4 Day Work Week Update

Monica Pitts 0:01 Hello again, and welcome back to marketing with purpose. We promised you, after our last episode that we would give you an update on our four day work week experiment. That's really not an experiment anymore. It's like more of a permanent, evolving fixture in our office, and so with me to give you this update and some advice on how you might be able to make a four day work week a reality in your workplace. I have Miss Stacy brockmeier, my chief wearer of many hats at mayecreate say hi Stacy Brockmeier 0:33 Hey friends. Monica Pitts 0:36 So as we've been going through this journey, we've had a lot of questions about, How do we make it work? How do we get more done in a day? Because, you know, we didn't go to 10 hour days if we worked 10 hour days before, we probably still work them now, but we didn't increase our work day length, we didn't decrease the amount of vacation that we get, we didn't decrease our pay. We transition to a four day work week with the goal of everybody working the same number of hours that they did before per day, but only doing it four days a week, and that's what it looks like. And so people get really curious about that. They want to know, how can we possibly make this happen in our universe? And one of the things that we realize is not all of them were striving for a four day work week, right? Stacy, like, there's other things that they were looking for that they thought they could learn from our journey. Can you tell us about some of those? Stacy Brockmeier 1:30 I mean, I think that people really, I mean, even if you're not looking for a four day work week, you're just looking for to reduce overwhelm, to leave work earlier, or to get more done or, I mean, some people never want to work Fridays again. So it really is just making it what it needs to be for you, not necessarily a four day work week. We refer to it as four day work week because that was what was right for our team. Monica Pitts 1:54 Yeah, and I, I think that for some of us, it really is a four day work week, and for others of us. It just gives us the flexibility and the bandwidth to be able to take care of our kids when we need to, or, you know, do the well child check maybe be sick for a day ourselves, without having to take a day of vacation, right? Stacey just had that this week, and, whoo, it was a doozy, so I'm glad you can talk right now. That's exciting. Yeah, yeah, Stacy Brockmeier 2:19 my voice is all okay. It actually is probably better. Sometimes, when I'm a little gross, like the the tone of my voice sounds better on these podcasts. So you know, you won't catch strep throat through the podcast, but if you lived in my house, you've had it this week for sure. Monica Pitts 2:36 Oh, God, I'm glad that I have been afar from you. I'm not usually glad that I'm afar from you, but that strep throat thing made me think, Okay, I'm glad I'm like, a few towns over. So Stacy Brockmeier 2:46 totally brutal. But it does mean that I had the flexibility this week that I'll work Friday to make up for the day that I spent out of the office in bed. Yeah, Monica Pitts 2:59 I'm glad that you had that flexibility, though you needed to be able to be in bed, you were, for sure. Stacy Brockmeier 3:04 Because I think if I knowing myself, if I didn't have that flexibility, I wouldn't have taken the time to rest. And I think that's like just again, knowing myself and knowing that I would have just pushed through and been trying to be a superwoman. And sometimes I can't do that. Monica Pitts 3:23 Yeah, and I mean, I'm going to end up working a few hours either Friday or Saturday, because I took time off to take my kids for their well child checks this week, because our doctor doesn't take appointments on Fridays when I would normally be off. So they had to go on a Tuesday in the middle of the day. And so it just gives me the flexibility to do that, whereas others of our employees are, you know, they don't have kids, they don't have as many unpredictable things going on in their universe. And so they are here Monday through Thursday, and that's awesome for them. So a recap on how it all went. In case you haven't listened to the previous podcast. There was definitely some scratchy moments that years ago that led us to this journey and decision to transition to a four day work week. Stacy, what was going on back in like 2019 that kind of expedited this process for us. Stacy Brockmeier 4:20 Yeah. So in 2019 we had a really big team. I think we had 14 or 15 people. We were offering a ton of services. We were trying to say yes to all of our clients and yes to every need that they had. And then 2020 came, and it was hard for everyone in the entire world, not just us, but a lot of people didn't want those same marketing services anymore in 2020 because they were trying to just survive and trying to not spend more money. And marketing was one of the things that a lot of businesses cut in 2020 or they shifted and changed and did things differently. So coming out of that. At in 2021 we were like, okay, things are just going to go kind of back to normal. Well, they really didn't, and so we just made a lot of shifts, not knowing at the time that we were striving for a four day work week, but we knew we had to offer less services and have less employees and just really shift how we were doing things to make it easier, because it was just really hard. And I don't think that was just unique to our business. I think it was everybody's business. They were kind of making shifts at that time. And so over 2223 we kind of continued making shifts in that same direction and trying to make things more efficient and recognize our pain points and recognize our strengths, and also just recognizing what we didn't like to do because we were just tired. And so making those shifts to automation and to offering less services and spending less time in managing employees, that that definitely helped. Monica Pitts 6:04 And then we did end up transitioning to our four day work week in 2023 we'd been experimenting with it. Stacy and I during the summers two years prior, I two years prior. I did it one year prior, she did it, and we just felt a lot better, like we had more space bandwidth, ability to like, serve our families and our clients and our employees, when we just had a little bit more space in our our universe, really. And so we switched in May of 2023 and the first six months felt really, really good. And then in 2024 we I, we didn't hold true to the boundaries that we set for ourselves when we transitioned to the four day work week, and we started taking on some more projects that weren't exactly in our wheel of house, or we would like meet somebody that we really loved, and we might overextend ourselves because we're like, oh, we could just work a few hours on Friday to do that project. And then we started not feeling okay again. I like, pretty quick. We also had very regimented plans for when we would work a Friday in 2024 and we realized that having a regimented when we would work a Friday schedule was not conducive, because our workflow ebbs and flows. And so we would be planned to be in the office on a Friday to work on something, and it really wouldn't. We wouldn't have that much work to do. And so, and then there would be another week where it was super, super packed, and we just were having a hard time getting it all done, and so it got scratchy again last year. We didn't give up on it, though. We've made a lot of changes, and this this year now we have a more flexible Friday schedule where we do, we do work a few Fridays a year, but we've been more flexible about when they happen. Stacy Brockmeier 8:05 Yeah, we've tried to be very realistic about when the workload warrants it and when we need to work on company work. But like, there was a time in March where we had two flexible Fridays scheduled, and one we worked, and one we didn't work because we didn't need it. But that will be made up in May, because our workload definitely warrants that we're going to have to have a five day work week. And so that's the beauty of having our schedule, like made really a month or a month and a half, or sometimes two months in advance, we can kind of forecast when we're going to need those Fridays and let our employees know, yeah, and we're not springing it on them. We're trying, we try to be very courteous to ourselves and to our employees about when we work those Fridays. Monica Pitts 8:56 Yeah? Because when you're managing schedules and projects for a team of nine people, I feel like there's tools that you need to have that are going to help you do this. It's not just, you know, oh well, today we'll just work on whatever it's not it is not like that. Stacy Brockmeier 9:14 We've seen very set tools, yeah, and starting Monica Pitts 9:18 in 2019 we started putting those tools in place and really figuring out how we could leverage them so that we had less man hours into getting stuff out to people, to get them to do their jobs. And actually, we'll talk about that in just a few minutes, because there's all kinds of systems that we've put in place that you can put in place too, that will help you save so much time in the future. But yeah, so we're still doing our our four day work week, and we're still tweaking it and trying to find the things that need to be improved upon. It's just evolving. You know what I'm saying? Like nothing is done ever. I feel like just. Yeah, Stacy Brockmeier 10:00 there's always something new that you can be doing, or something new, a new way you can do it. So it's just it's ever evolving, for sure. Monica Pitts 10:10 So for those of you who are thinking about implementing a four day work week, or you're feeling overwhelmed and you're like, I need to automate some stuff, or even if you're just like, I want to work shorter days, right? Yeah, they're more done in less time. Yeah. And we have people ask us about this all the time, like, what, how do you how do you do that? And we think that the first thing that you have to do is decide what success is to you, because it's not the same to everyone, and not everyone's version of success won't necessarily even fit into the idea of a four day work week. Most people's version of success does fit into getting things done faster, Stacy Brockmeier 10:50 for sure, right? Well, we were kind of in a spot where, like I said, we were saying yes, and we were doing more and more and more and more and more, and we were miserable, you know? And so that's where we had to take a step back and look at what success was for us. So we had to decide what's in what was enough. And while we could make more money if we did, if we worked more hours or had more employees, it just wasn't right for us. Monica Pitts 11:20 Yeah, yeah, it because when you hire more employees, it doesn't just mean you're going to hire one person. Mike, even so my husband and I were talking about it, and we're busy right now. We're in our super busy season. He's like, Well, Monica, just sounds like you need to hire another designer. And, like, that would mean that I have to hire another account service person. He's like, No, and I'm like, Yes, we are at the cusp. Like, there are, like, you know, three and a half designers, and there's one, you know, point seven, five account service people. And we can't have one without the other, because I've gotta have someone who can sell the work, someone who can plan the work, someone who can schedule the work and manage the clients. It's like, no, no, no, no. That's not the answer. Actually, like, it feels like it should be, but it's not. Stacy Brockmeier 12:04 And then Monica and I have to have the capacity to manage and train those people, which is, that's a year long. Like commitment. It's, it's like, literally, like having a baby, like you're going to grow and birth of an employee, basically, well, we're going to spend that much time with Monica Pitts 12:23 them. We have actually hired a couple unicorns lately that very that onboarded extremely fast, and so it it makes you think, Oh, well, it'll be so great. We'll just, we'll get another Caitlin or another Claire. And then I'm like, no, no, wait a second, they're anomalies. They don't like you don't just happen across a unicorn, like they just, they, they, they walk into your path covered in glitter and magical rainbows every so often in and then you just have to make sure that you keep them, yes, for sure, Stacey, You were having corn like 100 years ago. Okay? Stacy Brockmeier 13:01 1414. It's been 14 years. Monica Pitts 13:04 Yes, you were like the first mayecreate unicorn. Oh, so the first thing that you really do have to decide is what success looks like in your business. So how much money is enough money? What do you want time for? Is it that you want to leave work early to go to your kids sporting events? Is it that you want to be able to do more work, you know, and then just determine what that number one goal is, so that as you're formulating the changes that you're making, you have a reason and something to lean back into and know why you're doing something. I'm I'm really big into that Stacy gets annoyed with me. I'm like, I need to know why. I think I have a little bit of millennial in me. Stacy Brockmeier 13:51 I a little bit Monica Pitts 13:53 why. This what happens when you're on the cusp. You gotta know why. Um, so as you are determining why you want to do it. I think you also have to be really aware, like honest with yourself in what your team looks like, what your business looks like, and if it's even capable of sustaining the change that you're going to be asking it to sustain. Does that make sense? Because there are certain businesses that we've worked with in the past that are very set in their ways. This is just the way that they do it, and they don't want to change the way that they do it. And Stacy finds all kinds of ways that she can make everyone happy. She does it. Is incredible how she can work with the marketing team and the HR team and the sales team and somehow solve their problems through the same website, but they're usually a couple compromises that you know people have to make along the way. So if you don't have a team that's willing to compromise, you're like instituting these changes is going to be really. Challenging. I like it. It may not be possible, because if you're afraid of change, it's just and it is debilitating for some people, Stacy Brockmeier 15:10 yeah, you absolutely have to have an open mindset, because having the, well, we've always done it this way, attitude like, does not work when you're trying to change and become more efficient, because you can't do it the way you've always done it and make it better at the same time, I'm a huge proponent for change for the better. I don't like change just to change for no reason, but like Monica said, if there's a reason why we're changing, then I really do love change for the sake of Monica Pitts 15:40 progress well, and even with our four day work week right now, in the way that we manage our projects and how we communicate with our clients, it's always an evolving spot, because people change, communication styles change. It's evolving, right? And so if we sat back and said, Well, it worked yesterday, so it's going to work today, it's like, whoa. Actually, you just shot yourself in the footprint, because you might not have a business forever, because you can't expect people to stay the same forever, right? So those closed mindsets are going to get you as you're trying to make this push for progress. Another thing that Stacey, you run into this sometimes with clients, and we don't we occasionally run into it with ourselves, even not as much anymore, but undocumented processes. Like, if you're going to start automating things, you have to know how they work, like right now, like in detail, it has to be documented, like digitally someplace, like all the components have to 10% Stacy Brockmeier 16:48 if you you can't automate something until it has, like a process that it goes through. And so if you don't have that process documented, the likelihood that you're going to actually end up spending more time automating it than it would take just to do the thing is pretty high, because you're going to want to tweak it and change it and do it a little bit differently every single time. But if you can depend on a set way of doing it, that's really, really important. So make yourself a Google doc library, put all your processes in it link to one another. It makes it so much easier to automate things if you have your process ironed out Monica Pitts 17:28 and even as we like, evolve into new processes in our business, we don't always start with an automated system. We usually don't actually. We usually start pretty manually, and we allow it to evolve as we feel it like, as we feel it out, as we go through it, and we continue to tweak and continue to evolve it until we get to a point where we're like, okay, because we knew at the beginning that we could automate we knew we could automate it to start, but it's a lot of work to automate it and get it to all work. And so we usually start very manually and feel out all those individual steps and bumps until we get to a point where we're like, okay, yeah, we're ready. Let's start automating things. We just did that with our client website reviews. We went through them very, very manually for the last year, year, yeah, and then like, six months ago, you know, it was like, oh, wait a second, maybe part of this could actually this part that we're getting really good at. This part could actually be handed off to someone else on the team with a lower knowledge level, and they could, and we could start automating parts of that. And then it was like, Oh, well, this could be there and it would so it's been a gradual, step by step process. It's not like you wake up one day and suddenly all of the project planning documents and proposals are like spit out of a spreadsheet. Magically, it doesn't work like that. Stacy Brockmeier 18:57 No, absolutely doesn't work like that. But well, and I think too, even just for our scheduling, you know, we, for years, scheduled stuff on Google Calendar, and a website project has many, many steps, and so you'd have to move if, like a project moved back, you had to move every single step. And then we got to a point where we could create all of those tasks with a spreadsheet. So then the the spreadsheet could create the Google Calendar task, but then you still had to move them manually. And then finally, I think it was 2021, we went to an actual like resource management software, where all the tasks and all the time and everything were scheduled in a software that had they're called dependencies, but basically where the tasks were linked, and if you moved one task due date, the next one automatically moved. Oh, game changer for sure, magical. It was magic, you know, so it, I mean, for years and years we use Google Calendar. Later, literally, I think from what I start for 10 years, I started in 2011 and in 2021, we moved to the work, workload, resource management software so well, Monica Pitts 20:11 and a long time like that, Google calendar was really important to us because we're visual people. Imagine that designers who are visual people, but it was a system that we used for a long time, and if we would have been married to that system and not willing to move away from it or compromise and go to another system that wasn't as visual, that or like, we went from daily scheduling to weekly scheduling, and we're like, Well, what are our clients going to do? They're not going to know that. They're going to get the update made on Wednesday. And it's like, well, we're going to get it going to get it to them by Friday. It was just but at first our brains were like, we can't do that. That's not how it's been done. And so I think that holding on to things like installed softwares or in person meetings or like your just current way of doing things or communicating with people, handwritten notes. Those are all going to be time sucks that you you may have to compromise on in order to get things done faster, like it, it's the handwritten notes man, Stacey and I had a system when she came to work for me, I wrote everything down on color coded paper in specific colors of ink depending. Like client meetings were blue, like it was a thing, and then, you know, they had to be, you know, put in the binder a certain way, in a certain place. And these were all systems that we had, but because we went through that process, then when we moved it over into digital notes and into a project management system, it wasn't as bad. I mean, remember, oh my gosh. Remember when we used to print out all of the timelines for all the projects, and we would stick them up on the bulletin board so we could see them all, and that's how, that's how we knew when things were happening. Stacy Brockmeier 22:06 Yep, it was, it was something. Monica Pitts 22:09 Imagine do that now. Do you remember Stacy Brockmeier 22:13 when we, like, went home for COVID, and we were using Google Chat, and I lost my crap about the chat software, because it was just going off constantly because everyone was chatting and, like, everything was in this, like, one long feed, and you couldn't ever find anything. And I was like, I So personally, I do not like chat anyways, like, I do think it is efficient in getting, like, quick, yes, no things. But I just lost my marbles. And so then we went to Slack, and now we still use Slack, and we have different channels for different things and different groups of people on different channels. And so just changing that mode of communication, because I lost my marbles on Google Chat. Monica Pitts 22:58 We had used Google Chat for years, years, forever, and it was just the way that we did it, and it's and it was integrated. It still is integrated in the way that we manage our email and all because we're, we're a Google workspace team, and yeah, but slack is that was great. And we set the we were like, we know how. We know what this process looks like. We know what's wrong with it. We're going to shift over to this other system. Here's how it's going to work. Everybody's going to get in. Here are the rules. You're going to follow them, or you're going to be in trouble. There are still days where I'm like, can I post about this in the MC team chat, or does it need to go in random? Like, you know what I mean, I still ask myself that question, is this an in and out chat, or is this an MC team chat, like, where Stacy Brockmeier 23:44 I struggle with that one probably more than anything, because it's like, like, this week when I was sick, I was like, I feel like, I mean, it is about being whether I'm in the office or out of the office, but I feel like it's more important than that, that I need to let people know in our like, main group, what is going on with me. So I do still struggle with that one. For sure, I ended up putting it in the main group because I felt, maybe I just needed to feel important. I don't know. Monica Pitts 24:08 I think that was the right place for that. I think it's a little different when I'm if I were to be like, I Mali's complaining, I need to go take her out to go to the bathroom. Like, Oh, okay, I'm going to be gone for like, five minutes, and then it'll be over. But yeah, yeah. So in, in all of these stories that we're telling you right now, there's like, a common thread that goes through them, and that common thread is obviously change and being open to it, but also tracking. There is a lot of data that we use to help us make decisions. And so if you're trying to make these changes in your company, yes, you can use your gut to make the decision, obviously, but when you have data to back it up, it's amazing. Totally amazing. Stacy Brockmeier 24:58 Yeah, so even just the. Year, we used our data to just to make a huge decision about our marketing. And so if we hadn't been tracking so really, Kara and I have a spreadsheet, and she uses it for billing, and then I have some extra fields in there to tell us, like that, we track where our leads came from, and the in 2486, and a half percent, 85 and a half percent, 85 or 86% let's let's be flexible. I can't remember that off the top of my head. I don't have it in front of me, but 86% of our leads came from either personal contacts, current clients, or referrals from current clients. And so knowing that that drastic, high number of our of our leads came in that way, rather than through our marketing, we had to make some tough decisions, Monica Pitts 25:54 like, does Monica keep churning out one podcast, doing podcast interviews, doing one blog a week, which takes a lot of my time, or do I shift to doing billable work for clients, which also takes a lot of time, right? And so we, in the end, decided that we were it would better serve our clients to do one really focused podcast a week, like this one, because this is something that our clients talk to us about all the time than it would be for us to turn out three or four really search engine optimized, like blog posts that are welcoming people into our funnel, like at the beginning of the buying stage right, and, yeah, hey, we're working through all those hiccups too, because I'm not, I'm not necessarily used to being a production employee anymore. Stacy Brockmeier 26:48 We're getting there. We're getting there. Monica Pitts 26:50 I'm like, which is, which is the most important thing for me to do as the CEO? Like, is it, is it this, or is it that? I don't even know? Like, I don't know. I just need to go write their text. Everybody. Leave me alone. Stacy Brockmeier 27:01 Monica, what brings you the most joy we Marie Kondo things. Monica Pitts 27:08 Well, actually, that leads us into a really good next part, right? So to find your opportunities to start automating things, or move into a four day work week, get things done faster, or whatever you want to call it, there are like four questions that you have to ask yourself, and I actually just spoke with a client about them yesterday, in a not Tuesday, in a conversation, and they kind of looked at me, and then I was like, You know what we need? I need to interview you for your text. This is not what we're doing right now. So I know that we just started this conversation about how you can simplify things, but now I need to ask you about your your consulting services so I can write about them for your site. But the questions I asked them when they were trying to figure out how to simplify were, what are you doing that doesn't yield results or revenue? You know what you have to be doing to know that? Tracking? Yeah. You have to track to do that. Stacy Brockmeier 28:07 You have to know what's happening with numbers and goals. Monica Pitts 28:12 And then the next question is, what are you doing that you don't like to do that's way easier? Like, what do you do that you don't like to do. And here's the deal, if you don't like to do it and it doesn't yield results or revenue, you have my permission to not do it anymore, and if you needed it, Stacy Brockmeier 28:33 and Monica in the blog posting not her favorite thing to do. And through tracking, we realized it wasn't yielding revenue or results so Monica Pitts 28:44 and we got back. We've done a few like service shifts like that over the years, right? And we gave ourselves permission to do it, and we you can't just call up all your clients one day and be like, sorry, we're just not going to do this anymore and cancel all your contracts like you got to do it the right way, right? But those are two really big things that you can do that will allow you to move forward, because it's not just about automating. It's also about, like, cleaning house and doing the right stuff. So the next question that I ask is, like, what do you do that feels like it takes forever Stacy Brockmeier 29:22 if you're doing something on repeat and it takes a long time and it's the same thing over and over again, you can totally automate that. Yeah, Monica Pitts 29:30 if it's something that has to be done, right, because it might not have to be done, that's other thing. And this kind of piggybacks on that last question, like, what tasks do you do on repeat that are extremely detailed? Because those ones, especially if you're Monica, how does Monica like to approach extremely detailed tasks? Stacey, Stacy Brockmeier 29:52 a different way every single time. Oh, Monica Pitts 29:55 yeah, I do. And as I do it, I'm like, why am I doing this? A different way, like, why am I even in here? You should see me in Google Analytics. Well, Stacy Brockmeier 30:07 in Google Analytics, I'm not sure you can ever replicate anything, because it feels like it moves all the time. Monica Pitts 30:13 That is true. They just reorganized, like all their navigation on the left. I need to talk to Andrea about that. Making it so confusing. I know, hey, I figured out how to make it re show up, though, in case you were wondering, I know how to make all those reports come back. You just check a box. Took me a minute, but I did find it okay. I digress. So if you are doing tasks or services that don't yield results or revenue, then we already talked about what to do with those, right? Yeah, Stacy Brockmeier 30:43 I think too you have to decide, are these necessary? Because while I don't love balancing our QuickBooks and like reconciling it every single month, it's super necessary. And at January 1, Stacy really appreciates that I do it every single month, because if I didn't do it every single month, January 1, Stacy would hate Monica Pitts 31:05 me. She's talking about herself in third person. Yeah, there is no other. Stacy Brockmeier 31:09 There's no other Stacy. It's future. Stacey, future myself would really, really dislike the fact that I do it, but it so. It is a necessary evil. It does have to be done. Monica Pitts 31:21 And there's sometimes Stacy Brockmeier 31:22 really rewarding and sometimes it's really defeating, Monica Pitts 31:26 like weird names for the different plug in vendors and softwares and stuff, and if we didn't address them within 30 days, no one would remember what they are. They might not get a bill appropriately to clients like the checks and balances would be off. So, yeah, yes. But if it is something that I so it yields results, Stacy Brockmeier 31:47 it does yield results. It totally yields results in revenue, because Monica Pitts 31:51 then we make sure that we're, like, billing the right, so it's actually a total necessary evil. It does yield results from revenue. But if it doesn't, it could be an opportunity for you to like, move on to something else and do more of something that you love, for sure, and if there's something that you don't like or you aren't good at, but you have to do it these things, yeah, yeah, for sure. Payroll, payroll, baby, payroll. Stacy Brockmeier 32:19 Yep, I still go in and I click the button, but oh my gosh, I do not have to pay the taxes like, manually anymore. So great, best decision ever. Monica Pitts 32:29 So those are like, like asking yourself those first two questions, like identifying the things that you don't like, finding the things that don't yield results or revenue based on your tracking, those are going to be things that move the needle really fast, that are going to open up time for you and allow you to make changes in your business. And then the automation part comes in with things that feel like they take forever, or tasks that are really detailed and repetitive. And so that's when you know we were saying earlier, you need to document your processes and then automate those things. Those are your low hanging fruit right there. So you have big needle movers. I feel like those are in the first two questions, and then you have low hanging fruit second two questions like, now I can start pulling some like, like five minutes, five minutes a day. I get five minutes a day back by automating this task. I get 20 minutes a day back for automating this task over here. And it's interesting how sometimes people are faced with a price tag, because we automate a lot of tasks through websites, and it might cost $4,000 to automate something, and they'll be like, Oh no, it only takes me 20 minutes a day, so I'm just gonna keep doing it the same way, I've always done it. How do you feel when they say that, Stacey, do you just want to crawl under your Stacy Brockmeier 33:44 desk? Sometimes, sometimes I do, because I think automation can be super simple or it can be super complex, like, it depends on what you're trying to automate, but to be very direct, like, if you're writing the same thing, or you're copying and pasting something all the time, like set up some email templates, or use a service. We use, a service called Text Expander, that we have tons of email templates in, and basically you have, like, a short code that you type and it fills within the entire email for you and asks you the questions for different pieces of it. So it can be really simple, those are very simple things, or it can be really complex, and you're integrating multiple systems and all of that stuff. So yeah, Monica Pitts 34:33 I agree. So some of the things that we have automated that have saved us a ton of time, and I know we already alluded to, it is estimating and then creating our pro like our work. We call them our working documents. It's our project plans that that we use the entire time. It's like the blueprint that we're going to use as we go through a prog like a project. Stacey, I want you to explain the magic behind this, because if you have goo. Google workspace. If you have access to Google Docs and Google Sheets, you can do this. Stacy Brockmeier 35:08 It's yeah. So our estimating sheet is so stinking cool. And so basically, from the get go, when I'm in a meeting with a client, like, I have a spot where I can put the pages, and then it calculates the page, like, how many pages, and then check boxes, and that calculates your estimate, so that all automatic like that, in and of itself, saved a lot of time because, well, there's no adding errors. We used to have that problem where it'd be like, Oh, we didn't add that, right? Monica Pitts 35:38 I did it. And then would be like, Hey, did you know that this plus this doesn't equal this? And I'm like, I, I mean, I should, yeah, yeah, we should, but, but it doesn't. It's not purple, and I think in colors. And so no, I Is it a purple number? No, okay, I don't know. And then Stacy Brockmeier 35:53 so from that estimate, there's additional sheets in there. And so one of the sheets calculates all of the time for each task that is created in our project management software. So in that resource management that I was talking about earlier, we have a template in there, and from the estimate, there's a list of tasks, and it tells us exactly how much time to put into the resource management software, which is totally cool all by itself. And it tells exactly how much to put in the billing software, so it like divides it all out by three and the types of work and all of that stuff. So that's really cool. And then it also has a sheet that creates our working document, so in that it moves over the client name. Actually, it creates a proposal first, and then it creates a working document, and it creates a review document. But so it puts in all the pages from the estimate, it puts in tasks from the estimate, it puts in just all of these really neat things that are required for us to manage the project really well. It puts all of those details into a Google document template that has descriptions and other details in it that are that our clients need and that our our designers need, and account service people need throughout the project. So really starting from that very first conversation where we create the estimate that's that's the starting point for all of our documents that are automatically created as we go through the process. So Monica Pitts 37:29 I could be done, because we'd been pasting, we've been copying and pasting, copying and pasting, for years, and then we had the automated proposal. That we did years ago, and then we started automating the working documents and all the other things, and it just makes it so we don't forget stuff, and so it's all consistent. And for me, especially since I do things different every single time, it's a lot better, because I would be formatting it differently every time. I literally have to look for the last thing that I did to formulate it to look that way. Because I don't even, I don't even do it. I can't even remember how I did it. I don't know, Stacy Brockmeier 38:13 yeah, and so these are now formatted the same way every single time. And so when you go through them, you know exactly what you're looking for, Monica Pitts 38:20 which is great, because in a nine person team, you have to know where to go to look for something. It shouldn't be like you're digging all over the place for this detail, it needs to be right where you think it's going to be. So I guess so Stacy Brockmeier 38:31 the add on that we use to create our documents is Document Studio. It's an add on that you can put in your Google workspace. And so super handy, super useful. Monica Pitts 38:43 Now, another automation that I absolutely love that's a complex one that we use is for all of our podcasts and blog posts. We house that schedule in air table because our project management system is not really made to do ongoing like things that happen all the time, right? It's, it's made for projects that start and finish for the most part. And we tried managing it in there, but it was not easy and things so instead, we have all that information in air table, and we really like it because it lets us see things on a calendar, which is important. But then also, you can use air table with Zapier, and I can check a box, and all of the folders and all of the documents that I need are all made for every podcast that I do, and a post is made in our website. It's linked into air table, like it. All these things happen with the check of the box or the switch of a status. Actually, I switched the status to create folders, and it just boom, and it creates it all for me. And then I know it. It takes a lot of the guesswork out of it, and it's there, and it's consistent every single time. Time, and that that was a process, right? I made it like one step at a time, throughout time, but it saves me 20 minutes every single time that I'm going to do a podcast, and so especially when I was doing, you know, for a month, that was, you know, over an hour a month that I could have back. Now, I still love it. I still love it, because they're the same every time, and otherwise they would Stacy Brockmeier 40:22 not be well, it is that thing that you know it's it's literal copying and pasting, and it takes you 30 minutes every single time you do it. And so if you can automate it and check the box and make it go in, go through the the process automatically, and not have to spend that 20 or 30 minutes every single time, and it's consistent, and everything gets done. Because I think that's the other thing like for us, for a website project, if the template wasn't there with all the tasks in it, you can bet that we're going to forget to check uncheck the box that makes a website not be indexed by Google. Well, do you know if there's a faster way to tick off your client than to not let their website be seen by Google? They own like 92% of the market share, like, if you're not letting 92% of the market share see the website, that's a problem. And so I can't imagine the little details like that that make a huge impact, that we would forget if we didn't have those templates and the automations that we do, because we'd be disappointing people, right and left, for Monica Pitts 41:32 sure. I mean, you think it's just like, oh, put the words on the page, people, so many tiny steps in between everything to make it just exactly right, so that Google loves it. It's just, and I swear there's a new step every day that every day, yeah, yeah. So we've talked about a lot of different tools that we use, and we have a whole list of them, um, and what we use them for out on the blog post that accompanies this podcast. So if you're thinking about doing a four day work week, if you're trying to automate things, if you just want to be more efficient, go out there and see if one of these tools, they we are not sponsored, like they are not paying us. We pay them to use the tools. Okay, sure, so, but maybe one of them would be right for you. And if you had questions about any of them, you can always email us info at mayecreate.com that's m, e, y, E, C, R, E, A, T, e.com, and we're happy to, you know, answer a question about one of the products that we use regularly, because we get really excited about our tools. The Stacy Brockmeier 42:38 one that we didn't mention, that I really do want to mention is, if you spend time going back and forth trying to schedule a meeting via email, there are so many tools that you can use to schedule meetings so much more efficiently, and you do not have To email. Here's my availability, Tuesday, you know, April, whatever. I don't even know what Tuesday was, April 1. I think you know, but you don't. You do not have to spend time doing those things and going back and forth. Like, use one of the meeting scheduling tools having so much time saving I Monica Pitts 43:19 use the one that's just built into Gmail, and then I get to pick the times that I feel like would be okay for me to take a meeting of this length of time. And then when they click on it, it automatically schedules the meeting. It Stacy Brockmeier 43:32 sends them the meeting link, yes, everything it is, Monica Pitts 43:36 it's just, you just saved yourself a few minutes just by doing that, it's and the other Stacy Brockmeier 43:41 person, you save the other person time too, so Monica Pitts 43:46 and they don't have to create the meeting, and then it's already on everybody's calendar. And we all know if it's not on your calendar, it's just not going to happen. Stacy Brockmeier 43:52 Yeah, but we have so many tools, so definitely check out the blog post. Let us know if you have questions. Like Monica said, we're not sponsored. We actually pay for most of these tools, but we're happy to tell you how we use them for sure, because they're pretty great. Monica Pitts 44:11 If there's one thing that we know for sure, though, and I'm sure that you gathered this through this podcast. But just to re emphasize it like automation and the evolution, it's like it's never done. It's always, it's ever, it's ever moving. So even if you pick a very small thing right now to work on, which I encourage you to do, start small, pick a little thing that you think you can automate, if it's really tricky, then you can hire someone to help you with it. There's all kinds of people that do it, but it's not a set it and forget it, because all the processes ever evolve and the systems change. So it's never done. But that doesn't mean that it's not worthwhile, right? And and don't be discouraged by the fact that it's never done because you're still making baby steps along the way. Imagine if we were still you. Compiling every single estimate by hand. Right? Imagine that we Stacy Brockmeier 45:04 it would be a full time job. It would be Monica Pitts 45:06 horrible. I can't even imagine all those numbers. Oh, and I think ultimately, Stacy Brockmeier 45:13 just remember that you have to decide what success looks like to you. It could be that you just need to reduce some of the overwhelm without hiring another person. Maybe you don't have the bandwidth to manage another person, but you still need these things to get done. It might be that you need to leave work early to spend time at your kids sporting events. It might be that you just need to get more done in the time that you're there so you have more time to get more tasks done. And for us, it was sometimes working four days a week. We don't work four days a week every single week. We work five days a week some weeks, and we work four days a week a lot of weeks. And so through the summer, we know that we want to work four days a week, and we want to spend that extra time with our friends and family. So it could mean something different for you. You just have to decide what your version of success is Monica Pitts 46:06 and take a baby step. You've got this. Just do one little thing, one little thing, Stacy Brockmeier 46:10 one little thing, just save you 20 minutes. Yeah, Monica Pitts 46:13 go out over to the blog post. See the different tools. See if there's one that can solve the problem that you're having right now, or maybe your one little thing right now is just writing down the things that you're doing that feel like they take forever, that are really detail oriented. Just make a list and then start with the easiest one like or the perceived easiest one, right? Stacy Brockmeier 46:36 Yeah, maybe the first step is identifying. That's probably your very first step, identify something that is simple to automate. Monica Pitts 46:43 Yeah, I actually keep a list in my phone on in Milla note, because then I can get to it both from my phone and from my desktop, because I have like these epiphanies in the middle of running or in the middle of the night, and I need to place a document where I'll find it again. I used to have like, a pad of paper next to the bed, but then I'd have to, like, reconcile that with the other pads of paper in my life. Stacy Brockmeier 47:10 No time for that. Monica Pitts 47:13 Well, thank you so much for hanging out with us, and hopefully we gave you some inspiration on ways that you can streamline your tasks and maybe make a four day work week or just shorter day, is a reality for your life. If you subscribe, then you'll get all kinds of notifications when we drop our monthly podcast next month, actually, we're going to be talking about the recent security updates that have been going on for websites. There have been a lot of creepy people out there doing creepy things, and we are thwarting them at every turn. I'm really proud of Rebecca and Stacy, they have been on top of this, and really the whole team has had to pitch in. And we just want to make sure that if you're a website owner, that you keep your website safe and that you're aware that these people are doing this. Sometimes we are really frustrated, because it makes us feel like, so powerless. It's like, we built this really awesome thing, and now, now it's just like, under attack, right? And we're like, we didn't make these people attack this. Why would we ever do that? If only Stacy Brockmeier 48:16 they use their powers for good. Please use your powers for good? Yeah, Monica Pitts 48:21 so we're going to talk about some of the latest things that we're seeing and dig deeper into website security, so that way you can protect this valuable asset that you have that you're using to promote your company. So once again, thank you so much for your time, and until next time, go forth and market with purpose. You. Transcribed by https://otter.ai