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Hot Seat: Jane Dolan

What we're going to do now is hot seat time. And with hot seat time, I think we're going to need seats. Not that they're that hot, but we're going to get some. We're gonna get some seats up here, and our first hot seat guest and volunteer is jane. I believe that, right, kid. Ana of some. So it is always a surprise. We'll come on up, please, right here. All right, wei will sit and have a little conversation around getting religious all of a sudden. So I think the idea and you know we can also feed into this discussion not just challenges issues you you have in your business or you have in your vision of a better business things you're running into but you could be it's fact speaking for a number of other people who have run into similar challenges so the idea is I wantto do what I can tow help you of course and then anyone else who's listening that could benefit from the same kind of thing now as I understand it also jae ko and jean marie were going toe also be listening into questions ...

and specifics coming in from from our online audience so we can waken address that throughout the next this segment as well as it relates tio what you're discussing with each person indeed and it's my understand we're gonna have ahh spent a little time on the small one to person business the solo preneurs we're going toe then look at ah a little bit larger business that's growing very fast and then we're also going to take a look at a large business so how does this stuff 00:01:57.438 --> 00:02:01. apply in a variety of different biz? This is a variety 00:02:01.26 --> 00:02:02. of different applications 00:02:04.12 --> 00:02:05. so this should be fun so 00:02:06.72 --> 00:02:09. you get you get a little free consulting and you you 00:02:09.59 --> 00:02:11. get to challenge me and I get the challenger right 00:02:11.7 --> 00:02:13. back those in rules all right 00:02:15.72 --> 00:02:19. so, uh, what might be a challenge or a question or 00:02:19.25 --> 00:02:22. concern? You have that that I might help with. 00:02:23.12 --> 00:02:25. Oh, john, who? What? Always start. 00:02:27.02 --> 00:02:29. But they said with data. 00:02:31.52 --> 00:02:32. Data. 00:02:34.62 --> 00:02:37. Well, so I'm representing somebody just starting out. 00:02:37.9 --> 00:02:42. I have hartwell, I'm already doing the aunt and war, 00:02:42.86 --> 00:02:45. but, yeah, but you could start out now. I understand. 00:02:45.82 --> 00:02:48. Cause it's hot. You don't have tio come in with all 00:02:48.48 --> 00:02:51. the facts and all the data and process maps and everything 00:02:51.05 --> 00:02:53. they already laid out, because that might be a takeaway 00:02:53.41 --> 00:02:57. from this. But if it's a process that's, that's struck 00:02:57.67 --> 00:03:01. your truck, your troubled with it's, it's, it's, people 00:03:01.52 --> 00:03:04. in the processor, its customer issues. 00:03:06.32 --> 00:03:09. We could talk about that and then one of the things 00:03:09.42 --> 00:03:12. I might challenge you with which I challenge everyone 00:03:12.33 --> 00:03:17. with is that show me the data perspective so that 00:03:17.58 --> 00:03:19. would mean well maybe what I need to do when I leave 00:03:19.62 --> 00:03:21. here is 00:03:23.12 --> 00:03:25. you know we don't really have a process we had this 00:03:25.78 --> 00:03:27. guy this conversation with one of the other students 00:03:27.77 --> 00:03:30. just recently we don't really have ah certainly don't 00:03:30.67 --> 00:03:34. have a standard process so we just sort of wing it 00:03:35.2 --> 00:03:37. every time we're certainly not shooting a catapult 00:03:37.96 --> 00:03:41. into a cup so the first step there would be let's 00:03:41.47 --> 00:03:41. say 00:03:42.62 --> 00:03:43. what's map 00:03:44.42 --> 00:03:46. let's get a group of people together and let's let's 00:03:46.46 --> 00:03:49. define the process and map it so it could be a process 00:03:49.96 --> 00:03:51. or could be customer issues you're struggling with 00:03:51.84 --> 00:03:53. your financial issues that you're struggling with 00:03:53.68 --> 00:03:58. is a business I don't know what for me it's it's me 00:03:58.63 --> 00:03:59. all right since I'm the 00:04:01.38 --> 00:04:04. waking up every morning and howto I structure my day 00:04:04.47 --> 00:04:08. I mean if they trace it back to that uh that is getting 00:04:08.34 --> 00:04:14. a system in place okay time with my time okay to address 00:04:14.11 --> 00:04:17. all the things that I need to get done so let's play 00:04:17.1 --> 00:04:18. with that one for a little bit because it reminds 00:04:18.99 --> 00:04:23. me of ah coaching project I had years ago with an 00:04:23.12 --> 00:04:27. executive in new york and he was he admitted he said 00:04:27.54 --> 00:04:31. I'm I'm getting in the way help me out more or less 00:04:32.54 --> 00:04:36. and so I said how you spending your time 00:04:38.15 --> 00:04:39. that's a good question 00:04:41.14 --> 00:04:42. I'm in meetings a lot 00:04:43.94 --> 00:04:46. I'm I'm being interrupted a lot getting interrupted 00:04:46.48 --> 00:04:47. all the time 00:04:49.14 --> 00:04:52. so how much time how many meetings what meetings this 00:04:52.39 --> 00:04:55. is the data thing in may show me the data he said 00:04:55.97 --> 00:04:57. I actually don't know 00:04:58.54 --> 00:05:01. so okay well we just admitted ignorance and that's 00:05:01.71 --> 00:05:05. a healthy thing so let's get the data so I would say 00:05:05.85 --> 00:05:09. the same thing to you for the next couple of weeks 00:05:10.04 --> 00:05:12. track your time you might be surprised 00:05:13.58 --> 00:05:16. I know a lot of people are because he was he said 00:05:17.5 --> 00:05:21. I had no idea what you track all the time and then 00:05:21.47 --> 00:05:23. you parade oh charted to show what you're doing the 00:05:23.37 --> 00:05:25. most of and then the next most and then the next most 00:05:25.67 --> 00:05:27. next week so you can put in a pie chart as well where's 00:05:27.49 --> 00:05:30. the biggest slice of the pie he spent his two biggest 00:05:30.63 --> 00:05:31. slices 00:05:33.24 --> 00:05:36. were interruptions and emails 00:05:37.37 --> 00:05:40. meetings was third or something like that so I said 00:05:40.97 --> 00:05:45. well let's prado the peredo people go oh what's that 00:05:45.32 --> 00:05:49. all about well let's take one of those slices and 00:05:49.8 --> 00:05:52. categorize it so let's take the biggest slice let's 00:05:52.58 --> 00:05:57. call it e mails say what kind of emails can we create 00:05:57.81 --> 00:05:59. a parade oh out of the parade oh so what are we looking 00:05:59.9 --> 00:06:02. for? We're looking for the guy critical few levers to solve problems with we found out uh, roughly half the emails he was getting were completely non value added, wasteful and with a little poke, a yoke. He could mistake proof it so that he wasn't getting those kinds of emails anymore. In other words, it was coming up with, like, a self help option for people who would normally email him. He was a bit of a control kind of a person. So he had a lot of people depending on him, for permissions, for approvals, things like. So we found ways to set up the parameters so that it allowed them to go ahead and do their jobs without all of these. These, by the way, that also solved the interruptions piece of the pie because he was getting on erupted all day long, people knocking on his door. And this and that, because they really they weren't empowered. So that this is a different situation than yours as far as you know he's got a staff and things like this perhaps and a different type of environment but the point being gaining knowledge is about knowing what we do, how long we do it and statistics and numbers so with time consider that I was thinking about that uh another session those are my questions was would that be a place to start? I'm just tracking completely just track in my time sure yeah but and that's that's a lesson for anyone any one of us I mean because when we start looking at how do we spend our time and then we start playing with things like value add non value at let me just tell you one of the biggest the house for me many years ago and I think it's a big aha for a lot of my clients is I had no idea I was wasting so much time and I'm thinking that thes e mails are all important I'm thinking that these interruptions are important in fact some cases people get juiced out of it they get like there you know they like the other day just blew by because I I I spent it but now fires and I've gotten conditioned pile of putting out fires it was almost like he habitually liked people interrupting like all of this activity but then he's there you know, fourteen hours a day he stressing out and and he's actually getting in the way of flow, which is one of the reasons why his boss's boss hired me to come in and do some some coaching with him because they liked him. They valued him. They respected him. But they weren't wanted to make sure that way. Couldn't we improve things? Very valuable employees, but getting in his own way, so to speak. So you start with this start. I will almost always say this and is start with the data. Show me the data. How do you use your time? Measure it? And then we can analyze it, and then we can poke a yoke and mistake profile. Could I do something like just to keep it super simple? Track my time and then do a chart? I mean, each activity I doing post it note and then value added non value to something. Start just start with all the activity, all activities you can just, you know, so I I spent, you know, yesterday I spent x number of hours, john, on the internet and on well and try to be make sure you set your categories so their specific and clear enough so you on the internet could mean I'm interacting via email with clients, okay? Or I'm I'm on social media network in a chat group, you know, philosophizing, penning, sending images, you know, so, yeah way start teo, break this down by saying with things like the five wise so and I love that, too. You can say, look, I think it's me, you know, it's gotta start with me so let's start with me. So why are you a problem? One of those levels of why would be time? My time management, you mentioned that. So we khun wai down to that get the data, and but time might not be the only barrier o is there. Is there another, another barrier that relates to you besides time, that that you want to talk about, explore what would be some choices? You brought one up the other day, you said, you know, I'm more right brained, and I'm a creative type andan, intuitive, and I'm so what about what could I do with that? Because I like the imagination stuff I like the creative stuff I love the artistic type stuff boy when you start throwing math and statistics at me or you start throwing some of this left brain standardized work type stuff it may I really get a little bit anxious well recognizing the value in both it's not either or you might say well how do you how do you have checks and balances built into your model your business model you are your entrepreneurial model so that you've got competency and both even if you don't personally half those competencies this is where great business leaders surround themselves with other great business leaders write about something like that if you got people who can coach and counsel you on some of the left brain stuff I d'oh and I have accountability partners that really helps me good and then I was like kind of to break everything down so if somebody you have accountability partner with you know this harder stuff like ok what do you have to show for it today it was uh what are like three things to do today that are more the quote unquote right brain okay brain whatever it is okay that of the brain project management project management type stuff time management type stuff those air left brain you know mathematical type statistical competencies and skills and they were up some people including me by the way I'm very right brained but they robbed me who that seems a little bit too tight and yet they're they're they're invaluable so we were always they want make sure we build in checks and balances so what I have to to take ways I heard for things you could continue to go after and it sounds like you are is the time management piece getting the data and doing the analysis and the balance peace making sure that we're balanced with good checks checks and balances around the kind of the right brain left brain thing that's good that sounds great awesome tokyo they're saying in jane's case since you're starting out it seems like marketing will be key john what do you recommend jane does to systemized and ensure success with her marketing I'll tell you what I'd love to see jane with her creativity before capital and who are the imagination and the gifts that you have all right because there's some very creative in clever ways to market in this day and age that we we weren't we didn't have access to like social media and branding and the and the the online market so I would search for and maybe you've got money stashed away that you can you can use to buy advertising and buy you some of the more traditional marketing methods but I'd be looking for that creativity before capital approach same same approach I'm using and we've to teo teo to build a brand image and two get the larger audience, if you will, the world to know about it. So and you've had all kinds of creative, creative options there. And with branding. So how do you all of a sudden? You know, how do you get radio shows to want to bring you on the air to talk to you? And how do you get newspaper? Journalists want to write an article about you, whether it's an online article and awful offline physical paper article. What if you wrote an article and got it published in a design magazine or something like that? So why do blogger I mean and blogging? Sure compelling story. He was blocking absolutely. And that's uh, I mean that's a great way to get people to, you know, spread the word, do it do it. Yu to a video of some of your work. There's just so many options now that you can use. And it's it's definitely helped with me, so but by getting on radio, getting on television and writing articles and getting those published and being interviewed by journalists and getting those published, you're building your image and then you want to be very accessible when people when they want to get a hold of you. You've got that website. You've got that contact information? Absolutely. Good, good. All right.