3 Tips for Delegating Better with Sarah Potts
Branding with Friends | Episode 31
Featuring Expert Guest, Operations Consultant and Virtual Assistant, Sarah Potts!
Watch or listen to the video interview below or scroll down to read the transcription.
Meet Sarah Potts, Virtual Assistant + Operations Consultant, Joyfully Organized
Annie: Hi there, welcome to a new episode of Branding With Friends - the show where branding meets key business topics. Here you're going to learn tips straight from the experts on everything from self-promotion to thought-leadership to inclusivity. We focus on what you can do right now to use these topics, plus the power of branding to attract your ideal clients. I'm your host branding expert, Annie Franceschi of Greatest Story Creative, I help service business owners to tell their stories and show their value through clear messaging and consistent branding. I'm also a former visiting storyteller, professional speaker, and the author of two best-selling books, “Establish Yourself” and permission to dry. And today, I am so excited to introduce you to one of my dearest friends in the business world. If you struggle with all things delegating, especially the details, you're going to love today's episode, my guest today is the incredible Sarah Potts. Sarah believes in the power of partnership. In 2014, she founded Joyfully Organized, a strategic team of virtual assistants based in Raleigh, North Carolina, and serving clients nationwide. Through her practice, Sarah is an operations consultant and virtual assistant to coaches, consultants, and service business owners who need the strategy and the support to delegate the details. Having partnered with more than 60 clients to simplify their businesses, she loves helping business owners find the time to live and grow with joy. Sarah's own joy comes from her family. Of course, her husband, Colin, kids, Ada, and Charles and their pups, she finds her balance through adventuring outdoors, on the water and around the world. In fact, she's only got one continent less between before she's been to all seven. Welcome, Sarah.
Sarah: Yay! Thanks for having me.
Annie: I'm so happy to get started. So we have to ask the first question, which is what is the seventh continent? Africa? Oh, I feel like everybody would guess Antarctica.
Sarah: I know. That would be, I feel like, a reasonable guess. But I've actually been to Antarctica.
Annie: So I feel like Africa will happen, right? I feel like it will. So, Sarah and I were just talking, and everyone - Sarah is one of the most overdue guests for Branding with Friends. Now we're, you know, on to now going into like 30 plus episodes at this point. But Sarah helped me develop this. And we want to take you behind the scenes today about what it's like to work with a virtual assistant and an operations consultant, and how much that can grow your business. I am a reformed delegator. Someone who really struggled with that. So I'm so excited to have you on the show, Sarah, because I know so many of my clients struggle with this too. And many of my clients become your clients because of this problem. So you are the perfect person to bring on if you're a coach or consultant or service business owner. And you know, you need to hand off things, but you're not sure how, or you're not sure how to do that where you can keep making money and keep growing and finding that balance in your life. So I am so excited to have you here. And I know that since we work together, you have grown your team, how many people on your team as of today?
Sarah: We are currently at eight, so eight people and right now, I feel like just a year ago there were just like three of us. So we've grown a lot this year. Yes.
Annie: Awesome. I'm so excited. Well, that is part of my team and I'm so proud of to say that I am such a fan that my new book, "“Establish Yourself”" is dedicated to Sarah and in today's episode, you're going to find out why. So in today's episode, Sarah has brought along three action tips you can use to start delegating more in your practice. If this is your first time watching, keep in mind, we're going to save that third tip for the end. So you get to hear all of the great things Sarah has to share, including a free gift for you guys. So with that, we're going to kick it off with the first thing we need to do. What is the first thing if we're a coach or consultant Sarah, that we need to consider or we need to do when it comes to delegating?
#1 Action TIP
Figure out where you’re spending the most time/energy that you don’t want to be expending.
Sarah: Yeah, I feel like this is often the step that most people get, stuck on the most is just figuring out where to start because it feels very overwhelming because people built their businesses themselves. And it kind of almost feels like their baby and they don't know where to start. So my biggest tip and which is why it's my first one is figuring out where you're spending the most time and energy in your business, especially in the places where you don't want to be expending that energy. So things that don't bring you joy, things that don't light you up, things that you don't feel like you're good at. Because like when you're running your business, there are so many things that you have to do to keep it afloat - things from administrative things, responding to emails and calendar invites marketing, and social media, like paying invoices, sending invoices, all so you get paid. There are all these things that aren't directly tied to why you started your business. So if you start by tracking your time, you can, you can get an idea of where all your time is going in your business. So you can start to figure out "oh, I didn't realize I'm spending this much time doing this specific thing in my business." But going along with that, when you start tracking your time, you'll see all the things that you're doing. And so I know I personally fall into this trap in my business where it's really nice to create a list and start checking all these things off that I did during a date but it's all these little things that are taking my energy away from where it should be. So if when you kind of start thinking about all those things that are taking up both chunks of time, but also chunks of energy, so that you don't have the brainpower to be doing, like bigger projects and the things that are actually moving your business forward.
Annie: Yeah, I think that's definitely the danger. Like, you know, there's a lot of things we can do, but, what should we be doing? And I think kind of what I heard from you suggesting is doing like a time and energy audit. One of the biggest things I teach people, I think my number one profitability tip is track your time. Yeah. And I am a reformed TimeTracker, who did not want to do that. And I read, have you read a book, it's called "168 hours?"
Sarah: I have not read it is on my list. I've heard about it.
Annie: You would love it, it's very aligned. And if you're watching or listening to this, you would love it too. Because in 168 hours, you have more time than you think. It's by Laura Vanderkam, and it is really great, because it teaches you the same ideas, just across your whole life about where your time goes, and really where life is going. I didn't believe her, but I started tracking my time just with a pen and paper. I know you and I, and other people we know, we use a tool called Toggle. We'll put it in the show notes. Sarah will take care of that with her team. But that, you know, it's so eye-opening when you start to realize where your time is going. Because you think, Oh, it's just five minutes here or there. But that five minute task was actually taking you two hours, and keeping you from spending that two hours on something that you would like really enjoy doing or something you really need to do to move that business forward.
Sarah: Yeah, exactly. And I think when you start to see how all of those things add up, you start to see why maybe you don't have energy for some of the things that you want to be doing. Because it's all of these little things that you're constantly doing in your business
Annie: I think that, you know, it's one of those things, this is one of those unexpected topics that connects to branding. But for me, the branding piece that I see a lot with clients is that they're spending all this time like thinking about what words should be on their website, or what colors they're going to use or what fonts, which if you work one time with a professional, with an expert, or invest in that brand identity guide, that brand story guide, that messaging, those fonts, the colors, the logos, that's freeing up your time and your brain to be able to do other things. But if you're constantly kind of doing these as activities, it's going to slow you down from the things you really want to do. So it's one of those indirect like, branding actually plays a big role in this that the more you can figure those things out. And I know you guys and I know you'll speak to this today, is having those branding tools also helps you be able to delegate and hand things off because you can just say, "Hey, use my brand colors, hey, use my brand fonts" instead of having spent all this time. I know that held me back from delegating, not branding, specifically. But feeling like I had to kind of have everything in a row and hand a ton of stuff to you and write a tutorial for you when you have the capability of creating a tutorial in the first place.
Sarah: Yeah, and speaking to that branding piece, just because I mean, I personally have a branding guide. And I've worked with lots of people that have a branding guide, it makes things so much easier. Because you do, all at one time have this guide with colors and you know, bio and all of these things - it means our team can then just easily go in and take all those assets, and you're not having to think about it.
Annie: Right and handing the files over not having to constantly have this back and forth. So that first thing that we should start with, if we're kind of thinking about hiring a virtual assistant or an assistant some sort of help, we need to do that time and energy audit, we need to know where our time and energy are going. So before we make decisions about it, where is it going? What is the second thing we need to do? Once we've done that?
#2 ACTION TIP
Identify what activities you’re doing that aren’t directly making money.
Sarah: Yeah, and so as you've done that, you'll start to get a bit better picture of kind of where your business is where your time is. And when you start to look at all of those things, identify what activities in your business aren't directly making you money. So it's building off of that thinking about how much time and energy is going to all those things like we were talking about emails and social media, that's not honestly what's bringing in the money. So yes, it's getting your name out there. But people are hiring you if you're a coach or your consultant to coach them to, you know, consult with them on whatever you know, your expertise is, or if you're a graphic designer to you know, design that logo, but there are all these other pieces in your business that you have to do to run a business. So what are all of those key activities that are part of your business, but that you don't have to have your direct hand in? For some people, I will say that feels very overwhelming. And so it's not that you even have to delegate the entirety, maybe you say. "I'm going to delegate all of my marketing efforts and not touch anything at all." Well, I wonder what pieces of it would be helpful to maybe have someone get started for you or have someone scheduled out for you. So there can be pieces of it. It's not the entire portion of an activity.
Annie: Yeah, absolutely. And I think it's going to get very meta for a second but this show is a really good example of that. Because I used to write newsletters, some of you who have been following me for a long time now - Oh, that I would write a weekly newsletter. And I just didn't love that, it wasn't a good fit for me. I started rethinking that when I was about to go on maternity leave. And you and I, Sarah, brainstormed together. And we, you know, I created this show called Branding with Friends and our 30 episodes. But the show is really a mash-up of all those things. It's not fully delegated, right? Like I come up with who should be on the show and pitching them and interviewing them. That's the part I like to do. So you and I doing this, this is fun. And the minute I hang up this call, I'm going to send Sarah and her team this recording, I'm going to send a couple of notes. Then they're going to work their Joyfully Organized magic and do all the parts I don't want to do. Because I took the time. And I also, you know, I created all the templates for it, I created the format for the show, I sort of produced it once, made it repeatable, and then Sarah and her team can easily repeat it for me, I don't have to be the one to do it. So it's a good example of, you know, it's not direct, you know, revenue generated. This is a free series, of course, to provide content to teach you what the value of branding is, and why it's important. Fabulous, right? So I love it. But I only want to really spend the time on the fun part, right? So I have designed a system. But you also helped me not only design that system, but to execute that system, which I'm eternally grateful for every time I finish one of these episodes, that I get to just you know, a month or two later, it pops up like literal magic, it is the best.
Sarah: I mean, I love that. I think one of the things you're speaking to, and I'll kind of tie it into branding, too, because this is one of the things I hear most often from our clients - is they have built their business carefully with a certain brand and a certain vision in mind. And they don't want to lose that by delegating it. And that's that is a real concern. And so I think by building templates, or only delegating pieces of things that maybe you know, aren't directly client-facing is a really good way to take things off your plate, while still having that, you know, high-touch point with clients still maintaining the brand that you've built
Annie: Yes. And it's always a learning process, and we're going to get to shortly. So we've kind of gone, we've been through two big things. And we have the third thing that kind of brings it all together. But before we go there, I know you brought something along for Branding with Friends guests. So what would you like to share with us if we're interested in connecting more with you?
Sarah: Yes. So my team and I have built a delegation inspiration guide, which basically goes over common areas of your business things like we've been talking about administrative marketing, scheduling meetings, different topics. And in each of those topics, we break down common tasks that people are often doing in order to execute those. And so it kind of gives you an idea of where could you start delegating, like, what are the types of projects that you could start with. So it really just serves as a an inspiration of like, "Oh, I didn't realize that that is something I could be handing off for this area, these are different things I could be handing out." So it really kind of just gives you a jumping place to kind of start thinking about delegating, in general.
Annie: Yes. And it's awesome. It's definitely born from a lot of the work that you and I did to bring your story forward, things I learned directly is, you know, with a business like Sarah's I just didn't know all the things she could do and all the things that her team could do. And now she has this incredible free guide that I would encourage you to check out if you're like I want to delegate but how it's going to be this awesome memory jogger of like, "Oh, I could hand that off, I could hand this off." And I will go ahead and sing your praises that not only can you grab that at the link that we're going to share, but on Sarah's website, set a free consultation with her and her team. Because not only this, she offers a sort of traditional virtual assistant support, she also has "project days" which are new, which is like "come in, knock something out." And she's got every one of my favorites actually can expect to branding is if you have branding done with a partner like me or another partner, and you want to roll that out and update it everywhere you're going update it in your templates, her team can help you do those kinds of things or move your website from another platform. She also has an amazing virtual assistant hotline. So if you just want to align to somebody who's techie who can help you sort out some of those technical details she and her team have gotten covered. So is that enough of a good plug?
Sarah: I mean, I appreciate it. I love it. So thank you.
Annie: I will be very honest. And any of you who know me, Sarah is probably my number one most preferred partner because I love working with her. I work with her. I think we've worked together since 2016. I think 2016. Yeah, yeah, so it's 2022 today. So it's been a long time and we've both grown our businesses and I could not have I would not love my business as much nor would it make as much or be as rewarding to me without Sarah, so I love that.
Sarah: That's what I love to hear. I love when people grow their businesses but also businesses that they enjoy and they want to be building
Annie: That's the piece with "“Establish Yourself”" and all the work we put in. You really helped me - we brainstormed a lot of "“Establish Yourself”" together which is why the book is dedicated to you and I write a lot about this process. If you want to know more about how I've learned to delegate certainly read the book because I talked specifically about how to, and how I've adjusted and just so many of the lessons I've learned about not just growing up business but growing a business in the direction you want to take it. So there are so many messages out there to just hustle and do all this stuff. And then you end up with a life you don't want. So I think, you know, your team is so big on that. My team, you know, my team, is also on that. But I'm so grateful. So I could fangirl all day about Sarah Potts. But if today has gotten you thinking, "Oh, gosh, I'd really like to streamline my branding. So I can hand it to somebody like Sarah," we should definitely have a conversation. You can reach me at greateststorycreative.com for a free consultation, always happy to talk with you. So Sarah, you've taken us through it trying to make the delegation less scary, less intimidating. It is really for everybody, you just have to find your style. Right. So the first tip I know is figuring out where you're spending the most time and energy in your business. The second step was to really identify from that what are those activities that are not directly moneymaking that could be potential candidates to hand off? If you're not enjoying them? Yep. Right. And what will be the third thing we should keep in mind?
#3 Action Tip
Realize you don’t have to be perfect to start delegating (Trust an expert to help you start to delegate.)
Sarah: The third thing I want to kind of wrap up by saying is you do not have to be perfect to start. I mean, the goal is you're hiring someone, whether it's someone like our team, or it's a different virtual system, or even if you're delegating a different piece of it that's not to a virtual assistant, you don't have to be perfect - you're hiring an expert, trust them to help lead you through the process to help give you strategy and ideas. They've done this with other clients before they have their own toolset that they're coming with. So trust them in their process of walking you walking you through the process, especially if it's new to you.
Annie: Yeah, and I am the reformed person, because I'm weird, you know, some people know they need a VA because they can't do the tech stuff. I'm somebody who can do it all. I held it all like this. And even for the first several years, Sarah will tell you that I worked with her, I would have used her for like two hours a month, like just little things that I felt like I didn't need to train. And I feel like I felt this pressure to be perfect with what I handed off. And I don't I don't know what happened along the way. I think maybe we had a meeting once and I kind of had this "aha! oh, I can just show up like a mess and tell you what's going on." And you can help me make sense of it. I thought I had to be joyfully organized before I worked with you. And that really held me back. And I think when I realized it was then, and then Marcy Reiter who's a friend of the show, and is amazing. She's a health and productivity expert, she told me that when she delegates to her VA, she does a video. And I was like, "Oh, that's so much easier. I thought I was going to have to write up this whole tutorial." So I think that's a little bit of how I got started with you. If I shoot five minutes video on Zoom, or Loom and send it to Sarah, she'll figure it out. Let's try that. So yeah, we're doing those things! And realizing I didn't have to be perfect. I didn't have to have a plan - I could see Sarah and her team as people who can help me create a plan. That was an enormous shift. Enormous! I remember, I went from two hours a month to 20 hours on average. There was my favorite month, I wrote about this in the book - that one time got an invoice for you for 40 hours. And I think some people would panic to hear that if you hadn't delegated before. But what I got from that was that was 40 hours that needed to be spent in my business that I didn't have to do that. I got to spend it with my husband with my child, and I got to have fun. And I got to sleep and I had a weekend. And I didn't have to legally live and breathe my business. I felt free to grow and do the bigger things. That was a big growth period for me when I was developing the book and other things. So it's one of those things, if you're on the fence, I will gladly like tell you all day long to delegate, whether it's Sarah or another partner, people who have it all together. They're there to help you get it all together. So thank you for converting me on delegation and teaching me how to delegate.
Sarah: I mean, and I will say I've also had to learn it too, as I've grown my own business and built a team , so that's what I love to tell people - I didn't start out knowing how to delegate either. And so I've learned over the eight years of having my business and growing my team how to delegate so that I can then turn around and work with clients in this in a very similar way able to say, I've gone through this process. I know it's kind of hard or you don't know where to start. But we're here to guide you through that process and make it less overwhelming.
Annie: Yes. And I think any partner that's worth their salt is willing to say that. So that's what you want to interview for whether anybody on this call or anyone in general, you want people who are willing to help you come up with a plan that has the experience to help you do that. If they're going well. What do you want that may not be the best partner to start with from a delegation perspective? You know what you want? You're good to go. But, Sarah, thank you again for teaching us today. How to delegate details.
Sarah: Yes, thank you so much for having me. It's been really fun.
Annie: I'm so glad this was the long overdue episode. As I'm sure you'll be back sometime soon. We hope Sarah and I hope that you enjoyed yet another episode of branding with friends. So many thanks to my very special guest Miss Sarah Potts of Joyfully Organized. I hope you'll tune in next time when we're going to tackle yet another topic we're branding meets business and until then, I'm Annie Franceschi of greatest story creative. Thanks to Sarah and her team, you can find all of our episodes, branding resources and more on our website. Greateststorycreative.com
Stay awesome.
Don’t miss this special opportunity for “Branding with Friends” fans…
Grab the Joyfully Organized delegation guide here!
“Branding with Friends” Episode 31
Show Notes + Resources
Here are 3 key tips for delegating in business:
Figure out where you’re spending the most time/energy that you don’t want to be expending.
Identify what activities you’re doing that aren’t directly making money.
Realize you don’t have to be perfect to start delegating (Trust an expert to help you start to delegate.)
Resources:
Schedule your free consultation with Sarah here
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