State of the Art Scheduling – Key to 65% Growth with Natasha Miller

Welcome to this episode of the Million Dollar Mastermind, where we get real world insights on winning from people who have accomplished amazing things. I'm your host, Larry Wydell. And let's get going. We're here talking with Natasha Miller, and Natasha has got the podcast going. You've written a book. You have to do 777 events in one calendar year. You got to have some kind of mastery of your schedule and delegation and key people and stuff like that. So how do you organize and how do you look when I say schedule? What comes to your mind?

Well, I created a system that my business runs on within Salesforce. So I built it out in Salesforce. I use it in a different way than it was meant to be used, but I have number one, we've automated anything that is low, touch and repeatable, or I should say low touch and. Or repeatable. And so if you can think of an event, it has anywhere from 1 to 75 vendors. And if you have to remember as a human being to remind or touch base or advance details, it's. Something's going to fall through the cracks. But the system I've built does all of those things on a cadence that I designed automatically.

Yeah.

So it's been this, you know, this is one of the differentiators of my company, but also I'm one of the only companies in my industry that has this sophisticated of a system.

So you set up like a chain of dominoes. Like you've got it in there.

Yep.

And badoom, badoom, badoom, badoom, badoom.

And it's also responsive. So if you're my client. Right. You are inputting into the system.

Right.

Data and details, and then we're confirming. So we don't have to do all the work. Right, and you don't have to do all the work either. But it's a. It's a group situation.

You make it easy for people to have an event by you. You know, you. You make it very specific what you need input on and when you need the input, that type thing.

And.

And so now when do you. It sounds like you would probably be keeping your eye on those processes all the time just to kind of always.

We'Re improving them, we're changing them, we're adjusting them, we're upgrading always. And here's the big key. This is an interesting story. So years ago we had this system and. And I heard one of my account executives say, oh, yeah, you know, I call all the artists myself on the day of the performance to make sure they're going to come. I'm like, you do what? Why are you calling them? They're getting email confirmations. We're getting their confirmation that they'll be there. And she's like, I want to make sure they're there. So when I heard that, I understood that some of the pain points that my team were experiencing were, weren't being expressed to me. And that day I said, if you ever get to the point where you're doing something and you wish that there was this other thing to help you with it, you have to tell me. We can't afford not to address it. So that day I took this one gal's pain point of calling all these musicians or talent or vendors and we added another layer of automation. So all of those people are now also getting an SMS text on a cadence.

And so you turn the phone call into. And what did the phone call need to be made? What was the purpose of this phone call?

Just making sure you're coming today, that you know the load in directions, you know the time, you know the directions, you know confirmation. Like. Yep.

Yeah.

You said in our world we call it an advancing, advancing information. Now, they all got that via email. So four days before the event. Yeah, but we're working with high stakes, huge clients. We can't afford for the caterer to go, oh, that's today.

Yeah.

Right. So this now the same things that.

They'Re using with doctor's offices, salons, any place where you make an appointment, you have trip, you have put that into your system on a proactive basis as well since 2013.

And since 2013, my office has been 100% paperless. Yes. I think it's a waste to be cutting down trees and using paper unnecessarily. But really, from my perspective, I didn't want people spending two times or three times or four times touching something they didn't need to touch. And so if everything is housed in this one system and it's reliable, there's no folders. We don't have any folders for our events. If you go into any hotel sales office, you will see racks and racks of folders, manila folders with pieces of paper in it. The Ritz Four Seasons. Everyone does it still.

Wow. And talk about that transition.

It was, it's where the scaling and the growth in my company happened. I did not create the system in order to scale and grow. I created this system to be more efficient and it allowed my company to just burst through the seams and talk about that.

So how much time was it, how intensive was it? How do you, how did that go?

Well, first of all, anybody coming into my organization to be trained now is they're in awe of the system. They can't believe how efficient their job is going to be. So that was amazing. Then clients were also saying, you know, you guys are amazing, you have your stuff sewed together now. In 2015, I went to the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses course in Boston at Babson College. And so I was already set up with my systems and processes to take what I learned at this course. And that's when my company started growing at 65% year over year. And it wasn't just that one course. It was the fuel that I knew I could access from courses from mentors and advisors that could keep me, you know, hurtling over those goals year after year.

And what did you learn there that you didn't already have? Because it seems like everything.

No, I mean I did so many things by gut. I wasn't great at hiring job descriptions, developing people. I wasn't great at knowing my customer value proposition. I wasn't great at saying out loud what our point of differentiation was. I wasn't, I didn't understand the foundation, the basics that you might learn if you went to, you know, got an MBA, which I think a lot of people get MBAs before they have businesses. And it's like a missed opportunity.

Right, right.

So I learned how to read my financial documents before I went to Goldman Sachs. I literally didn't know any of my numbers, didn't know how to talk about them. And after that course I had the confidence to talk to this teacher that I was terrified of because I thought he was going to call on me and I was not going to know what I said. The following year I went back for another program and I was able to talk to him in a very rapid response way. Now do I know how to speak, I know how to speak to my cfo, to my accountant, to my controller now, but do I speak the same exact language as them? No, but enough that I need. I can get out of them what I need and they can get out of me what they need. Yeah.

And so this is, repeat the name of the school again. Babson School of.

Yeah, this was The Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses Program at Babson College and they are teaching entrepreneurs. I think you have to have a minimum of 250 in revenue and a couple of people full time. It's a program that Goldman Sachs funds for small businesses and they're still doing the program. And then since then through eo, I've studied at MIT and Harvard and so now you can't stop me. Any kind of higher learning, even though I've had lots of different successes, there's always more to learn.

And so what you found is that education of the right kind, at the right time, at the right time can make all the difference in the world. How long was this course at Goldman Sachs?

So that one in 2015 was a three month course, but I will have to say three months.

Three months, wow.

It was intense though. If I were approached with that opportunity in 2001, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, I don't think I would have had the interest, the focus or the wherewithal to learn like I did in 2015.

You gotta be hungry to take on something like that and you know, chew it all up, digest it and apply it. I mean, you know, there's, they can teach you, just like people will come and I'm sure they say to you, you know, thanks so much for what you said, made the difference and now, you know, blah, blah, blah. So yeah, I also said that to, to a thousand other people and it didn't do anything with the information.

Yeah, I'm an instant implementer, which is part of why we grow so fast is that if I get good intel and putting it in as it's coming in, I'm putting it out, there's no hemming or hawing, there's no, huh, should we do that? I'm like, this is what we're doing. And I've been right most of the time.

Yeah, well, the thing is your instincts, you know, that's going off your instincts and the, you're a now person, you know, it's like, why would you wait when the thing you can make those decisions when you really know your business and you really know what you're doing, why you're doing it, you know the results you're getting and you know your opinion of the results you're getting. And so when something comes in and you know this is better, this is going to give me much better, you know, quicker, faster, better results. I mean like, why would I wait? Let's go. And so you become a now person. Where's your softie? And you know, you kind of can't get around to it and we got some unfinished business there. And then after the next year we come in, we'll have time to consider the.

No, no, no. That makes me crazy. Just watching you play that out in pantomime started giving me anxiety.

Yeah. And so what allows you to do that is the fact that speaks to how efficiently you're running your business. So you have the efficient systems, but you have the efficient systems. It's a result of the mindset, of the knowledge and the intent. And so I'm looking forward to seeing you continue to grow. And did you speak to the 200,000 people yet?

That was a few years ago at Dreamforce.

So they did have that. So you're. That was before COVID Before COVID Unbelievable.

Now, Salesforce, their last dream force, they did in five different cities with 5,000 people max. That's down from all in San Francisco. 200,000 people.

Well. Well, I think the big events are going to be coming back, so.

Yeah, eventually.

I'm. I'm excited for you and your company. Congratulations. You're making your own way. You're making your. A unique way. And I'm going to encourage you to write a more specific book because you have created a lot of specifics in running your business. And so you've got a whole body.

It's in the works, Larry.

Okay. All right. Well, I was just smelling something.

Thank you.

I just want to encourage you on that, so thank you. I'm glad it's under the. In the works. Hopefully I'm going to hear about it quickly.

It's going to be a while. I need to. I'm still in launch mode for Relentless, and it is a passion project. Wait, that doesn't mean I don't have the outline and. Yeah, okay. It'll be a while, but I'm on it.

Well, from what I'm seeing about you is after the book number two, you're going to have the whole process of writing a book from. From concept to completion down to a science.

Larry, I teach people how to write, publish, and market their books. Here's the workbook. You got it, buddy. You knew or you didn't know, but you had a feeling.

I smell things. I can smell things. Well, good for you. That's exciting. And it's exciting to. It's exciting to be productive of things that matter, that are useful, that are useful, that make a difference in other people, you know, that fills a void. Just like the Goldman Sachs school.

Yes. Yeah.

And to have things like that on a big level, there's no reason you can't be big. And so we. We benefit when people come in and get some new thing and they put together what you put together. And you. You're doing it in event planning, but you're going to be doing it in a whole lot of other areas. I can tell from just talking to you. So let's get together again down the road and I can hear about all the new stuff. You want to give a final word to all of the entrepreneurs out there that have been listening?

Yes. If you have been looking for a shortcut, I have the answer for you. And that is are you ready for it?

Yes.

Do the work. I know it's so simple, but I didn't do the work for the first 10 years. I passed it up and when I started doing the work it was fun and the success skyrocketed.

Absolutely fabulous. Platinum advice from a Platinum pro. Thank you very much Natasha. I'm looking forward to talking to you again. I wish you nothing but the best with your new adventures.

Thank you so much. I appreciate it.

That wraps up this episode. Consider leaving a rating and review if you like what you heard. In addition, I have a free video for you and it contains my back best insights from 20 years of running my own business and also coaching million dollar earners. You'll find it at whitelownwinning.com webinar thanks for listening and do it big.