She’s Got Systems

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Archives for May 2012

Hurricane Systems in the South

Playbook by 1 Comment

At the tail end of hurricane season last year I found this amazing story of how one company has created a system so comprehensive that it is recognized by the Federal Government. The amazing thing is that this is no bank, institute of higher learning or government entity.

It’s the Waffle House.

For those of you unaware, Waffle House is a regional chain of 24 hour restaurants serving up inexpensive breakfast fare frequented by travelers, broke college students and loyal locals.

Located in mid-Atlantic states targeted by hurricanes, the Waffle House franchise has made an amazing system around recovering from these natural disasters. So much now that the Feds use the reopening of restaurants – or “Waffle House Index” – in an affected area as a metric of how badly an area was hit.

Even better, they call this plan a playbook, “its hurricane playbook explains how to reopen a restaurant and what to serve if there is gas but not electricity, or a generator but no ice.”

You can read the story in its entirety here but here are some of the brilliant aspects of this plan:

They employ a “crisis management team” which tracks and monitors hurricane activity! I love that they refuse to ignore potential problems but are proactive in creating a plan.

The mobile command center waits outside a disaster zone, ready to swoop in with supplies and essentials once the danger has passed. They dedicate resources to recovering as quickly as possible!

Limited menus are prepared well before a hurricane to cover every combination of resources available. I love that they take the time to think how they can serve in limited circumstances! Instead of telling a customer that their favorite food isn’t available due to the grill-only status, Waffle House limits options so they can say yes to every order.

The focus and design is to provide for the community in a time of need. Waffle House could easily reopen within hours with jacked up prices and many would pay while their heat and electricity are out at home. Instead they keep the same low prices, serve until it is too dangerous for the staff and over and again the community is grateful for some normalcy.

The best takeaway here is that it’s not just one manager in one location who figured this out but company wide to over 1,600 franchises. It’s likely that this idea or practice started small but management, seeing the potential, allowed it to take hold and grow so that the entire company is now known for their emergency preparedness, responsiveness and capability.

You may not have a physical location that’s in danger of being hit by a hurricane. But there are some predicable “emergencies” for online businesses. Have you thought about them? Prepared for them?

Passion & Doubts

Inspiring Businesses by 5 Comments

Yesterday I was privileged to have a great  impromptu mastermind session in downtown Sacramento with a talented colleague and in the midst of our discussion I declared,

“You absolutely have what it takes to build this business and make a huge impact.”

Even though I believe that with everything in my being, I got the following response (which is common among most talented and smart business owners):

“So many people tell me that…. but how do I know?”

It’s hard isn’t it? The self doubt is pervasive and even when we know we’re passionate and talented there’s still that nagging feeling that it’s not enough. Never enough. This was a lesson I learned in February, surround by 5 wonderful women in my mastermind group who have supported and encouraged me through the rough times.

Especially for a generation that spent the first 10 years hearing “you are a unique, sparkly snowflake” and then the next 15 years unlearning that to hear you’re not that special or talented and should just get a job, mortgage and be happy. Entrepreneurs are often accused of having egos that are rivaled only in the political field. After all – how could someone charge $1,000 an hour? or $10,000? What makes your product worth 20% more than your competitor’s products?

For many of us, it’s not about the pricing but the stated value – by saying “my time is worth this much” we’re declaring that we are in fact worth it and that’s when the doubt sneaks in and begins to whisper “are you sure?”

Here’s what I said last night:

There’s approximately 7 billion people on this earth. And not a single one of them has lived your life, walked in your shoes and had your experiences. Some of them may have your skill or talent to the same degree. None of those 7 billion has your same passion, drive, ambition, connections, vision and opportunities . Each one of us has a handful of things we really care about and a bunch of things we don’t. Your unique blend of caring, diligence and drive isn’t common. That’s how I know you can make a big impact because no one else could make this impact like you can.

This makes me think of a nurse who, when called to a patient’s room on an emergency call, doesn’t ask am I qualified, why me, what if I can’t do this? but instead knows that she has the training, experience and skill to do the work, is confident but may still ask for support and trusts that she’s on the right floor, in the right department on the right shift. Just like a nurse who knows she can make a huge impact by serving the clients she’s meant to serve we are also called (less obviously than the call button in a hospital) to serve.

(I should note that a close female cousin is a nurse so she’s the one I think of here – obviously there are male nurses in the field as well)

But in this example, the nurse isn’t running down to admitting to work on insurance forms or trying to perform surgery. The nurse isn’t focused on the aftercare plan or billing either. There’s an entire support network specialized to support the client, in this case a patient, throughout the process because the nurse isn’t called or trained as a billing representative.

I have to remember this when I’m asked to contribute to a business that is not my ideal client or work on a project that I’m not excited about. Derek Stivers summed this up brilliantly with his post No more yes. It’s either HELL YEAH! Or no. Remembering that other people have those passions, talents and skills is important because now we don’t have to do it all.

So when you are faced with those doubts, from yourself or others, and the question is “why me, what makes me capable?” I challenge you to remember this: 7 billion people on this planet need you to say hell yeah to your passion and serve as only you can.

Passion About Systems

Personal Development by Leave a Comment

Let’s talk about passion.

All throughout our lives we’re told what we have to do, what we should do and what we need to do. Personal preference and even skill are not concerns. As we age we begin to seek appropriate substitutions for those things we fail at doing or simply dislike.

The mechanic who changes the oil in the car. The plumber who fixes the leaking faucet. Even the barista who brews a perfect latte.

It’s true that many people are simply doing a job but the ones who are truly in their passion are obvious. And, if given the option, I’d prefer to work with a passionate person over a just-doing-a-job person any day.

Wouldn’t you?

Let’s consider the flip side for a moment. As a productive member of society, I’d prefer to be working on the projects I’m passionate about. Any day. Every day.

While I have many interests and hobbies, I have 3 primary passions. They are:

1. Nurturing online businesses
2. Organization and processes
3. Teaching / Coaching / Consulting

When I work with passions #1 & #2 it looks like creating Playbooks on business systems

When I work with passions #2 & #3 it’s teaching via this blog and in mainstream media

When I work with passions #1 & #3 it takes the form of implementing in an online business

I’m most excited when I get to coach private clients – it’s the best when passions #1,  #2 and #3 coincide and I’m able to teach by educating on the processes that work, create custom playbooks and implement systems in online business. In fact, working with one of my awesome private clients who is managing over 60 developers, building websites and applications for clients around the world and strategically growing an international business has been a joy.

It’s fun. It’s challenging. It’s a joy to work in my passion. This is the work I can do all day, every day and is, ironically, something many people hate to do on their own.

There’s a common judgment of online coaches I hear often, that they’re all just making money off each other to spend money hiring each other. And I’ve found it’s also true in offline businesses too! The plumber uses the mechanic’s services so the mechanic can buy a coffee and the barista gets paid to serve the mechanic so she can afford to fix her leaky sink. Those jerks.

Specialization is the economy we live in and it’s no different for online as it is for offline businesses. For the same reason I’m reluctant to hire the copy writer/SEO expert/Wordpress designer/marketing expert/life coach/graphic designer, I would also not go to my vet, ask for a cup of coffee, tire rotation, cell phone plan and a taco.

By getting clear on your passions and how you serve, you too will be in the place to focus your attention and signal to others what you do, how you serve and what you believe.

Personally, I believe in supporting the growing online business that needs systems and organization to manage all the moving pieces and is willing to work in collaboration to implement solutions now. What’s your passion?

Train and Manage Your Team with Systems

Team & Support by 1 Comment

There are a myriad of challenges when it comes to hiring and training a team to support your business. Eavesdrop on just a few of the conversations I’ve had with busy entrepreneurs about their challenges:

I have some people helping me and now realize that one can’t keep up/doesn’t know enough and the other is across the world and is too far away to do spur of the moment stuff.

…

If there is a miscommunication, or in my case my VA failed to listen, communicate and made too many assumptions, as a result she spent hours working on a project that I couldn’t even use in the least. The end result was, she sent me a beautiful, well designed document… however, it could not be edited. And time again throughout this process, I repeatedly asked her if it was a template that I could edit for each client’s needs and goals.

…

When I had a VA set up my 1shoppingcart, she claimed it was her specialty and that she was an expert at 1shoppingcart. However, the job was finished about 3 weeks later. Right after the job was finished, I received a call from 1shoppingcart stating that I needed to have a return policy on the shopping cart. I called my VA letting her know she missed adding the returned policy, to which she responded I had to pay her an additional $55. I was floored because she was “the expert” and charged the according rate. How could she have missed that?

And on the flip side I hear complaints from the support professionals that usually center around lack of clarity, working with entrepreneurs who give unclear instructions or are ambiguous about deadlines and expectations.

The final piece of the system, after writing a clear job description and testing contractors before hiring, is to train and monitor the work of your team to ensure you’re getting the support you need. Without a process to monitor and evaluate your team you’ll still be wasting time, money and energy.

You’ll need to accept that even the greatest support team can’t read your mind and without oversight and clear instructions you might experience the problems entrepreneurs shared at the top of this article. To get the team that does tasks the way you would do them so you don’t have to is an investment of time.

If you’re serious about building your business with team support you need systems to train team members on the specific tasks to be completed, enable open communication and monitor progress long term.

My own system uses a combination of two project management tools: Backpack and Asana

Backpack is where I take the job description that I’ve created and write out details on the task along with pictures, video tutorials for longer tasks, resources and deadlines. Because Backpack enables you to create thousands of pages, each task or resource can be housed on its own page and you can give access on a page by page basis.

In Asana I track the tasks given to each VA along with the deadlines – it’s a back and forth system that enables the VA to ask questions and report when the task is done.

 

 

Of course, you can write down a bunch of information and never reference it again so you’ve got to stay dedicated to communicating with your team about the results you need and following up to ensure tasks get completed. It takes commitment and discipline to both set up the system and continue to work with your team but the benefits far outweigh the hassle.

With a trained team in place and partisan record of your requests you’ll be able to:

track tasks, time spent and cost of outsourcing
leverage your time so you can work with more clients
replace team members who are not working out and train new people faster
maintain a high quality of service
evaluate the results against your instructions and make focused improvements
reach more leads as you get your message out in a big way
be able to take time off without your business halting

Sounds too good to be true, right? It’s not out of your reach and if you haven’t begun here’s the start of the series on hiring and training support for your business.

Part 1 here : Hiring Support in Your Business with the Right Job Description

Part 2 here : Testing the VA before paying a dime

Hiring the Right Team the First Time

Team & Support by Leave a Comment

When I talk to entrepreneurs who are overwhelmed with doing too much in their business, the conversation often turns to hiring an assistant to lighten the load. For those who have worked with a team in the past, there are often horror stories galore and legitimate fears to overcome. Last week I shared in the first of this series how you can get clear with a list of tasks and then write the appropriate job description to find the assistant you need.

Today let’s take that a step further and test, or vet, the applicants that will come in when you clearly define your business and share your opportunity with the world.

First, there are a few reasons that I suggest using a service such as oDesk (the one I use) to secure a VA. You’ll have more candidates and typically more qualified candidates when you’re fishing in a pool full of people who want jobs. Besides, you’re busy and need help so why add the job of posting your position all over the internet to your to do list? oDesk enables support professionals to log their hours manually or, as I prefer, while doing the task including screenshots of their computer. This ensures you’re paying for the time they spend on task, not watching Lord of the Rings on Netflix. A service will also manage the payment account and, in the case of oDesk, allow you to set the price you’ll pay per hour and hours per week so there’s no risk of a task going hours beyond what you’re willing to pay.

As your VA demonstrates skill and responsibility you can raise or lift the hour restriction.

Test Before You Hire

I’m a big fan of testing because in most situations the only way you’ll know how someone will respond is to put them in the situation. Of course you don’t want to give dozens of people access to your website admin panel or database so here’s the next best thing to testing capabilities. Instead of simply outlining the principles I want to show you exactly how I test and evaluate candidates.

When a candidate responds to your job description your first response to them should include a test. Here’s the email template I use:

Hi (first name),

Thanks for applying for the position, I have a few candidates to look over and so I’ve put together some additional information and a request. Please send it back soon as I’ll be making a decision in the next day or so to get started with someone.

*Note the timeline is in the very first paragraph. This is the first test and eliminates all the candidates who write and send a response weeks later.

Immediate Tasks include:

(insert tasks from Job Description)

More data will be given on how to accomplish each of these tasks and the time to deliver the projects is not yet determined. I will not, however, expect this to be done without training or in just a few hours.

*note the second test here, hours are undetermined, training is expected and flexibility is required.

Later/Ongoing Tasks include:

(Insert larger projects)

If these tasks sound doable and something you are interested in learning I have two requests.

*Here I’m giving an expectation of growth, indicating this position is long term. The ask is whether or not this is feasible and leads directly into a request.

1. Choose a single article from this site, read it in full and write me 2 tweets (140 characters, no need to add the link): www.kellyazevedo.com

Send me back the title and link of the article you chose and the two tweets (to review if you’re unfamiliar go to www.twitter.com and you’ll see the messages)

*the first part of the request relates directly back to the job description where I ask for candidates familiar with Twitter. This test allowed me to immediately eliminate half of the applicants, such as ones who wrote tweets but did not indicate which article they had read. Any applicant who chooses two articles and writes one tweet for each is also eliminated. The applicant who wrote me two paragraphs as “tweets” was also eliminated from the pool.

2.  When you send back the tweets give me some times you are available in the next 48 hours to meet via Skype for 10 minutes for a quick interview.  I’ll reply via oDesk with a time and my Skype ID so we can connect.

From there if it’s all good I’ll set you up with the first task and some guidelines and we’ll get started.

*In this part of the response I’m adding on to the test to find someone who pays attention to detail (also a skill listed in the job description). Candidates who did not include times to meet or failed to respond within 48 hours were also eliminated as possible hires. While it was not explicit, I should note that the candidates I interviewed also included their Skype ID making the interview process smoother. That attention to detail and anticipating the next question helped put them ahead of other candidates.

I do move very quickly in my life and business and have clear but not unreasonable expectations of my employees.  I will most likely hire 2 or 3 people to start and see how it goes for the long term.

*This part is optional but I felt that since the first tasks would be coming within 72 hours of posting the job offer it was critical to identify the company and potential candidates as willing and able to move quickly. I temper this expectation by letting them know I am not unreasonable and clarified further in the job interview that communication was essential to this element of working together. Finally, the note that I would hire 2 or 3 candidates put a little competition in the process and encourages the ones I hire to continue to do their best work.

Before hiring your VA you’ll have a sample of their work know whether or not they can follow directions and know that you’re hiring someone who understands your style and business before a single hour is paid. Assistants are just like any other professional field, you have to be specific about what you want and what you don’t or you’ll be disappointed.

Many of the horror stories you hear all track back to one major underlying problem: communication. In this system I hope you’ve seen how clear expectations, communication of desires and fair expectations can help you find the right assistant for your business.

Make sure to read Part 1 here: Hiring Support in Your Business with the Right Job Description

Part 3 is coming soon: Using systems to track results and avoid problems

Hiring Support in Your Business

Team & Support by Leave a Comment

Entrepreneurs at every level of business have a certain amount of stubbornness and scrappiness. But there comes a time when we must all admit that help is needed and needed now.

Today I want to share my experience of hiring Virtual Assistants in my business. Should you seek an international VA team? What kind of tasks should you hire out? Short answer: I don’t know what’s right for your business so I’m just sharing what was right for mine.

While I love working with my private clients to identify their needs, hire and train their support team, I recognize that each business is incredibly unique in its needs.

Since I’ve got a lot to share I’m breaking this up into 3 parts.

The Job Description

As any job seeker will tell you these are often boring, lame attempts to give enough information to keep the under qualified from applying and entice the right worker. Sure, you’ve got to cover the basic job skills and responsibilities but please don’t make it boring!

Let’s take an example for a typical VA position, in this case for a coaching business:

Good:  online coaching business serving strong, driven women looking for a talented and scrappy assistant to help with admin tasks. Must not be afraid of working with dozens of female executives who know what they want and expect great service. You are on time, on task and professional, able to relate and develop relationships with our client base and willing and able to learn. Position is virtual so you must be comfortable using phone and email to connect with clients and partners nationally and occasionally internationally.

Bad:  admin assistant needed to manage online database, copy and paste content for clients, manage email, occasionally work by phone, organized, friendly, dedicated to the job. Virtual position.

Do you see the difference here? In the first example you can feel the energy behind the business, who they serve, the company they keep and the type of person who would thrive in this position. Even if you read that job description and say ‘not the job for me!’ the description was successful.

You do not want your job description to apply to every worker in the world – or on odesk.

In addition to a paragraph like the one above describing the ideal candidate you’ll want to include a list of skills, expected tasks and information on your business. Let’s take these in detail.

Job skills are important, especially because many contractors will apply to every job available without regard to the job description. Be sure that your skills listed will reflect the position both for the beginning job tasks and some of the advanced work you’ll add when the contractor proves him or herself as capable. In other words, if the position will eventually include phone calls then make sure ‘great phone communication’ is a skill you want from the beginning.

When it comes time to create your list of tasks you can use this as your expected tasks list in the job description. You may need to rewrite some items so let’s see how that works:

Tasks I need a VA to do:

transfer my old virtual rolodex to Infusionsoft CRM and tag contacts
download and archive all client proposals and agreements from 2011 and first quarter 2012
weekly metrics tracking across social media and blog platforms

How I’ll write the task list:

data entry with attention to detail
learn new software quickly and follow instructions
database management and archiving
familiarity with social media platforms (such as Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn)
metrics report tracking

Finally, let’s talk about sharing info on your business. It’s tempting to leave this information out and just look for a contractor but ideally you want a team who not only care about the paycheck but about the work you’re doing. In my earlier example do you really want to interview 4 candidates who hate working for women? Or would you rather only interview and work with candidates who appreciate strong, driven women in online coaching businesses?

The lawyers, tax accountants, yoga teachers and raw food chefs among us can attest that for each person who loves the field there’s another out there who doesn’t understand or see the value of your business.

So just put it out there, let people know (proudly) who you are, the work you do and the clients you serve. For this example I’ll share the company profile I used on odesk to vet the applicants I received:

Virtual systems creation business serving online businesses including coaching and implementation. Currently building a support team to manage the back end of the business as client work increases and looking for strong workers to grow with the company and take on more responsibility over time. Drama free environment that emphasizes personal responsibility, clear communication and honesty in all interactions.

I hope you see why this is split into 3 posts! Lots more to share so be sure to come back to read the next two installments:

2. Testing the VA before paying a dime

3. Using systems to track results and avoid problems