697. How to Delegate & Unlock More Time to Scale Your Product-Based Business | Live Coaching Session

Hi, I'm Jacqueline Snyder and this is.

The Product Boss podcast.

I've helped launch and grow thousands of product based businesses, even one of my own. And over the last 20 years, I've seen behind the scenes of businesses just like yours. Whether they are makers, manufacturers, artists, or food and beverage businesses. I have spent so many hours studying it all. I've discovered what makes them successful, what mistakes they could have avoided, how did they turn their ideas into successful business, and what are the strategies that they have used to make more sales and be discovered by more customers. And this is what this show is all about. Whether you're just starting out or you're looking to become a million dollar product boss, I'm here to give you the permission to chase your dreams, no matter how big or small. All you need is the right mindset, a little courage, strategy and support, and you too can be the next million dollar product boss. Let's do this. Oh my goodness. Friends, if you are anything like me, you probably spend more time running errands than running your business. Am I right? Like, everything needs something, we gotta run around. And I knew that this was like a major issue for me back in the day, which is why I decided to get help where I could. And I decided to let Instacart handle all of my grocery shopping. So I no longer had to worry about running all the errands and having to run out and get more almond mil for my lattes. Rather, I was like, you know what, we're just gonna let Instacart handle that. So I want you to imagine skipping the store and getting back to designing packaging, orders, making, or maybe actually taking a break, even a nap.

Remember those?

Okay, so with Instacart, you can get groceries and essentials delivered in as fast as an hour so you can focus on growing your business without sacrificing a meal. Plus, less stress and more focus. And here's a tip.

I've actually used Instacart before to order.

Gifts from my daughter's friend's birthday parties because I haven't had time to run out and get presents. And I've been able to get the packaging, like the gift bag and the g, like hello, Sephora, delivered to my house while I was in the middle of coaching sessions so that I could have the present right. It's like having a personal assistant without having a personal assistant. So if you want to do what I do and get the help where you can, you can try it now if you head to the Product Boss.com Instacart hey, hey, product Boss. Welcome back to another episode of the Product Boss podcast. I am so excited you're here. I am your host, Jaclyn Snyder. And this is another one of our awesome coaching calls. This is where you get to come behind the scenes and listen to me mentor and coach a fellow product boss, someone who makes and sells physical products. And they're either in one of my programs or perhaps they've slipped into one of the spots that we offer sometimes on for these coaching calls, right? And so I'm really excited to dive in today because this is a good one. And I'm talking to Sandy of Simple Organic Soap. Now, she's part of one of my masterminds and she's been in my other programs like the Sales Accelerator or Standout Society. But I wanted to dig deep into working with some of my masterminders because I thought that it'd be really interesting to listen to these coaching calls where we've been working together for a while. But my masterminders are making some big moves, right? They're taking on some stretchy goals and being able to coach them live and letting you kind of listen behind the scenes is really going to show you either where you can go, where you're going to get to, or perhaps you're in that same stretchy moment, right? Like you're at this breakthrough, you're leveling up, you're moving on to whatever the next level is for you. And you're like, hey, I want to see what's next and what's possible. So we've been working together for a while and I'm really proud of her on, like, how much she's grown her business and these changes she's making. And what we're going to get coached on today, right, which we're going to talk about is she just signed a lease for a massive physical space that's going to help her expand her business. This is so exciting for Sandy, right? But also it's a little overwhelming.

So.

So with growth, Sandy's asking a question of something that I think a lot of you may have asked is how do I transition my solo single person company to this well oiled team or this business that can operate at scale, right. Without me burning out or losing my mind in the process or whatever it is, right? There's a lot of times there's this.

Like fear of success.

Now Sandy doesn't have a fear of success. She's like, let's go, right? In fact, I remember the day that she joined my mastermind she said, literally, she. And we talk about it here, but she had signed one of the biggest deals she'd ever signed. It's almost like she manifested it because she brought on a client that wanted 10,000 bars of soap from her. And right there was, like, her ability to then join and invest into the mastermind, right? And she's like, I don't know. It just all happened in the same day. And I was like, yes, let's go. And I'm like, yes, let's go. So what we're dealing with now, and that's why I'm so honored and excited.

That I've been able to work with.

Her over the past few months, is that as she's been leveling up, there's also this time of level up. It's like, you might be the bottleneck or what's next? Or how do I grow? Right? And so maybe you're like her, and you've. Maybe you've wished to clone yourself.

Remember?

That was a wish. I was like, if you were given one superpower, what would be? I was like, clone myself. Or maybe you felt stuck in decision paralysis, especially during growth phase. You're like, I don't know which way to go. Like, I have to grow, but I don't know what to do. Right?

So.

So if you've ever felt like you've hit this next level and something has kind of like, blocked you or been the bottleneck or like, ugh, it's right here, but I'm feeling stuck, then this episode's for you. And if you haven't felt that way, come listen so that when you are at that next level breakthrough, you're thinking, all right, I remember that call I listened to you with Sandy and how she was able to move from chaos to clarity with a plan. Right? And that includes me coaching her through brain dumping and smart delegation and stepping confidently into her CEO role. Right? She's the boss of her business. So let's go.

Okay.

How are you doing this morning?

Great.

You signed the lease?

Signed the lease. I got it, like, late Friday afternoon and went through it all this weekend and signed it and wrote some checks, and me and Al were.

Here we are.

Here's our space.

How exciting.

400 square feet. So exciting. Are you excited?

Yeah, I am super excited. I am. I am. I'm super excited.

I'm.

I'm trying not to get overwhelmed, but I am very excited. And I just know as I trip over everything, you know, throughout my house, I'm ready to get this going. So. Yeah. So now it's like, okay, what's the biggest thing? It's like, what's next?

What's next?

But I definitely need some people, and it's like, I feel like I really need another me.

Or, like, I don't know if it's.

A personal assistant or if it's just a. You know, someone who can help me get through. There's all of these things that. That's smart enough to. It doesn't have to be told what to do all the time.

You know what I mean? Yeah.

And I know that's probably hard.

Well, no, we're not gonna think that way. There's so many of you. We could hire people to run America. Right? So. Right. Like, you could. You could hire any. Like, it's about training. It's about finding the right. So what is the biggest part for you right now that feels overwhelming that. That you would like to take, like, get completely off your plate?

Well, really getting my space set up with my equipment and all of that, you know, I mean, I know I.

Need to be part of it because.

It'S my process, but I've ordered all this stuff, and it's like, well, once it comes in, somebody else can set.

It all up, and.

And then we can go, okay, then let's do our operating procedures and all of that.

But. But it's just like.

I feel like just all of the little pieces when we get all the stuff in. Okay, so we get this, and. Oh, but we need a. We need a cabinet right here so that we have this, you know, just all of that little stuff that. It doesn't necessarily have to be me, but also, you know, make sure we have rubber gloves. You know, we got those ordered, and we have all of the things, all the logistics.

Okay, so do you want to hold the vision of what you want the space to look like and all the rubber gloves and, like, do you want to be like, this is everything. I need someone else do it, or do you believe there's someone that you currently work with or anything that could come in and just take the whole thing off your plate without you saying anything? Do you feel like you want to set the vision and have someone do it for you?

I think I want to set the vision and have someone do it for me, but I'm not sure if I have that person yet.

Okay, this is what I want you to do. You're in overwhelm right now because there's a lot going on, and it feels. When it's all up in your head and everything's coming at you and going, you know, you're like resigning the lease. We have to, I don't know, turn on the electric. We have to set up, you know, all the things. Right, right.

All of that stuff.

It's very overwhelming. So the first thing I want you to do is just a good brain dump. Like, everything, like, just free flow everything.

Out of your head.

I got it. I need to, like, get a phone line. I need to paint the walls. I need to make sure the machinery place knows where to come. I need to figure out which wall the cabinet goes on.

Like, literally everything.

I have to get gloves just out, out, out, out, all out of your brain onto paper and then keep doing that. So if you're driving along and you're like, oh, oh, yeah, yeah, I have to do that too. Voice note yourself. Right. You know, like, wherever you can. You're out and a thought comes. Just get it out of your brain and put it on paper. Okay. So that'll be the. Just the first part of the overwhelm. Because it'll be visually. You could look at it. Then as you look at it and you start to see all the things, you might be like, okay, that's silly. I don't need to worry about that this second. Like, maybe the gloves are not the thing in this moment. Right? In this moment, you're like, yes, gloves need to be ordered, but when do gloves need to be ordered? Well, first I actually have to get the machinery. And so let me just put gloves on the. Like, the gloves are here on the list. But what's the first next step I have to take? Then you can start to just really, like. So once you've brain dumped all the things in your head, then you'd be like, hey, you're stepping back and you're thinking, okay, cool, got the space. What do I need to do first? And write that down. It's probably going to get pulled from your list. And. Okay, now my first step is that I need to call the phone company. Second step, set an appointment. Third step, I want to plan out the space. So I'm going to go take some time, stand in the space, and draw and map out exactly how I want the space laid out. Right. That might also be because from your vision, I want you to just take some time in the space and put it down on paper. Just get everything, every overwhelming thought out of your brain onto paper. You want to draw it. You want to be like. You want to get tape and draw on the wall and be like, this is exactly where I want the cabinet. You do that. You want to measure stuff. Whatever is going to satisfy that itch of the unknown.

When you have it all written down.

When you have it kind of starting to be mapped out in your head, it's Sandy's vision, then you have a clear thing of my first. Next thing that needs to happen. What do I do? What do I ask my husband to do? What do I have? Okay, this lady who's able to help me is a school teacher. Okay? The first thing I want her to help me with is I want her to be there when the. Whatever gets delivered, or I'll be there when it gets delivered, but I want her to be, I don't know, building the cabinets or putting the stuff away in the cabinets, okay? It'll just start to unravel. And not unravel in a bad way, but unfold in a clearer way. And you don't have to do it all at once. Obviously, if your deadlines. And then it'll help you then decide, then the easier thing is, like, when you actually know what you need help with, then you can ask for help and clearly tell her what you need. Not. If you gave her this whole list today, she would not know what to do, and you wouldn't even know how to tell her to do it. Right. When I moved into my office a couple years ago and I had an assistant, there was a point where we moved everything in and I had to just jump back on calls and coaching. So I, like, set up my desk, I set up my computer, and I just sat there and I had my assistant and I was like, I need you to order the printer. She ordered the printer. Shorted the wrong printer. Cool. Short of black and white. So I was like, it needs to be color. Okay? So I was like, you gotta return it. She just dealt with that. I had a cabinet come in from Amazon and she built the cabinet.

And I was like, I don't care.

How you set it up. I want it to be the coffee station. And then she's like, hey, do you want the towels here?

Whatever.

I just. She was able to ask me questions, but I just gave her to do tasks. And I'm doing what I was best at doing, which is sitting here coaching someone like you while the cabinet was being built. Because I didn't need to do that and it wasn't a make or break. So when you're. The other thing I want you to think about as a business owner, when you're giving tasks out to people, is it reversible or Is it irreversible? Is it detrimental or is it not detrimental? So if it's irreversible and detrimental, then that is a something you may want to hold. If it's irreversible but not detrimental, like I send out an email with the wrong link, right? If I send out an email with a racist rant, that's irreversible and detrimental, right? Not that I'm going to do that, but I'm just saying that would be a terrible, terrible thing.

But if I send out an email.

That I can't call back from thousands, thousands of people, but it has the wrong link or the wrong information, be like, oops, wrong link.

So that's how I just want you.

To approach this stuff, so that you feel like you don't have to hold a grip on all of it and that it will allow for you to ask for help and get help if you can map it out in that way in your head.

Okay, yeah, that makes sense. That makes a lot of sense.

Yeah.

Overwhelm is part of growth, right, friends? So whether you're moving into a new space or launching a new collection or growing a team, all of this can feel like everything needs to be done at once. Hands up in the back if you're like, yep, that's me. And that decision fatigue or that paralysis is real. But in this episode, in this coaching session, I'm actually helping Sandy take the chaos in her brain and turn it into a clear plan. Because when you can see the steps, you can start to take them. Here's the truth. Sometimes the most powerful move you can make is also the simplest. And it comes to just writing it all down, right? A brain dump. It takes that tangled mess in your head and it turns it into something visual, intangible, and manageable. It helps you separate what's urgent from the noise. And once it's out of your head and onto paper, you can actually start delegating, not just to a helper, but to your calendar, to your systems, even to your future self. So Sandy already knows she can't do it alone, and she's got someone in mind to bring on for additional help. I love this for her. So, since cloning ourselves isn't quite possible yet, I heard they're working on this in Japan, but not yet for us here. Right? Let's talk about the next best thing, which would be hiring, delegating, and creating a plan that moves you out of the weeds into your CEO role. Now, it's so funny because I say.

This and some of you are like, no, no, no.

I'd rather a hundred percent pay the money in Japan and get myself cloned than actually have to hire, delegate and create plans. I know you, we're creatives.

You're like meh.

But no, my friends, like, let's get serious. The CEO role is really you being.

The boss of your business.

You are a product boss and I want to encourage you to step into that role. It doesn't matter the revenue, it doesn't matter the size. You are a business owner, you are an entrepreneur. And so what we really need to do here is we need to help take these tasks off of your plate. And so I have a few recommendations for Sandy that will help her delegate and just maybe, which I'm pretty much for sure they're going to help you too. So let's jump back in to hear them. Hey friends. Okay, so I don't know if you're anything like me, but sometimes it feels like my self care routine is slipping through the cracks. Because when I'm juggling and wearing all the hats in my business and doing all the things, I mean the last thing I have to do is like really fulfill that self care routine that my daughter's talking about. She's like, mom. So listen, so when it comes to running a successful business, you can't really pour from an empty cup. And a lot of times that self care is like one of the first things to get yourself recalibrated.

So.

So that's why I want you to meet Glossy. Now Glossy is my favorite daily beauty supplement designed to transform your skin and gut health from the inside out. And I'm actually an investor in this business because I so believe in this idea of science backed ingredients for digestion and skin hydration. And Glossy makes it really easy to look and feel your best without that whole 10 step routine in the mirror. The thing I don't actually have time for, all I have to do is simply mix the stick into my water and I'm good to go. So if you want to try this because I so, so believe in this business, I think it's amazing. It's done so many wonders for my skin and my gut which are two things that I need help with. And you want to simplify your wellness and your beauty. All you have to do is click in the show notes and you can use the code Jaclyn Snider. So it's my full name. Use the code Jaclyn Snider and I'm hooking you up with 15% off your order. So cheers to glowing skin and a thriving business.

You'll ease into it of just whatever's on your plate that you feel like you can give her and you can train her on. If there's stuff like that you could pre train on by doing a Loom video. Loom is. Have you ever used a Loom L o O m. I have not. Okay, I've heard of it.

I think I've watched one, but I. I haven't ever.

Yeah, it's great. So it's. It's loom.com. i think there's, like a free service to it too. But, like, you could screen record.

So let's say you're logging onto the.

Back of your Shopify site and you need to do something. You literally screen, record and speak. This is what I'm doing. I log on like this. I do this. I do this. I do this. This is how you would log into the back end of my Shopify account. So actions like that that you want to pass on, you can record and put into those videos and, like, put it in a Google Drive and be like, this is how we deal with Shopify orders. This is how we check our wholesale orders. This is how you deal with my inbox.

I got up this morning after I signed the lease, and I was walking around my house.

Okay, what do I do next?

Now I'm getting ready for this, actually, I've got to go. I'm going to go over the space this afternoon. And I was like, okay. I'm just kind of walking around.

I don't even.

I'm looking at everything everywhere. I'm like, how do I get all this over there? And.

Yeah, you know. Yeah. And I pay for as much, like, whatever you can afford. Pay for the help. So. Meaning if you were like, I'm gonna hire. I eventually, at some point was like, when I moved out of my office, I was like, I'm hiring a moving team. I'm actually not even going to pack my boxes. And my husband was the one who went. He, like, directed it all because I had other things I had to deal with. They put it all in boxes and they moved it to our storage space because I didn't go to my office as much. And so I shut it down. So, you know, are you hiring, like a local moving company that you're like, you asked them to come and they can pack the boxes if you want, with your direction that you don't have to sit and spend all the hours doing that. So pay for as much help as you can afford.

Okay.

So that's overwhelming. Anytime that overwhelmed, just get it out of your head onto paper and then say, what's my first next step?

Okay.

Okay. First.

Next step. I need to just, like, paint that on the wall.

Tattoo on your arm.

What I was supposed to do, right? Yeah. You are the CEO of this company. Like, you do not have to make the soap anymore.

I want you to transition out of.

The maker mindset and into the CEO mindset.

Let's talk about the moment when you stop being the person who makes every product, who does everything, who answers every email, who orders every ingredient. Right? Let's like. Let's just talk about the moment you stop being that person and you step into and start being the person who leads the company you are building. That's exactly where Sandy is right now. She spent years pouring and cutting and hand wrapping soap, but now she's standing at the threshold of something bigger. Mass production. Right. These machines that can make it for her, big orders, real revenue. And here's the mindset shift that has to happen. You don't grow by doing more. You grow by building systems that don't need you in every step. And so that's what stepping into your boss of your business or your CEO role, that's what it looks like. It means trusting others. It means handing off the physical labor and holding the vision. It means letting go of done by me and embracing done for growth. Sandy's not just expanding her square footage. She's expanding her mindset. And if you're listening, I want you to ask, where are you still holding on to tight?

So I want to pull us back a little bit. Take a breath, because everything's fine. Breathe in your soap. So you're generating $30,000 a year through high effort. Right? So you have to do markets. You have to hand wrap with a soap. You have to hand pour it. But you have this opportunity at, like, the 10 to 30,000 units a month. If it goes well, if you add on, if we started their bare minimum of the 10,000 bars of soap a month, what revenue would that bring in for you? What additional revenue would that be?

That is just shy of about $20,000 a month.

So the 10,000 bars would be $20,000 added to your revenue. Okay. Which is a little less than. Which is bonkers. Right. We've shifted your business to, like, what, you mean in a year? Two in a month. So like $2 a bar.

Yeah, a $97 or something.

Right. So if we stay around that amount.

You get to 30,000 bars with them, you're making $60,000 a month. 80,000amonth is a million dollar business. So what needs to be the most important thing that you focus on right now?

Knowing that, well, I guess helping them expand their order. But then I feel like, okay, if I put all my eggs into this guy's basket and he decides he's done, then I'm screwed. That's why I want to. I just don't want to be.

I don't think that's true.

Because what that is for you right now is a cash cow. If it's for three months and you make $60,000 in the next three months and he's done, awesome. That's three years of you working.

That's true.

Right? In three months. Cool. Paid your rent, right?

Because you're not, we're not going to.

Expand you to the size of a million dollar business. Internally. You were already getting the space and getting the machinery. Like you're doing that before you've ever gotten paid by him. And I love that because you're being expansive in that. Also, if you end up being able to hit that kind of capacity, there will be other people out there. So this could be like the universe conspiring your favor. That's like, somehow this is like really cool. Opportunity came your way. And whether this person is long term or not, you've already expanded without the dollars coming in from him. So at this point, your biggest focus should be is how do I create the system and the foundation to this business that I can hold the capacity of 10,000 bars of soap. You do not have enough friends and enough bottles of wine to make that happen. Right. So what I want you to do is I want you to prioritize first. Next step, you're going to make so much more money right now scaling your white label business than you worrying about getting on Amazon and investing and trying to grow that. What I'd love for you to do is be really highly profitable so that you can hire people to teach them how to do the soap, have a little spaciousness from all the making and the doing, and then that's going to allow for whatever's next to unfold. You might again, you might be like, you know what? I love white label. You just said it. So then I don't have to brand.

Yeah, I do. I do.

Yeah. So it might be that you then all of a sudden go into the community and you're like, hey, my name is Sandy and I actually am doing white label. This is my minimum opening order. I can coach you through this and if anyone wants to do that and like, you could start to get little orders that you're helping fulfill on and you don't have to worry about any marketing on a big stage and you can really work on, like, you know, individual business to business stuff. It's an option. It doesn't mean it has to be it. It's just an option. I just don't think you have to worry right now about social. I don't want you to worry about Social. I don't want you to worry about Amazon. You're going to keep functioning the way that you're functioning because you're still establishing your brand and you're still growing it. My intention for you is I want you to be completely focused on getting your business operating, getting your business, fulfilling the 10,000 bars and getting really good at that and foundationally setting it so that by Christmas, Sandy is not wrapping bars of soap or even in production of anything.

Yay.

So there you have it, product bosses. Sandy is making the leap from overwhelmed solo maker to confident strategic CEO. She's setting up a new production space, she's stepping in a delegation, and she's laying the groundwork for business that doesn't just grow, but grows with ease. In fact, update. She's hired that person. That person's agreed to grow with her. And Sandy feels so much more organized and she's crushing all of her goals at this, like, rapid pace because it took the confusion getting out of her brain onto paper and creating a plan. So if you've ever felt like you needed a clone or found yourself stuck between 10 to do's and no clear path forward, I hope this episode gave you the permission to pause Brain dump. Use the tools you got I shared with you today and make a plan. Because clarity is what fuels your momentum. Be sure to check out Sandy's beautiful soaps and growing business over at Simple Organic Soap, and we'll drop all the info in the show notes. Thanks for listening and until next time, keep showing up, keep growing, and keep stepping into that CEO role. You've got this.