August 29, 2025 • 31 mins
What if the biggest thing holding your business back isn’t lack of time—but your reluctance to let go?
In this empowering new episode, Fatimah is joined by Carmen Williams, Director of Global Teams, who shares how delegation became the most transformational move in her business journey. From her early days as a scientist to running a thriving remote team of over 100 virtual assistants across South Africa and the Philippines, Carmen’s story is a powerful reminder that scalable success starts with trust.
Carmen opens up about hiring her first VA while her business was still pre-revenue—a leap of faith as a single mother with two children and a mortgage. That decision forced her to rethink everything she knew about control, clarity, and capacity. Along the way, she learned that effective delegation isn’t about dumping tasks—it’s about building relationships, empowering others, and letting go of perfectionism.
Together they explore common outsourcing mistakes, how to choose the right first hire, and why your systems don’t need to be perfect before you start. Carmen also shares practical frameworks, like her “two-message rule,” and why opportunity cost is the real risk of doing everything yourself.
If you’ve ever felt stuck in the weeds of your own business—or unsure how to grow without burning out—this episode is packed with clarity, courage, and the mindset shifts needed to finally delegate with confidence.
In this episode, I cover:
14:15 Offshoring vs Outsourcing Explained
18:20 Where to Start with Virtual Assistants
24:30 Managing Remote Teams Effectively
31:10 Delegating Better for Business Growth
35:00 Scaling Your Business with VAs
43:19 Personal Experiences and Lessons Learned
And more…
Leading a PMO through complexity, culture, and change? Tune in to explore how human-centered strategy and systems thinking can elevate your impact. Then, share how you're bridging the gap between strategy and execution—I’d love to hear your Agile Ideas.
Thank you for listening to Agile Ideas! If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with someone who might benefit from our discussions. Remember to rate us on your preferred podcast platform and follow us on social media for updates and more insightful content.
Thank you for listening. If you enjoyed this episode, I'd really appreciate it if you could share it with your friends and rate us. Let's spread the #AgileIdeas together!
We'd like to hear any feedback. www.agilemanagementoffice.com/contact
Don't miss out on exclusive access to special events, checklists, and blogs that are not available everywhere. Subscribe to our newsletter now at www.agilemanagementoffice.com/subscribe.
You can also find us on most social media channels by searching 'Agile Ideas'.
Follow me, your host, on LinkedIn - go to Fatimah Abbouchi - www.linkedin.com/in/fatimahabbouchi/
For all things Agile Ideas and to stay connected, visit our website below. It's your one-stop destination for all our episodes, blogs, and more. We hope you found today's episode enlightening. Until next time, keep innovating and exploring new Agile Ideas!
Learn more about podcast host Fatimah Abbouchi
...
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
You're listening to Agile Ideas, the podcast hosted
by Fatima Rabouchi.
For anyone listening out therenot having a good day, please
know there is help out there.
On to today's guest.
We're doing something a littlebit different today.
I have a little bit of adifferent guest.
And also the reason for that isI thought it would be good to
(00:23):
deep dive into a particulartopic, something that early on
in my business career definitelycaught me unstuck.
and that is all things relatingto outsourcing, virtual
assistance in small business,scaling, automation, delegation,
leadership, and a number ofother things.
So on today's episode, our guestis Carmen Williams, who's the
(00:47):
Director of Global Teams.
Her career started in sciencebefore she transitioned into
leading large-scale enterprisechanges in the healthcare
sector.
Along the way, she discoveredthe power of delegation a game
changer that transformed herbusiness when she hired her
first virtual assistant.
That experience inspired her tocreate global teams where she
(01:08):
helps businesses scale byconnecting them with skilled
remote professionals fromcountries like South Africa and
the Philippines.
Now she leads a team of over 90virtual assistants and she's
passionate about makingoutsourcing simple, effective
and to become a key driver ofsustainable business growth.
(01:29):
So please join me in welcomingCarmen to the show.
Carmen thank you so much forjoining us today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Absolute
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
pleasure.
I have been following yourjourney for a while you might
not know this but I recall youreaching out probably early on
in your journey of your currentbusiness and I think you at the
time had like just started andyou were sort of you know
scoping out services and sorryservices sales and we were
(01:57):
talking and you just kept kindof appearing in my LinkedIn
feed.
And then I thought, let's talkbecause you have a lot of
knowledge and insights that Ithink will be really valuable
today.
So before we get into that, tellus a little bit about your
background and sort of how yougot to where you are today.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Yeah, I've got a roundabout background.
I started my professional careeras a scientist and then decided
that the lab was a little bitboring.
I wanted to go talk to peoplebecause that was a bit scary.
And then I landed myself a jobin a large healthcare network.
I was just doing admin butwithin three months the project
manager there left and I wasimplementing an enterprise-wide
(02:36):
project so I did that for about10 years strategy lots of fun
stuff there until I'm like hmm Iwant to do something different I
thought business was going to beeasy now that's a joke isn't it
um so I just walked um decidedto leave work one day um so I
started doing consulting andthen I'm like oh well that's
sort of good but I'm still doingthe doing and so then I started
(03:00):
growing my own virtual assistantteam and then that's when people
started saying hey Carmen I'vetried it before and it didn't
work could you help me and I'mlike nah there's not what to do
and then more people ask and I'mlike hang on there's something
here
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
and so
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
now we've got a team of over 100 in the Philippines
and South Africa
SPEAKER_00 (03:18):
amazing it's interesting because I would
definitely be one of thosepeople that I may have at a time
said it didn't work for meeither so I definitely want to
get into all of that sointeresting so going from
science than corporate.
And like I said, admin, which isobviously a key part of, I'm
sure a lot of the virtualassistance community does.
(03:38):
How did you, just going back togoing from admin to then running
this enterprise-wide project,how did you pick up the skills
that you needed?
Like what support did you getback then?
How did you find thatinformation?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
So it was a baptism of fire.
I would be lying to say thatthere weren't tears in the
process, but it's just a reallyinteresting environment.
So I was working in a team andthat project manager just
disappeared.
Like I don't know what happenedto him.
He just didn't rock up.
And there was this space tofill.
And I'm the sort of person whowill go, all right, I'll fill
that.
Let me give it.
And so I just ask a lot ofquestions.
(04:14):
And so, yeah, people were verypatient with me.
I just asked lots of questionsto lots of people and I didn't
know what I didn't know.
And so I was stumbling in thedarkness for a little bit until
I started to find my way.
It was only later that Iactually did a formal project
management course before that Iwas just making everything up
which is how I've run
SPEAKER_00 (04:34):
my life pretty much it's interesting because
sometimes having not having theexperience or background people
are a little bit more forgivingso I think that would have
helped as well so it's good Ithink sharing that is helpful
because there are people thatare listening there probably I
know I get a lot of questionsoften about where do I get
started in projects or I don'thave enough subject matter
(04:56):
expertise where would I startand I think that just helps
helping people to understand tojust give it a go.
So I appreciate that.
You said VA.
Now, not everyone knows what VAis.
Can you just explain to us whatis a VA and how are they
essential for businesses?
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
So it's a good question.
It's a problematic term becausevirtual assistant can mean a
variety of things.
So it can mean an AI technologysolution that's got nothing to
do with people.
And then sometimes virtualassistants, when people do think
of people, they think of peopleAnd like I mentioned, I had an
admin role, but just doing adminand things like that.
(05:34):
But what I mean when I use theterm virtual assistant is a
super intelligent, dedicatedperson who just happens to be,
in my case, in the Philippinesor South Africa, who is a team
member in your business.
So, yeah, they can do admin.
Yeah, they can do social media.
But I've also got an accountmanager from South Africa and
sales people from South Africaand, you know, a bookkeeper from
(05:57):
the Philippines.
And like I've There's an amazingvariety of roles that you can
fill from people who are basedin other countries.
SPEAKER_00 (06:06):
And so a lot of the time when people think about
having someone offshoreassisting them, they often might
confuse offshore versusoutsourcing.
Like companies do outsourcing.
Sometimes the outsourcing islocal.
Sometimes it's remote.
What's the difference betweenoffshoring and outsourcing?
SPEAKER_01 (06:26):
When I think of the term outsourcing, I think of
people just going this problemthat's just over there now come
back to me with a solution andso for example you might say I
want to hire a marketing companyto manage my Facebook ads that
is outsourcing to a marketingcompany with virtual assistants
(06:46):
it's not like that like to getyour the value from it for your
business what I find is that youdo need that relationship your
team member needs the context ofyour business they need to grow
with you and And so that's why Idon't usually use the term
outsourcing.
I even think the term offshore,I mean, all the terms are
problematic, aren't they?
(07:07):
Even offshoring, people oftenthink, oh, I'm going to move
these jobs from Australia tooverseas.
And that's not what I see.
I see two types of businessowners coming to me.
One, the mini business ownerwho's like, I couldn't possibly
hire someone in Australia, but Imight be able to hire a halftime
person in the Philippines.
And then I get like a businessowner I spoke to the other day.
(07:28):
He's got six businesses he'slike i've tried to fill this
role in australia twice carmenit hasn't worked can you get me
someone Okay,
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
and so thinking about the fact that VA can be
more than just an adminresource, you talk a bit about
VAs being a partner, so being inpartnership with a VA.
Where do you get started if youare trying to think about
bringing someone into yourbusiness, no matter the size of
(07:58):
your business?
SPEAKER_01 (07:59):
Yeah, so I think the first thing is to work out what
sort of support that you need inyour business, which is easier
said than done.
We've got some free resources onour website for anyone who wants
to check those out to help themon that journey.
But I'll give you a hint.
The first virtual assistant mostbusiness owners need is not the
(08:21):
creative, initiative, coming outtheir eyeballs, genius, dynamic
person.
It's not that.
It's usually thedetail-orientated doer, the
person who will send youLinkedIn connections every day
while you're off streaming aboutbright and shiny things.
The person who will send Fat Miamessages so she doesn't forget
(08:42):
you on LinkedIn, you know, thatconsistent doer.
So then you can go off and, youknow, do cool things like speak
on podcasts.
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
And then thinking about the whole idea of having
teams and people overseas, whatare some of the things that you
would start with getting someonewho is a virtual assistant to do
for you in your business?
What are the sort of the mostcommon things?
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Yeah.
So most people start witheither.
It depends on the problemthey're experiencing.
So I think when people are newin their business, the problem
is often lead gen.
So they're just like, which isthe reason I got my first
virtual assistant.
I'm like, I need someone to beworking my LinkedIn profile so
that I can be having morediscussions and making more
(09:29):
sales.
And so that was my first virtualassistant.
And so a lot of people come tome for that stuff.
But then once you get all thesales then the problem people
have is processing those sales.
So the operations side ofthings.
And so then people will come tome going, and obviously
everyone's operations lookslightly different, but someone
will come and go, I need toincrease my operational
(09:50):
capability.
So I'm not scared to make sales.
I need someone to interact withthe customers or send the docu
sign or do all that stuff toincrease the operational
capacity.
And then I find that thebusinesses go in another cycle
where they're like, I've got myleads coming in, I've got my
(10:11):
operations sorted.
And then they're like, now Iwant to grow.
And so then they're going, okay,well, we're not doing X, Y, Z in
marketing.
So let's start that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
And then thinking about those, so you've talked
about both sides of it, which Ithink is really, really good
because I think I agree with youat the beginning when we went
through the journey of bringingin someone internally about 10,
12 years ago.
It was originally on the leadside.
That being said, I know thatthere are probably people out
there like me who have attemptedto bring in a virtual assistant
(10:44):
and probably have some horrorstories to share.
Ours didn't go very well thefirst time and then other times
it went okay what do you say topeople that are i guess nervous
about bringing in someone whoeffectively is not i mean
there's probably maybe the wayto ask this is there's probably
(11:04):
protocols or processes that youcould put in place to protect
the business owner because theyare working with someone who's
virtual which is you know notbound by the same i guess laws
and things that we would havehere so what sort of protections
can i as an individual businessowner put in place to protect me
from any issues with any virtualassistant.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Yeah.
So I guess I'd like to justpreface it with, I'm not a
lawyer.
But I think for me in mybusiness, it was about forming
really trusting relationships.
So at the start, my team didn'thave access to everything.
Now my team got access toeverything.
Like I wrote to one team memberthis morning saying, could you
(11:46):
remind me about my password forthis?
And, you know, someone, couldyou buy this on my credit card?
And But that didn't happen onday one.
So most business owners haveconfidentiality agreements with
their virtual assistants.
They often share passwords andaccess via password management
software like LastPass orOnePass.
(12:07):
But I find that that's often aconcern going into virtual
assistants.
But I think the thing peopleshould really be thinking about
when they get a virtualassistant is about setting it up
for success.
So how am I going tocommunicate?
with them?
How frequently?
What methods?
How am I going to downloadwhat's in my brain?
How am I going to make surethey're not feeling overwhelmed
(12:28):
and run away in the first coupleof weeks?
How am I going to make sure thatthey feel loved and supported?
How am I going to get value?
Let's start delegating the lowrisk, high volume tasks first.
And so they're the things that Ithink are the really critical
things to think of before yourvirtual assistant starts.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
And I guess it's probably the homework that it
business owner should be doingearly on and if they're not
they're not setting themselvesup for success so it's sort of
on us if we don't do that thathomework up front
SPEAKER_01 (12:59):
and obviously people don't know what they don't know
so sometimes i'll have aconversation with someone who's
interested in getting a virtualassistant and i'll ask them some
questions and they're andthey're like no i'm not willing
to put that time and energy inand like i paint a picture and
then i'm like right well you'renot you it's not going to work
for you like it's it's not agood fit and then but others
were like oh cool i didn'trealize that yeah this is how
(13:21):
I'm going to do it so it's goodto know if people are it takes
time and energy to get itworking really well which is
ironic because you're usuallygetting virtual assistants to
save time and energy but I liketo set it up so that within the
first two weeks you're feelingrelief
SPEAKER_00 (13:38):
and then so at what stage of business would you say
someone should be where theystart thinking about potentially
bringing in a VA is there a sortof trigger or a sign that you
would look for what would yourecommend?
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
There's a couple of different ways to answer it.
One that I sometimes do when I'mrunning an event is I say, who's
got a cleaner?
And I get people to put theirhands up and I'm like, all
right, everyone else get acleaner before you get a virtual
assistant.
Like I just think, you know,this isn't just about getting
virtual assistant.
This is about you gettingsupport as a business owner in
your life and your business.
(14:13):
And like, I think that's verylow hanging fruit.
So that's one way of looking atit.
But then another way is, youknow, some people like, oh, I'm
going to wait until I've got X,Y, Z in place.
I got my first virtual assistantwhen I was pre-revenue, which is
a bit scary.
Like I had a certain bucket ofmoney.
Like it was burning through it.
Single mom, two kids mortgage.
Like it, you know, I had thisburning platform, but for me, I
(14:35):
knew that I needed that.
So I think another way to answerit is that it's really about
when you have tasks that youthink are low risk, high volume
that someone else can do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Hmm.
I attended some conferences or Iattended, and you probably heard
this term before, but they referto a certain monetary value.
Estimate what you think yourhourly rate is, whether it's$10,
$100, whatever, and thinkanything less than that
outsource.
Is that something you wouldapproach as well?
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
You can, but like you come up with the same
answer, almost everything.
So the other way I look at it,like obviously I've now got a
team, but I go, if I am nothaving conversations with cool
people, like you um if i'm notdreaming up strategic new ideas
about oh let's target thismarket and this is our new you
know marketing strategy um and ialso still have the sales
(15:33):
conversations um the the edgysales conversations in my
business if i'm not doing thosethings then someone else should
be doing it yeah so i also flipit on the head it's like i'm
very precious over what i spendmy time and energy doing
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
yeah makes sense especially like you said so
you've got over 100 i i Ipresume that's across a broad
range of clients, but you'vealso got several resources that
you have managed offshore foryourself.
When are you managing a remoteteam?
It obviously will come with itsown challenges.
Can you give us a couple ofexamples of challenges and how
(16:08):
you put systems or habits inplace to actually resolve for
those challenges?
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
Yeah.
So my marketing manager, he'sactually moved to Canada now, so
he has left me.
Most of my team has stayed withme.
But he worked with me for manyyears and he, him and I really
vibed.
We met multiple times a week andit just really worked.
But then there was like, maybe Iwas on a holiday or someone was
(16:34):
sick or there was a publicholiday and we didn't meet for
two weeks and we're justmessaging each other.
And I could just tell we'regetting like grumpy with each
other.
And I'm like, all right, we justneed to engineer this call.
And so when people rely onmessaging too much, I think
that's really problematic.
So I think there is value ingetting on a call and building
(16:56):
that relationship and havingthat chat.
So that's one thing that Ireally advocate in my team.
Another thing that I think isunderutilized by a lot of
business owners is they feelthat they need to type out every
instruction, whereas I'm oftennow voice messaging my team
going, hey, guess what?
I just had this idea.
Could you set this up and thensend this to me?
(17:17):
And it just makes it so mucheasier.
Another thing that we have we'vegot a rule in our business
called the two message rule.
So if I message you, you ask mea question, I answer it.
You ask me another question.
We just go, let's just jump on acall.
Like sometimes it's literallytwo minutes.
Yeah.
That two minutes can save manyback and forth and
misunderstandings.
(17:37):
And then I think peopleunderestimate how much people
just need to feel loved andconnected.
So we have a meeting everyfortnight of our internal team
and we play games and tellstories and each person leads
each different fortnight.
And the only purpose of thathalf an hour is to connect to
each other.
There's no other purpose.
(17:58):
There's no agenda items.
There's no business.
It's just to connect.
SPEAKER_00 (18:02):
I love that.
I think it's important.
People probably think that, youknow, out of sight, out of mind.
But when you've got someonewho's a virtual team member, I
know when we had our virtualassistant at the beginning of my
business journey about 12, 13years ago, she had some personal
circumstances that meant she hadsick family members and all
(18:22):
these things and we had to bereally flexible to support her
in that time but we wouldn'thave known if we didn't take the
time to actually learn moreabout them how do you manage for
that when you've got obviouslyas a small business owner you
bring in one VA how do Imitigate knowing that there is
going to be things that probablycome about do you suggest I have
(18:44):
multiple at the same time orsplit the work across or have a
team of VAs as opposed to anindividual what would you
recommend to a client in thatregard?
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah.
So obviously when you're gettingstarted, you usually start with
one virtual assistant.
Sometimes business owners cometo me and they want to start
with more than one.
And that's okay if they've gotthe resources within their team,
like they've already gotmultiple team members to be able
to support those virtualassistants.
But 90% of people start withone.
So when you've got one, youdon't have the redundancy in it.
(19:14):
And so when I started, I didn'thave redundancy within my team.
I've now got 11 team membersthat work within team and some
people work across teams.
And so what that means is thatalmost all of the work that
happens in my business can bedone by more than one person.
So most of the staff can getdone even if someone's on leave.
(19:36):
Now, obviously, that's not whereI started, but that's something
that I've developed over time.
And so like I sat down with mymarketing team a few years ago
and said this is what I want toachieve.
Like I need two people beingable to do every single function
in the marketing team.
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
And
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
so I've worked with each of the teams on that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
I think that's good.
I think that more organisationseven day-to-day, regardless of
where their team is, should bedoing that.
Unfortunately, we're not.
But, yeah, I think that's areally good idea.
And I think by doing that itmeans that, yeah, like you said,
you're putting in thatredundancy in place.
Would a suggestion potentiallybe helpful for a business owner
who just starts with one maybeto document everything or like
(20:15):
to what level of detail tosupport them in having, I guess,
the backup in case they have anyissues i know that that was
helpful for us is that somethingyou'd recommend as well
SPEAKER_01 (20:26):
yeah so sometimes people could say oh i can't
start with a virtual assistantbecause i haven't documented
everything yes now i'm aprocedure lover um i one of my
projects was implementedimplementing procedure framework
with 300 procedures um butsaying that i also understand
the realities of small businessand so you often don't have your
(20:47):
i's dot and t's cross so tostart with a virtual assistant
you need enough of a processsorted and that could be
something you put together thenight before they start just on
like one or two items but thenonce your virtual assistant's in
place you can then say hey couldyou document that hey let me
take you through on a zoom callyou can record it and then once
(21:10):
you've got the handle of itcould you document it so there
there is some support within thebusiness if someone else needs
to fill that spot
SPEAKER_00 (21:19):
and how do you kind coach or guide clients to let
go?
Because it's very daunting tobring anyone into your team for
the first time, regardless ofwhere you are in your business
journey.
So how do you guide them to letgo?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
So I guess I suss people out before they become
clients to go, are you willingto do what it takes?
Which includes feelinguncomfortable.
You don't need to be perfect.
I'll hold your hand if you'rescared.
Like that's what we do.
But you need to be willing tofeel uncomfortable.
(21:57):
We'll guide you so you canmitigate against any risk or all
that stuff.
But are you willing?
If they are, then we can make itwork.
And so then we metaphoricallyhold their hand and support them
with processes and frameworksbecause each person and VA combo
will have different frameworkson how they communicate and how
(22:17):
they delegate.
And so we'll work with them toset up a system that works for
them.
SPEAKER_00 (22:25):
And do you think that there is a particular
mindset shift that a businessowner needs to mirror?
So they've got to let, to letgo, they need to accept that it
is discomfort.
Is there anything else thatholds them back?
Is there a fear factor?
Is it, you know, being out ofpractice?
Is it really not being, what doyou think stops them from sort
(22:46):
of overcoming that first hurdle?
I think
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
it's not understanding the cost of not
doing it.
So in my mind, I learned reallyquickly in business that the
cost for me of not getting avirtual assistant was one, I
probably couldn't pay mymortgage for much longer because
like, you know, business wasslower to start than I thought.
Two, I was going to be stuckdoing all the detail and not
(23:12):
working on all the bright andshiny things, which is how my
mind likes to work.
And so sometimes when I sharewith people about, well, maybe
it's okay, maybe there are somethings in your business where
it's okay if they do it to aidpercent like maybe they don't
have to be as good as you at allthings some things maybe you're
not going to hand over maybethey're not going to do the
whole process maybe it's justpart of the process and then
(23:34):
you're going to do part and thenthey're going to do the rest of
it so it's about how to mitigateum the impact of someone not
being you so that your businesscan still have really good
outcomes but you don't have tobe doing it
SPEAKER_00 (23:48):
all and so then as a leader that means delegating
better and how do we as leadersdelegate delegate better what
what i don't think i've reallyseen much out there that sort of
says this is a delegation courseand that's one of probably the
core skills a leader a goodleader needs so how do we
delegate better
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
yeah i mean that's a huge topic isn't it um but i'll
give you an example so at thestart i oh even now i'm not a
creative person i don't know howto delegate creative stuff but
at the start i would say couldyou create me a cover photo for
my podcast and then producesomething I'm like I don't like
it and then I couldn't even tellthem what I liked and what I
(24:28):
didn't like so then I juststarted saying could you create
three for me and they'll be likeI like a bit of that and a bit
of that and we'd go throughiterations and so it's about
finding finding those waysanother example is I think
people are very quick todelegate without rolling up the
sleeves and doing a little bitthemselves so for example when I
(24:49):
got my first virtual assistantto help me with LinkedIn
marketing I did it myself for aweek and I learned what I needed
to know to be able to be reallyeffective in my delegation if I
just said to her get me leads onLinkedIn like that just wouldn't
have worked and so I really feelstrongly about that there's most
functions in your business likeyou get deep within the weeds
(25:12):
for even if sometimes it's justa day and then you're like oh
cool all right now over to you
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
do you think that um that every thing that you
delegate you need to understandhow to do it or to a level just
so that you can have someoversight?
Yeah, so it's a really
SPEAKER_01 (25:27):
good question.
So generally, because I like tolearn, I do know most of what
I'm delegating, but there aresome technical SEO things where
I don't.
So my marketing manager said tome, Carmen, just do this SEO
course so you know the lingo andthe frameworks.
(25:47):
So just before this meeting, Imet with one of my team members
around SEO and she knows morethan me about it.
But I was able to follow alongjust because I'd done the course
and I understood the largerframeworks and she was able to
explain things to me.
So that's an example in mybusiness where I'm not as savvy
(26:11):
with it as she is.
But like with, for example, myLinkedIn marketing or how my
account management or thingslike that, like that stuff, I'm
like completely over.
SPEAKER_00 (26:22):
Yeah, I guess you've got to have a balance.
You you can't know everythingbut at the same time how you
assure it's like it likeprobably back in our corporate
days you can't assure thatsomeone's doing the right thing
if you haven't given them theright instructions are delegated
well but also have someunderstanding of what the
outcome is supposed to be so iguess having an insight will
help
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
well that's like with the design stuff i don't
know how to use canva like i'vetried before it just is not good
um so i don't know how to do thestuff that they're doing but i i
am having oversight in to thisis how I like this design.
So we're just starting this newbusiness.
So we've got a global teamsbrand, which is colorful and a
bit silly.
And then we've got another brandthat we're just developing.
(27:05):
And so I will have to be reallyfirm around.
We're not doing the X, Y, Z thatwe do in global teams.
We're doing it like this forthis new brand.
And so that's been reallyinteresting.
So I've got oversight over that.
I don't know how to do thecanvas stuff, but my team are
implementing my vision if youwant.
SPEAKER_00 (27:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's what they should bedoing.
really.
So then speaking of, I can seeyou're scaling up and scaling
out.
So how do you, how does abusiness owner start to scale or
use outsourcing to scale andgrow their business?
And if you had to advise whatsystems or technology or where
(27:44):
they would start, what would bethe core capability areas that
you would recommend they focuson when they're trying to scale
their business?
SPEAKER_01 (27:52):
Yeah, I think around scaling, it sort of depends on
where your business is at.
So I've and what problems you'refacing.
So, you know, if you're anestablished business, you might
be facing problems withoperational capacity.
And so a lot of people arecoming to me.
They've already got teams inAustralia and they need that.
They say, I want to support mycustomer service team or want to
(28:13):
support my sales team.
And it's not even about gettingpeople for them necessarily, but
it's getting people for theirteams to increase the capacity
within the team.
Then there's the I want someoneto help me do my marketing i've
heard this story so often i'vebeen in business for 20 years
we've been really successful buti've never marketed and now i've
decided i want to do it becauseyou know there's a missed
(28:34):
opportunity there and so that'salso another common thing that i
see around scaling
SPEAKER_00 (28:40):
it's so interesting because i do agree i think
marketing is the most commonaside from sales but like you
said earlier um i think mostbusiness owners like us are able
to talk about passionately aboutwhat we do but marketing um can
sometimes fall by the ways Iknow that that was where we
started to get help initially.
And then on the operationalside, like you said, as you're
(29:01):
scaling and you've got all ofthese processes.
But as I said, there's lots ofpros and cons of how you go
about it.
So it's good that there's someinformation out there, which
I'll definitely share too in ourwebsite.
I'm keen to understand what'snext for Global Teams, your
organization, and how do peoplelearn more about everything that
you've talked about today?
(29:21):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (29:22):
cool.
So yeah, so we're continuingto...
our teams both in thePhilippines and South Africa.
South Africa is something we'vebeen doing for about a year and
so there's heaps ofopportunities there.
And we're also starting todevelop some niche brands as
well, which requires differentmarketing strategies, which I'm
finding quite fun.
If people want to learn moreabout virtual assistants, how to
(29:45):
work with them, how tocommunicate with them, what they
can do, they can go check outour website at
globalteams.com.au.
SPEAKER_00 (29:52):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I link into that.
We're almost at the end of ourtime today.
My last question today, Carmen,is if there's anything else
you'd like to share with ourlisteners, a call to action, a
piece of advice, or a questionto ponder today.
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
Yeah.
I think the question is what'sthe impact of not doing it?
UNKNOWN (30:12):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
or the opportunity cost as we like to sometimes
refer to in the corporate world.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess just conscious frommy own knowledge, how do you
measure that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:25):
Yeah, it's a good question.
It's often like a personalfeeling.
Like obviously you can measureit by going I earn X number of
dollars an hour and like youcan, but like I've never
actually sat down and done that.
But I just go for me, What do Iwant from my business?
What do I want from my life?
(30:46):
Could I achieve that if I didn'thave virtual assistants?
And for me, the answer is a no.
So I have many business ownerscome to me.
Some people go, I want to get mywife out of the admin so she can
spend more time with the kidsand it's going to be easier on
the family and we're going tohave more fun.
I want to be able to actuallytake a holiday.
I'm working 20-hour days.
(31:09):
I'm burnt out.
So people come to me and I withthe story so I can give them the
facts and the figures and thecalculations but it's like
what's going on for you in yourworld and are you going to
achieve what you want can youhave the impact in the world
that you want to have with yourbusiness without doing this
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
thank you so much for listening to this podcast
please share this with someoneor rate it if you enjoyed it
don't forget to follow us onsocial media and to stay up to
date with all things agile ideasgo to our website
www.agilemanagementoffice.comUntil next time, what's your
(31:50):
agile idea?
You're listening to Agile Ideas, the podcast hosted
by Fatima Rabouchi.
For anyone listening out therenot having a good day, please
know there is help out there.
On to today's guest.
We're doing something a littlebit different today.
I have a little bit of adifferent guest.
And also the reason for that isI thought it would be good to
(00:23):
deep dive into a particulartopic, something that early on
in my business career definitelycaught me unstuck.
and that is all things relatingto outsourcing, virtual
assistance in small business,scaling, automation, delegation,
leadership, and a number ofother things.
So on today's episode, our guestis Carmen Williams, who's the
(00:47):
Director of Global Teams.
Her career started in sciencebefore she transitioned into
leading large-scale enterprisechanges in the healthcare
sector.
Along the way, she discoveredthe power of delegation a game
changer that transformed herbusiness when she hired her
first virtual assistant.
That experience inspired her tocreate global teams where she
(01:08):
helps businesses scale byconnecting them with skilled
remote professionals fromcountries like South Africa and
the Philippines.
Now she leads a team of over 90virtual assistants and she's
passionate about makingoutsourcing simple, effective
and to become a key driver ofsustainable business growth.
(01:29):
So please join me in welcomingCarmen to the show.
Carmen thank you so much forjoining us today.
SPEAKER_01 (01:34):
Absolute
SPEAKER_00 (01:35):
pleasure.
I have been following yourjourney for a while you might
not know this but I recall youreaching out probably early on
in your journey of your currentbusiness and I think you at the
time had like just started andyou were sort of you know
scoping out services and sorryservices sales and we were
(01:57):
talking and you just kept kindof appearing in my LinkedIn
feed.
And then I thought, let's talkbecause you have a lot of
knowledge and insights that Ithink will be really valuable
today.
So before we get into that, tellus a little bit about your
background and sort of how yougot to where you are today.
SPEAKER_01 (02:13):
Yeah, I've got a roundabout background.
I started my professional careeras a scientist and then decided
that the lab was a little bitboring.
I wanted to go talk to peoplebecause that was a bit scary.
And then I landed myself a jobin a large healthcare network.
I was just doing admin butwithin three months the project
manager there left and I wasimplementing an enterprise-wide
(02:36):
project so I did that for about10 years strategy lots of fun
stuff there until I'm like hmm Iwant to do something different I
thought business was going to beeasy now that's a joke isn't it
um so I just walked um decidedto leave work one day um so I
started doing consulting andthen I'm like oh well that's
sort of good but I'm still doingthe doing and so then I started
(03:00):
growing my own virtual assistantteam and then that's when people
started saying hey Carmen I'vetried it before and it didn't
work could you help me and I'mlike nah there's not what to do
and then more people ask and I'mlike hang on there's something
here
SPEAKER_00 (03:13):
and so
SPEAKER_01 (03:14):
now we've got a team of over 100 in the Philippines
and South Africa
SPEAKER_00 (03:18):
amazing it's interesting because I would
definitely be one of thosepeople that I may have at a time
said it didn't work for meeither so I definitely want to
get into all of that sointeresting so going from
science than corporate.
And like I said, admin, which isobviously a key part of, I'm
sure a lot of the virtualassistance community does.
(03:38):
How did you, just going back togoing from admin to then running
this enterprise-wide project,how did you pick up the skills
that you needed?
Like what support did you getback then?
How did you find thatinformation?
SPEAKER_01 (03:51):
So it was a baptism of fire.
I would be lying to say thatthere weren't tears in the
process, but it's just a reallyinteresting environment.
So I was working in a team andthat project manager just
disappeared.
Like I don't know what happenedto him.
He just didn't rock up.
And there was this space tofill.
And I'm the sort of person whowill go, all right, I'll fill
that.
Let me give it.
And so I just ask a lot ofquestions.
(04:14):
And so, yeah, people were verypatient with me.
I just asked lots of questionsto lots of people and I didn't
know what I didn't know.
And so I was stumbling in thedarkness for a little bit until
I started to find my way.
It was only later that Iactually did a formal project
management course before that Iwas just making everything up
which is how I've run
SPEAKER_00 (04:34):
my life pretty much it's interesting because
sometimes having not having theexperience or background people
are a little bit more forgivingso I think that would have
helped as well so it's good Ithink sharing that is helpful
because there are people thatare listening there probably I
know I get a lot of questionsoften about where do I get
started in projects or I don'thave enough subject matter
(04:56):
expertise where would I startand I think that just helps
helping people to understand tojust give it a go.
So I appreciate that.
You said VA.
Now, not everyone knows what VAis.
Can you just explain to us whatis a VA and how are they
essential for businesses?
SPEAKER_01 (05:12):
So it's a good question.
It's a problematic term becausevirtual assistant can mean a
variety of things.
So it can mean an AI technologysolution that's got nothing to
do with people.
And then sometimes virtualassistants, when people do think
of people, they think of peopleAnd like I mentioned, I had an
admin role, but just doing adminand things like that.
(05:34):
But what I mean when I use theterm virtual assistant is a
super intelligent, dedicatedperson who just happens to be,
in my case, in the Philippinesor South Africa, who is a team
member in your business.
So, yeah, they can do admin.
Yeah, they can do social media.
But I've also got an accountmanager from South Africa and
sales people from South Africaand, you know, a bookkeeper from
(05:57):
the Philippines.
And like I've There's an amazingvariety of roles that you can
fill from people who are basedin other countries.
SPEAKER_00 (06:06):
And so a lot of the time when people think about
having someone offshoreassisting them, they often might
confuse offshore versusoutsourcing.
Like companies do outsourcing.
Sometimes the outsourcing islocal.
Sometimes it's remote.
What's the difference betweenoffshoring and outsourcing?
SPEAKER_01 (06:26):
When I think of the term outsourcing, I think of
people just going this problemthat's just over there now come
back to me with a solution andso for example you might say I
want to hire a marketing companyto manage my Facebook ads that
is outsourcing to a marketingcompany with virtual assistants
(06:46):
it's not like that like to getyour the value from it for your
business what I find is that youdo need that relationship your
team member needs the context ofyour business they need to grow
with you and And so that's why Idon't usually use the term
outsourcing.
I even think the term offshore,I mean, all the terms are
problematic, aren't they?
(07:07):
Even offshoring, people oftenthink, oh, I'm going to move
these jobs from Australia tooverseas.
And that's not what I see.
I see two types of businessowners coming to me.
One, the mini business ownerwho's like, I couldn't possibly
hire someone in Australia, but Imight be able to hire a halftime
person in the Philippines.
And then I get like a businessowner I spoke to the other day.
(07:28):
He's got six businesses he'slike i've tried to fill this
role in australia twice carmenit hasn't worked can you get me
someone Okay,
SPEAKER_00 (07:37):
and so thinking about the fact that VA can be
more than just an adminresource, you talk a bit about
VAs being a partner, so being inpartnership with a VA.
Where do you get started if youare trying to think about
bringing someone into yourbusiness, no matter the size of
(07:58):
your business?
SPEAKER_01 (07:59):
Yeah, so I think the first thing is to work out what
sort of support that you need inyour business, which is easier
said than done.
We've got some free resources onour website for anyone who wants
to check those out to help themon that journey.
But I'll give you a hint.
The first virtual assistant mostbusiness owners need is not the
(08:21):
creative, initiative, coming outtheir eyeballs, genius, dynamic
person.
It's not that.
It's usually thedetail-orientated doer, the
person who will send youLinkedIn connections every day
while you're off streaming aboutbright and shiny things.
The person who will send Fat Miamessages so she doesn't forget
(08:42):
you on LinkedIn, you know, thatconsistent doer.
So then you can go off and, youknow, do cool things like speak
on podcasts.
SPEAKER_00 (08:51):
And then thinking about the whole idea of having
teams and people overseas, whatare some of the things that you
would start with getting someonewho is a virtual assistant to do
for you in your business?
What are the sort of the mostcommon things?
SPEAKER_01 (09:08):
Yeah.
So most people start witheither.
It depends on the problemthey're experiencing.
So I think when people are newin their business, the problem
is often lead gen.
So they're just like, which isthe reason I got my first
virtual assistant.
I'm like, I need someone to beworking my LinkedIn profile so
that I can be having morediscussions and making more
(09:29):
sales.
And so that was my first virtualassistant.
And so a lot of people come tome for that stuff.
But then once you get all thesales then the problem people
have is processing those sales.
So the operations side ofthings.
And so then people will come tome going, and obviously
everyone's operations lookslightly different, but someone
will come and go, I need toincrease my operational
(09:50):
capability.
So I'm not scared to make sales.
I need someone to interact withthe customers or send the docu
sign or do all that stuff toincrease the operational
capacity.
And then I find that thebusinesses go in another cycle
where they're like, I've got myleads coming in, I've got my
(10:11):
operations sorted.
And then they're like, now Iwant to grow.
And so then they're going, okay,well, we're not doing X, Y, Z in
marketing.
So let's start that.
SPEAKER_00 (10:21):
And then thinking about those, so you've talked
about both sides of it, which Ithink is really, really good
because I think I agree with youat the beginning when we went
through the journey of bringingin someone internally about 10,
12 years ago.
It was originally on the leadside.
That being said, I know thatthere are probably people out
there like me who have attemptedto bring in a virtual assistant
(10:44):
and probably have some horrorstories to share.
Ours didn't go very well thefirst time and then other times
it went okay what do you say topeople that are i guess nervous
about bringing in someone whoeffectively is not i mean
there's probably maybe the wayto ask this is there's probably
(11:04):
protocols or processes that youcould put in place to protect
the business owner because theyare working with someone who's
virtual which is you know notbound by the same i guess laws
and things that we would havehere so what sort of protections
can i as an individual businessowner put in place to protect me
from any issues with any virtualassistant.
SPEAKER_01 (11:24):
Yeah.
So I guess I'd like to justpreface it with, I'm not a
lawyer.
But I think for me in mybusiness, it was about forming
really trusting relationships.
So at the start, my team didn'thave access to everything.
Now my team got access toeverything.
Like I wrote to one team memberthis morning saying, could you
(11:46):
remind me about my password forthis?
And, you know, someone, couldyou buy this on my credit card?
And But that didn't happen onday one.
So most business owners haveconfidentiality agreements with
their virtual assistants.
They often share passwords andaccess via password management
software like LastPass orOnePass.
(12:07):
But I find that that's often aconcern going into virtual
assistants.
But I think the thing peopleshould really be thinking about
when they get a virtualassistant is about setting it up
for success.
So how am I going tocommunicate?
with them?
How frequently?
What methods?
How am I going to downloadwhat's in my brain?
How am I going to make surethey're not feeling overwhelmed
(12:28):
and run away in the first coupleof weeks?
How am I going to make sure thatthey feel loved and supported?
How am I going to get value?
Let's start delegating the lowrisk, high volume tasks first.
And so they're the things that Ithink are the really critical
things to think of before yourvirtual assistant starts.
SPEAKER_00 (12:49):
And I guess it's probably the homework that it
business owner should be doingearly on and if they're not
they're not setting themselvesup for success so it's sort of
on us if we don't do that thathomework up front
SPEAKER_01 (12:59):
and obviously people don't know what they don't know
so sometimes i'll have aconversation with someone who's
interested in getting a virtualassistant and i'll ask them some
questions and they're andthey're like no i'm not willing
to put that time and energy inand like i paint a picture and
then i'm like right well you'renot you it's not going to work
for you like it's it's not agood fit and then but others
were like oh cool i didn'trealize that yeah this is how
(13:21):
I'm going to do it so it's goodto know if people are it takes
time and energy to get itworking really well which is
ironic because you're usuallygetting virtual assistants to
save time and energy but I liketo set it up so that within the
first two weeks you're feelingrelief
SPEAKER_00 (13:38):
and then so at what stage of business would you say
someone should be where theystart thinking about potentially
bringing in a VA is there a sortof trigger or a sign that you
would look for what would yourecommend?
SPEAKER_01 (13:52):
There's a couple of different ways to answer it.
One that I sometimes do when I'mrunning an event is I say, who's
got a cleaner?
And I get people to put theirhands up and I'm like, all
right, everyone else get acleaner before you get a virtual
assistant.
Like I just think, you know,this isn't just about getting
virtual assistant.
This is about you gettingsupport as a business owner in
your life and your business.
(14:13):
And like, I think that's verylow hanging fruit.
So that's one way of looking atit.
But then another way is, youknow, some people like, oh, I'm
going to wait until I've got X,Y, Z in place.
I got my first virtual assistantwhen I was pre-revenue, which is
a bit scary.
Like I had a certain bucket ofmoney.
Like it was burning through it.
Single mom, two kids mortgage.
Like it, you know, I had thisburning platform, but for me, I
(14:35):
knew that I needed that.
So I think another way to answerit is that it's really about
when you have tasks that youthink are low risk, high volume
that someone else can do.
SPEAKER_00 (14:51):
Hmm.
I attended some conferences or Iattended, and you probably heard
this term before, but they referto a certain monetary value.
Estimate what you think yourhourly rate is, whether it's$10,
$100, whatever, and thinkanything less than that
outsource.
Is that something you wouldapproach as well?
SPEAKER_01 (15:11):
You can, but like you come up with the same
answer, almost everything.
So the other way I look at it,like obviously I've now got a
team, but I go, if I am nothaving conversations with cool
people, like you um if i'm notdreaming up strategic new ideas
about oh let's target thismarket and this is our new you
know marketing strategy um and ialso still have the sales
(15:33):
conversations um the the edgysales conversations in my
business if i'm not doing thosethings then someone else should
be doing it yeah so i also flipit on the head it's like i'm
very precious over what i spendmy time and energy doing
SPEAKER_00 (15:47):
yeah makes sense especially like you said so
you've got over 100 i i Ipresume that's across a broad
range of clients, but you'vealso got several resources that
you have managed offshore foryourself.
When are you managing a remoteteam?
It obviously will come with itsown challenges.
Can you give us a couple ofexamples of challenges and how
(16:08):
you put systems or habits inplace to actually resolve for
those challenges?
SPEAKER_01 (16:12):
Yeah.
So my marketing manager, he'sactually moved to Canada now, so
he has left me.
Most of my team has stayed withme.
But he worked with me for manyyears and he, him and I really
vibed.
We met multiple times a week andit just really worked.
But then there was like, maybe Iwas on a holiday or someone was
(16:34):
sick or there was a publicholiday and we didn't meet for
two weeks and we're justmessaging each other.
And I could just tell we'regetting like grumpy with each
other.
And I'm like, all right, we justneed to engineer this call.
And so when people rely onmessaging too much, I think
that's really problematic.
So I think there is value ingetting on a call and building
(16:56):
that relationship and havingthat chat.
So that's one thing that Ireally advocate in my team.
Another thing that I think isunderutilized by a lot of
business owners is they feelthat they need to type out every
instruction, whereas I'm oftennow voice messaging my team
going, hey, guess what?
I just had this idea.
Could you set this up and thensend this to me?
(17:17):
And it just makes it so mucheasier.
Another thing that we have we'vegot a rule in our business
called the two message rule.
So if I message you, you ask mea question, I answer it.
You ask me another question.
We just go, let's just jump on acall.
Like sometimes it's literallytwo minutes.
Yeah.
That two minutes can save manyback and forth and
misunderstandings.
(17:37):
And then I think peopleunderestimate how much people
just need to feel loved andconnected.
So we have a meeting everyfortnight of our internal team
and we play games and tellstories and each person leads
each different fortnight.
And the only purpose of thathalf an hour is to connect to
each other.
There's no other purpose.
(17:58):
There's no agenda items.
There's no business.
It's just to connect.
SPEAKER_00 (18:02):
I love that.
I think it's important.
People probably think that, youknow, out of sight, out of mind.
But when you've got someonewho's a virtual team member, I
know when we had our virtualassistant at the beginning of my
business journey about 12, 13years ago, she had some personal
circumstances that meant she hadsick family members and all
(18:22):
these things and we had to bereally flexible to support her
in that time but we wouldn'thave known if we didn't take the
time to actually learn moreabout them how do you manage for
that when you've got obviouslyas a small business owner you
bring in one VA how do Imitigate knowing that there is
going to be things that probablycome about do you suggest I have
(18:44):
multiple at the same time orsplit the work across or have a
team of VAs as opposed to anindividual what would you
recommend to a client in thatregard?
SPEAKER_01 (18:53):
Yeah.
So obviously when you're gettingstarted, you usually start with
one virtual assistant.
Sometimes business owners cometo me and they want to start
with more than one.
And that's okay if they've gotthe resources within their team,
like they've already gotmultiple team members to be able
to support those virtualassistants.
But 90% of people start withone.
So when you've got one, youdon't have the redundancy in it.
(19:14):
And so when I started, I didn'thave redundancy within my team.
I've now got 11 team membersthat work within team and some
people work across teams.
And so what that means is thatalmost all of the work that
happens in my business can bedone by more than one person.
So most of the staff can getdone even if someone's on leave.
(19:36):
Now, obviously, that's not whereI started, but that's something
that I've developed over time.
And so like I sat down with mymarketing team a few years ago
and said this is what I want toachieve.
Like I need two people beingable to do every single function
in the marketing team.
SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
And
SPEAKER_01 (19:51):
so I've worked with each of the teams on that.
SPEAKER_00 (19:54):
I think that's good.
I think that more organisationseven day-to-day, regardless of
where their team is, should bedoing that.
Unfortunately, we're not.
But, yeah, I think that's areally good idea.
And I think by doing that itmeans that, yeah, like you said,
you're putting in thatredundancy in place.
Would a suggestion potentiallybe helpful for a business owner
who just starts with one maybeto document everything or like
(20:15):
to what level of detail tosupport them in having, I guess,
the backup in case they have anyissues i know that that was
helpful for us is that somethingyou'd recommend as well
SPEAKER_01 (20:26):
yeah so sometimes people could say oh i can't
start with a virtual assistantbecause i haven't documented
everything yes now i'm aprocedure lover um i one of my
projects was implementedimplementing procedure framework
with 300 procedures um butsaying that i also understand
the realities of small businessand so you often don't have your
(20:47):
i's dot and t's cross so tostart with a virtual assistant
you need enough of a processsorted and that could be
something you put together thenight before they start just on
like one or two items but thenonce your virtual assistant's in
place you can then say hey couldyou document that hey let me
take you through on a zoom callyou can record it and then once
(21:10):
you've got the handle of itcould you document it so there
there is some support within thebusiness if someone else needs
to fill that spot
SPEAKER_00 (21:19):
and how do you kind coach or guide clients to let
go?
Because it's very daunting tobring anyone into your team for
the first time, regardless ofwhere you are in your business
journey.
So how do you guide them to letgo?
Yeah.
SPEAKER_01 (21:34):
So I guess I suss people out before they become
clients to go, are you willingto do what it takes?
Which includes feelinguncomfortable.
You don't need to be perfect.
I'll hold your hand if you'rescared.
Like that's what we do.
But you need to be willing tofeel uncomfortable.
(21:57):
We'll guide you so you canmitigate against any risk or all
that stuff.
But are you willing?
If they are, then we can make itwork.
And so then we metaphoricallyhold their hand and support them
with processes and frameworksbecause each person and VA combo
will have different frameworkson how they communicate and how
(22:17):
they delegate.
And so we'll work with them toset up a system that works for
them.
SPEAKER_00 (22:25):
And do you think that there is a particular
mindset shift that a businessowner needs to mirror?
So they've got to let, to letgo, they need to accept that it
is discomfort.
Is there anything else thatholds them back?
Is there a fear factor?
Is it, you know, being out ofpractice?
Is it really not being, what doyou think stops them from sort
(22:46):
of overcoming that first hurdle?
I think
SPEAKER_01 (22:50):
it's not understanding the cost of not
doing it.
So in my mind, I learned reallyquickly in business that the
cost for me of not getting avirtual assistant was one, I
probably couldn't pay mymortgage for much longer because
like, you know, business wasslower to start than I thought.
Two, I was going to be stuckdoing all the detail and not
(23:12):
working on all the bright andshiny things, which is how my
mind likes to work.
And so sometimes when I sharewith people about, well, maybe
it's okay, maybe there are somethings in your business where
it's okay if they do it to aidpercent like maybe they don't
have to be as good as you at allthings some things maybe you're
not going to hand over maybethey're not going to do the
whole process maybe it's justpart of the process and then
(23:34):
you're going to do part and thenthey're going to do the rest of
it so it's about how to mitigateum the impact of someone not
being you so that your businesscan still have really good
outcomes but you don't have tobe doing it
SPEAKER_00 (23:48):
all and so then as a leader that means delegating
better and how do we as leadersdelegate delegate better what
what i don't think i've reallyseen much out there that sort of
says this is a delegation courseand that's one of probably the
core skills a leader a goodleader needs so how do we
delegate better
SPEAKER_01 (24:08):
yeah i mean that's a huge topic isn't it um but i'll
give you an example so at thestart i oh even now i'm not a
creative person i don't know howto delegate creative stuff but
at the start i would say couldyou create me a cover photo for
my podcast and then producesomething I'm like I don't like
it and then I couldn't even tellthem what I liked and what I
(24:28):
didn't like so then I juststarted saying could you create
three for me and they'll be likeI like a bit of that and a bit
of that and we'd go throughiterations and so it's about
finding finding those waysanother example is I think
people are very quick todelegate without rolling up the
sleeves and doing a little bitthemselves so for example when I
(24:49):
got my first virtual assistantto help me with LinkedIn
marketing I did it myself for aweek and I learned what I needed
to know to be able to be reallyeffective in my delegation if I
just said to her get me leads onLinkedIn like that just wouldn't
have worked and so I really feelstrongly about that there's most
functions in your business likeyou get deep within the weeds
(25:12):
for even if sometimes it's justa day and then you're like oh
cool all right now over to you
SPEAKER_00 (25:17):
do you think that um that every thing that you
delegate you need to understandhow to do it or to a level just
so that you can have someoversight?
Yeah, so it's a really
SPEAKER_01 (25:27):
good question.
So generally, because I like tolearn, I do know most of what
I'm delegating, but there aresome technical SEO things where
I don't.
So my marketing manager said tome, Carmen, just do this SEO
course so you know the lingo andthe frameworks.
(25:47):
So just before this meeting, Imet with one of my team members
around SEO and she knows morethan me about it.
But I was able to follow alongjust because I'd done the course
and I understood the largerframeworks and she was able to
explain things to me.
So that's an example in mybusiness where I'm not as savvy
(26:11):
with it as she is.
But like with, for example, myLinkedIn marketing or how my
account management or thingslike that, like that stuff, I'm
like completely over.
SPEAKER_00 (26:22):
Yeah, I guess you've got to have a balance.
You you can't know everythingbut at the same time how you
assure it's like it likeprobably back in our corporate
days you can't assure thatsomeone's doing the right thing
if you haven't given them theright instructions are delegated
well but also have someunderstanding of what the
outcome is supposed to be so iguess having an insight will
help
SPEAKER_01 (26:42):
well that's like with the design stuff i don't
know how to use canva like i'vetried before it just is not good
um so i don't know how to do thestuff that they're doing but i i
am having oversight in to thisis how I like this design.
So we're just starting this newbusiness.
So we've got a global teamsbrand, which is colorful and a
bit silly.
And then we've got another brandthat we're just developing.
(27:05):
And so I will have to be reallyfirm around.
We're not doing the X, Y, Z thatwe do in global teams.
We're doing it like this forthis new brand.
And so that's been reallyinteresting.
So I've got oversight over that.
I don't know how to do thecanvas stuff, but my team are
implementing my vision if youwant.
SPEAKER_00 (27:23):
Yeah, absolutely.
And that's what they should bedoing.
really.
So then speaking of, I can seeyou're scaling up and scaling
out.
So how do you, how does abusiness owner start to scale or
use outsourcing to scale andgrow their business?
And if you had to advise whatsystems or technology or where
(27:44):
they would start, what would bethe core capability areas that
you would recommend they focuson when they're trying to scale
their business?
SPEAKER_01 (27:52):
Yeah, I think around scaling, it sort of depends on
where your business is at.
So I've and what problems you'refacing.
So, you know, if you're anestablished business, you might
be facing problems withoperational capacity.
And so a lot of people arecoming to me.
They've already got teams inAustralia and they need that.
They say, I want to support mycustomer service team or want to
(28:13):
support my sales team.
And it's not even about gettingpeople for them necessarily, but
it's getting people for theirteams to increase the capacity
within the team.
Then there's the I want someoneto help me do my marketing i've
heard this story so often i'vebeen in business for 20 years
we've been really successful buti've never marketed and now i've
decided i want to do it becauseyou know there's a missed
(28:34):
opportunity there and so that'salso another common thing that i
see around scaling
SPEAKER_00 (28:40):
it's so interesting because i do agree i think
marketing is the most commonaside from sales but like you
said earlier um i think mostbusiness owners like us are able
to talk about passionately aboutwhat we do but marketing um can
sometimes fall by the ways Iknow that that was where we
started to get help initially.
And then on the operationalside, like you said, as you're
(29:01):
scaling and you've got all ofthese processes.
But as I said, there's lots ofpros and cons of how you go
about it.
So it's good that there's someinformation out there, which
I'll definitely share too in ourwebsite.
I'm keen to understand what'snext for Global Teams, your
organization, and how do peoplelearn more about everything that
you've talked about today?
(29:21):
Yeah,
SPEAKER_01 (29:22):
cool.
So yeah, so we're continuingto...
our teams both in thePhilippines and South Africa.
South Africa is something we'vebeen doing for about a year and
so there's heaps ofopportunities there.
And we're also starting todevelop some niche brands as
well, which requires differentmarketing strategies, which I'm
finding quite fun.
If people want to learn moreabout virtual assistants, how to
(29:45):
work with them, how tocommunicate with them, what they
can do, they can go check outour website at
globalteams.com.au.
SPEAKER_00 (29:52):
Awesome.
I'll make sure I link into that.
We're almost at the end of ourtime today.
My last question today, Carmen,is if there's anything else
you'd like to share with ourlisteners, a call to action, a
piece of advice, or a questionto ponder today.
SPEAKER_01 (30:06):
Yeah.
I think the question is what'sthe impact of not doing it?
UNKNOWN (30:12):
Hmm.
SPEAKER_00 (30:13):
or the opportunity cost as we like to sometimes
refer to in the corporate world.
Yeah, absolutely.
And I guess just conscious frommy own knowledge, how do you
measure that?
SPEAKER_01 (30:25):
Yeah, it's a good question.
It's often like a personalfeeling.
Like obviously you can measureit by going I earn X number of
dollars an hour and like youcan, but like I've never
actually sat down and done that.
But I just go for me, What do Iwant from my business?
What do I want from my life?
(30:46):
Could I achieve that if I didn'thave virtual assistants?
And for me, the answer is a no.
So I have many business ownerscome to me.
Some people go, I want to get mywife out of the admin so she can
spend more time with the kidsand it's going to be easier on
the family and we're going tohave more fun.
I want to be able to actuallytake a holiday.
I'm working 20-hour days.
(31:09):
I'm burnt out.
So people come to me and I withthe story so I can give them the
facts and the figures and thecalculations but it's like
what's going on for you in yourworld and are you going to
achieve what you want can youhave the impact in the world
that you want to have with yourbusiness without doing this
SPEAKER_00 (31:26):
thank you so much for listening to this podcast
please share this with someoneor rate it if you enjoyed it
don't forget to follow us onsocial media and to stay up to
date with all things agile ideasgo to our website
www.agilemanagementoffice.comUntil next time, what's your
(31:50):
agile idea?
Popular Podcasts
CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist
It’s 1996 in rural North Carolina, and an oddball crew makes history when they pull off America’s third largest cash heist. But it’s all downhill from there. Join host Johnny Knoxville as he unspools a wild and woolly tale about a group of regular ‘ol folks who risked it all for a chance at a better life. CrimeLess: Hillbilly Heist answers the question: what would you do with 17.3 million dollars? The answer includes diamond rings, mansions, velvet Elvis paintings, plus a run for the border, murder-for-hire-plots, and FBI busts.
Crime Junkie
Does hearing about a true crime case always leave you scouring the internet for the truth behind the story? Dive into your next mystery with Crime Junkie. Every Monday, join your host Ashley Flowers as she unravels all the details of infamous and underreported true crime cases with her best friend Brit Prawat. From cold cases to missing persons and heroes in our community who seek justice, Crime Junkie is your destination for theories and stories you won’t hear anywhere else. Whether you're a seasoned true crime enthusiast or new to the genre, you'll find yourself on the edge of your seat awaiting a new episode every Monday. If you can never get enough true crime... Congratulations, you’ve found your people. Follow to join a community of Crime Junkies! Crime Junkie is presented by audiochuck Media Company.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.