Doing Less Better with Lazy Marketer Donna Dube

Monica Pitts 0:02 All righty. So hello, everyone, and welcome back to marketing with purpose. My name is Monica Pitts, and I am your host today. And I said my name really weird. So I'll say it again. Monica Pitts. So my guest today, Donna Dubey is a certified Director of Operations, Business Growth strategist and owner of CEO amplify. So she's got lots of credentials. But what makes her really cool is that she's a time and process master, which is I feel like something that we can all use more of, because if there's one finite resource that every business owner has, like any leader has really even just a parent, which is time, right. And so we have to make sure that we're using it and investing it wisely. So she helps leaders shift from being overwhelmed by the daily grind, to confidently steering their companies towards growth and sustainability. Who doesn't want that? Everybody wants that. That's so incredible. So Donna is here to talk with us about CEO habits that have allowed her to create, rinse and repeat marketing systems to avoid the feast and famine months while still having time to work on her business. Yay. So everyone welcome donna, donna, say hi. Donna Dube 1:15 Yes, welcome. Thank you, Monica. So happy to be here. Monica Pitts 1:19 So I know that you call yourself a lazy marketer. But you also are not like considering yourself a marketer, which I think is really exciting. Because most people have to do marketing, they don't want to do it. Like I want to design things I don't want to market. I just want to make things crazy, but I know they have to be purposeful, right? So if you're not a marketer by trade, then what are you tell us about that? Yes. Donna Dube 1:44 Yeah, good question. So I'm an operator through and through, I love to plan, I love to think ahead. I love to strategize. And I love to put systems and processes in place behind that strategy to make things easier for myself, but also for my clients. And so I find, you know, when I came into this online world, I wished it was build it. And they'll come. Yeah, unfortunately, that those days are long gone. Right. And that's not the way it is. And so it did take me some time to really figure out that, okay, marketing is something that I need to do if I want to grow this business, right? It's not going away, I can't push it under the rug, I can't hide from it. So I need to be able to find ways that one align with me and to fit within the time and the resources that I have. Right. You know, it was a trial and error for sure. It was never a straight path. But I've been able to find ways to say okay, I can do this rinse and repeat. Right? Yeah, it's easier on me. It's easier on my team. But we're still getting out there. We're still being visible. Monica Pitts 2:53 So what led you to this path of, of owning a business with a team doing this thing? Where did you start? Donna Dube 3:02 Yeah, so like most listeners, our path to entrepreneurship is probably windy and twisty, not straight and narrow. And mine is that way as well. I actually started my career in nursing. So I was an ICU nurse for a number of years. And very different from what I'm doing now, right. But there are some similarities. I don't like to think of my patients as a project. But in some ways, there were different aspects, many moving parts that were going on that I had to keep on top of. And so when I switched from doing nursing, we had kids and I stayed home with them for a bit, I wanted to get back into the workforce and online businesses were growing at that point. And so I moved into doing project management with small business owners. So I would come into their business, just to manage a certain project. But I quickly realized that so many entrepreneurs are drowning behind the scenes, right? They're working way more hours than they want to, they're being bottlenecked, a lot of what's happening in their business is being bottlenecked by them. They want to grow bigger, but they're more apt than they are at the capacity and they can't go further. And so they all look good from the outside. But behind the scenes, they're drowning their teams confused, their team isn't accountable. And so it was at that point that I realized, no, I want to dig into this further. I want to actually come in their business and work one on one with them, to help them set up the systems and processes to help them realize that they can have their team accountable to them. And give them some freedom, some time freedom because the truth of the matter is most of us started our business for that exact reason. Right? We may have had a corporate salary that we wanted to, you know, at least replace, but we were really looking for some time freedom. Yeah, Monica Pitts 4:49 and some like emotional freedom. Some decision making freedom, like Yeah, I feel like freedom is a core value that a lot of business owners Share. And I also think that we also get into business because we have a skill that we do really well. And then when it comes to learning how to push that out into a team and be able to mirror our own strengths and efforts and strategies, it gets really challenging because a lot of us are actually, we're I mean, we were really charismatic, like, big thinking people, right? We don't have the skill that you have, which is that process driven strategy mind that will like break stuff down and see that and I'm super thankful that I have Stacey in my company, because she does that for me all the time. And no longer I run my business, the more I realized, I'm like, okay, so that was a really fun idea. Let's write it down. We'll come back to it in three weeks and see if it still seems like fun. Don't start it today, Monica, don't start it today. So I agree with you, a lot of business owners need you and they'll come to us and they'll be like, Hey, will you build us a website, and then we'll listen to their story. And then we're like, oh, a website isn't going to fix that. A website doesn't fix that problem, it actually might make that problem bigger, because you'll have this great thing that tells your story that can connect with people that makes you seem very, very legitimate. And then, but you still have that same problem to fix, which is how do I fulfill How do I have a life? How do I, you know, make my team, like, exceed my expectations? And maybe my clients too, you know, like, it's, it's tricky. And I think some of that actually goes back to those CEO habits that we promised we were going to talk about. So you said that you have CEO habits that have allowed you to create rinse and repeat marketing systems to avoid feast and famine. So I need to know what a CEO habit is, I need some definition here. Donna Dube 6:58 So these are six habits, which I have been able to implement in my business and also in clients, businesses. And really, there's simple from the outside. But like many habits, you gain momentum from doing them over and over, right. So it's not a one time I did it once I didn't see the magic, it doesn't work. It has to be repeatable. And so the first one is what I call the EO Power Hour. And this is a one hour block that you put in your calendar every week, same time, same place every week. Doesn't matter what day of the week, it can be a Monday morning can be a Friday afternoon, Sunday night, whatever works for you and your life right now. But you want that one hour of quiet time. And what you're doing there is reviewing and reflecting on your business each and every week. And so you're asking yourself, Am I still getting new people into my world? What is my strategy for that? Is it working? Look at some data to know I'm getting a return on investment on on this strategy. Then you want to look at your revenue, how is my revenue this month? Where is it compared to my 90 Day goal, and my 12 month goal. And the reason we want to look at this frequently is because it's like a snowball, it can start off very small. But if we don't pay attention to it, it can grow and grow and grow. Right? And so we want to catch that snowball when it's small. So if we look at our revenue for the month, and it's now above our target, great, let's celebrate. And then let's look at what did we do for the past three months that helped get this revenue goal there? And let's double down on that because it's working. If our revenue is below our target, what can we do to infuse something to help us reach our target? Right? Maybe we need to reach out to a few people. Maybe we need to do a flash sale. Now there's lots of different strategies we can do. But we have to be on top and keep our pulse on that number. Otherwise, we don't know where we are. And I know we've all heard business owners who get to June and say, Oh, well looks like I'm not going to meet my targets this year. Right. And they haven't looked at it since they said it in January. And that is Monica Pitts 9:08 so that's one of the reasons I love Stacy so much is that she's like the numbers gal, right? And so even right now, you know, we had an influx of business come in, which is excellent. It it often happens in the spring. And then she's like, Okay, how many hours can we work and not overwork ourselves? Can we take on a new project right now? Like just like breaking it all down? And just like, you know, and then she comes to me, and we talk through it all together, you know, and it's and it's awesome. And so she's like, we started 24 websites already and I'm like, holy cow. Our goal for the whole year is 48 And she's like, yes. And it's April. I'm like okay, well this is a good problem to have. Donna Dube 9:50 Yes, exactly. Yeah. Monica Pitts 9:51 So I think having another person on on staff who is like clearly like a numbers driven human being because I'm so big sure it really helps to be able to have a conversation about numbers. Does that make sense? Because having it outside my brain is a lot easier than me trying to process it inside my brain by myself. Not being a numbers, girl and all that when there's Donna Dube 10:14 someone there if there's some drama around the numbers, sometimes there is right. It's our baby, and we get emotionally attached sometimes. And so, you know, it helps when there's someone else there to just be objective. Right? Okay, we wanted this. We're at this. Yeah, that's the reality, you know, the numbers don't lie. What can we do about it? Let's not wallow in it. But how can we move forward? Exactly, then that's when you kick in. And you're like, Okay, this strategy, that strategy, right, because you've got those ideas? Yeah, Monica Pitts 10:43 I love it. So I'm going to have power hour. And I'm going to look at my revenue. What's my third habit? Donna Dube 10:50 Yeah, so this is all within the power hour. And the next piece of that power hour is to really look at your week. So what's my calendar look like? Do I need to move things around? You know, am I overbooked? Did I miss something? And how do I need to reach out to either my team or my family, my support system for help this week? Because it might be that you have a crazy week, maybe you're traveling, you're doing this and that and you need some help at home? But you also Yeah, your team, right? So those Monica Pitts 11:23 floors? Donna Dube 11:27 Yeah, yes. So being realistic, and then communicating with those around you so that they know what the goal is and where you're headed. And then you want to make sure that you have time in your calendar, to do the high level CEO tasks that you're responsible for each and every week, you're going to be looking at your goals. I like to take 12 month goals, break them into 90 and then down into monthly goals. So what do I need to do Monica Pitts 11:52 this week? Donna Dube 11:56 What do I need to do this week to get me one step closer to my goal, right? I think 12 month goal sounds great. But it's difficult for many of us to imagine, okay, what do I need to do on Tuesday, then to get closer to that goal, right? It's too big to swallow. So break it down. And then you know, alright, this week, I need an hour to focus on, you know, doing some market research for this new offer I want to do, right, and ensuring that the tasks that you're doing are what I like to call growth level tasks. So this is a second habit, separating maintenance tasks from growth level tasks. So if we think about all the things that happen in our business, we can put all the tasks into one of those two buckets. Yeah, events, tasks are things that have to happen, right. And most of them have some sort of deadline to them. Things like you know, you want to fix a landing page, you want to get an email sent out, you want to, you know, send invoices, do your budgeting, do your books, send some social media posts, all those things are routine tasks that need to happen usually, at a certain task. The question and the and the thing I always want to do is to look at is, do they need to be done by you? Yeah, and the bigger we grow our business, the less time you as business leader should be in the maintenance tasks. So if we take, you know, an image of a solopreneur just started their business, I've got an offer out there, they're getting some sales, they're going to be still doing some maintenance tasks, because they don't have anyone else on their team to help them. But even there, you can look at what can I automate? Because automation is another way of delegating. Really? Yeah. Automating to a human for what can be paused and and stopped for right now because I'm actually not getting a return on it. Right? Then as we get bigger, and we have people supporting us want to make sure that we're delegating those tasks to our team. And this allows us as business leader to then focus on the growth level tasks. So these are the tasks directly related to generating revenue. Things like setting up partnerships networking, podcast guesting, doing masterclasses getting in front of other people's audiences, creating new content within an offer coming up with new ideas for an offer sales calls, you get the picture, right, yeah, these are things that you would not hand over to a team member unless you grew so big that you had, you know a C suite to handle those things. Right. Monica Pitts 14:33 Well, and usually I feel like as a CEO, this juices you up like these are things that are going to fill your bucket that you liked to do because they are those big picture things they're not super detail like small minutia items. You know, I I love it. And I agree. I love that you said that the maintenance tasks. Automating them can be like the same as deli gating them because I was going through like, even for producing this podcast for every episode, it has to have a file made in Google Drive, and then another file had to be put inside there. And then a link has to go into air table and then post needs to be made on the website. And so I was like, man, and they have to be done exactly, just so or it doesn't work, right. And so I was like, Man, this sucks. I don't like doing any of these things. But I have to do it. And it takes me time and blah, blah, blah. And then you know, the invite to you has to be updated with the questions link, and that document has to be made. And one day I like my brain opened up and it said, Wait a second, if it's that detailed of a task that has to be done, right. And all of the information is just plug and chug. It can be automated. Yes. Okay. So then I automated that task, which to me ended up being like a growth level task to do because it meant that it freed up all this time for me. And because it was a one off task. I felt like it was fun. Because I'm the person who doesn't mind cleaning the floors, but hates doing the laundry, because the floors only have to be cleaned once a week. And the laundry never ends in a family of four. So I really, I think that is a really good point. Like when you can automate things. It's like delegating them. And it truly is delegating, because you're not having to check over the work. If it if the stuff got put into the blanks correctly, it should happen correctly if the automation is firing correctly, which I mean, sometimes it doesn't have to be real. So of course, computer systems or computer systems. Yes, yes. Donna Dube 16:39 But you see what you've done there is you've taken something that you had to do over and over, you've made it automated, you've reduced the time that you need to spend on it. And you've set up a system to make that happen. Right? Because from my end, it's all professional. Right? I think it's being sent by you, I have no idea that there's an automation behind that, right, because you still have a human touch to it. Right? Yeah, that allows you to free up your time and allow you then to do the planning that you do before the episode for the guest and show up here to be your best. Monica Pitts 17:14 Yeah, because there are just so many things that you do over and over and over again. And I so whenever I find those things, like I was sending the exact same reminder emails to people before every email, and then I was like, Wait a second. Maybe? I mean, like, I like sending them because it makes me feel like I'm connecting with you. Yes, what, but it literally is the same email that I'm rewriting every time and that's pretty stupid. When we like it right down to it, there's something else that we could do, especially because what if I forget a piece of it, right, like, and then you're left wondering like, you know, you know what I'm saying. So we're separating our growth level tasks from maintenance tasks, right after we have first scheduled our Power Hour. Yes, I love this already. Donna Dube 18:05 I love it. And then the next piece of that is what I call your CEO Score. So basically, this is a way for you to measure am I spending enough time working on my business doing these growth level tasks each and every week. And so what you're going to do is you're gonna take the amount of revenue that you would like to make your yearly target, and divide it by the number of weeks that you want to work in the year. So that'll give you $1 amount, that's your score. And then each task, it's not really each task tasks are then grouped and given different dollar amounts. This is not the amount you would pay someone to do it. This is not the amount you get paid to do it. But those higher level group tasks are worth more in $1 sense, right? And so let's say that your CEO Score is 5000 For the week, then you want to make sure that you have a couple of 1000 and or a $10,000 task booked in your calendar to ensure that you're doing those growth level tasks on a continuous rinse and repeat basis. You Monica Pitts 19:08 have a system for everything. At first I was like CEO Score. Oh man, I am nervous. Because I'm like unlike my my husband and my daughter, I am not a competitor like I'm really not I just want things to be pretty. So that's why I'm a performer right like so I'm an aerialist and I I was a gymnast, I just love to perform. I loved to be like, I wanted to make you feel something. I wanted to contribute that to your life. Right? But I didn't feel like I don't need to be the best. I don't need that. I just want to be pretty. Which makes me sound so silly, right? But yeah, so at first when you said score, I was like, Ooh, that sounds like a competition. But the way that you explained it, it's not a competition because it's just Just a way for me to make sure that I have a balanced amount of things in my week, to make sure that I'm doing what I need to do. So it's about finding balance, I like balance. Yes. Donna Dube 20:13 And then as you grow your business and your revenue go, goal gets bigger, your CEO Score will also grow. Right? So if you'll imagine, you know, a small business owner, gonna have a different revenue goal than a huge business like Microsoft, but the CEO of Microsoft is not doing maintenance tasks. No. Guaranteed, right? Yeah, saying wake up tomorrow as a small business owner and stopped doing maintenance tasks. No, that's not what I'm saying. I'm saying let's look at it. Critically, let's take the time to say, Wait a second, I repeat this every single week, there's got to be a better way. Yeah. Monica Pitts 20:48 Yeah, I you know what, I love that, because there that it is part of our core value, not core value. But like, for the last four years at MayeCreate. There's this slide that we go through in our goals presentation, because every MayeCreate days, like every six weeks, we have MayeCreate Day where we work, like on the business, not in the business, if that makes sense. We only focus on MayeCreate level tasks to improve our processes and in our quality of product. And so we go through our our goals every time and there is a slide on that goals that says Like if, if it feels repetitive, if it if it feels, and motivational if it feels like it's taking you forever. There's a better way, though, and that's yes, you're speaking my language, there's a better way. But it's tricky, because not all staff members operate that way. They are not necessarily entrepreneurial in their behaviors. And in their processes. They like they they do what they do they produce a great product. And so they like to do it the same way every time. And yeah, but it's tricky, because everything is evolving, right? And so we always have to be looking at and kind of like, helping them see that there is this entrepreneurial mindset that you can adopt for your tasks in the business to make them easier for yourself. And so we just keep saying it on repeat. Donna Dube 22:19 Yes, yeah, there's a better way of it, too, is some concern, you know, whether an employee or whether they're a contractor, but some concern that if I change this process, and it takes me half the amount of time, I'm going to get paid less. Right. So I think it's just, you know, some mentoring and some educating there that no, actually, I want to use your zone of genius in other areas. Right? This Yeah, you know, I don't want to say mundane, but repeating this thing over and over, we can improve, do it in less time, and I can use you more over here. Or we can well, and you could do initiative or this other project that we didn't have capacity for before. And Monica Pitts 22:58 you might get to do more of what you like. Also, though, we do profitability bonuses, and the people who've been with us for a long time know, that, like they understand the lucrative nature of that bonus, like, it could be quarterly, it could be like, you know, semi annually or just annually, depending upon how the year rolls for us. But like they understand that it is the difference of 10s of 1000s of dollars on their paycheck. And so they're like, Yeah, I want to get it done faster. Let's do this, you know, but the new people they don't I bet that they do feel like what you just said, you know, like, am I I'm not going to get paid more for it. So why would I do it kind of attitude? Yeah, no, I hadn't even thought about that. And that would that would explain why our senior staff members have that mentality more because they're like, you know, I'll get either paid and time off or I'll get paid in hard cash. And that's dollars. Donna Dube 23:51 Yeah, Monica Pitts 23:52 that's awesome. Like, who doesn't like that? Yes. Money can't buy happiness, but it can buy you about? Well, Donna Dube 24:01 yes, for sure. For sure. And then the next sort of CEO habit and free will, is talking about your to do list. So I know we all have a to do list that's, you know, six miles long and never ending. But how we attack that To Do List matters. So again, it's about strategy. So if you look at everything on your to do list, some people say, Oh, I'm going to start at the top because you know, I like to check things off. Yep, I'm a box checker, I like to check things off. I'll admit it, right. But by doing that, we're not putting any strategy behind what we're doing. We're just, you know, randomly picking the top five or 10 things on our list when we have the time. The other thing we tend to do sometimes is we might cherry pick. So we look at our list and go ooh, that one I really feel like doing that one, right. Yeah. But that's not looking at what's going to move the needle forward in our business. What's the next thing we need to do to grow to that next level? Right? Yeah. So if we take that to do list And we break it out into four quadrants called the Eisenhower matrix. But basically, what we're doing is we're measuring each task on two criteria. One, is it important. So important means it needs to get done. And usually by a deadline, you know, within a week or two or a couple of months or something like it's clear, there's a deadline. And there'll be some sort of consequence, if it's not finished on that time, right. So as an example, you know, paying our taxes, it's not something we love to do, but it needs to be done at a certain time, right? We don't really have a choice. Yeah. So that, you know, that makes it important to some degree. The second criteria is whether it's revenue generating. And so then you want to put each task in one of those four boxes. So it's going to be important and revenue generating, not, not revenue generating like that, right? Yeah. And what you're going to find is that the things that are revenue generating, and important are the things that you're going to have to spend your time on as business leader. So it helps you take that never ending to do list and decide what needs to be done first, right, because now you've taken a long list of many things and broken, you know, down to maybe three or four that fit inside that one box, revenue generating, and things that have a deadline. And now you can look at your week and say, Okay, this needs to be done, this needs to be done that can wait till Tuesday, whatever it is, right? The other things on your list, you're gonna use those other boxes. So some things you're actually going to stop, because it's not important. And it's not revenue generating. So you're actually going to analyze and say, Okay, you're gonna build some some data to know that, that's for sure. But, again, I fall into this trap, I see it with my clients all the time, we start a strategy. And we do it for a while. And then we see another strategy, another bright, shiny object, and we layer that strategy on we layer on another one. Before we know it, we're doing five or six strategies, but we don't know if any of them are giving us a return. Right? So start a strategy, let it go for three or six months, get some momentum. And then let's measure. Yeah, if it's not feeling right for you, it's not aligned with you, or your team, and it's not giving you a return on investment. Then pause, stop it. The world's not gonna fall apart promise. Monica Pitts 27:22 I agree. And I'm like, I feel like I'm in a counseling session right now. This is awesome. I like want to put another box in the Eisenhower matrix. For myself, that's like, Do you like it? Like, does it bring you joy, because I think some things are revenue generating, but I have extremely talented team members that have the same skill, and they can do it as well. And so some of those things that I don't like as much as I can, and and I have at times, it just depends on like, what you were saying the revenue, right? So when revenue gets lower, then I have to step in and do sales. When revenue is up, then I don't, because that is I don't love doing sales. But I'm perfectly competent to do it. And I will absolutely do it because I am a business owner. And obviously everyone must eat. But yeah, so it's like, I want to put one more box in there, like do you like it? And then if it's not revenue generating, and it's not important, and I don't like it, we should just never do it again. I wish I could put like Facebook in that category. But I'm not sure that's very responsible. My social media consultant tells me that is not a responsible decision, but I really want to do it. Donna Dube 28:42 But you know, along that lines, I know I've seen it before. I remember this example really clearly. I had a client who was selling courses to students who had just graduated from university. And so in her mind, she needed to be on all the social media channels, because young people are everywhere, right? So she had a social media assistant, who was, you know, working at capacity for her couldn't do much more. And the business owner wanted more visibility on all these channels. So she was coming to me saying, Well, I'd like to hire another team member to help with social media. But you know, I'm not sure about the budget, isn't that? All right? Well, let's look at the data before we make any decisions. Which of these channels are people actually finding, you know, which of these channels are people actually clicking and taking the action that you asked them to take on your posts? I don't know. I don't like Okay, good. So let's go find that out first. Right. Yeah. And it was so eye opening because for her, Facebook was actually the channel that was bringing her brand awareness. People were seeing her brand, you know, clicking through to the website, but Instagram was where they were actually taking action signing up for her webinar or adding you know, downloading a freebie whatever she had there for a call to action and So knowing that YouTube tick tock this that was barely getting any traction, right? That was such an eye opener for her and such a relief, because she said, Oh, I can double down on Facebook and Instagram. And because of that, I don't need a second person right now. So I'm having to worry about the budget right now. Right? Yeah, double down on what we know, is working and let go of the rest that, you know, isn't bringing you that return? Monica Pitts 30:26 Which would make sense because, you know, we know, the attitude that we have is we're like, Well, you know, we're making this stuff for LinkedIn, and our stuff does well on LinkedIn. Which makes sense, because we have a business audience, right. And we're not making a bunch of content that, you know, is, I don't know, like, I, it's not going to be viral. Like, I'm cool with that. But then we're like, well, because it's on LinkedIn, we should also put it out on Facebook and Instagram. And that's kind of like the mentality that that we've had, but what I'm hearing you say is like, we could actually work harder and LinkedIn. And, and use that strategy that we know is working over there with the content we know is working and kind of just let the other ones like, we could let them go. Because if we're not getting return on them, then it would make sense for us to put the energy even that we're just having to reformat the size of the graphic right into the platform is actually working. Yes, data, look at you with all your data, Donna Dube 31:31 ready to actually let go. They can say, Okay, I'm going to reduce our posting schedule on these other channels, right. So I still have a presence. But it's not my main main contact, but that's based on the data that's not based on our feelings about the channel or how we feel today when we get up, right. I know, we all go through that. And when I'm done with Instagram, yeah, we just want to say I'm finished. But that's actually based and rooted on the data because the numbers don't lie. Yeah, Monica Pitts 32:02 that's awesome. Okay, so we've got our to do list. What's number five? Donna Dube 32:07 Yes, so number five is CEO review. And this is really just allowing some time for you to build time into your schedule for yourself. So many of us are and especially as women are more than happy to meet everyone else's demands. And our needs come last if we even get them at all. And so I like to start this with helping my clients build an ideal or model calendar, I like to call it the scheduling ninja. So what we're doing is having that ninja work for us, not against us, right? So I want you to look at your season in your life. And the first thing you do ticket blank calendar, and you put in, what are my obligations, what are my commitments for my family, and my friends and myself. So maybe you like to have a morning routine, block that off in your calendar, maybe like to have date night with your spouse once a week, block it off, maybe you pick up the kids from school, whatever that is, block off those times, or you go, you know, visit your Aunt Mary once a month, block off those times, so that you're not getting to the end of the week going, Oh, I hope I can fit in some time with my daughter this week. Now, you've built time for your daughter this week, because I truly believe in building our business around our life, not the other way around. Right? I've tried the other way around, it doesn't work. Because the business takes over. And there's no time to squeeze in life around that. Monica Pitts 33:44 And I like how you preface that too with season of life. Because whenever I'm talking to new business owners, especially I tell them, you know, you have to know what your version of success is now, but you also have to give yourself permission for your version of success to change. Because it could change this week and just for this week, and that's okay. It could also change moving forward because something happened, you know, and so, for example, the years that Stacy or I had babies, the version of success in our business was maintaining what we did the year before, like, can we just do that right? And we understood there was going to be a dip. Just you know, how can we just get through this year because it's a big deal and a small staff for one of the like leaders too. Yeah, babies are a mess. Awesome but a mess right? And but I think that people are like well you know, I just get I always need to stay the same and it's not and I always also like to I like how you said season of life as well because it's based on what you need right now. And like you like you're in the center of it. It's not someone else's version of success. Like that is the hardest piece I feel Like, you know, you go to a conference and there's this person on stage, and they're like, Oh, well, here's what you need to do. It's like this and, and see how great it is. And I, a lot of the times, this is gonna sound terrible. A lot of the times they're mad, and I'm like, Yeah, you do not have small children, I can absolutely tell or your wife takes care of all that stuff for you, which is incredible. And I'm sure that actually, actually, I know that she must be an incredible human being, because you are afforded this incredible opportunity to be here. And you know, maybe, maybe that's not how it really works. But that's like, where my brain goes. And like, yeah, that's not possible right now. But I want I want something that. So that makes me want something that's impossible. While in actuality, I should want something that is possible. In this season of life that I'm in right now, that makes me personally happy. Not the standards of the human being this out on stage. Donna Dube 35:53 So agree with that, right? And it's so true. When we're picking a revenue number. I see new business owners starting and they're like, oh, I want to make, you know, $100,000 this year, okay, that's not grounded in anything. That's just a number you pull from the sky. Right? Yeah. So let's see, what do you need to take home to pay the bills? Yeah, right. That's where we start. We double that. That's a revenue goal we can aim for. That's possible. Right? Yeah. If you could pay your bills, and you know, make some profit, pay the taxes. That's a good place to start. We can grow from there. But it's got to be rooted in some sort of evidence and some sort of numbers, because otherwise, you're right. It's just pulling a number. And then we get frustrated with ourselves. Because it was an unrealistic number in the first place. And we can't reach it. Yeah, exactly. It's really depressed. And oh, I'm not good enough. And you know how the mind works? Yeah, Monica Pitts 36:48 it ends up spiraling on you. And that's not it. Like if we can set something that's attainable, we can always move it up from there. But we have to be honest with ourselves, like, like you said, season of life. And then what do we really want? We're in the middle of it. So we get to pick. It's awesome. For sure. For sure. Our last one. What's our last habit? Donna Dube 37:09 Yeah, so then our last habit is really self care. And again, it's kind of, you know, thrown through all of what I've talked about today. But really just taking that time to make sure if you like to go for a massage, once a month, you're actually doing those things, right. Have time when the laptop is open, and it's closed. Most of us are running online businesses, but we really do need to be able to step away. If you've never stepped away from your laptop before. Take a weekend off. Yeah, yeah. If you've done a weekend, and you want to try longer take a week. Yeah, but really making sure we have unplugged time. From our business. It's so good for us mentally. It's so good for our business. It's good for our team. It just helps all the way around, right? Because if I'm constantly there to answer any question, my team has it anytime of the day. I'm not empowering them to be accountable. Right. I'm empowering them to rely on me. Yeah. Right. And I then become the bottleneck. Yeah. Oh, so Susie needs this file? Oh, this person needs that. No, these are intelligent people that I'm paying to do a certain tasks for me, right? Yes, I have to set them up to be able to access those resources, of course. But once we've done that, let them thrive, let them grow. And make sure that, you know, you can step away and you have time for yourself. Monica Pitts 38:39 Because you would grant them the same privilege. Like that's the tricky thing is like you would grant them the same privilege. And I always like whenever we are faced with adjusting something that can impact our clients. We're like, oh, man, I don't I don't want to move these meetings, or I don't want to have to, like when we started working four days a week, we were like, Man, I don't? How are people going to take that they might need us on Fridays? And, and it's like, no, I would support them in this venture. And I would expect that they would reciprocate and support me. You know, I always thought of, especially with my babies when when they came along and life just becomes unexpected, you know, ear infection. Great. All right, vomiting, perfect. This is like a normal day, right? And so, you know, and then you have to call these people and reschedule stuff or change it to a virtual meeting. And I used to call myself by saying you, you were so flexible with everyone else when you didn't have kids. You were understanding you built up this karma. Now you can cash it in, like just just, it's okay. It's totally okay. So and if they can't understand, then they don't need to be part of what you're doing. Like who wants unsupportive like partners in the yes, they're paying you but who wants in supportive? Like client partners? Like that's crap? Like but let's not do that. You know, and it is tricky. I understand you You gotta get paid, but they shouldn't be able to Donna Dube 40:02 steal. I think setting up the expectations from the get go. Yeah, you know, makes a huge difference, right? So now, for example, get a new client, you can easily say, All right, you know, we work four days a week, you're gonna expect to hear from my team between this time and this time, but that laying those boundaries and making it clear from the get go. So if I don't like what you're saying, as a potential client, I'm like, oh, no, that doesn't work for me. Great. Yeah. I move on. You move on. Right? Yeah, that alignment. But I think it's just, you know, being intentional to set those boundaries with our clients, but also with our team members. Monica Pitts 40:37 Yes, 100%. I love it. So how do we take these six things? Yes. And make them into this rinse and repeat marketing system? What? Right? How does that work? Donna Dube 40:49 So how does that work is that we're then when we're building our calendar, when we're looking at the tasks we have to do, we know marketing is a piece of our puzzle each and every, right. Where we run into this, like we said earlier, this feast and famine is that we're busy, busy, busy marketing, we get clients in the door, and we're busy delivering on client work, and we kind of drop the marketing ball. And so what we need to do is have a system behind that marketing. So we have a marketing strategy. And then we have a system for attracting for engaging, and for nurturing that new audience. So that we're continuously doing that week after week, right? So we can take this podcast as an example. So your podcast is got subscribers, it's got listeners who come and listen every single week, right? When your episode drops through there, they can't wait to hear it. Right. You're also out there on the on the different channels so that new people will come and find you. Sounds interesting. Well, who's Monica? Well, let me check out her website. Oh, oh, she's got this thing. Let me download it right there starting to explore what you and your business are all about. Yeah, if you all of a sudden stop podcasting, or you don't put out consistent episodes, it's going to have an effect on those who listen and those who follow you. Right? Yeah. So having a process and a system behind doing this, we talked a little bit about that. Automating where you can. So that you have an episode, if it's once a week, whatever your cadence is, so that you clearly have an episode and you're consistent with it. Because most of us lack the consistency if we don't have a built in process behind it, right? Because we're relying on motivation. And motivation is sometimes up and sometimes down. Right. And those blog days on those days, you don't feel like doing it. No, but I have an hour blocked off. It's time for me to record the podcast, my guest is coming. Here we go. Yeah, Monica Pitts 42:53 I love it. And we do a lot of batching with all of our marketing activities. Because at the end, even with my weeks, so this is a week, where I'm talking to a lot of people. What happens when I start the day talking to a lot of people, I have a really difficult time focusing on really detailed tasks after that, like I just like my brain went into Big Picture Mode, I'm in conversation mode. I'm like using a different part of my brain. And so I tried to keep it in groups. And then when I'm going to sit down to write all the emails, I write all the emails, when I do the keyword research, I do it for multiple months at a time because it's like, I get into it. And it's like, Ah, I can feel it. I'm jiving and then I and then it because I don't like to repeat things, often, I get a whole bunch of stuff, and then I can put it all into the system. And I can walk away from it. And it became like a one time task that I do like three times a year, right? Yeah, much better. Makes me happy clearly. Exactly. Donna Dube 43:51 And it also helps when you batch and you work ahead, that helps for when life, you know, gets tricky, right? I'd really like to, you know, take Friday off a little bit of camp because I have to do X Y Zed. But no, if I have some, you know, in the cooker in the queue already, then I can take that time off when I need to and you know, we're not behind things are still rolling, right? Yeah, having that process and then ensuring that if you have a team, the team knows what their responsibilities are, within that process, what needs to be done when what success looks like, and then they can take autonomy and and you know, run through that process and make it work. Monica Pitts 44:32 When it sounds like to even just separating those growth level tasks or maintenance tasks like you can see which parts of your marketing are yours, because you are you know, maybe and hey, and maybe you also had a like it category all right in your Eisenhower matrix, and you checked that box. So maybe those are yours but then the other ones you can probably start it and then pass it off to someone else once you have a system in place. That is They can work within and develop. Thanks. So I got to know what works best in your marketing because I, like I want to know for every business I just like want to dig in. I'm like what works best? What is the thing that like you would do over and over again? That you will probably never stop doing what is Donna Dube 45:19 it? Yes, yes. So I have to say within the last year I think it started at the end of 2023. I decided to do some podcast guesting and I absolutely love it. Yay. I love having conversations. I love to be able to share, you know, whatever tip or tidbit if I, somebody in the world heard it, and it helped them. Yes, you know, makes my heart sing. So I've really enjoyed that. And then last year, I started my own podcast, I'm just doing solo episodes, but I'm really enjoying that as well. So those two are sort of my main areas right now that I focus on. I've never been a huge fan of social media. So I'm on there. But yeah, it's not it's not my favorite place to be. I certainly don't spend time in groups and commenting and yeah, Monica Pitts 46:08 yeah. So is your podcast bringing in business and the guesting, is bringing in business for you, then it's been successful? Yes. Clearly, you would know because you'd sometimes numbers. Donna Dube 46:17 Yes, exactly. Exactly. And it does take time, right. Everyone knows these are not flip the switch, you know, and I'm gonna get clients tomorrow strategies, right. That's just not how it works. Give it time, right. I always say whatever you did in your business, three to six months ago, you're seeing the return Monica Pitts 46:36 now? Yeah. 100% to have time Donna Dube 46:39 to let that strategy work. But yes, definitely. So that's a win win, right? I'm enjoying it. I've got a process behind it. It's not clunky. It's not something I don't enjoy doing. And I'm seeing a return on investment. So that's exactly what you want to find. Monica Pitts 46:56 And then, okay, so we talked about automating things and creating processes. And for me, as a tech lady at that, that involves some tools, like some tech tools. And so I'm always really curious about what tech tools are like your go to. So what's the thing that you love that just you're like, oh, this thing? I could not do it without it? What is it? Donna Dube 47:20 Okay. Yeah, so I have two that relate to my marketing. Of course, on the operations project planning side, there's, you know, there's a whole other ones on there. But yeah, for marketing, for sure. I am embracing AI, I will say I'm not an expert at AI, but I'm trying to embrace it to, you know, help instill ideas and get me started, right. So I really do enjoy a product called cast magic, which is helping with podcasts. So I can put the podcast episode in there. It will spit out a transcript. Of course, it's not perfect, but you know, it gets a transcript. It gives some ideas of show notes, it gives some ideas for social media posts gives an idea for email. So that kind of gets me started. Because I found before I was like, sitting on the blank page, like, Okay, I just finished talking now what am I going to summarize? What am I going to say? This was about right, yeah, so that helps for sure. I really enjoyed that. And then the other piece is just a scheduling tool called Smarter cue for scheduling on social media, just organic, I'm not doing any paid. And this has just helped because it can take a content. For example, when this podcast episode gets released, I will happily share it with my audience. But I can cue it so I can say, okay, take this post, and post it once every three months. Right? Getting more hits out of that one post, because it's posting it again later. And we all know social media has like a lifespan of Monica Pitts 48:50 this right? Like eight hours or less. Donna Dube 48:53 Right, right. So it just helps to, you know, be visible again, share that that thing, whatever it was without my team actually having to go get that post and put it in and get the image again. Right. So I'm really enjoying that as well. Monica Pitts 49:06 Oh, man, I gotta look into those. We use some systems for it right now to do those things. But it sounds like these are very streamlined. I love tech tools. They make me so happy. Here. So great. Yes. So tell people where they can find you. Online or the you know, I guess I could call a phone number. Like I call phone numbers. Donna Dube 49:30 Disaster loving. Yes. Monica Pitts 49:32 I know. It's weird, isn't it? Okay. You don't have to give everyone your phone number, but tell them where they can find you online. That's Donna Dube 49:37 why it's funny that you say that just as an aside because I have a teenagers 19 in the house and so encouraging, you know, looking for jobs for the summer and this kind of thing. And then I was like, Well, why don't you reach out and phone them? And he looked at me like I had three heads right? Are you crazy, ma'am? No. And I was like, Well, you could go in then to the business and I was like, oh, that's Even worse, okay, different generation. Monica Pitts 50:02 I actually so I sit in on a panel, it's an employment panel, and then there's a mock interview panel for our local high school. And I say that same thing to the students, I like you should you need it, you know, go in, especially as designers, you know, because otherwise, they're just going to look at your portfolio. And that's it. And if your portfolio isn't like shining and bright, and exactly what they're looking for, or exactly what they like, then it's tricky, right? And you might not at the beginning, especially have a portfolio that can do that. Because you don't have all the experience yet. You're still new. So I always say go in I have hired people because they came into my office and sat and waited for me. I have, and I have had great hires sometimes from that, too. So yes. And if and if I don't hire you, I will still take you into greater consideration in the hiring process. Because you showed up in my office, I will I they got to know who their audience is, too, though, you know what I'm saying? Like, we're the ones hiring them. So if we have to adjust our management style for them, they can adjust their initial style a little bit if what they really want to send job to, you know, I'm not saying change everything, but know your target market. Right. Okay. So Speaker 1 51:19 how do they find you online? Sorry, bunny trail? Yeah. Donna Dube 51:23 So my website is CEO amplify.ca. podcast is also CEO amplify, see me. So you're welcome to check out there. I have a free resource there, which is the CEO power hour playbook. So back to the top of the episode, when we're talking about that power hour, if that's something you want to institute into your business, and you're like, I just don't know, I don't want to sit there by myself for the hour. This will help you walk through each of the steps so you know what to follow. Monica Pitts 51:51 Well, thank you so much for hanging out with me this morning. I took Sony notes. Like literally, I think I have four pages of notes from our conversation today. Because you have been so incredible, sharing all the things that you know, and you have done an excellent job of breaking down something that most people just say to do, into a process that someone can actually follow. That is awesome. And I love that. And I'm so excited that we got to share this with my audience today. So those of you who are listening, just know that I should have told you at this, this at the beginning of the episode, I hope you're not doing what I do when I listen to amazing podcasts like this one and writing down all your notes on the back of a receipt while driving. Okay, because you can go over to mayecreate.com. And you'll get an an outline of what we talked about today. From my notes that I have written down on this piece of paper, and you'll get all the links to go check out CEO amplify and Donna's podcast as well. So that way, you can learn more about how to take this thing that can be really overwhelming and turn it into a scalable, manageable thing. And because that's what Don is so good at so yes, and Alright, so last but not least, you should subscribe to the podcast, obviously. Because that's what every podcasts are supposed to say. But when you subscribe, you get to know about the next episode, it'll just like show up for you. And next week, we are talking about business cards. And we are going to have another actionable episode because I'm going to tell you exactly what to put on your business card and tips for designing it. So business cards are not dead. All right. You still probably need one and we should make sure as everything on it. Because I just went to a trade show and I can't tell you how many people don't have things like phone numbers on their business cards. Like it's insane. Like, that's like what I'm doing an episode on this. Okay, so subscribe, so that way you don't miss a thing and until next time, go forth and mark it with purpose.