How to Work LESS and Make MORE Money (Systemize Your Business)

Are you like most business owners that are scattered and all over the place or let's say you have a team, do they really know what they're supposed to do on a day to day basis or what if you lose your key person and then you replace them? Do they know what to do? Well, I think it's time to systemize your business and that's what we're going to talk about right here, right now on ali and you'd welcome to Ally and you'd the Business Success and Lifestyle show. I am Alison Maslin. I am a business growth mentor and I love growing and scaling businesses. And my new book Scale or Fail just came out a few months ago. It hit the Wall Street Journal bestseller list. And this is all about growing and scaling your business. And so that is why I brought our special guest on today. Because one of the things that you really need to do when you grow and scale your company is, is you need systems and processes. And I know how much you love systems and processes. Well, you are going to after this episode and you need this so you can get your life back. So let me introduce our special guest, Delyn Anno, the president of Process Panda, a consulting agency that helps business owners organize, streamline and systemize every part of their company. How would you like to walk into your business knowing it is streamlined and organized? It's like walking into a closet that you just organized. Right? It feels so good. With over 25 years of executive experience working with Fortune 100 companies, her mentoring has resulted in billions of dollars. Not millions, billions. Even business revenue. But more importantly, she's helped countless people free themselves from the administrative and the infrastructure tasks that keep them from truly growing their business. And I will tell you, I talk to countless business owners that do. They are trapped in the day to day, repeating things over and over again that they just don't need to do. Delyn is dedicated to getting CEOs out of the day to day grind so they can scale their company to make more money and get their lives back. So welcome.

Thank you.

So how, how was that intro? Was that like, did that make kind of sense?

Exactly it.

Yeah. Yeah. Because I've lived it and breathed it.

I can actually feel the pain. That's great.

Yeah, I know, I know. So this is a unique business. The interesting thing is it's a unique business that you help businesses systemize, but it's also so needed. I mean every business needs it. Yes, but most don't know how to do it.

Exactly.

So how did you get into this Business.

You know, it was really 25 years of helping businesses figure out how to work with corporate America. And the language between people who work in an enterprise and people who run a small business is just very different. And I realized that the gap was where I needed to spend my time. It was figuring out how to make those two communicate well.

And so can you describe the gap? A little bit? So I understand.

Well, business owners kind of wake up every day wanting to do something different. And certainly. And I listen to you talk to business owners and you say, every day, if you're not changing, if you're not innovating, if you're not doing something different every day, you're falling behind. The problem is that when corporate America does what they do, they're very structured, they have processes in place, and they come to work every day to do the same job the same way, which is exactly the opposite of why business owners get in the business.

Right.

So they're really looking at business through two ends of the kaleidoscope.

Right.

One wants to come to work every day and do something different. You know, the biggest mistake most business owners, most people do when they're trying to put processes in place is to develop the solution before you actually define the problem. People think they know how they spend their day. They believe they know what they're doing and how they're spending their time and energy. But the reality is that the first thing you really need to do is you need to do a time log. You really need to understand all those activities that you're spending your time doing. And it's what I always say that I can hear that mental eye roll every time I say you need to do a time log because enjoys doing that. But you can't solve the problem if you don't understand what it is.

Yeah. You know, that's a really important point. And that's an activity we've given our clients to do in something we call automate to freedom. And every time we say that, they're like, but the interesting thing is, I'm glad you bring that up, because you might look at your calendar and say, okay, I did this and I did this and I did this and I did this. But how many times did you get up.

Yep.

And answer the phone, change your screens, post some stuff on Instagram. Right. Got the wrong number, Somebody walked in. And then you forgot what you were doing. Right. That happens, like, all the time.

Right.

And if you added those things up, it's leaking. It's just leaking hours and hours.

And most Businesses, your labor is your number one or number two expenses.

Right.

So every minute of inefficiency is loss of money. And so you. The. The more you can get processed and defined and systemized.

Yeah.

The less leakage you have.

Yeah.

So what A business owner considers total boredom, which is you do the same thing every day in a corporate enterprise. That's money. Yeah, that's money. Every time someone does the same job and it's repeatable, that's efficiency. That's money. So when you can get out of that. I know what people are doing. I know. And actually document the time that you spend. You stop those leaks. And that's the goal is to stop those leaks.

Yeah. And where do you see. I mean, talking about that in working with the business owners that you do, where do you find that they're wasting most of their time? Are there some common areas?

Micromanaging. You know, if your feeling is that you have to be involved in every decision because there is no norm, you're micromanaging. You're in way too many weeds. The goal here is that we set a norm. We set what is allowed and allowable every day, and people do it every single day. So you can manage by exceptions, because that's when a business owner is doing the job well. Yeah, manage by exception. If you're signing every single approval for every office supply being purchased, you are micromanaging, and you need to get out. If you have a norm and people understand what their job role is, what they're approved to do, how they can. The process that's allowed, then you only have to answer the question. When someone says, Fred ordered a $75 box of pens. Can I go ahead and order it? And flags go up and people go, oh, wait, that's out of. That's an exception that we need to talk to the business owner about. Otherwise, you should have a budget set for office supplies, and you never even think about it until you get to the end of the month. And you had $300 budgeted and they spent $296 and you're good. Check, check. Move on.

Yeah. So I think the answer there is having that budget.

All that is that process. Those processes in place.

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. Because I know for us, it's been okay. Once it gets to the certain amount, I need to. Let me approve it. But really, you could have that over and over again. You really need to have that set budget. And I know that's an area that business owners really struggle.

Yep. And I've done 25 or 30 of them. So that's what I do every year.

Yeah. So when is the time that a business owner needs to start putting processes in place? You've got people, you know, startups, and they're just focused on kind of trying to define their revenue stream. Some of you that are watching here, you're just sort of getting sales pages together. You know, maybe you are working with customers, but you, you're just getting things off the ground. When would be the time to start?

Well, we do what we call our guiding principles, the foundation processes. And those are around money, people and brand. And you want to really, from day one, manage how your money is spent, manage how your people are treated, attracted, managed. And then you want to be careful with your brand from the very beginning. And so those are foundational. We've actually developed those at a somewhat entry level because we really don't want anybody running a business without those foundational pieces. But at the point that you're cruising along and you have your foundational processes in place and you hit a point where you tell your people, from now on, copy me on every email you send, you need processes. Because being involved in every email is not a process.

It's total insanity.

It is. And you would be shocked at how many times I go into businesses and they say, oh, we've got this all under control. I get copied on everything. Yeah, like that's not a process, that's a recipe for exhaustion.

Yeah, I know somebody said this to me and I can't remember who it was, but basically she called it the hit by a bus strategy. So if she was hit by a bus tomorrow, what would happen? Things continue to run.

Yeah, we like to call it when you hit the lottery.

Oh, okay.

We don't want anybody under a bus. But yeah, if you hit the lottery and won $175 million tomorrow and you went and bought an island, could happen. Would your business go on? Or are you in a place where without you getting copied on every email, it wouldn't continue?

Yeah. Or on every meeting. And so, yeah, I think that's the way you really need to be thinking about that at the beginning. And so let's talk about what are some of the areas of a business that you would systemize? Like what are some of the common ones that you see run through most business models?

So there's the very standard ones, accounts payable, accounts receivable. You need to systemize your end of month financials so that you read the same reports every month. So you've got comparatives, you need to however you spend your money, whatever your process is for spending that money, be it cost of goods, if you're negotiating a contract that needs to be systemized, Onboarding of employees needs to be systemized. I believe strongly that you need to systemize your performance evaluations and your bonus structure. If you're awarding a bonus at the end of the year and that doesn't come with some criteria for why you're wasting your money. Not that rewarding people isn't good, but people don't. People want to understand why they're being bonus. They want to understand that. So that's kind of.

And not to just expect a bonus.

Exactly.

Yeah.

And so I say all the time, if your people are managing the job the way you want them to, they get a paycheck. But if they're doing it with the attitude that you want, they get a bonus. So you bonus for attitude, you pay for work. And so how do you break those two apart and put it in a way that everyone understands what's expected of them every single day? Very often business owners will say to me, I've actually had a business owner say to me, I don't want you to give any of my direct reports, goals or objectives because I don't like rules, and I don't want any of my direct reports to have rules.

How'd that go?

Well, it was a really interesting conversation as I explained to him that 98% of the population wants rules. We want to understand where the goal post is. But he just refused. We put a structure together for about 100 employees, but his four direct reports never did. He just refused. And it was all of his people said, oh, please, I'm so glad you're here. Let's do this. And I'm like, he doesn't want you to have it. I had one lady cry. She was so hurt that she wasn't going to get a performance evaluation. And he felt like he was giving his employees freedom.

Right.

But they just. They wanted the structure they wanted and.

Want to know how they're.

How to delight.

Yeah, yeah. And how are they on their journey towards their own sense of accomplishment?

Exactly right.

That's.

That.

That's important. And so when you see. So let's just. So when whoever's watching right now, for those of you that know the difference, efficiency. When you have a company that doesn't have systems, like, what can go wrong?

Well, so an example of where you've got to put something in place is you finally decide that you're going to get out of the day to day operation of managing customers. And you hire an operations manager and that person's role is to manage kind of the customer communication with the customer for the project. And you say to that person, communicate with customer. Now what you did was you called that customer every afternoon and gave them a status update on what that project was doing. Three weeks later you get a phone call from the customer and they say, what's going on? I have no idea what's going on. I haven't heard from you. So you get your new operations manager and you go, what are you doing? You're not calling the customer. And he or she looks at you and says, you said to give him a project update and the project's not done yet.

Right. So it's how you communicate, how you.

Engage your people in delighting you, how do they carry your brand forward and make sure that they are delivering to your customer the way in which you want it delivered. It's about lining out your expectations. So clearly.

Yeah.

That it isn't. It is. You don't have to check up. All you need is at the end of the week or the end of the month. And quite honestly, when you, when you get comfortable with the processes you have in place, you'll never need an update.

Yeah.

Because you will know that people are doing.

Right.

What the way they're going to apply it, the way in which you want it applied.

Yeah. And I think sometimes it's just like relationships and with a couple, I thought he would knew what I was thinking. Right, right, right, right. We know how that goes. It doesn't.

And so I say to people, business owners, all the time, before you hire someone or fire someone, let's talk. Because if you're not clear on what you want that person to do when they come through the front door and how often do you say, I really need to hire someone but I don't have time? Well, it shouldn't take you time, it should help with your time. If it's going to be a burden on you to hire someone, then we don't have the processes in place.

Yeah.

And if the person that's been with you for five years, 10 years is no longer delighting you, chances are you haven't put processes in place for them to fulfill your expectations.

Right.

I say all the time, maybe their crystal ball is just broken and they don't know what you want.

Yeah. And I do feel that for me, it's something that I'm constantly working on and can and still need work on. It is really it's almost like you need a vacuum to come out of your head, a data dump to be able to be clear on what it is you really need. And I even remember this was several years ago. There was a point where I had just everything in my head and we had this big meeting and then we, we laid everything on the wall. And you know, this, I was like, okay, we're doing this. And they're looking at me like, you're doing all of that. Like, why could, why can't you give that to us?

Right?

You know, Right. But there's the phases. You know how I talk about the five phases of scaling. And in those early phases, you as the business owner so used to doing everything to then make that shift. Where you hand it off is almost like, you know, when your kids go off to college or something, it's hard to let it go.

And it's so hard. And I gonna say this kind of tongue in cheek and I don't mean for it to be disrespectful, but I hear all the time, no one can do it the way I can. And my answer is no. Sometimes they'll do it better. Yeah, but to be a really for.

Sure better than I can do it.

To be a very successful business owner, you really need internalize the belief that there is more than one right answer. Unless it's math. There is always more than one right answer. And we tend to, because we start businesses, because we're control freaks. Believe me, I don't walk this walk every single day. So I am a control freak. There's no two ways about it. And I have this in my head. I know A to Z and then I have to get out of my own way and say we're going to arrive at Z and as long as we arrive there together, the path that you take is the path that you take. And I'm all right with that.

So what is the process specifically to put some of these systems and processes in place?

Well, we always start with a time log because as much as people don't like to do it, it is the data that is necessary to make sure that we get it right. So everyone starts with a time log.

And let me, let me just say this because you've given us awesome time log. Step by step, 10 steps, exactly. What to do to get this time log, go to alisonmaslin.com library and we will have this download for you as our gift. And you're also going to get the download from many of the other guests that we have Had. And this is from Dylan, so thank you for that. So anyway, I didn't mean to cut you off there.

Oh no, that's great. Yeah. So that's where we start with everyone. And the first meeting is with the business owner or president of the organization. It's not always the business owner who wants to get this solved. And then we meet with those direct reports, their direct reports, or the heads of their department. And I always laugh and say, and I will know more about your business than you want anyone to know. And that's okay. So we'll hear lots of things, but I'm not looking for specific issues, I'm looking for trends.

Right.

So we will spend a day or two, or however many days it takes to really understand where those trip ups are and to understand the delta between where the business owner believes the business is and where the reality is of the people that are orchestrating this. Often I'll sit in a meeting and the business owner's in the center and they've got his two right hand and left hands right there and he's saying, oh, we have all this in place and they're sitting next to them going no we don't. And the look on their faces and.

We'Re fudging it along the way, please help us.

And, and it's because as the owner, as the visionary, as the person who started this, you have a good grasp on how things are supposed to go and it's in your mind and you can talk it and you can walk it every day. It's getting that disseminated across the organization and that's where that gap is. So it's important to incorporate all of those things. And again, we look for trends and then we will prioritize the processes by what we believe your return on investment will be. We want to hit the things that are going to make you more money or save you the most money quickly because we want to get those done and there's some of those there.

And what would some of those systems and processes be?

So if you have delivery to a customer, if you have an event that you do that raises money, if you manufacture and your single biggest item we believe needs to be negotiated, that you've just continued to use the same provider and you haven't gone out to market. So we're going to hit those things that we believe are going to have a really quick return on investment if it delivers revenue for you and you're doing two a year and we can get this down and you can do seven a Year. We're going to do that first because that's going to deliver money to the bottom line quickly.

Yeah, I love that.

And then we'll go through and do kind of those internal system, because we believe you. You then have the money to now fix the rest of the. And you will enjoy the fact that it's happening for you so quickly.

Yeah.

You'll just want to systemize everything.

Right. And then, you know, take off on vacation.

That's exactly it. If you want to jump out of a plane, we want you jumping out.

Of a plane, whatever that is.

No more deciding on $75 boxes of pens.

None of that. And so. Well, I. This is just so phenomenal. And. And so for those that are watching right now, what do you think is the biggest mindset issue that would trip somebody up from saying, we're fine the way we are?

Most people just believe that they're the only ones that can do it this way. No one else will be able to do this the way that I can do it. And you're right. No one can do it your way. But it can get done right, and it can get done well. And that's not your highest and best value. So we need to get you out of that and let it get to its logical conclusion, because you will now empower really smart, really good people to do a really great job, and you will be able to redirect your energy to where you need to redirect your energy.

And really, like, why did you get in the business in the first place?

Right.

You know how we. We talk about in Pinnacle Global Network, which is our private mentoring and mastermind, which Dylan is a member.

I love it.

Of Pinnacle is if you divide the, you know, the tasks that happen in a business in three levels. The ones are. Level one is just stuff you really hate doing right. You should have no business doing. And level two is important. But again, you really probably shouldn't be doing those things.

Right.

So level three is what excites you, what fascinates you, where you can put your creativity and your ideas. And if the business owner is stuck in the. The. The administrative and in those sort of system process development, it really stunts your creativity. Yep.

It sucks the life out of you.

Yeah.

And I just had this conversation with a client just on Monday, actually, and I said, you know, when you put those tasks in, I want you to label them whether you like it, tolerate it, or love it or hate it. Love it, tolerate it, hate it. Because we want to know.

Yeah.

Because what you're going to do is we're going to identify those tasks that you don't want to do, that you just don't. It's sucking the life out of you. And that's going to be the first jobs we're going to hire for, because trust me, there is someone out there who loves to do what you hate. I mean, who would have thought there was somebody who loved to write processes, right? Yeah.

I'm really happy that you got to do that.

Everybody loathes it, and we get up every morning excited that we get to do this. So go find those people that love to do what you don't like to do, because your business will be better for it. If everybody is doing a job that they love getting out of bed for, the business is just going to grow.

Yeah. And it really frees you up. I know we made a hire recently, Ariana, and I think she's here. I don't know where she is.

I met her earlier.

Yeah. And, you know, because I write a ton of content for our events and I've been writing content for the last several years, I have content coming out of my ears, I would imagine. And we have several events that we're leading. And so it was like a dream position for me to hire somebody that could get their arms around this content and help pull the agenda together for things. And it is saving me. Well, it's basically giving my weekends back.

Right.

Because that's the. Those are. That is not something I could necessarily do in the middle of the day when the phone is ringing and so forth. It had to be completely quiet with several hours to think and focus.

And that's not your highest and best.

It isn't. It isn't. And there's already so much to pull from. So that was super freeing to do that. But sometimes, you know, for the longest time, for myself, I thought, you know, is that being elaborate? Do I really need this position? That is something that I could just do for myself. That would really save us money. Right. Those are all of the things that the business owner goes through. But I'll tell you, since I did give myself back that gift and Ariana's great at what she does, and all of our team here is amazing at what they do. I'm very fortunate. It just, you know, everybody's happier.

Well, and it's going to allow you to deliver all the content quicker, faster. You can even host. You might even be able to host more events because it isn't all on your shoulders to get it done right.

And everyone's waiting for me at midnight and you know, the week before we actually have almost finished all of the content for an event that is next month. Like that never happens. Yes. Everybody's like what?

Everybody's running around the night before trying to insert slides when you decided you want. Right?

Yeah. Well, you see the value of what Delyn does. And how would you like Delynne to help you with your business? And so first of all, make sure and get her process for your time log so you can figure out what you should be doing, what you should not be doing, or where you're wasting your time. And that's@alisonmasden.com library and then how do people find you, Dylan?

Well, the website is escape inc.com because that is our parent company.

So how do you spell that?

S, C A, P, E I N C dot com.

All right, Scape inc dot com. We'll put that below.

And that's got all the contact, contact information for us. It will next week be rebranded. You'll, you'll get there that way. But you'll see all the rebranding of Process Panda. There are lots of ways to click and get a 30 minute content consultation with your specialized Process Panda to help you, to help you get out of those weeds and do your best and highest work well.

Awesome. Well, I hope you get lots of phone calls because I think you're helping people have a better life. Right. And free themselves up. So this has been so much fun. And if you want to learn more about Pinnacle Global Network, which is our private mentoring and mastermind, Definitely go to pinnacleglobalnetwork.com and you can contact us through there. You can also just email us@supportlisonmaslin.com and learn all about scaling in our new book Scale or Fail. You can find this show on most platforms out there for podcasts, whether it's itunes, Spotify and all the above. And we have the audio version and we have the video version. Whatever floats your boat. So go ahead, get out there and elevate yourself because you are worth it. Bye, everybody.

People always talk about they want to be part of seven figure companies. I'm now part of seven, eight and nine figure companies. I've been introduced to some of the largest corporations, Fortune 500 companies, and it's with Alison's help. She's kind of expanded my horizons and my capabilities and I think that's the most important thing where she expands. She makes you know what you can do and be successful at that.

Being with Alison and being able to learn who to hire and why to hire and how to develop a passionate, creative, inspired team was really, really important for me because I needed to shift some energy in my business.

And I feel like with her help.

I've really done that.

Pinnacle helped me grow my company to where at this point point a year ago, I'm making. I made a million more than I did at this point last year. So I really wanted to break that ceiling. I've hit that ceiling for several years in a row and Pinnacle has helped me do that by implementing the thought. It's actually just a thought process and how you view your company and how you view what you're doing. I think a lot of us entrepreneurs are hard on ourselves and are hard on our companies when it's not that long. We shouldn't be that way. So I think it's just looking at things a little bit differently, putting into practice the systems that she teaches us. For example, if you want an example, putting people in place to where I want my business to be at in two, three years. So I've got people right now in place. And it's wild. It's just like all the work is coming in and we're in place and we're not stressed out and it's just amazing. It's just an amazing place to be. What I love most about being in the Pinnacle is constant access to support. So whether it be my mastermind group or the recorded resources that Alison has produced for us, or the constantly cutting edge information that's coming to us on social media, Facebook ads, how to conduct webinars, you name it, we have a resource for it.

So since joining Pinnacle, we've added 12.

New positions to the company.

We've increased revenue about 43%.

We've increased profit by 111% this year. More importantly, I've gotten out of some roles that I was in, like QA manager. And some of the marketing things that I was doing are now outsourced or.

Not outsourced, insourced to a team member. And I've really focused in on running.

The business instead of letting it run me.

Coaching opportunity out there. And a lot of times I'm a little bit suspicious.

It's kind of a sales job, you.

Know, are they, are they in it for themselves? Are they in it for me?

And at no time have I ever felt with Pinnacol that my best interest was not number one priority.

And it's truly an organization and not.

Just Allison and the coaches, but everyone there.

It's coming from a place of Giving and.

Working for mutual benefit. A lot of sharing going on and that's a great team to work with.

Right off the bat. I laid a foundation for my coaching.

Practice and I increased my prices and within one week I had signed two.

High paying clients that had basically paid.

For my coaching program with Alison. And since then my income has doubled every single month.

It's been tremendous. But being a part of the community has been the greatest asset. I've been so fortunate and blessed to befriend so many other amazing entrepreneurs who I learn from on a regular basis who always have my back. Like minded people that I surround myself with and the environment is so positive. I just cannot speak highly enough of it and I am always compelled to share it with everyone I know. I feel it is the biggest gift to introduce and share this opportunity to connect with this kind of community, with everybody that I know.

Don't be the company like I was being in business for over 12 years, looking back and saying, what did I do in the last 10 years? Do it now. Now is all we have. We don't have the past and we don't have the future. All we have is now. I've been in business for 21 years now and I've worked with a number of business coaches and I watched Alison for four years and the results that her clients had when they worked with her. And I finally decided this is the next coach that I'm going to hire because she is the real deal. She is available to her people. She absolutely cares deeply about each and every individual and the success of their business.

And you know what?

We have to in business take risks. And sometimes taking risk is hiring that new coach. This is a risk worth taking.

There is nothing like it. I can't even expl explain what the.

Opportunity and the learning that comes with Pinnacle. Don't even think about it because if.

You think about it, that's the number one thing that will hold you back.

Just do it. You won't regret it.

You just need to do it.

I mean, you have to stop being on the fence. You have to get off. The fence is boring.

The fence is.

Honestly, I was on the fence for.

Oh gosh.

I was on the fence for maybe two years and it was a horrible.

Fence to sit on.

I hated the fence because the fence kept me stuck. And it was when I finally jumped off the fence that my business skyrocketed.