She’s Got Systems

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Archives for July 2012

30 Day Social Media Challenge

Personal Development by 1 Comment

It all started with this article and a challenge from Patrick and so I decided to go 30 days without social media, or more accurately, only 5 minutes per day. Eeek!

But I love social media… I protested to myself. It’s lovely. Connecting and supporting and caring about people who need help, that’s what I do! But I could see the point. I get to do more in depth and actual support by writing, building new content and serving clients.

So June 20th the smackdown on social media began.

I knew that it would not be easy and this is a long post to give you my tactics, my challenges and the tools I used to change my habits over 30 days.

First was installing a Chrome Plugin called StayFocused. Of course it was a little silly because I was in Firefox most of the day, every day, so that wouldn’t help me. So I decided it was time to migrate to Chrome where I had no bookmarks, no autocompletes so when I type www.f it wouldn’t show up facebook.com and where I could reorganize and create my bookmarking system.

It was a great plan but since I’m such a creature of habit that I kept using Firefox because that’s where my passwords are stored and where I don’t have to remember the exact URL for everything. Consider this a work in progress.

The next challenge was the business. I teach my clients that they need to show signs of life and care and be active on social media! Frequently! Because engagement is essential and you can’t disappear, unless you’re the CEO of Twitpic. So it was back to the drawing board for automation tools.

First, Twitter. I already use Hootsuite but I began to use it more often and refocus on what is really important to be posting. My posting has definitely been sporadic this last month but I’ve made up that time with an absurd amount of content creation for an upcoming launch!

Second, Facebook. If you’re on the Facebook page for She’s Got Systems you know I regularly post quick systems tips. Now I’ve always written these a few days or weeks in advance but now I had to get serious. So I completed the tips for the rest of June and July and I scheduled them.

Say again? Yes, you can do that now and it’s pretty simple!

But there are other things I like about Facebook so the StayFocused option gives me 5 minutes per day. Often times I would read and read and then get distracted and have nothing to share. So instead of posting for the sake of posting, I decided to think about what happened in my day that was truly important.

Duh, right?

Who really cares that your cousin’s nieces’ baby spit up yogurt? You ate a sandwich. It’s raining. Instead I decided to refocus on the extraordinary events, sharing inspiration and being grateful.

Because I’m a member of several groups on Facebook I decided to spend my 5 minutes scanning, commenting and connecting off the facebook platform with colleagues who wanted to chat. For many months I’d been frustrated with the message feature in Facebook because I would forget I’d seen a message and no follow up would occur. Now I have settings so that only direct messages to me alone would push to my private email account.

Why? Again, it all comes down to why. In the original post Steven gave great reasons like to run every day, meditate more, write a book. You know, noble reasons.

My first reason was something pointed out to me by Patrick. Whenever something goes wrong (tech won’t work, get a difficult email, tired and don’t want to write) my first response is usually Facebook. It’s like a little drug that temporarily distracts me from my problems.

Now, I like to marinate on ideas sometimes and I get great copy when I drive (probably because I can’t physically write and steer at the same time). So instead of wasting time on Facebook until I get inspired to respond to a difficult email I decided to leash up my dog and go around the block or head to the gym and swim.

The second reason is the most obvious: time. Instead of feeling behind because I didn’t see all those status updates I am being intentional about the media I consume. A few years back thanks to another challenge with Patrick, I stopped watching the nightly news, reading it online and paying attention. While that may make me a bad citizen it does make me more focused, calm, and significantly less stressed. Now at the end of this 30 day challenge I can say that most of the days I failed miserably. I was on much more than 5 minutes a day and well, it was just too easy to cheat using my iPad or smartphone!

However I did learn some important lessons in my 30 days of low social media:

1) Intentional action is key to making progress. It’s not about being perfect but getting better!

2) Some opportunities are worth it. Namely the biggest interview given to date which was announced on Facebook that I would have otherwise missed.

3) Big milestones deserve some social media love like this month when my first fiction book proof arrived and I saw a lot of comments that were encouraging to read!

Other Support Systems

Outsourcing by Leave a Comment

We share a lot about business support systems because I’m a firm believer in  getting help to grow your business to avoid burnout and frustration. But what about all the time we don’t spend working – can we infuse some support elsewhere in our lives? Absolutely – here are 4 simple ways to get support to make your life run easier!

This is by no means an exhaustive list but grab a pen and jot down ideas for yourself and, if you need help hiring, check out the 5 Days to Finding Fabulous Help video series.

1. Cleaning & Organizing

If you’re like most entrepreneurs everything else can fall away when you’re focused on work, including housework! Whether you prefer to keep your house clean so you can work without distraction or use your space for entertaining, getting some help with cleaning can be amazing!

If the thought of someone else making beds and doing dishes fills you with dread, remember that in your business it’s recommended that you pass off the chores other people can do so you can focus on your brilliance. Clothes need to be washed, does it really have to be you that does it?

If you have a home office you may also find yourself disorganized when it comes to paperwork, resources and electronics. A professional organizer can help you assess your space, get the tools you need and create some custom systems that work for your office. Investing in the space you work from can increase your productivity and keep you focused on work instead of the stack of books you meant to ebay.

You’re not exempt if you live in an apartment, often times the smaller square footage means a lower cost and can help ensure you get your security deposit back.

2. Shopping & Errands

Personally there are few things more frustrating than grocery shopping, especially since it has to be done every single week! Here, a combination of software and support can save you time and energy. Shop around for a service you like and put your most purchased on autopilot – such as Amazon Checkout which allows you to subscribe to getting toilet paper delivered every 5 weeks.

For local errands, having a trustworthy assistant in town is invaluable. Whether it’s dropping off library books, picking up coffee from your favorite local cafe or getting mail from the PO Box, not having to leave your office in the middle of the work day can really boost productivity.

And make the most of your local support by finding or training someone to help you by preparing meals or simply prepping the ingredients for you. How many times have you torn yourself away from the computer only to be exhausted at the idea of making yourself dinner from scratch? Instead of heading straight for the TV dinner route, have meals ready to go so you’re not wasting food and making the most of your time.

3. Maintenance & Repairs

Entrepreneurship seems to fill up 100% of our attention and most of our days as well. But many times we need reminders and time to stay on top of regular maintenance and repairs. If you have a vehicle that needs tire rotation, oil changes and tune ups, look into hiring an auto shop that does full service pickup or look for a local assistant who you can trust to take it in for you. Home repairs are similar, cleaning gutters, installing new appliances and fixing leaky faucets should probably be left to professionals. If you enjoy these tasks try to contain them to the weekend so you make the most of your work week.

Now if you live in a major city, use a Zipcar or public transit and rent your apartment you’re not off the hook yet! Consider having someone get your favorite shoes repaired when the soles wear out or upgrade your computer when it begins to falter. While a house or car may be the most valued assets, they’re by no means the only ones that need service.

4. Childcare

I saved this one for last because I am not a parent but draw on my experience as a nanny to six kids. However you balance child care and work is for your family to decide but there are a few ways you can consider getting extra support. Carpooling can be shared with another family or one family can pay for gas while the other always drives. For school aged children you might have an older student serve as a tutor, ensuring homework is complete and accurate while being another set of eyes after school is out.

It’s possible you’d never consider asking someone else to take your child to the doctor or orthodontist, to picking up school supplies or getting a haircut. But each of these tasks has planning steps which can be outsourced, such as securing appointments, reviewing advertisements for deals and comparing them to a school provided supplies list, etc.

The idea has never been to outsource your life and relegate your family to an assistant. But the more you’re able to delegate the tasks that don’t need your attention, the more time you can spend and enjoy on field trips, eating healthy meals, driving a well maintained car or relaxing in a clean home. As you become relaxed and appreciate the support you have to run your business you’ll see your company grow and flourish with the new attention it’s received.

Outsourcing 101 – Should I Hire a Contractor or Intern?

Outsourcing by Leave a Comment

Hi it’s Kelly Azevedo with She’s Got Systems and today I have a video blog for you on Outsourcing 101 and Today’s question is “Should I hire a paid contractor or an unpaid intern to do the tasks in my business?”

First of all, it’s great you’re getting support for your online business and looking at all the opportunities out there to bring people into your business.  There are some benefits and drawbacks of working with interns and I’ll go over those today.

The first thing, though, to consider is the likelihood that your business will be able to attract a pool of intern candidates and that you’ll be able to convince them to work for you in an intern model.

Now, one of the benefits of doing an internship is that you can work for a big name company which looks great on your resume.

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If you’re a brand new business and may not have notoriety or branding behind you then it may not be worth your time to find interns and you may find that the ones who apply are not the best candidates to do the work. In that case, you may want to start by working with contractors and build up to an internship program.

The second thing you should consider is if this is a long term or short term opportunity. If you’re just looking for someone to come in for a few hours on a dedicated project, then a short term internship could be worthwhile. But if you’re looking for something that will be an ongoing project and you don’t want turnover every 3 to 6 months, then I would suggest hiring a contractor. The reason is if you have interns that coming in just for a few weeks or a few months at a time and that position is constantly turning over, then you may be expending more time on training than you want.

If you work with contractors, you can filter at the beginning and let them know it’s a long term opportunity.

Now the other possibility is if you hire an intern but would like this to potentially be a long term opportunity you can let them know when the position will be opening up. That way someone may choose to work with you for 3 months and then be in the running to be hired for that position once their internship is completed.

The third thing you want to look for is really the commitment level. An intern is by default a short term opportunity and is in a transition time between school and work. It also may be a way for somebody to get their feet wet in an industry and see what they like before branching and out deciding what to do next. In contrast, when you work with a contractor, they’re usually a professional in their field who’s been doing this for some time and has plans to do this for the future.

So if you are building your business and would like to build a team around you, consider what level of commitment you’re going to ask for from that team. Now, of course you can’t guarantee that a contractor will stay long term, but if they are intending to do that in the beginning and are looking for a long term opportunity, then you are much more likely to get that than with an intern who is just at the beginning guaranteeing 3 or 4 weeks or a few months at a time.

It also depends on how you work with your contractors. If you would like to have fresh ideas and new people coming in because it energizes you, then it may work to supplement the contractors you have with short term interns.

Remember that the 5 days to Finding Fabulous Help for Your Online Business video series, which is free on this site, can help you whether you’re doing internships or hiring contractors.

Through the video series you’ll get really clear on what tasks need to be done, how they should be done, how you’re assigning them and following up and who to choose for your business to do these tasks. Now as you grow you may need to shuffle that around a little but I recommend getting the video series because you’ll be able to go through it over and over especially when you go into hire a new intern or a new contractor for your business.

If you’re clear from the beginning about what you need and who you want in your business then you’ll be much more intentional when you go out to find them.

Introducing Outsourcing FAQ Video Series

Resources by Leave a Comment

Recently I’ve been recording several videos to complement the 5 Days to Finding Fabulous Help for Your Online Business series. Because although it may take just 5 days to find the right help, there is so much more to this hiring system. If you’ve come to the process of hiring in our business and stalled, then this is your chance to ask a targeted question and get additional pieces of the comprehensive hiring system.

Beginning this week I’ll post one video a week, often with additional resources and scripts, to help you as your business brings in additional support. If you’ve been fighting getting support check out these articles for more information: How Trying to Do It All Alone Inhibits Business Growth, Leverage Your Time by Outsourcing Incompetencies, Creating a Job Description, How to Test a Team Member Before You Hire, and Can I trust my VA?,

But I need your help – what are the things that have held you back from hiring? What are you worried about? I’ve compiled a short list based on my own experiences but want to hear from you in the comments. Here’s what I came up with:

invoices
firing / cutting back hours
contracts
being the boss
holding meetings

Each of these will be a stand alone video post, and I’ll be including transcripts for those of you who prefer to read. Of course, you should begin with the video series so if you don’t have 5 Days to Finding Fabulous Help yet just add your name and email to the box at the top of the page to get started. And, as a bonus, in each weekly newsletter I’ll give you some bonus tips, exclusive scripts and insights on how I or other successful entrepreneurs manage a team and these issues.

Catch up on the videos already available:

Should I hire one person for my business or look for multiple assistants?

Are you hiring an assistant or a consultant?

How can I avoid mood swings in my business?

Celebrate freedom in your business with a support team

Can I Trust a Virtual Assistant?

Team & Support by Leave a Comment

One of the hardest things about running a business is trust it to someone else – especially when you put so much care into your business. It’s difficult to find and train the right people for your business if you don’t have experience.

Many times when things go wrong we pull back and think “I just can’t trust my team; they keep screwing up the most basic things!” Sometimes this means shying away from the growth potential in your business or fighting against your team.

Here are 3 tactics to building trust with your team:

1. Use A Contract

Fears are rooted in ego – often times it’s our tendency to protect ourselves from pain. So while you can’t let those fears stop you, listen and take action to do what’s necessary to protect the business. You wouldn’t jump out of an airplane without a parachute and a contract is your parachute.

Start at the beginning of your relationship with a contract, a common practice in online businesses. A professional agreement may also include non-disclosure or non-compete clauses. When hiring you can interview people on their values and issues of integrity but asking them to sign to that intent is added protection.

If you haven’t used an agreement like this before you can have a business lawyer draw one up quickly to protect your interests. An agreement also details what happens in case of a dispute, giving you options if things should go wrong.

2. Be the Coach

Imagine for a moment that you’re teaching a child how to do chores around the house. But every time Junior misses a step or forgets something you step in and do it yourself. Sure, the task may get completed quicker *this* time but Junior will never learn how to assist and you’re wasting your time. What’s worse, if you do this in your business you’re also wasting money paying someone and not letting them learn.

When you transition to a team in your business, you’ve got to change your role from being the player on the field to the coach. Your role is changing so there’s bound to be some growing pains. As you’re training your team, instead of getting upset about what went wrong, figure out why.

Let me illustrate this with an example from one of my clients. One of the early systems I co-created with Charles was his e-zine process. And once we hired an assistant to manage the weekly e-zine, the first week went great. Except Charles needed changes to the pictures inserted in the e-zine. Which told me that 99% of the system was working and we just had to make changes to that last 1%. So we went back to the system and gave more detail, added some screenshots and a video showing how the image should look. The next week it was perfect!

Typically, business owners can’t see the big picture on their own and, when frustrated by a mistake, say “forget it, I’ll do this myself!” Here we were able to isolate that there was a lack of clarity in the directions. The great thing about Charles is he stuck to it and six months later the system is still working!

3. Extend Trust in Pieces

Instead of handing over the keys to the kingdom, it’s normal to extend information and access to your team slowly as they continue to prove themselves. I was once given credit card information via chat for a brand new client – before the contract was in place! Do you see how that could have gone horribly, horribly wrong?

Again, I recommend using Backpack because you can separate your business information on individual pages and grant access per person, per page. Trust your intuition when it comes to extending trust – sometimes it helps to set benchmarks so that you check in on your team members and set goals.

If you’re working with a coach or consultant, you can get feedback about how your team is doing and when it’s acceptable to extend more trust. Many times we’re too close to the situation to see clearly so having outside perspective is important.

Why Should I Opt In?

Marketing by Leave a Comment

When marketing an online business, especially information products or consulting, one of your most valuable assets is a list of leads.

Over the past several years hundreds of lead capture strategies have emerged and been tested and there are dozens of Customer Relationship Management tools to help you capture, sort and communicate with those people.

But it all begs the question why should the user opt in in the first place? Even for free information, we’re becoming more jaded and overwhelmed with the amount of email we receive. Instead of opting in it’s easier to find a friend who has already downloaded free content and get it myself without the added step of opting in.

If the file were too large to download I could simply go to the URL given and hit download myself.

I’ll address in a minute one solution to this loophole but first, why do I as the business owner want you to opt-in?

1. The process of opting-in tells me if what I’m offering to the market is actually needed and valuable. Without this step I’m working in the dark. Seeing people download my video series on hiring every day tells me that my theory that online businesses need this support is correct.

2. I know and understand that effective, lasting results cannot come from reading one ebook. Or watching one video. So I’ve crafted sequences that are designed to educate and support your process.

This is really key – if you only get one piece of the puzzle then you’ll be frustrated, lost and likely think badly of my business service.

It’s a little like watching the middle 20 minutes of an award winning movie. Without any context in the story line you don’t get the full experience.

 

 

In this map of a typical lead process (traffic, conversion and follow up), you can see that you only get the full experience once you opt-in.

3. You can always opt-out! When a business owner sees that there are multiple members opting out then it’s a sign that things need to change. Either you’re targeting the wrong audience or you’re not bringing enough value to the conversation.

4. Finally, implementation is a process. Consider how hard it is to change your own habits and you’ll begin to understand how hard it is to change someone else. Businesses that practice “churn and burn” have a high list turnover and need to make money off their leads quickly. I’m not interested in that kind of business. My clients work with me for months at a time and the lead process reflects that with value laden emails that don’t push or sell hard.

Now, I did mention a new way to secure digital download files if you’re sending member only content or would like to increase conversions of your own free downloads. I’m partnering with a new service that does just that for pennies per lead. If you’re interested in learning more before the launch email my team for an introduction.