WEBVTT - The Best Apps and Systems for Solopreneurs 0:00:00.800 --> 0:00:04.040 Will Lucas here, Black Tech, Green Money here for another week. 0:00:04.080 --> 0:00:06.760 I'm super excited to get a chance to talk to 0:00:06.840 --> 0:00:08.840 you guys. It's one of my favorite things to do, 0:00:09.640 --> 0:00:12.560 is this podcast, and so thank you for being a 0:00:12.560 --> 0:00:16.960 part of this community. Next week we go up in Austin. 0:00:17.200 --> 0:00:21.800 I am afro Tech is my favorite conference obviously period. 0:00:21.920 --> 0:00:24.920 But it's just a time where I get to see 0:00:24.920 --> 0:00:29.320 people who look like me in the tech universe, all 0:00:29.360 --> 0:00:32.040 in one place, all talking about the same things, trying 0:00:32.080 --> 0:00:34.240 to do this thing together, trying to change the world 0:00:34.240 --> 0:00:41.479 for the better together. And it's empowering sessions, it's fireside chats, 0:00:41.960 --> 0:00:45.240 musical experiences. It's the place for if you are a 0:00:45.320 --> 0:00:48.919 ticket holder, then you're gonna gain knowledge from industry experts. 0:00:49.400 --> 0:00:54.040 You're gonna maximize opportunities that can propel your career. You're 0:00:54.040 --> 0:00:57.000 gonna find your squad. That's why we go to afro 0:00:57.120 --> 0:01:00.000 Tech because we can find the people who we can 0:01:00.160 --> 0:01:04.560 go along this journey with lifelong thought partners. Friends. You're 0:01:04.600 --> 0:01:07.000 gonna find them at afro Tech. Now. Last year, I 0:01:07.240 --> 0:01:10.600 l afro Tech became not just a tech conference but 0:01:10.680 --> 0:01:13.520 also a music conference, and we're gonna build on that 0:01:13.640 --> 0:01:17.800 this year, we've already announced artists. Rick Ross is gonna 0:01:17.840 --> 0:01:20.840 be there, hustler music. I already told y'all last week 0:01:20.840 --> 0:01:23.399 it's my favorite type of hip hop, hustler music. And 0:01:23.520 --> 0:01:27.120 Rick Ross is at the Pinnacle, Jadakiss will be there 0:01:27.959 --> 0:01:30.840 and others. And then we just announced a couple of 0:01:30.920 --> 0:01:35.520 days ago that Sweetie is gonna be there. So that's 0:01:35.560 --> 0:01:38.880 gonna be big. The last day of afro Tech one 0:01:39.200 --> 0:01:44.520 like the penultimate day to cap your entire week. It's 0:01:44.560 --> 0:01:47.480 gonna be an incredible experience. And so one of my 0:01:47.520 --> 0:01:50.160 favorite things I mentioned this before about afro Tech last 0:01:50.200 --> 0:01:55.640 year was at the wild At show is you're sitting 0:01:55.680 --> 0:01:57.920 there in this conference, you know, I sitting Nigga standing 0:01:57.920 --> 0:02:02.400 there at this that's this concert. But the whole entire 0:02:02.520 --> 0:02:07.360 audience of the concert is black people number one, but 0:02:07.520 --> 0:02:11.600 accomplished black people. I mean, there are physicians in this audience, 0:02:11.680 --> 0:02:15.720 There are engineers in this audience, There are startup founders 0:02:15.760 --> 0:02:18.400 in this audience. There are people trying to figure it 0:02:18.440 --> 0:02:21.800 out in the audience. They are you know, just you know, 0:02:21.960 --> 0:02:24.840 maybe they work in HR at some tech company or 0:02:24.880 --> 0:02:27.840 some you know, startup or whatever, but it's it's a 0:02:27.880 --> 0:02:31.520 seed full of us, you know, listening to this music, 0:02:31.600 --> 0:02:34.840 having this you know, united experience, but all of us 0:02:35.000 --> 0:02:37.919 in the entire audience are doing something special and we're 0:02:37.960 --> 0:02:39.720 trying to just you know, be a part of this 0:02:39.800 --> 0:02:43.079 broader community. So it's it's unlike any other concert you 0:02:43.120 --> 0:02:46.959 can go to. So head to afro Tech Conference Experience 0:02:47.000 --> 0:02:51.040 dot afrotech dot com. Register for an all access ticket 0:02:51.120 --> 0:02:55.440 for the entire experience, which includes the afro Tech Music stage. 0:02:55.800 --> 0:03:01.120 You can also register for a different tier like General Admission, Corporate, 0:03:01.200 --> 0:03:03.520 or Executive, And if you've already done that, you can 0:03:03.600 --> 0:03:06.840 add the Afrotech Music later. So if you get to 0:03:07.000 --> 0:03:09.200 afro Tech next week and you're like, you know what, 0:03:09.240 --> 0:03:11.480 I should have added afrotech music, you can just go 0:03:11.480 --> 0:03:14.040 ahead and do it next week. So no shame, nobody's 0:03:14.040 --> 0:03:16.320 gonna look at you strange. You would just you know, 0:03:16.480 --> 0:03:20.280 you relate adopter. It's okay. What else is up afrotech news. 0:03:20.320 --> 0:03:22.000 I'd like to bring you a couple of the biggest 0:03:22.040 --> 0:03:25.080 stories that are on afrotech dot com right now. First 0:03:25.160 --> 0:03:28.280 up is Tyler Perry feels the bidding process for b 0:03:28.360 --> 0:03:32.400 ET was disrespectful. We heard stories earlier this year about 0:03:32.400 --> 0:03:35.240 the efforts to find an a choir for Beet, and 0:03:35.280 --> 0:03:38.040 a few successful black notables had thrown their hat in 0:03:38.360 --> 0:03:40.880 you know and the dollars for the bid, and among 0:03:40.920 --> 0:03:43.640 them were Diddy. Diddy tried to get his hands on it, 0:03:44.040 --> 0:03:49.160 Byron Allen, who's building you know, a significantly large media empire, 0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:55.360 and Tyler Perry, who recently called the process disrespectful. My Paramount, 0:03:55.560 --> 0:03:59.200 which owns the brand, was reportedly in discussions to sell 0:03:59.240 --> 0:04:03.760 their majority while preserving a minority share in the business, 0:04:03.840 --> 0:04:08.000 and according to reports, despite offers they were getting ranging 0:04:08.000 --> 0:04:11.280 from about two billion dollars to three billion dollars, Paramount 0:04:11.320 --> 0:04:15.480 decided to pull their interest in selling the majority. Steak 0:04:15.560 --> 0:04:20.159 INBT Media Group, which consists of the BET channel, BT plus, 0:04:20.279 --> 0:04:23.719 VH one and BT Studios. Now this is old joke. 0:04:25.160 --> 0:04:27.359 Maybe it's not a joke. It could also be some 0:04:27.400 --> 0:04:30.960 truth to it that the reason Bill Cosby was found 0:04:31.000 --> 0:04:33.159 himself in so much trouble was that he was about 0:04:33.160 --> 0:04:35.120 to buy NBC. I don't know if you heard. This 0:04:35.240 --> 0:04:36.880 is like an old urban legend. I don't know if 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:39.279 there was any true to it at all. But the 0:04:39.320 --> 0:04:41.560 reason I bring this up is because you know, it 0:04:41.600 --> 0:04:44.360 is not to defend Bill Cosby in any manner. I 0:04:44.480 --> 0:04:47.800 just missed the Black TV dad that that Black TV 0:04:47.880 --> 0:04:51.240 persona he portrayed, and I only call his name in 0:04:51.279 --> 0:04:53.560 the respect of it is clear that they do not 0:04:53.720 --> 0:04:58.680 want us to own major media platforms. So Tyler Perry said, 0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:00.719 you know the way it happened, and this is a quote. 0:05:00.800 --> 0:05:04.400 Tyler Perry says the quote the way it happened was 0:05:04.440 --> 0:05:07.479 disrespectful in a lot of ways. Don't try to get 0:05:07.480 --> 0:05:10.760 me to pay for something that's not worth anywhere near 0:05:11.120 --> 0:05:15.120 its value. Unquote, that's Tyler Perry talking about the process 0:05:15.120 --> 0:05:19.560 of Eet's purchase was disrespectful. And so next up, there's 0:05:19.600 --> 0:05:23.800 a story up on afrotech afrotech dot com now detailing 0:05:24.000 --> 0:05:28.200 Dion Sanders' net worth. Now I'm interested in this not 0:05:28.360 --> 0:05:31.520 to count another man's pockets, but I do want to 0:05:31.600 --> 0:05:35.080 use this platform to defend Dion in a way. As 0:05:35.320 --> 0:05:38.880 of this recording, my man has had some challenges on 0:05:38.920 --> 0:05:42.120 the football field in recent games, but I want to 0:05:42.160 --> 0:05:46.600 remind people of what he said in his viral YouTube 0:05:46.640 --> 0:05:50.840 videos before the season began. He's a winner. I expect 0:05:52.200 --> 0:05:56.000 to win. His current network sits reportedly around forty five 0:05:56.040 --> 0:05:58.360 million dollars, and much of that can be attributed to 0:05:58.400 --> 0:06:01.880 his you know, multi millionion dollar contracts he has signed 0:06:01.920 --> 0:06:04.840 over the years while playing, but also his appearances as 0:06:04.839 --> 0:06:08.880 a sports analyst for outlets like he's been on ESPN, CBS, 0:06:09.040 --> 0:06:13.440 NFL Network, and sources do know that the NFL Network alone, 0:06:13.520 --> 0:06:15.880 he drew an annual salary of a million dollars as 0:06:15.920 --> 0:06:20.040 an analyst. Now, meanwhile, he coached at Jackson State University, 0:06:20.200 --> 0:06:22.839 he did a four year, one point two million dollar contract. 0:06:23.480 --> 0:06:26.719 When he pivoted to the University of Colorado Boulder, he 0:06:26.760 --> 0:06:29.960 aint a five year deal that was worth nearly thirty 0:06:30.120 --> 0:06:34.240 million dollars, making him the highest paid coach in Colorado history. 0:06:34.680 --> 0:06:37.880 But even on the sideline of the football field, Dion 0:06:38.080 --> 0:06:40.080 is a winner and people have short memories here. Now. 0:06:40.120 --> 0:06:46.080 Colorado just last year won one game and they lost 0:06:46.120 --> 0:06:49.360 eleven games. They were ranked one hundred and twenty eighth 0:06:49.400 --> 0:06:52.760 out of one hundred and thirty one. Right now, year 0:06:52.920 --> 0:06:56.920 one of Dion, they're at the time of this recording 0:06:57.279 --> 0:07:00.320 four and three. Now they've already won just miss way 0:07:00.320 --> 0:07:03.000 through this season, four times as many games as they 0:07:03.000 --> 0:07:06.279 want all last year. So let's put this in some perspective. People. 0:07:06.320 --> 0:07:08.320 I get it with the way they won the first 0:07:08.320 --> 0:07:11.720 two games, absolute stunners. We want them to go undefeated. 0:07:12.280 --> 0:07:14.520 But in the words of Dion, and an effort to 0:07:14.560 --> 0:07:17.120 not turn this into a football podcast or sports show, 0:07:17.160 --> 0:07:19.680 I'll leave you with Dion's quote, this is the worst 0:07:19.680 --> 0:07:23.080 we're gonna be. You gotta get me right now. If 0:07:23.080 --> 0:07:25.280 you are doing your to do this on Monday morning. 0:07:25.880 --> 0:07:27.760 I did mine on Sunday night, and I woke up 0:07:27.840 --> 0:07:30.640 ready to rock. If you woke up trying to get ready, 0:07:30.920 --> 0:07:33.360 I'm gonna I'm gonna blow pass you. So I highly 0:07:33.400 --> 0:07:38.760 recommend every Sunday night you get ready for Monday morning. 0:07:38.800 --> 0:07:42.520 I'm Will Lucas and this is black Tech, Green Money. 0:07:42.680 --> 0:07:45.400 I'm gonna introduce you to the biggest names, the brightest minds, 0:07:45.440 --> 0:07:48.400 and brilliant ideas. If you're black in building or simple 0:07:48.480 --> 0:07:51.360 using text to secure your bag, this podcast is for you. 0:07:56.760 --> 0:08:00.360 I'm onna solo episode, and I gotta think people who 0:08:00.480 --> 0:08:03.880 have slid in my dms, who have commented, who have 0:08:04.000 --> 0:08:08.160 shared on last week's episode where I did a solo episode. 0:08:08.920 --> 0:08:12.640 In what I've been gathering is you guys do enjoy 0:08:12.680 --> 0:08:14.680 these so if you do enjoy these, you know, make 0:08:14.720 --> 0:08:18.200 sure you're giving me that response because that lets me 0:08:18.280 --> 0:08:20.840 know that these are valuable and that they are worth 0:08:21.080 --> 0:08:23.320 continuing to do. So shout out to Boogie Marsh for 0:08:23.360 --> 0:08:27.760 this particular episode because you're commented, and I'm paraphrasing, I 0:08:27.800 --> 0:08:30.160 need a format where they talk to entrepreneurs about the 0:08:30.200 --> 0:08:33.120 tools they are using, where you just talk about the 0:08:33.160 --> 0:08:36.880 tools that can be used to automate those your business 0:08:36.920 --> 0:08:40.640 for solopreneurs. And so today's episode is inspired by that 0:08:40.800 --> 0:08:46.240 comment because I was thinking about your comment in reference 0:08:46.280 --> 0:08:48.840 to the businesses that I've built myself, and I'm gonna 0:08:48.840 --> 0:08:51.600 specifically talk about Creatio again. I do have a couple 0:08:51.679 --> 0:08:56.400 of companies, but regards to what you asked for, Creatio 0:08:56.800 --> 0:08:59.920 is it makes the most tense to talk about that 0:09:00.040 --> 0:09:03.319 particular business. So Creatio is a full service marketing technology 0:09:03.360 --> 0:09:08.920 production agency. We do everything again from video production, website development, communication, 0:09:09.000 --> 0:09:12.719 strategy designed. I've been running this business. I started it 0:09:12.880 --> 0:09:16.640 and been running it since two thousand and seven, so 0:09:17.400 --> 0:09:21.440 it's got his first gray hair potentially. So some of 0:09:21.480 --> 0:09:25.200 the things that I've done speak to this one thing. 0:09:25.559 --> 0:09:29.000 It wasn't until about like five or six years ago, 0:09:29.840 --> 0:09:33.600 where it wasn't just me anymore running the business. Up 0:09:33.640 --> 0:09:37.200 until about five or six years ago, I was doing everything. 0:09:37.880 --> 0:09:40.440 And that's not a great place to be, even if 0:09:40.520 --> 0:09:44.280 you are a solo preneur right now. In my mind, 0:09:44.720 --> 0:09:48.280 business is supposed to grow. And so if you're in 0:09:48.360 --> 0:09:51.640 business and you want to be a solo preneur forever, 0:09:51.840 --> 0:09:54.920 I mean, I consider that like a you know, freelancer, 0:09:54.960 --> 0:09:58.679 I mean, but that's not like a business in my mind, 0:09:58.760 --> 0:10:00.680 you know, And so you can have your own opinions 0:10:00.720 --> 0:10:04.760 on this. To me, a business should have systems, it 0:10:04.800 --> 0:10:09.440 should have operations, it should grow, and it should ultimately 0:10:09.480 --> 0:10:12.760 provide opportunities for other people. And so that's what this 0:10:12.840 --> 0:10:15.120 episode is going to be about, the mistakes I made 0:10:15.240 --> 0:10:17.600 in the tools that I'm using today to help me 0:10:18.280 --> 0:10:21.840 run this business. And I'll start by saying this. It 0:10:21.920 --> 0:10:25.880 is so important to first of all, get an idea 0:10:26.600 --> 0:10:29.840 of what your business will look like at its best. 0:10:29.960 --> 0:10:32.560 And what I mean by that is you should actually 0:10:32.600 --> 0:10:36.400 have in my mind, it's a mood board or a 0:10:36.480 --> 0:10:40.160 vision board of pictures. And this is the way my 0:10:40.200 --> 0:10:42.360 brain works. So I need pictures in front of me 0:10:42.520 --> 0:10:46.440 that show me at its best at my gravest, this 0:10:46.480 --> 0:10:48.880 is what my life looks like. And for me, this 0:10:48.960 --> 0:10:51.400 has worked. There are so many things I put on 0:10:51.400 --> 0:10:56.880 my vision board years ago that have come to reality 0:10:57.080 --> 0:10:59.840 in my life. And so I admonish you if you 0:10:59.880 --> 0:11:02.760 are a running a business today, whether you're starting small 0:11:03.720 --> 0:11:06.000 or whether you're growing, you should always have a picture 0:11:06.000 --> 0:11:08.400 in front of you of what your life will look 0:11:08.480 --> 0:11:11.880 like at its best, and it should always get better, 0:11:12.000 --> 0:11:13.960 you know, over time. And so what I advise you 0:11:14.000 --> 0:11:16.840 to do, if you are a solopreneur, you're a small 0:11:16.920 --> 0:11:20.680 business owner, is to start to collect imagery. If this 0:11:20.720 --> 0:11:23.600 is the way your brainworks, start to collect imagery of 0:11:24.440 --> 0:11:27.760 your ideal state in business. You can do this for 0:11:27.800 --> 0:11:29.720 other parts of your life too, but I'm talking about 0:11:29.760 --> 0:11:32.720 business today. So I advise you to go to Canva 0:11:33.840 --> 0:11:37.920 and start to compile. You can probably even just search 0:11:38.280 --> 0:11:40.680 mood board or vision board on Canva and it probably 0:11:40.720 --> 0:11:44.120 already has templates there, which I highly advise you to 0:11:44.200 --> 0:11:46.200 use templates in this regard. You shouldn't be spending a 0:11:46.200 --> 0:11:48.120 ton of time on this. The goal is to just 0:11:48.120 --> 0:11:50.520 get it done and get it out of your head. 0:11:50.640 --> 0:11:54.079 And so go to Canva, sign up for an account, 0:11:54.120 --> 0:11:56.720 sign up for a free version, and just get start 0:11:56.760 --> 0:12:00.520 to collect images, whether you find them on Google Images 0:12:00.640 --> 0:12:03.720 or whether you find them in stock images that Canva provides, 0:12:04.320 --> 0:12:08.120 start to collect them in one document, one poster of 0:12:08.160 --> 0:12:12.840 what your business looks like at its best. I thoroughly 0:12:12.880 --> 0:12:15.679 believe if you keep the vision in front of you, 0:12:15.679 --> 0:12:19.560 you will find yourself being more attracted to things and 0:12:19.600 --> 0:12:24.800 things are attracted to you that provide opportunities to excel 0:12:24.880 --> 0:12:31.880 towards that particular state. So I am an evangelist of this. 0:12:32.080 --> 0:12:33.920 I believe you should keep that vision in front of 0:12:33.960 --> 0:12:37.360 you every day. Is my vision board is analog, so 0:12:37.400 --> 0:12:41.520 I print it off my board and it's analog. It 0:12:41.559 --> 0:12:44.319 sits on my dresser. So every morning while I'm getting 0:12:44.360 --> 0:12:46.280 ready for the day, while I'm putting on my shade butter, 0:12:46.679 --> 0:12:48.760 you know, I can see my vision board, and so 0:12:49.520 --> 0:12:52.120 it reminds me, and it keeps my brain focused, and 0:12:52.160 --> 0:12:54.600 it keeps my spirit focused on the things that I'm 0:12:54.640 --> 0:12:57.560 working towards. And so that's where I would start. If 0:12:57.640 --> 0:13:01.120 I'm you and I'm a solopreneur, small business owner, at 0:13:01.160 --> 0:13:03.839 any stage, you can do this, but I'm particularly talking 0:13:03.840 --> 0:13:06.640 to this solopreneurs and small business owners. You got to 0:13:06.679 --> 0:13:09.560 get a picture in your mind of what your business 0:13:09.559 --> 0:13:13.520 at its greatest looks like. And you're projecting into the future, 0:13:13.559 --> 0:13:18.199 and don't limit yourself to what you think might be possible. 0:13:18.520 --> 0:13:21.439 That's one of the biggest mistakes we make as entrepreneurs 0:13:21.600 --> 0:13:26.320 is we start to pick away at our dream because 0:13:26.400 --> 0:13:29.600 we think, well, this is something that's actually accomplishable, Like 0:13:30.360 --> 0:13:32.520 why that makes no sense to me? And so I 0:13:32.520 --> 0:13:35.000 think you should. It's your dream, and it's a dream 0:13:35.080 --> 0:13:38.320 today you're gonna put the work in hope. And so 0:13:38.440 --> 0:13:40.760 what you should be doing is think about the things 0:13:40.760 --> 0:13:43.280 that you desire and take the limits off of what's 0:13:43.320 --> 0:13:47.280 possible in that regard. Just put it down. This particular 0:13:47.440 --> 0:13:50.640 practice is for you, and you should not be the 0:13:50.679 --> 0:13:53.000 one clipping your own wings. You should not be the 0:13:53.040 --> 0:13:56.480 person who's telling you what you can't accomplish. So put 0:13:56.559 --> 0:13:59.960 down the greatest version of your business on this vision board. 0:14:00.120 --> 0:14:02.560 So start there. Get you a Canva account, a free version. 0:14:02.559 --> 0:14:04.599 You don't have to pay for anything yet most of 0:14:04.640 --> 0:14:07.600 the things I'm going to give you today have free versions, 0:14:07.760 --> 0:14:10.240 so I'm not here to try to cost you any 0:14:10.240 --> 0:14:11.760 more money. A lot of the things that I did. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.480 I found hacks you know, that I could use to 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:16.719 build my business that did not cost me a lot 0:14:16.760 --> 0:14:19.640 of money upfront. As you start to grow, then things 0:14:19.640 --> 0:14:21.840 will start to you know, need to go to premium levels. 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:23.560 But at this stage, you don't need to pay a 0:14:23.560 --> 0:14:26.160 lot of money to be able to create some systems 0:14:26.160 --> 0:14:28.760 in your life. And so number one, we're going to 0:14:28.840 --> 0:14:32.240 get that Canva account and get our vision board mapped 0:14:32.240 --> 0:14:36.200 out into a vision board or mood board type of format. 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:40.880 The second thing I would do is get out of 0:14:40.920 --> 0:14:44.360 your head, you know, get all these operational things that 0:14:44.400 --> 0:14:47.520 you go through day to day. The way you operate 0:14:47.560 --> 0:14:51.640 your business should be documented, and so it's so important. 0:14:51.720 --> 0:14:53.520 The second piece of software I'm going to give you 0:14:53.560 --> 0:15:00.040 today is Google Docs or Microsoft Word. And because so 0:15:00.080 --> 0:15:06.520 many business owners, solopreneurs, entrepreneurs, especially in the early days, 0:15:06.920 --> 0:15:10.160 we build our businesses to survive and we don't build 0:15:10.200 --> 0:15:12.520 them to grow because we're just in the grind, We're 0:15:12.560 --> 0:15:15.840 in the hustle, we're in the thing. But if I 0:15:15.840 --> 0:15:18.960 could go back and do it over again, knowing what 0:15:19.040 --> 0:15:21.120 I know now, I would go back and I would 0:15:21.200 --> 0:15:24.840 document those steps because what happens is is as if 0:15:24.880 --> 0:15:27.880 you're positioning yourself to grow, not necessarily if you're positioning 0:15:27.920 --> 0:15:30.840 yourself to sell, because that's a different conversation, but just 0:15:31.000 --> 0:15:34.800 positioning yourself to grow the most one of the most 0:15:34.840 --> 0:15:38.600 important things to do is to get the systems, get 0:15:38.600 --> 0:15:42.960 the operations out of your head. If you keep it 0:15:43.000 --> 0:15:45.600 in your head, then you're just grinding and you're just hustling. 0:15:45.640 --> 0:15:48.800 But our objective here is to build a business that 0:15:48.840 --> 0:15:53.800 we can provide for at least us ourselves, secondarily our families, 0:15:53.920 --> 0:15:59.120 and hopefully other people. We can provide opportunities income, you know, 0:15:59.520 --> 0:16:02.720 in lifelihoods for other people. But you got to get 0:16:02.760 --> 0:16:05.800 the business out of your head and into a document. 0:16:06.360 --> 0:16:08.560 And I'm not just talking about a business plan. I'm 0:16:08.560 --> 0:16:12.800 talking about how you actually do what you do. So 0:16:13.040 --> 0:16:15.720 if you are, you know, running a business, I'm going 0:16:15.760 --> 0:16:17.320 to just talk about a media company because that's what 0:16:17.360 --> 0:16:21.040 I run. And so if I'm running a marketing company, 0:16:21.600 --> 0:16:24.119 I want to talk about, Okay, what are the steps 0:16:24.320 --> 0:16:28.160 in order to sell a potential customer a potential client? 0:16:28.680 --> 0:16:31.600 You know, you should be picking up the phone, writing 0:16:31.720 --> 0:16:35.280 this many emails. These are specific email templates that we've 0:16:35.320 --> 0:16:38.360 found to work. Here are another set of templates that 0:16:38.400 --> 0:16:40.960 we found that don't work, and here's what we figured 0:16:41.000 --> 0:16:43.960 out and why they don't work. And this should actually 0:16:43.960 --> 0:16:46.960 be written down in a document, in a Google doc, 0:16:47.080 --> 0:16:49.240 which you can get for free. You can pay for 0:16:49.280 --> 0:16:52.200 micro software, but you can get Google Docs for free. 0:16:52.640 --> 0:16:55.080 And so you should just start to write out how 0:16:55.200 --> 0:16:59.000 you do your business. If when you take a camera 0:16:59.520 --> 0:17:02.200 out of your shop, out of your studio and you 0:17:02.280 --> 0:17:04.639 take it to a shoot, is there a signing sheet? 0:17:04.720 --> 0:17:06.919 Is there a sign out sheet for where the equipment is, 0:17:07.359 --> 0:17:09.760 because that's something you're going to need when you start 0:17:09.760 --> 0:17:11.920 to hire your first people. I want to know where 0:17:12.000 --> 0:17:14.680 all our stuff is. And so if your people are 0:17:14.720 --> 0:17:18.440 taking your equipment to if your people will ultimately because 0:17:18.440 --> 0:17:20.640 you don't have any people yet, but if your people 0:17:20.680 --> 0:17:24.479 will ultimately be taking your equipment out of your studio 0:17:24.760 --> 0:17:28.080 and to shoots and doing things with them, you should 0:17:28.160 --> 0:17:30.399 know where all your stuff is. So there should be 0:17:30.520 --> 0:17:35.440 a process, a procedure for keeping track of your equipment. 0:17:35.680 --> 0:17:38.640 This is something that is kind of tedious to do, 0:17:38.800 --> 0:17:40.720 and this is why most people don't do it, because 0:17:40.720 --> 0:17:44.520 it's actual work in documenting how you run your business. 0:17:44.640 --> 0:17:47.520 But it's so important because again the objective is to 0:17:47.560 --> 0:17:50.240 get your business to grow, and the only way to 0:17:50.280 --> 0:17:53.520 do that is to create a roadmap for other people 0:17:53.600 --> 0:17:56.240 to follow. And so if you get your ideas, get 0:17:56.280 --> 0:17:59.320 your systems, get your habits, get your operations out of 0:17:59.359 --> 0:18:02.240 your head and into a document that other people can follow, 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.080 your much better position to be able to bring on 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:08.520 other people. And that's the part b to this thing. 0:18:08.560 --> 0:18:12.320 What I found was when I was trying to bring 0:18:12.359 --> 0:18:16.159 on people, I in the early days brought on the 0:18:16.200 --> 0:18:20.439 wrong people and it costs me money because I didn't 0:18:20.520 --> 0:18:24.439 know what I needed. And unless you have what you 0:18:24.520 --> 0:18:28.000 need written down, you really don't know what you need 0:18:28.440 --> 0:18:32.560 because you can't identify a particular job description or you 0:18:32.560 --> 0:18:35.440 know tasks that you need this person to handle, because 0:18:35.480 --> 0:18:38.520 you today are just doing everything. And so the only 0:18:38.600 --> 0:18:40.920 way to know and how to define what you need 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:44.760 in a particular candidate is to have it written down 0:18:44.760 --> 0:18:47.840 til you get the point. Write down your stuff, get 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:49.720 it out of your head, get your business out of 0:18:49.760 --> 0:18:52.800 your head and into a document. You cannot run a business, 0:18:52.840 --> 0:18:55.960 You cannot operate a business in your head. I say this, 0:18:56.359 --> 0:18:58.160 you know to people who come to meet and ask 0:18:58.200 --> 0:19:01.120 for mentorship all the time. You can run a business 0:19:01.400 --> 0:19:06.320 without operations, but you cannot grow a business without operations. 0:19:06.720 --> 0:19:12.040 So your objective today is to build start building a library, 0:19:12.119 --> 0:19:15.560 a repository of all the knowledge that it takes to 0:19:15.640 --> 0:19:19.560 run and operate this business. The next point I would 0:19:19.600 --> 0:19:22.160 love to make here, and it's just something the track 0:19:22.240 --> 0:19:25.240 that I've fallen into several times, and so many people 0:19:25.240 --> 0:19:27.720 I know have fallen into this. Many still are in this, 0:19:28.240 --> 0:19:32.760 particularly the chat. But it's not about which apps you're using, 0:19:33.560 --> 0:19:36.879 it's about how you're using your apps. And so I 0:19:37.080 --> 0:19:39.359 was the guy you know a few years ago. I 0:19:39.359 --> 0:19:42.160 would be on product hunt every day because I wanted 0:19:42.200 --> 0:19:45.040 to find what's the coolest new thing out there that 0:19:45.080 --> 0:19:48.280 could help me turbocharge my business and it would help 0:19:48.320 --> 0:19:51.399 me grow from X to Y. I would always be 0:19:51.440 --> 0:19:55.359 looking for cool new apps, cool new software, or just 0:19:55.600 --> 0:19:57.880 software that worked. It didn't have to be necessarily cool, 0:19:57.880 --> 0:20:00.640 but what was things out there that I could use 0:20:00.680 --> 0:20:04.320 to help me grow? And what I learned was it 0:20:04.359 --> 0:20:07.240 wasn't necessarily about what I was using, It was about 0:20:07.359 --> 0:20:09.160 how I was using it. And here's what I mean 0:20:09.200 --> 0:20:13.360 by that. You're only good, you're only as good. Software 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:17.240 is only as good as your commitment and discipline in 0:20:17.359 --> 0:20:21.159 using it. You can have the best software in the world, 0:20:21.640 --> 0:20:25.360 but if you're not disciplined in using it, what good 0:20:25.359 --> 0:20:28.080 would it do you? It won't do you very much good. 0:20:28.520 --> 0:20:31.720 And so you could run an entire business just on 0:20:33.080 --> 0:20:37.080 the Notes app if you're committed to using the Notes app. 0:20:37.680 --> 0:20:41.200 You know, if you're committed to using Google Sheets or 0:20:41.320 --> 0:20:45.080 Excel or whatever. If you committed to those systems and 0:20:45.119 --> 0:20:48.600 you're disciplined about using those systems, you can run a 0:20:48.640 --> 0:20:53.760 thriving business. The difference between using these types of apps 0:20:53.800 --> 0:20:56.960 and things that are actually designed like project management software 0:20:56.960 --> 0:21:00.320 in et cetera, is those project management softwarees are make 0:21:00.320 --> 0:21:04.600 it more efficient, and they build suites necessarily tailored to 0:21:05.400 --> 0:21:10.200 small businesses and large businesses also. But the premise here 0:21:10.400 --> 0:21:15.520 is to get you to build a discipline. That's what 0:21:15.560 --> 0:21:18.919 we typically don't have when we're running a business solo 0:21:19.359 --> 0:21:22.639 or when we're running a business that's small, is the 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.080 discipline about our operations, because what we'll do is we'll say, well, 0:21:26.119 --> 0:21:29.120 you know what, let's just do this this time, or well, 0:21:29.119 --> 0:21:30.680 you know, I know we did like that last time, 0:21:30.720 --> 0:21:33.000 but this other way may be cool in this time 0:21:33.440 --> 0:21:37.520 and some that's okay, you know, but it doesn't lend 0:21:37.560 --> 0:21:41.600 itself to growth. If you are going to grow, you've 0:21:41.600 --> 0:21:44.120 got to standardize and you've got to find You got 0:21:44.119 --> 0:21:47.840 to standardize on the best way to do this. That's 0:21:47.840 --> 0:21:52.000 how you get to grow. You standardize on the best 0:21:52.040 --> 0:21:56.440 way to handle X and y task. Otherwise you're not 0:21:56.560 --> 0:21:59.840 creating things that can be replicated, that can be duplicated 0:22:00.080 --> 0:22:03.280 because you're doing it different every single time. So how 0:22:03.280 --> 0:22:05.680 can you expect somebody to come on to your team 0:22:05.720 --> 0:22:08.400 and be able to find success if they don't know 0:22:08.960 --> 0:22:11.880 how to measure success, if they don't are if they're 0:22:11.880 --> 0:22:15.720 not ingratiated into a system that is designed to make 0:22:15.800 --> 0:22:19.359 sure they are successful. So sometimes we bring people in 0:22:19.400 --> 0:22:22.240 and say, you know what, this isn't working out because 0:22:22.640 --> 0:22:26.439 we haven't created the system that they can find success in. 0:22:27.680 --> 0:22:31.040 And so it's so important to use your systems in 0:22:31.119 --> 0:22:34.399 a disciplined way. So once you create that library, that 0:22:34.520 --> 0:22:37.480 repository of this is how we do things, it's okay 0:22:37.520 --> 0:22:39.800 to update it. It's not I'm not saying it's a 0:22:39.840 --> 0:22:42.920 static document and it's never going to change. But use 0:22:43.000 --> 0:22:45.280 the apps in a way, use the software in a 0:22:45.320 --> 0:22:48.159 way that you get committed to it that this is 0:22:48.200 --> 0:22:52.719 an exercise. And a principle that is so important to 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:55.520