HSH 150: Are You Ready to Hire Help with Theresa Loe
Are You Ready to Hire Help with Theresa Loe
On this episode, we are talking about team and hiring. So if you have been thinking about expanding your team, getting support, delegating, or outsourcing this episode is for you.
If you are on the fence about hiring, you’re overwhelmed, or you are thinking it is time, this is going to be such a great preliminary episode before you even start the hiring process. This episode is going to help you prepare for what barriers you are going to come against, issues you are going to have, and Theresa is really going to break this all down to make it super approachable.
Theresa has worked with top online CEOs, leaders, and brands in the digital marketing space. For 9 years, she was the Co-Executive TV producer of the top organic television series on PBS. A “producer” is very similar to the Business Manager or the “Integrator” position in a digital business. So, as a top-level Producer, she honed my project management and leadership skills like a ninja. Later, when she started her own online business, Living Homegrown Media, she had to shift to leading a team from the CEO position. This is where her previous years as a team leader were invaluable in running her own team-driven company efficiently. The bottom line is... she understands the roadblocks that can come up - for the CEO and for the team members.
Are You Ready to Hire Help with Theresa Loe
Show Notes:
[02:41] Theresa helps online business owners streamline the back-end of their businesses and then build self-managed teams.
[05:50] Everything in our business is mindset and we are stepping into something we haven’t done before. People often think there is going to be this magical time when they feel ready, so they keep waiting.
[06:45] We have to start making decisions as our future selves.
[07:58] It is actually about not waiting until you feel ready because we never do feel ready ever.
[10:10] There are certain things that we as the CEO should be doing. It is very important that we stay in our zone of genius. We often get tripped up when there is something we are really good at, but should not be doing.
[12:08] You should do a time audit to really access where you are at with your business. Monitor what you do each day for several days.
[15:15] There is a payment of your time to find that perfect person to bring in.
[15:48] It’s the time to hire when you realize you are ready to go all-in or you are realizing that it is taking too much of your time.
[17:31] Every hire should make us money either directly or indirectly.
[21:00] When you are thinking that you can’t afford a team, you need to realize there are options out there. There are lots of price points and types of people you can hire.
[22:21] There are specialty virtual assistants, agencies, and general virtual assistants.
[26:44] It is more important that the person you hire has the right character. We can teach anyone anything, but we can’t teach character.
[27:38] It is more important that someone has the characteristics instead of the skills.
[29:29] Most people can do what you do. There are very few things you do that people at a minimum can’t figure out or be trained on. Everything is learnable.
[31:34] If you are working more hours than you want, it is time to bring in help.
[32:47] You can start by bringing on someone for just a few hours.
[34:22] Once you have done time tracking and you have an idea of the role or the things you want to take off the plate. The next step is to get crystal clear on who that person needs to be on the inside.
[35:39] By declaring who you are looking for, you make it easier to attract that person.
[37:21] When we are looking for someone and thinking we want them to grow with us if you find the right person they can grow and expand with you. Most people want to work for someone and do something that is bigger than themselves.
[37:46] Not everyone is willing to become an entrepreneur. You have to be willing to get uncomfortable and take risks and that is not what everybody wants.
[39:16] Figure out where you are spending your time that can easily be given to somebody else and then find your dream person.
[39:50] Whenever we are trying to grow something new, we are going to have to do some new things. Hiring is just another step in the entrepreneurial journey.
[40:39] Hiring is just another step and it doesn’t have to be scary. You can take baby steps. It is a skill you are going to have to learn eventually if your business is going to grow.
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Links Mentioned on the Show From Zach:
Are You Ready to Hire Help with Theresa Loe
Full Transcript:
Zach Spuckler: This is the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast, episode number 150. And on this episode, we're talking about team and hiring. So if you've been thinking about expanding your team, getting support, delegating, outsourcing, this episode is for you, so stay tuned.
Hey there, you're listening to the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast. My name is Zach Spuckler. And on this show, we talk about how to go from passionate side hustler to full-time online business owner, with tips, tricks, and interviews to help you take it to the next level. Let's do it.
What, what, what is up, you guys? Welcome back to another episode of the Heart, Soul & Hustle Podcast. Now, I'm really stoked for this week because we don't have a ton of guests on the show. We're pretty selective about guests on the show actually, but I had a good friend of mine reach out saying, "I'd love to talk team and hiring." And I've actually had several people reach out about talking about this delegating, outsourcing, but I knew I had to wait for the right person, and I can't believe I didn't think sooner to have my friend, Theresa Loe on the show to talk about really what it takes to get the right people in the right positions.
I won't give away too much of what we're going to cover today because I want her to share and I want to give her the spotlight, but I do want to say this, if you are on the fence about hiring, or you're overwhelmed, or you're thinking it's time, this is going to be such an incredible preliminary episode before you even start the hiring process that's going to help you understand what barriers you're going to come up against, what issues you're going to have. And Theresa's going to really break it down to make this super approachable. So without further ado, welcome, Theresa.
Theresa Loe: Hi, Zach. Thanks so much for having me on.
Zach Spuckler: Well, thanks so much for being on. I'm really excited. We were in a mastermind together, it's been like two years now, and you just crushed it with your offer because you were so good at helping people become the CEOs of their online business. And when I say that, I mean it was a really incredible thing to watch where you would come into companies or groups of companies at a time and basically help people actually hire and outsource. I think a lot of us, we hire VA's and we give them tasks, or we outsource something to an agency or a contractor. But you have really got this art of bringing people, getting people to bring the right people in and creating an incredible companies.
I'm kind of doting on you, but I love what you do. I'm super excited. So why don't you tell us a little bit about who you are, your business, what you do, and let's go from there?
Theresa Loe: Yeah, absolutely. Well, first of all, thank you. I'm gushy. Having you say that is making me blush. I help online business owners streamline the backend of their business and then build self-managed teams. And when I say that, people think, "Oh, you're talking about giant teams." And actually, it could be a team of one. But my background and the way that I got into this is, I previously was the co-executive TV producer for the top organic gardening show on PBS, and I did that for nine years. And in our world here in our digital world, our business world, that would have been a very, very high level integrator.
So what I had to do was manage 26 episodes a season, and each episode was like a launch. And we were traveling the country, sometimes traveling the world with these teams. And so, every single person on that team had to be self-managed, and I was the one managing all of the projects and making sure that everything was getting done. So when I left that job and I started my own online business, I immediately knew that I needed a team. And it's very different when you're alone in your office and it's just you and the computer and you're like, "I need help, but I don't know where to find it."
Because I had so much background in team building, I even struggled. And so when I finally got my team up and running, I just exploded. And other people started noticing that and they were coming to me for coaching, not so much on, "How did you build your courses? And how did you build your practice?" But, "How did you build your team?" So, as you know, when we were in the mastermind together, I made a pivot a couple years ago and I started coaching people just on how to build their team and make the backend of their business super, super streamlined so that they could scale easily, and so they could get their time back and would no longer be overworking and overwhelmed.
And that was when I feel like I found my Ninja spot, everything just aligned. And that's what I've been doing ever since.
Zach Spuckler: I just love what you're doing, because one of the things that we did at the beginning of this year, just to give some context, and I've talked about this on the podcast is, we got really serious about the team and planning and giving people responsibility. We hired a new team member. And one of the things that I think that's so great about what you do, and this would be a great segue to talk about preliminary steps, is, a lot of us think... Maybe we know on some subconscious or maybe even conscious level like, "It's probably getting to that point where I need support," but we're not quite there yet. I know that for one of our recent hires, I told my team for like two months we were going to hire this person.
My poor team, they're so supportive, they're so amazing. They stayed on me, thank goodness. But I drag my feet every time we hire, and I think a lot of people do that. So can you talk to us a little bit about, where do we need to be mentally to be ready to actually bring somebody onto our team?
Theresa Loe: Yeah. Everything in our business is mindset. Everything that we are doing, we're stepping into something we've never done before. And a lot of times, we have beliefs in our head that hold us back, and it causes us to hesitate like you were doing. It caused me to procrastinate sometimes. And one of the biggest beliefs that people have is that, "I'm not ready." So they keep thinking that there's this magical time that they're going to feel ready or that they're going to just know that they're ready, and so what they do is they keep waiting. Well, if we keep waiting to bring in help, even if it's one person helping us just a few hours a week or if we already have a team and we know everyone's getting overloaded, if we just keep waiting, everyone keeps getting more and more overloaded.
If we keep waiting, it's never going to appear. We're never going to magically wake up and go, "Oh, "You know what? A flip of a switch, now I'm ready. It just doesn't happen." So what we have to do is start making decisions as our future self. And what this really means is that we have to start thinking as if we are already in the place that we want to be with our business. Would someone who is running a multi-six-figure or even a multi-seven-figure business, would they be doing some of the things that we're doing? And we can always catch ourselves like, "Oh, I'm just going to fix this little graphic right here." Because we think, "Oh, it's just faster to do it myself."
Well, honestly, it's costing you when you do that. Because our time as the CEO is massively valuable. Me spending an hour on a sales call with someone can be worth thousands and thousands of dollars, versus me spending an hour creating a little graphic for my podcast. And we don't think about the cost of it, we think we're saving time, but we're actually losing money when we wait too long. And the same is true when we have a team and everyone's maxed out and we keep hesitating, that team ends up doing things that is really below what they should be doing when you can get someone below them to be an assistant or a helper, or you can outsource some things.
So it's really about not waiting until you feel ready. because we actually never do feel ready, ever.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, I think that's so good. And one of the things that we started doing is almost giving our team, and by us, I mean, me, giving my team permission to hold me accountable or tell me when I'm wasting my time or tell me when I'm doing essentially their job. And that has been a huge game changer, creating an environment where they know they can say like, "No, don't do that. Yes, we can do that." And bringing the team behind me, and I know this is a little forward focused, but I've got a connection we'll make here. But one of the things that we did was basically told our team, "Okay, here's where we're going for the next six to eight weeks." We to plan in six to eight week spurts. And when I come up with an idea, instead of just doing it, which is the entrepreneur way, is you have an idea, you do it and then it works or it doesn't, the whole, try a million things.
But now, when I have an idea, I come to my team and I say, "Hey, here's what I want to do." And they're like, "No, you don't have the capacity for that right now." Or, "Yes, we as a team have the capacity to get this done." And so all of this to say, I love what you're saying about never being ready, because I think that one of the big mindset blocks for me is I was so worried that if I did this "right," that I was going to bring in more people that were going to be responsible for what I do and responsible for the vision of the company. So do you think that there is also this subtle concern that's you're bringing on people you're responsible for, but also on some level, they're responsible for your success too?
Theresa Loe: Yes. So there's this whole responsibility on both ends. When I think of both of those, I think what I find holds people back is that bringing someone in, we feel this huge responsibility for like, "Oh man, they're counting on that money and I have to make sure that I'm bringing in enough money to keep paying my team." And we start worrying that if we keep bringing in more people, it's going to get too big. So honestly, I think it goes both ways, but what I think is really important for people to understand is that there are certain things that we as CEOs should be doing. It's very important that we stay in our zone of genius. There's certain things that I'm great at and there's certain things that I'm not so great at.
And where I think we get tripped up is when there's something that we're really good at, that is really not something we should be doing. So for me, when I first started my business and I started my podcast, I was editing my own podcast, and I was really good at it, and I loved it. I thought it was fun to edit the podcast. Well, as my business grew and I was sitting there spending way too much time editing, I realized that I really should not be editing the podcast when I could be creating my courses or working with my clients or bringing in more business. I shouldn't be spending a couple hours every week editing my podcast.
And that was a tough one for me because I actually enjoyed it. So I think there's a lot of mental construct that we have to go through. And one of the things that I tell people is, if I were to tell you that I was going to start a hotel, you'd be going, "Oh, great. That sounds really interesting. Tell us about the hotel." And I'm like, "Well, I'm going to start this hotel and I'm going to be the bellman and the concierge and I'm going to be the maid and I'm going to be the person in the restaurant taking the orders and I'm going to be the cook and the bus boy, I'm going to do all the things myself."
You would think I was a nut, no way that's going to work. And yet in our businesses, because we start with just ourselves, as it gets bigger, pretty soon, we're doing that. We're wearing all the hats. And there has to come a point when we draw the line between what we should be doing and what we shouldn't be doing. And one of the things I tell people is you should do a time audit to really assess where you're at with your business. Doing a time audit doesn't sound very sexy or fun, but it's really a simple thing. And what I tell people to do is, you're going to monitor what you do each day for several days. And I have them put their tasks into different categories. But then we do some math and figure out if you stay in those different categories, how much money are you really bringing in or what's your return on investment?
And that whole process is massively eye-opening. So I do a time audit myself whenever we have a big upleveling in the business or growth, and I tell everybody, no matter if you're just starting or you are very established, every once in a while, you need to do a time audit just to make sure that you didn't get stuck in a rut of doing something that you shouldn't be doing.
Zach Spuckler: I think it's so key what you said that I just want to pull out, which is just because you enjoy something, doesn't mean you should be doing it. And I think a lot of times as business owners, when we talk about delegation, we hear those traditional exercises, like, "What do you not like doing? What do you like doing?" But just because you like doing something, it doesn't mean that it's equality use of time. And I would be curious to know, I'll be fully transparent, we are starting a YouTube channel to go with our business, and so one of the things right now is that I am the editor, and my big hangup is a lot of this stuff that you're saying is "Oh, we're not ready for an editor because we don't have any proof that YouTube works for us yet. Do we want to spend the money on an editor right now when it's an arm of the business that probably won't generate any revenue for awhile?"
So when you see somebody who's in a position like I am, who's doing something, and I don't mind editing the videos, that's the big thing. It doesn't feel this, or at least right now, we're only a couple of weeks in, I know this is going to feel a heavy task in about three months, but how do you get somebody over this threshold? Who's "Okay." Because I want to bring two things together here. The one of the time tracking, I know in my heart of hearts, if I was to do time tracking, a big part of it is running Facebook ads where people, because we have the agency on our business.
We've actively hired somebody because I shouldn't be doing that. I should be doing higher level review, client communication, client relationships. But for the YouTube, it's like, we don't know where that's going to go. So how do you, and the word that keeps coming to my head is justify, and I know that's how I know I'm in the wrong mindset because it's not about justification, but how do you know when it's like, "Okay, maybe this is something to outsource? Or maybe this is something to investigate having a team member do." How do you get over that mental hurdle when you're like, "This is something new, this is different, this is unique. And I don't know if we can," I'm going to use the word even though I feel going to call me on it, how do I justify needing somebody to edit the videos?
Theresa Loe: Right. Yes, a couple of things there to unpack. First of all, when we are testing something out, I don't want someone to take the time to go through the process because there is a time time involved, there's a payment of your time to find that perfect person to bring in. So I don't think it is justified, as you say, to go out and try to find this perfect person when you're just testing a concept. So there's many times in businesses that we might try a new idea, and different members of the team will put that hat on temporarily. But I think what you're really asking is, at what point do you make that pivot or that switch to where you're like, "Okay, now we've decided that we think we're going to do this. Is that the time?"
And to me, it's the time when you realize that you're ready to go all in or you are realizing that it is taking too much of your time, and that's where the time audit comes in. So when you do this time audit and you're looking at your week and you realize that you spent 10 hours doing something at a certain price point, and you think, "What could you have done with those 10 hours that could have made you money?" That's when it's a little bit easier to see because you're looking at it black and white with numbers. What I tell people is, if you want to try this on, if you want to do an audit where you're actually putting dollars to your time, I do have a free resource, if it's okay to share.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, yeah, let's plug it.
Theresa Loe: Okay. So if people go to streamlineandscaled, so streamlinedandscaled.com/time, there's a free resource there. There's a training video, a worksheet, and it walks you through exactly how you do what we're talking about. So when you do this, you'll be able to see pretty clearly, like if you are just fine and you're spending two or three hours a week on testing a concept, I don't think there's a problem with that. But when you are looking at the dollars and cents and you're like, "Wow, if I'm spending 10 hours in this department and I need to move those 10, I can see where our money is going or where our time money is going, and I shifted over to another category, it's going to make a big difference."
And the thing is, whenever we hire someone, no matter what they are coming in to do, it should be making us money. Every hire should make us money, either directly or indirectly. So one person might be coming in as a sales person, and it's pretty easy to see how they're going to help you make money, or they're coming in as your marketing director. But what's important to understand is that bringing someone in to do the editing that you're doing, that should make you money as well, because it's freeing up your time for money making activities. So when I'm taking something off of my plate and handing it over to someone else, I'm always looking at, is this going to end up making more money? Does it make sense for the business that I'm trying to create in the future? Does that make sense?
Zach Spuckler: Yeah, that makes perfect sense. And I love that you're saying every hire shouldn't be adding to the bottom line. And I think that that is one of the things that... I've been doing this for six years, we've had various sized teams, we've had various types of businesses, all under the Heart, Soul & Hustle brand. But the one thing that we've always said is, "Every investment, whether it be in team, courses, coaching, consulting, masterminds, should always have an ROI for the business." And it's the same concept with hiring somebody.
Is it safe to say, I guess here's my question, if you do the time tracking and you're like, "Okay, maybe I am spending five hours a week on this, but it's not at the phase of my business where it's adding to the bottom line," then maybe it's either time to set parameters of like, "I'm only going to do this for 90 days and that's where this five hours is going for the next 90 days, a week." And/or, "When this starts generating revenue, then it's time to offload the stuff on my time tracker that's the bulk of what's delivering this bottom line return."
Theresa Loe: Yes, really, honestly, I think the answer is both. It depends on exactly what we're talking about. But if you're doing something and you know you're not going to have an answer on if it's going to work for two months, then you're going to have to test it out, because I would hate for someone to spend two weeks going through a hiring process and bringing someone in and training them. And then two weeks later you decide you really didn't want to go down that path. But if you say, "I'm going to wait until I'm making money at it," and you know it's going to take you six months to make money at that because there's some things that take longer than others, that's when I get a little nervous.
It's like, "Okay, if we're talking six months of doing this before you're going to make money and you really want to do it and it's going to cost you every week over that time, that's a lot of your hours. I think one of the things that holds people back too, is they say, "Well, the reason I keep wanting to do it myself is because I can't afford to bring someone in." And so I think it's important that we talk about that too. When we have in our head, "I can't afford help," it's usually because people have a misconception of what's possible. And I had the same thing when I first started, because I saw people hiring helpers at $60 an hour, and here I was just starting out and like, "I'm I can't afford $60 an hour." Well, of course I couldn't.
But there are people out there that you can get who are very talented, that are very reasonable. And you can find people for just a couple of hours a week, you don't have to hire someone or a minimum of 20 hours a week, or even as an employee, you can get contractors both in your country and out of your country. But what I tell people is that when you're thinking that you can't afford a team, I want you to realize that there are options out there. And this was something that no one told me, was that there are different types of people that you can bring in, even in our own country.
When I start talking about this people think I'm talking about overseas and yes, they're overseas as an option, but even within our own country, there are lots of price points and options of the type of people you can hire. And one of the things I didn't realize when I saw people hiring and paying 40, 50, $60 an hour was that they were hiring specialty VAs or specialty virtual assistants. And so there is a place for a specialty virtual assistant, like my Facebook ads manager is a specialty agency, so I pay a premium for that because they know their stuff and they're coming in fully knowing more than me. And so that's what I'm paying for, but that isn't the level of person I'm going to hire to do some graphics for me for my podcast.
I don't have to pay that same level for something like that, or to do my blog post, the setup of my blog post, or the setup of my podcast. So what people need to know is that there's specialty virtual assistants, there's agencies, where you are going to an agency and they find you a virtual assistant. That's also a premium because you're paying for the service of them finding your person and you're paying an hourly for that person, but a big cut, 50% or more is going to the agency for that person. And then there's this last category, and this was the category no one told me about, and that is finding someone a general virtual assistant who is not a specialist. It can be a stay-at-home mom who's just looking for a few hours a week. In fact, everyone on my team is a mom.
And so you can hire people who are just looking for some part-time work, and they don't have to be a specialist because if you find the perfect person who is a go-getter, who is resourceful, a problem solver, who has the right characteristics, you can teach them anything. So if you're just looking for a small thing to come in, you don't have to pay a big price. Now, when you're looking for something like someone to edit your videos, there's a level of skill that you need there. And that's a little bit more expensive and that is something that where you have to look at the cost difference versus you just doing it for another month or two. But when you're just getting started, I don't want people to think, "Oh I have to pay $50 an hour."
No, you can actually get someone for 18 to $20 an hour who can help you a lot. And every one of those hours is like gold, you can use it for the most important things because you're getting your time back.
Zach Spuckler: I think that's so key because one of our first hires, and I shouldn't say first hires, one of our first hires was actually a specialty VA, that's what we did. And then the person who's been on my team the longest, my integrator, my number two, my cannot do it without them, we hired as just a general VA. They were somebody who came from the offline world, very reasonable rate, we put them on a retainer that was super predictable for us and for them. And that's been amazing. And they weren't looking for something full-time at the time, they just wanted something simple, they wanted something part time, they wanted to be able to work from home.
We actually, the first year we worked together, we lived about 20 minutes apart, they would come to my house once a week and work in the kitchen. We were just working in the kitchen together. But I think the only reason I share that, not to take away from what you're saying is to say, it doesn't have to be this conventional, "Oh, I'm going to hire somebody at $50,000 a year with a given level of experience, and this type of stuff." You can just start by saying... One of my first hires, and even this, the first hire, Jessica who I'm talking about, I was like, "Hey, I just need my inbox under control. I don't know exactly what that looks like, I don't know what our system needs to be, but one of our core values is... "
I can't remember our exact word now, which is terrible, but I'm totally blanking, but it's essentially takes initiative, gets stuff done, figure it out. And because I knew that that was one of the things that was important to us as a business, when we brought her on, we were just like, "Hey, I don't know what I need, I just know that at the end of the week, I needed to not be 250 emails in my inbox, so what solutions can you offer?" And having that communication and relationship to even just say from day one like, "I trust you, I know you will figure it out." You don't have to be paying 50 to $100 an hour for that.
Now, do we have people on our team who we hired that are specialty, agencies, editors? Absolutely. But also those specialty positions, aren't always 1,000 hours a month. So I just wanted to throw that in the mix because I love what you're saying is, you can hire somebody who just has good values, good basic skills and good people can figure it out. They really can. So I'd love to just know your thoughts on that, for somebody who's like, "Okay, I do this idea of a general VA, maybe I'll find them offline or on Indeed," but what are your thoughts on just saying like, "Okay, just find somebody with good character that you like, that you can see yourself working with and then tell them that you just need them to help you figure it out"?
Theresa Loe: Yeah, absolutely. So I am 1000% in agreement with you, that's actually what I teach, is that it is so more important to me that the person have the right character. If I'm looking for someone to stay with me long term I want someone who has the characteristics that match me and whose personality matches me. And I actually don't care what's on their resume because I can teach anyone anything, but I can't teach character. So I agree so much with what you're saying. And I think one of the things that people do is they will have someone on their team who maybe isn't a good fit, and because they're afraid to go out and try and find somebody, they try to make that person fit.
And I'm all about finding the perfect fit, finding an aligned person. And if their resume matches up too, if they do have some experience, that's awesome, but to me, it's more important that they have the characteristics that I need than the skills that I need. So for example, if someone is a stay-at-home mom, but they were running the PTA, then they can handle my inbox. It's just like you're talking about, they have the characteristics of someone. And it's just like me as a TV producer. The reason I feel this way, I didn't start as a TV producer. I started as a script writer, and because I was a go-getter and a forward thinker, I moved up really quickly in that organization. And I became the second in command.
Now, I did it quickly because I was just, I might saw something that needed to get done and I'm like, I'll do it. That's the type of people we want to have working in our business.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah. And I love that. And I think the nice thing about that is when you do trust people early on and you do foster that relationship and foster that character, it creates such an incredible culture. I would say honestly, six months ago, our company culture was undefinable at best, but now we have this very fun culture where people know they have to get stuff done, they meet deadlines, they're accountable, they're an integrity, but we also have fun. I can't tell you how many GIPHYs are floating in our Slack channel right now, because we want this fun environment.
And that culture is a by-product of this trust, of this connection with people. And what has worked so well for us that you're talking about is that we go after people who we like and we want to work with, and then we can train them, we can show them what they need to do. I think as entrepreneurs, we like to almost glorify the things that we do in a sense like, "Oh, no one could do this like me." When in reality, maybe you have the ideas, maybe you have the unique positioning, maybe you have the market share. Yes, you have something that's you, but most people can do what you do. There are very few things you can do that other people can't at minimum figure out or be trained on.
I know there's exceptions, but even the best, and we were talking about YouTube editor, the best YouTube editor didn't wake up one day and go, "Oh, I'm a video editor today." They developed those skills. Everything is learnable except being you. And so I just love this. What would you say for somebody who's like, "Okay, I'm hearing this, maybe I need to get started with a general VA," but they're still saying like, "I'm just not at that point to hire yet." Well, you already alluded to this earlier, but is there a marker in business, it's like, yes, it's time to schedule. Does it come back to that time tracker?
When the time is outweighed or when you're working more hours than you want, is there some indicator that okay, it really is a clear black and white, it's time for you to get somebody in?
Theresa Loe: Yeah. For me, the time tracker is a big piece of it, but also when you see yourself overworking and you're feeling overwhelmed. We did not start this business in order to create a job for ourselves that we're working 18 hour days, seven days a week, we would be the worst boss ever to ourselves. So when we see that we're working more hours than we want, that's when we need to look at bringing in help. If your dream is to only be working six hours a week, well then you should start working towards that vision now. And that means figuring out what could I take off my plate so that I can only work six hours a week or six hours a day or whatever it is.
I had one client who her dream was to work four to five hours a day, Monday through Thursday, and she wanted every Friday off. So we built out the back end of her business for that to happen, and she was within 90 days living that dream. And it's not difficult, it's just you have to know what you want and then you start building that out. So if you're working more hours than you want, then it's time to bring in help.
Zach Spuckler: I think that's so good. If you're listening and you're thinking, "Is it time for me to get help?" It almost sounds one of the indicators is asking that question because you're in a place of like, "I don't know how much longer I can keep doing this."
Theresa Loe: Yes.
Zach Spuckler: That's so good. And that's how we knew in the agency that it was time to bring somebody on is the point where I was like, "Oh my gosh, I'm just stressed out, what is happening? There's so many moving parts." For me, one of the things that, I think this is really similar to what you were saying was like, if you're worried, if you use Slack, or Basecamp, or a Asana, or really anything, for me, it was when the notifications started becoming stressful. When I was like, "Oh my gosh, I hope that's not a fire to put out. Oh my gosh, I hope that's not this. Oh my gosh, I can't believe it."
And now I wake up and I'm like, "Okay, if there is something in that channel or that notification, I know it's handled, or I know it's scheduled, I know it's being taken care of by either myself or my team. And that has taken a lot of stress off of me. So if you're in this position where the stress and overwhelm is real, it's probably time to start getting support.
Theresa Loe: Absolutely, 100%. And the thing that I just want people to understand is that when we say, bring on a team, it can be someone just a few hours. Just those few hours, having someone just organize things for you will free up your brain. So we can get so in the weeds that we feel there's no way out. I have people come to me every week, this is what they do all day, every day. So I have people coming to me all the time where their marriage is on the line, their health is on the line, they know they're sacrificing their family. You don't want to get to that point. So that I agree 100% with this.
Zach Spuckler: That's so good. For people who are listening, if they could get one clear action item that they should take away from this, I think it's time tracking, but if it's like, "Okay, I tracked my time, I'm seeing obvious gaps," what are the next logical steps that we should take to start either building our team or finding people? I don't necessarily want to open up a can of worms, It's like, "Here's a job posts or here's how to do that." I think all of that, and please correct me if I'm wrong, but I think all of that is logistics and figureoutable like, where do I post my job? Okay, if you're looking for a general VA or you're looking for somebody offline, go to a job board. If you're looking for somebody specialty, go to a VA Facebook group.
If you're looking for an agency, do the legwork to research online, look at ads, look at Instagram. I think that the logistics of getting somebody in is not as complicated as we like to make it up in our heads. I'll just leave that passing thought there for you guys who are listening, but it's like, "Okay, I did the tracking, I know I'm ready for our next step," what is the first thing that I need to do to prep myself and my business to bring somebody new in?
Theresa Loe: That's such a good question. What I tell people is once you've done time-tracking and you have an idea of the role or the things that you want to take off your plate, the next step, and this is the step most people don't do, the next step is to get crystal clear on who that person needs to be. I'm not talking about like, "Oh, they need to be a social media manager." No, who do they need to be on the inside? Because what I take the process, I take people through is that you get so clear on who you're looking for, the type of personality, what types of things like are they really have attention to detail? Are they a problem solver? All of those little details, we map that out because if you have that crystal clear, then when you do the posting and that person crosses your desk, you notice it, you go, "Oh, there they are."
If you don't do that, you're going, "Well, this person has a couple of things over here, and this person... " You don't have it in your head. So it's just what we were talking about, knowing what you want, how many hours do I want to work and all of that, you want to know what you want in your helper. What would be your dream? And you don't hold back here, that person does exist. They're out there. And it's almost by declaring who you're looking for, you make it easier to attract that person. So the whole process, yes, it's logistics, but you want to be attracting just like we do when we're marketing and we're attracting our avatar, you want to be attracting that perfect person
So once you know what role you're hiring for, the next step is to get really clear on who it is I'm looking for as a person.
Zach Spuckler: Yeah. That's so good. I think that's super key is that you know what you're looking for because you can't identify what you don't know you're looking for. That's so good. And so we identify who we're looking for, we do that. And I just want to throw this out there that one of the things that I think we get tripped up on, especially with the specialty VA space. And again, we have worked with specialty VAs, I've had specialty VA's in my business, not saying anything negative, but is that we get up in this mindset that a lot of people who are charging really high rates maybe are thinking about releasing a course, or thinking about starting a program, or thinking about expanding their business, but not everybody that wants to work with you or with a company wants to start their own business.
It's crazy to us as entrepreneurs that that's even an option, but some people legitimately just want stability or retainer a part-time gig, a little extra money, not everybody is looking to grow a business, become a millionaire. And I would just love for you touch on that because I think we've talked about this in the past very briefly, but for those who are saying, "Okay, this is all good and well, but if that dream person is out there, then why aren't they just starting their own business?"
Theresa Loe: Right. You're so true, this is so true. What I want people to understand is that especially when we're looking for someone and we're thinking we want them to grow with us, that's another reason why this character thing is so important is because if you find the right person and you start growing and expanding because of their help, they can grow and expand with you. And they end up staying with you for years and years and years, because they're the perfect person, but they want to work for someone and do something that is bigger than themselves. So not everyone is wired to be an entrepreneur.
We know what it takes to be an entrepreneur, you have to be willing to get uncomfortable, you have to be willing to take risks, and that's not what everybody wants because we want it, we think, "Oh, well, everybody wants that." No, actually, they don't. Everyone on my team, none of them are entrepreneurs, but they love being part of something that they can see how their contribution is making a difference in other people's lives, and that is why they're there. So I really, really want people to understand that you can find someone who, well I keep saying, coming back to stay-at-home moms, but I find that so many people are hiring stay-at-home moms who maybe had worked out in corporate and now they're home with the kids.
They have no intention of starting a business, they're just looking for something where they can be working a few hours a week. And that is the perfect person when you're just starting out.
Zach Spuckler: I love it. Well, I think there's so much here. You guys, I just want to throw this out there, go check out the time tracker, go start making this list of who you want to work with, and get clear on where you're at in your business because we've put some really clear markers out there about if you're ready to hire. And if you're not in a position to hire and your whole business is still in that, what's going to work, testing, figuring it out phase, maybe it isn't the right time. But if you're at that point where you're doing all the things, you're a little overwhelmed, you're starting to feel stuff's falling through the cracks, do the time tracking, figure out where you are spending time that can be easily given to somebody else, and then find your dream person.
Because you can hire for character, you can hire from anywhere, and you can end up with really incredible people on your team. So Theresa, before we wrap up, I'd love to know, are there any closing thoughts or words of wisdom for the people who are like, "I'm in, I'm ready, I'm going to start doing the work to find this person," any parting words of wisdom for somebody who's like, "Okay, I'm here, I'm listening to this, I think I'm ready to hire," to stop them from hitting that mental wall?
Theresa Loe: Yes. I think the biggest takeaway I want people to understand is that whenever we're trying to grow something new, we're going to have to do some new things. And it is uncomfortable, it's a little scary the first time you hire, but I promise you, no one's going to die. You're not going to die, the person you hire is not going to die. It's just another step in the entrepreneurial journey. It's a skill that most people are not taught. We work so hard on how are we going to do our webinar? How do we build a funnel? How do we build our email list? And then when we get overwhelmed, we're like, no one taught us how to be a CEO, and no one taught us how to hire.
And so if anyone's looking for more information on that, they can follow me on Instagram, they can check out my website, but more than anything, I want them to know that this is just another step, and it doesn't have to be scary, and you can take baby steps, and it's a skill that you're going to have to learn eventually if your business is going to grow.
Zach Spuckler: So good. You guys, we will put all of this together on the show notes over at heartsoulhustle.com/150. That's heartsoulhustle.com/150. We'll put this together for you. We'll have timestamps of everything we covered, a full transcript, links to everything Theresa mentioned. But before we finally let you go, which I think I've said like three times now, but before we let you go, where can people connect with you, learn more if they want to get more of your genius, what's the best way to learn more from the wonderful Theresa Loe.
Theresa Loe: Ah, thanks. People can go to my website at streamlinedandscaled.com, and they can catch me on Instagram @streamlinedandscaled.
Zach Spuckler: Well, Theresa, we will let you get back to your day. You guys head over to heartsoulhustle.com/150. We'll link up to that time tracker, we'll link up to Theresa's website, we'll link up to everything that she's doing. And if you guys love this episode, make sure to tag us over on Instagram. You can do that on Instagram Stories, in a Post, whatever makes the most sense for you. I am heartsoulhustle, and Theresa is streamlinedandscaled. Is that correct, Theresa?
Theresa Loe: Yep. That's it.
Zach Spuckler: Okay. Streamlinedandscaled. So connect with us, give us a tag, let us know that you're enjoying it. And guys, before we wrap up, I just want to say thank you so, so much for tuning in. I really appreciate it, and make sure to tag us on Insta, but if you want to go a step further, you can always leave a review for the show. We super appreciate that over at heartsoulhustle.com/iTunes, drop us a review. It's always great to hear from you guys to know that you're loving the content. We love the inspiration and connection with you guys. So if you want to do a little extra, leave us a review, and we will wrap it up here.
Until next time, keep hustling, have a great week, get out there, hire your next person. And we'll see you next time on the Heart Soul & Hustle Podcast.
Thanks for listening to the Heart Soul & Hustle Podcast, for more great stuff, be sure to visit heartsoulhustle.com.
