Being an Entrepreneur Doesn't Mean You Have to be a Solopreneur with Renee Hastings (stage 2) - Ep. 339 - The Start, Scale & Succeed Podcast

Episode Transcript
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Scott Ritzheimer (00:00):
Scott, hello, hello and welcome. Welcome once
again to the start, scale andsucceed. Podcast, the only
podcast that grows with youthrough all seven stages of your
journey as a founder, I'm yourhost, Scott Ritzheimer, and
there's a specific trap thatcatches almost every startup
entrepreneur off guard. It'sthat moment you're there, or
you've been there, that momentthat you realize you're spending

(00:21):
more time answering emails,scheduling calls or managing
just administrative nonsensethan actually building your
organization or doing the thingsthat you feel like will move you
forward. And it's not that youtried to get there. You launched
with the hopes of freedom, theability to make a difference.
And instead of feeling liberatedto focus on growth, you feel

(00:42):
like you're drowning in the verytasks that are too small to
actually hire someone for, butare just consuming all of your
day. And so we tell ourselves,well, we just have to muscle
through. We'll deal with thatlater, but we end up working 12
hour days. And more and more andmore of those 12 hour days go to
stuff that doesn't actually moveyou forward, and you find out

(01:03):
you're building a job foryourself instead of actually
building an organization,whether it be a business or a
nonprofit. And so what do you doabout it? Well, here to help us
break the cycle is ReneeHastings, who is the president
and CEO of executive help now, apremier virtual assistance
agency with over 15 years ofexperience, Renee and her team
deliver expert administrativesupport, podcast production and

(01:26):
business consulting services tosmall business owners, content
creators and busy executives.Starting her journey in 1996
Renee holds a degree in businessmanagement and has been a Dale
Carnegie leadership trainingcoach. She's appeared on NBC,
KCRA news three, and now servesas an inspirational speaker,
podcast host, philanthropist andsmall group Bible study coach.

(01:50):
Her mission freeing up time forlife's more important moments.
She's here with us today. Renee,welcome to the show. So glad to
have you here.

Renee Hastings (01:58):
Thank you, Scott. I'm so excited to be
here.

Awesome, awesome. Well, let's start right
out of the gate here. You'vebeen working with entrepreneurs
since the late 90s. You've beendoing this for a minute or two,
and I'm sure that you've seenthis pattern 1000 times, but
you've got the startupentrepreneur that go full time,
and instead of the glory thatthey're expecting on the other
side, it's just the grind. Sowhat is it? Why is it that so

(02:28):
many entrepreneurs become lessproductive after going full
time?

I think the one of the biggest reasons why
entrepreneurs become lessproductive after going full time
in their business is becausethey try to do it all
themselves. They feel likethere's so much to be done. And
it's not that they just feellike it there really is there
really is all the work that'sgot to be done in marketing, in

(02:56):
legal things, getting thebusiness all set up on all of
the finances and bookkeeping andall of the you know, scheduling
the meetings with other busypeople who are trying to build
businesses or have already doneit and got full schedules, and
there's just so much that needsto be done, and so they think
they have to do it allthemselves. And that is not

(03:17):
true, and that is one of thebiggest things that will hinder
them and keep them small is bynot bringing on people to their
team who are subject matterexperts in their field, so that
they can be freed up to go andhave those strategic meetings,
and they don't have to worryabout what's happening back in
the office, because it's allhandled by the People who are

(03:40):
talented and gifted in thoseparticular areas.

Yeah, it's interesting, because we actually
tend to use the wordentrepreneur to kind of justify
this. It's kind of like when yousay I'm an entrepreneur, you're
kind of saying I'm doing thismyself. I'm taking on the world,
you know, on my own. And we can,we can inadvertently get trapped
here. But one of the things thatmakes this kind of mechanically

(04:05):
really, really difficult ismoney, and the idea that, like,
Hey, I'm barely making payroll,and it's just me. How in the
world am I going to make payrollwith somebody else, on, on, on
the dime. So what do you what doyou say to someone who's
struggling with just thefinancial aspect of getting the
help that they need.

Well, first of all, entrepreneur doesn't always
mean solopreneur. Okay, there'sa big difference. And just
because it's you and you'retrying to make ends meet for
yourself, just now you're stillin the beginning stages, it's
expected, it's understandable,but just like you're building a
budget for all of your projectmaterials or all of the

(04:48):
different resources that youneed to build, the widget that
you are in charge of buildingfor your business, you need to
add a line item foradministrative support for. For
marketing support, for whateverthat looks like, because when
you take yourself out of thatpicture of having to handle

(05:09):
those things, you have moretime. It's like you're buying
time for yourself to go and dothe things that really do move
the needle. So you don't have tohire somebody full time, a full
time salary, yes, that can beinundating, that can be
daunting. That could be, youknow, several 100, you know,
several $1,000 a month or ayear, or whatever that looks

(05:31):
like. But when you hire acompany that will offer you an
opportunity to hire somebody for10 hours a month, that it can be
doable that is much easier entryinto that support field. So
look, a company like oursdefinitely starts at hours, at

(05:52):
10 hours a month, 20 hours amonth, 40 hours a month, that's,
you know, 40 hours a month is 10hours a week. So if you don't,
even if you don't have a wholelot to give, but you just know
that what you have right now istoo much for you. Call us. Call
a company like ours, we'vealready done the screening.
We've already done the vetting.Our team is already qualified,

(06:14):
pre qualified and tested to knowthat what they have to offer you
they can hit the ground runningto make an immediate impact.

Yeah, there's a couple of great points in
there. One is, I think we arethe most likely in any stage, at
this stage, of mistaking ourmost precious commodity as money
and not time. And so this ideaof buying back your time, I
think, is excellent and is worthrestating. You're so on point

(06:44):
with that the other one. And youkind of allude to this a little
bit, but I'm wondering if wecould unpack it a little more,
and that is that it's not helpthat you need. It's good help.
You need someone who canactually do those things. And
one of the things that I've seenkeeps folks trapped here is that
they, they actually do go gethelp, but they get the wrong
person. They they get someonewho it's like they're having to

(07:06):
hold their hand every step ofthe way, or they're just not
competent enough to do the job,you know. Or they're they're
doing a job that that person isnot really familiar with, the
entrepreneurs not reallyfamiliar with, and so they don't
know, are they doing a good job?Are they not doing a good job?
So tell me a little bit, and towhatever extent you're willing
to disclose some of the secretsauce here. But what makes a

(07:27):
great admin? What is it aboutyour team that you guys look for
and qualify for?

So when someone wants to become a member of our
team, and Scott, trust me, wehave people who want, who apply,
who never make it, and it's justbecause they don't have a high
enough skill level, and we findthis out by testing. We also one
of the things that's superimportant to me is that our team
members share the same valuesthat we have as a company, so

(07:55):
that they know how I operate,how we treat clients, what our
culture is our attitude ofservice, and if they don't fit
all of those buckets, they don'tcheck all those boxes, they
never get to be a part of ourteam. Once they get through the
pre vetting period and the prescreening process and that sort

(08:17):
of thing, then we're able to digdeeper into them and their
actual skills, and who theywould be the best fit for So,
and that's my job is to find outwho I'm not on my team. If I
have a client and they sharewith me, I need this, this, this
and this and or I might needemail management, calendar
management and some projectmanagement. Or I might need a

(08:38):
strategic partner to help me.You know, do this application,
whatever that looks like, I pickfrom my team based on that
information, who is the best fitfor this person. So when you
have someone who's a real personfitting you with someone who
actually makes sense for you,then it's an easier transition.

(09:00):
So and once you get your person,or you get introduced, it's so
important to discover who theyare. At their core, you as the
client to the virtual assistant,so that you just start to
develop a relationship withthem. Because this is not
something that's a one and donekind of thing. Typically, when

(09:20):
clients hire us, they want apartner for the long term. They
want someone who can see theirvision and want to join with
them in lockstep on thisjourney, and that's what we do.
So it's so important to makesure that that relationship is
set up on a foundation ofsuccess, and that's one of the
ways that we do that going intothe relationship, and then as

(09:43):
you continue to shareinformation about what you know,
because you may not knoweverything, and you may be
bringing them on because oftheir experience that they bring
with them, that is kind of fillsthat gap, then the two of you
together are working in harmony.Because they are now filling
that space that is needed, kindof like a piece of a puzzle to

(10:05):
help you get to that next level.

Yeah, that puzzle piece is great analogy,
but the first time you're goingthrough it, it's hard to know,
like, what are the edges of thepuzzle? So what have you found
in doing this for so many yearsnow? What have you found are
kind of the best jumping offpoints? What are the things that
most entrepreneurs get rid offirst, or should get rid of

(10:28):
first?

One of the things that I found made a huge
difference in the life of anexecutive is email management
and calendar management, becausethey are so busy working in on
the business, trying to bring innew business, they may miss
opportunities because theyhaven't had a chance to check
their 100 emails that come inevery single day. And so you'll

(10:50):
need someone to make sure you'renot missing opportunities be
able to respond on your behalf.And that's the other thing, is
that communication on yourbehalf, so that person that you
get matched with should be ableto communicate with on your
behalf, as you mentioned, notjust be a doer of a thing, but
actually know what needs to bedone and how to handle this

(11:12):
situation. You know, based onthat, that time spent with you
and being trained and what it isthat you need to do, so, I think
my experience has shown me thatwhen you take off those things,
calendar management, email,management, off your plate,
expense reporting, travelarrangements, all those things,
even if they may only take a fewminutes for you to do, those are

(11:35):
minutes you need to be spendingdoing things that move the
needle for your business. Soit's if you think about it like
this, say you're a $300 an hourentrepreneur, and you hire an
assistant, that's $100 an hour.I'm totally making this up. But

(11:56):
would it make more sense for youto be spending your $300 an hour
time doing something thatsomeone who gets paid much less
can do more effectively, andprobably quicker and faster, and
loves doing it.

Yeah, yeah, the dollar value of time is,
again, it's just a great way ofthinking about it like, is that
a $15 an hour task? Then, youknow, it's just not anything you
should be spending any time on.But here's here's where I see
folks get hung up even oncethey're kind of like, yes,
that's a $15 an hour task. Isbeing good at something doesn't
necessarily make you good atmaking someone else good at that

(12:34):
something. And so especiallywith something like their email
inbox, where there's so manydifferent things that are
passing through that onegateway, it can feel
overwhelming to even begin tothink about how to train someone
else to take that on. How do youhelp your clients to tackle that
feeling of there's just so much?Where do we even begin?

So one of the things that our clients have
done that's been really superhelpful to them is taking that
time, initially, to go throughthe inbox with their assistant,
to share with them who are theimportant people, who are the
people I want to hear from. Whatare these different emails? Is
this junk, or is this spam? Youknow, explaining these kinds of

(13:15):
things? Because typically,you'll start to see a pattern if
you sort the box by Sydnor, andso it's easy to identify who
those key people are. And soonce we have that knowledge and
that understanding, it gives usa framework from which to move
to know and understand how tomanage your inbox. So it's

(13:37):
important to take that initialtime at the very beginning, to
let your person know who'simportant to you, who are your
VIPs? Who are you trying toreach out to? What are some key
words that that match theirindustry or their title or their
this, that or the other? Doesthat make sense?

It does. Yeah, it does. It sounds so easy and
and it really when you break itdown and address it one step at
a time. It really is and and toyour point, earlier in the show,
you're buying back time. It'snot just doing it that one time.
It may take a little longer toexplain how you answer an email
than to just answer it, butthink of the hundreds of emails
that you don't have to answerafterwards because you took the

(14:16):
time to explain it once. Yeah.Fantastic. Renee, there's this
question that I ask them. Iguess I'm very interested to see
what you have to say. But thequestion is this, what is the
biggest secret that you wishwasn't a secret at all? What's
that one thing you wish everyfounder watching or listening
today knew?

I wish everyone knew that they were worthy of
being served well. And somepeople feel like, well, I have
to do it all myself. Because ifit's if it's going to be done
right, I have to do it myself.If it's if I can't allow someone
else to serve me for whateverreason, if someone else does

(14:56):
this for me, then I feel somekind of way. Mm. I want them to
not feel some kind of wayanymore, but recognize that they
are worthy of being supportedand of receiving help and of
getting the support that theyneed, where the meeting where
they are, and that they willgrow, and they will get

(15:17):
accustomed and used to thisfeeling of being served, and
then they'll start to like it.

That's so good. That's so good because it
is true. There's the there'sthis thing about entrepreneurs
that there is a service mindsetbehind like they do serve. The
root of the word entrepreneur isto go between right and to
serve. But allowing others toserve you in the service of
others. Is, is, is so powerful,and it does. It feels pretty

(15:45):
great when you get used to it.You're right. So Renee, there's
some folks listening and like,they're there. They're in it.
They're work. They just finishedworking all weekend, and there's
got to be a better way. What?What would you say to them? How
can they connect with you? Howcan I learn more about the work
that you

all do? Yeah, so feel free to reach out to us on
any of our socials. We're atexecutive help now. We have a
website at executivehelp now.orgWe also have this book called,
well, what can a virtualassistant do for you? Some
assist, some entrepreneurs andfounders, they're like, I don't

(16:22):
even know what to assign tosomebody. So if they text the
letters VA, now to1-866-943-3591, they will get a
freebie that helps them workthrough that thought process and
what it would what they haveoptions they have available to
them.

Fantastic. Fantastic. We'll drop all that
information right in the shownotes, so they can get it when
you're done driving. Don't do itwhile you drive, but yeah, we'll
get all that in there, and soyou can just click and go
straight to it. That'll befantastic. Well, Renee, thank
you so much for being on theshow. It's a privilege and honor
having you here with us today.And for those of you watching

(17:02):
and listening, you know yourtime and attention mean the
world to us, I hope you got asmuch out of this conversation as
I know I did, and I cannot waitto see you next time. Take care.

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Being an Entrepreneur Doesn't Mean You Have to be a Solopreneur with Renee Hastings (stage 2) - Ep. 339

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}Being an Entrepreneur Doesn't Mean You Have to be a Solopreneur with Renee Hastings (stage 2) - Ep. 339