Are you an entrepreneur stuck working 70 hours a week, saying yes to everything, and constantly wondering where to find the time and effort? In our 10th episode, we interview Bridget Gaffney of AnswerFlow Solutions, your expert guide to navigating the complexities of business ownership without burning out or going back to Indeed. Bridget unpacks common pitfalls like the "shiny object syndrome" and the struggle with client retention, emphasizing the power of digital tools like email marketing for nurturing relationships at scale. Tune in to understand the importance of implementing robust systems and discover the flexible services AnswerFlow offers, including their "Flow and Grow Collective" and business audits, designed to help you scale and grow sustainably.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
SPEAKER_02 (00:01):
What
SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
are you talking about?
Everything, Garrett.
Nolan.
Nolan, Nolan, Nolan.
Good morning, everyone.
Hello, hello.
We are at...
Drumroll, please.
UNKNOWN (00:28):
Drumroll, please.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
Our 10th episode of the Think Biz podcast.
Bouncing baby 10.
Can you believe we have actuallyhit double digits?
I can't because this is fun.
So of course we're going to doit after a thing that we already
have to be at every week.
That's fair enough.
I mean, fun for one of us atleast.
I don't know.
(00:49):
You're just busy.
I have to be in the same room asyou every single episode.
I'm filthy.
I'm absolutely disgusting as aperson.
But we have saved an incredibleguest for our tenth episode of
the podcast.
The one.
The only.
Bridget.
How are we today?
UNKNOWN (01:09):
Woo woo.
SPEAKER_01 (01:10):
I'm doing well.
We're doing well.
Starting the week off great.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Amazing.
And I agree with that becauseBridget had an incredible
presentation that she gave herein person today.
And it was just a wholemasterclass on ways that you can
improve.
I don't even know the rightword.
Expedite.
(01:37):
De-stressify.
She read us the Riot Act is whatshe did.
Yeah.
My toes hurt.
They've been stepped on.
No, but it's just brilliantstuff.
And so, Bridget, tell us alittle bit about yourself and
your business and what all youdo.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Yes.
So hello, everyone.
So I am Bridget and I own AnswerFlow Solutions.
We are currently in Edmond.
I'm married, have a couple ofkids.
Nice.
And what we do at Answer FlowSolutions, we are a business and
(02:14):
resource agency, I like to say.
And Kind of a lot of things, allthings business, right?
So when we go into business, noone tells us all the stress,
late nights, early mornings,struggles, broke days, wealthy
(02:35):
days, and how we can make itbetter to where we're not
stopping and going back toIndeed every month or so because
money is not coming in or we'renot getting any clients.
Just all the things that comealong with business.
So we kind of revert back tonine to five corporate world to
(02:56):
kind of help us, you know,because we're not making any
money or it's just stressful.
And it's like, I'm just going towork for somebody else.
Yeah.
So we kind of help help withthat.
SPEAKER_00 (03:06):
Oh, and that's process.
That's amazing, because so muchof the time.
Entrepreneurs, we know some ofthe risks that we're taking on,
but we don't know exactly whatthat will look like.
And then we stumble across a fewdifferent surprises along the
(03:28):
way.
And then what do you do?
Because usually what that lookslike is...
I know that I'm working 70 hoursa week.
Oh, I know that I'm just sayingyes to everything and not no to
enough things.
Or I have these five tasks I'vewanted to do, but goodness,
(03:48):
where do I find the time andeffort?
And then all of a sudden you'restuck.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
Yes.
And it's hard because, you know,a lot of times you do get stuck,
but...
to get that help sometimes it'slike you only get the bare
minimum of information or it'slike oh yeah I can help you but
you know it's going to be threegrand for you to ask me these
two questions and so it's justlike as you're starting out I
(04:20):
mean I haven't made no money yethow am I going to do that so
that's one of the huge strugglesfor sure with that
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
yeah That resonates with me because, I mean, in my
world, on the marketing agencyside, it's like...
It hurts me sometimes because mybusiness in particular, I want
to be able to help smallbusinesses, but I can't always.
Sometimes businesses are at astage where there's just not a
(04:52):
way to be able to do everything.
And the fact that we havesolutions out there from
somebody who has that threegrand plus level of experience
for just a short amount of yourtime.
You're just masterful at whatyou do.
But you offer it in a way whereit's accessible and you can help
(05:17):
people.
So I think that's superadmirable.
Yeah.
And that accessibility too,because we've talked a little
bit and you have lots and lotsof tools under your belt.
But how did AnswerFlow Solutionskind of get started?
Was it solving Bridget'sproblems or did somebody else
come across your plate that youhad all these tools already
prepped for?
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
A little of both, actually.
So in my time of working my nineto five, one of the things that
I definitely loved about it anda lot of my roles, I was able to
promote quickly because I dolike structure and I think
everything should have a processwhen you're at work.
(05:59):
And so I'm looking at companiesthat have high turnover rates.
And it's usually because there'sno process for anything.
So everybody is doing things10,000 different ways and then
upper management is getting madbecause it's not done this way
or something got dropped orthere's a lot of issues and
things like that.
And it's like, well, I mean...
(06:19):
how are we supposed to do it?
There's nowhere that says, youknow, this is how it needs to be
done.
Everybody just kind of do theirown way.
So I definitely liked that partof everything.
And then when I did start myfirst business, my boutique, it
was like, yeah, I'm going tostart this business.
It's going to be great.
I'm going to have time to do allkinds of things, go to the gym
(06:41):
and spend time with my kid.
And then it was like, oh, I needan account inventory.
I need to order stuff.
I need to message this personback.
I packages, I need to go post, Ineed to, I was like, ooh, this
is a lot.
Trying to fit everything in andthen enjoy life as well.
So that was definitely astruggle and did cause me to go
(07:04):
back and forth to Indeed and goback to work because I'm like,
okay, I need to go make a littlebit more money along with this
to be able to order moreinventory and do the things.
And then the other part that Ireally liked was dealership, the
BDC department, building thosecustomer relationships and
turning those nos into yeses andbeing the dealership that people
(07:26):
choose to go to because mostpeople hate going to dealerships
because they hate the whole carbuying process, talking to
salespeople, all of the things.
So being very successful intowhere people's like, I want to
work with Bridget.
And it's like, Bridget's not asalesperson.
And it's like...
But I really want to work withher.
So I would go down theresometimes, talk to them,
whatever.
You're in good hands.
(07:47):
I'll get you with somebodythat's really great.
So I don't know, justincorporating those two things.
I was like, I like to do that.
So I incorporated AnswerFlowSolutions.
And that's kind of how it wasstarted to be able to, for one,
give business owners theopportunity to be able to focus
on their business while I'lltake care of some of the
(08:07):
operations and different thingslike that.
And then I also wanted to workwith dealerships as well.
to be able to make their BDCdepartments better.
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
So tell us a little bit about that piece, BDC.
Did I say the acronym correctly?
Yes.
Okay.
So tell us about that becausethat's a unique specialization
too.
You work with any businesses,but you have this kind of
specialization that you'rementioning with dealerships.
(08:38):
Yes.
What more can you tell us aboutthat?
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yeah, so it's their business development center.
So in that aspect, sodealerships, of course, are
getting leads all the time fordifferent cars that they may
have.
So usually they'll go to thewebsite, say they want more
information about thisparticular car.
The lead comes into thedealership.
Our department is the onethat...
(09:01):
gets the initial first reactionfor the lead, kind of call the
potential buyer, ask thosequestions of kind of what
they're looking for, kind ofpretty much start nurturing that
relationship between us and thepotential buyer, answering any
questions they have and gettingthem ready for the salespeople.
So it kind of eliminatestheir...
(09:24):
cuts down their time that theyhave to be at the dealership,
different things like that.
So we try to get pretty mucheverything together.
So when they speak with thesalesperson, all they're doing
is doing the test drive and thenkind of doing paperwork and
they're done.
So kind of speed up that processand nurture that potential buyer
before, during, and after thesale.
SPEAKER_00 (09:45):
Okay.
And you also mentioned yourboutique as your kind of
comeuppance.
Yes.
I've known a lot of people thathave gotten into business and
they're like, I'm going to sellthis product or this thing.
What's the one thing that alwaystends to go sideways with those
physical product businesses thatyour tools in particular are
just masterful at solving?
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
Um, a lot of times follow-ups, sometimes people
like, well, um, like say, causeI do have, um, like pheromone
based products, um, like lotionsand stuff.
And so they're like, I lovethat.
Um, but, uh, when they get donewith it, a lot of times people
don't put their information onthe bottles or they're like,
dang, I'm out of it.
(10:27):
I need to figure out or rememberwhere I bought it.
So I think, um, a lot of times,uh, well, I know a lot of times
when you are setting up thoseautomations, like, Hey, you
bought this, you know, makingsure that you're still nurturing
that person, um, throughout thatprocess.
So when they do finish it off,they know who to go to.
They can remember it's rightthere.
(10:47):
It's very easy for them to beable to reorder again.
They don't have to go and lookfor it because it's not
something that you can go toWalmart or Target or something
like that and go and get.
So being able to use like anemail marketing tool, something
like that, to be able tocontinue to nurture that
customer will be is going to bethe beneficial thing.
(11:10):
Perfect.
SPEAKER_00 (11:11):
Yeah.
That's, I mean, that's, uh,makes so much sense that we get
so focused on, on the initialthing and whatever business that
we're in, you know, we can getthis tunnel vision sometimes.
And so often, you know, people,including myself, we can, we can
have that shiny object syndrome.
(11:31):
And then we forget thatcustomers aren't just somebody
who goes to our website andpurchases a thing or, or makes a
want.
It's customers are someone webuild a relationship with and a
relationship then leads toongoing sales.
And that's, that's what reallymatters, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (11:53):
I think that's, yeah, you're right.
Like, um, a lot of times, youknow, you, everybody's looking
for a new client, a new client,a new customer, a new customer,
a new client is like, but whatabout, you know, these other 50
that you sold to or helped orspoke with or they supported
your business, but you forgetabout them trying to find the
new one.
So that is super important tomake sure remembering those
(12:15):
people who did buy from you andcontinuing that relationship to
where they're coming back.
SPEAKER_00 (12:22):
And can you speak a little bit more to especially
how a lot of these digital toolsI hear from a lot of people, oh,
I don't want things online, Ihate social media, all of the
other kind of anti-technologystuff for one reason or another.
But can you kind of speak alittle bit more to the
understanding of how those toolsactually maintain those
relationships when we don'tnecessarily have the time for
it?
SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
Yeah, so with technology now, especially with
social media, social media is sopowerful in so many ways.
It just helps you because a lotof times you can like schedule
out different things to a weekfrom now, two weeks from now.
And so it just it helps you tokeep track of because, you know,
(13:04):
of course, in the beginning,it's a lot easier.
You only got, you know, a fewclients or customers.
But then what happens when youhave 100 200, 300, a thousand,
you can't keep up with all ofthose people on a consistent
basis.
So that's where these tools anddifferent things come in place
to where you're able to schedulethis stuff out.
(13:25):
You're able to group it to wherelike, okay, I need to put that
physical touch in at this point.
I need to make sure I actuallysend out something for me at
this point to this group ofpeople.
So just, Being able to set thatstuff up and group it together
of when you want to make thosecontacts, when is it important
to actually put that personaltouch where you're actually
(13:47):
okay.
50 people on this day is easierto reach out to than trying to
keep up with 500 on that day.
So being able to group thattogether and schedule it out and
really come up with a strategy.
I think a lot of times businessowners, they miss the strategy.
They're just kind of going on awhim of when they're going to do
(14:08):
certain things.
So building out that strategybeforehand is going to be super
beneficial.
And then using those tools aswell to keep everything Right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
And you mentioned strategy.
There's a lot of times where weread all of these books about
different strategies andwhatnot.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:35):
doing the things.
I think a lot of times peoplelike read all these books, pay
for all these courses, take allthese notes.
They got notepads and calendarsand all these things of all
these notes and things, but theydon't really use them.
So they hear it once.
They may try to use it once ortwice, but if it's not something
(14:58):
instant, then it's like, okay, Ineed to go buy another course or
I need to go and do another toolor I need another whatever.
But it's you got to do the thingthat's going to be the best way
to come up with the beststrategy for you and your
business is to do the thing soyou can know what works, what
doesn't work.
You have actual data there to goalong and then you can build
(15:20):
your strategy or, you know,there's a lot of people that are
expertise in different things.
You can definitely, you know,kind of get their strategy and
tweak it and different things.
But again, it goes back to youhave to do the thing.
So I think that's a huge thing.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
we've got to use our tools.
Absolutely.
I think everyone in this room isbad about using their own tools
in one way or another.
Maybe.
No, but I mean, it's, I thinkthat's a great example because
we say somebody bought a brandnew Mercedes.
Oh my goodness.
It's just beautiful.
(15:57):
And it's just, it's sitting inthe driveway and you're looking
at it and it's sitting there andthen it's in the driveway, but
you never drive it.
Then you have this beautiful carand it's not doing nothing.
And we, we, you know, would veryobviously be be like why would
you do that that's dumb but thenwe do it all the time
SPEAKER_01 (16:17):
yes
SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
you know and so
SPEAKER_01 (16:19):
yes
SPEAKER_00 (16:19):
it's fascinating though how much technology and
what like you're saying can helpus save time and build out more
robust parts of our businessesat scale.
And we can't replace the humanpiece, but we can supplement it
heavily.
Yes,
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
yes.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
So I've had people be shocked before hearing how
much I pay on a monthly basisfor some of the softwares that I
use.
But I say, well, how much wouldI pay an employee to do this
full-time or part-time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:55):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:55):
Probably a lot more than what I'm paying for this
software.
Right.
You know, that can do the samething.
SPEAKER_01 (17:00):
Or if you try to do it yourself, it's not getting
done.
Right, right.
So therefore, you're losing alot of money because, you know,
the stuff is not getting donebecause you're like, yeah, I'll
do it.
That way I can save, you know,this$200 and then, yeah, it's
not happening.
SPEAKER_00 (17:17):
So what's some of the go-to things softwares that
you know of that everybodyshould be using or looking into
for their business?
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
I think one of my...
My favorite platforms isConstant Contact.
So it's a email marketingsoftware.
So you can do your emails.
The thing that I definitely loveabout it is as you're curating
your email, it also gives youlike two social media posts and
(17:52):
also a text message prompt aswell to send out to your people
from that email.
So everything is a lot morecohesive.
So you can do that.
You can do landing pages.
You can set up some automations.
It integrates with a lot ofdifferent platforms as well.
If you host events, you can doyour event setup.
(18:17):
As far as tickets, likeeverything can be set up through
it.
So it's got like a lot of...
And it has...
a lot of trainings as well.
So if you are doing emailmarketing, which you should be,
it has a lot of differenttrainings of how to use the
platform, how to get to thattarget audience, just a lot of
(18:39):
tools and resources within it aswell.
So it's one of my favorites.
You can do your social mediaposts in it as well and schedule
those out.
So as they are creating thosethings, you can post from that
platform as well.
So you don't have to keepcopying and pasting to your
actual social media.
You can already just schedule itout onto those platforms that is
(19:07):
needed.
So it's just a lot of things inthere.
It's super powerful.
So if you don't have maybe themoney for a CRM, this is another
option that you can use to housea lot of your people and be able
to keep track of them.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (19:24):
Nice.
Now, we've kind of gone over alittle bit of shiny object
syndrome, just doing the thing.
What would you tell Bridgetbefore she started any of her
businesses or started worryingabout whether or not she needs
to go back on Indeed that mighthave prevented some of those
problems?
Let's talk to new entrepreneurBridget for a second.
(19:45):
What would you tell her?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Yeah, I mean, it goes back to the shine.
Get the get the systems and dothe thing.
So as you're taking notes, asyou're absorbing information,
put that into somewhere allwhere it's there, all in one
place.
So you don't have, you know, 10different notebooks, five
different planners, because Ithink a lot of us are not.
(20:09):
guilty of buying all theplanners thinking it's going to
get better because you have, youknow, a planner that now has,
you know, an extra notes sectionor, you know, just different
things.
So just making sure housing thatstuff all in one place, making
sure you have your CRM and youare actively using it and get
(20:32):
into a habit of using it becausea lot of people, they do have
the CRM.
But they don't use it.
They still have, you know,business cards over here and
things over here.
And so just, you know, thatwhole aspect of that.
Getting the systems, spendingthe money on them and using
(20:54):
them, get in the habit of usingthem for everything, because it
is hard whenever you are in themiddle of things and then you're
trying to be organized when thesystems is like, oh, shoot.
OK, so, yeah, if I if I wouldhave done that in the very
(21:14):
beginning.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
It would be a lot
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
better.
of money there.
So we do have a flow and growcollective.
(21:53):
So it is a group that is$37 amonth.
You're able to go in there.
We do different things for likebulk creating posts for your
social media.
So that way, you know, thatmakes that a lot easier.
Funding opportunities, businesscredit, personal credit, because
a lot of times with businessesas well, funding is a huge thing
(22:15):
that That is a roadblock for alot of us.
And then, you know, you don'thave the credit or anything to
be able to get that together.
So we have different people thatcome in to kind of go over that,
answer questions, how to getstarted.
We also have like if you're inbusiness and you're like, I
think I kind of maybe need somehelp or kind of figure things
(22:37):
out.
I'm not really sure.
We can do kind of like abusiness audit.
So it's the answer flowjumpstart.
So we kind of do like a 90 dayplan for you to start with.
You're able to kind of audityour business, your socials,
your website, kind of you answerseveral questions.
And then we put together a 90day plan for you.
(22:58):
So you can kind of start workingthrough that, kind of see how
that is working for you.
if you get through that andyou're like this sucks I don't
want to do this either then ofcourse we can put together kind
of like a full package of whatyou're actually needing for your
business to survive to where youcan actually scale and grow it
And then we also have a coursewhere it's like a leadership and
(23:22):
time management course.
So if you do have a team orplanning to have a team or if
you're just like all over theplace and you really need like
that guy to like really focuson, figure out what it is, all
the things we have a course thatyou can take.
do as well.
So there's several differentoptions, different price points
(23:44):
to be able to work with us sothat way we can make sure that
you are successful and you'renot having to go back to Indeed.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
That's awesome.
And also it speaks to a...
An area for businesses whenyou're growing versus when
you're established.
Established businesses havedifferent needs than the growing
businesses.
And sometimes we don't alwaysknow what we need.
And so the fact that you have somany different offerings to be
able to connect people togetherwith those resources that they
(24:12):
need, I think that's super cool.
Well, one thing I want to makesure...
As we're going through, we'vecovered so many things today.
And one of the common themesthat has taken us through is
that business is kind of hardsometimes.
So we have everything from, youknow, technology and having to
(24:35):
learn and use the technologythat we implement to business.
getting with this shiny objectsyndrome where we can't keep the
right information in the rightplaces and we can get sloppy
because we're just going afterwhatever pops up in front of us.
And so you've given us a lot ofgood examples like Constant
(24:57):
Contact and some of the servicesthat you just mentioned a moment
ago of ways that we can tacklethose as business owners more
efficiently.
I am interested, though, with...
You're in particular business.
What's the next steps and thefuture of answer flow solutions?
(25:19):
What's on the upcoming?
SPEAKER_01 (25:22):
Yes, so we are coming into kind of director of
operations roles in sales.
So heavily on going intobusinesses, being able to be
that strategic partner with thebusiness owner, looking at
processes, looking at revenue,looking at training, looking at
(25:46):
leadership, just differentthings like that to see kind of
where where the help is needed,um, where the cleaning up is
needed, where the execution isneeded.
Um, and then, like I said, we'regoing back into dealership
world.
Um, so we're definitely heavily,uh, that is, um, one of our deal
clients.
(26:07):
Um, but definitely we are hereto assist with all clients, um,
and different industries.
Cause, um, I just feel like it'sdefinitely needed, um, But,
yeah, that's kind of like wherewe're going.
We want to help people to makemoney not only doing the thing
that they do, but when you'reasleep, are you making money?
(26:28):
Or when you're on vacation, areyou making money?
And just coming up with thoseplans as well, those revenues,
so we make sure we're generatingincome on a daily, whether we're
doing the thing or not.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
I love
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
it.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
Now, I have one more big question on my end.
If you had to do an assessmentof Nolan.
SPEAKER_01 (26:55):
No, I'm just kidding.
All right, guys, it's beengreat.
SPEAKER_00 (27:01):
No, I think, you know, kind of.
One of the last things is justwhere can people find you?
You know, if they want to beable to use your incredible
suite of services and solutions,where do they reach out to you
SPEAKER_01 (27:18):
at?
Absolutely.
You can go toanswerflowsolutions.com.
You can email us at contact atanswerflowsolutions.com or you
can call us 405-883-8042.
We're going to host socialmedias, LinkedIn, Facebook,
Instagram, all of those.
(27:39):
But just call us.
SPEAKER_00 (27:41):
Nice.
It's been so much fun.
We, you know, we've made itthrough 10 episodes and so glad
that you were.
Yeah.
Number one.
Oh, one.
Oh, but as, as always, we'regoing to have you help us with
the sign off.
And so stay sharp.
(28:02):
Think
SPEAKER_01 (28:02):
this.
What
SPEAKER_00 (00:12):
are you talking about?
Everything, Garrett.
Nolan.
Nolan, Nolan, Nolan.
Good morning, everyone.
Hello, hello.
We are at...
Drumroll, please.
UNKNOWN (00:28):
Drumroll, please.
SPEAKER_00 (00:29):
Our 10th episode of the Think Biz podcast.
Bouncing baby 10.
Can you believe we have actuallyhit double digits?
I can't because this is fun.
So of course we're going to doit after a thing that we already
have to be at every week.
That's fair enough.
I mean, fun for one of us atleast.
I don't know.
(00:49):
You're just busy.
I have to be in the same room asyou every single episode.
I'm filthy.
I'm absolutely disgusting as aperson.
But we have saved an incredibleguest for our tenth episode of
the podcast.
The one.
The only.
Bridget.
How are we today?
UNKNOWN (01:09):
Woo woo.
SPEAKER_01 (01:10):
I'm doing well.
We're doing well.
Starting the week off great.
SPEAKER_00 (01:16):
Amazing.
And I agree with that becauseBridget had an incredible
presentation that she gave herein person today.
And it was just a wholemasterclass on ways that you can
improve.
I don't even know the rightword.
Expedite.
(01:37):
De-stressify.
She read us the Riot Act is whatshe did.
Yeah.
My toes hurt.
They've been stepped on.
No, but it's just brilliantstuff.
And so, Bridget, tell us alittle bit about yourself and
your business and what all youdo.
SPEAKER_01 (01:53):
Yes.
So hello, everyone.
So I am Bridget and I own AnswerFlow Solutions.
We are currently in Edmond.
I'm married, have a couple ofkids.
Nice.
And what we do at Answer FlowSolutions, we are a business and
(02:14):
resource agency, I like to say.
And Kind of a lot of things, allthings business, right?
So when we go into business, noone tells us all the stress,
late nights, early mornings,struggles, broke days, wealthy
(02:35):
days, and how we can make itbetter to where we're not
stopping and going back toIndeed every month or so because
money is not coming in or we'renot getting any clients.
Just all the things that comealong with business.
So we kind of revert back tonine to five corporate world to
(02:56):
kind of help us, you know,because we're not making any
money or it's just stressful.
And it's like, I'm just going towork for somebody else.
Yeah.
So we kind of help help withthat.
SPEAKER_00 (03:06):
Oh, and that's process.
That's amazing, because so muchof the time.
Entrepreneurs, we know some ofthe risks that we're taking on,
but we don't know exactly whatthat will look like.
And then we stumble across a fewdifferent surprises along the
(03:28):
way.
And then what do you do?
Because usually what that lookslike is...
I know that I'm working 70 hoursa week.
Oh, I know that I'm just sayingyes to everything and not no to
enough things.
Or I have these five tasks I'vewanted to do, but goodness,
(03:48):
where do I find the time andeffort?
And then all of a sudden you'restuck.
SPEAKER_01 (03:56):
Yes.
And it's hard because, you know,a lot of times you do get stuck,
but...
to get that help sometimes it'slike you only get the bare
minimum of information or it'slike oh yeah I can help you but
you know it's going to be threegrand for you to ask me these
two questions and so it's justlike as you're starting out I
(04:20):
mean I haven't made no money yethow am I going to do that so
that's one of the huge strugglesfor sure with that
SPEAKER_00 (04:29):
yeah That resonates with me because, I mean, in my
world, on the marketing agencyside, it's like...
It hurts me sometimes because mybusiness in particular, I want
to be able to help smallbusinesses, but I can't always.
Sometimes businesses are at astage where there's just not a
(04:52):
way to be able to do everything.
And the fact that we havesolutions out there from
somebody who has that threegrand plus level of experience
for just a short amount of yourtime.
You're just masterful at whatyou do.
But you offer it in a way whereit's accessible and you can help
(05:17):
people.
So I think that's superadmirable.
Yeah.
And that accessibility too,because we've talked a little
bit and you have lots and lotsof tools under your belt.
But how did AnswerFlow Solutionskind of get started?
Was it solving Bridget'sproblems or did somebody else
come across your plate that youhad all these tools already
prepped for?
SPEAKER_01 (05:35):
A little of both, actually.
So in my time of working my nineto five, one of the things that
I definitely loved about it anda lot of my roles, I was able to
promote quickly because I dolike structure and I think
everything should have a processwhen you're at work.
(05:59):
And so I'm looking at companiesthat have high turnover rates.
And it's usually because there'sno process for anything.
So everybody is doing things10,000 different ways and then
upper management is getting madbecause it's not done this way
or something got dropped orthere's a lot of issues and
things like that.
And it's like, well, I mean...
(06:19):
how are we supposed to do it?
There's nowhere that says, youknow, this is how it needs to be
done.
Everybody just kind of do theirown way.
So I definitely liked that partof everything.
And then when I did start myfirst business, my boutique, it
was like, yeah, I'm going tostart this business.
It's going to be great.
I'm going to have time to do allkinds of things, go to the gym
(06:41):
and spend time with my kid.
And then it was like, oh, I needan account inventory.
I need to order stuff.
I need to message this personback.
I packages, I need to go post, Ineed to, I was like, ooh, this
is a lot.
Trying to fit everything in andthen enjoy life as well.
So that was definitely astruggle and did cause me to go
(07:04):
back and forth to Indeed and goback to work because I'm like,
okay, I need to go make a littlebit more money along with this
to be able to order moreinventory and do the things.
And then the other part that Ireally liked was dealership, the
BDC department, building thosecustomer relationships and
turning those nos into yeses andbeing the dealership that people
(07:26):
choose to go to because mostpeople hate going to dealerships
because they hate the whole carbuying process, talking to
salespeople, all of the things.
So being very successful intowhere people's like, I want to
work with Bridget.
And it's like, Bridget's not asalesperson.
And it's like...
But I really want to work withher.
So I would go down theresometimes, talk to them,
whatever.
You're in good hands.
(07:47):
I'll get you with somebodythat's really great.
So I don't know, justincorporating those two things.
I was like, I like to do that.
So I incorporated AnswerFlowSolutions.
And that's kind of how it wasstarted to be able to, for one,
give business owners theopportunity to be able to focus
on their business while I'lltake care of some of the
(08:07):
operations and different thingslike that.
And then I also wanted to workwith dealerships as well.
to be able to make their BDCdepartments better.
SPEAKER_00 (08:17):
So tell us a little bit about that piece, BDC.
Did I say the acronym correctly?
Yes.
Okay.
So tell us about that becausethat's a unique specialization
too.
You work with any businesses,but you have this kind of
specialization that you'rementioning with dealerships.
(08:38):
Yes.
What more can you tell us aboutthat?
SPEAKER_01 (08:40):
Yeah, so it's their business development center.
So in that aspect, sodealerships, of course, are
getting leads all the time fordifferent cars that they may
have.
So usually they'll go to thewebsite, say they want more
information about thisparticular car.
The lead comes into thedealership.
Our department is the onethat...
(09:01):
gets the initial first reactionfor the lead, kind of call the
potential buyer, ask thosequestions of kind of what
they're looking for, kind ofpretty much start nurturing that
relationship between us and thepotential buyer, answering any
questions they have and gettingthem ready for the salespeople.
So it kind of eliminatestheir...
(09:24):
cuts down their time that theyhave to be at the dealership,
different things like that.
So we try to get pretty mucheverything together.
So when they speak with thesalesperson, all they're doing
is doing the test drive and thenkind of doing paperwork and
they're done.
So kind of speed up that processand nurture that potential buyer
before, during, and after thesale.
SPEAKER_00 (09:45):
Okay.
And you also mentioned yourboutique as your kind of
comeuppance.
Yes.
I've known a lot of people thathave gotten into business and
they're like, I'm going to sellthis product or this thing.
What's the one thing that alwaystends to go sideways with those
physical product businesses thatyour tools in particular are
just masterful at solving?
SPEAKER_01 (10:07):
Um, a lot of times follow-ups, sometimes people
like, well, um, like say, causeI do have, um, like pheromone
based products, um, like lotionsand stuff.
And so they're like, I lovethat.
Um, but, uh, when they get donewith it, a lot of times people
don't put their information onthe bottles or they're like,
dang, I'm out of it.
(10:27):
I need to figure out or rememberwhere I bought it.
So I think, um, a lot of times,uh, well, I know a lot of times
when you are setting up thoseautomations, like, Hey, you
bought this, you know, makingsure that you're still nurturing
that person, um, throughout thatprocess.
So when they do finish it off,they know who to go to.
They can remember it's rightthere.
(10:47):
It's very easy for them to beable to reorder again.
They don't have to go and lookfor it because it's not
something that you can go toWalmart or Target or something
like that and go and get.
So being able to use like anemail marketing tool, something
like that, to be able tocontinue to nurture that
customer will be is going to bethe beneficial thing.
(11:10):
Perfect.
SPEAKER_00 (11:11):
Yeah.
That's, I mean, that's, uh,makes so much sense that we get
so focused on, on the initialthing and whatever business that
we're in, you know, we can getthis tunnel vision sometimes.
And so often, you know, people,including myself, we can, we can
have that shiny object syndrome.
(11:31):
And then we forget thatcustomers aren't just somebody
who goes to our website andpurchases a thing or, or makes a
want.
It's customers are someone webuild a relationship with and a
relationship then leads toongoing sales.
And that's, that's what reallymatters, right?
SPEAKER_01 (11:50):
Yes.
Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00 (11:52):
That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01 (11:53):
I think that's, yeah, you're right.
Like, um, a lot of times, youknow, you, everybody's looking
for a new client, a new client,a new customer, a new customer,
a new client is like, but whatabout, you know, these other 50
that you sold to or helped orspoke with or they supported
your business, but you forgetabout them trying to find the
new one.
So that is super important tomake sure remembering those
(12:15):
people who did buy from you andcontinuing that relationship to
where they're coming back.
SPEAKER_00 (12:22):
And can you speak a little bit more to especially
how a lot of these digital toolsI hear from a lot of people, oh,
I don't want things online, Ihate social media, all of the
other kind of anti-technologystuff for one reason or another.
But can you kind of speak alittle bit more to the
understanding of how those toolsactually maintain those
relationships when we don'tnecessarily have the time for
it?
SPEAKER_01 (12:41):
Yeah, so with technology now, especially with
social media, social media is sopowerful in so many ways.
It just helps you because a lotof times you can like schedule
out different things to a weekfrom now, two weeks from now.
And so it just it helps you tokeep track of because, you know,
(13:04):
of course, in the beginning,it's a lot easier.
You only got, you know, a fewclients or customers.
But then what happens when youhave 100 200, 300, a thousand,
you can't keep up with all ofthose people on a consistent
basis.
So that's where these tools anddifferent things come in place
to where you're able to schedulethis stuff out.
(13:25):
You're able to group it to wherelike, okay, I need to put that
physical touch in at this point.
I need to make sure I actuallysend out something for me at
this point to this group ofpeople.
So just, Being able to set thatstuff up and group it together
of when you want to make thosecontacts, when is it important
to actually put that personaltouch where you're actually
(13:47):
okay.
50 people on this day is easierto reach out to than trying to
keep up with 500 on that day.
So being able to group thattogether and schedule it out and
really come up with a strategy.
I think a lot of times businessowners, they miss the strategy.
They're just kind of going on awhim of when they're going to do
(14:08):
certain things.
So building out that strategybeforehand is going to be super
beneficial.
And then using those tools aswell to keep everything Right.
SPEAKER_00 (14:20):
And you mentioned strategy.
There's a lot of times where weread all of these books about
different strategies andwhatnot.
Yes.
SPEAKER_01 (14:35):
doing the things.
I think a lot of times peoplelike read all these books, pay
for all these courses, take allthese notes.
They got notepads and calendarsand all these things of all
these notes and things, but theydon't really use them.
So they hear it once.
They may try to use it once ortwice, but if it's not something
(14:58):
instant, then it's like, okay, Ineed to go buy another course or
I need to go and do another toolor I need another whatever.
But it's you got to do the thingthat's going to be the best way
to come up with the beststrategy for you and your
business is to do the thing soyou can know what works, what
doesn't work.
You have actual data there to goalong and then you can build
(15:20):
your strategy or, you know,there's a lot of people that are
expertise in different things.
You can definitely, you know,kind of get their strategy and
tweak it and different things.
But again, it goes back to youhave to do the thing.
So I think that's a huge thing.
Yeah,
SPEAKER_00 (15:35):
we've got to use our tools.
Absolutely.
I think everyone in this room isbad about using their own tools
in one way or another.
Maybe.
No, but I mean, it's, I thinkthat's a great example because
we say somebody bought a brandnew Mercedes.
Oh my goodness.
It's just beautiful.
(15:57):
And it's just, it's sitting inthe driveway and you're looking
at it and it's sitting there andthen it's in the driveway, but
you never drive it.
Then you have this beautiful carand it's not doing nothing.
And we, we, you know, would veryobviously be be like why would
you do that that's dumb but thenwe do it all the time
SPEAKER_01 (16:17):
yes
SPEAKER_00 (16:17):
you know and so
SPEAKER_01 (16:19):
yes
SPEAKER_00 (16:19):
it's fascinating though how much technology and
what like you're saying can helpus save time and build out more
robust parts of our businessesat scale.
And we can't replace the humanpiece, but we can supplement it
heavily.
Yes,
SPEAKER_01 (16:38):
yes.
SPEAKER_00 (16:39):
So I've had people be shocked before hearing how
much I pay on a monthly basisfor some of the softwares that I
use.
But I say, well, how much wouldI pay an employee to do this
full-time or part-time.
SPEAKER_01 (16:55):
Right.
SPEAKER_00 (16:55):
Probably a lot more than what I'm paying for this
software.
Right.
You know, that can do the samething.
SPEAKER_01 (17:00):
Or if you try to do it yourself, it's not getting
done.
Right, right.
So therefore, you're losing alot of money because, you know,
the stuff is not getting donebecause you're like, yeah, I'll
do it.
That way I can save, you know,this$200 and then, yeah, it's
not happening.
SPEAKER_00 (17:17):
So what's some of the go-to things softwares that
you know of that everybodyshould be using or looking into
for their business?
SPEAKER_01 (17:29):
I think one of my...
My favorite platforms isConstant Contact.
So it's a email marketingsoftware.
So you can do your emails.
The thing that I definitely loveabout it is as you're curating
your email, it also gives youlike two social media posts and
(17:52):
also a text message prompt aswell to send out to your people
from that email.
So everything is a lot morecohesive.
So you can do that.
You can do landing pages.
You can set up some automations.
It integrates with a lot ofdifferent platforms as well.
If you host events, you can doyour event setup.
(18:17):
As far as tickets, likeeverything can be set up through
it.
So it's got like a lot of...
And it has...
a lot of trainings as well.
So if you are doing emailmarketing, which you should be,
it has a lot of differenttrainings of how to use the
platform, how to get to thattarget audience, just a lot of
(18:39):
tools and resources within it aswell.
So it's one of my favorites.
You can do your social mediaposts in it as well and schedule
those out.
So as they are creating thosethings, you can post from that
platform as well.
So you don't have to keepcopying and pasting to your
actual social media.
You can already just schedule itout onto those platforms that is
(19:07):
needed.
So it's just a lot of things inthere.
It's super powerful.
So if you don't have maybe themoney for a CRM, this is another
option that you can use to housea lot of your people and be able
to keep track of them.
Excellent.
SPEAKER_00 (19:24):
Nice.
Now, we've kind of gone over alittle bit of shiny object
syndrome, just doing the thing.
What would you tell Bridgetbefore she started any of her
businesses or started worryingabout whether or not she needs
to go back on Indeed that mighthave prevented some of those
problems?
Let's talk to new entrepreneurBridget for a second.
(19:45):
What would you tell her?
SPEAKER_01 (19:46):
Yeah, I mean, it goes back to the shine.
Get the get the systems and dothe thing.
So as you're taking notes, asyou're absorbing information,
put that into somewhere allwhere it's there, all in one
place.
So you don't have, you know, 10different notebooks, five
different planners, because Ithink a lot of us are not.
(20:09):
guilty of buying all theplanners thinking it's going to
get better because you have, youknow, a planner that now has,
you know, an extra notes sectionor, you know, just different
things.
So just making sure housing thatstuff all in one place, making
sure you have your CRM and youare actively using it and get
(20:32):
into a habit of using it becausea lot of people, they do have
the CRM.
But they don't use it.
They still have, you know,business cards over here and
things over here.
And so just, you know, thatwhole aspect of that.
Getting the systems, spendingthe money on them and using
(20:54):
them, get in the habit of usingthem for everything, because it
is hard whenever you are in themiddle of things and then you're
trying to be organized when thesystems is like, oh, shoot.
OK, so, yeah, if I if I wouldhave done that in the very
(21:14):
beginning.
Yeah.
UNKNOWN (21:16):
Yeah.
SPEAKER_00 (21:17):
It would be a lot
SPEAKER_01 (21:31):
better.
of money there.
So we do have a flow and growcollective.
(21:53):
So it is a group that is$37 amonth.
You're able to go in there.
We do different things for likebulk creating posts for your
social media.
So that way, you know, thatmakes that a lot easier.
Funding opportunities, businesscredit, personal credit, because
a lot of times with businessesas well, funding is a huge thing
(22:15):
that That is a roadblock for alot of us.
And then, you know, you don'thave the credit or anything to
be able to get that together.
So we have different people thatcome in to kind of go over that,
answer questions, how to getstarted.
We also have like if you're inbusiness and you're like, I
think I kind of maybe need somehelp or kind of figure things
(22:37):
out.
I'm not really sure.
We can do kind of like abusiness audit.
So it's the answer flowjumpstart.
So we kind of do like a 90 dayplan for you to start with.
You're able to kind of audityour business, your socials,
your website, kind of you answerseveral questions.
And then we put together a 90day plan for you.
(22:58):
So you can kind of start workingthrough that, kind of see how
that is working for you.
if you get through that andyou're like this sucks I don't
want to do this either then ofcourse we can put together kind
of like a full package of whatyou're actually needing for your
business to survive to where youcan actually scale and grow it
And then we also have a coursewhere it's like a leadership and
(23:22):
time management course.
So if you do have a team orplanning to have a team or if
you're just like all over theplace and you really need like
that guy to like really focuson, figure out what it is, all
the things we have a course thatyou can take.
do as well.
So there's several differentoptions, different price points
(23:44):
to be able to work with us sothat way we can make sure that
you are successful and you'renot having to go back to Indeed.
SPEAKER_00 (23:50):
That's awesome.
And also it speaks to a...
An area for businesses whenyou're growing versus when
you're established.
Established businesses havedifferent needs than the growing
businesses.
And sometimes we don't alwaysknow what we need.
And so the fact that you have somany different offerings to be
able to connect people togetherwith those resources that they
(24:12):
need, I think that's super cool.
Well, one thing I want to makesure...
As we're going through, we'vecovered so many things today.
And one of the common themesthat has taken us through is
that business is kind of hardsometimes.
So we have everything from, youknow, technology and having to
(24:35):
learn and use the technologythat we implement to business.
getting with this shiny objectsyndrome where we can't keep the
right information in the rightplaces and we can get sloppy
because we're just going afterwhatever pops up in front of us.
And so you've given us a lot ofgood examples like Constant
(24:57):
Contact and some of the servicesthat you just mentioned a moment
ago of ways that we can tacklethose as business owners more
efficiently.
I am interested, though, with...
You're in particular business.
What's the next steps and thefuture of answer flow solutions?
(25:19):
What's on the upcoming?
SPEAKER_01 (25:22):
Yes, so we are coming into kind of director of
operations roles in sales.
So heavily on going intobusinesses, being able to be
that strategic partner with thebusiness owner, looking at
processes, looking at revenue,looking at training, looking at
(25:46):
leadership, just differentthings like that to see kind of
where where the help is needed,um, where the cleaning up is
needed, where the execution isneeded.
Um, and then, like I said, we'regoing back into dealership
world.
Um, so we're definitely heavily,uh, that is, um, one of our deal
clients.
(26:07):
Um, but definitely we are hereto assist with all clients, um,
and different industries.
Cause, um, I just feel like it'sdefinitely needed, um, But,
yeah, that's kind of like wherewe're going.
We want to help people to makemoney not only doing the thing
that they do, but when you'reasleep, are you making money?
(26:28):
Or when you're on vacation, areyou making money?
And just coming up with thoseplans as well, those revenues,
so we make sure we're generatingincome on a daily, whether we're
doing the thing or not.
SPEAKER_00 (26:43):
I love
SPEAKER_01 (26:44):
it.
It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00 (26:44):
Now, I have one more big question on my end.
If you had to do an assessmentof Nolan.
SPEAKER_01 (26:55):
No, I'm just kidding.
All right, guys, it's beengreat.
SPEAKER_00 (27:01):
No, I think, you know, kind of.
One of the last things is justwhere can people find you?
You know, if they want to beable to use your incredible
suite of services and solutions,where do they reach out to you
SPEAKER_01 (27:18):
at?
Absolutely.
You can go toanswerflowsolutions.com.
You can email us at contact atanswerflowsolutions.com or you
can call us 405-883-8042.
We're going to host socialmedias, LinkedIn, Facebook,
Instagram, all of those.
(27:39):
But just call us.
SPEAKER_00 (27:41):
Nice.
It's been so much fun.
We, you know, we've made itthrough 10 episodes and so glad
that you were.
Yeah.
Number one.
Oh, one.
Oh, but as, as always, we'regoing to have you help us with
the sign off.
And so stay sharp.
(28:02):
Think
SPEAKER_01 (28:02):
this.
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