SHOWNOTES
Our guest today has been on the show before, but I had to have her back because there was so much we needed to talk about!
Miriam Schulman is the founder and chief inspiration officer of the top ranked Inspiration Place Podcast.
She inspires art lovers to reconnect with creativity, learn new skills and techniques and profit from their art.
Even if you aren’t an artist, you’ll love this episode.
We talk about:
How Miriam was able to transition from having help from a local person to having a team remotely
How valuable it is to have weekly team meetings and use a daily report to keep on top of things
Why having your own “swipe left” list of tasks is important
The importance of PRDs (Perpetual Revenue Drivers)
Why it's important to hire who complements what you already bring to the tablerather than a “Mini Me”
Why creating documented systems and processes in your business saves you so much time
How her virtual assistants help her as an artist and grow her business
How having a team gave her the freedom to be present for her family, and for herself, during a difficult time (and a launch!)
Miriam’s philosophy on dreaming big.
RESOURCES
Free resources for art lovers (of every passion level) schulmanart.com/freebies
Solopreneur To CEO Secrets Discussion Group
TRANSCRIPT
[00:04.960] - Gary Vee Hey, guys, it's Gary Vaynerchuk, and you're listening to the Front Row Entrepreneur Podcast with our girl, Jen, our guest today is the founder and chief inspiration officer of the top ranked, Inspiration Place podcast, is one of my favorite podcasts ever.
[00:22.930] - Jen Lehner She inspires art lovers to reconnect with their creativity, learn new skills and techniques and profit from their art. After witnessing the 9/11 terrorist attacks, she abandoned a lucrative hedge fund job to work on her art full time. Rejecting the starving artist myth, her art has been seen on NBC, published in art magazines and home décor books and collected worldwide. Make sure to subscribe to her podcasts for sure. By going to schulmanart.com/iTunes, you are going to love it.
[00:57.730] - Jen Lehner Miriam Schulman, welcome back to the show.
Read more...
[01:00.910] - Miriam Schulman Well, hey, Jen, thanks so much for having me.
[01:03.610] - Jen Lehner Thank you so much for being here. I am so excited. You are a returned guest and I really only have a couple of returned guests to this show. So I think that says a lot.
[01:16.090] - Jen Lehner And today we're going to talk about bringing on help in our businesses. And specifically, I want to talk to you about how you brought people into your business, both as an artist and as the other end of your business, which is the marketing genius that you are.
[01:34.490] - Miriam Schulman You're so kind. The reason I'm so excited to talk to you about this is because all the help that you gave me, I had helped in my business for many years. But when COVID happened and I had to transition to a remote team, I hadn't done that.
[01:53.050] - Miriam Schulman I had always had very traditional. Somebody came to my studio and helped me pack my art prints and worked on the computer. And I stood over them and I micromanaged them and I had no idea how I would make the transition to our remote team. So I'm really excited to talk about that with you also.
[02:13.420] - Jen Lehner All right. Yes, definitely. So let's do that. So first, let's talk about what is your team look like now?
[02:20.500] - Miriam Schulman OK, so it's a pretty big team, but they're not all full time. So I do have one. I would actually have to say two full time people, one full person who is full time, meaning 30 hours a week. And actually now she has even benefits. This is the gal who's been working for me for years. And last year, besides COVID, she had told me she wanted to move to Vermont. So I knew I'd had had to make that transition regardless to a remote team. So but she's my main person. And then also last year, with your help, I added an overseas VA who also works up to 30 hours a week.
[03:04.810] - Miriam Schulman So those are my two main team players and then everybody else are more or less contractor. So I have a podcast editor. I have someone who helps me out running the Facebook ads, and I want to say that's it. But I feel like I pay other people all the time. So the bills go out.
[03:26.630] - Jen Lehner What's that?
[03:27.600] - Miriam Schulman I said the bills go out. So I feel like I pay more people, but I think that's the main one.
[03:32.500] - Jen Lehner All right. Well, so but when you first started, like, did you have help? How long did you wait before you added help? And what did your team look like in the very beginning? Just your local person?
[03:43.900] - Miriam Schulman OK, so in the very beginning, as most people had nobody. But then my business was so much smaller. I was just painting and getting paid to paint and selling paintings. And then there is a really great program in my local high school where the kids get to intern instead of going to class. And I was approached by one of those high school students and that was such an amazing experience. I was able to offload so many tasks that did not need to be done by me.
[04:17.890] - Miriam Schulman So this is when I didn't have a podcast. I didn't have online art classes yet. I was just selling art on my website and on Etsy and so many of those tasks a high school student could do. So after that.
[04:32.200] - Jen Lehner Were they a paid intern?
[04:32.830] - Miriam Schulman That person was not because she was getting credit. But after that, I started having summer interns, paid summer interns who would come to my studio and I would do all the tasks. And after I forget how many summers of that, I finally had enough of this temporary help. And that's when I decided I needed to hire somebody all year. And that is when I actually found Anna. So she is the person who moved to Vermont. She's full time with me, but she started off working for me as a college student 10 hours a week.
[05:08.260] - Jen Lehner And she was actually a lot of times in your physical space. Right?
[05:11.680] - Miriam Schulman Like the whole time. The whole time, like so I didn't understand how that whole thing worked, how you could actually communicate with somebody who wasn't there as much as I am online. I just didn't get it.
[05:23.020] - Jen Lehner Right. Well, but then COVID hits and she moved to Vermont. So then how did you make that transition to a remote team?
[05:32.380] - Miriam Schulman OK, so, yeah, I mean, I was starting to prepare myself mentally for it. I you know, in the back of my mind, I just kept hoping that, you know, she's moving with her boyfriend because they want they had this dream of moving to Vermont. I kept sending the boyfriend job listings in New York to try to get them here.
[05:52.090] - Jen Lehner I love it, all in.
[05:53.030] - Miriam Schulman He really did not want that to happen. I did not see how this was ever going to work. Yeah. So COVID happened at the same time pretty much that she was moving anyway. So I was it was it was happening. And as long as she was going remote we needed some extra help in our business too. So I couldn't add anybody else in person.
[06:14.890] - Miriam Schulman But what is the exact question, how did I make that happen?
[06:17.920] - Jen Lehner You know, you shared that you really couldn't conceive. You were so used to having this person, like in your physical space, helping your day to day stuff and you really couldn't imagine going virtual. But yet, like you ended up having to be. Did you did she stay on virtually? Yes, she did.
[06:33.310] - Miriam Schulman Yes, yes. Yes. She's full time. So now we have we're doing two team meetings a week, so and by the team, I don't meet with all the contractors we meet. So Anna and also my overseas VA. We meet now twice a week. We were doing once a week. It wasn't enough. And I feel also that mentally, myself and my team, we need that synchronous interaction. So when we were only communicating via and in between, we do communicate now via Slack and Loom videos.
[07:09.820] - Miriam Schulman But I feel it's really grounding for the team, for their morale and myself as well, to have that interaction where the three of us can get together and not just talk about what has to get done, but also celebrate the work we've done and compliment them and have them see me smile at them or crack a joke for them.
[07:31.900] - Miriam Schulman So we do that twice a week and I do that 9am, because that is a time that works for everybody and it just starts us off on the right foot. And we do that twice a week. And then in between it we communicate via Slack. And also I'll create Loom videos if I really need to explain something. And it's not convenient for us to meet over Zoom. But what I love about those videos and I owe this to you, Jen, so thank you, is how we're actually able to create repeatable systems.
[08:07.420] - Miriam Schulman So and I'm not the only one who creates those little videos Anna creates Loom videos and she gives them to Zia. So that is really how I've been able to grow from an artist who was just selling my art to having a podcast, having online classes, running a coaching business and scaling everything that I'm doing so that I can help more people.
[08:34.100] - Jen Lehner OK, so there's a couple of things to unpack. So when Anna left, you were like, OK, let's figure out how we can make this virtually at that point, you didn't have your overseas VA, correct?
[08:47.630] - Miriam Schulman Correct.
[08:48.590] - Jen Lehner And then at what point in that process did you bring in your like how long had you been working virtually with Anna or did you join Front Row CEO like right then?
[09:00.290] - Miriam Schulman Yeah, it was like very perfect timing because I had joined it and I was thinking about adding on a person to help in an overseas VA anyway. So then I was able to take all that you taught me about training the VA and basically with Anna, I say, OK, I know you've been working with me for a long time, but we're going to pretend like we're just getting started. I took her through the entire onboarding process. We even have like that. We do the nightly check ins that you recommend and I know you recommend just to do that when you're onboarding, but we actually still do it every night.
[09:39.650] - Miriam Schulman They check in with me, which I love, because that is a great time for them to just celebrate what they got done and see what they've accomplished, but also to ask me any questions that might be holding them back. So we don't really have to.
[09:52.190] - Jen Lehner Can you elaborate on what that is on that shared Google sheet check in.
[09:56.150] - Miriam Schulman Yeah. So we have a channel on Slack called Team Check INS, and that's where they do it. So they're saying what they got done and it's just like a bullet list of things that got done, what they might be stuck and if they have any questions. And the most valuable part are the questions for me. So when they say, oh, wait a minute, they need to know this and I'm the bottleneck here.
[10:21.310] - Jen Lehner Do you also ask them, because when I teach it, the third question is, do you have any suggestions? That's my favorite question.
[10:30.730] - Miriam Schulman That's there, too. That is there, too. They don't use that as much as I'd like. But with the second one, the second one definitely gets used for sure.
[10:41.710] - Jen Lehner So with Anna, you just treated Anna like, OK, you're brand new and we're going to go through all this if you're brand new and we're starting fresh. So I love that.
[10:51.760] - Miriam Schulman But I've made her sign everything. Yeah, yeah. I said you're going to do the weekly check ins. One of my biggest stumbling blocks is, well, it's like you can't see them working. And then you were like, oh well you just have them sign into this thing and it keeps track of their time. It's like, oh, that's
[11:16.060] - Jen Lehner Well, not only that, this particular software, which I only recommend using in the beginning, but it also captures their screen of their computer with their consent. But like every ten minutes, if you could set it to be that frequent so that it also lines up with the time that they're doing on whatever tasks. So if you ever wanted to check in and be like, are they watching YouTube videos or are they actually doing the work? Which can be, to be honest with you.
[11:46.570] - Jen Lehner And that is comforting to a someone who is new to working with somebody virtually. I think it's a comfort to just sort of feel like they have some sort of like control and that they're not going to get completely, you know, taken advantage of. But really, it's by the time you get through, I mean, would you agree? I think by the time you get through the screening process that I lay out at that point, the candidates that you get are really good.
[12:13.240] - Jen Lehner And so I've never had anyone actually go through my program and come back and say, oh, my gosh, this person tricked me. They were fudging hours. It's really more that part of the software is really more about giving the CEO the feeling of security. But then soon people just tend to let that go. It's just a sort of a way of feeling like they have some sense of control. But the timekeeper is very helpful because not even just as a way of monitoring the person, it's more of a way of you understanding how to budget.
[12:43.750] - Jen Lehner Oh, it's. And also seeing how efficacious is that. Right. I know it's right for the work for vaccines, but like can you say a person is efficacious.
[12:52.120] - Miriam Schulman I don't know.
[12:55.270] - Jen Lehner Well it's a beautiful word. And so we're going to say you can see how effective they are being.
[13:01.510] - Miriam Schulman You know, I actually never I maybe I checked the screen thing twice. Right. I forgot to turn it off though. Should I turn it off like I forgot that I turn it off eventually.
[13:13.090] - Jen Lehner Will they know it's on? So, yeah, I think you could in and when you do turn it on, I would make sure and let them know, hey, you could just mention it in your staff meeting like, hey, I don't, I don't know if you noticed, but I forgot the screenshots were being taken. I'm turning that off now.
[13:29.020] - Miriam Schulman I think I'm going to do that because I never I don't like it anyway. So there's no reason for them for me to pretend I'm checking it and it probably right. And it probably slows down their computer. Right?
[13:40.600] - Jen Lehner I don't know. Maybe, but if nothing else, I think it would just be it'll it'll make them because they do know that there's some sort of notification on their end. So they do know it's not like every time the screenshot happens that like a flash of light goes off. But they, they just know. So if you let them know that you're turning that off. So take us back to where you were.
[14:00.360] - Miriam Schulman I don't remember where I was, but both of both of my two main players, they actually liked the time tracking, at least I think they do, because they're able to say to me, hey, you know, I only have a few hours left this week. And based on the priority, what do you really need me to get done?
[14:18.030] - Miriam Schulman So it really helps us to kind of manage our time effectively. So that's what I like about it. And then I will either have to make a judgment, do I want to give somebody more hours if they can do more hours?
[14:31.740] - Miriam Schulman Is that something I really want to do? And I try not to do it, not because of saving money, but I don't want to burn them out. I really feel, you know, at the time that they're given 30 hours is really enough time for me to work during the week. And I rather, if they give them a bonus or a gift or something else to help them along.
[14:52.890] - Jen Lehner So how did you find the process? Like, how was the experience for you in hiring this person, this overseas person?
[15:00.690] - Miriam Schulman Yeah, well, you made it like ridiculously easy, which I loved. I didn't have to think twice about anything because there's so many things that would have got my panties in a bunch along the way, like, well, what do you what do you put in that application?
[15:13.950] - Miriam Schulman What do you give them as a test tasks? What do you say next? I like all that you just did for me. It just made it easier. It's like it's like Mad Libs change thing. Send it out. And I had three candidates after I went through the process of I mean, I there was a lot of quality people, but after the interview, it was clear I narrowed it down to three. And after the test week, I had my secret favorite or not secret favorite because that's who I hired. And there was more hiring on personality at that point. Like who did I really want to work with the most? Who did I feel was the best communicator?
[15:52.980] - Miriam Schulman And that's what I was looking for, was how well she communicated and her communication style, especially since it's a remote person. I knew how critical that would be and that is now. How long is this whole time, like how well she can communicate with me
[16:09.150] - Jen Lehner And that, you know, and a lot of people think that they're going to hire overseas and that the person is not going to be able to speak English.
[16:15.420] - Miriam Schulman Oh, and I was I'm glad you brought that up, because I don't even mean how well she speaks English, because I've had other team play, but we didn't even talk about this. I've had other American in-person people come work for me where the communication was terrible. And so it was based on those past experiences with my American help that I knew what to look out for. I wanted the balance between like I had one woman for customer service. I thought I need an extrovert. But she was so chatty I couldn't get her to stop talking.
[16:50.130] - Miriam Schulman So then the next person I got for that role was so introverted she never spoke up. I said, well, that's not good either. You know, it's like the Goldilocks. So now Zia is just like the perfectly made. I don't want to say bed, because that has a connotation to it, but I'm talking about gold. She's like the perfect porridge of it. Yes, you're the perfect porridge. OK, so she her that's a that's what I meant by communication style, because all the people who applied their English was beautiful. In fact, there was one gal who I interviewed who I think she was like a literature major. She loved to read. You know, it was like these people were incredibly educated.
[17:33.200] - Jen Lehner You know, something a lot of people don't realize is that the people that are applying for these positions are first of all, education is extremely important in the Philippines. Most people do speak English very, very well. And so a lot of times it's not uncommon that the people who are going through Front Row CEO and they go through my process, they'll come back to me and be like, this person is a lawyer.
[17:54.230] - Jen Lehner This person this person is a pediatrician. This person is a pharmacist, you know, not, you know, but minimally, minimally, most of them did have a bachelor's degree. So that is definitely has not been an issue. How long has he been with you?
[18:07.400] - Miriam Schulman OK, it's going to be a year in April. Right. Because that's when did you run Front Row CEO in 2020.
[18:15.470] - Jen Lehner A couple of times. So in the spring and in the fall. So you did so.
[18:18.300] - Miriam Schulman I did it in the spring. So like I said, COVID is when I was looking at the sets during that. Right when we first lockdown on March 2020. So it's been about a full year or so in April. Yeah, it'll be a full year.
[18:32.090] - Jen Lehner So I think we're going to end up with a lot of artists and creative people who end up hearing this episode and they're thinking like, since when do artists have help? Like is that a thing like,
[18:45.950] - Miriam Schulman OK, this is such a good question. First of all, I just want to say right off the bat, Number one, if your dream involves just you, your dream is too small to limit yourself.
[18:59.300] - Jen Lehner Say that again. That is so good.
[19:01.430] - Miriam Schulman Yeah, if your dream doesn't require more than just you. Your dream is too small.
[19:07.930] - Jen Lehner I'm stealing that, OK?
[19:09.400] - Miriam Schulman Yeah, I don't think I made it up, so steal away, but I don't remember it. All right. Now, this is something that artists have always done. Leonardo Da Vinci, Rubens, Michaelangelo, they all had studios. And not only that, it wasn't just that they were doing the grunt work. They actually had artists like on the easel, like, kind of, oh, could you just fill in this area over here with green paint? You know, they basically. Yeah, Andy Warhol, all of them. Anyone who are like the brand names.
[19:48.200] - Miriam Schulman They had help, they had apprentices. And it is whether it's one person or a whole studio, and usually the bigger the name is, the bigger the studio.
[20:00.060] - Jen Lehner So just from the artist end of things, you as an artist, how do your VAs help you? OK, with the art part.
[20:09.390] - Miriam Schulman I'm going to list off, like just from that. This is just off the top of my head. And I'm not even going to talk about podcasting and online classes because I know there's a ton of work.
[20:19.090] - Jen Lehner Right. Right, right, right.
[20:20.370] - Miriam Schulman So we're just going to talk about if you are a solo artist selling your doesn't even have to be paintings, whatever it is, you're somebody selling stuff and handmade stuff on Etsy. OK, so who is researching the tags for Etsy? Who's uploading stuff for you for Instagram? Who are creating your Insta Story graphics? Who's putting stuff on Facebook for you?
[20:44.760] - Miriam Schulman You want to spend hours and hours of your day behind the computer doing all that stuff, or do you want to spend more of your time painting? So even if you like. Well, no one's going to touch my painting like, you know, fine, you want to be the one painting, then you need somebody else to do that stuff behind the computer. Like researching SEO keywords for your website, copying the description that you wrote for your website from that on to maybe one of these print on demand sites and then putting all the tags for there. There's a tremendous amount of work that an assistant can help you with because that's really what my summer high school students did for me.
[21:27.460] - Jen Lehner So with this, what about for the person who maybe doesn't have an online presence yet, but they're doing, you know, art in the park and they don't have affairs and
[21:40.450] - Miriam Schulman Stop talking because, yes, that is your business. You don't have a business because look what happened in 2020 people who are relying on art in the park. The bottom fell out from under them. You have to have an email list. You have to stay in touch with your customers, the people who did OK, who survived 2020. Those artists are the ones who had an email list who were emailing people in between those shows, not just waiting for some stranger to come to the booth, people who are nurturing their customers all the time.
[22:14.660] - Jen Lehner Such a good point, and you teach people how to do that in your programs, right?
[22:18.980] - Miriam Schulman That's right. And it's amazing how, you know, people can go from zero to 60 just with learning some basic marketing.
[22:28.340] - Jen Lehner Wow. OK, I have another question regarding the task list, because that is something I hear all the time is like, yeah, I just don't even know. Number one, I don't know what I would give to a VA. Number two, I just don't have my stuff together enough. I don't have systems. My business is a mess. How am I going to bring somebody into this mess when it's like everything is sort of duct tape? So I've been talking a lot and you know this because I was trying to come up with a name for it. I still haven't really come up with it. It was like perpetual revenue drivers. And you were like, well, that's gross. That's a terrible name. You're like, so pro-marketer. OK, yeah.
[23:07.700] - Miriam Schulman What can I just say? What I can't what I told you to call it. Yes. This is your swipe left list.
[23:13.020] - Jen Lehner Love that. OK, not everybody would get it though.
[23:16.880] - Miriam Schulman I mean I look at it right now. So women who are age, who aren't dating anymore, maybe you don't know this, but like on the on well you have on your email right. When you swipe left to get rid of something, if you like somebody, you swipe right and if you don't like them, you swipe left. So want to swipe left to get rid of all the tasks you don't want to do. So that's what you start with, all the things that you just don't want to do.
[23:45.320] - Miriam Schulman And as you get more comfortable with handing things over, then you start to learn. Well, there are some things that maybe I like doing, but maybe this shouldn't be done by me. And then you move those things over as well.
[24:00.740] - Jen Lehner OK, but the perpetual revenue driving tasks that I'm talking about are those tasks when you don't have anything or you think you don't like. Once people get going with their VA, they realize that, oh my gosh, I'm going to hand off this and this and this. And then they never run out of things. But in the beginning, it's tough. And so what I always say is, even if you don't have any systems, even if you don't have an immediate list or you don't feel prepared, there's this other thing that you can give to a VA, and that's the name I haven't come up with.
[24:31.310] - Jen Lehner So, listeners, if you have suggestions, please tell me swipe left. I'm definitely going to use because that is like the swipe left on the scrap. You don't want to do like that. That is the first place to start if you're able to give that list to someone and get them moving.
[24:43.760] - Jen Lehner But if you can't, these tasks are the ones that, for example, they can always do, no matter whether or not you give them a list, OK, so that you're not constantly they're not coming back to you. Going finish what's next. Finish what's next. OK, so it's perpetual stuff that they can do that is always going to be driving revenue eventually. So, for example, finding guest spots for you on podcast. Right. That is something that can always be done.
[25:10.130] - Jen Lehner And if you don't know how to do that, like I always recommend this course, I'll put a link to it in the in the show notes that I just found recently. Of course, I cannot remember the name of it, but it's like a twenty seven dollar course that actually shows you everything you need to know about how to research the right spots for any particular person to be on a podcast, their contact information, then how to find their contact information and the templates for writing the email to get the person on the show, the follow up sequence, the calendar for doing that, all of that. That's something you purchased the $27 course.
[25:47.750] - Jen Lehner You give it to your virtual assistant and if there's nothing else for them to do, if all they are doing every day of the week is outreach to get you booked on their podcast, that is a revenue producing task because obviously you are acquiring these huge audiences of your ideal people. If you get on the right podcast, which again is in the course, which shows them the right podcast for you to get on. So I don't know what to call those kind of tasks. But, you know, the research you were talking about for the tag seems to me like for SEO.
[26:16.910] - Miriam Schulman SEO Research, I mean, I put both Anna and Zia through an SEO course because, yes, I just didn't want to be bothered, just like I said, let's talk about it. Yeah. And it wasn't at the beginning. It was like always I had the attitude I have to go learn something and now I have to teach it. And I've learned that, no, I can just give that learning directly to my team and say, hey, go watch this. And I don't even necessarily have to preview it ahead of time like here.
[26:47.780] - Miriam Schulman This is what I want you to learn and what I love about my team. So, Anna, she is really great at really embracing the idea of that. If there's something to do that we don't know how to do, she loves figuring it out like she's really strong that way and she enjoys it.
[27:08.180] - Miriam Schulman So I think, you know what can you figure out how we can automate this? Is there a tool we can use? Is there and so she goes, does the research I task her with the result of doing it, not just the task. So that's a huge shift that's happened over the years.
[27:25.350] - Jen Lehner Yeah, that's fantastic. And that's what we talk about that in Front Row CEO, because when you are posting for your "perfect match virtual assistant" or whatever you said made the "perfect porridge" whatever, I love that too, your "perfect match virtual assistant".
[27:40.310] - Jen Lehner Yes. If you're looking for someone who has certain computer skills, you know, that's that's important. But it's not like like if you need someone who knows how to do MailChimp, it's OK if the person is actually more proficient with GetResponse or Active Campaign. Right. It doesn't really matter that they don't know MailChimp because they have the capacity. More importantly, we want to find people that have an interest, like you're saying, Anna has. Right. It's more about that.
[28:07.400] - Jen Lehner And so the process that we put out in Front Row CEO takes you through steps that basically screen for that as much as possible anyway. And then ultimately at the end, we have a trial week set up or it could be a trial month. And that is where really everything becomes crystal clear whether or not you have a person with that sort of capacity and interest, because that really is key for sure.
[28:32.540] - Jen Lehner Yeah. And I would also add that I think it's important to find somebody who kind of fills in the gaps of what your weaknesses are. So what was really huge about adding Zia to my team is she's very detail oriented and Anna and I aren't. Anna and I are probably more similar in terms of our Myerrs Brigg, we're more big picture and the two of us are more likely to make detailed mistakes. Well, Zia, like we will actually have her audit like a sales page, because you check all the links for us because she's so good at that and it's so nice to have that balance on the team. So I'd be very.
[29:11.060] - Jen Lehner That's so great.
[29:12.020] - Miriam Schulman Yeah. Be very careful not to hire a mini you because you're going to the idea isn't to have another you, it's to complement what you already what you already bring to the table.
[29:24.200] - Jen Lehner That's such a good point. I want to go back real quick to what you were saying about how, you know, you bought SEO course for them to watch and they ran with it. And people do so often think like, you know, how am I going to teach someone how to do a sales funnel, how to do or whatever if I don't know how to do it myself. And that is really one of the great beauties of this, is that you outsource your brain.
[29:47.330] - Jen Lehner I mean, you outsource the learning as well. Now, the pushback I usually hear from that is, well, that's great. But if and when this person leaves, she's going to take or he's going to take all that knowledge that I've paid for basically is going to leave my business. And the way we get around that is with systems. And so basically, when we have a virtual assistant learn how to do SEO or Pinterest marketing or whatever, they're also creating a system for you in your business.
[30:19.400] - Jen Lehner So they're creating checklists of exactly what is going to happen, the action steps that your business is going to take from that learning and is going to repeat over and over again. It gets documented and it lives inside your business. So when you hire the next person, let's say, and this person doesn't leave because you've hired such a good virtual assistant and they feel like a part of your business, that they're going to stay with you for years. That's what we're going for.
[30:44.780] - Jen Lehner But there's going to come a time when they might want to move on to other things within your business and you're going to hire new person to do those those tasks, the Pinterest marketing, the SEO. Well, now you've got everything systemize from the person prior and it's living in your business. And you just here, watch these videos. Here's the checklist. How about it?
[31:04.430] - Miriam Schulman Yeah, I would even add one more thing, just like I mean, that's like the ideal what you're describing. But even if you had the situation in the past where you showed somebody how to do it and they don't remember, I don't have that anymore.
[31:17.150] - Jen Lehner So. Right. That's to me, actually, I don't remember.
[31:21.230] - Miriam Schulman Right. Well, I don't remember if I explained it or not. And she doesn't remember, I cleaned it up. But now I say, hey, do you know how to do a pretty link? And she says, Oh, I'm not sure. And then she goes to her list of of all the things and she searches. Oh, you actually I have I have a checklist in a video that you created for me so I can do that so I don't have to, like, explain it again.
[31:43.490] - Miriam Schulman She may have to review it again, which is fine, but I don't have to explain it again. It's like it's there, it lives there. So that's a beautiful thing.
[31:52.040] - Jen Lehner Yeah. I love it. And that's such a good point. Yeah. I have to revisit tutorials all the time, like I never can remember how to do like a domain formatting. I think I've relearned that a thousand times because you don't do it every day, you do it every once in a blue moon
[32:06.740] - Miriam Schulman Or even getting the report from Zoom where they hide the report from a webinar because they really hide it.
[32:13.520] - Jen Lehner Oh, yeah.
[32:14.160] - Miriam Schulman Like, every time I'm like, why the heck is that?
[32:17.820] - Jen Lehner Totally, totally. You have to dig and dig and dig and that saves so much time having it in your business recorded and catalogued. Fantastic. OK, so we covered a lot. What have we left out like what do you want to know, like for your artists particularly or your creatives out there who are just like, well I'm just you know.
[32:36.630] - Miriam Schulman Yeah. You know, I want to speak to a very specific segment right now. I want to speak to moms who are out there. So whether they're an artist or not, think about this.
[32:46.080] - Miriam Schulman I like to think about it as a babysitter for your business. So instead of hiring a babysitter to watch your kids so that you can do these tasks that don't need to be done by you inside your business, like researching hashtags and SEO, you're paying somebody pretty much the same rate. You might pay a babysitter to babysit your business so that you can spend time with those precious ones who are growing up so fast. So to think about it that way, it's like you're going to be spending that money anyway.
[33:16.710] - Miriam Schulman But wouldn't you rather, instead of paying a babysitter so that you can do these menial things, pay somebody else to do so, that you can spend time with them?
[33:25.980] - Jen Lehner I mean, it's such a good point. Like, you know, there's so much out there about like having the laptop lifestyle and being a digital nomad and like, you know, being able to, like, find freedom so that you can go surfing, you know, while you're working. And it's like, no, I want to go. You know, the idea for me is, Will, all those things are great, too. And by the way, if I take a vacation, I definitely don't want to have my laptop on the beach.
[33:48.600] - Jen Lehner I just want to be on the beach with no laptop and having my team at work and that revenue still coming in. But really, I think the freedom most of us want and like, you know, whether it's the young moms that you're speaking to now or the older moms like me with high school kids and college kids and aging parents,
[34:07.680] - Miriam Schulman well, the older they are, the more you want to spend time with them You're seeing people that you're not changing their diapers anymore, you get to do things with them.
[34:18.720] - Jen Lehner Right. That's when it really gets fun, you know? And you don't want to say, oh, I would love to go to that, you know, to that thing that you just invited me to. But I can't because I got to, you know, I've got to do this, that or the other on the
[34:29.520] - Miriam Schulman Like with some tedious thing. Like, I have to I have to, like, schedule all my Instagram posts for the month.
[34:35.310] - Jen Lehner Exactly
[34:36.600] - Miriam Schulman How do I like really you rather do that and spend time with whoever.
[34:42.120] - Jen Lehner Yeah, but you and I had just both saw this, you know, really play out in real life very recently. You know, my mom, as you know, my mom got very, very ill in October and she has you know, it required me traveling back and forth many, many times from South Carolina to Ohio and then bringing her back here. And I'm her caregiver. And it was like, wait a minute. Like, I basically I mean, I disappeared in my business.
[35:08.460] - Jen Lehner But guess what? Nobody really knew that because my team is a rockstar team and we have systems in place. So more or less we didn't miss a beat. I mean, I had to recycle some I wasn't producing as much new content. My podcasts went on hiatus a bit, but we were you know, they were recycling older episodes and we didn't miss a beat. The revenue was still coming in. And that's the kind of freedom that I want in my life. So that if something like that comes up, I don't have to make that desperate choice of, you know, and and so,
[35:40.380] - Miriam Schulman As you know, that happened to me. My father in law passed away in January, and it was it was a COVID death. And I had two webinars the day that he passed and that was a cart open week. But I was able to be present for my husband and my family and also present with my own emotions that week because we weren't doing things last minute, things were already set up.
[36:06.900] - Miriam Schulman I didn't have to handle customer service. All those emails that come in when you are launching something, my team handled it. So I was able to be present for both my family and for myself during that time because of the support that I had built. I was really grateful to them that I was there. I was able to rely on them so that I because I absolutely would not have been able to I was not able to do those things and I didn't want to do those things that week.
[36:35.460] - Jen Lehner No and I think to my early business days when I was running webinars, those were horrible days. They were horrible to I mean, like, I remember the it was like traumatic even because I was trying to do I knew all the things that needed to happen in a webinar and I really wanted to do it right. So I was trying to play big like the big dogs. But that was just me, you know, so I was trying to do all those things.
[36:56.190] - Jen Lehner And if and now I think about throwing your situation into the mix, you know, with what you just went through on, you know, on those webinar days. Well, what would have happened? I just would have had to cancel cancel everything. I would have obviously,
[37:09.300] - Miriam Schulman I would have I would have lost a lot of money to looks like, you know what I'm talking. About that, but, yes, I mean, this is it's not just a question of like, OK, you're working when you don't want to work, but if I don't work, I invested over ten thousand dollars in Facebook Ads that month. That would have I would have ended the month in the rut.
[37:26.750] - Jen Lehner Right. Right. Exactly. Also a huge consideration. So I mean, it's nice to see the messaging about, you know, follow, you know, follow your bliss and all this and the freedom and yada, yada.
[37:38.930] - Jen Lehner But really what it boils down to is being able to have choices to live life on your terms. And you can do that so much more when you have the support. And so thank you for sharing that. Thank you for sharing that story, because and I got this today. I want to share this. Oh, well, darn.
[37:55.790] - Jen Lehner My phone's turned off, so I can't it's going to take too long to turn it on. But I got a message via Voxer from one of the graduates, a former CEO, and she sent me a picture of the snow in her backyard in Texas. And then she wrote a paragraph of everything that has happened. Pipes busted, school canceled, no electricity, no water and no Internet. So she was able to send me the message of the cellular network.
[38:19.100] - Jen Lehner And she was like, this is just unbelievable. And she said, I never was so grateful for having a team as I have been, you know, in these last couple of days because they have kept everything going. And she's also headed into a big launch. But she's been able to just like not completely freak out during this crazy time because she has that team supporting her. So I think we have gotten our message across that people need support and it's doable and it's manageable.
[38:49.970] - Jen Lehner You know, the process seems overwhelming, but that is why I did create this program Front Row CEO, because I wanted to make it as frictionless as possible and as unintimidating as possible and as effective as possible. So I have templated everything and I have made checklists. And it is truly step by step. I really do walk you through. There's live support, all that stuff. So of course, I will put details with this episode for that.
[39:14.930] - Jen Lehner And I want to remind you to go and visit all of Miriam's amazing free resources that she has. I'll put all the links down below. And thank you so much, Miriam. This was so much fun talking to you, as it always is and very enlightening.
[39:30.060] - Miriam Schulman Oh, thanks for having me But can I share one more thing before we call this podcast?
[39:33.890] - Jen Lehner No, It's over. Just kidding. Yes.
[39:37.580] - Miriam Schulman OK, so earlier I said that, like, if your dream only involves you, your dream is is too small. I would add one more thing to that, and that is you're never going to go further than your dream.
[39:48.020] - Miriam Schulman So you like get into the habit of dreaming big because you're always going to be limited by the size of your dream.
[39:55.210] - Jen Lehner Oh, that is so good that I had to let it sink in for a minute, but that's so good. Well, thanks. You've given me my soundbites for the promo of this episode that
[40:03.940] - Miriam Schulman I'll see that in the audiogram. Just don't use this image. I don't I don't have lipstick on.
[40:08.290] - Jen Lehner You look gorgeous. All right. Thank you so much, Miriam. Thanks, everybody. And we'll see you next time.
[40:14.620] - Jen Lehner I hope you enjoyed our chat today. Don't forget to check out Myriam's podcast, the inspiration place that's at schulmanart.Com /iTunes. And that's spelled sschulmanart.com/ iTunes. And if you want to know more about my program Front Row CEO, which promises to help you find your perfect match virtual assistant without pulling your hair out head on over to frontrowceo.com. See you next time.
[40:48.160] This episode is brought to you by the Front Row VIP, a private membership hub for entrepreneurs looking to grow their businesses with smart marketing strategies, productivity hacks and solutions for systemizing.
[40:59.470] This high value membership includes twice monthly strategy calls, monthly content planners, special events, monthly guest experts and a networking community of the smartest entrepreneurs on the planet get started today at front rowvip.com.
