Transformation with Stefanie A

Well, Steph, welcome back to the Organized 365 Podcast.

Well, thank you for having me.

So you're going to hear, uh, this Friday I'm interviewing Steph and her 2 daughters about some unexpected events that have happened in early 2023. And in that podcast, I referenced that we had recorded a podcast about multi-generational living, and you said, no, we haven't. So now we're recording it so that it is out before this next one comes out on Friday. So I went back into the podcast archives, of which there are like 1,000, and Steph, you haven't been on the podcast for like 2 and a half years.

I know, I know. I think you dreamed it. You've been dreaming that I've been on the podcast with you.

I'm like, we've talked about all these things on the podcast. You're like, nope, really, we have not. No. So Back, you can hear all about how Steph ended up in South Carolina and how she first found Organized 365. Um, so 2021, you were not on the Organized 365 team at that point. I don't even think—

Actually, what is funny about this is the day that we had the podcast, that we recorded the podcast. So the podcast didn't come out until September 2021, but we recorded it in May, and you hired me right before that recording. So we had a quick call in the car and, and you said, so—

5 minutes.

And, and come to find out a year later, you still didn't know who I was. So it's like, wait a minute.

I know who you are. I know.

I'm kidding. It is, though.

I mean, but that is fair. Like, when you hire a remote employee that you have not met in person and you know of them Through social media and through other team members, it is not the same as having a local employee that, like, you interview in person. And so, yeah, you definitely were hired based on referral and just awesomeness.

Thank you.

And I'm still getting to know you today.

Kind of crazy.

And I also think that's the— and so you have grown a company. You were the first employee of the company that you eventually left when you came to South Carolina that had, I think, 49 employees. So, you know, you get to a point where after your 10 employees, you just don't know the employees after that the way that you do the first 10 employees or the employees when you're— I'm not in the business as much anymore as I was initially. Like, I'm spending a lot of time getting a PhD, a lot of time speaking, a lot of time podcast recording. So None of that is done with employees.

It's true. And then same thing, you know, with us as we grew, when you grow your team, then you grow your team leads, and then your team leads have direct connection with those other team members. And so you do lose that level of relationship and things like that with your team. And so I completely get it. I mean, because there were people that I was like, oh, I didn't know that about you. You know, it's true, you do find out things because you're not, you're not with them day in and day out. I mean, you and I, we don't see each other on a regular basis. I mean, we Zoom weekly, but a lot, a lot of Zooming. Yes.

I will say, even local though, with the local Organized 365 team members, I don't have the same connection that I did when I initially was in the company. And that is a little bit purposeful. Um, you shouldn't know everything about your employees when you're the employer and you're the business owner. So I have put a little bit more distance between myself and the newer employees. So often they'll be like, well, you know that I— whatever, this happened in my family. And I'll be like, no, I really had no idea that that happened in your family. And, and some of that is intentional. I don't sit down and eat lunch with the team every single day. Um, well, first of all, I don't take a lunch, but also, I mean, it's rare when I do that. It's more like a team meal because it's just different when the boss is there. It's just different.

It is, it is. And we did the same things, you know, we didn't I, well, I had the same issues at work where I, I didn't take a lunch because it would mess up my flow.

Yes, exactly.

I, once I started my flow, I wanted to keep my flow going. If I needed to nibble something at my desk, that's what I did. And so I had to be very intentional to take a break for lunch for special things. And so when it was a special lunch or it was a celebration of someone, then yes, I would certainly take a break for those. But others, yes, let me work straight through because I'm one of those two. I don't like to leave work either. So if I leave work, my thought was, I'm off, I've left, it's over, I'm done.

Done.

So, so I don't— I never left work either. I would get there early, just stay through the day, do, do the things that I wanted to do. And, and it's not that I didn't love doing it, I still love doing it, but I— same kind of, same kind of feel. And, and I too, and I do get that separation because there does come a time Where you are, you have the professionalism, but, but we did certainly have time to where we had enough of a relationship. If they needed prayer, they'd come to me.

Yeah.

So, you know, so those things were great, but, but I completely get it. I mean, that, that kind of flow, and it does happen.

And I will say one of the unexpected benefits of having traveled and done the paper organizing retreats is being able to spend more concentrated time with the remote employees. So when we were doing the paper organizing retreats in 2022 into 2023, we would all travel to whatever that city was. So I was traveling, you were traveling, Monique, Tanya. I mean, we were all traveling. And so while we were working a lot of that time, we were before and after the paper organizing retreat. And in the evening, we were usually in a hotel room, almost always Monique's. But I do remember being in yours when Monique was working. We were in yours. And that one day when Monique was running the paper organizer retreat, I think she was doing the certification portion of it, but you and I were already there. We spent like 5 hours talking, and that's when I really got to know you, was in September of 2022.

Yes. And that was— yes, that was— well, and where it kind of started too, because I remember talking to Monique about a couple of different things, and I would say— because I would talk to Monique about it, and Monique would talk to you, and it was like, wait, please just let me— there was always something that I wanted to get through. Let me tell you about this. And, and Monique says, well, I'm sure she, I'm sure she knows that because it is, it is on— is it? She goes, is it on your resume? And I said, yeah, most of it is on my resume. And she says, you know, we're gonna have to ask her if she knows that. And that's where the thought process started happening too, because when we started asking you, yes, did you know this?

I'm like, no, I didn't know any of this. So I never asked where you go to school. I never asked for a resume when I interview people. And also, you didn't go through the formal interview process. It is an interview process. Like, Mary used to call it the hazing to be able to get a job at Organize 365. If you come through the regular channel, it's going to take a while. You're going to do a writing assignment. Like, there's a lot to do. And people usually do submit their resumes. I don't look at them. I never know where people went to school because I never asked that question. I'm more interested in, like, what are you passionate about today? What is your unique driver? What's your Kolbe score? Like, I'm like, Who are you today? Not who were you back when you were trying to figure out what you were going to be when you were an adult or other things that you've done. And so that is something I'm like, I really need to pay more attention to that, I guess.

Well, I'm very grateful to Monique. Yes. But I didn't have to go through the hazing.

Yes, to the hazing. Yeah. And I also think that even if you are an employee or you're an employer and you're listening to this, Think about how well do you know the people that are on your team? Specifically, if you're looking for time with your manager or with your employer, the easiest way to get time with them is to go with something that they are doing. So when I was doing Creative Memories direct sales, my leader always told me, you should be earning while they're learning, meaning that I wouldn't go do my downline's party. But if they wanted to come to my party, then they could see how I'm doing it. They'd get some time with me and then they could go implement that in their business. And so often for the business owner or the manager, they've got hard business numbers they have to hit. Like, they just don't have a lot of discretionary time. And if the money isn't working, then that's a lot of stress and they're just going to keep working until the money actually works. So if you can join them on a luncheon they're already going to, or if they're traveling to something, you're like, hey, I'd like to tag along with you for the day. Can I, you know, how could I help you? Trust me, they're always going to find a way that you can help them. Like, you could bring the presentation materials, you can collect business cards at the end, you could do whatever. And then you get that ride-along time and get able to have some of those conversations in what the business owner or the manager is already doing. I've always found that to be really beneficial.

You're— and you're exactly right, because we did a lot of that in our medical practice where I would go with the physicians for presentations where they would be speaking at different, different events or different groups or things like that. And so going there and assisting them and making sure that everything was working and they had everything that they needed, then I would have the opportunity to spend time with them in that environment. And at the same time, I would bring people along with me to help me help them. And so same kind of thing, we could get to know each other a little bit better outside of the office. Because it's true, it is, and it is a very different feel because when, when I was working in the office, it's a lot harder. I had a hard time. It took me years to learn how to be, how to communicate and not be all business because I have that tendency. And you know all my scores, you know where I am with everything, and I have the tendency not to be— I'm not going to sit there and be chatty.

Yeah, me too.

I've just got, I've got things to do. And, and so I would, I would have to be very intentional, try very hard to make sure that I would have a conversation and, and really, and really, because I did. It's not that I didn't care. Of course I did care. But it was more that I had the task in front of me that needed to be done. Yes. And I stayed focused on that. And so coming outside of the office really helped me to be able to have conversations with people that I didn't normally get to have conversations with because I was in, in the office. Doing the job, you know? Yeah. So yeah, you're right. It really does help to do that.

It's my worst fear. I'm gonna forget a birthday or I'm gonna forget somebody's significant family member is in the hospital and I'm just gonna be doing my business thing and I'm gonna appear callous. But, but also we all need this paycheck for different reasons. So somebody's gotta keep their eye on the prize. And so yeah, I, same thing. Like I used to intentionally put time in my calendar to wander around the office. And just to check in with people. And now with the PhD, I noticed that that time is part of the time that is gone. But we have a team now that understands that, and they know that I care. But that is really important, that caring about your employees— and for them, that means time has to be calendared because everything has to be calendared.

Yeah, yeah, you're right.

So the other thing, we're going to talk about multigenerational living and what it's like now that you guys have been in South Carolina for a while. But I also wanted to touch on the Friday Workbox program. So I know people will reach out to me all the time and say, I want to come work for you and I want to run this part of Organized 365. And I remember watching some other business leaders as they were growing their business and when their coaching prices were like pennies and I didn't get in. And now their coaching prices are like $100,000. I'm like, man, I really should have signed up when it was like $2,000. Because as you watch these business owners really start to gain traction and be known for what they're known for, you see the trajectory of their business grow. And I observe who they're in relationship with, like other business owners they're in relationship with. And the businesses kind of grow together. They grow in parallel and they also grow interrelated. And as I see these businesses, I'm like, oh man, I would really like to be one of their business partners. But there seems to be like a sweet spot. I've noticed in most businesses where these friendships and these colleagues come together at a certain point in business, and then their businesses grow parallel and intertwined as they grow. And that is kind of what has happened with you, Monique and Tanya, as you came along into Organize 365 at just the right time where I was kind of stepping out from teaching the Sunday Basket, the Productive Home Solution, and the Friday Work Box. And you stepped in. But the way that you all stepped in was— it's just really beautiful. Like, you just all— you all have your own independent businesses, which you do not advertise inside of Organized 365, but you are steadily growing on the side. And you're all W-2 employees, and you have just really taken on the mission and the vision and the ownership of those lines of business inside of Organized 365. almost as if you were me, with a very altruistic mindset, which is just amazing and really, really hard to find, to be honest. Like, it's really, really hard to find people who are willing to partner with someone else's vision in their company while they're also growing their own. So I just want to thank you and, and Tanya and Monique for that, and talk about like what you have done with the Friday Work Box. In 2021, it was a Friday Workbox Club. So you started doing the Friday Workbox Club, and you were running that. And then we had that long conversation in September of 2022 where you said, okay, Lisa, I know that you understand the Friday Workbox from a business owner in a startup and an entrepreneur, but— and it's pink goes to purple goes to blue goes to green. But if you're an employee, it's green goes to blue goes to purple goes to pink. And you Yeah.

And, and it's— it— and I have to say, because when I first started doing it— now we started like, I think it was, um, August of 2020 that we started the WorkBox Club. And, um, you did it, and then Monique did one, and then I got to do one. And then we were doing like just, you know, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. Some guest appearances for a while. And, and, and Monique, I could tell, was, was becoming, you know, very overwhelmed. She had a lot going on. She had— she was doing a lot. And, um, and so I was able to help her more and more with the WorkBox Club. Yeah. And, and when I was doing it, I, I had told you— so the first time that you and I met in person was one of your boot camps, and that was September of '88. And no, that was September of 2018.

Wow, we've known each other a long time.

'88 was when I started working for the physicians. So September 2018. And I remember telling you, because you were talking about the Workbox then, and I remember telling you, it is so interesting because I did something very similar every Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock Central Time. Every Friday afternoon at 2 o'clock Central Time, I had a thing in my calendar that said clean out your email. But what that meant to me was I had a notebook. I had 2 drawers that were kind of like work boxes. They were set up very similar because one had all my date stuff and the other one had like my meeting people and things like that. So I had all that set up and I would go through and I would do my process. I would look at the week that I was in and what things I didn't get done. I would look at next week, what things I need to do. I would take care of whatever was in here. I had special projects that I would handle on Friday afternoons because that's when I had better time because most of the people were gone. The doctors were in surgery. A lot of people would leave a little early. And so it was a great time for me to do stuff. And so I was actually doing a very similar process. I just didn't call it Friday Workbox, but it was the exact same time and place, you know? And so doing it, when I started doing the Workbox, it made sense to me, but there was still like a struggle for me because I felt so, I'm not coming up with all the ideas. I'm not the pink person. I'm not, creating stuff. But then I started thinking, but my doctors are, you know, when I was working in that business, they are creating these things, they are coming up with these ideas. And I had to make them work. So then I had to figure out a little bit more backwards, how do I set this up to make their vision go? And so, so doing that, it was going on the other end. I have the job, the green part, the things that have to happen. Certainly I have the purple projects. Because they always had, always had projects. Um, they didn't know the 3 to 5 rule. So there were lots and lots of projects.

No entrepreneur does, by the way.

None of us do. Exactly. And so, so taking it, so it did take me a while. And I remember saying to somebody after doing the WorkBox Club for, uh, uh, you know, probably a year or so of doing it, it was like, it started to click even more. I'm like, wait, I can't, I can't do it exactly like Lisa does it because she is the visionary and she's got the vision and she's seeing in pink and she's seeing, And I need to take it from the other side of it. And so that's when I started doing the whole, okay, I've got my green and planning out my this week and doing the, you know, all of these other things. It started to make a lot more sense for me and I could flow better, which in turn made a lot of sense for people who are employees, employees, and not necessarily visionaries in the company. And so it really did help a lot to do that. And so being able to go through And talk to you about it, because at that point, that's when I had been doing the Workbox for over a year. And so we were able to really talk about how I like to do the green. And then you have your people that are dealing with the green, you have your purple projects that we're taking from there. But with those purple projects, they eventually become green once they become— you're maintaining it.

And yes, you said that, I think, in, uh, the Friday Workbox webinar that we just recorded. You said your purple becomes green, and I was like, what is she talking about? I was like, of Of course. And this is how you get overloaded with green when it's no longer new and it goes on autopilot. But it's essential. Like, okay, so podcasts for us are green, but I produce like 2 to 3 a week. So that's a lot of time, but it's considered a green task because it's not new. And we get so caught up in what is the new and what is the novel and what is the project and what are we working on, when really 50 to 80% of your job is green and blue. Like, it's stuff that you already know works, and the people that need to keep that going— like, you should just have a little bit of purple and pink. It shouldn't be like everything is new and everything is a project all the time.

Yes, because if everything was new in a project, how are you maintaining the rest of your business? You're not, right? So if you don't have the green— the green, I mean, the green, that's what you need. You need the money coming in, that's right, but you need the main— the, the maintenance of the day-in and day-out work. You know, the, the people that are doing all of that work. Yes, 100%. Without a visionary, your company dies. But without the green work, then, then what are you doing if you're just creating new stuff all the time? And that's, that's what gets really hard too. So if you think about when you talk about 3 to 5 projects, if you have so many projects— and I'm not talking about a project company, I'm not talking about a project management company, I mean, that's a different, that's a different animal. But when you're talking about that many projects for someone who has a full green job, you know, a 60% green job, well, if you keep doing something new all the time, then you can't create processes and workflows that become systematized and you'll be— you're able to get through and do these things. Then, then it never— the work is never really done and you're always doing something new. And so it's, it's not a, it's not a good flow. It's not a good workflow. It's not You're not, you're not using anything effectively. It's not, you know, your time is not being efficient because you're constantly trying to learn something new and do something new and create. And, you know, so that's why you have to have that other stuff that continues to move on and continues to make your money and do the things that you need to do while you add in the new things and grow it to where it's green again.

So what I have found interesting in growing a company is that if the visionary cannot articulate what is pink versus purple, then the company dies from the employees just trying to chase all of it, thinking it's all purple and there's way too much. So the visionary has to get somewhat focused, and at least they can have all the ideas they want, but they can only focus on certain ones, making them manifest. Now, in such a small company, And a new company as ours, we're gonna be 12 in January. In the history of businesses, that's a baby business. Like any business that's not like 25 years old is like a baby business. Like you're still trying to figure it out. And what I have found is that employees that are drawn to small, small, small businesses like ours love that there's always new projects, love that we're figuring it out, love all the complexity and the trying and the throwing spaghetti against the wall and seeing what sticks. And actually the hardest part of the company, the hardest, and it took us 3 years to get through it, was for employees to be comfortable with that their job was majority green because they were so used to— everyone I had on the team was so used to everything being a project, a project, a project. And we would launch projects every week, every quarter, every— like we would launch like so many projects since everything was new that as we started to gain traction with the Productive Home Solution and the Sunday Basket and the Friday Workbox, well, Just to do the Friday Workbox and the Friday Workbox Club and the Meeting Mastermind and the planning days. I mean, that's a lot of green work that now happens in the company. And as we've noticed recently, it's very hard to make changes now because there are so many people in these programs and systems that making changes causes a lot of confusion, like switching from the 100 Days to the Productive Home Solution. And that's what All Access is now. Like, that has been a couple of years, but still people are still confused. Like, you get to the point where you cannot keep changing things, and things have to stay steady, and they have to become more green work and, and less changes going forward. And so that was hard for the customers. It was really hard for the team.

Yeah, yeah, it's true. And, and because it is— projects can be fun. I mean, absolutely, I completely agree with that. But knowing the other side of it— now, you mentioned as a visionary, knowing what is pink and what is purple. But then you have visionaries who don't know pink and purple. They just see all of the possibilities.

Yeah.

And so that's where a good integrator comes into play. Because I, I mean, for me in our practice, I had lots of physicians and they had lots of ideas and they had lots of things that felt very important to them and, and should get done. Why not, you know? And so being being in that position where you have to decide, okay, these are the things that I think we can do now. And these are the things that I think we should probably table and revisit. And that was the whole thing where we've talked about the keeper of ideas, you know.

Yes.

If, if your visionary can't decipher between pink and purple, or—

Yes.

Frankly, they don't want to, I mean, you know, then having the person that can do that and hold all of those ideas so that you're not losing them, they feel confident to know that you're not just pushing it away and pushing it off and refusing to do it. You are waiting for the right time to do it, you know, and, and being able to do that. So that's, that's really important too, if you can't have the person to actually hold back on any of them. Yes.

And you mentioned that at 2 o'clock on Friday, you were intuitively doing this inside of the business that you were growing with the doctors that you were working with. I have said numerous times The Sunday basket and the Friday work box are not rocket science. It's not like nobody is doing this. I am telling you, every productive person you know is doing this. I don't know how they figured it out, but they're all doing this. Kind of like the podcast series that I did in late July, early August of 2023, where I talked about how productive people are weird, and I really figured out how did I go from a really super productive to-do list doer at the age of 40 to a very purposeful, productive, weird person in my 50s that now could do— I can outwork my 40-year-old. Like, I can get a week's worth of work done on one day because I'm now a productive person. I'm not just a task doer. And productive people have all figured out it's like an iteration that you go through. I don't know if anybody's been able to articulate it. the way that I did, which is why I know, I know for a fact, if you're productive and you see the Sunday basket, you're like, of course. And if you're not and you see the Sunday basket, you're like, why would you do that? And between why would you do that and of course, where is that learning? Where is that scaffolding? Everything I teach you is literally kindergarten level. Like, productive people are already doing the Sunday basket, and they don't understand why everybody's not doing it. They just don't call it that. But if you've never been able to get on top of your to-do list at home, this is where you start. You— I mean, I still do the Sunday basket 20 years later. I think you're gonna still need to do it. It may morph, and it may change for your personality. But that's what you do. People who are productive in business, they all have this Friday afternoon cadence. The other thing I wanted to talk about, Steph, because you were an integrator in your other company, you're not the integrator here.

No.

Stephanie, it must be the name. If your name is Steph, Stephanie, you might be an integrator. Stephanie here in the home office is our integrator. And I, I mean, I probably could do it remote, but it is so, it's so helpful having the integrator actually local. Yes, I agree. Being an integrator is such a unique— you do have vision, like you and Stephanie definitely have vision. But you have a vision enough and you turn it into action so fast, whereas like I play with it in visionary mode, and sometimes I get all of my energy out in my brain, and then I'm like, I'm done. Stephanie's like, yeah, we're only 2 weeks into this 12-week project. I'm like, yeah, but my part's done, right? And I'll even say that. I'm like, but my part's done, right? Like the team's just gonna do the rest. And she's like, yep, the team's gonna do the rest. And all of a sudden, like, we're launching this. I'm like, That just launched because in my brain it launched like 3 months ago. This is the hardest part of social media for me. The hardest part of social media is understanding what is actually launching to the marketplace now, because I thought about that 90 days ago, 9 years ago, and you're just now seeing it. I'm like, oh yeah, we just did this thing. No, my part was done like 8 weeks ago.

Well, yes. And you throwing me into marketing. Has done that with me. I'm like, wait a minute, we've already, we've already done that. What are you asking?

Now you see.

Yeah, I understand, I understand. Makes sense. Well, you know, I have to say, with the, with the WorkBox, the piece that I did not have— and, and you're right about the productivity, because the— what I did was I had early morning planning, so I did my planning on Friday afternoon, so I did all that stuff. On Friday afternoons, and every morning I would get there early and I would have my checklist that I would do. I mean, wasn't even— it was not fully like a checklist, but I had my things that I did every single morning. And it was like little mini planning sessions. So then the rest of the day I could focus on the practice, I could focus on the people, I could focus on the things that were going on. I could leave my door open so that anything that needed to happen I could handle. And then at the end of the day, I would close out my day each day. And so I had those little, those little times, those routines that were already set into play. But the big difference was I carried a notebook everywhere, everywhere, because I had to write it down, because people would talk to me in the hall, they would talk to me, you know, in different places. So having that to write down everything I could, which meant on Fridays I had to go to my notebook, go all the way back to Monday, and then run through it to make sure I didn't forget anything. Instead of throwing note cards into the box, that was a big game changer for me that I did not have. And it was digging through a notebook of— and I would scratch off, highlight, check, whatever it was that I was doing, you know, that I knew that this was taken care of. Whereas if the note card was done, it was trashed, and I didn't have as many things to go through. So it took me a very long time to learn that practice. And, you know, of course, just since we've sat here, I've written a couple of— so I've now learned the practice. It's working.

But—

Well, it's It's true.

I carry a notebook with me in my purse because it's nicer in meetings to be writing down notes or whatever. But it is so hard. Now what I do, the easiest way to get things out of the notebook is I literally go over to the copier and I copy the whole notebook, and then I tear it apart.

Never mind.

Flash pockets, because I have not been able to get a notebook to work for me. It just, it works great as if I'm on an airplane. I love brain dumping. I'll put a different thing on each page, and I'll go through and I'll make a bunch of lists. But by the time I land, or if I want to put it into action, it has to get moved out into slash pockets because you have to work in your little pockets of time. There's never enough time to work in a whole chunk. As you're talking about your morning, yes, I did the same thing. There was a period of time where I would come into the office like around 5:00 AM, and I would literally, by the time the employees got here between 7:30 and 8:00, I would pretty much be done with my work other than meetings or podcasts. Recordings because I had to be available to the team as we were growing the team to figure out, uh, what they needed. And if I ever had like a 60-minute time block where I was gonna do something, that'd be when someone comes in, can I talk to you for a minute? Which is never good, by the way. Sure, shut the door. Like, okay, there goes that day. So it was like when office hours were going on, like the real business hours, I was never doing anything other than firefighting or already preplanned work, or all of my planning and growth of the company happened from 5:00 AM until that time after on the weekend or after in the evening or on the weekend. And I would come in every single Saturday or Sunday and I would just walk in circles in the warehouse and I would think about all the different parts of the business and what they needed from me this week and what was most important, what had to get done this week. And then on Sunday I do my Sunday basket. I do my Friday Workbox on Sunday after I'd done that dreaming plan. And I put into action a plan, and I'm realizing I don't do that anymore. And I have time for the PhD because the team is seasoned enough to do that for me now. Like, all of that, how is it going to happen, is now being done through team members. And that took so— it took 4 years to get the right team members into Organize 365, where I can now say something and it gets done, and I'm not the one that figures out how it gets done anymore. Which is amazing. It takes forever.

Yeah, yeah, it is. I had a great team when we, when we moved and, and the amount, and especially too, because in the team and the team leaders, several of them had maybe a little bit more visionary than I did. And, and so it really helped too, because now they were seeing their area, their department in a different light and a different picture and things that I never thought of to do. they were thinking of, and then we were being able to share with the physicians and the, you know, and it really does create this growth when, 'cause like you said, when people start taking ownership.

Yes.

And it's theirs and they are really growing it, it just makes, it makes a huge difference. And so we did, we had an amazing team and watching that grow is so great. It's so enjoyable. It's very, feels very satisfying.

And there is, there is a cadence to this. My father always said you never really know a business until you've been there for 12 months. And it's so true. Like, you, no matter how capable or whatever skill set you bring to any company that you join, until you've seen it through every season, you don't really have that full picture of what that company is doing. And it's in year 2 that you really can start to be like, okay, I see how my piece Works in here and how maybe I can make some modifications on myself or in my small team. And when you're in that 3rd year in business, you're like, oh, there are other departments. Like, like you just kind of start to see bigger. And there's no shortcut to this. There's no way to like onboard faster, do an immersion experience. Like, it's just time. Like, you, you need that 3 years to really be part of that business. So that business is part of you.

Yeah, you're right.

And not everybody even wants that. Some people are like, I just want to go to work, get a paycheck and leave. But if you're in a good company that people like to be in, there are people in the company that have that ownership mentality because that's what makes it a fun place to work and where they've thought in advance that you're going to have a Thanksgiving potluck and there's going to be a 10-year celebration because they're they're invested enough that they're not just checking off their to-do list. They're thinking about, you know, the culture and how this is a, a living group of people who are doing life together. It makes it more fun.

Yeah, yeah. And that's— I had a counterpart that was very much— she always thought of the social side of things because I was terrible at that. I was so terrible at that. And so it was so great because she would always, Stephanie, I think we need to be doing this or we need to be doing that. And she would think about it and she would come up with it. And she was She was the mom. She was— I mean, she was amazing. She's still there. She was amazing. And so it was always great to have— and that's what you, you need to have people in there that are not like you, that are doing other things. And, and it really brings— it brings the entire company together and helps to grow the company like that.

So a year ago, you and I started talking about meetings, and we did the Meeting Mastermind. Now you run the Meeting Mastermind without me. And, um, you took the meeting agendas that we use inside of Organize 365, and there are a bunch of them. And we really started talking about, you know, we have the Friday Workbox that works for making visible the invisible. We have the Workbox Planning Day, which allows you to focus in on your 3 to 5 purples. And also, uh, when you go through a year's worth of the Friday Workbox Planning Days, you really start to think about and work on your own professional development in each of the colors. So each Each Friday Workbox throughout the year has a different focus. They're all different. So you need to do a full year of the Workbox planning days before you truly have that. Okay, this is, this is what we focus on in this 90 days and this 90 days and this 90 days. And one of the things that we do really well inside of Organize 365 is we do not have any superfluous meetings. Our meetings are extremely actionable and everybody gets to have a say in our meetings without everybody being verbal because of the way we use Google Docs. But as we were trying to figure out how do we teach other people to do what we are doing in our meetings, you and I were like, oh my gosh, like there could be like, there are like 30 different reasons why you have meetings. There's so many different kinds of meetings. There's one-to-one meetings, there are group meetings, there are meetings that the CEO is trying to get out the vision. There are just team building meetings. There are firefighting meetings. Like there are just all these different kind of meetings. Do we have 5 or 6? I think it's 5 agendas that we teach inside of the, uh, Meeting Mastermind.

Yeah, basically.

And they then can extrapolate out into other meetings, right? But once you get yourself organized with the Friday Work Box and you or your company get on the same page with the planning days, the way that all of that happens is then in the meetings. And so that's where the, the meeting mastermind came from.

Yes. And, and really the agenda, and you'll see that with a lot of the people that are attending now, the agenda helps you in so many areas, besides just your business, because it, and it really turns into your digital workbox. It is the visible workbox where your whole team can see what everyone is doing. And so that has been such a We've actually kept the old agenda from our, our old marketing agenda into—

Yes.

We have our new one. We've kept the old one because it's like our open work box for all of us to see in there and be able to drop things in and take things out that we need to without actually having to talk through a lot of things because it's all in there already. So we can just go and get it. And so it's like, even though— and most of us are remote that are in it. And so, so the fact that we can jump in and go grab what we need to out of each other's work boxes is Great. And so that's been really a big thing in, in the Meeting Mastermind. I found that we're able to, to show that piece that you're able to make your, your Workbox visible to everyone that's on your team.

Yeah, the meeting agendas did 3 things for me. One, they reduced the amount of email that's in my email inbox by like 95%. I— it's so rare that I get an email from a team member Usually, if I get an email from a team member, it's giving me access to a Google Doc, which is also linked inside of the meeting agenda, so I don't even have to save it. It is so rare that I get an email, because anything that you would send by email, you just add into our meeting agenda, because it usually can wait a week. If it can't, then it becomes an email. It also has usually reduced— like, if your company used instant messaging, we use Voxer. It totally reduces that as well, because if it can wait until the meeting, it must wait until the meeting. And the only reason you're getting an email or an instant message is because you need to know something. Like you need to know something before the meeting so that you can keep doing your part so that we get more done by the next meeting. So those 2 things have been huge. But the 3rd one, and I don't even know if you guys know this, but like, so yesterday, because we're getting towards the end of a quarter, I went through all of my saved Google Docs And I got rid of— unpinned any of them that I don't need. And I go through every one, and then I go through all the Google Docs and I read them. And that is when I catch when teams or team members have started a project that either was greenlighted and now has not been greenlighted, like we're no longer doing that, so I could stop that work in process. Or sometimes there are ideas in there that we were going to talk about in the future. And I'm like, oh, now would be the great time to pull that up. So it is like going through everybody's work box without going through everybody's work box. When you go through these meeting agendas in these past Google Docs that then help me make better decisions of our time, talent, and treasure in the next quarter for the good of the company and everybody inside of, without having like an hour-long meeting about like, so what are your ideas for next quarter? Like, so you just see the information and you're able to pull the pieces and make faster decisions and better assimilations.

Yeah. And it's, it's really the whole thing that you've talked about. We've bought, you know, where when you go into a meeting and everything is announced to you for the very first time, and then everybody's like, uh, uh, and then, then lots, especially the people who are very verbal, they're gonna have lots of talking because they need to verbally process it. But that's not where you should be having it. And so, so figuring those things out and making them work better, I mean, that's, that really is a, is a big thing for it.

You're right. That was— I forgot about that. That was such a huge roadblock in the business before we got to the team that we have now, the team that was all a projecting team that didn't have a lot of green work. Like everything was purple work. I was so Immature as a business owner that the only way that I knew to get information— I had Workbox, I had a Workbox for myself, but the team didn't have a Workbox. So the only way I knew to get my vision out to the team was to pull an all-team meeting all the time. And then I would literally verbal all over them, like, here are all the things that I'm thinking of. And as soon as I get all the ideas out of my head, I'm only still interested in like 2 out of 10 of them. But they've heard all 10 now. And of course we've Recorded the meeting, so they're rewatching the recording, and they start working on all ten. Then the next week, this is how terrible it was. The next week, I'd give them ten new projects, no feedback because they're still trying to do the other ten. Do you see how this was catastrophically bad? It was, it was, it was bad. I love that team. I cannot believe that they lasted as long as they did. They were so bought into the mission and vision of Organize 365 because they were podcast listeners that they understood. They understood where we were going and that so much needed to be created. All the binders, 8 work boxes at that time, the Sunday basket, all like— and they just created and created and created and created and created. And sometimes they created things I didn't even say that then we launched and ended up being some of our, our best, our best, best parts of Organized 365. One of the challenges I've had in growing Organized 365, and if you're a big visionary, you may find this in your business as well, is that there's so little scaffolding for Organize 365 to say like, okay, we did this part, but you can go find somebody else for that. That's why we stopped making planners. We're like, oh well, there are planner companies, we don't have to do that. Like, but there's nobody doing the Sunday basket, the Friday work box. Like, there's nobody doing these pieces. We must do these pieces. So whenever I find something like a coaching program, like, you can go find— they're like a bazillion million trillion coaches. Like, I don't know, take your pencil and toss it in the air. You'll find a coach. Like, you'll be able to find one. So that's not something that we're going to add on. It's the scaffolding pieces that we need. And so as your business grows, you'll go through these different seasons that we've gone through with different teams and different iterations that are necessary to grow a longer-based business. But the communication is the key, like the being able to communicate with the team that you have at the time that you have them for the impact that you're supposed to make in this iteration of business is the difference between feeling like you're a team working towards something and feeling like this is just a job and looking for another one. I think.

Yeah, yeah, you're right. And, and, and having the buy-in from, from everyone that it's It has to mean something for them too. And that's— and, and I don't know if it's more of a loyalty feel or what, but it's, it's— I know in the physician practice, I felt the same thing, that this was, this was part of me, you know. And when I left, moved away, and was like, I don't even know what to do because I had done that for 30 years. And so I started thinking through what are my, what are my favorite things that I really loved about it?

Mm-hmm.

And what I loved was organizing people and their workflows and their processes. You know, because yes, if I could sit there and do that with people, let me do that all day. And, and so that— so turning into that, so it was like so immediate for me of, of getting to do that piece, finding you the same year I was moving, you know. I mean, by the time I moved here, I'd already been certified with you. So, so it was like, it was a process of just a few months of the whole thing. But, um, being able to latch on to that, and it was the next logical thing I felt like as we were doing it and growing, like you said, Growing together with it was really, um, was really great. You know, it was just such an obvious next step, it felt like, you know.

Okay, so I'm going to transition us a little bit. You and I are not spring chickens, so we've already raised our chickens. We're grandmas. So being that we are grandmas, I've been talking to some other women my age, a little bit older, and we've all decided we're not into this retirement thing. Like, my husband's given me the deadline and he's like, okay, this is when I'm going to retire. I'm like, great. I'm going to retire when I'm like 85. He's like, I'll be in Florida. I'm like, I'll visit you. So anyways, I said I could travel from there or I could travel from here. I could travel from anywhere. So that's fine. Florida, fine. And I'm finding that many of us women are not looking to retire anytime soon, and we're really enjoying using the skill set that we built in our 20s, 30s, and 40s For the next 30 years of our lives. Um, and so, yeah, anything you want to say about that?

Yeah, so, so I've had— honestly though, I've had a struggle with— when I was a— when I was doing the 30 years back then, I was an extreme workaholic. I really was. I can't, I can't lie about it. That's— I— working was my thing. Luckily, my kids tell me that they never, um, felt that I was not there for them. So great, but I know I worked a lot and but I enjoyed it and, and, and that pushes you to do the extra and do more. And so, so same thing coming here, I took the piece that I loved and I really enjoy it and I want to continue doing it, but I am trying to make sure that I am spending the time that I want to with my grandkids. I don't want them to ever see, because actually they have said Minnie, you're always in your office.

I love that your name is Minnie, by the way. I love that name. If you guys are still like shopping for grandma names, I like Minnie.

Yes, I love it. I love it. So, so I— so that's why I have really tried to focus in on I'm going to do the work that I need to do. I'm still going to get to enjoy the things that I love. I mean, I love— because I built this little office off of my— off of the back of the house. And, and it's great that I have everything here that I need, and I can still feel the satisfaction and the fulfillment that I get from doing things that I love. But I'm also making sure that I'm super intentional about taking the time and spending time with my grandkids, with my kids. I mean, I didn't move 13 hours away to not see them, of course. You know, moved all the way over here from Louisiana. And, and so spending time with them is very important. But always knowing that I can continue to do the parts that, like you said, the skill set that we learned in our 20s, 30s, and 40s, being able to continue to use that now. I am getting so close to 60.

So, so, and as an employer, like as an employer, I, and you know, I'm gonna do this for whatever, another almost 30 years. I would like to keep the team that I have as long as humanly possible. And, you know, you are a team member that I want to keep for a long, long time. And so we have had some conversations this year about you working a little bit less and being able to be available for the kids. So like, you had initially given me like, these are the work hours I'm going to work, and I'll be off at whatever, I'll be off at 3. And I'm like, no, you won't. Like, I know you, like, you're just going to work all the hours and only bill me for however many hours. So I said to you, I said, you need to pick a day a workday where you actually don't work so that you then will schedule stuff with the kids. Do you remember that?

Yeah. Yeah. So for us, you know, my oldest daughter, who— that's the house we all live together in. She has CC, which is Classical Conversation homeschooling for the kids, and they actually leave and go to the church and they do CC there. And so the littles that don't go yet, those are the ones that I have. And then of course, you'll meet in the next podcast, The littlest of the littles, and I now have him on Wednesdays. And so Wednesdays is my babysitting day, or the day that, you know, Ike and I get to hang out, or, you know, so it's, it's, it's great. We went from all girls and now I just have boys on Wednesdays. So it's a fun day. It's a really fun day.

And how has that been for you? Because you are not a stay-at-home mom.

Not at all. I always had a dream of being a stay-at-home mom, and I wanted to homeschool, and I wanted to do all the field trips, and I wanted to You know, because I had a plan. We would get up in the morning, we would clean the house first, and then we would go through and we would do all the different things, and we would leave in the afternoon and we would go do a field trip.

Yes.

I had all of this in my head, and I did get the opportunity to homeschool for a short period of time with a friend and family member where we shared in the homeschooling, and we did some of that stuff. So, I got to see it, but it really wasn't me. I was, here again, I was a workaholic. And so having that now, it's, it's been great. It really has been great because there's a different relationship with these kids than originally when I was living in Louisiana. I would see them on trips. Yeah, it was great to see Minnie, but, but they didn't know me the same. Now being here, spending more time with them, I'm one of them. I mean, I have one that they, they're mainly upstairs and he has a few times gotten upset in the middle of the night. He comes down the stairs and knocks on Minnie's door. Minnie!

Oh.

Save them, you know. So it's, it's great. I really, I really do enjoy getting to spend that kind of time with them. I am not my daughter. My daughter has 6 kids of her own, and that's a lot. I, I, it's a lot. I can't do them all at one time. I mean, sometimes I do, but it's a lot more enjoyable having those little pockets of time where I can do a little bit of time with each kid. Sometimes we'll take a trip to Louisiana and we'll bring one at a time or 2 at a time with us and And they get to have that fun. So it's been, it's been a great new season for us and, and making sure that I'm intentional. I mean, I could sit in here all day long every day and just work, but making sure I'm intentional to do that has been, has been great for me, for them. You know, it's been really enjoyable.

I think we think a lot about the parents that we're going to be and the choices that we make, and sometimes we are able to make the choices we want to make, and sometimes circumstances You know, maybe you want to be a stay-at-home mom, but because of circumstances you just need to be the breadwinner at this point, or you need 2 incomes, or maybe you would really love to be out working and you were an amazing breadwinner, but for circumstances, maybe your children have extra health needs, or it's just not feasible right now with the childcare situation, and you find yourself as a stay-at-home parent. We don't always get to make all of the choices. But I am surprised how much say we usually do have in the choices that we make. But none of it happens by accident. Like, it must be purposeful. And so I remember having that conversation with you and thinking, like, selfishly, if I want to keep you as an employee for a long time, your home life has to be really, really good so that this job thing is like, well, you know, like, why would you not do that? It's like so easy. It's just like breathing. Why would we ever not do Organize 365? And I was like, you know, long term, the best thing for you is to have 3 days with your family and 4 days working, and then it may become 3 days working and 4 days with your family. Like, I would much rather have a team that goes like that, and, and the family and work-life balance just continues to shift back and forth. Obviously, the compensation is going to shift as well. But I think that we can work a lot, lot longer if our work life works with our home life. And it's not always possible. You can't do our warehouse job from home or 4 days a week. Like, there's some jobs that you can't, but there are some jobs that you can. And when you can, you know, at least you can have the conversations. But I don't think that we are as purposeful. I don't think most people are as purposeful in thinking about the kind of grandparents they want to be as they are about thinking the kind of parents. And I— I think the number one limiter is that you think that you don't have a choice because they're not your children. Grayson is not my child. I say it all the time. Abby will say it to me, and I agree with her. And then also, as soon as he gets a sniffle, she's like, Mom, here's the baby. You know, like, I'm the one that stays up in the middle of the night, and I love it. Like, when he cries and he's having a bad day, I'm the one that sits there and will rock him for 30 minutes, and I love it. He likes to be pushed in the swing for 30 minutes every night, and I could care less. I will push him for the whole 30 minutes. Abby's like, I've got this to do, this to do, this to do. I'm like, great, go do it. I'll just push them in the swing. I'll just like— I have a different time perspective. This is what I want to do. And I remember when our kids were younger, you know, my parents did not live locally. Greg's family did. Greg's mom did. But they had had some medical conditions, and so they didn't take the kids. Like, nobody ever took my kids. Not that that was a big deal. Like, my mom would take them for a week for the year, which is awesome. But on a regular basis, like, it was a babysitter or it was me. And Greg and I, you know, purposed when our kids were younger, we said, that's not the grandparents we're going to be. Like, we are going to be very active. We did not know we were going to be this active in the child's life, let me tell you. However, like, Greg's like, can you work less and watch Grayson more? Like, he would like me to be in even more. I'm like, Greg, it's 2 to 3 hours a day. How much time do you want me to spend with this baby? He goes, all of it. Can you be a stay-at-home grandma? No, we're not going to be a stay-at-home grandma. But we do, we really, really do want to be active in our children's lives. And that's purposeful. Like, there are a lot of things I could be doing that I'm not doing because I am playing such an active role as a grandmother and still as an active parent. And so there is a lot— like, you purposely, Steph, gave up a job you love and traveled across the country to where your girls are. I mean, that is push come to shove, the family always wins.

Yeah.

Push come to shove, the family Always wins.

Yep.

We had—

I had a team member in my old office that when I had my first grandbaby, she and I had a conversation because she had grandkids already. And she said, and she, she and I had the same degree. And she had did her degree later in life, she stayed home with kids. And then she went back to school, did her degree, and then she was working. And I said, gosh, I really, you know, there was a part of me that really like, why didn't I stay home? You know, maybe I should have done that. And And I struggled a lot with that. And she said, you know, she says, listen, she says, you have a chance to do this with your grandkids. She says, so it's just a different season. It's a different— and she says, but—

Yeah.

And it always rings to me again when she, when she says, so you make sure that you do this with your grandkids and you spend the time with your grandkids that you said you were going to. And so I always hear her voice, Brenda, always hear her voice telling me this, which was great, you know, because it has given me Like I said, I never— my kids never felt like I wasn't there for them, which is wonderful. Um, but at the same time, things that I felt like I missed out on, now I'm getting to see here. And, and it's even better because I'm not the mom. Like you said, I'm not the mom, so I don't have to— when actually, when Haley's kids are sick, she's great. She keeps them from me because I'm like, no, stay away from me. No getting sick here. I can't lose my voice again.

And I think, you know, I, I watch Abby with Grayson, and she's living in her house, so she doesn't have the pressure of a mortgage and things like that, like Greg and I did. But you do have the unrelentingness of a toddler and the constant laundry, and the house is never clean, and you don't have money to go buy your own clothes, and you wish you could have another shower. And like, I remember, like, I remember feeling that way in my 20s and 30s. And as a parent, it's just a different It's, it's never-ending. Like, it's just never-ending. As a grandparent, even though I'm living there and I watch it all, I'm like, oh, this is a phase. Like, he did this screaming thing. I'm like, you guys, it's a phase. It's gone now. They don't realize it's gone, but I knew it was going to go. Like, you just have different perspective. You have different financial security usually. You just, you have more capacity. You have more lived experience. You just have, you just have more. You're just more laid back. Right, right about it all. Now I will say Abby is working in a retirement home where apparently they do balloons. She pulled out a balloon. She blew it up last night. She handed it to Grayson. I lost my mind. I was like, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. I was like, if the balloon pops, it goes in his throat. I can't save him like this. And so he kept putting the balloon on his mouth because he watched her blow it up, and I put a pacifier in his mouth. We're trying to get rid of the pacifier. I'm putting the pacifier in. He takes it out to put the balloon. I'm like, oh. Abby finally just took the balloon, popped the balloon, put it in the trash. I said, thank you. I was like, I can't live with the balloon. I just can't. I mean, like, I can't, like, I, because I can't, no, no balloons. Other than that, I'm fairly chill. No balloons. So, anything else you want to share about living in a multigenerational family? I know that Tonya just moved to Florida with her family. And they're starting their multi-generational living. Uh, she has twins that are 9, 10, something like that. You're living with a gaggle of people and, I don't know, half a farm or something in your house.

No, no, it's been a couple years. Yeah, we— and it actually worked out really great for us. It gave us some time. So we, when we were in Louisiana, we had 5 or 6 years of empty nesting. We moved here and we moved next door to my daughter and her family, so it gave us time to get used each other first. So we did that for 2 years.

Oh, okay.

And then we bought a house together. And so it's my oldest daughter, her husband, who is also the pastor of our church. And then, and then we, they have 6 kids. And, um, and then we have the dog Betty and we have our 2 guinea pigs. And so in our house, and I've gotten to add on since then. So we moved in and it went through a lot of different little phases of we were really together and I had to have my office in my bedroom. And then they gave me another space and then they, They're fostering, so other kids would take over that space. And so then I was back in my bedroom, and then now we have finally finished the year-and-a-half project of 300 square feet. Thank you very much. It's crazy.

Oh my gosh.

And so, so now I have my own office. It's actually very quiet over here. I don't, I don't even see people coming and going anymore. It's really, it's really great. So when I'm in here, it's been wonderful. But they can still come to my office and visit me from time to time, and they can, you know, it's It's, it's really the best of all worlds right here now. So, it's been really enjoyable.

And I think, you know, when you're in the, in the middle of that construction and when is this ever going to end, the more that you could just remember, this is a phase, this is a phase, this is a phase, like, and this is what this phase is like. And how do you make this phase of life the most conducive for everyone that's living in the house? And then, you know what, you'll be in a new one and a new one and a new one. But it's been really fun. It's been really fun to work with you. It's been really fun to watch you as your family has changed and morphed and reallocated the different spaces. You never know where you're going to be on Zoom. Don't you log into Zoom?

Keep you guessing. All right.

Well, this Friday we are going to be bringing your daughters on and we're going to do a podcast about the unexpected events that have been going on in your family early in 2022. I'm looking forward to meeting the girls.

Okay, awesome. We're looking forward to it too.

Thanks, Steph.

Thank you.