You can be great at what you do and still feel slammed every week. That pressure is not just “too much to do” it is usually a few operational bottlenecks quietly stealing your time, attention, and revenue. Sara Noren Block sits down with Jen Hamilton, a fractional COO who has spent years inside solo consultant businesses, to pinpoint what actually breaks first and what to fix without adding more complexity.
We dig into three common bottlenecks: overwhelm that keeps you in reaction mode, lack of direction that creates inconsistent results, and broken or missing systems where everything lives in your head. Jen shares practical, doable actions for each one, including a protected weekly CEO hour for real thinking time, one measurable 90 day goal to create focus, and documenting a single repeatable process so work becomes faster and easier to hand off. We also talk about predictable revenue, why feast or famine happens, and how simple systems can keep business development going even when client work is full.
Jen adds a bonus that ties it all together: accountability. If you are your own worst boss, one weekly metric tracked with hash marks on a Post it can be the difference between drift and momentum. If you want sustainable marketing and operations that support a booked out solo practice, press play, then share your biggest bottleneck, and make sure to subscribe, share the show, and leave a quick review so more consultants can find it.
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Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 3 (00:01):
Welcome to the Tiny Marketing Podcast.
I'm Sara Noren Block, and thisshow is made for solo
consultants who wanna get bookedout without burning out.
If you've ever thought,"I justwant this to feel easier,"
you're not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life, so growthfeels doable instead of
(00:21):
overwhelming.
Speaker (00:23):
Hello, and welcome to Tiny Marketing.
Thank you so much for joining usthis week.
Today, we are going to talk toJen Hamilton about the three
operational bottlenecks thatsolo consultants and solo
consultants with maybe a VAtypically come across and are
dealing with, and we're notgonna leave you with that, just,
(00:44):
the bottlenecks.
We're also going to tell you howto fix them.
So I'm gonna bring Jen up to thestage so she can introduce
herself.
Hello, Jen.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hey, Sarah, thanks so much for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker (00:58):
Yes.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Sure.
I'm Jen Hamilton.
I am a fractional COO.
I've done the whole solo thingfor nearly 15 years, and now
luckily I have grown up to havea little bit more of a team, so
I know where you're coming from.
And I often go into smallbusinesses, kinda like flipping
the business, as you would in ahouse.
(01:23):
what can we do to help makewhat's not working actually
start working?
So we're gonna talk about someof those things I've seen many
times around the bottl- theirbottlenecks today.
Speaker (01:32):
I love that.
before we hit record, you weretelling me that, 99% of your
clients are solo businesses orsolo businesses with an
assistant.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, so my comm- I have a community I lead, the
Fractional COO Integrator OpsConsultants, and I have about
670 of them now in my communityas of the date of this
recording, and most of them aresolos.
Maybe they might have anassistant or they might have
(02:04):
done what I've definitely donein my life- begged a child or a
spouse Or a sibling,"Can youhelp me with this?"
Speaker (02:12):
Oh my gosh, I trained my 12-year-old on how to edit
podcasts.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes.
My 15-year-old niece is the onewho audits, or who edits my
podcast.
Nice.
She does an amazing job.
Speaker (02:23):
yeah, I actually, I recorded it on Loom, I think it
was.
No, I'd recorded training him onDescript, and now I use that
training for my clients whowanna launch their own podcast,
'cause if I can explain it to a12-year-old, I can explain it to
you.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes.
I love that.
Yes, we get pretty creative whenmost of the business is on our
shoulders.
Speaker (02:46):
Yeah.
Yeah, you have to be.
You have to be able to thinkoutside of the box and bring in
the 15-year-old to do theediting.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Exactly.
Exactly.
So this sounds like you.
We get it, we are you.
Speaker (02:59):
Yeah, we are you.
That's why we talk about thisstuff.
It,
Speaker 2 (03:03):
it helps us too.
It's l- almost like therapy,right?
I'm like,"Okay-" Yeah"I'm notalone."
Speaker (03:09):
Yes, it really is, and every time I host a new guest on
my show I'm like,"This isbrilliant." And they become, my
go-to referral.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, that's a high standard, so I'll do my best to
make an impact today-'causethat's our goal.
Speaker (03:25):
Yeah.
So let's get into it.
What would you say is the numberone bottleneck that soloists are
dealing with?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
The number one I would say is overwhelm.
It...
So what does that look like in acommon experience?
Busy all day, and then littletime to think, and constant
reacting, right?
Not being proactive, but feelinglike everything is coming at
you.
Oh, it's just, so much, right?
Speaker (03:53):
Yes.
We were just talking about thatbefore we hit record.
Both of us were like,"I'mslammed right now."
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah.
Yes.
So
Speaker (04:01):
how do we fix it?
How do we make it so we don'tfeel so slammed all the time?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, we're gonna talk about one action so that it
feels doable with each of thesethree.
And so this first action is toschedule a weekly CEO hour.
You are the CEO.
You're also doing everythingelse, right?
But you need that time to bethat visionary, which is
creating that vision.
(04:27):
And what you wanna do is havethat time to think.
I also call it thinking time.
And if you can't do an hour inone phase, I encourage two 30
minutes.
This is what worked better intomy schedule, at least taking two
30-minute times to just think.
And the best way to do this toprotect your time, because our
(04:47):
time, again, if we're reacting,it's all over the place.
Yeah.
Is protect it as if you'remeeting with a client,'cause we
know we put our clients f-First- Yeah or maybe a doctor's
appointment.
One would hope you put yourhealth first.
what do you do to make sure thatdoesn't move?
So ideally, though, it's thesame time every week, so you can
block your calendar.
Same day, same time, anduninterrupted.
(05:11):
So making sure...
You might even have to moveyourself.
I've put notes onto my iPad so Ican be in a different location
than on my computer where-
Speaker (05:19):
That's
Speaker 2 (05:20):
a good
Speaker (05:20):
idea the notifications are.
Yeah, where all thenotifications are hitting you,
and you're like,"Oh, I should
Speaker 2 (05:25):
probably deal with that." Exactly.
So if you can, go somewhere elsewithout your phone and, without
notifications.
And here's a question you canask yourself, because it is
about addressing the overwhelm,but having the time to think
about, what do I need to do?
So here's one powerful question.
What's creating the mostfriction in my business right
now?
(05:46):
That's gonna give you time tothink, and then fix.
Speaker (05:49):
Yeah.
That is really smart.
I block off Fridays, mainlybecause I don't wanna work on
Fridays.
And my mom comes over for sushiand true crime.
Yeah.
But I always end up having towork in the morning before she
comes.
Yeah.
And I really would just...
if I made that CEO hour, and Ijust, I set that aside and I...
(06:13):
It was sacred,"This is the thingthat I need to do," I think that
I would probably not do that somuch.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I love that you called it sacred, because it is.
Because you are sacred.
Your mission is sacred.
Your ability to impact others isa sacred work that we're doing,
and yet are we giving us thatsacred time to do it even
better?
And that's what this is.
Speaker (06:37):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great actionpoint to have.
Okay, what is number two?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Number two.
What is the next one?
It can bleed from this.
What you might see as part ofwhat's that friction is that you
lack direction.
So whether you...
What is that common experiencethat people might experience?
You're working hard without aclear plan or consistent
results.
And one of the things that'sreally challenging, if you're a
(07:02):
startup or if you've been doingit for many years, is to ask
yourself,"Do I have predictable,consistent results?" If not,
you're missing actual plans,strategies, and that consistency
is really what is a sign thatyou'll get predictable results.
So oftentimes, again, beingreactive, that's what's- Getting
(07:26):
in the way of our beingconsistent, which gets in the
way of predictable results.
Yeah.
Meaning I know this is how muchmoney I'm gonna make pretty
well, and I know if I do thiswork with marketing, I'm gonna
get this number of people to doa sales call, and this number of
sales calls is gonna get me thisnumber of clients.
predictability-
Speaker (07:45):
Yeah
Speaker 2 (07:45):
gives us confidence.
Speaker (07:47):
You're speaking my language.
That's what my entire program isabout, is like building systems
that give you predictablerevenue.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Exactly.
Speaker (07:56):
There's no worse feeling than that feast or
famine, where you're either toobusy to do the work to keep your
sales pipeline full, or you'rebroke and you're like,"Oh shit,
what now?"
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yes.
Speaker (08:11):
Worst feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah.
I see that a ton, and I'vementored and guided solo
consultants, coaches,fractionals for, gosh, probably
eight or nine years now, andpeer mentoring, right?
Me being mentored by them aswell.
And part of what I've learnedfrom them and what I've passed
on to them is that the reason wehave those big giant ebbs and
(08:35):
flows which come like crashingwaves is because we stop doing
the work that you, and thesystem that you put in place,
which is- you have toconsistently be doing business
development even when you have afull client load.
What happens every time is biggiant dips if you're not
(08:55):
constantly putting your foot onthe gas of, even just a little
bit.
But having your consistentsystem makes it a lot easier to
do that while you're servingclients.
Speaker (09:06):
Yeah.
I've even, I've experienced thatmyself, where I will get busy
running the thing- and then I'mlike,"Well, what now?" I feel
like I'm in a stuck place, and Iturn on my own systems that I
teach, and it instantly changeseverything.
I'm like,"Why?
Why do I do this to myself whenI know it
Speaker 2 (09:29):
works?" Yes, exactly.
You're not alone.
There's that whole thing aboutthe collarless kids have no
shoes.
Yeah.
It's so easy for us to see itfor others, but to turn that
mirror and do it for ourselvesis challenging.
Speaker (09:43):
So is there an easier way to be able to make sure that
you're keeping the, up with yoursystems?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Good question.
So I think that the easiest way,and, actually, how about this?
I make it a teaser,'cause Iadded one bonus, a way of that
we can- one bonus, challengethat gets us into bottleneck and
one bonus way.
So I, I will make sure I gothrough this quickly, and I'll
get to that because it is, it,there is one quick and not
(10:12):
always easy way to be able to dothat.
So I'll leave you on thatcliffhanger, but I wanna make
sure I get to the action aroundthat lack of direction.
Is that-
Speaker (10:19):
Okay work for you?
Yeah.
Do
Speaker 2 (10:21):
it.
All right.
So that one action is to maybein your thinking time, right?
Define one, one 90-minutebusiness goal.
What are...
Or 90 days, excuse me.
90 minutes would be great.
We wish that.
90 days.
What in the next 90 days is mygoal?
So complete this sentence maybein your thinking time.
(10:42):
If the next 90 days went well,what's one result that would
matter most?
So again- we're looking atoutcomes.
I like to think of COOs as chiefoutcomes officers.
We cr- change operations intooutcomes.
And so being able to be focusedon what matters most is where
your goals should be coming.
(11:03):
I think a lot of times we dogoals that we should be doing
instead of what matters most.
Speaker (11:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then do a quick check on that goal.
Is it clear?
Is it measurable?
And would it achieve this way ofrelief if you're stuck or
momentum if you feel like,"Ugh,I'm not getting where I want to
go." So being able to put it inthose parameters.
And remember, one clear targetis way more powerful than
multiple vague ones.
(11:28):
You're gonna have, this is whatI do, and then when you start to
drift and have those shinyobjects, you're like,"Nope, this
is the-
Speaker (11:35):
This is it
Speaker 2 (11:36):
one thing I do." You...
Speaker (11:37):
Hold on.
This makes me think of EOS.
Are...
You said integrator earlier too.
Do you work with EOS a lot?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, I've definitely done, I can sit in the
fractional integrator seat.
I've done that many times.
I mentor integrators as well.
I am a big fan of EOS, beentrained in it, and do the, have
the experience with it.
And I work with...
Why I like to say COO is becausethere's more than what is in
EOS, but it's an incrediblesystem, and it's an incredible
(12:06):
baseline.
I feel there's, even more that,a small business needs to focus
on beyond just the team, whichEOS is so great at.
It's also really focused on,what, and t-talk about what
matters most.
What is your client experience?
What is your cash flow like?
Speaker (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
And I love this, that EOS doesn't tou-touch on, but
you do, is revenue development.
How do we operationalize, goingback to what you're talking
about, revenue development?
Speaker (12:33):
Yeah, that, yeah, there are...
EOS definitely focuses...
I was a marketing seat when Iwas in corporate.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah.
Speaker (12:42):
And, it definitely focuses much more on the team.
But I do know that a lot ofsoloists are interested in, the
whole traction system.
Yeah.
So it sounds like you take itand turn it upside down for more
of a, that mindset of traction-Yes for a different situation.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I love it.
It's very powerful.
E-Myth is very powerful.
Scale It Up.
All of the systems we, again,like we say, a system helps
create that predictability.
Using something consistentlylike a system makes it easier to
be consistent, and it's aboutdoing what is comprehensive.
So I really look at making sureall areas of the business are
(13:25):
strong, not just the teamleadership and vision side of
it.
To me, EOS is fantastic aroundculture, and what I also look at
is the money side of it, theclient- I thought you meant
Speaker (13:37):
funny or cash.
For a second I was like,"The
Speaker 2 (13:40):
bunny?" And the
Speaker (13:40):
marketing.
What do you mean, money?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Let's get some money g-
Speaker (13:43):
Yeah flowing
Speaker 2 (13:44):
through this business as well.
Speaker (13:45):
That matters the most, otherwise you do not have a
business.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
Should we get into that thirdbottleneck?
Speaker (13:53):
Yes.
Yeah.
I
Speaker 2 (13:54):
think you're gonna love it, right?
This isn't even that bonus, butthis is broken or missing
systems.
I swear we didn't talk beforethat we were gonna talk so much
about systems before we got tothis bottleneck.
Speaker (14:05):
No, we didn't have that on our list, but here we are.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So we've been talking about systems, but what is the
sign that you're missing systemsor that they're broken?
One of the biggest signs, andthis is extremely common with
solos, is everything lives inyour head and nothing feels
repeatable.
You're just making it up- Yeahevery single time.
Speaker (14:28):
Oh, now I already know what I'm gonna pair this episode
with,'cause I had someone elsedo an episode on, like, how to
build systems for when you'reabout to bring on a team member.
So Yeah this will pair so nicelywith that one.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Absolutely, because the first action, even if you're
not gonna bring in someone, andI started doing this for myself,
is document...
I know you're, everyone's"Agh."Document one repeatable process.
And one of the things that Ithink I've done for myself
that's made me consistent, mademe faster, takes a little bit of
time at first, is being veryclear on what did I do last
(15:05):
time?
When we do things once a month,one of the things, for example,
a really perfect example, I'veused Stripe for years to be able
to send invoices, especially forretainer type work.
It makes it easier.
You can make changes.
You have the credit card inthere.
It's- all the good things.
Every freaking time I try tomake a new invoice for a
specific client, I was like,"Howdo I use this thing
Speaker (15:27):
again?" Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It's not something I do every day.
And so I finally got sick of mespending so much time trying to
figure out the system, andstarted to record,"This is
exactly how I do it,"'cause Iwas just irritated.
And then I couldn't even pass iton to somebody else, even if I
wanted to, is that I couldn'teven do it.
So for me, that, that was reallya perfect example of how am I
(15:54):
getting in my way of not havingsomething repeatable.
and so when you look at oneprocess, like we're talking
about that action, taking it alittle bit s- far- farther, what
might be a way that you followup?
You wanna make sure you followup with a lead.
document that process so thatit's consistent, because we
often drop people through ourcracks because of not having
(16:15):
follow-ups.
If that's one of the areas whereyou're super weak, maybe look at
a process that you can repeatevery time.
Promise your revenue will go upif you follow up.
Maybe it's a transactionworkflow, just like I was saying
with my being able to makeinvoices.
It could be clientcommunication.
That's one thing I did too, isthat repeating themes in emails
(16:37):
are all over the place, right?
So I made myself emailtemplates.
And first I would just be like,"Okay, I don't wanna have to go
back and search my send.
What did I say last time tosomeone that has a similar
question?" Or maybe it's anintroduction from a networking
thing or whatever.
So I started making gen emailtemplates, and now that I have
an executive assistant, sheknows how to respond without
(17:00):
even...
she knows, this is the type ofemail, this is the type of
response.
Speaker (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
one little bonus- The templates in Google are nice can
you talk about Loom?
Oh, sorry.
Go ahead.
Oh,
Speaker (17:08):
I was just saying being able to create templates and
auto responses- Yeah in Googleis so nice.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yes Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, they make it easier.
And that's the thing, more andmore these days, things are
being automated and you can pusha button and it's e- even
reminding you how to do it.
And I would say, when you'rewriting or recording it, you
can...
I love recording on Loom.
If you were talking about Loomtoo.
I love recording and speakingout loud, what am I doing, and
(17:37):
then I've got the...
I think I had to pay five extradollars a month to get the AI
version of Loom, and once it'sdone recording, you can push a
button and it will make an SOP,right?
So you now have the recording-Ooh,
Speaker (17:50):
that's nice.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And it has it written out with, timestamp of where in
the recording, and pictures ofwhat you clicked on within
seconds.
So- I didn't
Speaker (17:59):
know that Loom does that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I found that out the other day, and I was, like,
totally geeking out.
Speaker (18:05):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
All right, you ready for my bonus?
Speaker (18:10):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, we talked about systems, we talked about th-
these things.
Everything I just told, talkedto you about all happens in
bottlenecks on because we haveweak accountability, and this is
the biggest one for us as solos,right?
We are our own worst boss.
We are.
No one is telling us and keepingus accountable.
So whether you're not beingconsistent, whether you're not
(18:34):
taking the time to think,whether you're doing things over
and over again that you couldhave just made a process, part
of the biggest thing is that wehave weak accountability.
So one of the good things youcould do is, is have an
accountability partner.
That's always great.
part of why I have a peercommunity is we help hold each
other accountable.
But one first action you cantake that doesn't rely on
(18:55):
another person is have oneweekly metric, the key number
that you personally sh- check.
I just actually put Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday on a piece of
paper, and I just do hash marksevery time I do that key metric.
It might be new conversationsstarted, it might be those
follow-ups completed orappointments set.
(19:16):
Whatever is that one metric thatyou know,"If I just keep doing
this, I'm gonna move thingsforward." And it can change,
right?
You look at the 90-day, what'sthe most important thing?
You might have one metricrelated to that.
Speaker (19:29):
Yeah So
Speaker 2 (19:30):
figure out what your one metric is and where you will
track it.
it's right here next to me as mylittle hashtags on my big giant
Post-it,'cause I have...
I started with one metric, and Irealized there were a couple
others that moved the needle.
And when I do those things, mybusiness works, and when I
don't, it doesn't.
Speaker (19:46):
That is smart.
I was doing a, one...
It was a month ago, I had aworkshop on, building repeatable
revenue and, the little systemsthat you can build in.
it's just money math.
if you need to close fiveclients over the next two
months, how many warmconversations do you need to
(20:07):
have a month?
Just put it on a Post-it, keeptrack of it, and it's just, an
easy thing that you can do.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
We don't need a fancy spreadsheet.
We don't need a fancy metric t-tracking system.
It-
Speaker (20:19):
Dashboard
Speaker 2 (20:20):
right, because that will get you bottlenecked and
stuck figuring out,"What do Ineed to do?" A Post-it.
Speaker (20:27):
And it's right there, so you're visible and you're
constantly looking at,"Okay, sotoday I need to do two
outreaches to hit my goal."
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes, exactly.
So Sarah, hopefully we can allloosen up those bottlenecks a
little bit and s- take these fewpowerful but simple actions to
move us forward.
Speaker (20:45):
Yes.
So before we go, can you telleverybody how they can work with
you- Sure and where to find youonline?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yeah, no problem.
So one of the ways, again, Iwork with a lot of fractional
COOs, so if you are one andyou're listening or you know you
need some help with this and youwould like to get access to a
fractional COO to flip yourbusiness into being, productive,
what I would say is go to mywebsite.
It's hamiltoncoos.com, and Iknow we'll put it in the show
notes.
(21:13):
I have a couple little ways thatyou can actually start getting
some help with this for free.
Once a month, we meet in a peerroundtable.
So as I shared with you, I lovementoring and learning from
others, so we do a monthlyroundtable where we are
addressing some operationalchallenge that we can hear from
(21:33):
others that are like us.
"What did you do to fix it?" Andwe get to also share with them
and contribute to each other, sothat's a fun way to do it.
Yeah.
I did, In preparation for this,I actually made a one-pa- it's
actually a lit- probably alittle bit bigger.
But I took all of these ideasthat we talked about, and I put
it into a document, which I'mmore than happy to share.
(21:55):
So if you're listening andyou're like,"You went too fast,
Jen," or,"What was that onething I need to do?" go ahead
and email me and just say,"I wason Sarah's podcast, and I would
love the three bottleneckfixers," and I will send that to
you.
Speaker (22:08):
I will put her email in the show notes so it's easy to
contact her.
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You are so welcome.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
If this episode made things feel a little more
doable, I'd love to help youtake the next step with the
Booked Out Blueprint.
It's a practical, low-pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it out
alone.
Welcome to the Tiny Marketing Podcast.
I'm Sara Noren Block, and thisshow is made for solo
consultants who wanna get bookedout without burning out.
If you've ever thought,"I justwant this to feel easier,"
you're not alone.
Around here, we focus on simple,sustainable growth that actually
fits into your life, so growthfeels doable instead of
(00:21):
overwhelming.
Speaker (00:23):
Hello, and welcome to Tiny Marketing.
Thank you so much for joining usthis week.
Today, we are going to talk toJen Hamilton about the three
operational bottlenecks thatsolo consultants and solo
consultants with maybe a VAtypically come across and are
dealing with, and we're notgonna leave you with that, just,
(00:44):
the bottlenecks.
We're also going to tell you howto fix them.
So I'm gonna bring Jen up to thestage so she can introduce
herself.
Hello, Jen.
Speaker 2 (00:54):
Hey, Sarah, thanks so much for having me.
I'm happy to be here.
Speaker (00:58):
Yes.
Can you introduce yourself tothe audience?
Speaker 2 (01:01):
Sure.
I'm Jen Hamilton.
I am a fractional COO.
I've done the whole solo thingfor nearly 15 years, and now
luckily I have grown up to havea little bit more of a team, so
I know where you're coming from.
And I often go into smallbusinesses, kinda like flipping
the business, as you would in ahouse.
(01:23):
what can we do to help makewhat's not working actually
start working?
So we're gonna talk about someof those things I've seen many
times around the bottl- theirbottlenecks today.
Speaker (01:32):
I love that.
before we hit record, you weretelling me that, 99% of your
clients are solo businesses orsolo businesses with an
assistant.
Speaker 2 (01:42):
Yeah, so my comm- I have a community I lead, the
Fractional COO Integrator OpsConsultants, and I have about
670 of them now in my communityas of the date of this
recording, and most of them aresolos.
Maybe they might have anassistant or they might have
(02:04):
done what I've definitely donein my life- begged a child or a
spouse Or a sibling,"Can youhelp me with this?"
Speaker (02:12):
Oh my gosh, I trained my 12-year-old on how to edit
podcasts.
Speaker 2 (02:16):
Yes.
My 15-year-old niece is the onewho audits, or who edits my
podcast.
Nice.
She does an amazing job.
Speaker (02:23):
yeah, I actually, I recorded it on Loom, I think it
was.
No, I'd recorded training him onDescript, and now I use that
training for my clients whowanna launch their own podcast,
'cause if I can explain it to a12-year-old, I can explain it to
you.
Speaker 2 (02:40):
Yes.
I love that.
Yes, we get pretty creative whenmost of the business is on our
shoulders.
Speaker (02:46):
Yeah.
Yeah, you have to be.
You have to be able to thinkoutside of the box and bring in
the 15-year-old to do theediting.
Speaker 2 (02:54):
Exactly.
Exactly.
So this sounds like you.
We get it, we are you.
Speaker (02:59):
Yeah, we are you.
That's why we talk about thisstuff.
It,
Speaker 2 (03:03):
it helps us too.
It's l- almost like therapy,right?
I'm like,"Okay-" Yeah"I'm notalone."
Speaker (03:09):
Yes, it really is, and every time I host a new guest on
my show I'm like,"This isbrilliant." And they become, my
go-to referral.
Speaker 2 (03:20):
Well, that's a high standard, so I'll do my best to
make an impact today-'causethat's our goal.
Speaker (03:25):
Yeah.
So let's get into it.
What would you say is the numberone bottleneck that soloists are
dealing with?
Speaker 2 (03:34):
The number one I would say is overwhelm.
It...
So what does that look like in acommon experience?
Busy all day, and then littletime to think, and constant
reacting, right?
Not being proactive, but feelinglike everything is coming at
you.
Oh, it's just, so much, right?
Speaker (03:53):
Yes.
We were just talking about thatbefore we hit record.
Both of us were like,"I'mslammed right now."
Speaker 2 (03:59):
Yeah.
Yes.
So
Speaker (04:01):
how do we fix it?
How do we make it so we don'tfeel so slammed all the time?
Speaker 2 (04:05):
Well, we're gonna talk about one action so that it
feels doable with each of thesethree.
And so this first action is toschedule a weekly CEO hour.
You are the CEO.
You're also doing everythingelse, right?
But you need that time to bethat visionary, which is
creating that vision.
(04:27):
And what you wanna do is havethat time to think.
I also call it thinking time.
And if you can't do an hour inone phase, I encourage two 30
minutes.
This is what worked better intomy schedule, at least taking two
30-minute times to just think.
And the best way to do this toprotect your time, because our
(04:47):
time, again, if we're reacting,it's all over the place.
Yeah.
Is protect it as if you'remeeting with a client,'cause we
know we put our clients f-First- Yeah or maybe a doctor's
appointment.
One would hope you put yourhealth first.
what do you do to make sure thatdoesn't move?
So ideally, though, it's thesame time every week, so you can
block your calendar.
Same day, same time, anduninterrupted.
(05:11):
So making sure...
You might even have to moveyourself.
I've put notes onto my iPad so Ican be in a different location
than on my computer where-
Speaker (05:19):
That's
Speaker 2 (05:20):
a good
Speaker (05:20):
idea the notifications are.
Yeah, where all thenotifications are hitting you,
and you're like,"Oh, I should
Speaker 2 (05:25):
probably deal with that." Exactly.
So if you can, go somewhere elsewithout your phone and, without
notifications.
And here's a question you canask yourself, because it is
about addressing the overwhelm,but having the time to think
about, what do I need to do?
So here's one powerful question.
What's creating the mostfriction in my business right
now?
(05:46):
That's gonna give you time tothink, and then fix.
Speaker (05:49):
Yeah.
That is really smart.
I block off Fridays, mainlybecause I don't wanna work on
Fridays.
And my mom comes over for sushiand true crime.
Yeah.
But I always end up having towork in the morning before she
comes.
Yeah.
And I really would just...
if I made that CEO hour, and Ijust, I set that aside and I...
(06:13):
It was sacred,"This is the thingthat I need to do," I think that
I would probably not do that somuch.
Speaker 2 (06:20):
I love that you called it sacred, because it is.
Because you are sacred.
Your mission is sacred.
Your ability to impact others isa sacred work that we're doing,
and yet are we giving us thatsacred time to do it even
better?
And that's what this is.
Speaker (06:37):
Yeah.
Yeah, that's a great actionpoint to have.
Okay, what is number two?
Speaker 2 (06:42):
Number two.
What is the next one?
It can bleed from this.
What you might see as part ofwhat's that friction is that you
lack direction.
So whether you...
What is that common experiencethat people might experience?
You're working hard without aclear plan or consistent
results.
And one of the things that'sreally challenging, if you're a
(07:02):
startup or if you've been doingit for many years, is to ask
yourself,"Do I have predictable,consistent results?" If not,
you're missing actual plans,strategies, and that consistency
is really what is a sign thatyou'll get predictable results.
So oftentimes, again, beingreactive, that's what's- Getting
(07:26):
in the way of our beingconsistent, which gets in the
way of predictable results.
Yeah.
Meaning I know this is how muchmoney I'm gonna make pretty
well, and I know if I do thiswork with marketing, I'm gonna
get this number of people to doa sales call, and this number of
sales calls is gonna get me thisnumber of clients.
predictability-
Speaker (07:45):
Yeah
Speaker 2 (07:45):
gives us confidence.
Speaker (07:47):
You're speaking my language.
That's what my entire program isabout, is like building systems
that give you predictablerevenue.
Speaker 2 (07:55):
Exactly.
Speaker (07:56):
There's no worse feeling than that feast or
famine, where you're either toobusy to do the work to keep your
sales pipeline full, or you'rebroke and you're like,"Oh shit,
what now?"
Speaker 2 (08:11):
Yes.
Speaker (08:11):
Worst feeling.
Speaker 2 (08:12):
Yeah.
I see that a ton, and I'vementored and guided solo
consultants, coaches,fractionals for, gosh, probably
eight or nine years now, andpeer mentoring, right?
Me being mentored by them aswell.
And part of what I've learnedfrom them and what I've passed
on to them is that the reason wehave those big giant ebbs and
(08:35):
flows which come like crashingwaves is because we stop doing
the work that you, and thesystem that you put in place,
which is- you have toconsistently be doing business
development even when you have afull client load.
What happens every time is biggiant dips if you're not
(08:55):
constantly putting your foot onthe gas of, even just a little
bit.
But having your consistentsystem makes it a lot easier to
do that while you're servingclients.
Speaker (09:06):
Yeah.
I've even, I've experienced thatmyself, where I will get busy
running the thing- and then I'mlike,"Well, what now?" I feel
like I'm in a stuck place, and Iturn on my own systems that I
teach, and it instantly changeseverything.
I'm like,"Why?
Why do I do this to myself whenI know it
Speaker 2 (09:29):
works?" Yes, exactly.
You're not alone.
There's that whole thing aboutthe collarless kids have no
shoes.
Yeah.
It's so easy for us to see itfor others, but to turn that
mirror and do it for ourselvesis challenging.
Speaker (09:43):
So is there an easier way to be able to make sure that
you're keeping the, up with yoursystems?
Speaker 2 (09:51):
Good question.
So I think that the easiest way,and, actually, how about this?
I make it a teaser,'cause Iadded one bonus, a way of that
we can- one bonus, challengethat gets us into bottleneck and
one bonus way.
So I, I will make sure I gothrough this quickly, and I'll
get to that because it is, it,there is one quick and not
(10:12):
always easy way to be able to dothat.
So I'll leave you on thatcliffhanger, but I wanna make
sure I get to the action aroundthat lack of direction.
Is that-
Speaker (10:19):
Okay work for you?
Yeah.
Do
Speaker 2 (10:21):
it.
All right.
So that one action is to maybein your thinking time, right?
Define one, one 90-minutebusiness goal.
What are...
Or 90 days, excuse me.
90 minutes would be great.
We wish that.
90 days.
What in the next 90 days is mygoal?
So complete this sentence maybein your thinking time.
(10:42):
If the next 90 days went well,what's one result that would
matter most?
So again- we're looking atoutcomes.
I like to think of COOs as chiefoutcomes officers.
We cr- change operations intooutcomes.
And so being able to be focusedon what matters most is where
your goals should be coming.
(11:03):
I think a lot of times we dogoals that we should be doing
instead of what matters most.
Speaker (11:07):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (11:08):
And then do a quick check on that goal.
Is it clear?
Is it measurable?
And would it achieve this way ofrelief if you're stuck or
momentum if you feel like,"Ugh,I'm not getting where I want to
go." So being able to put it inthose parameters.
And remember, one clear targetis way more powerful than
multiple vague ones.
(11:28):
You're gonna have, this is whatI do, and then when you start to
drift and have those shinyobjects, you're like,"Nope, this
is the-
Speaker (11:35):
This is it
Speaker 2 (11:36):
one thing I do." You...
Speaker (11:37):
Hold on.
This makes me think of EOS.
Are...
You said integrator earlier too.
Do you work with EOS a lot?
Speaker 2 (11:43):
Yeah, I've definitely done, I can sit in the
fractional integrator seat.
I've done that many times.
I mentor integrators as well.
I am a big fan of EOS, beentrained in it, and do the, have
the experience with it.
And I work with...
Why I like to say COO is becausethere's more than what is in
EOS, but it's an incrediblesystem, and it's an incredible
(12:06):
baseline.
I feel there's, even more that,a small business needs to focus
on beyond just the team, whichEOS is so great at.
It's also really focused on,what, and t-talk about what
matters most.
What is your client experience?
What is your cash flow like?
Speaker (12:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (12:23):
And I love this, that EOS doesn't tou-touch on, but
you do, is revenue development.
How do we operationalize, goingback to what you're talking
about, revenue development?
Speaker (12:33):
Yeah, that, yeah, there are...
EOS definitely focuses...
I was a marketing seat when Iwas in corporate.
Speaker 2 (12:41):
Yeah.
Speaker (12:42):
And, it definitely focuses much more on the team.
But I do know that a lot ofsoloists are interested in, the
whole traction system.
Yeah.
So it sounds like you take itand turn it upside down for more
of a, that mindset of traction-Yes for a different situation.
Speaker 2 (13:02):
Yeah, I love it.
It's very powerful.
E-Myth is very powerful.
Scale It Up.
All of the systems we, again,like we say, a system helps
create that predictability.
Using something consistentlylike a system makes it easier to
be consistent, and it's aboutdoing what is comprehensive.
So I really look at making sureall areas of the business are
(13:25):
strong, not just the teamleadership and vision side of
it.
To me, EOS is fantastic aroundculture, and what I also look at
is the money side of it, theclient- I thought you meant
Speaker (13:37):
funny or cash.
For a second I was like,"The
Speaker 2 (13:40):
bunny?" And the
Speaker (13:40):
marketing.
What do you mean, money?
Speaker 2 (13:41):
Let's get some money g-
Speaker (13:43):
Yeah flowing
Speaker 2 (13:44):
through this business as well.
Speaker (13:45):
That matters the most, otherwise you do not have a
business.
Speaker 2 (13:49):
Exactly.
Exactly.
All right.
Should we get into that thirdbottleneck?
Speaker (13:53):
Yes.
Yeah.
I
Speaker 2 (13:54):
think you're gonna love it, right?
This isn't even that bonus, butthis is broken or missing
systems.
I swear we didn't talk beforethat we were gonna talk so much
about systems before we got tothis bottleneck.
Speaker (14:05):
No, we didn't have that on our list, but here we are.
Speaker 2 (14:09):
So we've been talking about systems, but what is the
sign that you're missing systemsor that they're broken?
One of the biggest signs, andthis is extremely common with
solos, is everything lives inyour head and nothing feels
repeatable.
You're just making it up- Yeahevery single time.
Speaker (14:28):
Oh, now I already know what I'm gonna pair this episode
with,'cause I had someone elsedo an episode on, like, how to
build systems for when you'reabout to bring on a team member.
So Yeah this will pair so nicelywith that one.
Speaker 2 (14:42):
Absolutely, because the first action, even if you're
not gonna bring in someone, andI started doing this for myself,
is document...
I know you're, everyone's"Agh."Document one repeatable process.
And one of the things that Ithink I've done for myself
that's made me consistent, mademe faster, takes a little bit of
time at first, is being veryclear on what did I do last
(15:05):
time?
When we do things once a month,one of the things, for example,
a really perfect example, I'veused Stripe for years to be able
to send invoices, especially forretainer type work.
It makes it easier.
You can make changes.
You have the credit card inthere.
It's- all the good things.
Every freaking time I try tomake a new invoice for a
specific client, I was like,"Howdo I use this thing
Speaker (15:27):
again?" Yeah.
Speaker 2 (15:28):
It's not something I do every day.
And so I finally got sick of mespending so much time trying to
figure out the system, andstarted to record,"This is
exactly how I do it,"'cause Iwas just irritated.
And then I couldn't even pass iton to somebody else, even if I
wanted to, is that I couldn'teven do it.
So for me, that, that was reallya perfect example of how am I
(15:54):
getting in my way of not havingsomething repeatable.
and so when you look at oneprocess, like we're talking
about that action, taking it alittle bit s- far- farther, what
might be a way that you followup?
You wanna make sure you followup with a lead.
document that process so thatit's consistent, because we
often drop people through ourcracks because of not having
(16:15):
follow-ups.
If that's one of the areas whereyou're super weak, maybe look at
a process that you can repeatevery time.
Promise your revenue will go upif you follow up.
Maybe it's a transactionworkflow, just like I was saying
with my being able to makeinvoices.
It could be clientcommunication.
That's one thing I did too, isthat repeating themes in emails
(16:37):
are all over the place, right?
So I made myself emailtemplates.
And first I would just be like,"Okay, I don't wanna have to go
back and search my send.
What did I say last time tosomeone that has a similar
question?" Or maybe it's anintroduction from a networking
thing or whatever.
So I started making gen emailtemplates, and now that I have
an executive assistant, sheknows how to respond without
(17:00):
even...
she knows, this is the type ofemail, this is the type of
response.
Speaker (17:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (17:04):
one little bonus- The templates in Google are nice can
you talk about Loom?
Oh, sorry.
Go ahead.
Oh,
Speaker (17:08):
I was just saying being able to create templates and
auto responses- Yeah in Googleis so nice.
Speaker 2 (17:16):
Yes Oh, absolutely.
Yeah, they make it easier.
And that's the thing, more andmore these days, things are
being automated and you can pusha button and it's e- even
reminding you how to do it.
And I would say, when you'rewriting or recording it, you
can...
I love recording on Loom.
If you were talking about Loomtoo.
I love recording and speakingout loud, what am I doing, and
(17:37):
then I've got the...
I think I had to pay five extradollars a month to get the AI
version of Loom, and once it'sdone recording, you can push a
button and it will make an SOP,right?
So you now have the recording-Ooh,
Speaker (17:50):
that's nice.
Speaker 2 (17:51):
And it has it written out with, timestamp of where in
the recording, and pictures ofwhat you clicked on within
seconds.
So- I didn't
Speaker (17:59):
know that Loom does that.
Speaker 2 (18:01):
I found that out the other day, and I was, like,
totally geeking out.
Speaker (18:05):
Yeah, that's cool.
Speaker 2 (18:08):
All right, you ready for my bonus?
Speaker (18:10):
Yes.
Speaker 2 (18:11):
Okay, we talked about systems, we talked about th-
these things.
Everything I just told, talkedto you about all happens in
bottlenecks on because we haveweak accountability, and this is
the biggest one for us as solos,right?
We are our own worst boss.
We are.
No one is telling us and keepingus accountable.
So whether you're not beingconsistent, whether you're not
(18:34):
taking the time to think,whether you're doing things over
and over again that you couldhave just made a process, part
of the biggest thing is that wehave weak accountability.
So one of the good things youcould do is, is have an
accountability partner.
That's always great.
part of why I have a peercommunity is we help hold each
other accountable.
But one first action you cantake that doesn't rely on
(18:55):
another person is have oneweekly metric, the key number
that you personally sh- check.
I just actually put Monday,Tuesday, Wednesday on a piece of
paper, and I just do hash marksevery time I do that key metric.
It might be new conversationsstarted, it might be those
follow-ups completed orappointments set.
(19:16):
Whatever is that one metric thatyou know,"If I just keep doing
this, I'm gonna move thingsforward." And it can change,
right?
You look at the 90-day, what'sthe most important thing?
You might have one metricrelated to that.
Speaker (19:29):
Yeah So
Speaker 2 (19:30):
figure out what your one metric is and where you will
track it.
it's right here next to me as mylittle hashtags on my big giant
Post-it,'cause I have...
I started with one metric, and Irealized there were a couple
others that moved the needle.
And when I do those things, mybusiness works, and when I
don't, it doesn't.
Speaker (19:46):
That is smart.
I was doing a, one...
It was a month ago, I had aworkshop on, building repeatable
revenue and, the little systemsthat you can build in.
it's just money math.
if you need to close fiveclients over the next two
months, how many warmconversations do you need to
(20:07):
have a month?
Just put it on a Post-it, keeptrack of it, and it's just, an
easy thing that you can do.
Speaker 2 (20:13):
We don't need a fancy spreadsheet.
We don't need a fancy metric t-tracking system.
It-
Speaker (20:19):
Dashboard
Speaker 2 (20:20):
right, because that will get you bottlenecked and
stuck figuring out,"What do Ineed to do?" A Post-it.
Speaker (20:27):
And it's right there, so you're visible and you're
constantly looking at,"Okay, sotoday I need to do two
outreaches to hit my goal."
Speaker 2 (20:35):
Yes, exactly.
So Sarah, hopefully we can allloosen up those bottlenecks a
little bit and s- take these fewpowerful but simple actions to
move us forward.
Speaker (20:45):
Yes.
So before we go, can you telleverybody how they can work with
you- Sure and where to find youonline?
Speaker 2 (20:53):
Yeah, no problem.
So one of the ways, again, Iwork with a lot of fractional
COOs, so if you are one andyou're listening or you know you
need some help with this and youwould like to get access to a
fractional COO to flip yourbusiness into being, productive,
what I would say is go to mywebsite.
It's hamiltoncoos.com, and Iknow we'll put it in the show
notes.
(21:13):
I have a couple little ways thatyou can actually start getting
some help with this for free.
Once a month, we meet in a peerroundtable.
So as I shared with you, I lovementoring and learning from
others, so we do a monthlyroundtable where we are
addressing some operationalchallenge that we can hear from
(21:33):
others that are like us.
"What did you do to fix it?" Andwe get to also share with them
and contribute to each other, sothat's a fun way to do it.
Yeah.
I did, In preparation for this,I actually made a one-pa- it's
actually a lit- probably alittle bit bigger.
But I took all of these ideasthat we talked about, and I put
it into a document, which I'mmore than happy to share.
(21:55):
So if you're listening andyou're like,"You went too fast,
Jen," or,"What was that onething I need to do?" go ahead
and email me and just say,"I wason Sarah's podcast, and I would
love the three bottleneckfixers," and I will send that to
you.
Speaker (22:08):
I will put her email in the show notes so it's easy to
contact her.
Thank you so much for joining metoday.
Speaker 2 (22:14):
You are so welcome.
Thanks for having me.
Speaker 4 (22:19):
If this episode made things feel a little more
doable, I'd love to help youtake the next step with the
Booked Out Blueprint.
It's a practical, low-pressuresession to clarify your offers,
your marketing, and whatactually moves the needle.
You can book yours through thelink in the show notes.
You don't have to figure it out
alone.
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