you once were
3. It's about finding your uniqueness.

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. This week we are taking a look at your feedback and questions from our episode in which we talked about building a team. It's a big project that takes a lot of careful work, so let's dive in.

Firstly, make sure you're doing the work ahead of time. This makes a huge difference in the entire process. You're able to find the right person the first time, and if they leave, you aren't stuck with a giant hole in your team.

Help your team recreate their jobs as they fit into your team. If there is an aspect of their job that they don't love, consider how you could maximize what they do love and delegate the parts they are struggling with. This also means being flexible. People leave jobs because they're unhappy. Some people work better from home! Have the ability to open up the conversation.

Some other feedback was regarding the organizational chart. How do you get started? It's about starting with yourself and filling in the blanks. What would make your job operate more effectively? More efficiently? When you have a group of those things, think about if it's a full-time position. It's possible it could be a contractor position. As you go through your delegation and automation checklist, you'll see positions start to create themselves.

Keep these descriptions handy, so when you have to replace someone in a position, you're ready to go and find the right candidate.

Key Takeaways

1. Make sure you're doing the work ahead of time. This makes a huge difference in the entire hiring process.
2. Help your team recreate their jobs as they fit into your team.
3. Keep job descriptions handy, so when you have to replace someone in a position, you're ready to go and find the right candidate.

Welcome back to the Scale Your Small Business Podcast with your host, Jillian Flodstrom. Joining us this week is Radon Stancil, CFP, a best-selling author and founder of Peace of Mind Wealth Management, a firm committed to helping individuals retire with excellence. As the Co-host of the 'Secure Your Retirement' show his insights have been featured in Forbes and many others.

After being raised by an older father, working in a family-run heating and air-conditioning business, Radon went down the path of finances, going to school, and becoming and certified financial planner. Now, he helps people build a solid retirement plan.

The biggest fear Radon finds in his work with people is the fear of running out of money. It makes sense–for decades people do a good job of saving. They work, save, don't touch those accounts. And then, one day, they decided to retire. Suddenly that hard work that they put into building those accounts is not being drained. It is an emotional situation.

Investment strategy certainly dictates the quality of a person's retirement. Many people lived through a very volatile market, watching their investments rollercoaster as time went on. Radon works with a more sound strategy–one that will earn consistent returns without risk.

He believes in getting a financial planner as early as possible. That way, the person can start understanding saving and set goals for themselves. It's good to work with somebody who's a certified financial planner because they have a wide array of understanding of financial planning. It's important to work with a fiduciary, so you know they have your best interests as a priority.

If you are a solo, self-employed person and you don't have any employees, you can easily set up a solo 401(k). Charles Schwab will allow you to set up a solo 401(k). And that allows you to start putting away money that you can match yourself. It helps you out on your current taxes, as well as getting some money into savings. In a Roth IRA, everything you put in is going to now be able to grow potentially for decades, all tax-free. Whatever you put into a Roth, you can take back out with no penalty (up to a certain amount).

Getting a loan as a small business owner should only happen after you've had as much growth without one as possible, even if that means that your growth is a little bit slower than what you want. if you have to take that loan on, make sure you have a business plan that can pay it back in a short period of time. It should generally be going back into the business as an investment.

Checking in on your finances quarterly is crucial to keep tabs on how your money is doing. Radon's clients get a report from him in the form of a 10-minute video that makes sure they know what the market is doing every week.

Radon has a book named after his podcast, Secure Your Retirement. It's a guide to help think through a lot of the questions you may ask. How should I be looking at my investments? How do I prepare for an income plan? What do I need to know about IRAs? What do I need to understand about the economy, just to look at the economy? How do I pick a financial advisor?

LINKS

https://pomwealth.net/

Key Takeaways

1. Investment strategy certainly dictates the quality of a person's retirement.
2. Get a financial planner as early as possible.
3. If you are a solo, self-employed person and you don't have any employees, you can easily set up a solo 401(k).
4. Getting a loan as a small business owner should only happen after you've had as much growth without one as possible, even if that means that your growth is a little bit slower than what you want.