E30 Top tech tools every OBM should know

Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello, everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I’m your host, Leanne Woff, and your favorite OBM podcaster. Yes, I have decided that. Okay, so today in our 30th episode, we are going to be talking about tools and tech. So for those of you that don’t know, I love technology. I love playing with new tech, old tech.

I love expanding on what tech can do. I love going down my little tech rabbit hole. I love integrating tech. I’m a bit of a tech ninja. In saying that, I am not a coder. So if I can learn the tech, so can you. In this episode, we’re going to talk about the top tech tools every OBM should know. A question I get asked a lot is what are the technology gaps that I have and how do I fill them?

What technology do I need [00:02:00] to know, understand, be able to use to be able to be an OBM? My answer is there’s no tool that rules them all. I repeat. There is no one tool that rules them all. I could scream this at the top of my lungs a hundred times over and people still wouldn’t understand. So often we are confronted with different tools that claim to be able to do everything.

You’ll only need one tool. Never go beyond this one tool. It is a lie. A fabulous marketing lie. And we could look at each tool individually and try and understand just one tool. Or, [00:03:00] we have another option. We could look at tool categories. This is my preference. When talking about what tools do we need in an online business and what tools do I need to know and be able to use as an OBM, I prefer to look at categories rather than specific tools.

The reason behind this is because of the foundation of how tools are created. So in my limited understanding, I’ve never built a tool before. I’ve just used many of them. Tools are usually ideated with one core function in mind. So somebody sits down and thinks, I’m going to create an incredible email marketing tool.

And so they get their team together. They brainstorm. They envision this email marketing tool that is amazing and all the things it can do. And then [00:04:00] they start to build it. They map it all out. They create it. They release it. And it’s all done really well. Then, they decide they want to expand. Maybe if I’ve got an email marketing tool, I can add on a CRM.

How hard could that be? Or a social media scheduler. I already have a tool that I can upload images and text into. I already have a tool that can connect with some other platforms. Wonder what more I could get out of this. So then they look at these options and they add bits on and add bits on.

Which can turn out well, especially if you put in a heck of a lot of money into it. But the foundation was never to have these bits. The core foundation it was built on is for that primary function. And so what they’ve done is [00:05:00] instead of just having an incredible email marketing tool, they’ve now got an okay email marketing and social scheduling tool, because that’s not where they were ever going with the idea.

It’s something they added on. And until they rectify that foundation, all of that coding and building that was done at the start to be able to hold the new infrastructure they’ve added on. It’s going to get a little bit clunky. So for this reason when a tool comes out and says, I can do it all, I don’t believe them.

And I think that they can do things to a degree, but it’s never going to be, I can do everything. And. Within that tool, there will be functions of it that do that thing better than anything else. That [00:06:00] tool that was meant to be an email marketing only tool is probably incredible for email marketing, but not the other stuff.

I think that tools should brag about the things that they do amazingly. The other things are okay. And based on this we need to be careful what tools we learn, because no one tool is ever enough. Rant over. Now, once you’ve got the history behind why I believe what I believe, you’re still stuck with the question, what are the tools I need to understand to succeed as an OBM?

I’m going to tell you. And yes, I’m going to do it in categories. I believe that there are lots of different tools out there, but as long as you can nail the type of tool, as long as you have the right mixture of the different types of tools, you’ll be fine. [00:07:00] The first things that I want to look at are your core tools.

The core tools that, generally speaking, online businesses need. Pretty much all of them. The first is a project management tool. If you’re going to be an OBM, managing tasks and managing a business needs to be done in a cloud platform, not on your notepad on your desk. Your notepad on your desk might greatly greatly contribute to your thinking process.

You might find it like a nice safety net, but it is not how you manage an online business. That is done with a project management tool. And my favorite of these is Asana. I love Asana. I love lists. I love the things that Asana has expanded into doing. Now note, Asana is still a project management tool. It hasn’t expanded out into being a course platform or anything like that.

It’s just developed its project [00:08:00] management ability to have more features that suit project management. And I’m very much loyal to Asana, sometimes for the sake of being loyal, but I also really like it. It’s easy, I know how to use it, it makes me happy. It’s not the only project management tool, and we have internal wars in my office, about whose favorite is. So there is Asana, there’s Monday, there’s ClickUp, there’s Trello, there’s a big list of tools you can get.

And my general rule is, if you know one of them, then you can work the rest out. At a base level, like I was saying, the tools are there for a core function. If you can understand the core function, then the next step is just learning where all the buttons are in that platform. But if the core function is the same, then knowledge is transferable.

So if you are going to be in OBM, you need to have a project [00:09:00] management tool where you are going to store all of the tasks, projects, jobs, and details that you will work on with your client. The second kind is a communications tool. There are lots of different ways we can communicate, and that can be, on the phone, it can be in Facebook Messenger, it can be in person.

But when we’re sitting in an online business setting, we don’t want to slide into our just personal messages and the way that we act. And interact as people. We want to have some business boundaries here, and we want to use tools that it will work and be professional in a business setting. So using things like Slack or whatsApp or Voxer. These tend to be easier to use in a business setting rather than using, Facebook Messenger, which can be a little bit more difficult and has more of a mix of personal versus [00:10:00] business going on.

The third is an online calendar. Now, the reason you need this is because if you’re going to work closely with an online business owner, you need to be able to see what their schedule is like, especially if you’re going to help with that schedule or if you’re going to be needing things from your clients because there is no point asking someone for things when you can see in their calendar that they’re in back to back meetings for three days straight.

That insight is invaluable and you need it. To be able to get that insight without sitting next to that person, you need to have an online calendar that you can see, so one that is shareable. So things like Google Calendar, Microsoft Outlook, ones that are shareable. An email marketing tool or a CRM.

I say or because a lot of them do both of [00:11:00] these things now, but you do need to understand an email marketing type tool, how it works, the basics of automation between emails. That is something that I think you will struggle with if you don’t have. My favourite marketing automation tool is ActiveCampaign.

I love it. I have for a long time. It has really great capability. I use it for email marketing, for connecting marketing platforms, for the sales pipeline and deal CRM, for the general CRM where you can keep notes and interact with all of your contacts. It does automation amazingly, but that is one of the more complex tools.

It’s one of the more robust in terms of this type of tool. If you’re looking for somewhere to start, have a look at MailerLite. That would be my next suggestion or Flowdesk.[00:12:00] You might find those an easier way to get your head around what’s out there.

The next one is an integration tool. If you’re looking at improving efficiency, having an understanding of connecting tools is important. And even if this is not a service that you end up offering clients, simply knowing Yeah, I can connect ActiveCampaign to your website, and I can use a tool called Zapier to do it.

And Zapier costs this much, and here’s roughly how it works. It’s quite easy. Getting your head around the different options out there so that you can then expand your mind into, we can create these efficiencies in your business. The tool might cost you $30 a month, but we’re going to save you 10 hours a week from someone manually typing all that info in over here.

Is it worth it? So it opens your options. So that’s why I think you need to know an [00:13:00] integration tool. And then the last of my core tools is Canva. And the reason I say Canva is because I’ve not really found another online design tool that is as easy to use as Canva. Adobe is a big one, but even even the easy Adobe tools are not easy, not the way Canva is. So that would always be my starting point and if you’re not a designer, do not offer design. So I very much am not a designer, but I can use templates. And if a client has a template and they want to say, okay, make all the module headers for the new course round that’s coming up. And all I have to do is go in there and change the data.

No worries at all. Ask me to design a template and that’s a hard no. But I can edit things like that. [00:14:00] So you want to know how to do bits like that. Because especially if it’s just you and your client, we need as much kind of understanding of the process as possible. Canva is a great design tool that you can use and it’s easy to export all the bits from it.

It does graphic design and it has like some video editing capability. Not massively. But, enough to get you by.

Okay, so for the rest of this episode, I’m actually going to split into two different areas. Dependent on whether you work with service based businesses or whether you work with more content and course creators, the kinds of tools you’ll need to know as an OBM change. Just because of the things that happen within those types of businesses, from what I’ve seen.

So I’m going to give you a few from each category so that you can easily go, oh yeah, I know these ones and I need to work on [00:15:00] this. So I’ll start with service based businesses and I’ve worked with primarily professional service based businesses. So lawyers, health professionals, accountants.

Those types of businesses when it’s been service based. The first thing that I would say that if you’re going to work with service based businesses, you’ll need to learn an online booking calendar tool. So somewhere where your clients can book in appointments, meetings, calls with your client without someone having to manually do it.

And tools that do that are Calendly, Acuity. There’s so many but if you’re just looking to get your head around one, Calendly and Acuity is where I would start. Calendly has less functionality than Acuity does, but both of them are very good tools. You’ll also need to know a [00:16:00] document suite and fairly well, enough to not be guessing about majority of the functions.

So if you’re looking at Microsoft Office or you’re looking at Google Suite, either is fine. Just know what the different tools within those suites are and have a really solid understanding of how to use document processing tools and spreadsheets. Because at the end of the day, that is the basis of information.

And if you don’t have some kind of default for where you can store information, how to store it, how to present it in a way that is professional and easy to read through. You’re going to struggle and your clients will struggle. So playing with some of those tools is only beneficial. You’ll also need to know some kind of online form tool.

So talking about job form or type form or gravity form if you’re a bit techy with [00:17:00] WordPress. Because when we have clients of all different kinds and people of all different kinds, usually we need to get information off them and the best way to get information in an online space is in an online form.

We want to remove all of the writing down on paper forms as much as possible. To do that, we need to have solid online forms that will connect into the different systems we need them to connect it to.

And then the last one that I would recommend for if you’ve got primarily service based clients is to have some kind of client support or portal software. Now, software like this, they are a little bit of the all in one kind of tool, but more so for the client management aspect. So we’re looking at SuiteDash, we’re looking at Dubsado.

These are the kind of tools you might think of. 17 Hats, I think is another one.[00:18:00] There’s lots, again, there’s lots out there. These tend to be a bigger learning curve than any of the other tools I’ve mentioned, because they do manage a whole journey. And it’s things like, once a lead comes in, a lead will fill in this form, then it gets put into this pipeline.

Then they’re going to go to this page to book a call, then I’m going to have the call and this email is going to go out automatically. Then the contract will get sent, they’ll be able to sign that contract online. The invoice will automatically get created. Then once it’s paid, they become a client. Then there is a land within this tool where that client can log on and get the information that you have for them in that one spot, ready to go, and so on and so forth.

It keeps going. But the ability for these tools to do two way communication with other tools, I find quite limited. So it is very looking at things through a singular pipeline or flow, but it can be really useful, especially if If your clients have to [00:19:00] do proposals and things like that, or keep, copious notes on clients or have things easily accessible, lots of information, tools like that can be good.

Okay, so that’s our service based business tools. Now let’s move to our course creator business tools. If you’re working with clients who have memberships, who create online learning products who generally they’re speakers too. These are the kinds of tools you want to be looking at. The first one is an online course platform.

Obviously, if we are online course creators, we need somewhere where our students can come, sign up and access our content. This is an online course platform. And you’ll find tools out there like Kajabi, Teachable, Thinkific. Again, there are lots of different ones. And so as an OBM, if you’re going [00:20:00] to work with course creators or content creators, you want to have a solid understanding of how one of these types of tools work.

Because again, the information can be translated, but if you’ve got no idea from the start, you are going to struggle. So it is really paramount if you’re going to work with that type of person to support them with their members and with their students and to be able to update the content on there and swap things in or out, you need to have a play with these tools.

The next one is a webinar tool. So webinars are a really popular way for content creators to get their content out there. A lot of people use them and sometimes they don’t use them just for webinars, they can use them for other types of things too. But I have always found that having knowledge of webinar tools.

And so I think that it is something that you should learn, [00:21:00] especially because the knowledge for that will translate to different kinds of tools as well. So if you’ve got a webinar happening, you might know this tool, but then if your client is going to do a challenge or your client is going to do something similar, the knowledge that you’ve learned from using that tool will transfer across.

So I do think that you should have a play with a webinar type tool, so something like Webinar Ninja or Webinar Jam, and get your head around what webinar tools do and how they do it. They’re not hard, and usually they have little wizards that kind of step you through, so you create a dummy webinar, and then you create the follow up emails from it, and you create the sign up page, and all of those things.

And it just, yeah, it’s pretty easy learning process, but valuable. And then you also want to have a look at landing page builders. So I am definitely not [00:22:00] a developer of any kind, but knowing how to put together a landing page so that I can get someone’s email address, I think is a crucial aspect of being at OBM.

You need to at least understand what that is and what it looks like, even if you’re not the one that’s going to do it ongoing. This is going to help you coordinate team members far better than if you had no clue. It also gives you insight into the process of what happens when somebody does release a new thing.

We need a page where people can put their name and put their email and how much content goes on that page. And then once they put their name in the email, they hit the button. Then what? How do I create that thank you page? And then what do I do once I’ve got that email? How do they get to the email tool?

It gives you first hand experience in what that flow looks like, feels like, and that will support your ongoing management with other people. So landing page builders, [00:23:00] I think, too are worth having a look at and just build simple pages. So you can look at lead pages. That’s a tool that a lot of people use.

But there are landing page builders within lots of other tools as well. So for example, if you’re using Kajabi, it has its own landing page builder. You don’t need to get another tool. And it brings me to my final tool, which is a website builder. Know how to use one drag and drop website builder. And this is not something that you will learn overnight.

It might be something that you add to your knowledge as you go. But having an understanding of how websites work, generally, is really beneficial because it helps you understand every other tool that’s ever been created. At least that’s my experience. If you’re a WordPress person, learn how to use Divi.

If you’re on Kajabi, learn how to use the website [00:24:00] building part of Kajabi. If you have clients on Squarespace, have a poke around on Squarespace. Learn how to navigate these sites and what the main components are so that when you need to add something to it, and not necessarily you, but if you need to tell someone else how to, you know what you’re talking about.

You have a concept already. And that’s it. Those are the top tech tools I truly believe every OBM should know and will help you be a better OBM, even if you are not the one who’s consistently using that tool. It is the concepts behind how the tools work and how they were built that will give you knowledge that translates across everywhere and will be a massive benefit to your client.

If you have questions If you want more types of tools, if you have a question about certain tools, [00:25:00] please leave me a comment. I am so happy to help and I actually have a whole module on different tools and skills that you need as an OBM in OBM Academy that goes into much more depth. So if you’re interested in upping your OBM game, Google OBM Academy.

Thanks everybody. Bye!

 ​ [00:26:00]

E29 How to deal with angry clients 

Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] Hey, hey everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Audacious [00:01:00] OBM. I’m your host, Leanne Woff, and today we are digging in to how to deal with angry clients. Doh, doh, doh. Okay, so I’ve had people ask me before, how do you go about managing difficult clients and difficult conversations? And so I’ve had to spend quite a bit of time thinking about this and actually analysing what it is that I do.

So let me tell you a little story. Last year, maybe in the second half of last year, we’re working away, my team and I. We’re all doing our different things. And then, an email lands in our inbox. And Chloe says to everyone, Guys, listen to this and proceeds to read this email. [00:02:00] So we’re listening and we’re listening and the office is really quiet and the client is having a good old winge.

So Chloe finishes reading and then all of a sudden everybody’s saying, Oh, we need to say this. We need to say this. Maybe we need to do this, including me. We’re all just reacting to what’s in this email. And then I walked away to get coffee, got inside, I’ve come back. And as I’ve come back, I’ve thought this client is just reacting.

They’re reacting to something else that’s happened. And my team has read this email. We’ve gone straight [00:03:00] into research and investigation mode. What is it that happened here? Is this something that we even should be reading? Like, why are you sending us this email to complain about this? What is our role here?

And you can see how everything puts a spanner in the works. Everybody stops. We’re all scrambling.

And in the midst of all of that, I have realized this is a reaction. Now, luckily, I had actually just been updating the module in OBM Academy that’s all about difficult conversations and giving clients what they really need, not necessarily what you just see. I paused and I had all of this information rolling around in my head and I found it so funny because it’s like, Leanne, you’ve just been, talking to OBMs about this exact thing.

Today, [00:04:00] I have eight tips for you. Eight tips on how to gently deal with angry clients and difficult conversations. The first one is do not react to their reaction. Stop and take a breath. So in my team’s scramble of why are they saying this and what has happened and, we’ve all gone into a fluster, we’re just reacting to something that has landed.

And here’s the thing, when you react to something, it’s unexpected for you to react as a quick response to something. And so you’re not really thinking properly. You need to actually take a breath and think about whatever the situation is that you’re in, regardless of whether it’s an email from a client or something completely different in life.

Number [00:05:00] two, redefine your purpose. So when we’ve received an email like that we need to remember that our purpose for reading the email and our purpose for responding to the email is not to defend anyone. You never should read an email with the pretense that this is just an attack on me. This is just someone saying that I’ve done the wrong thing or that someone else has done the wrong thing or, it’s accusatory or whatever.

Because let’s be honest, email has no tone and there’s so many other things that can come into play here. When we’re reading things like this and when we’re responding, our purpose needs to be to re-establish security. Usually, if you’ve got an email or are having a conversation where it feels a little bit like, [00:06:00] hang on, are they trying to say I’ve done the wrong thing?

It’s not actually about you or what you’ve done. There’s something that is underlying that the person that you’re communicating with needs security around. They’re concerned about something. If they weren’t concerned, they wouldn’t have brought it up. Number three is look beneath the surface. What is the problem really?

Or what is the question that they’re asking you really? Because just like you, people can be quite intimidated to have conversations that make them uncomfortable. They also might not be super confident having to ask for help with something because it makes them feel like they’re not the most knowledgeable.

People find it hard to ask for help. People find it hard to go, oh, I don’t know how to [00:07:00] do this, but these people will know. And sometimes in their own stuff, they get stuck there. And so then when they come back to you to go, I need help. Can someone just show me this thing? It seems like they’re having a go, but really they will, they’ve had this whole internal dialogue already.

And it has nothing to do with you. So we want to work out what the problem is really, because the reaction that you’re seeing is just that. It’s a reaction at their action to an occurrence based on something. It’s a symptom. So it’s not the actual source. And that’s why usually when you get some kind of Email a conversation that has a negative connotation.

There’s something it’s stemming from. And that’s [00:08:00] why I say don’t react to their reaction. I’m not reacting to their action. I’m reacting to their reaction. Because it reminds me that there’s a reason they’re doing that. They’re reacting to something else. And if I can work out there’s something else This will all get resolved really calmly.

Number four, think about who the problem relates to. Is it even you? So this will change how you manage the entire situation. Sometimes you get the brunt of a reaction, but it actually has nothing to do with you. It has to do with something someone else did. And you just happen to be the person who usually has the answers.

So in this situation, my team and I are pulling all of this apart. And it actually had nothing to do with any of us. It was aimed at somebody else, but [00:09:00] we’ve been included because we usually have the ability to go, ah, if this is what you’re needing, here you go. Or this is why they did that to settle the issue.

So it’s really important to think about, hang on a sec, what is my role here? Because it might not be, your role here is for me to yell at you or be annoyed at you because something is broken or didn’t go the way I expected. So we want to keep, a cool head. 5. When you’re dealing with things like this, when you get an email that lands in your inbox like that, measure the level of input needed.

In this one scenario, the email was read, everybody stopped. Then we had a big conversation. Then we thought about other things. Imagine how much time we wasted. Collaboratively. It might not have been much individually, but that’s an hour of our time just because we [00:10:00] all decided to talk about it and go, uh, and have our little panic.

And really, it wasn’t even for us. So I could have just saved myself an hour by going, hmm, not quite sure about this, I’ll deal with it later and see what happens. So we want to measure how much time we’re going to put in, discussing with other people and investigating what happened and when, right? You don’t want to spend hours gathering facts and information for something that’s not really a priority or doesn’t matter.

It just seems like something at the moment or you’ve just perceived it a certain way, not that the client has. You’re just wasting precious time. So I really want you to think about the impact of whatever the conversation pertains to. Number six. Take an outsider perspective and come up with a solution.

[00:11:00] Without going down the rabbit hole of here’s a 27 step pathway to fix this, you might read that email and go, okay, I can see that you might have perceived it as they’re really annoyed because they can never find the podcast episode that they’re looking for and they’ve asked 57, 000 times and I can’t believe it’s not in my inbox.

And can someone just give me the link? You might have nothing to do with the process of how this person gets access to a podcast or where they’re saved or anything. But, you might also know exactly where all the episodes are. Instead of reacting and being annoyed, just email back and go, Hey, saw your email.

I’m guessing you probably want to know where the latest podcast is. It’s here, and where the stats are that show how it’s performing. These are here. Let me know if you need anything else. And instead of going down the pathway of trying to justify and think about all the things, you’ve just [00:12:00] given them exactly what they needed and it’s taken two minutes.

So it’s taking all the drama out and looking for what it is that they actually need right now. Number seven, don’t be passive aggressive. So here’s the thing with passive aggression, it’s Easy. It’s quite easy to be passive aggressive and then to hide behind the fact that we haven’t yelled and, I don’t understand why anybody could really point some blame at the way I’m behaving because I haven’t done anything that’s overtly aggressive.

But passive aggression is just another form of aggression, and it will just make it worse. Adding in snarky comments or being sarcastic with situations like this, just blows it up. Except when you behave that way you’ve behaved the wrong way as well. So all of a sudden if someone else has been behaving in a [00:13:00] manner that’s incorrect, you’ve just put yourself in the firing line straight with them because you’re not dealing with it in an assertive manner. You’re still being aggressive and snarky in a different way. And it doesn’t make anybody feel good and it will not make the situation better.

And it won’t make you feel good. At the end of the day, you might feel like you’ve had your two cents of, I showed them. It doesn’t really give you satisfaction. And it just means there’s going to be another conversation that’s had later. And number eight, if you get this email and it is a result of an error that you’ve made or something that you’ve done or not done, don’t reply.

Just pick up the phone and apologize. Don’t beg. Do. Not. Beg. If you’ve made a mistake, you’re a human being and we make [00:14:00] mistakes. And if saying sorry and doing what you can to rectify the practical situation in front of you is not enough, then really, your client is a butt. That’s the reality here. They’re not very nice, they’re not going to accept that humans make errors sometimes.

That you were a big enough person to go, Hey, yep, that one was me fixing it. Now. Like they can either move on or they can fester and be annoyed about it. But I find that Alot of OBMs will go into that begging for forgiveness point. Oh my goodness, I can’t believe I’ve done this. I’m so sorry, I’m so sorry.

What can I do? I’ll do anything. And then the next thing. And the next thing. And that’s the narrative they always get. Whereas if you can step back a little bit. Fix the situation and then put in place things so that that kind of thing doesn’t happen anymore. You’re going to get a lot better of a response and you’re going to have much [00:15:00] more ownership over your role.

And then everybody can move forward like grown ups, which is the aim of the game here. Now if you follow the eight different things that I’ve said in this episode, usually what will happen is you’ll be dealing with your angry client in a way that diffuses the situation, which is the aim of the game is to recognize that someone is unhappy about something. That there are multiple perspectives as to what it is and why that could be. And working out a way to give the person what they really need so they can walk away feeling good and not have that frustration anymore. I hope that that helps you so that next time you get an email like that or have to have a conversation like that.

You’re not panicked and you have a little bit of a roadmap on how to handle it. [00:16:00] Because if we have steps to take, we can remove part of the emotion. And that’s the hardest bit is removing the emotion from these situations. But if we have a little list, well, there’s no emotion in the list. It’s just a list that can help our head get in the game.

Hope you found it helpful. If you are an OBM and you are looking to up your OBM game, Google OBM Academy. Check it out. That is where I share the ins and outs of everything I have learned as an OBM, so that you can be a rockstar too. Bye everybody! [00:17:00] 

​[00:00:00] E28 How can I take a break without letting my clients down?
Leanne Woff: ​ [00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello! Welcome to another episode of the Audacious OBM. [00:01:00] Today we are talking holidays. How can I take a break without letting my clients down? Now I know, as an OBM, I get super invested in my clients and in their businesses and the way that they run. I become integral to the team, to them, and if I’m not there, it feels a little bit wobbly.
So If I am this invested, how can I possibly step away for a period of time without it having a negative impact on my clients who mean so much to me? On their teams who I’ve built relationships with? In this episode, I’m going to talk about I’m going to give you 7 things that you can do to make taking a break a little bit easier.
These are the things that I generally do [00:02:00] and that I have found work and I’m hoping that it will give you a starting point and the confidence you need to take some time out when you need it. The first of these things is define what break means for you. What do you mean Leanne? A break is a break.
Well, yes, but not all breaks are made equal. So I know because of my personality, even if I’m having a break, I don’t stop. That doesn’t mean I am available to clients. It doesn’t mean that I’m working all the time, but it means if I want to learn something new, generally, I’m going to do this while I’m on a break because that’s me and that’s what I enjoy.
And a long time I learned that if I try and take a break the way everybody else tells me to, I come back from that break and I don’t feel [00:03:00] refreshed. I get bored and I want to be able to do what I want to do when I want to do it. So if that means I want to do a course, then I’m allowed to do that and I give myself that permission.
If it means that, I want to check in with a certain client just to see how they are, then I’m going to do that because that’s what I want to do. It might be for you that you don’t want to look at a computer screen for a week straight. That’s great. Make that what it means for you. But what I want you to have is permission that breaks can look how you want, so that you come back refreshed.
And so for me, that sometimes means, Oh, I’m going to log in to this tool and I’m going to play around, because I can’t stop thinking about it and I find it exciting. Like that’s fun for me, even though it seems kind of [00:04:00] worky. It’s fun for me and I want to be able to do that in between doing all of my other holiday things.
Number two, choose when. This is a crucial part of actually being able to relax when you are on a break. The timing is important and so although you can’t always be, planning in advance for months and months on end to when you’re going to take a break or you might not have full control over when you’re going to take a break.
You can be a little bit proactive and you can look at the clients that you have and what is going on for them. When you’re considering when, I want you to think about when the critical times are for your clients. You work with them day in and day out. You know when things are crazy, when things that are really important are happening, and when things are just ticking along because you’re ramping up to the next thing.[00:05:00]
Map that out across your clients. Then you’ll know what impact it will have if you’re not there. And I like to be around when it’s a critical time, when I know my client is going to need me specifically, when I know that something, a big launch is happening and there is a likelihood of things needing to be happening really quickly or with somebody who knows this in and out. Where, the outcome is big for the client. I like to be around. Usually, too, because I’ve put in all the work to get it up to this point. So I’m going to be there when it launches. So map out those bits. Look for some quiet times.
Those are the bits where you want to take a break. If there are no quiet bits Talk to your clients about it. I have had many conversations with my clients [00:06:00] around when what’s happening in their world and at some point I want to take X amount of time off and when do they think would be a good time.
Not saying that that is when I’m going to do it, but having the conversation so I can get some more insight into what the plan is.
Number three. Plan in advance. Give your clients as much notice as possible. Sometimes we plan when we’re going to go away, but we don’t actually tell our clients. Don’t do that. Tell them as soon as you know, or as soon as you’re thinking about it. Keep them in the loop, because what adds to their discomfort is you saying, Oh, by the way, I’m not going to be here next week, or I’m not going to be here in two weeks.
And it makes them feel wobbly, like you’re there to keep them stable, and all of a sudden you’re bang, not there. It has a big impact. So if we can share with [00:07:00] them our thoughts, and when we’re planning on doing things, hey, in July, I’m planning on having a week off. That’s what I’m thinking because kids have holidays or because I really want to go to Paris, whatever it might be, so that you’re planting that seed early on.
And the more notice that we have as humans, the easier it is for us to work through something. So if it is going to be a little bit wobbly or it scares us, there’s heaps of time for us to get okay and comfortable with the idea. And that’s what we want. So we want to give clients as much notice as possible, and we want to keep them in the loop.
Which brings me to number four, which is manage the discomfort. When we’re going to take a break, we know that things won’t be happening as they normally do within your client’s business, because you are not there. It adds a layer of unknown and for majority of humans, change or unknown, is [00:08:00] really uncomfortable.
And so what we want to do is manage that before we get there. The more levels of certainty we can give clients, the lower that discomfort will be. We want them to know what it’s going to look like. We want them to have everything they need for this to feel easy. And so I want you to think about what it is that your client might need during that period.
You know them well. Well enough to know, okay, these are the bits where they’re going to wobble. I know if I’m not there to schedule, six months worth of social posts that don’t go out for another three months, it’s not going to be an issue. But I also know that I’m not going to be there, every second day to jump on a call and just let them know what they’re doing for the day. Look for the bits where your presence or your lack of presence is going to be felt [00:09:00] and come up with a plan for those things.
So you. Being in the position that you are, you know the way they think, you know generally their temperament, the way they feel, what they stress about, what they don’t. And so I want you to think about your clients specifically and what they might need to make this easier. Because if you can communicate that to them, it’s also going to make it feel better for you.
Because you’re not going to be worried either. I want you to put your holidays in their calendar. Have it black and white, easy to find, Hey, this is when Leanne isn’t here. I want you to share your plan. As we’re preparing for us not being around, tell your client, Hey, this is how it’s going to work when I’m not here.
This is what I know that you would have needed me for. This is the plan to happen instead. As you’re putting things in place, share it with them so that they can see in that lead up, in that journey [00:10:00] towards that break, you’re on top of it. You’ve controlled the whole thing.
It’s all right. You know what they need and you’ve got it sorted and you’re not concerned so they don’t need to be. Give them the reassurance. Manage that discomfort and be proactive. So have those conversations sooner rather than later. Looking at the scope. Talking to your client. Asking them if they’re, they think they’re going to be okay.
And reassuring them that you’re confident. And set up an autoresponder. So when you go on leave, set up an autoresponder that says, Hey, I’m on leave. And then tells them what to do. So if your clients have forgotten that you’re on leave, well, maybe they haven’t forgotten, but maybe they’re used to just typing in your email to talk to you.
And they do that. We want them to get something back that says. Hey, you know I’m Lee, I’m on leave. Thanks so much for keeping me in the loop anyway, I’ll get back to it and read [00:11:00] through it all when I’m back. Here’s what you can do in the meantime. And you decide, it might be email a different person. It might be you can call this person.
It might be, if it is urgent, do these three things. It might be if you’re looking for where something is saved, go to Blah. So thinking about the things that will make it easier for your clients and then it becomes easier for you too. Number five. Manage the work. Okay. Work, like everything else, and workload goes up and down.
And if you are planned properly, you will know what can be done in advance. Look at those things. And even if usually you don’t do things that early, when you’re going to not be there, see if some of that stuff can be done early. And then communicate that to your client. Hey, I know that we usually do this
in the second week of the month, but I’m going to do this in the [00:12:00] last week of the month before because I’m not going to be here and I want it done. I want it done properly. So I’m going to do it here. You manage that in advance. And so it’s taking some of the pressure off that time. And to do that, you really need to look at the different things that you do for clients and pick up the common threads, because sometimes we just go into Autopilot, and we do, and we do, and we don’t actually create the connection of, ah, this is what we’re doing. So sit and think about some of these things, and think about the bits that can be moved to be earlier, that aren’t going to have a negative impact by doing that. Then I want you to think about what’s going to be needed.
You’re not there, some of this stuff we’re going to move to earlier. What else might my client need in this period? And Is it critical? They might need somebody who can send text messages to clients. Is that critical? Is that a critical [00:13:00] thing if it’s not done? Yes or no? Because some things, just because we do them, doesn’t mean that they’re 100 percent essential.
They’re beneficial, they increase experiences, they do all different things. But, the whole ship won’t fall over if those things don’t happen. So we need to know what those things are. And then evaluate with the things that are critical, the things that do need to happen how we’re going to keep, fill that gap.
What questions might they have? I find it helpful if I’m not going to be around to have a space in their project management system that has, here’s all the bits that you always ask me for. Here’s the stuff, here’s where I keep this. Here’s the email address for this person. The things that I know my clients consistently will message me about and go, Hey, you know that thing, like I have a mini handover, little land where they can go and they can get what they need because I am not there.
And then tell them it exists [00:14:00] and tell them to use it. Number six, help them find temporary support. So when we’re not around. The likelihood is they might need another body, and it might not be for your entire role. It might be for a little bit. Someone who can stay on top of the inboxes or somebody who can help manage the team so that they all know what they’re doing.
And it might be at a smaller capacity than to what you do it in. Let’s say you spend an hour every day managing a team, you might get somebody in who just does a 30 minute check to make sure things are going along and that everyone knows what to do and that’s it. That’s enough while you’re not there.
So I want you to think about. With those things that we know need to happen, who else can do them? And I want you to think about the people that you know and the people that you trust that you can bring in and share that [00:15:00] idea with your client. Hey, I have a really close colleague who is an OBM.
They’re fantastic at what they do. I trust them and I think that we should bring them in to get them to do these bits while I’m not here. Are you happy for me to do that? And so it’s giving them a second layer of confidence. It’s somebody that you already know. It’s somebody that you’re confident can do the job that, you know, so well how to do and it gives them that support.
Whereas if we just say, oh, we’re going to need to find someone. It already feels yuck. It already feels unknown, so we want to try and limit that. And then start talking to your fellow OBMs. Think about the different people you need to connect with so that you’ve got people you can reach out to when you want to be on leave.
There are so many capable OBMs out there, and they’re just an email, a Facebook group, a WhatsApp message [00:16:00] away. Use them! And if you can, bring someone in a little bit sooner. So if you’re going to subcontract and say, hey, this person on my team is going to help you while I’m gone, get them in on the conversation as early as possible, even if it’s just for a little thing, so that your client gets familiar with the face.
That person becomes a known quantity, even for a little thing. Hey, I’m going to have Susie come in and she is going to brief the team. She’s amazing. She’s on my team. I’ve seen her work. I trust her 100 percent and so should you. And then you might get Susie to come in, for one little job. So the client can see her, meet her, go, Oh yeah, okay.
I know who Susie is. Cool. So always be proactive. Try and think ahead and try and minimize the discomfort. And the last thing that will help you take a break as an OBM is to set your [00:17:00] boundaries and communicate them. You might have boundaries, but you don’t communicate them. And everybody’s boundaries are different.
So it might be okay for your clients to send you emails. With little questions while you’re on break. You might already have factored in 30 minutes a day while you’re on leave that you’re going to check that and look for anything urgent and if it’s urgent You’ll reply, you know that it’s going to take you two minutes to do that.
And you’re quite happy with that. That’s cool. Your boundary might be, you don’t want to talk to anybody work related. That’s cool. Don’t send me text messages. I won’t answer. Don’t send me Slack messages. I won’t answer. Don’t contact me on Facebook. That’s for. Friendship questions, not work questions.
And communicate what it’s going to look like to your clients. Because the second that you give people the clarity, they’re usually [00:18:00] pretty good at following those things. And unless the whole building is burning down, which I’ve never had that happen once, They’re not gonna contact you, they’re gonna manage it, and they’re going to value you enough to go, this is what they need, so they can come back and be, all guns blazing, ready to go.
They’re refreshed, they’re happy, that you’ve got to remember that this relationship goes two ways, and the likelihood is your clients want you to be at your best. And they want you to have a break when you want to have a break. Like as much as you want to make their lives good and easy, they want that for you too.
So remember that and let them know how they can help you do that. That’s where your boundaries come in. So that’s it for today. I hope that that helps you and gives you a little bit of a framework to work through, especially if you’re living in the, how do I do it and my clients are dependent on me and what [00:19:00] if I do that and then they all leave?
They’re not gonna leave. You are very crucial and critical, but we want people who value us and value that we need time out too. Thanks so much for joining me today. If you found this episode useful, please jump on your favorite podcast app and leave me a five star review because that is how these platforms tell other OBMs that there is quality advice here.
If you have any questions. Don’t forget, please send me a DM or an email. You’ll find me at Leanne Woff on Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, or you can email helpme at audaciousempires. com. Have a great week.
[00:20:00]

E27 Do OBMs need Work Agreements and Contracts? A necessary evil or overdone formality?

​[00:00:00] Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to today’s episode of the [00:01:00] Audacious OBM. Today we are talking all things OBMs, work agreements and contracts. Do OBMs need work agreements and contracts? Are they a necessary evil or an overdone formality? I’m really excited to talk about this today because it actually came from one of our listeners.

Thank you, Kirsten, for submitting your question around if you really need a work agreement as an OBM. Kirsten has been thinking about the way she operates as a virtual assistant and the agreement she has now and if that needs to be changed, or what is the standard for OBMs. So I am not a legal professional in any way, shape or form, and highly recommend going and getting your own legal advice.

But I can tell you what I did. The first thing was I did not create my own. [00:02:00] So, Legal is its own language, and I know enough to know that just writing something down does not make it a contract. . I very early on went on a hunt for a legal contract to use as a work agreement with my clients. So I bought the template from a legal provider years ago, and I still use it.

I’m very much of the opinion that I paid money for it back then and, I read through it in detail and I still think that it is valid and relevant. And it is something that I can always get checked and updated by a legal professional if I want to, rather than starting from scratch. When considering work agreements and contracts, I personally would not offer services without one.

And I know that there is some conversation around, but do they really hold up in court or whoever really goes down the [00:03:00] contract path to then say, ‘Well, it’s in your contract’, and does that actually work? And my response is, understand what you’re using it for, understand its function for you because you can have an agreement and it might not be all about legal proceedings for you. It might be, to do with the appearance of professionality. Maybe you want a way to show that you are in it for the long haul in this business. And if you are a serious business owner, then maybe you need a work agreement, other people have them. It’s one way to show I’m not just here to play, like I’m serious about this now, work agreements can look all different ways.

And this is why I am saying understand its function. Because its function might be [00:04:00] a way to include how to work with you or how best to work with you or what your standards are. And doing this, it sets a certain level and it actually helps you to communicate with your clients better. So when you are looking into contracts or work agreements, think about what do I actually want this to do for my business?

Do I want it to be legally binding so that no matter what, if I’ve done work for someone that it’s iron clad, it has the payment terms, it has everything I need to feel safe and secure. And if that’s the answer, then you know a lawyer is gonna be the one that’s gonna create that for you. Okay. The second thing I wanna talk to you about is thinking about and understanding how you are going to present this work agreement and [00:05:00] what communication is required to deliver it. So you know, one option might be that you have a work agreement, it’s templated. Every time you get a new client, you populate the fields, you email it through to the client, you have them sign it, send it back. That’s one way you might use a, an online document signing tool, or you might use a secure document signing tool, like different tools do different things.

Or you might want to sit down face to face with your client and go through your work agreement page by page with your client so that you and them are really, really clear on what you’re agreeing to. Or you might wanna do that on a Zoom and then get them to sign it through a digital meets. Are you going to give them a copy of it?

Please say yes. . So it’s about thinking through your process of how are you [00:06:00] going to communicate what’s inside of this contract with your client? So everybody is clear. Now, some things that are common that are included in work agreements, and I know that these are some of the things that are in mine.

It’s the price. What is the service that I’m offering? What is in scope? What is not in scope? How much am I charging for it? What is the payment schedule? What is the way that I like to work? How can they expect communication from me? What are the limitations to this service? I also have things in there, a little bit about me and my team because it’s nice and honestly, work agreements, contracts I find really boring.

I find it hard because I don’t fully understand it. I’m not a legal professional. I’m an online business manager. You can also have in that when this contract will be reviewed. So if you’ve got [00:07:00] long-term clients or you’re working in retainers, you might not have a contract that just goes on forever and ever and it’s good to have a something in there that indicates what the limitation on the timeframe for this contract is.

Then I also want you to think about . If you do have ongoing clients, do you need to redo a work agreement for every job? And my answer to you is it depends. I have offered services in all different ways before, and I usually would do a work agreement at the start, and if it is a retainer client, if it is someone who’s committing to a certain number of hours, if you’re charging hourly per month, then I might do one agreement and I might, put that in place covering however many months.

That would be the way I would’ve approached that. Now [00:08:00] if I do project work and it’s a set, this is the project, this is the scope, this is where it starts, the middle, the end, this is the milestones, these are the payment terms. For that project, or if you look at it as a job, for that job, I would do one agreement, and then if that client was to come back to me even a month later and say, oh great.

That project was amazing, Leanne, can we work on this thing next? I would say, absolutely we can. We’ll do another agreement. So it’s a different service. Like one project is open and then closed. Now we’re working on another project, so that needs to open and close in the same way, kind of like buying a house.

It doesn’t matter if you’re going to buy, if you go and you buy a house from someone. You’re going to fill all out all the paperwork for that house and make sure that legally it’s yours, and then say a month later you wanna buy another house and it happens. You happen to be buying it from that same [00:09:00] person.

You’re gonna want another contract for that house. So for that reason, I’m saying I would start new contracts if I’m doing project work like that.

I have currently got some of my clients on retainers, and as I said, I do that for periods of time because I understand as vital team members, sometimes it’s not as clear as, here’s the project I’m working on. You are working as a consultant or a service for X amount of months. That might be what your agreement covers.

And what you’ll find is when you start looking up templates for work agreements, for contracts, you’ll find different, formats based on the way that you offer your services. So you might find contracts that have, for retainers, contracts that are for. Projects. So have a look like Google is our friend, and there’s lots of providers of these.

And [00:10:00] really, if you’re brave enough, pick up the phone and talk to the person behind the screen, the person who created it, or send them an email because they’re likely a lot more clever in this area than you or I. And they will be able to answer the question of, is this for me? And what do I consider?

There are some services too, which offer contracts and then they might offer an hour of consulting with that contract and help you set it up so that you can answer your questions. They help you tailor it a little bit, and you pay for that hour in that little package and then you’ll sort it. So I think it is something that I would always invest in upfront and it’s definitely something that I still do for every client.

 The other thing that I want to cover one final thing. Sorry, I lie. Two final things, . One is NDAs. So along my journey I found that people are [00:11:00] quite sensitive when it comes to their business and their information and the things that they have worked so hard to create and protect and they want some kind of guarantee that their information is safe.

And that started to come across with people asking me to sign non-disclosure agreements, NDAs. And I remember one time someone wanted me to sign their NDA and I was talking to some business colleagues of mine and said, is it standard practice to sign somebody else’s? Because then it has their terms and the way that they want the rules to be.

It covers them. It doesn’t really cover me or have it anything from my standpoint. And the advice I got back was you can have your own NDA. So now what I’ve done is I’ve actually put a non-disclosure agreement into my own contracts that says look, [00:12:00] I’m not going to share your information far and wide.

Obviously I am saying this in layman’s terms, , And I don’t want you disclosing the information that I share with you either. So my IP, my secrets, my way of doing things, like that’s a benefit for my clients, not for my clients and their friends. And their friends of their friends . So it becomes a mutual thing.

So I really liked that. And then it’s something that I know people are already sensitive about. And so now I show that I’ve already thought about it. Hey, there’s an NDA in there, so you don’t have to worry about it. You don’t have to worry about me going and sharing your IP with your competitors. I’m not interested in doing that.

And then the final thing is, when does work agreements and contracts fit in to your process? When are you going to deliver them? Talk to your client about them and what surrounds [00:13:00] that you can, a lot of people do it all different ways. You can, before you even have a conversation, say we need to have a work agreement, you can have a conversation and then have the first invoice paid, and then do a work agreement.

I like to get to know the client a little bit, learn about what they need, where they’re going. So possibly have a 15 minute chat, then maybe jump on a Zoom and chat more to get a really solid idea of if we’re gonna work together. Then usually I will quote them. I let them sit with the quote and what my approach would be to work with them.

And then once they say, yes, I’m keen, then I send them the, let’s get the boring stuff out of the way email. And that email has, okay, so the first step for us to move forward is to sort out the legal and admins and bobs, and that is their invoice. It is the payment [00:14:00] terms, it is the start date, and it is the work agreement.

Once all of those things are ticked off, then we move to strategy session. Then you get the best of my brain, and so it’s like I give it to them all in a little nutshell. So that. it doesn’t feel like they’re getting 10 emails filled with different requests for forms and admin. It’s in a little bundle.

I’ve already told them, Hey. This is the evil necessity, right? It might not be fun and it might even be a little bit awkward. Some of us find asking for money really awkward. Some of us find asking anybody to fill out forms awkward asking them to do something when you are providing the service. But in this way, I’ve added my own little personality to it.

I’ve, just kind of said, I know, but let’s do it and get it out of the way, and then we’re all happy. And we do, and people just jump on board. They do it, and we move on and it’s great. It’s also a great way [00:15:00] to show them what’s coming next. Now we’re doing this. Then once we’ve done that, we move into this phase.

It shows that you are structured and that you’ve considered things and you are planned that you know how you are gonna work with this client and what is happening in the future, even if they don’t. So gives you that opportunity to create that relationship and for you to start becoming a partner in this conversation instead of as an assistant.

Yeah. So in terms of if OBMs need work agreements. I would say that they’re a necessary evil. I would not say that they’re an overdone formality, even though hey, they are overdone. People do contract upon contract upon contract, and I think that there is a legitimate reason for that. So Kirsten, I hope that that answers your question.

If anybody else has questions, please [00:16:00] send me a DM, Leanne Woff on Instagram, you’ll find me on LinkedIn, you’ll find me on Facebook , or send us an email. Help me@audaciousempires.com. I would love to hear from you. I really want on this podcast to talk about things that are relevant to you right now and help get you unstuck.

And the more feedback I get. The easier it is for me to do that. Otherwise, I’m just guessing. No, I’m not. I actually get a lot of questions all the time, but I do wanna hear from you and if you are finding these episodes helpful, please jump on to whatever podcast app you are listening to this on and leave me a five star review because that is how other OBMs hear about me and my show.

Thanks guys. See you next week..

E26 How to handle multiple client projects as an OBM

 Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to another episode of The Audacious OBM. I’m Leanne Woff, and I’m super excited to have you here with me today. Today’s episode is all about client management. It is how to manage multiple clients as an OBM. This is a question I actually get asked a lot. That is, how do you go about having more than one client, especially with the kind of role that being an OBM is.

We are personable, we are in depth, we are high touch. So how can you possibly go about that and be that invested with multiple clients? So in this episode, I’m gonna give you some tips and tricks into how you can do this with ease and give you some examples of some of the things that I do and have done in the past that makes being an OBM, manageable and keeps your schedule, nice and sharp and succinct with  your clients feeling loved up.

All right, so let’s get stuck in. The success or failure, when it comes to managing multiple clients at one time, when you’re working to this level, really comes down to clarity. Clarity will be your indicator. The clearer that you are about things, the easier it will be and the smoother your schedule will run.

So when we are quoting, when we are creating packages or when we are having introduction chats with clients, we wanna get super clear on what the job actually is and what the capacity will be for you to commit to this. So if we can list out inclusions that are really specific and even list out exclusions, so things that aren’t going to fall into what you are offering, this is going to add that layer [00:03:00] of clarity. Now what I want you to be doing is looking at these inclusions and managing your capacity. How much time is involved in each of these things? How much consistent time is needed? So sometimes it is easier for us to say, do some planning one day, and then do you know, some strategy prep the next day, whatever it might be, how you work with clients.

You really need to think about blocks of time, and if what’s required of this quote, this project, this retainer, whatever it is that you are doing, is it consistent time or is it No, it’s gonna have to be spread out over these days in these weeks until you have a really nice map. Really the aim here is to get a project plan going, even if it’s a retainer.

Because we still should know how long roughly things take us. We also should know where our [00:04:00] critical points are. We know when a job is big and when there will be tight turnarounds, and we know when something will be fairly cruisy, and so we wanna be factoring all of this in and laying out the pieces.

How do we do that? When I’m first mapping anything, including my own time, usually I start with a calendar on one screen and a spreadsheet on the other, because I’m very visual that way. I wanna be able to see, okay, here’s my week and here’s all of the things I need to fit into this week, next week, the week after, or in general.

And then I have a spreadsheet so that I can, . brainstorm and brain dump a little bit without having to create more calendar events if I don’t need to right now, so I can play with it. And first, I work in blocks. I love time blocking, even if it is just for setting up your overall [00:05:00] high level plan. So if you are trying to work out, okay, I’ve got family, I’ve got clients, I’ve got business, what do I, how do I map this?

Okay, family. I know that that might take 10 hours a week, and I know that Susie has soccer on Wednesdays. Map in those things first. And then in your spreadsheet you can go, okay, out, out of my, 30 hours to work this week, I will have to take five of that for picking kids after school. So that leaves me with 25 hours.

Now, if I know that I want to take 30 minutes every day for lunch, that takes another two and a half hours out of that total. Now I’m gonna go and block in my lunch, in my calendar. So this is another thing. Always block in your breaks or you won’t have them , [00:06:00] you’ll just keep working. Whereas when they’re in there, they become like an appointment for you and you wanna meet your appointments.

So block in your breaks. Now, we’ve got breaks, we’ve got kids, we’ve got what’s left in work time, and I want you to think about each of the different services that you offer. How long does it actually take you to deliver those services? So you might just have a general OBM package and if you are charging by the hour and selling hourly packages, it becomes really easy, right?

Because then it’s just, okay, I’ve got 10 hours a week in clients across the board, so I know I have to find 10 hours of time to deliver my client work. That’s so set those blocks up. It might not be as straightforward as that because even though charging by the hour can be great. A lot of the time packages are more profitable.

So we sell those, which is where your [00:07:00] deliverables C become really important because we need to be able to see, this is what I’m operating to for the next however long. So you might have a project that’s going over three months and you might have mapped that project out and you know you are going to spend about five hours a week on that project, mapping the time for those things.

Then. Once we’ve done that, we need to add in some business management time. Nothing about running a business is hands-free, and you know that ’cause you run other people’s businesses. You also know that if there is no time mapped for it, you are not going to give it any. So if you don’t put in marketing time, if you don’t put in client update time into your overall schedule, you are never going to do it.

And it will impact your client experience and it will impact your business and your profitability. So we wanna try and put chunks as much as we can. And it’s not even [00:08:00] saying you need to do this week on week, like week on week. You might have a marketing block that is a whole day in a month or half a day every week, or once a fortnight a day, whatever works for you.

But make sure you’re putting something in there. so once we’ve got a map and we understand how much time we actually have, how much working time do you have, that shows you how many clients you can take on roughly. If you know your services really well, which you need to do, then you start pivoting over to your project management tool. So Asana rules my life. I love it, but it only works if I have that clarity that I was talking about earlier. So all of my client projects go in Asana. My clients cannot access them. This is for running my business, my team, and me, the work that I am doing with clients [00:09:00] also gets put into their project management system. That is where I give them updates. And so what this means is there’s double handling, but can I tell you double handling, this one thing is worth it. I have not found a better way to do this, but giving your clients, the information they need within their system is crucial.

Knowing what your day, week, month looks like and what the priority is and your timelines are for things, your ability to save things somewhere where no one else can see it, or to keep notes as you’re going, it’s also crucial. So Asana does that for me, and sometimes it means putting an update in the client’s Asana and putting the same update in mine.

Sometimes mine has extra notes that my client doesn’t see. Sometimes the client’s one has links that mine doesn’t need. [00:10:00] it’s all very, holistic the way that I do it, but I have clear objectives. Again, with clarity, I need to know that the client has what they need, that everything that business needs to function, have a trail create systems to scale later on, have a history of what’s happened so that my clients can get their update as soon as they want it, for them to see if things are on track or off track, it needs to be in their tool. And then for me to be able to coordinate my own work my week, my team, what they’re doing, be able to see where all our clients are up to across the board, I need Asana updated. And so how I do that is I have a project for each client. And I have our key milestones.

So what are the things that we are doing with this client that are going to show me that we’ve completed something or that are going to show me that we’re progressing towards our goal? And again, this can look [00:11:00] different based on how you’ve structured your services. If it is, say you are setting up, 

you are creating processes for a client. You wanna streamline things in your project, your milestones might be, okay, we’re gonna do an audit first, then we are going to, once we’ve got that audit, we’re going to map out all the gaps. Then we’re going to, create the plan of what we think is missing, what we think is needs to be updated and overhauled, but maybe some of these processes are too old.

We’re going to include in that possibly the different tools that we need or the different team members we need to talk to. So creating that plan would be one of the milestones. Then rolling out that plan is going to be the next thing. Potentially your plan has three big areas. Each one of those areas becomes a milestone, and then there’s handover.

So you’ll be able to look at that all different ways. Okay? So whether it’s [00:12:00] retainer or not, then you’ll have that for every client. So you’ll be able to pull reports on where everything is up to. And for each action that is in your tool, I want you to know how long you plan to spend on it. Give things a time estimate and then plan that time.

Make sure that these things are feeding in together. Otherwise you’ll be over capacity and you won’t be able to meet your needs, and then you’ll be upset and your clients will be upset and it won’t be great. . Once we’ve got everything in our tool, so we’ve got things in our calendar in terms of the blocks of when we are gonna work on things and who’s working on what, when our meetings are, we’re making sure our balance is right in terms of how many hours we need to commit to different things, life and business.

We’ve got our tool, which [00:13:00] has our tasks, it has our big plans and our little plans. It has all of our team. It can run reports and give us progress updates so we know, oh, these are the tasks I have to do in this block, and we can go and do it. The next piece is using that to boost communication. So we really wanna keep our clients up to date.

And this can be part of the hard bit of having multiple clients is we feel like there’s this big burden on how much we have to update everybody. But really that’s just reactive behavior. If you already know what you’re going to be working on, you can give a pre-update, Hey, just letting you know that this is gonna be my focus.

Keeping them in the loop and then giving them an update when you’re done. Hey, just letting you know everything is on track. You can see it here in your project management tool. And I’ve left notes. And here this is over to you to review. And if that is not natural for you, [00:14:00] try and make it a habit.

But if you can’t, then block that time in. Put it in there. Must update client. Have the weekly meeting. Make sure you know what you’re talking about in those weekly meetings. Give them the recap because I tell you what, if you are not meeting your objectives, you are going to know when you are doing the notes for that meeting.

When you are setting that agenda, you are gonna start feeling like, I actually haven’t done it. Why haven’t I done it? We wanna review and be really clear, be honest with yourself, what your capacity is. And then

 I really want you to add extra time. So as humans, we always don’t give ourselves enough time. We underestimate how long something will take us, and the more time pressure we have, the lower the client experience is the lower quality of work. Because then we start rushing and we miss things, [00:15:00] and then your reputation is at stake.

So how do I handle multiple clients? I’m clear. I’m clear on what I’m doing. I’m clear on when I’m doing it. I’m clear on what I need to fit into my week, and I’m clear on what my process is. Those are the things that keep my business on track. And I’ve built in rhythms. So I know this is when I go and look at where everything is up to.

This is what I do. If something is off track, this is how I update clients. This is the areas where things might go off track, and here’s why. Sometimes you’re gonna have instances where you can’t predict everything. You can ballpark, but until you’re actually there, you won’t be able to give the full scope.

And all it means is you have to be really clear with your clients again in communicating with them. When we get to this point. I think from what I [00:16:00] know now that it’s going to look like this, but here’s some key factors that might change that. And if I get in there and I see that well, actually you’ve got four email marketing tools and not just two like you thought you did, and you’ve got more data, and it means that this job is going to roll on, it means we will need to alter the project plan because it is not within scope now. It is different. Some pieces have moved. So what do we need to do to cater for that? And we do it in advance. All of these things are going to help you manage multiple clients and still be fully in it. Keep notes, keep documentation, and always work from a place as if you are not the only one that is going to touch it.

Because then when you go back to it, you’ll be able to see exactly where you’re up to. You’ll be able to jog your own memory. You’ll be able to give the client the experience they deserve and that you can deliver. [00:17:00] So I hope that that helps you . there, I could go on and on and I could pull this down into multiple layers.

So I just wanna reiterate that this is more of a high level overview. Lots of clients, biggest things – Communication and Clarity. If you can do that, then you’ll be well on your way to doing this stress free. See you next week everybody. If you’ve enjoyed this episode, please leave us a five star review because that’s how other OBM’s find us and it can help them too.

E25 How to manage your personal life and work life as an Online Business Manager

Leanne Woff: ​Hello, hello, hello. Welcome to this week’s episode of the Audacious OBM. Today, I’m  going to talk to you all about how to balance your personal life and your work life as an online business manager. Now, do you want to know my secret? Of course you want to know my secret. Otherwise, you wouldn’t be listening to me right now.

All right, so how do, how do I balance my work life and my personal life? The answer, quite simply, is that I don’t. I don’t believe you can. I don’t believe that it’s actually something that’s possible or something that you should be trying to achieve. Balance insinuates some kind of evenness. And in my opinion, that doesn’t exist.

Last time I checked, life is not linear or controllable. Business? Not linear or controllable. Anything that has people involved, not linear or controllable. So, why do we keep trying to achieve this mystical balance? And  what’s the impact of that? What rules does that put on us? What stress does that put on us?

But, there is the need to be able to have a life, and a business, and a family, and a hobby. And sometimes it can be hard to manage all the different things in your world. What I’m going to give you, instead of telling you how to achieve balance, I’m going to tell you how I manage my day to day and all the things that we do.

So to give you context, I have six kids. I have parents, I’m a sister, I’m a wife, I have a very needy cavoodle, I like to do cross stitch, and I like to do jigsaw puzzles, and I am an extreme extrovert, being that if I don’t connect genuinely with people on a regular basis, I’m very cranky, I’m very sad, you know, I like jokes, and I like [00:03:00] hanging out with people, I, have to run my children around to different sporting activities, and I am an avid learner.

And I own Audacious Empires, which is my OBM agency. It is my baby. And I run OBM Academy, which is where I mentor and guide other OBMs to create wildly profitable OBM businesses. All of this stuff is important to me. And I’m pretty certain I’ve probably left out a whole bunch of things. So, when I say to you, I’m going to walk you through the things, how I manage everything.

I say that knowing there’s a lot of things in, my life. This isn’t just one thing and therefore the tips kind of fall flat. Number one, number one tip, know you. [00:04:00] And sometimes this is the bit that we find the hardest. We haven’t actually thought about What makes us up. So just like what I explained to you of me, do that for yourself.

What brings you joy? What keeps you alive? What drains you and makes you tired? What makes you want to poke yourself in the eye? What are all those things? Because… If you don’t predefine some of that stuff, you’re never going to be able to manage all these things. It will always feel like a complete tug of war that you’re losing, and no one wants that.

So, get to know you. Have a little think. Number two, think about what you want from life, your personal life, and what you want from business. What actually is it? What in life do you look at and you think, yeah, I’m really glad I’m [00:05:00] able to do this. I’m really glad I’m able to drop my kids off at school. Or I’m really glad I’m able to have international clients and be on, be in international meetings at seven o’clock in the morning.

 What is it that you want from life and from business? I want a business that makes me lots of money, and these are the things that I’m okay to do to get that, or that gives me flexibility, or that lets me learn and spend 20 hours a week learning, whatever it might be. Then, once you’ve kind of mapped out these things, so from life, I want to be a mum that is present as much as I can be, without compromising all the things that are important to me.

 I want to be a, what do I want to be? I want to be a good friend. And I want to be [00:06:00] someone who is known as being kind and who is supportive and who if somebody, one of my friends needs my help, they know they’ll ring me and I’ll answer. That’s what I want to be. I want to have time for people and I want to be doing life with people, with my family.

I want to know what’s going on in your world. I want to be connected. These are the things I want in life. Now that I know what I want from life and what I want from business, what I want you to do is ask how much you’re willing to give for each of those things. So, okay, I want a business that makes lots of money.

Well, how much am I willing to give to get that? Am I willing to work a hundred hours a week? Am I willing to compromise on business ethics? Am I willing to miss my [00:07:00] kid’s school performance? Am I willing to let somebody else run my kids around to their different extra-curricular activities or do the nighttime story, like what is it that I’m willing to give to get that?

And then in terms of life, am I willing to make less money if it means I can put my kids to bed every night. Am I willing to, have a smaller brand if it means that, , I’m not able to make 7am meetings internationally? Am I willing to do 10 hours of learning every week if it means that I can go to every sport?

 What actually matters here? Because what you might find is the things that you thought mattered, don’t, and the things that you , don’t think mattered, do. But without thinking about it, how are you going to know? And it doesn’t have to be even. That’s what I want to really impress here. It is give and take, but in all different ways, and sometimes it’s take a lot, give a little, and sometimes it’s give a lot, take a little.

 I’ve always called it triage. I triage my life, my business, my everything. I don’t believe you can separate them. Both are so important and, I don’t know about you, but I have this theory that if the CEO walks in today, and he’s got a big decision to make, but he’s just had a massive fight with his partner.

The decision that he makes might not be the one he made on a day where he walked in and felt incredible. People are people and we cannot disconnect who we are from what we do. Not 100 percent and not in that manner. We can be logical and we can, do the best that we can, but at the end of the day, we’re one human.[00:09:00]

We’re not just fragmented pieces that kind of co exist together. We’re all in one body here. So stop trying to fight that and start trying to accept and then use it to your advantage. You know that that’s what it is, so how can we manage based on that knowledge? Thing number four. Think about what happens in an emergency.

What is your backup plan? And this can be a big emergency or this can be a little emergency. The little emergency could be usually, your partner takes the kids to school and that’s normal. Now, let’s say one day your partner can’t. All of a sudden, are you on school duty? Is that what the swap is going to be?

Or, is it, no, in that case I’ll have to ring grandma and she will have to help, because I know she said she will before, because I really can’t miss the 7am meetings. Like, it’s too important to me and I know that the kids don’t really mind who drops them off. Or, let’s say there’s been a project that you are working on and it’s gone live and all of a sudden all the links don’t work.

Okay, this is a big deal. So I’m needed and I’m needed to fix this. And that means I can’t put all the kids to bed tonight. Well, can my partner put the kids to bed? Hey, partner, this is the book I would have read. Like, I just need to be able to go and fix this and then I can put the kids to bed as normal tomorrow, but tonight I just can’t and that’s how it has to be.

And is that acceptable to me? Because if it’s not acceptable to me, I have to change something. If my business needs me and that’s something that I’m not willing to compromise, now I have to be the bedtime person because of the stability it gives my family, then I have to work out what my other options are.

And that might be, [00:11:00] okay, I have someone on my team who is the crisis manager. And if this happens, they will get a phone call at 7 o’clock at night and it’s pre arranged. They’re the go to for this because it’s not something I can do. So there are always other options. You just have to think about them and plan for them first and be okay with what those scenarios might look like.

So number five is what are your backups?  I want you to list out all the possible backups in your life. So it could be your family. It could be after school care. It could be, a list of friends. So it can be people and it can be things. It could be, okay, I’m not going to be able to drop my kids off at school, so I’m going to write a note and leave it in their lunchbox every single day.

Whatever it is, write all of the lists so that you can still fill the different parts that you want in either family or business. I’m going to have a team, I’m going to have this kind of person who does this, or I’m going to set up an automation so that I don’t have to spend an hour a week on emails.

Whatever it might be, think about your backups. Things you can put in place to back up what you want to achieve in business and in life. Six, monitor your vital signs. , it’s a bit odd Leanne, we’re not in medical school. No, we’re not. But, I know when I’m not very happy, or I’m not behaving the way I normally would, my vital signs are different.

Like, where’s my patience at? If one of my, different compartments in my one being is taking too much, I will be able to tell because I will run out of patience faster than I normally would. Whether that’s in life, or in business. I will have less breath, I’ll breathe faster, and feel like I’m running at a thousand miles an hour.

I will have a higher stress level and notice that my shoulders and my neck are all tensed up and, , all like I’m playing Mario Kart and my hands are like gripping that steering wheel like there is no tomorrow. I know that my whole sensory levels will be off the charts. Little noise will trigger a big reaction because my senses are overloaded.

Like, what are my vital signs? Am I reacting to different things the way that I wouldn’t normally? Is my breathing even and calm? Am I laughing a lot? Am I smiling? Am I giving people the time and space they need to talk?  or am I just ranting? Like these are the things that will tell you something has to change and you need to go to one of those backups or you need to change the level of give and take for right now for whatever reason it is.

Because here’s the other thing. Things will not always be the same. You need to be able to shift and change dependent on what’s happening. What are the critical points? Because there are days when business-land will need you more than personal land. And there are days when personal land, if you’re not there, the whole thing will crumple.

So be there and work out how you can be. I’m not saying that, you know, it’s as black and white as you can have everything and that’s all cool. I’m saying that you need to be flexible in terms of what every day looks like and know that different things require different levels of you and it changes  and that’s okay.

And then the last thing, the last tip for managing business, life, and you, your whole world, is to monitor your stakeholder’s vital signs. Now, stakeholders, that’s a fancy corporate word that I actually don’t really like. But, in this case, I’m going to use it. Mostly because I can mock it. You know, so the stakeholders, the business, how’s that going?

What are the vital signs like of that? Is it healthy? Is it growing? Is it, humming along the way it should? Is it giving you the learning outlet that you need? What are the vital signs here? Clients, how are they going? Are they happy? Is your relationship with them good? Can they see the impact you’re having?

What are the vital signs? Your partner, your dog, your kids. Are they happy? Are they healthy? Are they laughing a lot? Or are they crying in the corner? Do they look really hungry? Do they feel neglected? What are the vital signs? And then make plans. Adjust your give and take based on those. Sometimes we don’t realise the things that need to change unless we actually look out, outside of us.

Look at all those things that really matter to us and go, Hey, this is actually going okay. And it’s not that you need to be everyone’s everything or meet every expectation. It’s that for the important things, there are indicators you can look at that will help you manage the tug of war, so that nobody really has to lose. In summary, I don’t think balance exists. And I think that some days being all about business is okay. And some days being all about you is okay. And some days being all about your kids is okay. Or your dog. Or the fact that you just really need to read a book. Making life work for you is more important.

And knowing what you’re willing to do and give to have that. That’s how you manage it. But if you’re not willing to give anything, then it’s never going to work. If you’re constantly just looking for that, no, I want the mathematical equation here, or I want the 100 percent of everything. You’re never going to find that level of managing things with ease that you’re looking for.

The moral of the story, really think about what you want things to look like and really think about what’s important to you and those around you. Stop trying to get this magical balance and just be a practical and emotional person. Thanks, everybody. Have a great week