[00:00:00] Josh: hello friends. Welcome to the podcast. This is episode 223 where we are gonna talk about managing projects. Cuz here's what I've experienced myself in my journey as a web developer for over 10 years, and then I see a lot of my students go through, You get a bunch of web design clients, awesome.
[00:00:19] Josh: You get a bunch of websites to design also. Awesome. You make a bunch of money. But guess what else? You get a bunch of, When all these things happen, you get a bunch of projects to manage. And this is something that I feel like most everybody thinks about when it's too late. Like when they all seem to be piled up on your plate, that's when you're like, Oh shoot.
[00:00:42] Josh: I figured out how to design sites, figured out how to get clients, how do I manage all these projects? It is extremely common that this is one of the biggest hurdles that all web designers face, and that quite frankly, can destroy your business if you can't manage a bunch of projects, which they tend to come in what, at least what I've found is because web design is often a feast and famine style.
[00:01:06] Josh: They tend to come in waves. Like there's times where, yeah, barely any work. And then there's times where you're so slammed you don't even know what to do with. But either way, whether you're managing two projects or 20, a lot of the principles are gonna be the same with how you stay on track, how you keep your deadlines, how you manage your time, and manage the project effectively.
[00:01:26] Josh: So I wanna help you out on this and I'm real excited to invite on to this podcast Business Productivity consultant and the CEO of task week group.com. Shanice Miller Shanice is awesome. She has had a really cool journey and, and a couple different businesses to this point, and ask somebody who is a productivity consultant, she knows a lot about systems, and while systems is not a sexy.
[00:01:52] Josh: It is, as you'll find out as you become a business owner, so important and it actually becomes the most intriguing term you'll likely hear in business. Because once you have systems, you can save time, you can make more money, and you can keep your sanity. And that's exactly what Shanice shares in this episode.
[00:02:08] Josh: So I can't wait to hear your thoughts on this one. I would love to hear your thoughts. You can actually go to the post for this podcast episode. You can go to josh hall dot slash 2 23 and leave your, your comments and your takeaways. I'd love to hear some of your takeaways from this one. And Shanice also has a special offer for you at the end of this episode.
[00:02:25] Josh: So make sure you tune in and stay to the end, because she's got a really cool resource that I've gone through that I recommend that you do as well in order to help you save more time, be more productive, and keep your sanity while managing a bunch of projects. So here we go. Let's dive in. Here's Shanice. Let's talk about managing web design projects like a pro.
[00:02:50] Josh: Shanice, welcome to the show. Thanks so much for taking some time and for being here to chat for a little while.
[00:02:55] Shanice: Thank you, Josh, for having me on. I'm very excited to be with you today. I was listening to your podcast and, you know, reviewing your web design course, and you just always talked about businesses being messy and how business owners don't really realize how messy their businesses are until they're growing like crazy and they wanna add employees. So that's exactly my wheelhouse. So I'm, I'm super excited to talk to you about that.
[00:03:19] Josh: Oh, I love that. What a great way to set the tone for this, because yes, particularly in, and I'm not sure if you've seen this with the different clients you've worked with, but the creative fields. Yes. Particularly of graphic design, web design.
[00:03:32] Josh: Most of us, right? Most of us don't start our businesses with like a business plan. We're usually not business minded at the start. We just, we like design and we're good at our work, ideally, and then we start getting clients. And that was my whole story. I just kind of fumbled into it. Like a lot of people watching and listening to this, more than likely, you probably just like, you know, got asked to build a website and then you build one, you get a referral, next thing you know you got a business on your hand.
[00:03:58] Josh: Yes. Um, so I can't wait to pick your brain about systems, automations, processes, all the things that no creative wants to hear in the. Until you make a mess of things. Yes. And then those become the most lovely words in your vocabulary. Uh, but yeah, to kick us off, I'd love to, to get a feel for, Actually, I, I'm curious, you are, I guess technically your title is a business productivity consultant, but what do you say when people ask you what you do?
[00:04:25] Shanice: Well, what I say is I help business owners to scale up their business through project management systems. And what that really means is usually if you are more un overwhelmed, overworked, we are really looking at your processes, seeing where we can automate certain things, where we can delegate certain things and where we can eliminate certain things off of your plate so that we can free up your time, give you back some extra time throughout your day. and that's mainly what
[00:04:55] Josh: I. Awesome. And now if, like, if your grandma asks you, Shanice, what do you do? What do you tell her? What, what about the people who don't know anything about business or entrepreneurial world?
[00:05:03] Shanice: So, blanket statement, I'm a consultant. Ah, nice. I'm sorry. But my grandma would never be, will never be one of my clients so yeah. You just say I'm a consultant. Yeah,
[00:05:15] Josh: that's, that's a great way to put it. Yeah. Just the blanket. Say otherwise you get that look that, like, that confused per perplexed look that we all get. Yeah. As online business owners, um, you said a word there, eliminating things. I wanna dive into that here pretty quickly before I lose it, because that's generally what I've found.
[00:05:33] Josh: Uh, maybe let's dive in right into it. I feel like from my perspective, from my experience and what a lot of my students deal with is we just end up putting so much on our plate. And one of the most important things you can do is to start eliminating things. What in your mind are some of the, the. Best things we can do when we start making a mess of our business or if it's just out of our control.
[00:05:54] Shanice: Yeah, so this is definitely something that we cover way more in my three steps to automate and scale mini training. And it goes, we go right through exactly what you need to do so that you can start eliminating some tasks so you can start delegating some tasks and so you can start automating some tasks.
[00:06:12] Shanice: So one of the things that I really tell people to do is to list out all of their tasks. Really just break down your company into departments. Like a lot of companies will have a, uh, client project or client success, whatever you wanna call that for your company. But it's really pretty much what are you delivering to your client?
[00:06:33] Shanice: What are you serving them with, What's the actual tangible deliverable that you're going to give to them? And then a lot of times we will have, the standard business has a marketing and a sales department as well. And so we will break that up and then we choose one department to focus on. And usually it's what the client is most interested in or needs most help in.
[00:06:53] Shanice: So a lot of times that can be the client, whatever you're delivering to the client, such as web design or a website. Um, and so that we can start listing out those tasks to say, okay, maybe the first step in developing a website might be we need to have the client fill out this intake. We need to get all the information from the client and just keep going from there. What's, what do we do next? And then what do we do after that? Then what do we do that after that until we get to the very end?
[00:07:20] Josh: So breaking down your processes, ideally have some sort of sop, which that's one reason I have my courses. All of my SOPs are in there. What I did mistakenly was I had everything right up here in my head. And even if it's just you as a solo printer or a freelancer, there's so much benefit to getting stuff out of your head and on some sort of spreadsheet, right? Or some sort of document, because otherwise it's, it just becomes a, a muddled mess, doesn't it? If it's all on your.
[00:07:49] Shanice: It does, and it, it hurts you in the long run because when everything's all in your head and you start to grow, which I had that same experience. I had my first business and I was growing so quickly that when I was starting to hit the six figure mark is when I realized I need help. But now since everything's in my head, what can I tell somebody to do? Because now it's like, Oh, they can't, They don't have the same secret sauce that I have. But if I would've written it down, then I would've known like they can have the same or similar secret sauce because they can follow my process. They can follow these steps and do the same things that I was doing.
[00:08:25] Josh: When you started documenting your stuff, Sice, did you, did you do anything fancy or was it just like a Google Doc or a spreadsheet with task? Like what did I'm, I'm so cur when people say SOPs, there's so many tools out there. I've always. I mean, sometimes some of my SOPs were literally just a checklist on a pdf. Yeah. Or I used Basecamp for project management, which was lovely because you could check 'em off and start a new project as a template. Yeah. What did you use to create your SOPs
[00:08:51] Shanice: initially? So now I use click up and I could create them with a document and turn those into task and do the automations and everything inside of that project management software. But before I started off with just a piece of paper or listing out, and that's what I, you know, tell everyone else to do. Like, you don't have to try to learn a bunch of new software or anything that's gonna get you more confused or take up more time.
[00:09:13] Shanice: At first, just start off with listing out, like, what are the main things you need to do each day? What are the things you're doing over and over again? Listing out all of those sub-tasks so that you know, eventually you can always transfer that over to something else, but at least you have it.
[00:09:30] Josh: Now with this idea of eliminating things, um, you, you mentioned it, writing out your tasks is the most important thing to start with, I feel like, But there's also a few different layers to tasks, right?
[00:09:41] Josh: There's like the, in the business work, like the, the deliverables like you mentioned, but there's also the on the business work, like how are we marketing, How are we selling? What are we doing on our business? This can be really tricky, I think, for a lot of people. I've had to help a lot of my students, like really think about writing out the work that they don't know is work.
[00:10:01] Josh: And what I mean by that is, I think we all fall into this trap where when you invoice or estimate a project, it's usually the work for the actual project itself. But what about the admin work? What about the time it takes to propose and to do all of the client communication? The back and forth content collection for web designers is typically the Achilles heel. Do you have any like categories that you recommend for most businesses, particularly creative businesses, to like categorize the, the tasks where you're working on the business?
[00:10:30] Shanice: So just, I'm, I'm very standardized because I know that standards help systems and businesses to scale. Um, so it's gonna go right back and people will hear me. I am very simple with just the general basics, the foundation and the three areas. Uh, to answer your question, are sales, marketing and client deliveries?
[00:10:52] Josh: Wow. Yes. What a segue to that.
[00:10:56] Shanice: sales client and, uh, sales, marketing and client delivery, because those are the three main things that make up your business. You have to market to find clients, you have to close those clients, and you have to deliver the projects. And when we break it down into those three things, um, we are really having the bulk of our business in
[00:11:15] Josh: one. Hmm. Let the record show too, I did not know that was your framework, because that's just what I've seen is like, you gotta, you have to build awareness, build trust. marketing your business and whatever channel you choose. For me, it was networking and in person stuff, but, uh, social media is also way more prevalent for most of my students. Now.
[00:11:34] Josh: Selling is a whole nother ballgame with actually getting people to the door, creating funnel, converting them, but then the delivery, I mean that, the delivery is where I feel like that could be really all encompassing because for web design, that includes onboarding. Project management, revision feedback, and offboarding as well. So do you kind of visualize subcategories under those three main categories?
[00:11:56] Shanice: I do. Just like you said, with project management, you do have the onboarding, you have the actual progress, the project, which you have to do, and then the offboarding.
[00:12:04] Shanice: Um, for marketing, it might be lead generation and then maybe a handover. But everything really depends on the business and how the business owner's mind works, because we want to make systems that you will really use. Um, so it's standardized. Uh, we try to really make sure that we are putting some systems and processes in place, but that they can reflect for you and what you would use what, what work best with you
[00:12:27] Josh: hmm, Gotcha. So to put a cap on this idea of eliminating tasks, um, I think we have a good idea of the framework of like, you know, the sales, marketing and the deliverables, listing all that out, the processes for actually fulfilling a project. In the case of web design, it's gonna be the process of designs, content, collection, all that stuff.
[00:12:47] Josh: My question to you now, Shanice, is how do we know what to eliminate? Is this, depending on like what you wanna do in your business or what you're well suited for, um, I'm sure this could go a lot of different directions, but I'd be so curious, uh, because you said you have a couple design clients, right? In the web designer design world.
[00:13:04] Josh: I do. Yeah. So how do you help them figure out what to, to take off their plate?
[00:13:08] Shanice: That's a really good question. Um, . So when we start listing out those tasks, then the person can clearly see, one of my clients can clearly see like, okay, these are some tasks that maybe now that I'm further along in my business, I no longer have to do because the amount of time, um, and how much I can bring in doing other tasks, you know, I can hire someone to do these tasks.
[00:13:34] Shanice: So some of the tasks that a lot of people can eliminate are scheduling. You don't have to go back and forth with the scheduling. We have so many automation tools like Cal Coly, like, um, just so many different tools that you can have an online scheduler that people can do where you don't have to go back and forth anymore.
[00:13:51] Shanice: Um, email. Sometimes those are things that you. Uh, delegate out, or you can have some autoresponders, you can have automatic emails, um, recreating emails all the time. A lot of times I talk to my clients about having templated emails, having their proposals already done. Yes. And having packages so that we just have these three things and we can make templates throughout the entire system and link that all together.
[00:14:17] Shanice: Um, instead of a custom package for each person, because we have standards , everyone doesn't need a custom package, they can usually fall within one of three package options.
[00:14:28] Josh: Oh, you are speaking my language. Jeanice. All of the things you mentioned are what took me like 10 years to get to in my business, which was definitely 100% making templates out of repeated statements, like I found myself sending the same email response over and over and over, typing it out, and then one day it just dawned on me like, Josh, duh. Make it a. And then you can customize a couple things if you need to. But start with a template. That way you don't have to keep literally typing the same thing over and over.
[00:14:58] Josh: And I know that sounds simple, but I feel like when you're in the weeds of your business, it's those type of tasks that you tend to overlook. Have you seen that? Like you, this things that are so elementary and so like, Whoa, duh. Of course I should do that. Do you find those are so easily overlooked when you're just in the weeds of your business?
[00:15:16] Shanice: Really are. One of my clients is a multimillion dollar agency. They did digital marketing and web design as well. And they weren't using template emails until I told them. And you know, I guess their idea was like, everyone can come up with something. We are creative and it's like, but, I think it helps your clients to feel more cared for when they know up front and we're talking and telling them the same things.
[00:15:43] Shanice: Um, it helps you to reduce errors because now you know that you're telling everyone the same thing. You know what the person needs to know, you know what information you need to collect from them. Um, so now you're not missing pieces of information to tell the client or for the client to tell you. And it also helps to set up the boundaries so the client does feel cared for.
[00:16:03] Shanice: They know exactly what to expect each time and it's not gonna really veer from there. I know when before we were setting up, . And when I talk to some of my clients, I do talk to them about the setting boundaries. And that usually starts with the first initial onboarding email. Mm-hmm. , you're listing out, okay, this is what it's gonna look like to work with me for however timeframe you're going to do.
[00:16:25] Shanice: So maybe you might say like, We're going to have a meeting every two weeks. And that's getting ahead of it so that the client's not worried like, When's our next meeting? What are we gonna do? They're not emailing you every week trying to check in and see what's going on. They know, Oh, I can relax because this person's telling me every two weeks we're gonna have this meeting, or every two weeks they're gonna give me an update as to what's going on with my project.
[00:16:48] Shanice: And now you're not getting so much back and forth for so many clients, cuz sometimes we do have those clients who are very demanding and aggressive , but it's, it kind of stops that, just setting up those boundaries, letting them know upfront. And you just have that consistency knowing that you told each client the same thing.
[00:17:05] Josh: Oh, I feel like people should pay to listen to this conversation because that is worth tens, maybe hundreds of thousands of dollars of headache in the long run. It is setting up the expectations, and this goes back to project management and processes and systems because, and, and I realize in the early days you kind of have to figure this out.
[00:17:25] Josh: You're gonna have to go through some rough patches and some, uh, Troublesome clients, like you mentioned, that might be high touch, but as soon as you get to a point where you start seeing these trends, make it a system, like the idea of setting up client communication as a system never dawned on me until later in my career.
[00:17:42] Josh: But I realize that is so important because if you don't have boundaries and a communication line set, it will spiral outta control. And it's not necessarily the client's fault. Like if you don't tell them how and when to communicate with you, guess what? They're gonna text you on Friday nights if they don't know what's going on.
[00:18:00] Josh: So , Oh yeah, yeah, right. Or God forbid I had some at like 2:00 AM I'm like, what are you doing at 2:00 AM that you're gonna, you know, message me? But I am rec, I recognize later on too, that some of my clients were busy during the day working on their business, so their time to do the website work is like in the evening or on the weekend.
[00:18:21] Josh: So, and that's,
[00:18:23] Shanice: um, it's definitely like just setting that tone of when you're going to reply back. Because I think those are two separate things. One thing to, you know, a client can email you whenever, but if they email you and then five minutes later they're like, What's my response, , you already let them know, like, you know, we respond within 24 to 48 hours.
[00:18:43] Shanice: So then they already know like, okay, I should expect this. Or you know, they're not emailing you Friday evening and then Monday morning, like, where's my project now? I just sent you the requirements.
[00:18:54] Josh: Yes. Oh my gosh. The amount of times that I had that happen, you just gave me like PTSD, moments of clients messaging me or texting me Friday night and then me just not responding and Monday morning they're like, So how's everything going?
[00:19:06] Josh: Well, I mentioned on Friday night, uh, I'm assuming you're working over the weekend. No, I had to lay down those communication lines and boundaries that said we work, you know, Monday through Friday, these are our active times now. Yeah. Like, gosh, what a great point. They can message anytime they want. Mm-hmm.
[00:19:23] Josh: But we are gonna respond in the allotted time and those boundaries. So that's such a good point when it comes to like keeping your sanity Yes. When you're, you're running your business and it really all, I mean, that. It's weird to say this, but that is a system, right? When you set up boundaries, that is a systems boundary
[00:19:39] Shanice: and we put it in part of the onboarding process. So that's one of the tasks that we really make sure that people have. And sometimes, and like you said, as a creative, you don't always think some of these things through some of these systems, but we are here to help point out some of those things. Like you need to set up this initial email so that it has those boundaries and you need to have something in place.
[00:20:00] Shanice: I know one of my clients, um, they had templates in place and they had a project management system, but they forgot the quality assurance person. to go in and check before we sent out things, uh, to the client. So those are little pieces that sometimes being in business you can kind of forget that needs to be done because you're so used to doing that yourself that when you go to hire other people, they forget or they don't know to have someone check the links check to make sure that the website's working on mobile and on desktop , because those are different interfaces.
[00:20:31] Josh: Yes. Yes. Well, I, I have to do a shameless plug for my web design process course. That's literally why I created that course, cuz it's my 50 step e. Every little detail like you're mentioning Shanice, it was a decade of experience that I realized like, Oh, I completely forgot to look at this aspect of a website before and went live.
[00:20:47] Josh: That that idea of quality assurance is 100% over. In web, most web design agencies cuz you do the work and I think unfortunately, typically with most creatives, you're generally like so done and ready to get it off your plate that it's so easy to miss those last few steps that are so crucial. So it's a great reminder on that.
[00:21:07] Josh: I wanted to ask you a challenge question because I, so like if we talked 10 years ago, I would've said, Shanice, this sounds great to have like the standardized packages like you mentioned a little bit ago, but I would've told you again, this is Josh 10 years ago, that web design is just so different for every project, so I can't have packages. What would you say to Josh 10 years ago who told you, I just can't standardize my services? So
[00:21:35] Shanice: I would tell you, One. I would say from my experience, there will come a time where you will hit a ceiling. And when you hit that ceiling is when you're going to realize that you do need to have certain standards and processes in place.
[00:21:49] Shanice: I'm sure right now that everything's working great for you, and maybe in the future you might need to reevaluate how you're going about things. So, you know, just maybe keep that in the back of your mind. But, um, I would also say that you, a lot of times we think we can't standardize things, but just start to think back to how many different times you've told the same client the same thing.
[00:22:10] Shanice: How many times have you asked the, the same different clients, different questions. How many times have you asked for like your initial process? Let's go through that. When you're bringing on a client, are you asking them the same questions? Um, so we can make certain packages and maybe everyone's, maybe each client's, uh, services don't fall into.
[00:22:31] Shanice: A certain package precisely, but it can be a round the about, so like say if a client wants, um, web design, they want five web pages. So you might have a package that's for up to five pages and you might have a package that's for just a one page web design, uh, with three sections. So it's really making sure that we are the person's just falling in between those boundary lines.
[00:22:56] Shanice: So it is a a sliding scale type of package thing. Everyone doesn't have to need everything or want everything in the package, but that's the package that they'll have to do if they want certain features.
[00:23:07] Josh: That's so well said. It's definitely what I found out as I progressed in my web design career because I 100% had that mindset that like, I can't do packages.
[00:23:17] Josh: Every project is so different. But what I realized, what there is that there was one, there was definitely. Categories of types of projects and the three tier model. I love that you said that. I think it's so beneficial. It's what I teach to All my students now have three tiers, uh, like beginner tier, starter tier, whatever you wanna call it.
[00:23:36] Josh: A mid range tier where generally most of your clients fall into and then have that higher tier that's more complex projects, bigger online stores, memberships, stuff like that, to where for somebody who wants to have that option, they have that available. But you don't have to custom quote, you know, every project. It, you could start with a standardized process and then you can always get a little more custom as needed. But it, it was, it's within that standardized system of a, of a package, right?
[00:24:03] Shanice: Yes. And then I would also tell people, uh, look back over the clients that you had. What are clients most asking for? And put that into a package. because those, you know, when we're looking at our prior histories, what, what have we done in the past that can help us to standardize and see, okay, maybe it's not so different. All my clients were asking for this three page website, so I can make that into one standard. And then we have a different population.
[00:24:27] Shanice: The next most popular service is a one pager, or you know, they want a web app or something like that, depending on how far you're going into the
[00:24:37] Josh: process. Yeah. Yeah. It's so well said. It's, it's just, again, looking back, it's like it's so easy to think that I totally should have done that. It makes total sense. But when you're in the weeds, Yes. It's so important to zoom out or to have somebody to tell you to like, Okay, let's hold up, put the breaks on. Let's look at where things are at. Because the idea of just creating a messy business mm-hmm. , it's just so common.
[00:25:00] Josh: I'm sure you see that across all industries. Uh, but again, because I'm in the creative field, I just, I see it where like the intention is good and you wanna be custom and you feel like it's cheating if you have templates and starty, like starter packages and stuff. But my gosh, if you wanna stay in business, Systems, processes, standardization. That has to be the, the framework, the groundwork to build off of. I
[00:25:23] Shanice: completely agree with you. Sometimes you need that extra set of eyes, like a business coach or a consultant to look into your business, um, and to show you areas because sometimes we're so blinded. This is my expertise, but it's not always the other person's expertise. And the same with web design. I would never try to do a web, a webpage on my own. I would take so long to do it, but I'm sure Joshua could could just pop it out so quickly. .
[00:25:50] Josh: Yeah. And that's the, I Ideally you work with clients who are, if they're business owners, they're hopefully gonna be in that mindset. Most web designers are if they're working with clients because the DIY crowd tries to do it themself. But those end up being great referrals sometimes for web designers because they get so frustrated. They're like, All right, yeah, you do it. I'll pay you whatever. Get it done. Trust me.
[00:26:10] Shanice: that was first website. I started doing it on my own. I'm like, Why isn't it looking good? ? Yeah. And I'm like, Oh, he can just do it a lot better than I can. Just little things like the font and you really have, have eye for that. So really respect designers.
[00:26:28] Josh: Well, that's, that's the problem with like the DIY template market. It's like, yeah, site might look really nice if you design it just like they have in the template, but as soon as you add your own images and text and start making things look different, suddenly it looks very different.
[00:26:41] Josh: Um, this idea of like the, the task though, I. . I have so many questions from students that come in. They're like, they're holding on to tasks. And some of those, some of that desire is because they feel like they just don't want to give up control. Mm-hmm. , Some of it is, it's a personal thing. Like, I felt like this, I'm the web designer.
[00:27:02] Josh: I don't want other people designing sites for my clients. I held on that for years. Um, but there were tasks that I enjoyed doing that I realized I just, even though I can do it, I don't, I shouldn't do it basically. Yeah. Um, but there's also tasks that just drained me that I held onto. Um, there's actually, there's a book behind me. Have you ever read Free Time by Jenny
[00:27:21] Shanice: Blake? I haven't. I'm gonna add that to my list because I'm an avid book reader, so I'm
[00:27:25] Josh: definitely. I think you would love that book. I'm reading it right now. It's why it's on the top of my stack. Um, everything you're saying, uh, she, she has said as well in some form or another, but her idea with the task elimination is to have like a flow, a flow list in a, a friction list.
[00:27:43] Josh: So the task that you enjoy doing that, fire up, put that on the, the float list. But the ones that you just dread doing that, pull you down, put those on the friction list and get those off of your plate. Do you subscribe to that idea as well, Janis, or something similar to where you gotta look at like what in, what inspires you? What are you good at versus what? What are just taking you down?
[00:28:02] Shanice: I do to an extent. I more so when I'm working with a client, I will ask them, What are your goals? Where are you trying to get? So let's work that backwards. And a lot of times we realize with some of those friction tasks, either we're taking a long time to do 'em because we don't like doing them, or it could just be better served for somebody else to do them.
[00:28:21] Shanice: And that's when we know we need to eliminate or delegate those. And it's a lot of an easier process when we have an end goal in mind to say like, I'm trying to get here so I know in order to get here, these are the tasks that I need to focus on and these are the tasks that are distracting me for my goal. So whatever I'm doing over here that's distracting me. I need to eliminate or I need to delegate. And,
[00:28:42] Josh: uh, you just, you just made me think about the conversation we had before we went live, which was like social media because I am currently hiring out some social media help and I'm just not. I'm not like a social media guy all the time, so I tend to spend way more time trying to break and figure out reels and sizes and stuff.
[00:29:02] Josh: Yeah. And it, it goes back to this point. I'm saying this as a practical example. My goal in, in the business right now is to work on my higher tier programs and podcast interviews and the things that only I can do that are gonna make the biggest impact. I should not be figuring out the Instagram sizing and social media stuff.
[00:29:21] Josh: And I know you've said the same, Is that kind of a good example of like, what is the goal and what are these other little tasks that you can do? But they're just, they're distractions at the end of the day, Right. That are keep keeping you back. Yes, definitely. And are, have you employed that as well? Like what, what are, I'm actually kinda curious on a personal level, what are some things that you've had to get off your plate maybe that you hung onto for too long?
[00:29:42] Shanice: Yeah, so like you said, social media, some of the posting and things like that. Even some of the lead generation and outreach, I know that. Certain things are better served when someone starts initially. So like for me, in my first business that I had, I was doing everything. I was doing the Facebook as the, I was doing the outreach, I was doing the sales calls, and it just became so overwhelming that I knew that when I started up my next businesses, I was gonna have to hire out. That was my mindset from the very beginning.
[00:30:14] Shanice: In order to not become overwhelmed, to not be overworked, I needed to hire someone that would help me with some of the tasks that I was doing that were income generations generating tasks. Um, I'm a big fan of, you need to hire out the money makers, so that's who you hire first, and it's usually someone who's going to put you in a position, um, where you can get more leads, more generation, or if you're that person who's really good with lead generation, with marketing, if you're the person going out too.
[00:30:45] Shanice: The, uh, events to find leads. Maybe you need someone who's going to be doing the sales calls, closing the leads, or you need someone who's going to do the work. But it really depends on your strength. And my strength was, you know, having these conversations but not necessarily doing all of the follow up work or the outreach to get on to things. So I did hire, um, hire out for a marketing.
[00:31:08] Josh: Mm, That's great. In your first business. So we were talking too before we went live, we were on a podcast around the same time, um, the Profit and Pro Prosper podcast with Sarah Young, who was a recent guest on the show. And it was funny because when I got connected with her, I saw that you were on as well, and it was like, Oh, this is like, we're all doing our, our talks around the same time, which is super beneficial, especially I think right now is such an important time to get serious about these systems and processes as we get towards the end of 2022 into the next year.
[00:31:39] Josh: Um, but something you mentioned in there I wanted to bring up here because I listened to your talk on her show. You had mentioned that you had some negative feedback on one of one of your clients that just really just struck you to the cord and I don't know, It. I don't know. I guess I'm, I'm conflicted whether you should just prepare for bad feedback, but I do think it's worthwhile having a system in place for when somebody is disgruntled with your product or service.
[00:32:08] Josh: You don't have to internalize it, you don't have to think about it. You just have a template that says, Well, this is what we agreed upon. Would you mind sharing about that and where you were in your business and maybe what you learned from
[00:32:17] Shanice: that? Yes. Um, definitely. Well, Before I get started with that, where I am now is a lot different because I learn and I teach my clients to put in place, um, different points during the client process to ask them from feedback to prevent that so in the, you know, client delivery process, we're inserting in areas where you can ask the client, Okay, so how are we doing right now? What's your feedback on, you know, whatever we delivered for you, if it's a webpage or anything like that, give us some updates so that, once again, we are being proactive instead of reactive.
[00:32:53] Shanice: But I had an educational consulting business and I am a type, A perfectionist type of person. I like to do my work. I, you know, I like to do it well and I do put a lot of my heart, my soul, my passion into wanting to help people and wanting to have people get results. And so when. Particular person that I've worked so hard with, um, came to me and they were saying, and this was a consulting business, educational consulting business, And they told me it didn't work.
[00:33:22] Shanice: I asked them, I said, Okay, that's fine. I give refunds and things like that, but you have to let me know. Did you do all the steps? Steps one through four? Um, because I'm still systems brained at at heart as well, even when I didn't have it all together, but I asked 'em if they did steps one through four. Oh, I didn't think step two and three would work.
[00:33:42] Shanice: So I just did step one and four and I'm like, You have to do all of them in order to get your money back. And I'm sure you've had this same experience with your web course where people would say, Oh, it doesn't work. And you're asking them, or you're looking in the back end and saying like, I see that you didn't even complete these modules.
[00:33:57] Shanice: You're not completing the stuff to say if it worked or it didn't work because you're not really putting forth your energy. But that really just me being young in business, um, not understanding or knowing like, okay, there are gonna be some people that are gonna be unhappy with what you produced. You can't please them all.
[00:34:15] Shanice: Um, but still doing your best. And that's why we added those checks into the system. So as you can see, systems are constantly evolving. It's not a one and done type of thing when you see something. Um, and we work with our clients usually routinely on a monthly or a quarterly basis to update those systems, to update some of the emails so that we can say, Okay, what are the FAQs people are asking?
[00:34:37] Shanice: So we can get ahead of that. What are the things that we're seeing that, you know, maybe we're steering the ship to the left a little bit. We're going a little bit off track from what we're. So that we can add that into the system so we can continue going down the
[00:34:49] Josh: correct path. So that initial experience, it sounds like, from what I gather, you basically gave this client all the steps and hoped that they did it, and then naturally she only did a couple of the steps and she was unhappy, but you're like, well, you didn't do all the steps.
[00:35:05] Josh: So the solution to that is to, I guess, potentially make them go step by step and have those check-ins. Am I getting that right? Just to make sure they follow through step by step instead of just relying on them to
[00:35:16] Shanice: hopefully do it? Yes. If you're having that type of consulting type of business or a coaching type of business, if you have a web design business, I know this is heavily more of like a done for you type of business. so it's a little bit different and the feedback would be more on the like, how do you like this so far? And, but, and that's also giving the client a constant touch so that they're not the ones reaching out to you. Because majority of the times when I hear disgruntled clients is because someone didn't reach out to them in the. As quickly as they wanted them to.
[00:35:48] Josh: Yeah, and that goes back to when you set the precedence Yes. Of like, here's our communication policy. And my gosh, I know I've talked about this a lot on the podcast, but for anyone who's new listening, this is such a important point, give your clients constant updates. It doesn't mean you have to do it every day, but maybe once a week or once every two weeks at, at minimum.
[00:36:07] Josh: Even if you don't have anything done, just let them know, Hey, we're working on it. No progress to show right now, but we're working on it. I just had this case we order just ordered shutters for for our home and. We just didn't hear anything for like, they told us it might be six to eight weeks. just cuz everything's delayed. But yeah, we didn't hear anything until eight weeks and I finally was really hounding like, Hey, where are things at? And I'm like, Oh yeah, they're in.
[00:36:30] Josh: But it was like, well it would've been nice to know that, you know, things, things were on progress. Like just, and it it, you know, it just gave me a little bit of a, a sour taste just cuz it's like, just give us an update. You know, like even if we don't, even if we don't have men yet, just let us know. That's so important. The thing with
[00:36:46] Shanice: those updates are those things are automated things. It's not like you have to sit there and remind yourself to write the email. We upload a lot of automations, we upload a lot of email templates into the system so that the person is getting these things at the correct time. In the we kind of call it like the, the length of the project, the time of the project.
[00:37:06] Josh: Yeah. Oh, we haven't even glanced on deadlines. Right? Like how important are deadlines with, with keeping systems on track to get 'em done in time? Well, yeah. What do you love Deadlines? What, what's your, what's your thoughts on deadlines?
[00:37:19] Shanice: I always say if you don't have deadlines, you don't get it done. Um, because you, if you don't have a time, a specific date, then you're gonna just say, Oh, I can do that tomorrow. I can do that the next day. I can do the next day. And before you know it, I'm off has passed and you still haven't done it. And I've, I've been the same way.
[00:37:33] Shanice: And that's why everything I do, I have a deadline for it and I recommend that as well. And in the project management software, you put debt, you can put deadlines on things, and you can set it up so that you know this is always due seven days out In the next part is do seven days out.
[00:37:49] Josh: Hm, Gosh. Deadlines are crucial. They're like it's again, going back to the creative thing. Most creatives hate deadlines cuz you just want to be free to do your work and express yourself. But, if you're trying to make money and support your family or have a profitable business, deadlines are literally the thing that's going to keep you on track.
[00:38:08] Josh: Cause Right, you just said it, it, it just not, you're never gonna get it done. Or Parkinson's law, you'll just keep on working to fill however much time you give it. Yes. Uh, or God forbid you don't have a deadline, it's just never gonna stop. Yeah.
[00:38:21] Shanice: Web design, they wanted to just keep making things better, so that's awesome. Things you wanna kind keep like, Oh, I, I did this well, but now I wanna just tweak it a little bit more and a little bit more. But a deadline is like, okay, I need to have this done, so let me just give them um, what I have. Right.
[00:38:38] Josh: That's well said. You, there's never gonna be a perfect project or perfect website. You gotta get it like, damn good enough. And then go. And then the B about web design always teaches that. You can always evolve it and tweak it, but get the thing live. Yes. And then go from there. Yes.
[00:38:53] Josh: the idea, I just to put a cap on this idea of the, like the, the process and making clients go one step at a time, I think that's so important with systems because I know you said it's a little bit different in web design, but I actually, I have seen that play out to where like, I remember so many times starting a project and then two weeks later, cuz I would just tell them, Yeah, just send me the content for the website.
[00:39:17] Josh: No deadline, no communication, boundaries, nothing else. Two weeks later they'd say, Hey, how's the website coming? Yeah. And I'm like, It's a blank page. You haven't sent me anything where, you know. But again, that fault was really my own because I didn't guide the client. With our systems, with our processes.
[00:39:33] Josh: How do you actually, because. Empowering and training our clients to fit into our systems and processes. That's a whole nother ballgame. I mean, the good news is you can 100% automate those to, to help train the client. But how have you seen, like automating those systems and processes for clients, how, how have you seen that work? Well, um, is it like videos that accompany written directions? Is it in our project management? All the above. What are some of the things that have really helped like clients understand our processes that we have set up?
[00:40:06] Shanice: So I, what I think helped best for clients to understand how the process is set up is to have written directions, because then you can reference them and the client can reference them a lot easier than a video or a voice memo.
[00:40:19] Shanice: Um, you can even do with our system, you can use searchable documents. So you can search for a keyword that, you know, you put in something, you can say, Oh, okay, this person responded to this. Um, and also text helps you to automate things in the sense of, Okay, this person didn't respond back to this. Let me send that follow up email.
[00:40:37] Shanice: Like you were saying earlier, the client didn't submit to you the content. Um, so maybe in your initial onboarding form that we have that, you know, gives everything tasked, the client needs to complete this. If the client hasn't complete this after two days and we send that email out saying, Hey, you haven't completed that.
[00:40:54] Shanice: And once again, these are automations. Um, you haven't completed this yet in order to start your project, we need to complete this. So the timeline starts from the day that you complete this form, and then once the form's complete, it goes into the system and it breaks up into tasks and it says, Okay, this person, this task needs to go to this person who's going to maybe buy the domain name.
[00:41:13] Shanice: Then this next part goes to this person who's going to maybe design the page, and then the next task goes to the developer who's going to do the back end if you do any particular coding for the.
[00:41:24] Josh: So I have a follow up question on this. I have my systems in place for how to deal with this question, but how do you prevent, or what have you seen that helps prevent overwhelm for clients? Because likely, particularly in web design, they're already a little overwhelmed trying to figure out getting content and their work on their side of the bargain.
[00:41:42] Josh: But if I've found, if you give them like every task through the entire project, they're just completely overwhelmed. Uh, I'm happy to share my solutions for that. But what do you think on that? Like how do you prevent client overwhelm with getting them plugged into your systems and processes?
[00:41:56] Shanice: Yes, so I do that one, one bite at a time. So if you know you need. The first most urgent thing to get started first. Um, so you might ask the client in that first form, you might say, you know, Hi, you know, we're so excited to work with you.
[00:42:11] Shanice: Please list out or hand us over or let us know your idea for the logo. Then once they click complete, that they'll get another form for the next part of that section. So you kind of break it down to smaller sections and have the client have those small wins, complete those small goals and continue on further instead of just giving them one long email that lists everything they need.
[00:42:33] Shanice: It's broken up into say maybe local design first. Maybe let's talk about the name of your business first. Let's talk about the color scheme and then let's talk about what are, um, a couple of websites that you would like your, uh, that you would like your website to look like. What's kind of the foundation or the functional functionality or how do you want it to look aesthetically?
[00:42:54] Shanice: And you would just send those in sequence of when the person is completing them so that instead of the person having to spend an hour or three hours, cuz that's overwhelming. I would I see something for all those and I close it out. But if someone has to answer three to five questions, it's like, okay, I'll do that. I'll just knock it out really quickly. And then the next day, three to five more questions. .
[00:43:15] Josh: That is such a great point. Those quick wins. And yes, if you send a, an intake form of, or a strategy form or anything like that for a website and it's, or for a client, it's gonna take them an hour. Good luck. like it. What a, what a great. Now I do think it's worthwhile saying like, we have this form and it's entirety that would, you know, take a half an hour to an hour. But yeah, like you said, chop it up. You know, maybe you have a week or two weeks to get this in. Send it all over there. There's, I don't know what tools you use for that.
[00:43:43] Josh: I've always used a tool called content snare. Okay. Um, which is not only in the web design world, now it's for a ton of different industries, but I love that because you can set a deadline, but you can have those categor, those categories of, uh, different like tasks that you'd have to send in and anything like that.
[00:44:01] Josh: So beneficial. But you could take this approach. Like on a micro level for a form, like an intake form, but on a macro level for a full project. Like you could totally have a category that's like getting started. Onboarding, project management revisions. That's kind of how I approached it.
[00:44:16] Josh: Yeah. My answer to that was I, I had a getting started page, which is one of the best things I ever did for my business. Cause it was just the same questions I would get over and over when we started. They're like, So how's the getting started process work? Like, what do you need from me? What are we just doing email? Am I gonna call you for updates? Yeah. What do we do during the project?
[00:44:36] Josh: So I just created this getting started page. That is available in my business course for anyone who's curious. And it just literally just lays out the, the process of what we do when we get. Here's what to expect. This is the tools we use.
[00:44:47] Josh: More details will come, but for right now, this is the snapshot. Here's what we need to get started. We'll start you in our project management software. We got a few action items to get going on, and then we're off and running. Um, but it's a great reminder. I I appreciate that reminder to do the quick wins. Yes. Because quick wins are gonna help people fulfill from start to
[00:45:05] Shanice: finish. Yes. And that's actually a great reminder as well. Um, when I'm working with clients, I use the language that they use, so maybe I might say onboarding and that's, you know, part of their onboarding package. But you say, this is our getting started guide
[00:45:19] Shanice: And so it just depends on, you know, the language, how you wanna say it, how you wanna use it in the tools. Um, maybe I might say everything because Click up does those things for you as well, whereas you use content snare. But we work with the tools that you already have, and we just make sure that we are incorporating them all together so that they can talk together and move together
[00:45:37] Josh: That's good. That's good. That was the, the lingo idea is really important too, particularly for web design, because if we're used to saying things like, onboarding an auto mechanic may be like, What, what does that mean? You know, like, they may not speak that lingo. It's just like how when you talk to clients, you're probably not gonna be talking about HTL and all the other languages behind, like what's behind the hood or under the hood.
[00:46:02] Josh: You, I would say mm-hmm. , um, yeah, like talk at their level. So I love, That's another great point, man. This is like chalk full of good points, have like simplified lingo. That's a, I'm kind of curious to get your thoughts on that, that idea of like simplifying the way you say stuff to, to help clients in particular.
[00:46:20] Josh: Have you seen that help as well? Because again, anytime you start a project and you're. Working with somebody else's system, it can be very daunting. And like you said, you could always use tools there or familiar with, but I always advised against that de depending on the situation in web design, because as soon as web designers in particular get outside their tool set, it can be really costly cuz then they're learning something on top of actually doing the work. But yeah, simplifying verbiage, that's, I that would probably be a key to helping clients with their systems. Right? It is.
[00:46:51] Shanice: And I think I have the superpower of being able to simplify technical terms into easy to understand things for clients and for, um, any of the business owners. I do work with some very technical, of course developers can be very technical and sometimes when you are trying to relay what you're saying to the in, in client, the client is just like, what are you saying?
[00:47:14] Shanice: So , we really make sure that we use simple terms. Uh, we try to make sure that it's something that. The client can understand easily so they can give you the correct information. I've seen it a lot of ways as well where someone will think that they're portraying one word or one phrase to a client and the client responds back completely different and they're just like, Why the client say that?
[00:47:35] Shanice: I don't understand. But it's just because of the language you use. So it's very important to use simple terms to really speak clearly and concisely so that everyone can be on the same page and we're all getting what we need from the
[00:47:49] Josh: conversation. That's a great point. And uh, in web design, the most common thing is for a client to say like, Can you make the design pop and it's like, what the hell does that mean? So a lot the
[00:48:02] Shanice: design clients will use like a whiteboard type of tool and they would mock up like, Okay, show me where it is that you want this particular thing, or circle where it that you want it to pop, or what are some examples of websites that you wanted to pop for? And that might be on their getting started sheet.
[00:48:19] Josh: Yes. Gosh, that's so good. Um, we've really covered a lot of like the, the, you know, what the problems are, how to address it with project management, auto automation systems. I kind of figured we weave in and out all of these, but this all sounds great, but I'm kind of, I would love to spend just a couple minutes on like, what is the reason for all this?
[00:48:40] Josh: Like what is this going to get to? What the re what are some of the results that you've seen of people systematizing their services and their processes? Like we're doing all this work. We've probably given everyone a bunch of ideas to work on the business. Um, luckily with the type of stuff we're talking about with systems and processes, there's a lot of work up front that I've seen and it's like it's a breeze after that because you've got the system in place and it starts working for you.
[00:49:06] Josh: But what are some of the results that you would encourage people with Sice as far as like why to do this? Like if we're gonna put the effort into making a system, making a process, what are we gonna get in return?
[00:49:17] Shanice: Yeah, so you actually get so much and one headache, relief from headache, that's a big one. But also you get a lot of your time back when we're putting in systems and when I work with, uh, one client in particular that I'm thinking about, the person was doing it all themselves. and you know, then you can't scale your business because you run out of a certain amount of time.
[00:49:41] Shanice: So helping with the systems, showing them that they can let go, that we can write out these tasks, we can have someone else to ask the same questions that you would ask, that you, uh, can have someone follow the same checklist that you would follow whenever you're creating a specific webpage or so, that frees up your time. So now you can add on more clients. You can scale your business up further, um, than where you could go by your.
[00:50:05] Shanice: It also helped the person see that they could delegate because like you said earlier, you had an issue think with delegation thinking that only you can do these things. But when we set up this visibility dashboard for the person where they could see exactly where the person was working in the project, where they were stuck, um, if they completed certain tasks or if they weren't completing certain tasks, it makes you feel a lot calmer and without feeling like you have to micromanage the person, asking them or completely checking in.
[00:50:34] Shanice: So now you're no longer working in the blind or in the dark. You can see exactly where the person is during the process and any notes or anything that you wanna say to them along the way so that we can just keep it updated and, uh, give the best information to get the best product possible for the client.
[00:50:52] Josh: So less headache, less ti, or more time, less headaches. I love that. Got back
[00:50:56] Shanice: 20 hours a. So that was amazing. They thought they were going to hire an assistant, but we automated a lot of things, so they didn't need to hire an assistant anymore. So that's for time they got more money in their business because of course, if you are not using so many expenses, that's more money.
[00:51:12] Shanice: And then also being able to take on more clients. That's more money in your business. Um, and then they're just so many other. Benefits as well. Like you get to spend more time with your family, you get to make that impact that you wanted to make without the burnout, without feeling like you need to close down your company. You get to, you know, buy some of the things you wanna buy or just have that time to sit in, relax and go fishing
[00:51:38] Josh: or something you talked about, I heard you on, on Sarah Young's podcast talk about was the idea of potentially selling a business. Yes. And if you heads up everybody, if you do not have systems and processes in place, you cannot sell your business cuz you can't sell your brain. Or if you do, you're gonna have to create your systems and processes, which is gonna be a nightmare when you off board it. Yes.
[00:52:02] Josh: What are, yeah, can you just share some thoughts on that? Like, cuz even if people don't assume they're gonna sell their business, or maybe they're like for web designers, there's not too many people who are doing websites thinking I'm intentionally gonna sell this one day, but, You would be amazed at how much you'll change as a business owner within a span of a few years if you're creating something that can run without you doing everything. Yeah. What are your thoughts on that Shanice, about like creating something to maybe potentially sell or just have an asset that you have that freedom to, to do something with? One
[00:52:32] Shanice: day you hit the nail on the head. When I started my educational consulting business, I did not think I was gonna sell it . And I don't think any of us really think about the end in mind or the end goal. When we are starting our businesses, we just want something to kind of replace our jobs or whatever income, or give us some extra income so we can do other things that we really want with it. But it wasn't until I didn't have those systems in place that I got so overwhelmed that I wanted to close it, but I thought about selling it instead and I got the low ball offer because I didn't have those systems in place.
[00:53:04] Shanice: I was the sole person working all the hours in the business. And really, when you go to sell the business, business owners weren't a turnkey business. Something that the owner's only working in five to 10 hours a week that they can just input whichever employee that they wanna hire or pull out someone.
[00:53:22] Shanice: And that's what systems do. They help you to, um, show where you are in the process. So if an employee is sick or if, um, you need to fire an employee or an employee doesn't come back for whatever reason, cuz that happens, you have, you know exactly where they are in the process. Someone else can just insert themselves right into the progress and keep going.
[00:53:42] Shanice: It doesn't stop your business. And I think that's really the big thing about systems is just that it, it just puts you in position to have, you have a sustainable business if you want to sell it. You know, when you get to that point, or like you said with Sarah Young. Um, some people get to an age where they're ready to retire, but they haven't planned it.
[00:54:03] Shanice: So at least you have that option even if you don't do it, or maybe you wanna do it later, but having those systems in place gives you that option. And when I went to sell my business, I was just so done. And that's what happens too. You get so tired, so overwhelmed with everything. I could not think about putting one more task onto my plate to get the business prepared to sell.
[00:54:22] Shanice: And you know, unfortunately then you don't get these SOPs or you don't have these processes in place because you can't think of doing one extra thing with your time when you're already so overwhelmed and so overworked.
[00:54:35] Josh: And when you started your second business, did you have this mindset? Like, did you start your business with processes at the forefront and then thinking like, maybe I'll sell this one day or have the option to sell it?
[00:54:45] Shanice: I went through the entire, um, first process of putting my business onto a platform, I started thinking about that mindset afterwards. I said, Each business that I have afterwards, One of the exit strategies is gonna be the sell it if I, you know, if I'm tired or maybe I want to, but it definitely gives you a different perspective and a change in mind.
[00:55:06] Shanice: And just like I said, the options, it's at least you have the option there. So now you're starting something with an end in mind instead of just, Oh, this is a lofty passion project. , Now you know that you're going to do something that's gonna be profit.
[00:55:22] Josh: I think it's, I was gonna say kind of a fun little game, but I don't want to say it's a game, but it's definitely a fun little challenge that everyone could implement to their business right now, which is to say like, what could I do right now in my business to make it sellable?
[00:55:36] Josh: Yes. Like what, what can I start tipping away at? Cause again, it's gonna be a lot of work, but, um, that's why I have my choruses. Your whole business model was helping people with figuring out everything they need to do to create these systems. Like what a great little challenge to just theoretically, even like, what could I do to make this sellable?
[00:55:54] Josh: And we've gotta coin a quote, Shanice, like, I feel like. S I don't know, systems make you sellable. I don't. Something like that. Like we gotta come up with something to encapsulate that. Unless maybe I don't. Do you have a quote for, uh, for that? Because we gotta come up with something.
[00:56:09] Shanice: Think we're gonna definitely have to come up with something together,
[00:56:11] Josh: Yeah. It'll probably hit you at like 3:00 AM this morning. Yeah. So just send me an email when it hits you. I'm not gonna answer it till tomorrow, but I will. Okay. Um, I love that idea though. It's true. If you're gonna sell something, you've gotta make systems, you've gotta put everything out there. Um, yeah. I love it.
[00:56:27] Josh: We've really covered so much in this conversation, I feel like Yeah, it is really, I mean, we encapsulated a lot of things. I was curious to, to get your insight on. Um, now, so you, you role in your business. Are you the, are you the ceo? Are you what, what a founder. What's your technical role in the business?
[00:56:44] Shanice: Founder slash ceo interchangeably. So,
[00:56:47] Josh: Gotcha. Um, so tasky group.com, we have a special link for everybody. You can go to task lee group.com/josh Hall. Um, but yeah, I would love to just give you an opportunity to, to share, you know, what you do or anything with my audience if they're curious about picking your brain about systems to, to again, get some help on this because like we talked about, there's a lot of work, especially depending on how messy I'm sure your business is. Uh, but yeah, Fire away, Shanice, where would you like, uh, or, you know, just tell us a little bit about your business.
[00:57:14] Shanice: Yes, definitely. Thank you, Josh. So I've created a special page for just your listeners. They can go to tassle group.com/josh Paul, and that's where that they can get my three steps to automate and scale mini. Mm. And if you have anyone who's tired of DIYing, they want help organizing their business, they want that second opinion with setting up their systems. They can book a call from me with that same page, attach group.com/jos hall, or if they wanna connect with me on LinkedIn, you can do it at the same page as well. Just click on my LinkedIn icon tasks group.com/joss. Paul
[00:57:50] Josh: awesome. And I actually literally just signed up because I feel like I'm at a place in my business now where like I, I got a really good handle on my web design business. I don't know if you know this, but I sold it in 2020 to teach full-time. Um, but now I'm like, I've, I'm five years, technically since I started this I'm five years into my journey with, with this brand. Mm-hmm. . And I'm at this place where I, most of my systems are pretty good, but I've got some messiness that I need to address.
[00:58:18] Josh: so I'm excited. I literally just signed up for it because I'm, I'm gonna check it out. I feel like I need some reminders. I mean, this conversation is made me think about. Okay. What am I gonna delegate social media wise? What's holding me back from creating right now? My new program, I, I just started writing a book. I'm like, what's, what are the tasks that are keeping me from that? So what a great reminder. Um, and yeah, super fun shit. Thank you so much for your time today and for sharing, uh, what you've learned with a variety of industries. But I'm sure there's commonalities, right? Between different industries, I would imagine.
[00:58:48] Shanice: Yes. Well, thank you for having me on, Josh. There's definitely some commonalities between industries because as you know, any med industry can have messy standards and processes, so that's the commonality . But definitely work with a lot of agencies and web designers. That's kind of the bulk of my business.
[00:59:05] Josh: And the cool thing is just because things are in different industries doesn't mean that it won't translate to web design, like subscriptions, for example. Correct. 10 years ago. There weren't too many web design agencies having any sort of subscription model. It was just, you pay for a website, it goes live.
[00:59:20] Josh: But now there's a bazillion subscription options Yes. For web design as a project, as a whole for hosting and maintenance for retainer work. So yeah, I, I just say that to say like, your perspective with different businesses could 100% translate to, to web design and creative fields, so thank you. Yeah. Last question for you, Shanice.
[00:59:40] Josh: Would you like to give maybe just like a motivational minute to anyone who like, they're like, Okay, I'm challenged, I'm ready, but I don't know where I should start. What would be like the first thing they should start with that you would recommend with their systems?
[00:59:52] Shanice: So if your system's first thing, once again, I say the same things each time. Start get that piece of paper, that Word document, and divide your business up into departments. And then after you divide your business up into those departments, list out the tasks that you have to do for each department. And then after that, list out the sub-task for each of those tasks. And you can start with, you know, sometimes you can start with the first task that you have to do and the last task that you do to complete it. And then you can fill in the middle so that you can, you have kind of like a standard, a start and a finish type of thing.
[01:00:28] Josh: Well said. I think that's a great way to end this conversation. Nice call to action and yeah, super fun. Shanice, we had fun talking systems. That doesn't always happen.
[01:00:36] Shanice: Thank you so much,
[01:00:38] Josh: Thanks for your time.