The Ops Authority

How do you know if you are suited for a career in operations, and how can you figure out if you have the innate strengths and instincts that it requires to be successful in this path?

Today I'm sharing the most important assessment that I use in my business for screening applicants for the Director of Operations (DOO) certification program and matching candidates to my clients. I'm going to be talking about the Kolbe A assessment.

Kolbe A Assessment

This assessment is used in lots of industries, and in corporate settings. In fact, one of my last big projects in corporate was to administer the Kolbe A assessment to all of the managers and senior executives. This required me to become extremely familiar with the test, to learn how it worked, why it worked, what the value was and how to explain the test to the leaders in the company.

I've been using Kolbe A Assessment for the last 15 years, and I'm going to use some of that same knowledge to explain it to you today.

3 Different Parts of the Mind

These all compartmentalize different parts of the way that we process information and feelings.

1. Cognitive: The thinking part of your mind, including intelligence, experience, skills, knowledge, learned behaviors which become habits. This is all formed and held in the cognitive part of your mind. It is the piece of the brain that allows us to understand what we can do.
2. Affective: The feeling part of your mind that looks at your values, personality type, types of emotions you have, your preferences and motivations. This is what you want to do.
3. Conative: The doing part of the mind. This is all of our instinctive, innate strengths that we have, our purposeful actions, our mental energy and our problem solving methods. It increases performance and it decreases stress. It is how you will take action or execute.

Different Types of Tests

There are specific tests that measure each of these categories. You need more than one assessment to get a good idea of who is on your team, and what their gifts are.

Cognitive: The Predictive Index or the Wonderlic. Both of these are cognitive assessments that measure IQ.

Affective: The DiSC, Myers-Briggs, StrengthsFinders, and the Enneagram are all looking at the affective or feeling part of the brain.

Conative: The Kolbe A is looking at the way you execute. It's how your brain takes a task and goes to work.

The Conative Part of the Brain

Everyone has equal amounts of conative mental energy. That's not the case with the affective and the cognitive parts of the brain.

The conative is your natural way of taking action if you are free to be yourself. It strips away your feelings, values and what you have learned over time, and is the default way you process information.

"It is massively important for operators to understand what someones natural innate strengths are because it allows us to put them in the best roles and develop people on our teams."

Kolbe A Action Modes

Kolbe A looks at 4 different modes. There is not a perfect profile, although I have done extensive work to identify what profiles work best as an operator.

1. Fact finder: How you gather and share information
2. Follow through: How you organize and design
3. Quick Start: How you deal with risk and uncertainty
4. Implementer: How you deal with space and tangibles

Kolbe looks at these on a scale of 1-10, and assigns a number to each of the categories. Kolbe is the superior conative test because:

• Its unique
• It is the only assessment which measures your effort and energy
• It is positive and predictive; your results will be focused on your strengths and how you solve problems
• It is unbiased, and looks at the way that your brain takes action
• It's valid and reliable

"When you have this information you can stop trying to change who you are, and you can adapt who you are."

How Assessments are Helpful in Hiring

When you are hiring, you want to make sure the candidate has the education and required skills for the position.

If you are looking at the affective (feeling part)... will their personality be a good addition to the leader or culture? Do they share the same values?

Regarding the conative... do they have the instincts or natural innate abilities that are needed to do this job?

"The Kolbe A takes an unbiased look at how we can add the right person to our team."

If you ever see job descriptions that I create, you will always see that I ask for Myers-Briggs, DiSC, and Kolbe A scores. It is a huge benefit to know this information, and I would love to see you take the Kolbe A assessment. If you are craving to know exactly what you are good at and how you can position your services and your business, you won't regret taking this assessment!

"The knowledge that you can gain by knowing your Kolbe can truly change the trajectory of your decisions."

Weekly Ops Activity

Take the Kolbe A assessment and share the results in the Facebook group.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/66.

Do you have a background in HR and an interest in operations? Are you unsure how the two fit together?

Today on the podcast I am joined by Kimone Napier, one of my expert Director of Operations (DOO) coaches in the area of HR and hiring. Kimone has a corporate background and she built her business around her HR expertise.

Kimone is a hiring expert and the CEO of The Lean Process Strategist. She partners with service minded entrepreneurs to optimize their businesses using strong people leadership and strategic input. She has several years of experience working with senior leaders and entrepreneurs by providing strategy and HR support. Kimone helps entrepreneurs grow their teams with intention, reduce their overwhelm, and attract high quality candidates. Kimone's goal is to customize a solution to help you scale your business and to become the visionary leader that you crave to be.

Meet Kimone Napier Background

• Started her career working in operations & HR, in both govt space and corporate in New York City
• Started to want some more freedom and flexibility in her lifestyle around 2017
• Jumped into the online space and found Natalie's Director of Operations Certification Program which has provided a wealth of abundance for her and her family
• Currently serves CEOs in HR and operations capacity

When you left corporate for entrepreneurship, what did you think you would be doing?

• Initially she had a hard time envisioning how to do this type of work
• She wanted to leverage her skills in the online space, but lacked the structure
• Started by providing operations and administrative support but knew she could offer more
• Knew she had a refined skill set, just needed structure and a way to market herself, which is where the DOO certification piece fit

How do you make money today?

• Has niched down into 3 different offers:
• • Hiring: helping CEOs and visionaries hire with intention and onboard team members in the right capacity
  • DOO services
  • Strategic mapping for visionary leaders to get an understanding of their business plans

"When you are able to partner with somebody and bring them a solution that can forever change their personal life and their profits, that is ultimate fulfillment." -- Natalie Gingrich

As a hiring/HR expert, can you share some key takeaways?

3 key areas when hiring:

1. Identify your mission: why are you doing what you do in their business?
2. Know where your company is going: you can hire for the most immediate need, but if there are changes it is likely that the relationship with your hire is going to change.
3. Know your core values: Your values and the values of your candidate need to align otherwise there will be a disconnect. If they don't the relationship is not going to work.

"You want to hire with intention to find a more long term fit for your business especially as it's growing." -- Kimone Napier

"If you only hire for the gap you have right now, you are not serving your future self." --Natalie Gingrich

What is your experience with hiring in regards to identifying values?

• Leaders don't have the time to dive into hiring the way they need to
• They are pulled in too many directions, and end up focusing on marketing themselves, sales, visibility, interviews, etc.
• When they do decide to hire they often go about it by posting on social media, and are then inundated with DM's which just stresses them out

The Director of Operations Certification Program follows a blueprint similar to an HR Business Partner. Can you speak to that?

• The DOO certification program is like a fast track to getting a skill set similar to a masters or an MBA in HR
• Helps propel you forward in this area because the content benefits you in the areas of HR, financials, and operations
• Has her masters, but values the certification because it is the fast track in terms of knowledge as applied to the HR discipline

Can you share what the DOO certification has done for you?

• The certification helped her find what she was looking for in terms of family, home and business
• Helped her align offers, strengths and goals to leverage everything she wanted to bring to the table
• Created an abundant lifestyle in terms of the type of clients she gets, and the type of freedom she has
• Given her time to relax, slow down, and enjoy life

If you are looking for a transformation and you have the skill set of project management, financials or HR, I would highly recommend you to look into the DOO certification program.

Connect with Kimone

Website

Weekly Ops Activity

Go to one of your leaders and have them identify their core values. Then, come on over to the Facebook group, and post on the thread what their values are. I also challenge you to identify yours, so you can compare.

Links Mentioned

Blue Ocean Strategy, Expanded Edition: How to Create Uncontested Market Space and Make the Competition Irrelevant

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/65.

Are you aware of how much value good communication creates in a professional relationship?

Today my Director of Operations (DOO) expert coach is Claire Crum, the founder and CEO of Calm Ops. Claire and her team move social enterprise CEOs and executive directors from reactionary to relaxed, expanding their capacity to reach their next level milestones. She is a veteran of the nonprofit sector and an efficiency enthusiast.

A graduate of the DOO program, she now serves as the value and worth coach in our DOO certification program, and a facilitator of the Calm Ops mastermind group. A wife and mom of 3 kids, she is dedicated to bringing sustainable business practices to those beside her on this entrepreneurial journey.

Meet Claire Crum

Value and worth… what does that mean? We have been listening to DOO expert coaches, and learning from ladies who have come through the certification. We've heard how they have leveraged their expertise to layer on top of the good I share with them through certification.

Claire has the experience, background and demeanor and all of those come together to create a leadership style that is not abrupt or authoritative, but very clear, calm, and natural.

If you are an excellent communicator and innate leadership is in you, you are naturally going to be a strategic partner. You bring and hold space for the leaders you are serving, and that space allows them to show up as their true authentic self.

Claire's background

• Claire's background is in nonprofit, filling multiple roles (executive assistant, event planner, volunteer manager, etc.)
• Learned a lot about working with different types people, and how volunteers need to be managed differently
• Has always enjoyed leading
• Stayed at home with kids for a time, then as they grew she started training in the VA space
• Felt uneasy jumping in to the VA world, but learned to appreciate her skill set and has gained confidence

Describe how you get the work done in your business:

• Runs a VA agency
• DOO certification was integral in helping her understand what her role had to be in her business and how she would grow the business to suit her needs
• Works as a fractional DOO and provides strategic mapping services
• Hires team members (VA or OBM) to support where necessary

How have you built a team who understands what you deliver, and how do you communicate with them?

• Wants to know who the person truly is, what their motivations and values are
• Hires people for their fit on the team, and potential for learning rather than the precise skill set
• Needs people who are teachable and can communicate with a variety of people
• Values honesty, follow thru, openness, good communication, vulnerability and getting to know one another as a team

"The pre-existing relationship of working together well is what allows us to go into businesses and avoid hiccups." -- Claire Crum

How long do people stay on your team?

• She started the agency model last year
• Has had people stay with her from the beginning, and grow with her.

Under the umbrella of operations there are many areas, including financials, human resources, communications and leadership, project management… which matches you best?

• Definitely communications
• Believes that communications is arguably the most important component of all

"You can be the most excellent project planner, but if you can't communicate those things well, you will fall flat." -- Claire Crum

When did you realize you had an expertise in communication?

• When people told her she did; external validation was really valuable for her
• She didn't have a corporate background, so she felt intimidated because she thought she would need that background to do this type of work
• Also thought she might have been looking for a unicorn client, seeking those who didn't have the hustle mindset, or were actively trying to remedy it

"The better the communicator you are… the more value clients will have in the role they are doing and the more worth you will fill, you will be able to step into leadership in a different way."-- Natalie Gingrich

How do you show up as an expert?

Three pillars Claire cultivates in herself and her team:

1. Know yourself: so many things will flavor your experience, and it's important to have awareness in your own mindset. Also, you need to know how you can handle difficult conversations and how to approach them in a way you are communicating effectively.
2. Know your audience: besides empathy, there are other key communication pieces and often you have to read between the lines. For example, neurodiversity. A CEO and a DOO's brains each work differently, but it will allow you to become a team, and to push a mission forward and do something that couldn't be done on your own.
3. Get clear: Clear is kind, being unclear is unkind, ala Brene Brown. Delegation is an art form which will serve you well on any team you are working with.

What is "Paint Done" and how do you deal with leaders who don't want elongated conversations?

• "Paint Done" is giving the most complete picture of the thing you are explaining. Think stick figure vs. Mona Lisa
• You have to know your audience; some will be appreciative and some won't even need it
• Take their lead. What is necessary for them to know?
• Requires you to be an excellent facilitator of thought

How have you melded your agency as a result of coming through the DOO Certification?

• Didn't think of herself as an operator because she didn't have the corporate background piece
• Didn't know exactly what she had, but was able to gain confidence in her skill set
• Has taken specific skills from the program and offered them as services
• Works with people who are more seasoned and needs a little more help than just a VA
• Makes it a point to serve clients who are building their businesses in a sustainable way so both parties can be effective

What is next for you?

• Getting better and better at the CEO role
• Has done strategic mapping on herself and has a plan built out
• Starting The Calm Ops mastermind for accountability and coaching for women in business

Do not ever discount the act of improving your communication skills. If you take the time to refine them, it can make all the difference in your success!

Contact Claire

Website

Claire Crum, is the founder and CEO of Calm Ops, where she and her team move social enterprise CEO's and ED's from reactionary to relaxed, expanding their capacity to reach next-level milestones.

A veteran of the nonprofit sector and efficiency enthusiast, Claire has a heart for highlighting and supporting the unique individual strengths of her team and the clients they serve.

She is a graduate of the Director of Operations Certification, now serving as the Value + Worth Expert Coach for the DOO community and facilitator of the Calm Ops Mastermind group. As a wife and mom of 3, she is dedicated to bringing sustainable business practices to those beside her on their entrepreneurial journey.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/64.

How can you demonstrate your value or return on investment (ROI) as an operator?

As an entrepreneur or service provider, you know that when you invest in something… you want to know what your return on investment (ROI) is. As someone who does a lot of hiring for entrepreneurs and small businesses, it is important to me as a hiring manager that they see a ROI. One thing that is very challenging is finding the ROI from an operations professional.

There are two sides to every business: the front and the back. The front side is focused on marketing and sales activities such as finding leads, finding your audience, communicating to your audience and bringing them to you through marketing and visibility efforts.

The back of the business is about operations. Operations looks at the infrastructure or foundation of a business, such as processes, systems, management, team management, and building teams. It is what is needed to fulfill the product that was marketed and sold.

When I hire, it's always my goal to guide the client to create 30-60-90 day goals (also called key results areas). This is so both parties are clear on expectations, for performance management reasons, as well as helping me to find tasks, responsibilities, and projects that bring a return. My goal is to have this resource bring a return to the business and "pay for themselves" within 90 days.

Most people ONLY think of this in terms of ROI meaning hard dollars. That's a great start, but after being in this space for many years and building teams, I've seen a return in many other ways.

I also want you to know that marketing typically sees an ROI easily, whereas the operations side has a softer return and oftentimes is not financially solvent in 90 days. Because of this, I've gone to work to show the operators in my Director of Operations Certification Program (and now you) how you can show value in a variety of ways.

I've shared this soapbox moment with you before but as service providers, regardless of front or back of house, we MUST quantify our value. It's not enough to trust that your leader sees your value or even knows what you're doing. Reporting is massively overlooked and underperformed in the freelance, online, and service space.

"If you SHOW your value on a regular basis, you become easy to pay, easy to retain, easy to promote and refer. You do this by reporting."

You may have to do a little data gathering but it's 100% worth it. Today's podcast is here to help you with two things: quantifying your value + identifying metrics you can use.

I've got a method I am excited to introduce. It's called the Return on TIES method. TIES stands for Time, Investment, Effort & Stress.

T: Return on Time

This is the amount of time you remove off of your leader's calendar/desk. By bringing on an operator, the leader is going to shift some hours that they were recently spending in admin, meetings, research, to you. This leaves them more space and time.

Every leader wants more time back, but what they plan to do with the extra time varies. They may want to work less hours, take more vacations or amplify what they're doing with those hours that you now oversee. I believe CEOs are truly in their CEO role when they are focusing on content creation, product creation, strategy, sales, and networking. When their plate is full, they can't do that. By bringing in an operator, they now can use their time on more strategic items.

How to measure: This involves noting the number of hours the leader is working and what they're spending time on. I recommend you do this at the beginning of the relationship and then 1 week a month. Ask them to track their hours and get a report or an understanding of how they spent those hours, or what they were working on. The hard part is getting a CEO to actually do this. Get creative! Ask the question "how many hours did you work last week and what did you accomplish" as part of your weekly or monthly meetings. It certainly won't be as thorough but you'll be able to see trends.

You'll know you've paid for yourself when: The leader is doing less admin and more strategy or visioning work. By doing this, the revenue of the business will increase because their time is available to focus on revenue generating activities rather than the minutia.

I: Return on Investment

This is when you make more than you spend. For example, when you buy a course on how to do Facebook ads. You invest $1K on the course but the product of the knowledge you'll gain will bring you 4x that in a 4-week period. That's a positive ROI.

Some people will challenge themselves to get the fastest ROI and in this case you will track time. The same goes for expanding your team. Marketing and sales personnel are the easiest to see an ROI. For example, adding a funnel designer to design a funnel for $3K. You'll know you get your ROI when the funnel exceeds $3K. It's a little more difficult for the Operations focused labor. It can absolutely be done but it's oftentimes a soft return vs. a hard return, meaning it's not hard dollars. It's often through savings of time and becoming more efficient. The return on those are soft, meaning that time in itself isn't going to bring you cold hard cash but how you use the discretionary time can produce a return.

How to measure: By sales and profit margins. It's very important to chart your revenue, expenses, and profit against your presence in the business. How do those factors improve as a result of having you here? Look at the sales and profit margins, and compare before and after you showed up in the business.

You'll know you've paid for yourself when: Profit margins expand beyond your investment. If they are paying you $5K a month, make a point to celebrate with them when you see an additional $5K in sales or profit. It's a collaborative effort but one you need to watch for.

E: Return on Effort (Efficiency, Ease)

This is how heavy or strenuous your business activities feel for you.

When I hear people say "it's too hard", "want to quit", or "burn it down", it means they are at max effort. This is far from the optimal place of ease. It's in this state that we focus on the small things rather than the vision, which is where passion and ease meet. To overcome the overwhelming feeling of effort, you can delegate tasks to others who enjoy performing that task, identify what you're doing that's out of your wheelhouse, look for opportunities of automation and leverage technology, or become aware of perfectionism and hire. Operators, this is your greatest gift to an organization! If we can make hard things easy, there's a return on effort. We do this by showing up as strategic partners rather than limiting yourself to implementing… when you are creating processes, building and managing teams, leading meetings, managing projects. I know a business is ready for a DOO when they crave ease and efficiency.

How to measure: Objectively, we measure by documenting profit margins. When they get wider, it is usually a reflection of business becoming easier. Subjectively, we can ask the leader to rate their satisfaction with their job as the CEO/leader. How are they enjoying it?

You'll know you've paid for yourself when: Profit increases as a byproduct of the efficiencies you have put in place and when the leader's satisfaction improves. Another subliminal way is when the leader returns to their creative/passionate zone. You may see this with innovation, new product lines, or new business ideas.

S: Return on Stress

This is defined as improving your physical and mental health and quality of life as a result of sharing work or business responsibilities.

It's no secret that entrepreneurs and business leaders struggle with depression, anxiety and stress. This prevents them from optimal wellness and if they aren't well, this bleeds into the business, the brand, the team, the vision, and the reputation. When a leader brings on an operator, they are no doubt looking to reduce stress. That stress can be physical, mental, or quality of life.

How to measure: At this point I don't know a way to measure this objectively but I know this matters SO MUCH. I recommend doing this by reaching out to the leader and the team and gathering their stress levels as it relates to physical, mental, and quality of life. This is probably best done with a survey tool so it can be anonymous and without judgement. Plot this each month and make notes of what key projects you all are working on in the business. Wouldn't it be cool to show the impact of stress that launches or certain campaigns at specific times of year do to people?

You'll know you've paid for yourself when: The stress rating decreases by 20%+.

All of these (TIES) result in greater stability, profit, and satisfaction but are not necessarily directly monetary. It's important to look beyond the hard ROI.

Leaders desire a return on time, investment, effort, and stress…and they can't do this alone. They need operators to help them obtain this! Another reason why DOOs are so foundational for scaling businesses.

As an operations leader, I want you to show your value to the business you're working in but I also want you to know how your gifts are blessing others. We don't take the time to quantify it and I hope this podcast encourages you to begin charting this today.

Weekly Ops Activity

Make a move! Start something new with your existing clients. Introduce this concept to one client. Focus on stress and effort because they may not have thought about that. Ask them to rate their stress and effort levels, then track every single month. Show your value and earn your return!

If you aren't in a place where you have access to business financials but you know you have the leadership to guide businesses, I encourage you to consider the DOO certification. There are businesses that are scaling that know they can't do this alone. They NEED DOOs to move forward with less stress, effort, and time. I would love for you to join us in our next round beginning in late November. Join us at Directorofops.com... applications are always open.

"RETURN ON DOO INVESTMENT= time + effort + stress + efficiency."

This is how business owners are going to know that you are the most solid investment they have ever made!

Previous Episodes Mentioned

EPISODE 62: From Corporate Accounting to Data-Driven DOO [with DOO expert coach Kelsy Schmidt]

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/63.

How do you feel about analyzing data? Do you zone out when someone starts talking about data driven decisions? Are you confused about where to begin?

Today my guest is Kelsy Schmidt, one of the expert coaches in my Director of Operations (DOO) certification program. She is the expert coach in the area of KPIs (key performance indicators) and all things data.

Whenever I have a new cohort in the program, I always ask them how comfortable they are when it comes to KPIs and data, and notoriously I find that people rate themselves a 3.8/5. I want to help my students feel more confident handling data because to be successful operators, they need to be able to understand how to measure results. That is the ultimate reason I brought on a coach for this specific area.

Kelsy is the founder of Innowik, whose mission is to optimize operations for CEOs and service providers of scaling lifestyle businesses. She does this so they can have more time location and financial freedom. She is a full time RV'er, and certified DOO specializing in overall operations strategy, optimizations with systems and automations and financial stability. She left corporate and ventured into online business in 2018, founded her company shortly after and has been in operation roles for over 15 years. She has also been in systems implementations, business process automation, accounting and reporting and has been a leader of several teams. She RV's with her husband and young son, with her home base in Georgia.

Meet Kelsy

Business is about numbers, metrics and key performance indicators. If that is the standard in a corporate setting, we should bring them into small businesses. It will also show your value as the operator in a business.

By bringing Kelsy on as a coach, I hope to make data more simple and less intimidating.

I want to help people understand how to establish KPIs in their business or in one of their clients' businesses.

Background

• She comes from a corporate background: Project manager accounting position most recently, varying operational positions in accounting, managing people, digging into data
• Started RV'ing 3 years ago and learned what the possibilities were for online business
• First failure was trying to fit into an online employee role which wasn't consistent with the lifestyle she attained to
• Started an online virtual accounting practice for 3 months before she found Natalies program and she started to dream about the possibilities

"Corporate gave me the ability to see where my gifts were and to get paid to understand what I never wanted to do again." - Natalie Gingrich

How did you get into the accounting world?

• The college she attended was known for their business school, so she started analyzing what kind of jobs would provide a good salary, job security and job outlook; landed on accounting career path
• Accounting clicked, and she is the kind of person who has a spreadsheet for everything

Were you analytical as a child?

• Enjoyed math and organizing things
• Others saw the trait in her, she didn't necessarily realize it
• Was analytical when it came to sports

"A key ingredient for operators is being analytical, and there is a difference between being analytical and being an accountant." - Natalie Gingrich

Tell us about your business today.

• Innowik's mission is to help other business owners optimize their operations so they have more time, location, and financial freedom
• Do this with strategic input, data analysis and systems and automation
• Allowed her to spend time with her family and RV

Can you share some tips for our audience regarding KPI's?

How you can be successful with KPI's:

1. Be aware that there is a difference between a KPI and a metric
2. 1. KPI: measurable values that track how well your company is achieving its key objectives. Also has influence on decision making on a company wide level (Performance)
   2. Metrics act as a supporting role for your KPI's, and track process (Process)
   1. KPIs take time and resources
3. Not everything that can be measured should be measured: you have to understand the business
   1. You can reverse engineer this
      1. You should see one on one sales decrease, and the downloadable products going up
      2. Can add complimentary KPIs to that such as visibility metric such as conversion rate on the sales page for the downloadable product
   2. Example: You want to double your downloadable products revenue in the next year and scale back on one- Your KPI would be to look at sales dollars per product, and trend that out throughout the year.
4. Make sure your main KPIs come from your main goals, which should be tied to your vision

"Tracking everything means you are focused on nothing… focus on the one thing first." - Kelsy Schmidt

How do you share your expertise in your current DOO position?

• The certification helped her hone in on her offers
• She noticed a need in the market for the KPI skill set
• Also offers strategic mapping, which helps CEOs develop a master plan and from their priorities she can develop the KPIs to make sure they line up with the vision

What has the certification done for you?

• The mentorship and community of operators: she has found her people and feels super supported
• She broke even in her first month after applying her new offerings
• The confidence: she prices more confidently and is able to turn down clients who don't align with her values

How have you found DOO clients?

• Word of mouth
• Leads that come through after certification and in the group
• Was able to take an existing accounting client and elevate her role in the business

Contact Kelsy

Website - Grab our free Top 10 Automations guide

LinkedIn

Kelsy Schmidt is the founder of Innowik, whose mission is to optimize operations for CEOs & service providers of scaling lifestyle businesses, so they have more time, location & financial freedom. She is also a Certified Director of Operations, specializing in overall operations strategy, optimization (systems and automations), and financial stability (financials & other KPIs). She left corporate and ventured into the online business space in 2018, and founded her company shortly thereafter. She has been in operations roles for over 15 years, gaining experiences in project management, system implementations, business process automation, accounting and reporting, and supervising teams.

From Kansas and now based out of Georgia, Kelsy is also a full-time RV'er who enjoys nature and exploring the US with her husband, three-year-old son, and pup. She sees her business as a vessel, and is passionate about helping people simplify their lives and businesses, and thus, living life more freely and purposefully. This simplification process (and lots of faith) is what led her and her family to implement their own big life changes over the last few years.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/62.

Have you ever worked with a client, and something was just a little off? Maybe you got along great and even believed in their mission, but you couldn't pinpoint where the breakdown was happening.

If you are taking the risk to run your own business, bring in the revenue you want, and work with the people you want, then you want to be on the path to serving people who you are in alignment with.... because they will be the easiest to serve.

Along these lines, there is an important question you need to ask yourself. Do you want to build a business based on fame or on impact? Today we will talk about the benefits of each.

Fame vs. Impact

You need to figure out the kind of person you are, and then reverse engineer this process to find the type of clients to match.

After I had left my corporate career, and was in the beginning stages of my own business,

I just started serving people. I needed to bring in income, which meant I did the least amount of marketing. At this point, I wasn't in my highest level of integrity because I was working with anyone who could pay me.

As you may know, I'm a people person, so I love serving people in many capacities. I would fall in love with people and their missions and with the impact that I could make in their business. But after a while I started to feel like I wasn't a match or that I wasn't making the biggest impact in their business. I started to question myself… was it the wrong avatar, wrong personality? Was I evolving?

"I was connected to the work, but in conflicting ways."

It started to become clear to me once I started working with one client in particular. As I started executing on her vision, something started to feel wrong. We were in conflict, and what I figured out was that she wanted fame, and I wanted impact.

Today we are talking about what you want. Are you someone who desires fame or impact? If they are competing against one another, you will experience stagnation, resentment, or frustration.

I'm going to give you the test you can use in your discovery process to understand and evaluate if someone desires fame or impact. You have to reflect on this yourself. Fame tends to have a negative connotation, and I want to debunk this.

"Fame and impact are equal, and what matters is what is important to you."

Once you identify what you are drawn to, you will use this messaging throughout your business to set yourself up to attract those who desire the same thing.

Fame Characteristics

What does someone who desires fame want? Typically they are masterful marketers. They have the ability to sell easily and they like a wide audience. They are motivated by money, quick thinkers and are self focused. They focus on themselves to sell the product. They are the brand, and their face is easy to identify, because they are selling themselves. They tend to enjoy the spotlight.

Impact Characteristics

On the impact side we have people who are deeply motivated by transformation. They want to be a part of someone's journey and they teach transformation. They are thoughtful, move slower and have a deeper relationship with their audience. They like to sell a duplicatable process, and they follow processes. This makes them incredible thought leaders and they often have some great intellectual property or they are selling a method. Impact is selling transformation; selling an outcome through intellectual property or proven process.

Fame & Impact Both:

• Have the ability to generate revenue
• An individual can be the face of a brand
• Require a significant amount of content and presence, so visibility is important
• Need belief in themselves to create an audience to serve and sell to

Real Life Examples

An example of someone who desires impact is Brene Brown. She has a significant background in social work, and she did not enter this world to become an author. She saw herself helping individuals reach their greatest potential. In her commitment to that transformational work, she became a celebrity. So there can be an intersection of someone who comes up through the impact side of things to then become the face of a brand. The reason that happens is because the number of people she was able to impact is huge. So with greater volumes comes the ability for her to be in the spotlight. But what allowed her to get there was her intellectual property/thought leadership.

Some entrepreneurial examples of people who desire fame are Instagram influencers. If you are working with someone who wants to be an influencer they are looking for the spotlight. They are looking to their personality to generate an income. They may be into fitness one day, lifestyle one day, and organization another, and what they are selling is their personality which is multifaceted. Think about the person that has seven different offers that don't tie together. They are actually selling themselves; they want to cultivate a broad audience that is wide enough where they have different pockets buying different things.

If you are committed to being a Director of Operations, it is so important to sort this out so you can partner with the kind of clients that will allow you to make the biggest impact from the start!

Weekly Ops Activity

Reflect on fame and impact, and figure out which of these you desire most. What aligns deepest with you? Which of these are in integrity with you to support? Let me know in the Facebook group!

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Episode 59: How To Have a Difficult Conversation

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/61.

What is the best business model for your Director of Operations (DOO) business?

Today on the podcast, I have one of my expert coaches Amy Lockrin, a business practices expert. She has many years of experience as a DOO and has gone through several business models while growing her own business.

Amy is a Business Growth Consultant and CEO of The Operations House, and implementation and integration agency. She partners with female entrepreneurs that are ready to thrive in their business and leave behind the overwhelm of "to-do's." Amy makes things happen in your business so you can go back to being creative through consulting, system set ups, and strategic planning sessions. She focuses on growth and systematic scaling to guide business owners to the next right step in their business, all while making it fun!

Amy Lockrin

Amy went through the 1st iteration of the DOO Certification Program. She has been selected to be one of the expert coaches in this round of the program, in the area of business practices.

When you look at the past roles you've had, where do you see the different parts of operations popping up?

• Everywhere: for someone who is operations minded, it showed up in everything she did
• • From her first job at Old Navy, she took such pride in organization, and breaking down goals.
• Worked in both corporate and non profit and realized she was different in that she loved focusing on the processes leading up to the goal.

Do you consider yourself a creative?

• Not a stand-alone creative.
• She is creative in the way that she is able to bounce ideas back and forth off of creative leaders and thrives in suggesting new ideas as a result of these exchanges.
• When she does this solo in her own business it doesn't work as well .

A lot of us consider ourselves the right-hand of those we support. How does this operations right-handedness play into or limit your ability to step into full leadership as a CEO in your own business?

• Originally it was a hindrance: when you are a right-hand person you see a lot of the things and are also in charge of a lot of the stop functions in a business; not necessarily the fun stuff, but is eye opening in terms of what needs to get done to build the type of business you want.
• It was a very eye opening experience because she knows so much and can apply lessons from years in corporate to her own business.

"You can look back on your life and really see how you were an operator for your entire life." - Natalie Gingrich

At what point did you really start to zone in on operations?

• Probably when she started talking to Natalie as she was starting to create the DOO program.
• The conversation started to shine a light on what she was already doing in the back end of people's businesses .
• Realized what she was doing in the back end of the business was really strategic and valuable, more than just coming in to keep things clean and orderly.
• Learned she was meant to be able to help people grow their business in a way that works for them.

Share all of the different ways you have built your business and what has been easy or difficult.

• Retainer based business: clients bring you on and you are a long term asset to them.
• • You have recurring revenue and you're invested into their success.
  • A great place to start and gain traction, and you have the opportunity to learn and figure out what you like.
• Product based business: what you are doing for your service that you create for somebody. You can scale this in a "one to many" model.
• Project based business: good if you have a specialty or a niche. It has a specific start and end date and a set price point where they know exactly what they are getting in the outcome.
• The DOO Certification Program can help by giving you the insight to work with people, how to work in the back end of the business, and what it can do for the profitability of the business.

What parts of the certification are still present in your business?

• Strategic mapping: she doesn't onboard anyone without doing it first
• KPI's for each individual business
• Built her skillset on how to manage up. This has also been beneficial for her peer and family relationships, and she focuses on communication patterns and what she can control.

Connect with Amy:

Website

Facebook Group

Weekly Ops Activity

Listen to the various types of business models mentioned by Amy. I want you to come into the Facebook group and share with us which one of the paths that you are currently on.

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/60.

Does the thought of having difficult conversations leave you with sweaty palms? Do you have a hard time communicating during uncomfortable situations with your leader?

If you are in a service provider role, you know that at some point there will be questions, disagreements, and disruptions that you will have to address.

Today, I'm giving you tips on how I deal with these difficult conversations. I've noticed that many of my peers, students, and friends have a difficult time initiating these, and I consider this one of my superpowers. A lot of us are risk averse, but if that is the case, you are not going to feel like you are ready to step into a difficult situation.

"It's not about being risky, it's about having the confidence in yourself and understanding the leadership you already have as well as the professionalism to have this conversation."

5 Steps to Difficult Conversations

As service providers we get into these roles, and inevitably disruption in going to happen. You have to be the leader to address this, otherwise you will feel resentment or frustration, which is very difficult to repair.

"If we don't address the disruption, it ends up harboring bad feelings and our best work can't be done in that feeling."

"I see anxiety happening in relationships and it doesn't have to be this way."

Follow these five steps to enable yourself to have these difficult conversations.

Plan the Conversation

Some people are really witty, and have the ability to say what they mean in the moment, but regardless if this is true of you… you still need to plan. If you are walking into a difficult conversation, I want you to remove the emotionality and fear, and to create a plan. If you plan the conversation, you will give yourself boundaries and time.

With time you can separate your emotions from the occurrence, look at things objectively, get others opinions, and role play the conversation. Role play the situation so you have confidence going in, and so you can see how the other person responds to your approach.

Meet Them Where They Are

How does your leader take feedback? You have likely seen them through disappointment, failure, or personal crisis. How was it? Weave their perceived response into the fabric when you are planning that conversation.

You want this to be a two-sided conversation. You want feedback as well, because when disruptions happen, it is usually not just about one person. Create an open line of communication and know how the other person processes information. Each professional relationship will take a different approach, and the way to know which path to take relates to the way your leader processes.

Be Candid

You have to be true to yourself. If you are not... things don't get cleared up. To be candid means to understand who you are working with, while being honest and direct with kindness. This is what moves these types of obstacles off the table. It's about having a two-way conversation and deciding how to move forward as partners.

Bring Solutions to the Meeting

Come prepared with solutions for the problem you are addressing. This will be a higher level of conversation that doesn't feel accusational. Do your research and bring some options to the table so you can advance the conversation instead of dwelling in failure mode. Elevate yourself as a leader and create buy-in from the leader about how you are going to fix this issue..

Make sure to show that you aren't only bringing solutions, but bring the data that will help predict outcomes in the areas of delivery, financials and their team.

"When you start talking about solutions, the pain of a difficult conversation subsides."

Walk Away With Clarity

You need to walk away with an understanding of next steps. You are a list maker and a fact finder, and are ready to take action on whatever it is that the leader has decided. Give them a framework of how to take action in real time. One thing that can stifle the leader on a project is a lack of clarity about a decision. If you follow this framework and come with options, you put them in a position to make a decision at a much faster pace.

Plan to create the next steps, present them before you wrap up, and give them the next 3 steps to take action on. Verbally share these with the leader, which will show a higher level of leadership and competency on your part.

Weekly Ops Activity

Identify one client that you have, reach out and identify how they deal with frustration, opportunity, disappointment, and pushback. If you don't know them well enough, ask them:

• When was the last time someone disappointed you?
• How do you deal with rejection? What happens with them when emotionally?
• How does this make you feel?

Listening to their answer will help you to tailor a difficult conversation to fit their specific needs. Pop your answers into The Ops Insiders Facebook Group!

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at www.theopsauthority.com/podcast/59.

Are you curious about what type of experts are involved in the Director of Operations Certification Program?

I am joined by a very special guest today… one of my expert coaches in the Director of Operations (DOO) Certification Program, Liz Watson.

I am currently in the scaling phase of the DOO certification. I am bringing in experts to partner with me so I can leverage their expertise, and so that students can get more than one perspective. Every single discipline inside the DOO certification has an expert.

The people who are coming into the certification program are experts, and they get to shine their light on the area they feel the most confident in. Today I'm introducing you to our project management expert coach, Liz Watson. She will be sharing her journey through the program.

Liz Watson

Liz is someone who has a strong background in corporate project management. Today she is here to share how she has been able to make the leap from corporate project management to an entrepreneur who runs her own business, utilizing the exact same skill set.

About Liz's Business

• Owns The Impact Trail
• Her intent is to serve small businesses who care about environmental sustainability
• She helps clients make sure they are operating well so they can truly make an impact in the world
• She niched into area she really cares about

Background of Corporate Experience

• Has a degree in International Business
• She graduated during a recession, so she took a front desk job in hospitality
• Advanced to general manager and director of sales roles that opened her eyes to customer service and operations
• Got a job as a software trainer, worked as a contractor to implement a corporate wide rollout of software in a company, then stayed on as an project manager in IT
• Performed a variety of roles in the project management space: IT project management, program management, lead a group that established a methodology to run projects, supported leaders and mentored others

"Project management is truly an art and a science." - Liz Watson

"The true art of project management comes into play when we are managing up; talking and mentoring to stakeholders and sponsors." - Natalie Gingrich

When did you realize you were an operations expert?

• Realized it once she heard Natalie's explanation of operations and her DOO program
• She looked back at her hotel management days and realized she served as on operator to run the hotel and lead the team
• Also recognized her operations role during project management in corporate IT as she was working the backend of the businesses
• Didn't think she had an operations background until she heard it defined, and was able to look back and make the connections

"Operations is what needs to happen to make the business run on a day to day basis."

Share a project management teaching example

• Everything learned from corporate can be applied to her small business and supporting her current clients
• Common framework to use: design, develop, test, and release
• Design and think through your process
• Develop your process then test it out
• Once it is tested, release it; which means deliver it to the world, whatever that may look like

What does your business look like and how are you using project management in business today?

• Her business is service based and she offers the strategic mapping model
• • Clients can choose to utilize this service on a quarterly basis
  • She ties the mapping process back to their vision, mission and core values for their organization
• Also offers DOO services to implement the strategic plan that was created
• Uses project management skills to run her own business as well

How have you secured your clients?

• Started networking after she left corporate
• Started sharing her expertise, and found clients
• Continues to build relationships

About Liz

As leader on The Impact Trail Liz Watson is planning to save the world. She helps small businesses that care about environmental sustainability optimize how they operate so that they can make a bigger impact. Through strategic planning and executive-level operations management services Liz serves as a guide and accountability partner to turn goals into action steps that drive business results.

She spent 20 years in IT project management at a Fortune 500 company. When given the opportunity to leave, Liz decided to use her knowledge and experience to serve small business owners through her own business. She is certified as a Director of Operations and Project Management Professional. She is a proud mama, wine lover and is passionate about saving the planet.

Connect with Liz

LinkedIn

Website

Weekly Ops Activity

Recall the 4-step framework that Liz spoke about: design, develop, test and release… What is the last project you tested, and what is your process for it? Let me know in the Facebook group!

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/58.

How do you manage your time when you have multiple clients? Do you find yourself suffering in your personal life because you are pouring so much time into your clients?

Today I want to talk to you about a common struggle that service providers have. If you have multiple clients, you have probably been overwhelmed with time management at some point. This is a significant challenge with a wide range of potential effects: clients not getting your best work, your family doesn't get the best of you, your health suffers, your personal business doesn't get done, and all of this leaves you feeling unsatisfied.

When you get to this place it blocks your growth. You wonder "How did I get to this point?"

"Our commitments exceed our reality, and this creates scope creep."

When you get here everything crumbles. There is a burden, and you start to question if you should be doing this work. You get smothered with emotions of fear, anxiety and stress. This is called scope creep, and I want to help you learn to avoid it, show you how to handle it, and learn how to address it.

If this resonates with you at all, join me in my upcoming sprint, The Scope Creep Solution. The content will be delivered through my Facebook group, and it won't be there forever, so make sure to sign up now!

How Scope Creep Happens

It all comes down to managing your time between your business, your personal life and trying to match each to your goals.

We all have revenue goals, and I do not want you to feel bad about that. Today I'm going to share my thoughts on how you can reach your income goal without making yourself miserable.

"No matter how good you get at scope creep, it keeps coming up."

Build a Business That Reflects Your Greatest Desires

Think back to when you weren't your own boss… somebody else dictated what you did, how you did it, what the expectations were, and then reviewed you. You decided to create something for yourself, so I want you to pause to figure out what your business would look like if it truly reflected your greatest desires.

I worked a corporate job for years, and when I stepped away, I did it to create a life of legacy for myself. I realized I needed to be with my kids and create a business that allowed me to be present. That was a reflection of my greatest desires.

• What does your ideal week look like?
• What is your greatest desire?
• What are your core values?

Take action: What do the impacts of your dream look like in your ideal week? Considering this allows you to see how much time you have available for work. What roles do you play in your family, home, marriage, community, or work? Prioritize which ones are important for you and sketch it out on a calendar.

Know Your Boundaries

Do you know your boundaries? Communicate them in your home and with your clients. You can also do this in your discovery calls so you can make sure to match yourself with clients who respect those boundaries. Communicate them upfront so you don't get into a situation with unknown expectations.

If you know how many hours you can work per week, then you can price and package your services accordingly. Figure out how to best utilize the hours you have. If one client = 15 hours per week, now you can figure out if you need to increase your time, scale back your revenue goals, or create a new offer.

I want you to obtain your financial goal if possible so maybe this means you are a little more flexible and/or creative. You might deliver the same service in a VIP format or start a group program 1 day per week. There is no magic way to do this, but when you go through the Director Of Operations Certification Program, we walk through this together. We address how to build a business that supports your lifestyle and empowers you to be the person you want to be.

Set Up the Customer Journey

What kind of journey does your client need to take? What kind of communications will you be sending, and what kind of processes are you going to follow? Set those expectations and then calculate the amount of administrative time it takes to obtain, sustain and nurture your clients.

If you have 15 hours a week and it takes you 15 hours to deliver to the client without the administration on your end, you are now in a time deficit. One solution to this is automation.

"If you can automate, it creates an enhanced experience for your client, it creates predictability for you, and it removes some of the stress that naturally hangs over your head when you are juggling multiple clients."

How Many Clients Can You Truly Take On

If it takes you 1 hour of admin a week per client, and you have 4 clients, this means you now have 11 hours to take care of the clients. Ask yourself: Can I deliver my best quality work to these 4 clients in 11 hours per week?

"Your network will reflect the quality of work you provide to other people."

Secure Clients that Empower You to Lead

Own the role you have been procured for. Onboard yourself and minimize the amount of effort they have to spend onboarding you. Be the asset in a business that needs very little management. Be the person that shines, the magnet that people want to come to.

You can empower the CEO with additional strategy and space through Strategic Mapping™, which is my licensed intellectual property that we go through at the beginning of the Director of Operations Certification Program. Everyone who joins this program as an operational expert will have access to this strategy to share with their clients. It will allow you to shine and own your role from the very beginning. If you do this you will be an indispensable asset.

If you are interested in pursuing the Director of Operations Certification, you can join us for the Scope Creep Solution, or by submitting an application. Round 6 starts up at the beginning of September!

Weekly Ops Activity

I want you to look at your ideal week and the responsibilities you have and determine how many hours per week you have to focus on work. Pop into the Facebook group and let me know your magic number!

Previous Episodes Mentioned

Episode 4: The Core of Business: Your Mission, Vision, and Values

Other Ways to Connect with Me:

Website

Private Facebook Community

Facebook Page

Instagram

This episode was first published at theopsauthority.com/podcast/57.