April 30, 2025 • 39 mins
In this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts, Michael Attias welcomes Marianne Jeff, also known as The Get It Done Diva and Founder of the Women’s Business Momentum Center. With over 20 years of experience coaching small business owners, Marianne shares the strategies she used to help Zach’s Catering transform their operations—from clunky systems and chaotic days to streamlined processes and sustainable growth.
They dive deep into the power of habits, planning, and systems, as well as the mindset shifts needed to run a business without burning out. Marianne also opens up about her personal journey to sobriety and how it reshaped her perspective on leadership, productivity, and life.
Whether you’re buried in to-dos or looking to regain control of your catering business, this episode offers real-world insights on how to simplify your day, scale with systems, and enjoy the entrepreneurial journey.
Restaurant Catering Smarts is sponsored by CaterZen Catering Software — the tool to turn catering chaos into calm.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:28):
Hello again, I'm Michael Attias, your host of Restaurant Catering Smarts and today's guestis Mary Ann Jeff, founder and CEO of the Women's Business Momentum Center.
She's a consultant and coach for small businesses.
She's been working with a longtime client of ours, Zach's Catering, and today we're gonnadiscuss technology, systems and habits.
(00:49):
But before we get into asking Mary Ann a bunch of questions, let's take a minute torecognize our sponsor.
This episode is brought to you by Cater's End Catering Software.
the industry leader in helping restaurants turn their catering chaos into calm.
Discover why top independent and enterprise restaurants trust CaterZen to save them timeand increase their catering sales.
Go to www.caterzen.com and sign up for a walkthrough of the software or free 30 day trial.
(01:15):
Now let's dive into this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts.
Welcome, Mary Ann, how are you doing today?
I'm doing great.
Thanks so much for having me here, Michael.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
So glad you could be here.
Okay, the video is all.
(01:38):
Okay, now it looks live.
Okay, it should be recording, just hold on.
We can splice it together.
Yep, you want to repeat what we just did.
um yep
I'll just.
(02:00):
Okay.
Where did it?
There'll be, there'll be on me.
Okay, so.
Boy, we're having all sorts of issues today.
(02:26):
So Mary Ann, one of the first questions I'd to ask my guests is pick a number between oneand a thousand.
Hmm 497
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?
(02:47):
Ooh, that's such a good question.
I love questions.
If I could change one thing about myself.
You know, when I turned 40, I quit drinking and I had been struggling.
(03:10):
I mean, I started drinking when I was like eight or 10 years old.
I started bartending when I was 15 at a nightclub and I lived in England.
That's where the Saks Center is from.
And so it was...
more usual for younger people to be drinking.
But it really shaped my life and it was something I struggled with for so long.
(03:33):
When I finally quit, right before I turned 40, so I'm now, I'm like halfway through my50s.
So it's been over a decade.
Yeah, so I think, thank you.
think if I could change one thing, I think I have so much passion and commitment and
(03:54):
creativity and determination that if I would have quit sooner and trust me Michael I triedbut if I could change one thing I would have quit or maybe not even found the other road
at the crossroads rather than that and I think that would have been handling growing upand stress and adolescence differently so that I didn't pick up the glass.
(04:24):
So did you, got it, I didn't know this was gonna be like a intervention or 12 stepmeeting, but you know, I'm seeing a lot of, I'm an EO, Entrepreneurs Organization, and
there's a lot of people talking about sobriety in the business community, you know, whereI think it's easy at the end of the day, you turn to a glass or a half a bottle or a full
(04:47):
bottle or whatever.
to relieve the stress and everybody has different, know, did yours originate from fear ofinteracting with people that deal with your household?
Were you like pass out blackout drunk or is it a crutch?
yeah.
(05:07):
The tipping point when I actually did quit was that I'm very happily in a marriage and myhusband's amazing and he never said you need to quit.
He's very much been just, I have to come to my own conclusions about things.
I used to smoke, he did the same thing with that, just let it be until I did quit.
(05:32):
But with the drinking, it was when I
started not remembering the conversations we'd had the night before.
And so I would say things and then he'd go, Yeah, I told you that.
And I realized that I didn't remember things, I stopped talking to him.
And when I realized that, that was kind of the tipping point.
(05:53):
I think the reason I started it in the first point was to just deal with being anadolescent to deal with, you know, I had my own things, but
Everybody does at that age.
And I also think it's a big part of the culture.
you're about, have a lot of my clients in an EO and I totally relate to that idea of theseentrepreneurs working hard and then needing some release.
(06:18):
It's kind of built into the culture.
I'm so busy.
Let's go get a drink and unwind.
So I think it's also, it's a habit, right?
I'm all about having really great habits.
This habit.
was something that obviously was something that was a negative habit.
But I think what it did for me was so much, know, I've gotten, I always make lemonade.
(06:41):
So of all the years that I wanted to quit and everything that I went through, I'm able tosee things differently now.
I'm able to look and appreciate being conscious was the big thing for me.
being able to go out at night because I don't have to worry about drinking and driving orbeing able to be fresh and up in the morning.
(07:04):
I was always up, but I was always hung over.
And so I've just got this new lease on life that I have that has been, I mean, I wasalready known as the person to go to to get things done.
That's why I'm the get it done diva.
Even when I was drinking, you know, if you wanted something done, I was going to be theone to help you.
But once I stopped drinking,
(07:25):
it was on steroids.
was able to accomplish and focus so much more.
That's when I started writing bestselling books and really grew my business exponentially.
And so I think if I would have found a way to quit sooner, then it would have been nice tobe able to create that momentum sooner in my life.
(07:47):
Did you go through a 12-strap program?
you go through rehab or did go do it yourself, DIY?
I everything.
So yes to all of those things.
And I do believe that with anything, I think a lot of times we're looking for what's theanswer?
What's the solution?
And I don't think to anything at all, whether we're talking about quitting and addictionor anything, that there actually is one answer.
(08:12):
And I think that's it.
There's a challenge for people because
What happens is we do a lot of different things, you know, in your business as arestaurant owner, you do a lot of different things for your marketing.
It's probably not one thing that's going to start making things, the business pick up orit's not that one, you know, one hit wonder kind of mentality of just suddenly
(08:36):
everything's working because I did this one thing.
So for me over the years, you know, I had a couple of years where I would drink, not drinkfor one year.
One of them, I was in a 12 step program and I definitely think it's a really greatresource.
But when I did quit drinking, the reason that I was able to quit was because I sat downand I love books.
(08:59):
I love books, productivity books.
We're not talking fiction.
We're talking nonfiction.
And so what I did is I thought, you know,
My husband was going away for the weekend to his in-laws and I looked him in the eye.
We hadn't talked about it.
And I looked at him, him and my daughter, who was really young at the time, just a coupleof years old.
And I said, I'm going to figure this out.
(09:21):
And he, I didn't say what I was talking about.
He just knew we looked at each other in the eye and he left.
And I got all of, I'm looking at them on the shelf here.
I got all my productivity books out.
I piled them on the floor.
I had, you know, seven habits and
and the four agreements.
mean, I had every book, the pile was this high off the ground.
(09:42):
And I thought to myself, I got a big whiteboard and I thought, I'm going to figure it out.
I'm going to figure out the answer, right?
Going back to that idea of I just want the answer.
And so I thought I'll pick up each book, I'll get like the pith of it, like the mainpoint, I'll write them all on the board.
And then I'll have my answer and then I'll be able to fix this.
(10:03):
I'll be able to figure this out.
It's not the usual way about going about things to quit drinking, but this I'd gonethrough every other approach.
This is what I was, I was going to do.
And so I started doing, I got the first book and I started, I thought, well, I'll read itand I'll write it.
And then I realized how ridiculous it was.
How long is that going to take me to do this?
This is not an efficient way to do this.
(10:25):
And the book I had,
was Gary Zukov, the Seed of the Soul in my hand.
And I looked down and there was something about the Table of Contents that talked aboutliving consciously.
And suddenly what happened in that moment was I realized that I was excited about livingconsciously.
(10:47):
So all the years of thinking I had to give something up, it was about giving up, it wasabout letting things go.
Um, you know, the celebrations and what my life would be by like, because it changes yourlife dramatically, no matter what the habit is.
I don't care if it's eating chocolate cake, you change something.
It's going to change the people you're hanging out with, how you're living your life.
(11:10):
And so, um, when I had that moment and I realized I'm gaining something, not losing it.
That was it.
I never did.
I never did anything else after that.
I just.
So it's really a mind shift change.
moment of shifting my mind in that second.
(11:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
That's very cool.
You were talking about looking at the book and all these different things.
There's not one thing.
One of my mentors, Dan Kennedy, tells a story about a chiropractor.
And he's like...
(11:52):
He's known for building million dollar practices, which was a thing back then.
And so somebody says, what's the one thing you do to build a million dollar practice?
And he goes, I don't have one thing.
I know 100 things to build a $10,000 practice.
And when I was building my catering business, felt like I just, it was like one toothpickat a time trying to build that house for sure.
(12:16):
So let's talk about,
We sort of got off on a crazy foot before we recorded this.
I guess my team told me it was Zach's catering and that was sort of half correct.
You're a consultant to Zach's catering.
So let's talk about your consulting practice and what you help with your clients with andthen let's talk about how you got involved with Zach and how you brought caterers in.
(12:44):
So tell us about your consulting business.
So I met Matt who runs Zach's catering as a friend of mine.
And I used to work at his restaurant.
He, the restaurant that he managed actually.
And then he started his own restaurant and I was helping with a catering department foranother restaurant.
(13:09):
And he kept saying, come work for me, come work for me, come work for me.
And finally, after several years, I'm like, fine, I'll come work for you.
And
And he wanted me to just do whatever I wanted because he saw what I was doing with theother restaurant, which basically was I designed a computer system back then.
I was using FileMaker Pro and I created a database to organize the catering departmentbecause there wasn't anything like Kator Zen around at that time.
(13:33):
We're going back over 20 years or I wasn't aware of it.
And so I knew that systems and technology was an important piece of this.
So I have built from scratch.
And so I came over to him.
built a custom FileMaker Pro for him with everything in it.
Like it helped with the directions, it helped, it was from the ground up and it took, itwas probably not economical to build that for one client, right?
(14:00):
As you can imagine, but it, yeah.
But what it did is it gave the structure, the order that he needed because he needed it tobe a set way for the deliveries.
because it was a little bit of a free for all when the drivers would need to take theorders and things were forgotten.
(14:22):
The food was amazing, but things were not necessarily always going out the same way.
And so he needed a consistency and he needed systems.
And so I set it up like the drivers came in, we had checklists that were built intoFileMaker.
where you could check off that you have all the items, there were labels on things, thedirections were clear, the way the staff were dressing, all the kind of systems that you
(14:49):
need for a business.
I love the book, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and what he talks about there.
Yeah, is the one of the number one reasons and I know probably all of the listeners knowthis already, but we might as well say it, we need to be reminded.
One of the number one reasons that small businesses fail is because they're too busyworking in their business, not on it.
(15:10):
And I think it's so true for restaurant owners because it's so easy.
The phone rings or the kitchen needs you, or you need to run out and get some kind ofproduce or something.
And so you're being pulled in a million directions.
And so a piece of what I was doing with Zach's catering as well was helping
Matt to spend some time to invest time in working on the business.
(15:35):
So we created the system, a set way of doing things.
Then it was a matter of him managing and making sure it was done that way.
Cause it's all good and well to have a system.
But if you don't have an owner or a manager going, okay, you're doing it there or lettingpeople know if they, if they, if they don't do the checklist, that it's not okay.
Right.
There needs to be a consistency.
(15:56):
The other piece was the marketing.
So I was helping him.
come up with email marketing campaigns, looking at doing social media, figuring outdifferent strategies to bring in business.
Because if you're not doing that, then obviously you're not going to have any business torun.
So there was a point at one point where I had an event and Matt was there and it was acelebration.
(16:21):
I think I'd been in business for 10 years at the time.
I've been in business for over 20 years now and he got the mic at this big dinner.
and he just welled up in tears.
It was very moving.
And I run the Women's Business Momentum Center.
But, you know, if there's a guy that's like, can guys join, then that means yes, you canjoin, right?
(16:42):
You just have to be courageous enough to ask if you can be a part of my world here.
And absolutely men are welcome.
So here he is, he grabs the mic and he said,
I just want to say thank you to Mary Ann because Mary Ann is everything.
Everywhere I look in my business, everywhere I turn around, everything I look at, everysystem, everything, the computer, the marketing, everything, it's all because of her.
(17:09):
So the systems really do touch so much of the business and it's something that can easilybe neglected because it's not important and urgent for business owners.
So that's how I've been involved with Matt.
Yeah, it's funny.
You talk about the E-Myth.
I read that before I got my first franchise.
(17:30):
And I don't like to work.
I really don't.
My father worked his butt off.
for one vacation a year, worked five and a half days.
And so for me, I've just enjoyed enjoying the journey.
And I knew that I wanted a business built on systems and the E-Myth made sense to me.
(17:51):
And so now I say I'd rather have a business built on processes, not personalities, becauseprocesses equal profits, personalities equal problems.
Yeah.
So often you have that one key employee at Quarkies.
They had that one key employee and she knew how to do everything and she kept everythingclose to herself so nobody else could get in there.
(18:14):
Well, you can't get rid of that person, right?
But with a good system and it doesn't matter whether it's a spreadsheet, a checklist,whatever it is, well, if you've got it documented, then that person can get run over by a
bus and somebody can come back in tomorrow and figure it out.
It's so true, so true, Michael.
I've had this conversation so often with business owners, especially when they're hiringpeople that are friends or relatives.
(18:41):
They get very dependent on people and it is about the person, not about the responsibilityor the tasks that they're doing, which is dangerous ground.
Because then there's not a lot of boundaries.
feel like they always, the restaurant owners I work with always seem to feel like they owethe employee.
because there was never any boundaries about how much work they're doing and what they'redoing and it makes it very muddy waters.
(19:06):
So I am much in agreement around that.
And I think software and technology these days, we have so much amazing software that wecan use as small business owners that allows us to really compete with the bigger
businesses, which we didn't have before.
And I think almost we're at an advantage as small business owners because we don't have togo through a board of directors a lot of times to approve different things.
(19:33):
So we can act on it quickly.
Yeah.
I've always embraced technology, but I've always tried to be ahead of the curve.
So to give you an example, do you know what a Palm pilot is?
Yes, I had one of those.
Yeah, so I had a Palm pilot and had a spreadsheet function in it.
(19:55):
And we built our own spreadsheet system for taking inventory every week and doing the foodcosting.
And so we had a theoretical food costs every week to know if we were in line and literallygo around the restaurant with the Palm pilot, have the freezer and all that upload the
spreadsheet.
And so back then in 1993, 94, 92, that was cutting edge for a restaurant to be able to dothat.
(20:18):
Now, the
stuff that's out there is amazing, but I see the biggest issue is getting overwhelmed andreally understanding what is it you're trying to solve and what makes the most sense for
you.
And I think, you know, if, if, you know, I think it's great to have an example.
I met doesn't mind me talking about him.
(20:40):
So, um, but it was difficult to get Matt off of file maker.
We were, we were 18 years in that program and it was, it was gonna, it was gonna sink.
was gonna crash any minute and, and be a huge problem.
(21:00):
And I could see this coming.
years before that, I knew that there was much better solutions in the cloud.
You didn't want to have it dependent on one computer.
And so it, but it took a long time for me to convince Matt that we needed an onlineordering system.
Now it, I think there's a lot of restaurant owners that are, small businesses that arestarting to sell food now that are embracing technology quicker.
(21:29):
I think that some of the
businesses that have been in business for a while have a harder time because the youngerpeople coming into business are more used to using technology.
And so it's, they learn things quicker.
A lot of things look and feel the same way once you get into them and they're not asintimidated, but some of the businesses that have been around for a while, like Matt's, he
(21:51):
really just wanted to stick with what he knew, even though it was clunky and I was goingto break any minute.
So it took me
Probably three years or more after I found Ketazen, we looked at a bunch of differentsolutions.
And then we found Ketazen and I was like, this is the one.
it was like, you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make a drink.
(22:13):
So I got him to the point where we decided which one we had taken our time with it.
And then COVID hit and it would have been the perfect time to be on it, but he was not onit during that time.
And so he was chained, you know, when you don't have an, an online ordering system, know,a lot of your listeners, probably, maybe they're using other things, maybe they're using
(22:38):
caterers and it's a no brainer.
It's just the way you do it.
But, he was very resistant.
And so he was chained to the phone, had to answer the phone all the time.
And, um,
missing out on business and really talk about, you know, not having any quality of life ornot enjoying the journey.
It was really difficult, couldn't go away, couldn't do things.
(23:01):
And so we got through COVID and then I reintroduced the idea again.
I said, look, you know, let's look at them again.
And I had honestly forgotten that we had come to Keta Zen and we went through all theoptions again.
So we were very thorough before we actually got involved.
And then he finally was like the second time around, he's like, okay, let's do it.
(23:23):
It's do or die.
His restaurant was suffering after COVID and something had to change and he was all in.
And it is, you know, it's a process to set up technology.
And I think whether it's an online ordering system like KetaZen, which is so much morethan just online ordering, or if you're using any technology, I think the thing is for
(23:47):
small businesses to invest time in learning and growing to realize, I think a lot of myclients who get frustrated with technology, it's because they wait until something is
urgent that they need the technology to do.
And then they're figuring out on the fly and it's urgent and hurried and stressful.
(24:09):
But if you set aside time each day to watch a video, learn a little bit of something aboutsomething.
then when you need to use it, you're not so stressed out and you're going to retain theinformation better and be able to implement and figure things out much better.
I got him, it did take us a while to get things up and running.
(24:32):
He thanks me every day now because every time I talk to him, he's like, my goodness, whenwe got the first order that came through,
I mean, we were texting each other and it was a big order.
It wasn't a little few, you know, $20 order.
I think it was a couple of thousand dollars, this order that came through.
(24:55):
Yeah, it was fantastic.
We were jumping up and down and cheering and it changed everything.
But it's just one piece of it.
You know, there's the email marketing, which is built in the reminders.
And for me, it's all about habits, whether it's
Setting up a new system like Kator Zen and having the habit of every day we're going tospend a little time on it.
(25:16):
Today we're going to upload all the pictures for all the salads, right?
It's chunking stuff down and then the next day maybe we're going to put in all thedescriptions for the salads, right?
Because when you're just like, I'm going to get the whole menu up as quickly as possible,it's overwhelming.
So what do you think small business people in particular have a hard time havingconsistent habits?
(25:43):
You know, whether it's sending out that one email a month to your list to promote cateringor, you know, just using the systems consistently, right?
You know, in our own business,
You know, my team would tell you, you know, I'd go to seminar and come back with a new hottopic and we would do it and then we'd go and we'd do something else.
(26:05):
When we discovered EOS, the Entrepreneurs Operating System, traction, we've been usingthat for seven years consistently and it's made a difference having a system to operate
your business.
Why do you think small businesses have such a hard time keeping to those habits?
(26:26):
think it really boils down to the basic habits of daily planning, weekly planning, 90 dayplanning.
And I think a lot of times they're so busy working in their business, whatever firethey're putting out, that they're not thinking, you know, what are, they might set some
goals at the beginning of the year, but then to break it down into 90 day goals.
(26:50):
But ultimately it's the small basic habits of
You know, the reason a lot of small businesses start is because they want the freedom oftime, but then they create this prison for themselves.
And what I tend to do with my, my members and my clients is one of the things we do islike, okay, what time do you start work?
(27:14):
When's your prime time?
Those four hours where you're at your best, what are you doing?
And we had it with Matt.
I had it down.
I like to say to the Nats ass.
where we had it down that he would get there and before he got sucked into everything, hewould take a walk around, he would call it walkabout, where he'd just walk around the
(27:35):
restaurant to preempt anybody coming to him and distracting him, which ultimately wouldend up only taking a few minutes most of the time.
Then he would sit down and check his inbox.
And then he would have a power hour of working on a particular project based on his weeklygoals, his 90 day plan.
So it's, it's chunked down, but then having those daily habits, even in the afternoon,maybe having, or the evening, having like a little learn and grow time where, you know,
(28:04):
I'm going to spend 15 minutes or 20 minutes just looking at creating, learning a littlebit more about some kind of technology.
And then maybe another block each day of 15 minutes of creating a little bit of content.
because they think a lot of business owners, one of the things they need to be doingconsistently is creating content, whether it's descriptions for the menu, whether it's
(28:25):
social media posts, whether it's email marketing or something for the website, it seemslike it is one of the hats that's really important for business owners.
So I think the habit of planning your day, mean, my book I wrote last year is called DailyMomentum, because I think this is so important.
Even if you aren't up for creating a 90 day plan or annual goals,
(28:47):
own your day.
If you can own your day, you've got a fighting chance.
Do you have a copy of the book you can flash?
I sure do right here.
It's number one bestseller on Amazon.
you know, I have people that have read this book and sent me pictures of it.
Like they're like, this is my Bible.
(29:07):
Because if you can own your day, it makes such a difference.
Do you coach him?
Are you like his coach currently?
And I think for a lot of people, a coach is a good idea.
I've worked with coaches when I went through post divorce and I just sort of I was sort offlailing in the wind.
(29:30):
said, okay, I'm gonna hire a coach to keep me focused.
And after about a year, I gave that up and.
I think my number one job is to just be a visionary.
So I don't really have a day.
I mean, I do have things that I get done, but I try not to have a day where I'm working inthe business per se, because I learned a long time ago, most people just buy themselves
(29:55):
jobs.
Yeah.
And the boss sucks.
So I really there are times I have to get more involved to get the right people in theright seats and get the system set up but at the end of the day I just want to be the
visionary and say hey, this is where we're headed and Let's figure out how to get theretogether because I've got my team is better than I am.
(30:15):
I really have assembled You know
your team working with your team has been a delight.
They're just so lovely and patient.
You do have a great team, Michael.
Yeah.
And I think that's the key is surround yourself with really good people.
And I have done a really good job of finding people.
(30:38):
This is a challenge in software.
And I tell people this in businesses, recruit people from other industries where whatyou're offering is a step up from what they have.
And so let me explain.
Mm-hmm.
You know, if I just recruited people from the software industry, I would overpay and I'dhave people who were too entitled and they leave me every six months because somebody
(31:02):
could pay them more.
You know, they could go to Google or Microsoft or Oracle or wherever.
Right.
You know, Jillian came from retail store management.
Right.
She's a assistant.
Yeah, everybody loves Jillian.
She's an assistant store manager, coach outlet.
She had a college degree.
She just never found a career to take advantage of that.
(31:22):
So I brought her in no nights, no weekends, no holidays, know upward potential, you know.
great quality of life, know, our COO worked in the catering industry.
She wasn't a COO.
I saw her potential.
The guy who does our product and project management, he was our digital marketing guy andhe over engineered everything.
(31:48):
And I go, you're perfect for specing out projects.
Cause when you're dealing with part of your team being an offshore development, you haveto really break it down into like,
the Natas as you would call it little, little sections.
And so I found his superpower.
So once you find these people, you just let them do what they do best and get out of theirway.
(32:11):
In fact,
You know, I'm probably the one who knows the least about anything.
And I've probably learned that from my dad.
You know, one day he says, I want you to cut the grass and I cut it crooked.
He goes, no, no, get out of the way.
I'm going to do it.
So learned you're best off being the worst at something.
Somebody else will come in and do it.
I didn't know you could cut grass crooked.
(32:34):
I could.
Just go like this or like that.
I don't know.
you go in and you help your clients systematize their businesses.
I'm assuming you also, talked in the pre-interview about, you you help with marketing.
(32:57):
What type of marketing initiatives have you helped Zach with?
You know, for a lot of small businesses, they tend to feel like they need to be doingsocial media and the email marketing.
And I'm, I'm a fan of those things, but I think for smaller local businesses, one of thefirst things that they miss out on is really local, nurturing local connections.
(33:31):
So, you know,
Zach's food speaks for itself.
It's so good.
His three cheese lasagna is delicious.
Give everyone his website because I went at the website and look at the pictures and thefood looks like amazing.
Zach's catering.com.
It's so good if you're in the LA area, they deliver miles.
(33:53):
I mean, it's crazy, like over 50, sometimes a hundred miles away because people love thefood.
They'll deliver all the way from LA to down where I am in Palm Springs.
And his food really does speak for itself.
So just leveraging for him a campaign where we would have a script.
(34:15):
and that the drivers when they were dropping off food were just dropping off a few cardsand saying something to other businesses.
A lot of it was buildings where there was definitely potential business right there wherethey were anyway.
So I think a lot of times you can leverage what you were already doing.
You just need to systematize it.
(34:36):
You need everybody to be able to speak clearly what the business is.
They need the tools.
They need the little postcard or the business card.
You know, we did the email marketing as well to nurture people.
I'm not knocking that, but I think a lot of times it's the guerrilla marketing, right?
Where you just on the ground, one-on-one picking up the phone, picking up the phone andhaving him have a habit each day.
(35:04):
And granted, yes, business owners can have somebody else do this.
I'm not saying the actual owner or the CEO of the company has to do this.
but to have somebody with a script that they're picking up the phone and they're reachingout, thanks so much for your business.
How did everything go?
Or reaching out to people.
K-to-Zen has built in that you can run a report if somebody hasn't ordered an X amount amonth, so they ordered this long ago.
(35:30):
Then you can pick up the phone, you can nurture these people and remind them who you are.
That can make a big difference.
So a big piece of what we were doing was that.
I wanted to leverage all of that before we even got into the social media and themarketing that we never really did get to that point yet, to be honest.
A lot of it was setting up systems with him and mindset because as business owners, whenthings aren't going well, it's not as easy.
(35:57):
I just wrote an email and sent it out this morning about this.
Like mindset is everything.
whether you're the visionary or you're the roll your sleeves up kind of business owner, itdoesn't matter if you don't have the right mindset, then it affects everything.
And if you can go into the kitchen and you can be in a good mindset, it's going to make animpact on the drivers that are going out and seeing the customers or the front of house
(36:25):
people as well.
So I think that's really key too.
Yeah, I think one of the best things that you could do, especially in the restaurantindustry, because it's tough work, it's underappreciated, underpaid, is those little pats
on the back, you know, on a summer day, go down and pick up some ice cream treats.
You know, we gave everybody a free meal on their shift, other restaurants charge, it'slike, what's it cost to give a little bit of food?
(36:51):
You know, when we used to do caterings out of town, I would take everybody and treat themout to a restaurant after our event.
You know, just a little things make a big difference with people.
It's the appreciation because we can all go down the street and make another couple bucksan hour.
Everybody there's hardly anybody who can't.
And it's like you want to go where you feel appreciated and you enjoy the people you workwith.
(37:15):
And, you know, and that's it.
We've all worked for assholes and it's like nobody wants to stay there.
And we've worked for people that are great and we would follow them into battle.
Right.
So.
another thing Michael too that tends to happen from what I've seen with my clients whohave restaurants is that I think unlike any other business, it's like a family.
(37:39):
And so that can be a positive dynamic, but it can also be a negative one where once again,those boundaries about what's okay and how we're speaking to each other and the workplace
environment, you've got to be mindful of that as well.
Right.
without a doubt.
You know, as we sort of close, I normally ask if somebody had to go start from scratchwhat they would do.
(38:05):
But if you were starting with a new client.
You know most of our clients are in the catering space specifically restaurants they caterWhat are the first three things you would help a client with evaluate implement?
You know, what do you see as the first three most important?
You're just going in day one
(38:26):
So the first most important thing that I think anyone can ask themselves is what I dofirst with a client and that is what do you want?
Do you want to be the visionary?
Do you want to work just this many hours a week?
It may feel like you don't have a choice, but you do.
So getting really clear on what the restaurant owner wants, what kind of owner they wantto be would be the first thing.
(38:47):
And I'm a big fan of putting things into a plan because when I first started, I would workwith other coaches and
what I found was that we'd have a lot of great conversations and nice ideas, but there wasnothing to hold on to everything.
So when I work with a client, we're gonna put it into a plan.
We're gonna have that annual roadmap, and then we're gonna create a 90 day plan of like,what are the first things we're gonna work on?
(39:14):
And part of that is going to be about how you're running your day so that we can look athow we can...
just allow you to enjoy the journey more.
So I think the bigger plan, what do you want?
Then really breaking it down to where do you want to be 90 days from now, creating a clearroadmap for that.
And then really looking at how you're using the time you have and running your day so thatyou can enjoy the journey more.
(39:39):
Great.
Okay.
If somebody is interested in hiring you as a consultant, getting your book, how can theyget hold of you?
Then go to the website, GetItDoneDiva.com.
So that's GetItDoneDiva.com.
Awesome.
You have been a wonderful guest.
(39:59):
Thanks for sharing your sobriety journey.
I can guarantee you there's a subset of the people listening that will get some value outof that.
And I know that that's probably worth more than anything someone can do to build theirbusiness.
So thank you for sharing that and getting personal with us.
So with that, I'm going to take us out.
Thanks so much, Michael.
Hello again, I'm Michael Attias, your host of Restaurant Catering Smarts and today's guestis Mary Ann Jeff, founder and CEO of the Women's Business Momentum Center.
She's a consultant and coach for small businesses.
She's been working with a longtime client of ours, Zach's Catering, and today we're gonnadiscuss technology, systems and habits.
(00:49):
But before we get into asking Mary Ann a bunch of questions, let's take a minute torecognize our sponsor.
This episode is brought to you by Cater's End Catering Software.
the industry leader in helping restaurants turn their catering chaos into calm.
Discover why top independent and enterprise restaurants trust CaterZen to save them timeand increase their catering sales.
Go to www.caterzen.com and sign up for a walkthrough of the software or free 30 day trial.
(01:15):
Now let's dive into this episode of Restaurant Catering Smarts.
Welcome, Mary Ann, how are you doing today?
I'm doing great.
Thanks so much for having me here, Michael.
I appreciate it.
Absolutely.
So glad you could be here.
Okay, the video is all.
(01:38):
Okay, now it looks live.
Okay, it should be recording, just hold on.
We can splice it together.
Yep, you want to repeat what we just did.
um yep
I'll just.
(02:00):
Okay.
Where did it?
There'll be, there'll be on me.
Okay, so.
Boy, we're having all sorts of issues today.
(02:26):
So Mary Ann, one of the first questions I'd to ask my guests is pick a number between oneand a thousand.
Hmm 497
If you could change one thing about yourself, what would it be and why?
(02:47):
Ooh, that's such a good question.
I love questions.
If I could change one thing about myself.
You know, when I turned 40, I quit drinking and I had been struggling.
(03:10):
I mean, I started drinking when I was like eight or 10 years old.
I started bartending when I was 15 at a nightclub and I lived in England.
That's where the Saks Center is from.
And so it was...
more usual for younger people to be drinking.
But it really shaped my life and it was something I struggled with for so long.
(03:33):
When I finally quit, right before I turned 40, so I'm now, I'm like halfway through my50s.
So it's been over a decade.
Yeah, so I think, thank you.
think if I could change one thing, I think I have so much passion and commitment and
(03:54):
creativity and determination that if I would have quit sooner and trust me Michael I triedbut if I could change one thing I would have quit or maybe not even found the other road
at the crossroads rather than that and I think that would have been handling growing upand stress and adolescence differently so that I didn't pick up the glass.
(04:24):
So did you, got it, I didn't know this was gonna be like a intervention or 12 stepmeeting, but you know, I'm seeing a lot of, I'm an EO, Entrepreneurs Organization, and
there's a lot of people talking about sobriety in the business community, you know, whereI think it's easy at the end of the day, you turn to a glass or a half a bottle or a full
(04:47):
bottle or whatever.
to relieve the stress and everybody has different, know, did yours originate from fear ofinteracting with people that deal with your household?
Were you like pass out blackout drunk or is it a crutch?
yeah.
(05:07):
The tipping point when I actually did quit was that I'm very happily in a marriage and myhusband's amazing and he never said you need to quit.
He's very much been just, I have to come to my own conclusions about things.
I used to smoke, he did the same thing with that, just let it be until I did quit.
(05:32):
But with the drinking, it was when I
started not remembering the conversations we'd had the night before.
And so I would say things and then he'd go, Yeah, I told you that.
And I realized that I didn't remember things, I stopped talking to him.
And when I realized that, that was kind of the tipping point.
(05:53):
I think the reason I started it in the first point was to just deal with being anadolescent to deal with, you know, I had my own things, but
Everybody does at that age.
And I also think it's a big part of the culture.
you're about, have a lot of my clients in an EO and I totally relate to that idea of theseentrepreneurs working hard and then needing some release.
(06:18):
It's kind of built into the culture.
I'm so busy.
Let's go get a drink and unwind.
So I think it's also, it's a habit, right?
I'm all about having really great habits.
This habit.
was something that obviously was something that was a negative habit.
But I think what it did for me was so much, know, I've gotten, I always make lemonade.
(06:41):
So of all the years that I wanted to quit and everything that I went through, I'm able tosee things differently now.
I'm able to look and appreciate being conscious was the big thing for me.
being able to go out at night because I don't have to worry about drinking and driving orbeing able to be fresh and up in the morning.
(07:04):
I was always up, but I was always hung over.
And so I've just got this new lease on life that I have that has been, I mean, I wasalready known as the person to go to to get things done.
That's why I'm the get it done diva.
Even when I was drinking, you know, if you wanted something done, I was going to be theone to help you.
But once I stopped drinking,
(07:25):
it was on steroids.
was able to accomplish and focus so much more.
That's when I started writing bestselling books and really grew my business exponentially.
And so I think if I would have found a way to quit sooner, then it would have been nice tobe able to create that momentum sooner in my life.
(07:47):
Did you go through a 12-strap program?
you go through rehab or did go do it yourself, DIY?
I everything.
So yes to all of those things.
And I do believe that with anything, I think a lot of times we're looking for what's theanswer?
What's the solution?
And I don't think to anything at all, whether we're talking about quitting and addictionor anything, that there actually is one answer.
(08:12):
And I think that's it.
There's a challenge for people because
What happens is we do a lot of different things, you know, in your business as arestaurant owner, you do a lot of different things for your marketing.
It's probably not one thing that's going to start making things, the business pick up orit's not that one, you know, one hit wonder kind of mentality of just suddenly
(08:36):
everything's working because I did this one thing.
So for me over the years, you know, I had a couple of years where I would drink, not drinkfor one year.
One of them, I was in a 12 step program and I definitely think it's a really greatresource.
But when I did quit drinking, the reason that I was able to quit was because I sat downand I love books.
(08:59):
I love books, productivity books.
We're not talking fiction.
We're talking nonfiction.
And so what I did is I thought, you know,
My husband was going away for the weekend to his in-laws and I looked him in the eye.
We hadn't talked about it.
And I looked at him, him and my daughter, who was really young at the time, just a coupleof years old.
And I said, I'm going to figure this out.
(09:21):
And he, I didn't say what I was talking about.
He just knew we looked at each other in the eye and he left.
And I got all of, I'm looking at them on the shelf here.
I got all my productivity books out.
I piled them on the floor.
I had, you know, seven habits and
and the four agreements.
mean, I had every book, the pile was this high off the ground.
(09:42):
And I thought to myself, I got a big whiteboard and I thought, I'm going to figure it out.
I'm going to figure out the answer, right?
Going back to that idea of I just want the answer.
And so I thought I'll pick up each book, I'll get like the pith of it, like the mainpoint, I'll write them all on the board.
And then I'll have my answer and then I'll be able to fix this.
(10:03):
I'll be able to figure this out.
It's not the usual way about going about things to quit drinking, but this I'd gonethrough every other approach.
This is what I was, I was going to do.
And so I started doing, I got the first book and I started, I thought, well, I'll read itand I'll write it.
And then I realized how ridiculous it was.
How long is that going to take me to do this?
This is not an efficient way to do this.
(10:25):
And the book I had,
was Gary Zukov, the Seed of the Soul in my hand.
And I looked down and there was something about the Table of Contents that talked aboutliving consciously.
And suddenly what happened in that moment was I realized that I was excited about livingconsciously.
(10:47):
So all the years of thinking I had to give something up, it was about giving up, it wasabout letting things go.
Um, you know, the celebrations and what my life would be by like, because it changes yourlife dramatically, no matter what the habit is.
I don't care if it's eating chocolate cake, you change something.
It's going to change the people you're hanging out with, how you're living your life.
(11:10):
And so, um, when I had that moment and I realized I'm gaining something, not losing it.
That was it.
I never did.
I never did anything else after that.
I just.
So it's really a mind shift change.
moment of shifting my mind in that second.
(11:31):
Yeah.
Yeah.
That's pretty cool.
That's very cool.
You were talking about looking at the book and all these different things.
There's not one thing.
One of my mentors, Dan Kennedy, tells a story about a chiropractor.
And he's like...
(11:52):
He's known for building million dollar practices, which was a thing back then.
And so somebody says, what's the one thing you do to build a million dollar practice?
And he goes, I don't have one thing.
I know 100 things to build a $10,000 practice.
And when I was building my catering business, felt like I just, it was like one toothpickat a time trying to build that house for sure.
(12:16):
So let's talk about,
We sort of got off on a crazy foot before we recorded this.
I guess my team told me it was Zach's catering and that was sort of half correct.
You're a consultant to Zach's catering.
So let's talk about your consulting practice and what you help with your clients with andthen let's talk about how you got involved with Zach and how you brought caterers in.
(12:44):
So tell us about your consulting business.
So I met Matt who runs Zach's catering as a friend of mine.
And I used to work at his restaurant.
He, the restaurant that he managed actually.
And then he started his own restaurant and I was helping with a catering department foranother restaurant.
(13:09):
And he kept saying, come work for me, come work for me, come work for me.
And finally, after several years, I'm like, fine, I'll come work for you.
And
And he wanted me to just do whatever I wanted because he saw what I was doing with theother restaurant, which basically was I designed a computer system back then.
I was using FileMaker Pro and I created a database to organize the catering departmentbecause there wasn't anything like Kator Zen around at that time.
(13:33):
We're going back over 20 years or I wasn't aware of it.
And so I knew that systems and technology was an important piece of this.
So I have built from scratch.
And so I came over to him.
built a custom FileMaker Pro for him with everything in it.
Like it helped with the directions, it helped, it was from the ground up and it took, itwas probably not economical to build that for one client, right?
(14:00):
As you can imagine, but it, yeah.
But what it did is it gave the structure, the order that he needed because he needed it tobe a set way for the deliveries.
because it was a little bit of a free for all when the drivers would need to take theorders and things were forgotten.
(14:22):
The food was amazing, but things were not necessarily always going out the same way.
And so he needed a consistency and he needed systems.
And so I set it up like the drivers came in, we had checklists that were built intoFileMaker.
where you could check off that you have all the items, there were labels on things, thedirections were clear, the way the staff were dressing, all the kind of systems that you
(14:49):
need for a business.
I love the book, The E-Myth Revisited by Michael Gerber and what he talks about there.
Yeah, is the one of the number one reasons and I know probably all of the listeners knowthis already, but we might as well say it, we need to be reminded.
One of the number one reasons that small businesses fail is because they're too busyworking in their business, not on it.
(15:10):
And I think it's so true for restaurant owners because it's so easy.
The phone rings or the kitchen needs you, or you need to run out and get some kind ofproduce or something.
And so you're being pulled in a million directions.
And so a piece of what I was doing with Zach's catering as well was helping
Matt to spend some time to invest time in working on the business.
(15:35):
So we created the system, a set way of doing things.
Then it was a matter of him managing and making sure it was done that way.
Cause it's all good and well to have a system.
But if you don't have an owner or a manager going, okay, you're doing it there or lettingpeople know if they, if they, if they don't do the checklist, that it's not okay.
Right.
There needs to be a consistency.
(15:56):
The other piece was the marketing.
So I was helping him.
come up with email marketing campaigns, looking at doing social media, figuring outdifferent strategies to bring in business.
Because if you're not doing that, then obviously you're not going to have any business torun.
So there was a point at one point where I had an event and Matt was there and it was acelebration.
(16:21):
I think I'd been in business for 10 years at the time.
I've been in business for over 20 years now and he got the mic at this big dinner.
and he just welled up in tears.
It was very moving.
And I run the Women's Business Momentum Center.
But, you know, if there's a guy that's like, can guys join, then that means yes, you canjoin, right?
(16:42):
You just have to be courageous enough to ask if you can be a part of my world here.
And absolutely men are welcome.
So here he is, he grabs the mic and he said,
I just want to say thank you to Mary Ann because Mary Ann is everything.
Everywhere I look in my business, everywhere I turn around, everything I look at, everysystem, everything, the computer, the marketing, everything, it's all because of her.
(17:09):
So the systems really do touch so much of the business and it's something that can easilybe neglected because it's not important and urgent for business owners.
So that's how I've been involved with Matt.
Yeah, it's funny.
You talk about the E-Myth.
I read that before I got my first franchise.
(17:30):
And I don't like to work.
I really don't.
My father worked his butt off.
for one vacation a year, worked five and a half days.
And so for me, I've just enjoyed enjoying the journey.
And I knew that I wanted a business built on systems and the E-Myth made sense to me.
(17:51):
And so now I say I'd rather have a business built on processes, not personalities, becauseprocesses equal profits, personalities equal problems.
Yeah.
So often you have that one key employee at Quarkies.
They had that one key employee and she knew how to do everything and she kept everythingclose to herself so nobody else could get in there.
(18:14):
Well, you can't get rid of that person, right?
But with a good system and it doesn't matter whether it's a spreadsheet, a checklist,whatever it is, well, if you've got it documented, then that person can get run over by a
bus and somebody can come back in tomorrow and figure it out.
It's so true, so true, Michael.
I've had this conversation so often with business owners, especially when they're hiringpeople that are friends or relatives.
(18:41):
They get very dependent on people and it is about the person, not about the responsibilityor the tasks that they're doing, which is dangerous ground.
Because then there's not a lot of boundaries.
feel like they always, the restaurant owners I work with always seem to feel like they owethe employee.
because there was never any boundaries about how much work they're doing and what they'redoing and it makes it very muddy waters.
(19:06):
So I am much in agreement around that.
And I think software and technology these days, we have so much amazing software that wecan use as small business owners that allows us to really compete with the bigger
businesses, which we didn't have before.
And I think almost we're at an advantage as small business owners because we don't have togo through a board of directors a lot of times to approve different things.
(19:33):
So we can act on it quickly.
Yeah.
I've always embraced technology, but I've always tried to be ahead of the curve.
So to give you an example, do you know what a Palm pilot is?
Yes, I had one of those.
Yeah, so I had a Palm pilot and had a spreadsheet function in it.
(19:55):
And we built our own spreadsheet system for taking inventory every week and doing the foodcosting.
And so we had a theoretical food costs every week to know if we were in line and literallygo around the restaurant with the Palm pilot, have the freezer and all that upload the
spreadsheet.
And so back then in 1993, 94, 92, that was cutting edge for a restaurant to be able to dothat.
(20:18):
Now, the
stuff that's out there is amazing, but I see the biggest issue is getting overwhelmed andreally understanding what is it you're trying to solve and what makes the most sense for
you.
And I think, you know, if, if, you know, I think it's great to have an example.
I met doesn't mind me talking about him.
(20:40):
So, um, but it was difficult to get Matt off of file maker.
We were, we were 18 years in that program and it was, it was gonna, it was gonna sink.
was gonna crash any minute and, and be a huge problem.
(21:00):
And I could see this coming.
years before that, I knew that there was much better solutions in the cloud.
You didn't want to have it dependent on one computer.
And so it, but it took a long time for me to convince Matt that we needed an onlineordering system.
Now it, I think there's a lot of restaurant owners that are, small businesses that arestarting to sell food now that are embracing technology quicker.
(21:29):
I think that some of the
businesses that have been in business for a while have a harder time because the youngerpeople coming into business are more used to using technology.
And so it's, they learn things quicker.
A lot of things look and feel the same way once you get into them and they're not asintimidated, but some of the businesses that have been around for a while, like Matt's, he
(21:51):
really just wanted to stick with what he knew, even though it was clunky and I was goingto break any minute.
So it took me
Probably three years or more after I found Ketazen, we looked at a bunch of differentsolutions.
And then we found Ketazen and I was like, this is the one.
it was like, you can lead the horse to water, but you can't make a drink.
(22:13):
So I got him to the point where we decided which one we had taken our time with it.
And then COVID hit and it would have been the perfect time to be on it, but he was not onit during that time.
And so he was chained, you know, when you don't have an, an online ordering system, know,a lot of your listeners, probably, maybe they're using other things, maybe they're using
(22:38):
caterers and it's a no brainer.
It's just the way you do it.
But, he was very resistant.
And so he was chained to the phone, had to answer the phone all the time.
And, um,
missing out on business and really talk about, you know, not having any quality of life ornot enjoying the journey.
It was really difficult, couldn't go away, couldn't do things.
(23:01):
And so we got through COVID and then I reintroduced the idea again.
I said, look, you know, let's look at them again.
And I had honestly forgotten that we had come to Keta Zen and we went through all theoptions again.
So we were very thorough before we actually got involved.
And then he finally was like the second time around, he's like, okay, let's do it.
(23:23):
It's do or die.
His restaurant was suffering after COVID and something had to change and he was all in.
And it is, you know, it's a process to set up technology.
And I think whether it's an online ordering system like KetaZen, which is so much morethan just online ordering, or if you're using any technology, I think the thing is for
(23:47):
small businesses to invest time in learning and growing to realize, I think a lot of myclients who get frustrated with technology, it's because they wait until something is
urgent that they need the technology to do.
And then they're figuring out on the fly and it's urgent and hurried and stressful.
(24:09):
But if you set aside time each day to watch a video, learn a little bit of something aboutsomething.
then when you need to use it, you're not so stressed out and you're going to retain theinformation better and be able to implement and figure things out much better.
I got him, it did take us a while to get things up and running.
(24:32):
He thanks me every day now because every time I talk to him, he's like, my goodness, whenwe got the first order that came through,
I mean, we were texting each other and it was a big order.
It wasn't a little few, you know, $20 order.
I think it was a couple of thousand dollars, this order that came through.
(24:55):
Yeah, it was fantastic.
We were jumping up and down and cheering and it changed everything.
But it's just one piece of it.
You know, there's the email marketing, which is built in the reminders.
And for me, it's all about habits, whether it's
Setting up a new system like Kator Zen and having the habit of every day we're going tospend a little time on it.
(25:16):
Today we're going to upload all the pictures for all the salads, right?
It's chunking stuff down and then the next day maybe we're going to put in all thedescriptions for the salads, right?
Because when you're just like, I'm going to get the whole menu up as quickly as possible,it's overwhelming.
So what do you think small business people in particular have a hard time havingconsistent habits?
(25:43):
You know, whether it's sending out that one email a month to your list to promote cateringor, you know, just using the systems consistently, right?
You know, in our own business,
You know, my team would tell you, you know, I'd go to seminar and come back with a new hottopic and we would do it and then we'd go and we'd do something else.
(26:05):
When we discovered EOS, the Entrepreneurs Operating System, traction, we've been usingthat for seven years consistently and it's made a difference having a system to operate
your business.
Why do you think small businesses have such a hard time keeping to those habits?
(26:26):
think it really boils down to the basic habits of daily planning, weekly planning, 90 dayplanning.
And I think a lot of times they're so busy working in their business, whatever firethey're putting out, that they're not thinking, you know, what are, they might set some
goals at the beginning of the year, but then to break it down into 90 day goals.
(26:50):
But ultimately it's the small basic habits of
You know, the reason a lot of small businesses start is because they want the freedom oftime, but then they create this prison for themselves.
And what I tend to do with my, my members and my clients is one of the things we do islike, okay, what time do you start work?
(27:14):
When's your prime time?
Those four hours where you're at your best, what are you doing?
And we had it with Matt.
I had it down.
I like to say to the Nats ass.
where we had it down that he would get there and before he got sucked into everything, hewould take a walk around, he would call it walkabout, where he'd just walk around the
(27:35):
restaurant to preempt anybody coming to him and distracting him, which ultimately wouldend up only taking a few minutes most of the time.
Then he would sit down and check his inbox.
And then he would have a power hour of working on a particular project based on his weeklygoals, his 90 day plan.
So it's, it's chunked down, but then having those daily habits, even in the afternoon,maybe having, or the evening, having like a little learn and grow time where, you know,
(28:04):
I'm going to spend 15 minutes or 20 minutes just looking at creating, learning a littlebit more about some kind of technology.
And then maybe another block each day of 15 minutes of creating a little bit of content.
because they think a lot of business owners, one of the things they need to be doingconsistently is creating content, whether it's descriptions for the menu, whether it's
(28:25):
social media posts, whether it's email marketing or something for the website, it seemslike it is one of the hats that's really important for business owners.
So I think the habit of planning your day, mean, my book I wrote last year is called DailyMomentum, because I think this is so important.
Even if you aren't up for creating a 90 day plan or annual goals,
(28:47):
own your day.
If you can own your day, you've got a fighting chance.
Do you have a copy of the book you can flash?
I sure do right here.
It's number one bestseller on Amazon.
you know, I have people that have read this book and sent me pictures of it.
Like they're like, this is my Bible.
(29:07):
Because if you can own your day, it makes such a difference.
Do you coach him?
Are you like his coach currently?
And I think for a lot of people, a coach is a good idea.
I've worked with coaches when I went through post divorce and I just sort of I was sort offlailing in the wind.
(29:30):
said, okay, I'm gonna hire a coach to keep me focused.
And after about a year, I gave that up and.
I think my number one job is to just be a visionary.
So I don't really have a day.
I mean, I do have things that I get done, but I try not to have a day where I'm working inthe business per se, because I learned a long time ago, most people just buy themselves
(29:55):
jobs.
Yeah.
And the boss sucks.
So I really there are times I have to get more involved to get the right people in theright seats and get the system set up but at the end of the day I just want to be the
visionary and say hey, this is where we're headed and Let's figure out how to get theretogether because I've got my team is better than I am.
(30:15):
I really have assembled You know
your team working with your team has been a delight.
They're just so lovely and patient.
You do have a great team, Michael.
Yeah.
And I think that's the key is surround yourself with really good people.
And I have done a really good job of finding people.
(30:38):
This is a challenge in software.
And I tell people this in businesses, recruit people from other industries where whatyou're offering is a step up from what they have.
And so let me explain.
Mm-hmm.
You know, if I just recruited people from the software industry, I would overpay and I'dhave people who were too entitled and they leave me every six months because somebody
(31:02):
could pay them more.
You know, they could go to Google or Microsoft or Oracle or wherever.
Right.
You know, Jillian came from retail store management.
Right.
She's a assistant.
Yeah, everybody loves Jillian.
She's an assistant store manager, coach outlet.
She had a college degree.
She just never found a career to take advantage of that.
(31:22):
So I brought her in no nights, no weekends, no holidays, know upward potential, you know.
great quality of life, know, our COO worked in the catering industry.
She wasn't a COO.
I saw her potential.
The guy who does our product and project management, he was our digital marketing guy andhe over engineered everything.
(31:48):
And I go, you're perfect for specing out projects.
Cause when you're dealing with part of your team being an offshore development, you haveto really break it down into like,
the Natas as you would call it little, little sections.
And so I found his superpower.
So once you find these people, you just let them do what they do best and get out of theirway.
(32:11):
In fact,
You know, I'm probably the one who knows the least about anything.
And I've probably learned that from my dad.
You know, one day he says, I want you to cut the grass and I cut it crooked.
He goes, no, no, get out of the way.
I'm going to do it.
So learned you're best off being the worst at something.
Somebody else will come in and do it.
I didn't know you could cut grass crooked.
(32:34):
I could.
Just go like this or like that.
I don't know.
you go in and you help your clients systematize their businesses.
I'm assuming you also, talked in the pre-interview about, you you help with marketing.
(32:57):
What type of marketing initiatives have you helped Zach with?
You know, for a lot of small businesses, they tend to feel like they need to be doingsocial media and the email marketing.
And I'm, I'm a fan of those things, but I think for smaller local businesses, one of thefirst things that they miss out on is really local, nurturing local connections.
(33:31):
So, you know,
Zach's food speaks for itself.
It's so good.
His three cheese lasagna is delicious.
Give everyone his website because I went at the website and look at the pictures and thefood looks like amazing.
Zach's catering.com.
It's so good if you're in the LA area, they deliver miles.
(33:53):
I mean, it's crazy, like over 50, sometimes a hundred miles away because people love thefood.
They'll deliver all the way from LA to down where I am in Palm Springs.
And his food really does speak for itself.
So just leveraging for him a campaign where we would have a script.
(34:15):
and that the drivers when they were dropping off food were just dropping off a few cardsand saying something to other businesses.
A lot of it was buildings where there was definitely potential business right there wherethey were anyway.
So I think a lot of times you can leverage what you were already doing.
You just need to systematize it.
(34:36):
You need everybody to be able to speak clearly what the business is.
They need the tools.
They need the little postcard or the business card.
You know, we did the email marketing as well to nurture people.
I'm not knocking that, but I think a lot of times it's the guerrilla marketing, right?
Where you just on the ground, one-on-one picking up the phone, picking up the phone andhaving him have a habit each day.
(35:04):
And granted, yes, business owners can have somebody else do this.
I'm not saying the actual owner or the CEO of the company has to do this.
but to have somebody with a script that they're picking up the phone and they're reachingout, thanks so much for your business.
How did everything go?
Or reaching out to people.
K-to-Zen has built in that you can run a report if somebody hasn't ordered an X amount amonth, so they ordered this long ago.
(35:30):
Then you can pick up the phone, you can nurture these people and remind them who you are.
That can make a big difference.
So a big piece of what we were doing was that.
I wanted to leverage all of that before we even got into the social media and themarketing that we never really did get to that point yet, to be honest.
A lot of it was setting up systems with him and mindset because as business owners, whenthings aren't going well, it's not as easy.
(35:57):
I just wrote an email and sent it out this morning about this.
Like mindset is everything.
whether you're the visionary or you're the roll your sleeves up kind of business owner, itdoesn't matter if you don't have the right mindset, then it affects everything.
And if you can go into the kitchen and you can be in a good mindset, it's going to make animpact on the drivers that are going out and seeing the customers or the front of house
(36:25):
people as well.
So I think that's really key too.
Yeah, I think one of the best things that you could do, especially in the restaurantindustry, because it's tough work, it's underappreciated, underpaid, is those little pats
on the back, you know, on a summer day, go down and pick up some ice cream treats.
You know, we gave everybody a free meal on their shift, other restaurants charge, it'slike, what's it cost to give a little bit of food?
(36:51):
You know, when we used to do caterings out of town, I would take everybody and treat themout to a restaurant after our event.
You know, just a little things make a big difference with people.
It's the appreciation because we can all go down the street and make another couple bucksan hour.
Everybody there's hardly anybody who can't.
And it's like you want to go where you feel appreciated and you enjoy the people you workwith.
(37:15):
And, you know, and that's it.
We've all worked for assholes and it's like nobody wants to stay there.
And we've worked for people that are great and we would follow them into battle.
Right.
So.
another thing Michael too that tends to happen from what I've seen with my clients whohave restaurants is that I think unlike any other business, it's like a family.
(37:39):
And so that can be a positive dynamic, but it can also be a negative one where once again,those boundaries about what's okay and how we're speaking to each other and the workplace
environment, you've got to be mindful of that as well.
Right.
without a doubt.
You know, as we sort of close, I normally ask if somebody had to go start from scratchwhat they would do.
(38:05):
But if you were starting with a new client.
You know most of our clients are in the catering space specifically restaurants they caterWhat are the first three things you would help a client with evaluate implement?
You know, what do you see as the first three most important?
You're just going in day one
(38:26):
So the first most important thing that I think anyone can ask themselves is what I dofirst with a client and that is what do you want?
Do you want to be the visionary?
Do you want to work just this many hours a week?
It may feel like you don't have a choice, but you do.
So getting really clear on what the restaurant owner wants, what kind of owner they wantto be would be the first thing.
(38:47):
And I'm a big fan of putting things into a plan because when I first started, I would workwith other coaches and
what I found was that we'd have a lot of great conversations and nice ideas, but there wasnothing to hold on to everything.
So when I work with a client, we're gonna put it into a plan.
We're gonna have that annual roadmap, and then we're gonna create a 90 day plan of like,what are the first things we're gonna work on?
(39:14):
And part of that is going to be about how you're running your day so that we can look athow we can...
just allow you to enjoy the journey more.
So I think the bigger plan, what do you want?
Then really breaking it down to where do you want to be 90 days from now, creating a clearroadmap for that.
And then really looking at how you're using the time you have and running your day so thatyou can enjoy the journey more.
(39:39):
Great.
Okay.
If somebody is interested in hiring you as a consultant, getting your book, how can theyget hold of you?
Then go to the website, GetItDoneDiva.com.
So that's GetItDoneDiva.com.
Awesome.
You have been a wonderful guest.
(39:59):
Thanks for sharing your sobriety journey.
I can guarantee you there's a subset of the people listening that will get some value outof that.
And I know that that's probably worth more than anything someone can do to build theirbusiness.
So thank you for sharing that and getting personal with us.
So with that, I'm going to take us out.
Thanks so much, Michael.
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