Streamline Your Business Ops

Speaker 1: [Music] the things that people don't necessarily enjoy I realized was what I like to do we help out with managing the back end of the business we look at the team management I call it the people the processes and the profits is really where most of the focus is hi I'm Melanie bar welcome to the she builted experience with Melanie join me as I talk to women who have successfully built it a career and business that they love we dive into the topic of how they built it and talk about everything from Having the courage to make career leaps to the details of how to lead effectively create successful teams Implement strategies for growth and Infuse Tech Innovation magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy so let's dive in thank you for joining us Ann you are the founder of Hilltop operations and Consulting what inspired you to start and launch your business and how are you empowering your clients to better themselves and their businesses in 2019 I was getting really burn out with what I was doing in the past I was a rehab manager at a physical therapy clinic I was getting burned out with I had two young kids at home and was looking for something that would provide me a little bit more control over my time and how I was spending my days I took the leap and decided that I was going to start a business and how are you helping clients today yeah so I work with clients doing operations so the things that people don't necessarily enjoy I realized was what I like to do we help out with managing the back end of the business we look at the team management I call it the people the processes and the profits is really where most of the focus is with myself and my team when we're in working with clients we're looking at how to streamline things we're looking at how can we make things better make them easier for clients and then looking at how things can be repeatable processes so that as they grow and as they bring on team members that they can continue to expand in what they're doing how they're serving their clients and then also allow the business owner to actually have the freedom that a lot of us dream of when we first start our businesses yes which is so great for clients do you think that your previous role in your corporate career you were doing the things that you're doing now you just are doing them within your own business and own space yeah when I first got out in the world of Entrepreneurship I did not realize how much I was carrying over over the past four years though it definitely has become more apparent that the things that I did and that I learned in that space the 15 years that I was managing people managing processes is exactly what I did bring over with me and what I continue to do with the clients I serve now with the constant changing of tech and platforms it's always good to review workflows where do you suggest clients start when reviewing processes and workflows so that's actually a really good question because I do find that it can really stall businesses out if they are constantly changing what they're using so there's a few things that I like to do right off the bat is definitely do some research most tech platforms do have trial phases they have things like that you can do it's not always the best idea for the business owner to be the one testing it all out though if you have team members have the team members go through some of those trials play around with it whether it's a client or a scenario or whatever that Tech is that they're testing put it in that platform and play around a little bit with it see the pros and cons and then really compare don't just jump from platform to platform take a little bit of time with it make sure it really does make the most sense before making that big leap one of the biggest areas where I see a lot of business owners struggle is with crms and there's so many crms that are out there but if you're constantly changing not only the automations but if you're also constantly moving all of that information from platform to platform it can really hinder the growth more than it can help that's so true and such good advice to suggest that a team member test something out because as a business owner you think oh this is going to be a major change Within my business I need to look at it but it's great advice to have a team member just test the waters a little bit Yeah because a lot of times especially with a team and with a business that's growing you have team members that are actually going to be the ones executing in it so how about they learn it test it out see what they think the pros and cons are and report back to you on that great advice delegating is so important and for a lot of entrepreneurs no matter the size of the business it can be challenging to delegate how do you suggest clients stay involved in those areas while delegating when I first started working with businesses that were trying to learn how to delegate I had a hard time understanding why they didn't want to give things up I thought why don't you want to get these things off your plate it would make life a lot easier and I realized that business owners we tend to be control freaks a little bit it's our baby and we want to hold on to what we have created but I've also realized that through effective delegation we're not necessarily the control freak we think we are so if we can begin to delegate and begin to get things off of our plate it can be extremely helpful one of my big things that I try to focus on is not necessarily the step by step I think there is a time when that is needed but focusing more on the outcome of what ultimately is the goal why am I trying to get this off of my plate what is the outcome that I want to see completed and done by this team member and if they can do it potentially better than me sometimes is the case if they do it differently than me as long as the outcome is still being done that's really the big part of it more so than the actual did you do it exactly step one step two step three just like I instructed you to do it so that's really the big thing when I first got married this is not business related but definitely impacts the the outcome of Delegation when I first got married I didn't like cleaning but I had a control freak way that I liked to have things done in our house my husband came in and started doing things I very quickly told him that he was doing them wrong and that didn't necessarily go over so well for me being able to still have him help clean the house so we came to the conclusion that what I needed to do was I needed to leave the house and then when I left the house if I came back and the outcome of the house being clean was still there it was a lovely thing it worked much better for our marriage as well when I'm working with clients that I'm working with I'm helping walk through what ultimately is the outcome and how can we make it to where other people can be successful doing it maybe without your micromanagement or oversight with it I love that you thought that through you are definitely a systems person thinking down to the cleaning you are definitely a a systems and efficiency person we're both mothers you think of it as a business baby because it is for all of entrepreneurs we and as children you have to let them go and let them fly so as it relates to delegating not everything's going to be perfect but how can a business grow unless we let it go a little bit exactly business growth is exciting to experience but also challenging how do you suggest clients grow their business in a way that they can also have balance in their personal life that's something that I think we all struggle with as well as business owners especially growing businesses one area that I want to encourage business owners and then also the clients that I work with is encourage them to map out what does an ideal schedule look like for you and how can we start to work towards that what boundaries do we need to put in place so that we can help make make sure that you are ending your day so that you can potentially go pick up your kids or you are getting a weekend off or you can actually step away from the business for a day or two and not have to check your email not feel obligated to make a quick call or anything like that but actually put some boundaries in place in the business so that you can have a little bit more of that personal time and business time in the world of online business a lot of people tend to work from home too and so really designating a space where this is where I am working and being able to if possible even close a door lock it set it aside in the house so that you're not going back in there that can also help to really give that distinct boundary of work time versus home time personal time so true it's so important to shut the door and leave your phone and just take that downtime because that brings you back more refreshed of course yeah it definitely does so true because home and work can cross over a little bit too much yeah definitely the benefit of technology is that it is readily available to us all the time you can work remotely you can work we're upset when it's not yeah I know where's my Wi-Fi connection but so there is a benefit to that technology but it is also very important for you to be able to have a life outside of work for your own well-being for your personal mental capacity to be able to step away we actually over the summer went camping and there were a few spots where there was like zero cell reception zero Wi-Fi zero anything and it is it's refreshing to know that you know what the world still goes on the World Turns I'm okay out here and then the time comes that I need to go back to work go back to business go back to whatever it'll still be there for me it's not that it's going away it's just that I actually get to enjoy a little bit of time away from the business as you should and as we all should we did a cruise to Alaska and they said oh there's Wii and it was a week which I was a little nervous about and they say oh there's Wi-Fi there is no Wi-Fi and the first day you're a little nervous and by the second or third day you're so relaxed and then you're realizing I should be more relaxed like this more often and to your point you come back so much more ready to invest in what you're doing yeah I had a client that took a trip she was gone for four weeks to Europe and they had the capacity for potentially having some connection to the technology but she made it a point that she didn't want to have that connection and so when she came back she again exactly like you said was so refreshed she realized that she was holding on to more than she needed to because there were things that could continue to happen even without her being directly involved in them and that's also why it's so important to put the right processes in operation in place the right people in place the right processes in place definitely help make that happen a lot more effectively for you and with a lot less stress as the business owner working through it all what do you think are the most important aspects of leadership when scaling a business one piece of that is communication one piece of it also is being able to be open to other people's perspectives and other people's ideas and know that you aren't necessarily the one that's going to have all of the ideas as the business owner a lot of times we do have ideas because we're thinking constantly of growing and what it's going to look like and what our vision is but there's others in different areas of expertise that can also bring a lot of things to the table and being open to listening to others on your team and then also open to having the conversations very critical in in being a leader for your business there's also an element of wanting to Mentor others and wanting to see your team be successful as you are growing your business and not necessarily trying to hold on to all aspects being open to Mentor them helping them grow and helping them reach their Max potential both in your business and also personally for your team members as well it's so true it builds sustainable company cultures and team members want to be in an environment where their ideas are heard and implemented yeah definitely entrepreneurs usually have many ideas which is one of the things that make them great innovators with with all of those ideas how do you suggest to clients that they decide what to do next this comes back to the planning side I will map everything out for the clients that we work with and I think it's important to take the time to strategize and to map things out not just Daya day mapping them out looking at a year and then starting to backtrack from there so most of my planning and when I'm sitting down whether it's for my business or for others it's mapping out a year first and then we reverse engineer it we go okay well if this is the ultimate goal that we want to be at in 12 months where do we need to be at 9 months and then where do we need to be at 6 months then where do we need to be at 3 months look big picture first and then reverse engineer and it's so great that you start with that end goal in mind because so often there's things we want to do but we don't always start at the end we might start at the beginning and set those goals but we don't always start with the end in mind also it's really important to know that it's okay to put things on a parking lot list I know I want to do this but it may not make sense in the next 12 months it might be the next 3 years and have that list don't ignore it and don't avoid putting stuff down because it's not going to happen in a year but have that list because you never know when something's going to just start to exponentially move and you want to be ready for oh I had this idea does this still fit with my vision does it not fit with my vision if it still fits with your vision jump in and start planning just because it's on that parking lot list doesn't mean it has to always be on the parking lot list so true I always think even for myself if not right now it doesn't mean never exactly magic happens when we focus on the part of ourselves and our business that brings us joy what is one way that you make sure to find and live your joy one of the big things that I really enjoy is being able to Mentor others the team members that I bring on to my team I want to see them be successful I want to see them grow and so being able to help them learn from my mistakes and then also some of them are contractors so as they're growing their business it's helping them learn from my mistakes but they're growing if they are employees or team members that are staying for the long haul it still is making sure that they enjoy what they do and making sure that they are seeing the growth and the benefit and mentoring them and what they're doing and how they're helping both my business and themselves in what they're doing thank you so much for joining us today Ann it's been great to talk with you can you tell us how and where we can find you my website is Hilltop operations. comom it's the easiest way to get in touch there's links to book calls if anybody has any questions and wants to chat and there's also a hiring Playbook if anybody is at a point where they're growing and they're looking to bring on team members there's access to that hiring Playbook as well thank you for joining us today I'd love to hear from you reach out to me at hello Sheil it.com on our Sheil it website or at Sheil it on social thank you to my editor Rich draino who always makes us sound good until next time let nothing stop you from experiencing the life and business that that you crave [Music]