In this episode, Steve will explain how to share access with your team as affordably and safely as possible, how to avoid the risks of using software like LastPass, and how to ensure you stay within the General Data Protection Regulation as you do so. KEY TAKEAWAYS LastPass is software that allows you to share access with multiple people without sharing a password over the internet, and they also help you organise your access sharing. With multiple software access requirements for one task, apps...
Sep 07, 2022•22 min•Ep. 84
Steve explains how to automate your systems creation. He will expand on the points you need to focus on to achieve this and how you can make systems improvement a habitual and automatic task in your organisation. This will involve a mindset shift on your part and the development of culture within your team of continuous development and improvement. KEY TAKEAWAYS Identify which systems require your team’s attention. Think about what isn’t working in your business right now. Where are the bottlene...
Aug 31, 2022•36 min•Ep. 83
Steve details the 21 benefits of having an Operations Manual in your business. Standard Operating Procedures are key to systemisation and are your method to more freedom and flexibility. Even if you have an Operations Manual already, check out this episode to see if there is any way you can improve it to gain all the benefits Steve outlines. KEY TAKEAWAYS With SOPs in place, you will retain staff by reducing their stress, reduce reliance on key individuals, simplify handover of procedures on per...
Aug 24, 2022•24 min•Ep. 82
Get the inside story on Steve’s debrief with his team after his seven-day absence from his company. He details what worked and what didn’t, what’s changed as a result of his being away, and what changes will be made in the future. You can use the lessons from this meeting to apply to your business, avoid some of the pitfalls, and learn some of the lessons his team discovered during his absence. KEY TAKEAWAYS The fact that things did not go particularly well has resulted in some significant impro...
Aug 17, 2022•31 min•Ep. 81
Steve interviews Andy Gaught, a property investor, mentor and coach who has been running his own property investment business, Asset Living, for the past seven years. Andy has been interested in technology from an early age, from upgrading computers in his teenage years to studying mechanical engineering at Southampton University. In 2014, after a couple of years working for TV post-production companies, he joined the 2-year Sky TV technology graduate programme. Then, he became a project manager...
Aug 10, 2022•31 min•Ep. 80
Steve talks to David Kyle, the FitPro Lead Generation Specialist. Through his experience as a fitness instructor and gym owner David has set up FitPro Lead Generation to help other fitness instructors and fitness based businesses stream line and expand their marketing to reach more clients. Steve and David chat about Marketing, business growth, generating leads and the fitness industry. KEY TAKEAWAYS David's experience as a gym owner makes him an expert on marketing for fitness instructors and g...
Aug 03, 2022•41 min•Ep. 79
Steve has worked with hundreds of businesses of different sizes and types over the years and has concluded that NOW is the right time to hire a Virtual Assistant no matter what stage you are currently at. In this episode he explains how the first step into investing into a Virtual Assistant can set any business on the path to increased productivity and profit. KEY TAKEAWAYS There is an incredible abundance of talented and dedicated VA’s internationally waiting to be hired by you that will be gre...
Jul 28, 2022•46 min•Ep. 78
At Steve’s quarterly meeting he tried a little something new with his staff which was such a resounding success he has vowed to include it in every meeting from now on. He set out his values in a clear and understandable way and asked his team to be either in or out. KEY TAKEAWAYS Values are a complex consideration in business but in his first discussion with his team he concentrated on Personal Development, getting the full potential from everyone. When it comes to motivation and buying into th...
Jul 20, 2022•10 min•Ep. 77
Steve interviews Scott Cundill, published author, international kung fu medalist and owner of My Most Trusted plug-in for LinkedIn. Through his chrome plug-in My Most Trusted, you can form a trusted business referral and introduction network around you, see other people’s trusted connections and ask for a referral, speed up LinkedIn by 300%, use My Most Trusted Circles to replace WhatsApp groups, separate trusted LinkedIn connections from ordinary connections, get a LinkedIn CRM/ prospecting too...
Jul 13, 2022•33 min•Ep. 76
Steve loves a good flow chart! In fact, he’s pretty psyched about process mapping, brainstorming and digital whiteboards too! In this episode, he explains why mapping your ideas visually can increase efficiency and why it’s an essential skill to master to get the most out of your time and energy. KEY TAKEAWAYS When you have a multimodal approach to your sharing of information and your learning you are more likely to be reaching the highest number of people in the ‘room’ with you as possible. Use...
Jul 06, 2022•20 min•Ep. 75
Steve has tried four different business banking apps in the last few years trying to find the best for all the requirements of the small business. In this episode he explains which one comes out in front and why. KEY TAKEAWAYS The business banking world for small businesses can often be archaic, clunky and backward in its approach and operation. HSBC are difficult to get an account with, it can take three months to get one. Metro required visits to the actual bank to set up and Tide was a diffic...
Jun 29, 2022•18 min•Ep. 74
Steve holds a daily meeting with his staff called ‘the daily stand up’. This takes only 3 minutes a person and the resulting benefits are substantial. Having refined and streamlined it to its most efficient functions, Steve shares how this how it can benefit upper business or organization. KEY TAKEAWAYS Cycle round each person and ask them a very specific set of questions which will give you confidence that your team is on the right track. This can be a great opportunity to bond with each other ...
Jun 23, 2022•17 min•Ep. 73
Key Performance Indicators are measurables within a business that can be used to assess the current position of an organization. Steve chats to Georges Verdis about the essential nature and collation of KPI’s, which to use and how to interpret them. KEY TAKEAWAYS Georges is a busy London estate agent who has managed to systemize his work with the help of Steve. For Georges KPIs are completed tasks applied at the beginning of the week, reviewed at the end. His KPI’s are based on the core of his b...
Jun 15, 2022•17 min•Ep. 72
Steve interviews John Jonas, founder of onlinejobs.ph , which is a Philippines based job board providing virtual assistants to businesses internationally. It is a simple recruitment process that enables the user to source suitable and skilled workers and for job seekers from the Philippines to find the right online employment. He also teaches how to hire Virtual Assistants and how to make the system work well for your outsourcing. KEY TAKEAWAYS The culture of the Philippines is honesty, loyalty,...
Jun 08, 2022•47 min•Ep. 71
Why do some business owners make such a success of systemization, while others fail to grasp the opportunity to free themselves and create the life that they dream of? What are the differences between these two types of people? KEY TAKEAWAYS A reason for failure is when a single leader of a business is loathe to take that first step and hire an assistant. They may also fail to hire the right type of person for their needs. Hire a dedicated staff member for documentation. Some people aren’t convi...
Jun 01, 2022•33 min•Ep. 70
Steve interviews Stephen Somers who is cofounder, with his business partner Robert Rickey, of a business consultancy called Marketplace Superheroes. Alongside his team he helps people sell branded products on Amazon effectively and profitably. Stephen began his company after selling products in Amazon for several years, and after meeting Robert and working together they created Marketplace Superheroes. Stephen has now turned his attention to ways to increase a companies clients lifetime value th...
May 25, 2022•51 min•Ep. 69
If you have a focused and productive meeting at regular intervals you can ensure that throughout the intervening period your necessary contact with your team will be kept to an efficient minimum. However, meetings can be complete time drains with never ending debating and arguing that can suck the energy and enthusiasm out of everybody present if they are executed badly. Steve’s here to tell you how to avoid this and get it right. KEY TAKEAWAYS When setting up a regular meeting stick to the same...
May 18, 2022•28 min•Ep. 68
In this episode Steve talks to fitness expert Joe McNee about how he helps other people with client based small businesses like personal trainers, coaches and driving schools to automate their on boarding and client progress processes. He is a schoolteacher and fitness coach and has three children, and this left him without enough hours in the day so he has utilised systems, apps and software to reclaim precious time back from laborious manual procedures and processes. His methods were so succes...
May 11, 2022•32 min•Ep. 67
When employing a Virtual Assistant how much should you pay them and do you have any other responsibilities towards them? What is the best way to structure reward and praise? Sometimes in the world of VA’s the rules and regulations can be a little unclear so Steve is here to summarise what you should be putting in place to pay and support your team and fulfil your obligations as an employer. KEY TAKEAWAYS Sometimes the payment that people ask for in other countries can seem low. However, if you p...
May 04, 2022•19 min•Ep. 66
Did you know you don’t own any of your Virtual Assistants intellectual property that they create for you? Steve gives you the method for transferring ownership to you when receiving your team members work. KEY TAKEAWAYS If you are a creative, whether that be graphical design, technical design, speech, music, art or prose of any kind, you own the copyright, by default, of any of your work. If you do not have, as an employer, an agreed employment contract in place as is often the case with VA’s, t...
Apr 27, 2022•10 min•Ep. 65
In this episode Steve details how you can improve or get started on your outsourcing while avoiding common pitfalls, myths and mistakes that can plague your efforts. What should you outsource, why does it need outsourcing and how can you go about doing it? He uses the example of social media to clarify what is required when outsourcing your everyday tasks. KEY TAKEAWAYS You don’t have to completely hand over a task for outsourcing. You can slowly build up your outsourcing with the help of a gene...
Apr 20, 2022•16 min•Ep. 64
Steve reveals a quick trick for you to save one working week a year for the rest of your working life! Utilise this simple advice to free yourself up for more fruitful or fun tasks. KEY TAKEAWAYS Next time you come to a task and think “it will only take a few minutes, I should do it myself” consider this. It may appear that the time taken delegating that task seems like a waste of time, but over the year, those “few minutes” add up. Change your mindset to think of the task over the long term, ad...
Apr 13, 2022•8 min•Ep. 63
A ‘Task Board Review’ is a monthly meeting Steve has with his staff which allows everybody to get on target and make sure they are focusing on the right task at the right time. Listen to how Steve holds his meetings to see how this could benefit your organization. KEY TAKEAWAYS Steve has a regular one to one with each of his staff he manages. In this meeting the tasks undertaken are discussed to pinpoint which jobs on their task board need prioritising. Lost or under prioritised tasks can be res...
Apr 06, 2022•7 min•Ep. 62
Organizing your files and folders for easy access is essential for time saving and ease of operation. Steve has some advice on how to not disappear into a cloud of data chaos and increase your productivity by rethinking and modernizing the way you store your files. KEY TAKEAWAYS Grouping can be cumbersome due to the ambiguity of classing files by specific criteria. Labelling things to make them easy to find by file name has been superseded by advanced search tools like google. Think in terms of ...
Mar 30, 2022•11 min•Ep. 61
🎙 Steve describes a technique where you create a chart of everything you do in your business and find out if your employees want to do it, learn about it, or just simply hate it. This will increase the rapport you have with your team and increase their productivity. KEY TAKEAWAYS 💡 Create a spreadsheet and list all the activities that go on in your business in one column on the left hand side. 💡 In the next columns place ‘Do You Want It?’ and ‘Do you know it?’ You can detail that further by d...
Mar 24, 2022•9 min•Ep. 60
Automation tools, used correctly, can revolutionize parts of your business, streamline your operation, reduce errors and save costs in terms of time and wages. However, used inappropriately or incorrectly they can be a substantial drain on your time and resources. Steve is here to denote correct application of these tools to help you avoid the pitfalls. KEY TAKEAWAYS Apps such as Zapier or Integromat are web based app that allow two or more different apps to talk to each other. For instance, som...
Mar 17, 2022•21 min•Ep. 59
In this episode Steve is going to teach you how to avoid the annoying back and forth chaos that is scheduling a meeting with a busy client or employee. By using calendar scheduling apps you can eliminate the often time consuming e-mail cat-and-mouse game of allotting time and automate and simplify your appointment calendar. KEY TAKEAWAYS Using these apps you can book calls and meetings of different types, charge clients at point of booking, set up group meetings and classes and manage subscripti...
Mar 10, 2022•25 min•Ep. 58
Steve interviews Kevin Brittain, successful entrepreneur, marathon runner and philanthropist, who is running barefoot around the world! While doing this he fits in being a husband and father and holds two Guinness World Records for ‘Fastest Marathon Runner Dressed As a Ninja’. Currently vlogging his round-the-world virtual journey of 40,075 km he is also raising money for needy children as he goes. Steve gets to the bottom of how Kevin believes running is the ultimate stress busting tool for the...
Mar 03, 2022•31 min•Ep. 57
This episode is all about the Comms Assistant (CA) position. What is a CA? Why do you need one in your life? When should you be considering hiring one? Steve advises a CA to be sourced early on and he details exactly why a CA is an essential member of your team. KEY TAKEAWAYS A Comms Assistant is a gatekeeper between you and any incoming information be it e-mail, social media messaging like Instagram or Facebook, instant messaging like WhatsApp and SMS, or even voicemail or old fashioned post. T...
Feb 24, 2022•11 min•Ep. 56
When you have a quarterly or annual meeting and all the tasks and goals that have been previously put on the back burner are discussed and brought to light, how do you take that daunting incongruous list and present it in a way that is easy to manage and avoids “cherry picking” of the more desirable tasks? Steve has a simple way of visualizing even the largest list of jobs into an easy to prioritize chart. KEY TAKEAWAYS Imagine you have a blank sheet of paper split into four equal quarters. On t...
Feb 17, 2022•11 min•Ep. 55
