Sarah Luebbert 0:04
So with my first VA, I went back and apologize to her because I realized how bad I wasn't onboarding her. So she ended up having a podcast business and a virtual assistant business, her podcast editing business, like exploded for her. So she had to shut down her virtual assistant business because she just didn't have the time for it. But she did refer me on to one or two people. And I did interview those individuals. But I learned in that interim that the best thing that I could do to save myself and others was to build an onboarding process for the virtual assistants. So I actually did that in our project management system. And because of our project management system, there's a lot of YouTube videos you can watch and different things to learn how to do it. So I geeked out one weekend, just totally nerded out and spent the entire weekend building an onboarding process, and then started building all of the other processes within my project management system.
Monica Pitts 1:05
My name is Monica Pitts. And with me today I have a guest I have Sarah Luebbert, who is the president of Vital Strategies, LLC. Now, actually what is cool story is that Sarah got our email about virtual assistants, and finding the virtual assistant unicorn, where we interviewed Emily Regan. And you can see that it's a past episode and Emily's like really good at kind of breaking that down for us. And she was like, Hey, I recently hired a virtual assistant. And there's a lot of prep that goes into hiring this type of person. Do you want to talk about that? And I thought, Yes, I want to talk about that. Because I see questions about that all the time out on my Facebook groups, and that kind of stuff. Like, people were like, I want to do this. But now I don't know the next step, like. So we're bringing Sara on, and she's going to tell us all about it. Okay, so I'll stop talking now, Sarah, and I would love for you to introduce yourself and tell us a bit about your business.
Sarah Luebbert 2:47
So I'm, as you mentioned, my name is Sarah Luebbert. And I am the president of Vital Strategies, LLC, and we are an association management company, a very small team. And we have about six clients right now, we just took on our six clients last week. So that's really exciting for us. All of our clients are physician groups, except for our newest one. They're also all nonprofit associations. So for us, that's a, we're working with a small budget for everybody. And so always trying to make the most out of the dollars that we have coming in and out. We I actually started vital strategies. Almost three years ago, during the pandemic, I was blessed to have a job in which I was able to build a small association management company inside of the organization I was working for COVID hid and budget cuts happened and I basically was part of the budget cut and then went on to start my own company using some of the the work that I had built in the previous organization. So it's been a blessing for me. And I now have a virtual assistant, a social media, part time contractor, a part time employee and then also just took on another part time contract employee as well. So we are growing every day it feels like and always in the need for additional assistance and help with all the work that we're doing. So can you tell me a little bit about the types of work that you do?
Sarah Luebbert 4:29
So we manage the nonprofit associations and we do everything from financials to event planning websites, newsletters, social media, basically, everything that you can do as an association with a full time staff we are doing for each of these organizations as a part time contractor for each of them.
Monica Pitts 4:52
Now up one one question about your backstory. So this is a really specific niche, you know, like orange ish. I don't know how people want to say either way, very specific, like little slice of the what makes the world work pie. So what like what got you into working with nonprofit associations like where did that start
Sarah Luebbert 5:16
actually done nonprofit association work my entire career other than the five years that I worked for the State of Missouri, but I had one of the best jobs there because I worked in the Division of tourism. So the rest of my career has all been in associations throughout Jefferson City. And we have I was a Job Hopper, honestly. And I got to experience so many different pieces of the association sector. And then I discovered that there's this thing called association management. And so I always thought, in the back of my mind, this would be so much fun, I would love to do this. But it takes a lot of guts to start your own business. And I never thought that I would have the guts to do that. So but then it just kind of fell, I don't want to say it fell into my lap, because I did work really hard to build up what I had built in the other organization. So for me, it was really just a massive blessing at a time where there was just nonstop turmoil in the world.
Monica Pitts 6:18
Yeah, we definitely had some interesting decisions to make, it MayeCreate during COVID, as well. And there were times where I was like, You know what we're doing okay. But we're all just like, kind of emotionally broken. And so we would do things like sign up for trainings, and just like, do different things to keep our minds fresh and, and taking in new information, when we weren't, like, out, just experiencing new information the way that we previously had. So it's definitely a shift, but one that like, sounds like get, like, rolled into something pretty great for you. Now, um, so I know that you're a lover of productivity hacks, and I love productivity hacks, etc, especially as we've now transitioned to a four day workweek get me create, like, we got to get stuff done. Like it's got to get done, like efficiently. And so I wanted to know, like, what's your favorite hack or tool? Like, what's the one that you're like, man, if people did this, if they knew this,
Sarah Luebbert 7:17
so we actually, I would have to say there's two that keep our team kind of going and flowing. One of them is our project management system. And if you can completely geek out on your project management system, it can do so much for your team. We try I hate email, I actually give presentations on productivity tools and tips. And the thing that that always causes controversy is I say, I hate email, I don't want to be an email, I want nothing to do with email. That's not reality. So we do a lot, we have an email inbox for each of our clients. So that's six, email inboxes, in addition to my vital strategies, email, so there's seven email accounts that we have to manage. But because of our project management system, my team, we don't communicate via email, everything is done through our project management system. We even have our onboarding process built into the project management system. And I can talk a little bit more about that and a little bit. But we literally communicate only through the project management system. And then the second one that helps us manage those emails and all of those inboxes is called sorted. And it is for shared inboxes. And so basically, it allows my integrator to go in and divide up the emails that are coming in, based on who would be handling those different emails. So it's a it's a really big asset for us, because it's not everybody going in and digging through the inbox. It's one person going in, and sorting things out to who they need to be assigned to to work on. It also allows us to communicate between those between each other without having to forward and resend and all of the different things for the different emails. So there's a little message center that we can communicate with each other. So those are probably the two that if I had to cut everything else out, those are the two that I would continue to keep.
Monica Pitts 9:17
And are they are they're paid tools just out of curiosity.
Sarah Luebbert 9:22
Yeah, project management system, you can actually get a free version. But it's definitely worth it to do the upgrade to a paid version and then the email inbox management, I do think that they have a very minimal cost. I don't I want to say it's like maybe five or $10 a month, so very affordable for anybody, and definitely worth the time, because time is money. So for your time, it definitely saves you in the end. That's awesome. Well, thank
Monica Pitts 9:54
you for sharing those. I always like to hear about new tools and tricks that people can use to I use technology to solve communication challenges, right? Because that's, that's our universe now is. So you have a few different part time hires, it sounds like and did you say you have another full time person too, I should have written that down. But everybody is part time for me at this time.
Monica Pitts 10:21
Okay. And then, but what made you decide that one of them was going to be a virtual assistant, and then some of them are contractors, and some of them are, are I like, I want to hear kind of what how that that role.
Sarah Luebbert 10:35
So when vert, when Vital Strategy started almost three years ago, we actually had, it was just me, it was me managing everything. And after the first year, the end of the first year, I was very overwhelmed, I was working 10 to 12 hour days, pulling my husband into things, and just still overwhelmed. So when I got rid of I ended a contract with a smaller client to take on a larger contract. And I knew at that point in time that I was going to need some help. And it wasn't something that I could do. So with that kind of change in the future coming that I knew of, I wanted to basically take the opportunity to start experimenting with virtual assistants because like you, I'd heard about them, but really didn't know who they were, what they were, what they could do. And I had the mindset and still do, unfortunately, that nobody could do anything as well as I can within my business. And that's something I'm having to adjust every day, I have to check myself on it. So when I went out to look for the virtual assistant, it was kind of just a small task of okay, what can let me test it, let me do some research, I went out and looked and I found my first virtual assistant company was actually just kind of a pay per task. So you bought credits, and each credit got you 15 minutes of work, I had a lot of work in which I was comparing Excel spreadsheets to see like membership, if people had followed through on membership campaigns that we had sent out for renewals, different things like that. And that was easy to hand off to somebody else. But it was also not super convenient, because you didn't know when they were going to get back to you, at least with this first company. And it was like I was constantly having to explain the same thing over and over again, each time that they handed off a project to somebody else. So for me, that was a little frustrating. And I thought this really isn't working, I think I need something a little bit more consistent. So I went to a another company that was bigger, and I think it was a little bit more managed. However, they did use overseas employees, they used overseas virtual assistants. And while it's great to be able to offer that those opportunities to countries overseas, we personally, I have to have everybody sign a nondisclosure agreement, because the information that we're working with is potentially information that people would like to get their hands on to sell. And so we have to be very careful on what we who we give that information to. I wasn't sure how that would work with using somebody overseas if a nondisclosure agreement was, I guess, enforceable if it was somebody Yeah. So we I just kind of after giving them the few tasks that I could give them, I decided that I needed to try something different again. So there was a podcast that I listened to outside of this podcast. There's another one that I listened to that specifically for entrepreneurs. And she was talking a little bit about a virtual assistant. And then she has a Facebook page. So I went on to her Facebook page. And I did this backward. I didn't do a very good job of this my first time around, because I didn't know of anybody who had done it to be able to ask them questions. So I went out looking for somebody kind of posted just a brief job description, and what I was willing to pay per hour. And I ended up getting a lot of responses on the Facebook page. However, when I followed up with those people as just sending them, you know, direct messages through Facebook, I ended up not hearing back from probably half of them, which was very frustrating. So then I had to narrow it down from there. There were several people who said, Oh, yeah, I'll get you a proposal. And then they it was two weeks later, and I still hadn't gotten the proposal and I said, Okay, I can eliminate you. So I ended up doing only about four interviews out of probably 20 people that had reached out to me, and that's kind of where it started. And how I found my first virtual assistant who unfortunately was only with me for six months. And that was another lesson that I learned so I'll stop there for no,
Monica Pitts 15:02
I really. So one of the things that I like about this story is that, you know, you grew through the experience, and you just did it, right, you did it regardless of whether you knew how to do it or not. And we're all going to make mistakes, right. But I do also like that you when you were eliminating your applicants, you looked at the behaviors that they were having towards you, and you were like, Okay, look like I because I believe in second chances. And I believe that everyone is amazing and good, and that humans are actually inherently great, right? But when you don't respond to me for two weeks, you're telling me that you're never going to get anything done on time, and that I am not important. And so therefore, while you are amazing, I shall eliminate you from running. So I like how you like trusting your gut. And you just went with that, because I think it's really hard for people to do especially initially, because they, they meet somebody, they interview them, and they decide who this person is. Because they want them to be that way, when in actuality that the person is who they are. And that's perfectly fine. They just might not be the right fit for your company. Right? Exactly.
Sarah Luebbert 16:19
Because we're very deadline driven, we have a lot going on at all times. And so deadlines are really important to the work that we do. So like you said, I knew that if I couldn't get a response from them in two weeks, and I'm having to follow up numerous times to get information from them, they were not going to fit the tasks that I had. Other people were wanting, you know, anywhere from 50 to $100 an hour to be a virtual assistant. And this was literally work that it was very base level work. It was comparing Excel documents, it was data entry. And that's not something when you work with nonprofits, you can't charge $100 an hour for work. So for me, I knew that those people were a pretty easy option to eliminate. And I did go with my gut on I kind of narrowed it down to about three people. And the one that I chose just seems like a good fit. We, my gut said, This is it. This is it. So there was another young lady that I really would have loved to have worked with, but she just wasn't responsive, we would go I would go days without hearing back from her. And so again, I knew that just wasn't going to be the right fit for me.
Monica Pitts 17:28
And it sounds like your tasks are almost like what at first, they might have evolved over time, right. But it sounds like right now, or at that point, your tasks were more like intern level tasks, they were pretty simple things. They were just a lot of busy work that you didn't have time to do on your own. And you knew that you could delegate with some instructions. I mean, those are the things that I delegate to my 12 year old.
Sarah Luebbert 17:54
Yes. And that's exactly what it was recording social media analytics and website analytics and email, open rates, that type of stuff. We do that for each of our groups every month. And like I said, comparing Excel spreadsheets to kind of see who had renewed and who hadn't renewed in our membership campaigns, just different things like that, that were very base level. And I needed somebody that just had the time to do it. And I don't care when it's done. I just needed somebody that was able to get it done by the timeline that I needed it done in and as a contract worker, you can't dictate to them. You can't tell them that they have to work specific times you leave it up to them. And as long as they meet the deadlines, that's something that you just have to go with. And it was it was a learning curve. So with my first VA, I went back and apologize to her after because I realized how bad I was at onboarding her. So once we got once, so she ended up having a podcast business and a virtual assistant business, her podcast editing business went, like exploded for her. So she had to shut down her virtual assistant business because she just didn't have the time for it. But she did refer me on to one or two people. And I did interview those individuals. But I learned in that interim that the best thing that I could do to save myself and others was to build an onboarding process for the virtual assistants. So I actually did that in our project management system. And because of our project management system, there's a lot of YouTube videos you can watch and different things to learn how to do it. So for me, I was able to build a geeked out one weekend just totally nerded out and spent the entire weekend building an onboarding process and then started building all of the other processes within my project management system that I was using. And then that way it kind of was a an easier fix for when I have somebody new picked out so I wanted to make sure that I was prepared for them. And I think That's the biggest thing is just knowing your you have standard operating procedures, whether they're videos, whether it's, you know, documented in a project management system. So it's step by step tasks, or if it's written out, I am somebody who does not have the attention span to be able to sit through a ton of like reading through a standard operating procedure. So I try to make it a little bit more hands on for others, so that they can actually see how things are done. And I feel like if you're not just reading through a list, it kind of sets in your mind a little bit faster, and you have that memory as well, the next time that you need to do that process. That's not to say I don't have standard operating procedures in writing, because I absolutely have those as well. But yeah, that's something that I would recommend, if you're going to be working with a virtual assistant, your first task is really to sit down and figure out what you want them to be doing. And then from there, it's building the processes that help them to be able to work on those projects. And if that's learning a project management system, learning an email integration system, if it's learning a database, all of that stuff, just have that stuff, front and center and ready for them whenever you bring them on. And you can actually get a virtual assistant up and running within just a couple of days, which I think is a lot faster than you can get most employees up and running just because if everything is well thought out, there's not a lot of distraction, and you just get them going.
Monica Pitts 21:23
I like how you put your onboarding into the system that they're going to use anyway, because like, they're going to be in your project management system. So they're going to have to learn how to use it. And if that's where your housing everything, I think it's super smart that you put it there, because just that in and of itself is actually a training, the fact that they have to get to their training in the project management system. And I know that's one of the challenges that we have, and MayeCreate with like so many different resources for so many different things. I mean, we have some of our stuff that are all like video tutorials that are housed at, you MayeCreate that calm that are for our client trainings, and are better than DIY website program. And then we have stuff that like the account service people, they like to keep everything in Google Docs, which is fine. But my brain does not like to find things in Google Drive, because it can never remember what they're called. And then we have our designers and they have what they call the wiki. And so they put everything up into the Wikis so that way, they have all their scripts. It's just like, everywhere, right? And so for a new person coming in, it can feel like really overwhelming. And honestly, for myself, personally, I have Milla note and I have created like these boards have all the links to everything that I need, because all the stuff is everywhere. And I touch everybody's jobs. And so I'm like, alright, I'll just make my own little web page over my planner board so I can find everything I need. And I'm like, well, Sarah's got it going on. She's got in a project management system. Oh, we got one of those two, as we do. But do you use it thoroughly? That's the question.
Sarah Luebbert 23:08
Yeah, actually, like a few few I say a few years ago, like it had been six or seven years ago, one of our account service people quit and I had to step in and like do account service and like doing things on a timeline like that, like running a timeline. This is not my forte. So it's not something that I ever do. Because I choose to do it like it's it requires so much brainpower for me to do this thing, right? So I would get in there. And I would be like, wait a second, they just email me at my normal email. But now I have to copy it out of the email. And I have to paste it into the project management system. And then I have to assign it to the designer. What did it just been easier if it just all came in and out of the project management system. And so that's where my brain was like, whoo, though, that we do not use this thing the right way. And so then it had to be like a culture shift in our account service department where I was like, I am going to enforce this because this is going to save us so much time. And there's some there is some challenge because clients won't always just ascribe things. They, they get revisions, and they give information the way that they think of it right. And so it sometimes it's very incomplete. You know, they'll just be like, update the contact information on my website. Yeah, well, it's listed on your website, like 18 places, and there's 18 different types of contact information. So which contact information on which pages? Would you like me to update? Or is it all of it, right? But so that'll come through the designer. And then they'll be like, I can't do this task, you know, so that's confusing to them. But then on the other hand, there's some times where when they see the exact words that the client says it has a lot more meaning than if I interpret what you've said, right? Like if I'm just paraphrasing something and putting it into the system, it's not Same thing as what you said, right? In your exact words. So I think it's, it's tricky. And then there's that lag, right? They can't do their task, because they're waiting on me to copy it out of an email and paste it into the system. This is lame. This is really lame. We don't want to do this. So anyway, you're really smart, you put it into a system that you use, and you use a project management system to its fullest capability. So I love it. I love it. So with your VAs, when you when you went and found your like, the one that you have now, where did you find them out of curiosity.
Sarah Luebbert 25:38
So my current while my second VA actually is now my part time employee, okay. And this kind of goes back to the, to the podcast where you were talking to the virtual assistant company. So my virtual my second virtual assistant, I actually found her long story short, my husband changed jobs, his replacement had just moved to Missouri from California. So his wife was looking for a part time job. So she was my second virtual assistant. And it was really nice to actually have somebody located in Jefferson City where I am so that we can meet, you know, once a week for coffee, I met with my accountant at the end of that year, sometime, I guess, around tax season, so probably February, or just a couple months after my virtual assistant had started. And she said, now make sure that the app because the IRS requires that if you're going to have a contract employee, a contract worker, they have to have a second source of income coming in. Otherwise, they are considered an employee. And I was like, oh, that's sigh she she doesn't have as another source of income coming in. So I ended up making her part time employees. So that's something to keep in mind that they do have to have other sources of income or have another responsibility. Because if they're really not working for anybody, but you then the IRS will categorize them as an employee. So I made her a part time employee, and then we grew again. And so I had to find a virtual assistant again. So the new virtual assistant is actually the sister to my first virtual assistant. So I went back to my first virtual assistant. And I said, Hey, do you know of anybody that would be interested, and she was actually my sister would love to work with you if you're interested. And so I called her up, we had an interview, and I loved her. And she has been with me for almost a year now. And again, she because I had everything in our project management system. By that point, it was a fairly easy onboarding process for her. And between the three of us we communicate either via text message, or through the project management system. And then I also have a contractor, a contractor that does social media. So I don't know if he would consider that to be a virtual assistant. But he does all of our social media design work. And then he uploads them to our social media scheduling service, and then I approve them and send them out. So I guess I potentially have two virtual assistants, if you want to look at it that way.
Monica Pitts 28:17
Yeah. So the virtual assistant that's like your technical, not your social media contractor. What kind of tasks do you have her work on for you? Then what do you consider like virtual assistant tasks, like if somebody's trying to offload stuff?
Sarah Luebbert 28:35
No, she does a lot of I call her the closer on things for us. So because we plan a lot of events for reaching out to a lot of speakers, we have a lot of processes that we have to go through in order to get education, continuing medical, medical education for our physicians. So it requires them to work on a lot of different like the speakers have to fill out several forms. So she's that person that follows up with all of them. And we have a very streamlined system in that we track everything that each speaker owes us and where we stand with that within the project management system. So she can easily access that and see who still owes what and then she can reach out that to them via email. And to avoid the confusion. We literally just have the one inbox. So most of the time people don't know necessarily who's communicating with them. And if so, it works in those kinds of processes, because it's not a long term relationship. It's a short term relationship. She does all of the membership, like the work that we have to do to compare and see who's renewed after campaigns. She does all of the documentation for our social media, our websites, all the things that I mentioned before, um, but she's also started doing getting a little bit more integrated into the daily work. And so she's doing a few more projects that are kind of Due to day projects for us, but one of her biggest tasks is what I consider to be an integrator. And that is taking the emails and like going through our inbox and assigning them to people. So that's one of her big projects every day is going through those six inboxes. And assigning things out to people and just kind of letting us know if there's something that needs immediate attention. She'll leave us little notes. If something does need immediate attention, but it doesn't have to be done right now. She'll put a little urgency sign different things like that. So those are probably her biggest projects right now. And then she just has kind of a hodgepodge for us. So when one of us has something going on, and we need her help, she jumps in and help. So she probably works for about 30 to 40 hours a month with us. And then she also has another part time job. And then she's raising three little kids, so she stays very busy.
Monica Pitts 30:54
Those cash, it sounds like she's really good at prioritizing things at time management, like she sounds like, she's very skilled in those in those areas, like she's more than just my 12 year old, you know, because my 12 year old, you know, I handle the tasks, she sits down and she does them. And it sounds like your virtual assistant is a little like pretty self managed on a lot of things. And she has to keep track of a lot of details. Like did they send back these items? So she has that follow through to like, go through and get stuff done? And not everybody has that. But it sounds like she does that makes her really valuable?
Sarah Luebbert 31:39
Yes. So I think that depends on what level you need. So she actually was in quality control in a previous job before she had kids and became a stay at home mom, she was in quality control. So she has that kind of mindset. And then we recently I had her and my part time employee, we all took the StrengthsFinder course or not the course but we did the book and the quiz and and then I sat down and analyzed everybody because I wanted to see where their strong points were. Because I want to be able to give everybody the tasks that work best with who they are and how they work. So that was really nice to be able to see that what I was giving her was actually the stuff that she is probably the best at doing. So it worked out well for us. But like you said, Not everybody's going to be able to go in and, and stay on top of things like she is. But yeah, she's just kind of our, our closer our cleaner, I guess is a good way to put her is a good way to categorize her. So she cleans up the inboxes and things as well.
Monica Pitts 32:39
Now I'm I've to two other questions for like when you set her up with when you when you hired a virtual assistant, do you have a contract for that? Or how does that work? Like what kind of paperwork is exchanged? Or is there any?
Sarah Luebbert 32:56
Yes, so we have a contract. And the way that my contracts are set up, or the way the contract was set up with her is that we kind of set a set number of hours, we chose 30 hours a month for her work. And it's just a flat fee. And then if she goes over or under those hours, we just, if she goes over the hours, we I just pay her for the extra in the next month's paycheck. And if she goes under those hours, we just kind of keep track of that, and it rolls into the next month. And all of that is kind of outlined within the contract. It's a one year contract. And I'm hoping she'll renew with me because she's fabulous. But it is you know, it kind of gives her and I both a set of guidelines because I would I think for her sanity, she has to be able to know how many hours she's committing to something. And then for my safety, I have to know how many hours I can give her worth of work to sign. So it kind of helps to balance everything out. And also manage expectations. Because I think that's really important just to be able to manage the expectations
Monica Pitts 34:03
I have in the past, like when I hire on new designers, especially if they're really young, and they don't have a lot of experience working in an office or if there's any doubt. Any doubt, I will put them on a three month contract to start. And then we reevaluate. And if it's not working, it's just not working. And then everybody has the opportunity to move on if that's not the right thing, and it has happened a few times, you know, they, they, we thought they could do things and they just couldn't really do it. And then that doesn't doesn't work. There's certain things that we're really good at training. Like if you need to learn how to code we can train that but we're not a university who trains you in like color theory and spatial awareness. We can do some training on it, obviously because there's art direction but if you don't come in understanding, like to some degree what something good looks like. We're gonna have a problem So yeah, I think, just as a suggestion to all of you listeners out there, like if you have any doubt, but you need to put somebody in place right away, put them on a shorter contract, because then it forces everybody to evaluate it.
Sarah Luebbert 35:15
Okay, so and that's, that's a good point because all of the contracts are the contract with my virtual assistant has a 60 day out clause. And so basically, that gives me the opportunity to look for somebody else, if I know that I'm going to be cutting like ending this contract because it's not working out. And then it gives her the opportunity to say, you know, in 60 days, or maybe it's, it might even be a 30 day, I think it's a 30 day out for that one, because it is something that you can pretty easily stop that work. So a 30, day out clause is always beneficial or a 60, day out clause, whatever works best for
Monica Pitts 35:50
you. Because you cannot replace an employee in two weeks. I don't care. I want to know like what moron created the two weeks notice? Because sometimes when people give me two weeks notice I'm like, Have I not taken care of you like while you've been here? Like what kind of an evil plan? Have you been asking? Like, because there's no way like, I'll look at the next two weeks in my life. And I'm like, I have to find people, I have to interview people. And I have to train people to be able to do your job in two weeks, not possible. Not possible. So I love that your contract has a 60 day or, or a 30 day out clause, because like in 30 to 60 days, you really can get a lot of stuff done that way. But it's just to take time to like get your applicants and and get the ads out and get them like reviewed. And
Sarah Luebbert 36:39
yes, it is. I agree with you two weeks to expect to fill a position, even if it's a very base level position, it's not going to happen, it's going to take you two weeks to pull together a job description, it's going to take you two weeks to get that out. And that doesn't include the time that it takes to give people to respond and different things like that. And so I think it's really important also to make sure that when you're working with the contracted Bas, or any contract workers is just to make sure that as you're doing things, you're kind of tracking that and our project management system is great for that. So if I do need to find a new virtual assistant, I can go back and say, Okay, what tasks did I assigned to her, so that I can kind of create that job description. Because the first job description I did was fairly generic. And now I could go back and do a lot more detail and figure out specific areas of expertise that I really needed a VA to be working in.
Monica Pitts 37:34
So my last question for you is about communication. And I know that you guys use your project management system really well. But is there additional communication? You guys have like any suggestions that you have for communicating? The especially especially at the beginning, it's like, I feel like at the beginning, you know, once again, people have the imaginary person that they hired. And then they have the actual person that they hired. And the imaginable the imaginary person can't do. What they get, the actual person can't do with the imaginary person is supposed to be able to do. That's what I was trying to say. Right? So communicating that and getting them to the point where you need them to be. So the work is like accurate and usable. Like, yeah, I want some advice. Yes.
Sarah Luebbert 38:22
So we actually have what we call a team call once a month. So it's the three of us that are more consistently working on the projects, getting together on a zoom call and talking through all the different things that are coming up everything that's ongoing, and then me kind of giving them a heads up of what may be to come. And then they ask questions of us. They asked you know, we we just talked through everything. And I think that that has probably been one of the best things that we've done is just setting up those team calls. And then I also have a call just with the virtual assistant once a month. And we basically go through I kind of asked her what's your capacity? Are you you know, are the projects I'm giving you keeping you where you need to be on the number of hours, could you take on more if I know that there's more coming on, and just kind of walking her through and it's even still training. I mean, she's been working with me for nine months now. And we're still training, because I'm constantly changing what she's doing because we are growing. And you know, I'm seeing that her abilities are much more than I anticipated for virtual assistant, because I have a rockstar and so I am able to kind of give her bigger projects. And as she gets more in tune with our, you know, just day to day activities, she then is able to even take on more because things get streamlined. So for us really it's just a matter of staying in communication, making sure that from my side, if I'm entering things into our project manager bid system, I'm entering them as projects and not a task list because everything really is part of a bigger picture typically. And so it's making sure that I am communicating as much as I can in the project management system so that we don't. So she's not constantly having to come back and ask questions. And then, you know, one thing that I have to say that I was going to mention earlier, but she does all of our committee call scheduling. So working with six, six organizations, we have committee calls, like crazy. And so what my part time employee and I started doing is we kind of built a process. And once we felt like it was, I started the process, then I sent it off to my part time, teammate, and she's fabulous as well. So then she started working on it, and she improved it a little bit. And then once we felt like it was a really good process, then we passed it on to the project to our virtual assistant. And so we now have, because of the project management system, we have a very streamlined process for pulling people for committee calls and then setting getting those calls set up, and calendar invites and things set out. So communication, I think is making sure that the processes also work before you hand them off to somebody else to do and then constantly being I constantly asked for areas of improvement, are there things we could be streamlining? Are there things I could be doing better and giving feedback? Whenever there are areas maybe we need improvement on whether it's an individual basis or team as a whole? So I feel like we're constantly evolving and constantly trying to better ourselves amongst and are open communication is absolutely what allows that to happen.
Monica Pitts 41:37
I think you're right, and that the processes often do need to start like with the people who've done them before who had experience with them. It is a challenge to hand something off to people and be like, hey, now create a process and then like expect it to come together, it seems like it just never does. And so really what I'm taking away from that, like what you just described is make sure that you have like realistic expectations of what a person can do with their current skill level. And as they like mature into their position, then you can offer them more in different things. But make sure that you're training them and keeping that line of communication open continually like you are because you're always asking, Hey, you know, what can I do to improve? Or, you know, how is it going and having those those touch points? I think that's really important. I mean with, with most humans, it's good to communicate?
Sarah Luebbert 42:37
Yes, it is. But also knowing when, like I asked pretty regularly, are you ready for something new? Are you ready for a new challenge, because I'm somebody who gets easily bored. And I feel like you're probably one of those people as well. So I expect that most people are now I know that everybody isn't. But I also don't want somebody to leave me because they're bored. And they feel like they're not being used to their potential. So I feel like I'm always challenging her and giving her new projects to do. So that one, she can not be bored. And too, as I said, as she kind of starts to get through things and understand things a little bit better, she needs less time. So now she has more time that's open. And because there is an expectation that I will, that she will get this much in pay every month, I need to make sure that I'm fulfilling my responsibility as well to her and her family.
Monica Pitts 43:29
I like it, you're doing you're doing a great job managing your employees, you got it together. I love it. I love that you guys spent time in StrengthsFinder. And that you're making sure that you are pairing them with things that that they like to do. It's so funny too, because like, you know, as one of the art directors that MayeCreate, I'll get work that comes across my desk. And I'll be like, this designer hates this task. But they didn't want to say anything because you know, they got assigned it and so they did it. And then finally I'll be like city you like this kind of work. And they're like, No, I don't like it all. And then I'm like, Oh, well, here's the deal. That guy likes it. You don't so he can do it and you can do something else that is so just let me know when you're looking at it going, oh my gosh, no, because that doesn't even make any sense. You know, like, I don't want to demotivate you I want you to come to work and like doing your job and and have it be something that you get to do not something that you have to do even though we all have to do it so we can pay our bills. Exactly.
Sarah Luebbert 44:34
as small business owners. It's more important, I think, than ever to make sure that you know that you have a good team because you lean on them so heavily and it's takes a lot of time you don't have somebody to train the people whenever you have, you know that train position of staff. So for us, I think it's really important that everybody's happy. Everybody's working You know, everybody's not going to be happy 100% of the time, but if everybody's happy 85 to 90% of the time, and they enjoy what they're doing, and they enjoy the team environment, that's incredibly important because that transition between team members is such a loss of productivity time. And, you know, in the end dollars, because, you know, we, if we just have, we have to keep the doors open. So for us, it's really important to make sure that our team is happy. And you do what you have to do to make sure that that happens.
Monica Pitts 45:30
Yeah, because I agree with you, it will, it can take you, I've had it take us for six months before, you know, you get the new person and you think they're going to be great and may or not, and then you get the next person in, and you've done like how many rounds of interviews now and they're not. And then finally, the third time's a charm. But by then you've been working 10 to 12 hour days for like six months, and so has everyone else on the team to try to make up for this person's job. And you're like, Wow, this sucks. This is not good. So I love that you've done your homework, and you've really been extremely proactive in setting up your systems and and using them, you know, you don't just have systems you actually use them. So like hats off to you for going on this awesome adventure. So where can people go online to learn more about your business or your services tell us that. So
Sarah Luebbert 46:26
this is cringe worthy. And I know as a web company, part of your MayeCreate’s job, I do not have a website. I don't even have a LinkedIn page, it's kind of my business has come to me through word of mouth. And so because I manage so many other web pages, and so many other inboxes and things, I just haven't taken the time to build my own infrastructure for marketing. So shame on me. I know, I know, I know. But my email address is
[email protected]. So if anybody wants to reach out to me, or has any questions, feel free to reach out to me via email. And I will get an online presence at some point in time.
Monica Pitts 47:14
You are a like a key person or a key type of person, you're like my target market for upcoming better than DIY website program. Because you're like tech savvy, and you get it and you're well spoken. And you could totally, like rock out a design or rock out a website with some professional design help. And that's what that program is all about. I've looked into your program, so just tell Stacy to push me on it. And I do need to get signed up. I will well we're enrolling you know in October. But I don't know that this is going to this, I don't think this podcast will hit before October. But everybody who's listening, like if you're in Sarah's shoes, and you're a Sarah, then you're a rockstar and a website would be great for you. And if you need help building one, and you want to take on a lot of that, challenge yourself with some professional design help you can come hang out with us and are better than DIY website program. We will launch it again in February. So we have it in October and February. And then we do have a couple people that go through it like self study. And just like they do it on their own. I've actually had a number of people go through it that way now. And I'm like, Hmm, I feel like I'm not giving them enough service. Because you know, we are so customer service oriented. And they just self study and it works out for them. And I'm like, okay, but you gotta get a guy get be like you have to be a more special instance, you got to be maybe a little more motivated. Dedicated, I don't know, because you don't have to be like, get this done, get this done, like the entire five weeks. Anyway, so enough about that. Thank you so much, Sarah, for coming to hang out with us today. And folks, if you want to hang out with her, her email is going to be in the show notes. And until next time, go forth and mark it with purpose to get a copy of the show notes. And all those links that we just heard from our guests, head on over to MayeCreate.com. And of course, I have to tell you the things that all podcasters are supposed to tell you at the end of your episodes. Like if you thought this was awesome, you could subscribe and then I would like get to tell you when I have new stuff for you to learn a new episodes and new people to meet new stories to tell. And of course, I would really love it if you left a review. So head on over to MayeCreate.com for those Show Notes may-E-C-R-E-A-T-E.com Or maybe even contact my team about building that next website. We can do it for you. And we even have our better than DIY website program that teaches you to plan and build your own website. So head on over to make greet.com mayecreate.com I'll meet you over there.
Transcribed by https://otter.ai
