Business Scaling 101 with Shauna Vassell from Koncave Business

We hate to break it to you, but there’s no magic pill solution for scaling your business. The good news is that Business Growth Strategist Shauna Vassell has seen it all and is ready to share the fine lines and secrets of strategic development.

Shauna teaches us business growth strategies, including how to define your offering, streamline your operations, as well as why it’s important to automate and hire at the right moment. Tune in (or read below) to learn how to avoid becoming your own bottleneck, the power of properly delegating tasks, and why time management and tracking are more critical than you think.

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In the episode “Business Scaling 101,” we discuss:

• The best gift Shauna ever received and why it launched her career
• How to become a CEO and transition from solopreneur to company leader
• Why little business automation wins can make a world of difference 
• How to avoid burnout: examine what motivates you and brings you energy
• The importance of carving your own path and stepping out of someone else’s shadow
• Why you won’t get 10K in 10 days: the trap of gurus and gimmicky promises
• How to start thinking like a CEO: the importance of clearing the space and making things repeatable and reproducible
• Delegating tasks: understanding what you have to get done before you give it away
• Why trying to do too much is one of the biggest mistakes an entrepreneur can make
• Shauna’s top productivity tips: self-care, time blocking, and time tracking

Favorite quotes

“You can have all the technical skills in the world, but if you are not grounded in what you believe is the right thing to do next, you're going to always be chasing someone else's shadow.” - Shauna Vassell

“When you hear 10K in 10 days, you have to remember, you have to have an infrastructure beforehand to get to that space. And it's not just a one-and-done that way.” - Shauna Vassell

“Everything should be repeatable [and] reproducible so that you can always hand it off because eventually, the idea is you're going to start thinking like a CEO. And how do you do that? You clear the space.” - Shauna Vassell

“If you're trying to do everything at the same time, you're definitely on a one-way trip to burnout. A hundred percent. The other piece of that is you're never going to be a hundred percent in anything, and it's going to show up in the place that you don't want it to show up.” - Shauna Vassell

Meet today’s guest, Shauna Vassell

Today, she takes those hard lessons and helps others to shortcut their business growth by scaling from where they are without burnout. Shauna works with coaches and creatives to create their offer, define their unique positioning, and streamline their operations, so they can scale their business to the next level. Her mission is to help business owners to take the guesswork out of scaling and growing their business, so they can make the impact they want.

Productivity resources to explore

• YouCanBook.me
• Trello
• Canva
• Koncave Business Instagram
• Koncave Business Facebook
• YouCanBook.me Twitter
• YouCanBook.me Forum

“Business Scaling 101” full transcript

Ben (00:00):

You are listening to Get More Done. I'm your host, Ben Dlugiewicz. In each episode, we will talk with folks from different industries and learn how they manage their day, help their customers or teams do more with less, use automation, and generally get more done. In this episode, I caught up with Shauna Vassell, a Business Growth Strategist. Her company, Koncave, helps business owners and creatives get into the CEO mindset to scale their offerings. We talk about the challenges with the delegation and the power of time blocking. Enjoy.

Ben (00:46):

Excellent. Welcome back to Get More Done, the podcast all about productivity and crushing goals, and getting more stuff done. In today's episode, I'm joined with Shauna Vassell, the Business Growth Strategist. So Shauna, welcome to the podcast.

Shauna (01:01):

Ah, thank you, Ben. Great to be here.

Ben (01:03):

Yeah. Super pumped to have you on. So what you might not know is we usually start these conversations with an icebreaker, just to break up the nerves and get everybody a bit more comfortable. So with that, the icebreaker question this episode is, what's the best gift you have ever been given and why was it the best?

Shauna (01:22):

So the best gift that I was ever given was, I would say it's a leadership conference that one of the retired managers that I had gifted to me back in the day. And the reason why it was the best gift was, it was the reason why I decided to move my business the way it is. And I decided to jump in headfirst into leadership development, as well as helping business owners. Because at the time when he gave it to me, it really was not something that people, that he was allowed to give. It was like his retirement gift. And then he just kind of disappeared. And then he sent me a letter and said, "Oh, by the way, go to so-and-so and go pick up this ticket that I paid for, for you to go to this woman conference because I think you're going to be amazing in the future." And it was, and that was it. That was his parting gift. He just literally put it on the company card and just said, "Yeah. So go to the reception. She has it. And I think you're going to be fantastic. You know, good luck. See you on the other side or whenever we run into each other." And that was it. And that was the best gift ever because I ran into so many female entrepreneurs, so many leaders, and it really just kind of changed my project. My direction.

Ben (02:41):

Wow. That is an amazing gift. You're like, here's the foundation for your whole new life. Bye, you know, and see you later, I guess. That's awesome.

Shauna (02:49):

It was such a sweet gift that he gave. And I, you know, I know right now he is somewhere, he definitely moved away to the - he's in the bushes, I always say, somewhere. Cause he plays guitar. He loves nature. So he had said that's what he was going to do. So he was off the grid. So before he left, he just kind of gifted it and then he just like, see you guys. That was it.

Ben (03:10):

Yeah. Oh, that's awesome. I don't think I've ever gotten anything that great, but I'm still hoping, you know? There's still time, former managers out there. No, just kidding. So tell us a little bit, you know, what that leadership, you know, foundation meant for you as far as like how that helps you now. And tell us a little bit about yourself and what you do with that knowledge now.

Shauna (03:35):

So that leadership gift, I think it's paid itself so many times forward. So right now what I do is, I'm, like you said, a Business Growth Strategist. So I work with coaches and creators to help them to get out of the daily grind and to focus on revenue-generating activities. That's going to help them in their business and to help them grow and scale their business. So as part of what I do, I add a lot of leadership components to that because the big transition for a lot of people is how do I go from being a solopreneur, doing everything, into a true CEO of a business. And when I think back on how that's changed me. So during that time, I was actually in a bigger corporation when I received that gift.

Shauna (04:27):

And that gift actually gave me the knowledge that I needed to do more intentional career development. And that led me into going into more strategic planning. Going into program design, service delivery, and implementation. And I did that in a public sector experience, as well as an independent consultant where I did organizational change management. And if you're not familiar, what that is, it's literally, if someone goes off on a strategic plan and they said, "Oh, we're going to create this thing. And we're going to take this technology and implement it here." And then you come in and do a risk assessment of, does that make sense? Is it going to impact the organization when you do the operations and what does that look like at the end? And that was what I was doing. And I was giving them, you know, kind of recommendations as to the best way to implement that from a change perspective.

Ben (05:23):

Yeah. Wow. That's awesome. Cause I know that, you know, that's a lot of moving parts that you have to be involved in and now you're guiding people through that. So as you're helping your clients, what are some ways you're leveraging to help them do more with less? Like you talked about, you know, getting them out of working in the business, but working on the business. So tell us a little bit more about that.

Shauna (05:47):

So as I mentioned, when you're - the clients that I get. So a lot of times, if I take a creator, for instance. They're in the process of freelance, right? And, you know, a lot of times it's like gig after gig, after gig. And it's really focused mainly on the delivery side of their business. So a lot of the business development side of it, where they're focused on, you know, the marketing, the sales, the operations. All those pieces kind of take a second place. So I really helped them to kind of take that step back and look at how can I streamline my business. But first, we create, we look at the offers that they have, because in order for them to have more time, they're really going to have to look at, what are you selling in the first place?

Shauna (06:32):

And can you replicate yourself or make it more efficient? And then once we do that, we look at how do we streamline? How do we automate that? And then once we look at that, then we look at who do you need to bring on to help you moving forward? Because the idea is you're building a business. You shouldn't just be in it every single time. And that's going through stages, but in terms of, that's what we look at in terms of getting them to do more with less. It's a lot on what do you need to do and what don't you need to do and how can we delegate? How can we build a team and how can we automate?

Ben (07:07):

Yeah. And I think tying it back into how do you make money and how can you make more of that with less time? Like that's the foundation. That's the fundamental stuff. That's awesome. So in your past, working with folks on the automation side, have there been any big wins that you know, that you've seen of taking somebody from no automation to somebody that's got it all figured out? What would that look like?

Shauna (07:32):

So there's been a ton. There's been a ton of that because a lot of people come when they're literally writing notes on note papers. There are notebooks everywhere. You know, it's like, "Oh, you know, I was planning to do that. It's all in my head, you know? I know what needs to be done." And you know, what I generally do is get them to take it out of their head. So, and that's not necessarily what, I'm not physically doing it for them. But I'm getting them to think about what do you need someone else to do and take it out of your head. Because a lot of that is what's holding them back because they become the bottlenecks, right? And you know, you can't really...and it was fascinating to me because I actually had one of my clients before we met, she didn't have even a simple scheduling system.

Shauna (08:22):

And I said, wait a second, wait a minute. What's going on? So I calculated how much her hourly rate was. And I said, if you do this with every single client, this is how much it's going to cost you. Because you're responding to me and giving me your time slots. And then by the time we connect again, there's time slots gone, and then you're going back and forth. And I'm like, this is so simple. Okay, let's stop this right now. So, you know, just like the little steps, because a lot of people don't like the technology. Cause it's like, "Oh my God, I just know how to do it. This is just too bad." And then they realize, "Huh, interesting. So you mean the email went out without me actually doing anything?" Yes. "Oh. So does the paper, did something happen with the spreadsheet once it's done and now my accountant can just grab it?" Yes. That happens too. So, you know, it's just those little wins that I think a lot of people didn't realize were there. And I've done that in a couple of instances, but that's just one example or one example rolled into a couple of things as to how that actually helps them.

Ben (09:29):

Yeah. And I think a lot of people may be reluctant too. You would say automation, you're like, well, I don't want computers to be running everything, but then you're like, your time is more valuable spent on the core of what your, you know, where your excellence is. Or like you said, those revenue-driving metrics. So that makes total sense. And we know a thing or two about scheduling cause that's what our whole platform is. It saves people time every day. So that's really, really great. You know, I've heard you talk a little bit about how you help your clients. Most importantly, avoid burnout, right? Cause if they're solopreneurs, and they're the, you know, one person wearing so many hats, what are some signs of burnout? Or what should people be watching out for?

Shauna (10:11):

So I always say when it comes to burnout, you have to watch your energy. So a lot of times you're going to start seeing the signs through how you feel. So a lot of your energy. So, you know, one of the examples, so when you think of burnout, it's really just stress over a prolonged period of time, and running a business is stressful. We're not gonna beat around on it. It is stressful. So it's a matter of if you've had that continuous stress over a period of time and have not slowed down. Have not reset or recharged, you know, some people think, "Oh, you know, I'll sleep when I'm dead." No, you probably will die. You really have to think about, you know, looking at it from your energy perspective, cause you start seeing it. And what you start noticing is you're either on one end where you're completely snappy and you're just like, you know, just not the right, not a good person to be around most of the time. Or you go on the opposite end where you're procrastinating.

Shauna (11:13):

And I see this with a lot of my creative friends where it's literally, I can't get it done the way that I want it to look or do it the way that I want to. So I'm just going to go to sleep. I just can't. It's, you know, by doing that, it's also a sign of burnout to you because your perfectionism is kicking in and there's so many things to that, right? So it's really just gauging your energy and looking at whether or not it's still in flow. Like it's still in a good flow or if it's a little off. Because if it becomes a little choppy and you're kind of snappy, you know, like more withdrawn, that's a clear sign that it's burnout. That you just need to start looking at it and maybe you need to reset and just fill the cup again.

Ben (11:58):

Yeah. And tell us a little bit about what that reset would look like or what maybe you recommend for your clients and folks in that situation when they feel the water is getting a little choppy and I'm becoming not my best self here. How do I hit that reset button?

Shauna (12:14):

So the thing is, it looks different for different people, right? And I think, you know, one size doesn't fit all but I definitely think you really have to start looking at what it is that brings you joy. That brings you back fulfillment. And you know, a self-care routine can look like it's not just a bubble bath, right? You know, some people think, "Oh, lemme just do that." That's not necessarily what it is all the time, but it is really a good - it can help you destress, but also just going crazy on your Peloton or something could work too. But it really does depend on what kind of motivates you and what kind of gives you energy. So, you know, for me going on hiking trails, that's one of the things that we do here. So it's like, okay, people are in bad moods. Okay. Let's leave, change the scenery. And a lot of times that's what works. And I think from, you know, a more general standpoint, it's all about changing that scenery and turning things off and walking away from it. Yeah.

Ben (13:15):

Step away, recharge, get the blood pumping. Absolutely. Now, you know, you spend a lot of time helping other people build their businesses, but let's talk a little bit about maybe some challenges that you've run through personally. That you've had to deal with by building your own company. Any major things you've uncovered or learned as you're building your own company up?

Shauna (13:38):

So I think there's so many, but I'll stick to, in terms of challenges, I think the biggest one was the mindset work. And you know, it's kind of such a blanket and now it's so overused in terms of what people say it is but it really is the ability to understand from your own inner work. I'm going to say from my standpoint, my inner work, I didn't know there was so much head trash. Let's just say that. Until I got into my business and I realized, oh, so money mindset is an issue. Okay. So I don't, you know, asking for the price was going to be a problem in the sales conversation. I didn't even think about that. But it makes sense if I thought about my corporate career and I thought about the transition of it and how much I got paid and you know, how little I negotiated.

Shauna (14:39):

Right. It, you know, it just kind of put those things in perspective. But it also put it into perspective of, you know, also sometimes you think, and when I went in there, I was like, you know so much, but you still fall into the trap of following the gurus. And, that was one of the things that really threw me for a loop because, in my own mind, my own inner work was off-kilter in the sense that I was not paying attention to what I needed and what I was doing with my business, instead of trying to compare myself to someone else's business. And I think that was the major thing for me when I started, because I realized, wait a second, you can have all the technical skills in the world, but if you are not grounded in what you believe is the right thing to do next, you're going to always be chasing someone else's shadow. Right. And you're still number two, you're never going to be their number one. Right. So that was a major thing for me.

Ben (15:37):

Wow. Yeah. Having your own determination to get it done and, you know, learning from others, but not idolizing them or, you know, living in that lack, I think. Yeah. That's cool. And like you said, getting that mental trash. Cause there's so many thoughts that just will come in and derail you and you have to stay convicted. Right? Yeah. That's so, so awesome. Now, you've talked about a proprietary framework that you built to help your clients, but this nine-step framework now, are you able to give us some Cliff Notes version of that without giving too much away? Because you know, obviously we want to keep trade secrets, trade secrets but I'd love to learn a little bit more about your framework of how you help folks scale up and do things differently.

Shauna (16:20):

Yeah, no, I absolutely can share kind of the overview of what gets done in terms of the details. That's where the proprietary pieces come in. But a lot of what I do with my clients is it's really about, we break it into three different phases. Because a lot of times people come in and they have this, there's a magic pill solution to it. And there's so much more to unpack with the business. So when you break it out, we do the first phase, which is really just kind of defining the foundations of where we're going. And once we do that, there's three different pillars within that piece that really looks at what exactly, where exactly are you? Because a lot of people think, "Okay, well, if you're just in a startup mode, it means that you're probably here because you don't have this revenue or you don't have that." But there's more layers to that because people have strengths in different areas.

Shauna (17:15):

And if you really peel back the layers, you're going to seem, it's almost like if you were to look at it from even a bell curve, you'll start seeing where they've spent a lot more of their effort versus somewhere else. And then you can start looking at, okay, well, sure they might have similarities, but you're going to be different. So let's define the foundation first and then let's look at what needs to be done. Then when that's done, then we look at, okay, let's look at where do we need to streamline? And that's the second phase of that. And that's another three pillars that we focus on. And within that, it's again, going back to what I was saying, where we look at, what do you need to, where do you need to take yourself out of it? Because the whole premise of all of this is taking you out of the grind and focusing on what you need to do to grow your business.

Shauna (18:03):

And that's where the streamlining comes in, and these things take time. So you, it's not a one-and-done. And that's why I said to people, when you hear 10K in 10 days, you have to remember, you have to have an infrastructure beforehand to get to that space. And it's not just a one-and-done that way. And you know, if you fall for it, it's because you yourself don't even know where you're starting from. And so your foundation is weak there, just even from a leadership perspective as well. So a lot of people are saying, "Oh, well, I paid for this thing." You know, you should've known better. So it's that streamlining. So that's why we look at the streamline because there's a lot of pieces where you, you know, again, going back to the headspace, a lot of people have a lot of things written in notebooks or in their head.

Shauna (18:48):

And they think that, "Oh, well, you know, it's pretty easy. I could do it." That's not the purpose of it. The purpose of it is so you don't have to do it. It should, everything should be repeatable, reproducible so that you can always hand it off because eventually, the idea is you're going to start thinking like a CEO. And how do you do that? You clear the space. So once we do that streamline, then we move into scaling. And that's where we focus mainly on the areas that actually will bring in the revenues. So, you know, it depends on where that person is. We might get there faster. We don't turn off anything that's working. We just mostly do it in the background. So things are going in parallel. So we start building things. And the reason why I call it scale versus grow, because when you're trying to grow your business, it's always more money because you're bringing on more people, you're doing all this stuff, but when you're scaling, you're looking for that lean strategy to it, right? So that lean approach where it's about continuous improvement and optimize what you have in place and working with that first and then reinvesting to then grow because that's more sustainable. So that's what that is.

Ben (20:00):

Yeah. That sounds really comprehensive. And I love the starting the foundation. And like you said, just what do you need to do? What's happening? And I think a lot of people want that silver bullet or want that magic pill, but that's not how anything works. Like maybe Jack and his beanstalk, like the fairytale side of things, but it takes that determination and that grit and really uncovering that. And then the difference that you mentioned of that growth per scale is like growth is yeah, you can grow bigger, but if you're not optimized and it's not a lean process like you mentioned, then it's like, what's the point? You're just funneling more money and just burning it onto this pile instead of just growing revenue. That's really, really awesome. Now, you know, with all of the folks that you have worked with, what have been the, you know, something that they've struggled with the most that you've seen across the board and, you know, how could folks avoid that?

Shauna (20:53):

So the thing that I've seen a lot is trying to do everything. It's a gift and a curse when you're thinking of the multitasking perspective. And, you know, with an entrepreneur, or sometimes you just don't have the budget to do anything else. But it still boils down to, if you're trying to do everything at the same time, you're definitely on a one-way trip to burnout. A hundred percent. The other piece of that is you're never going to be a hundred percent in anything, and it's going to show up in the place that you don't want it to show up. And that's what usually happens when you see a lot of people, you know, like they're doing Instagram reels and all these things, and, you know, it's like, okay, what, you're heavy on the marketing. And I could see that, but who are, who's your customer?

Shauna (21:46):

Like who's coming? Is it a bunch of people who like to watch you dance? Or it's really just thinking about what exactly are you focused on? And, you know, trying to do everything really funnels back into that. And that's why we, in the first stage, we do a complete deep dive into, okay, well, where's your time being spent? Because we need to understand that because once that time, once we get a good layout and map of your time, we can start looking at, okay, well, does it make sense, what you're doing? And if it doesn't, how do we shift it? And that's what I see. So that's why when I work with people, I generally do that time management piece where we really take that mapping of what's going on and tending to start there.

Ben (22:37):

Yeah, totally. And I think there's an old saying, like, if you try to catch two rabbits, you won't catch either of them. Right? Like you got to pick one and stick with it now, you know since there's only so much time in the day. And we talked a bit about time management, how are you seeing these business owners delegate effectively? And where does that usually start? Because I could imagine if somebody is timid on automation, they're probably very timid on delegating and passing off the book, right? So how do you approach those conversations?

Shauna (23:08):

Delegation is very interesting because a lot of people, so you have the people who are, you know, I have a long list of to-dos. I can't wait to hire somebody. And you know, when that person comes on, they literally run for the hills because they're like, wait a second, you needed five people. You didn't need just me. You know, or it's like the, I don't know what to give them. You know, it's conversation around, what should I give them? What do I do? And, you know, it's, you have different spectrums. Or you have the, you know, when you have those people, like the one that doesn't know what to do. It's usually okay, well, you know, let's look at, we do that time study, but we look at, okay, well, what exactly do you have in place?

Shauna (24:00):

What do you, what kind of process do you have? Do you have any? And, you know, we start off there because if you have no process, then the focus isn't about finding someone, the focus is finding out what do you need done. And it's not just, well, you know, it would be nice to have someone manage my inbox. What do you need them to do in your inbox? You know, be a bit more specific. And that comes from a lot more conversations, right? So it's important to do that in advance of hiring somebody because you're definitely gonna waste money doing that. If you go in and expect them to know what's in your head because miraculously they're gonna just know, right? And the other person, which is like I said, they had to literally just throw everything and say, I know exactly what I want.

Shauna (24:49):

So I want you to go in, and there's a Trello board already there, and this is there and that's there. So just do what you're supposed to do. And they walk away. And, you know, when it comes to delegation, you can't abdicate. You really have to be involved. And a lot of people, especially with tech, they're like, throw it over the fence. I don't want to know what you do, just do it. But you really have to understand what it is that they're doing. Because when something's broken, you have to understand who do you need to talk to? And where do you need them to go? Because you're going to chase tail, especially if you're doing launches, or if you have a lot of money on the table. Because I remember there was one client where the issue was there wasn't a connection to the payment and there weren't, they just, people were going and it was falling off.

Shauna (25:38):

But the only way that she could figure that out is if she actually understood her metrics and she didn't understand the metrics. And she's like, "Well, I don't know. It's working". So I said, "But you didn't test it. Did you?" And she's like, "Well, I'm not supposed to do that. Who's supposed to do that?" And I said, "Well, so who's doing it?" You know? So it's like conversations like that, where it could really save you a lot if you really understood what was supposed to happen in any given situation and what some of the triggers that you can see to tell them whether it's firing off or not, right? And I think that's the part that's important. So with delegation, I always think that you need to understand what needs to be done. You need to have a clear picture of what you expect of that person and actually communicate it.

Shauna (26:28):

And then be able to not just walk away from it. You have to be able to support that person and coach that person and train them if they need it. Because not, because a lot of people say, "Well, they're contractors, they should be experts." It's kind of like, I always say to them, that's like, when you buy a car, they all do the same things. They go from point A to point B. There's a place for you to get into the car. There's a place for you to get out. You can drive the car, whether it's driverless or whatever, but it all does the same functions, but the features are different. So they need to understand your business features. So are you doing that? Are you helping them to understand that? And if you aren't doing that, then if they walk away from your business, then that's because you didn't, you really didn't do your job. You had one job. So that's how I deal with that. So I have hard conversations because delegation is really around. And some people really treat it like, you know, it's a breakup. Like the last person left. And yeah, I just, I didn't want to deal with it. It's just too stressful. And it's not the conversation about, "Okay, well, let's talk about why? How can we fix that?" You know what I mean?

Ben (27:42):

Yeah. In, you know, that option of getting delegation to help save time, and even automation too, it's just going to highlight process inefficiencies if those are already in place. So it's not like this is going to solve it. It's just going to amplify whatever you have in place. That's going to really shine the light on that, right?

Shauna (28:02):

Exactly. A hundred percent. But if they are not even taking that first step, it's really hard for them to even see the forest behind the trees too, right?

Ben (28:10):

Yeah. Yeah. And it's still being involved, having one hand in it and not just, you know, I'm going to go sit on the beach while everybody else does the work. I mean, eventually, you want to get to that point, but you got to build the systems and get people in place and help them do their great work. Absolutely. So what's one tip that, or maybe a couple of tips that you could give some business owners or managers to just help them be more productive. You know, cause we did talk about the scheduling aspect and a bit of automation, but are there any other things that you suggest for folks to test out? Maybe some low-hanging fruit that they could change or do?

Shauna (28:46):

So productivity is, I think it's, you know, as much as we can assign a lot of tools to help you. But it really is, it's going back to the same thing with self-care. It's really about your individual style and your lifestyle. When it comes to productivity, you have to look at again your energy. So if you are more of a morning person, then you need to really adjust your schedule based on your peak times, because that's when you're going to be the most productive. And when, if you know that you are constantly in and out of your workspace, you have to think about what days you can block. And I think time-blocking is super important because that's when you have to think about how much time do you need and when. Because you have to look at those energy shifts that you're going to have. Because you concentrate only in the mornings, but you know that on Mondays and Wednesdays, you have, you know, people going back and forth, you're never going to concentrate.

Shauna (29:51):

So you need to not use those times to do specific types of work. So you need to block them based on your energy, your lifestyle. And then you also need to look at, you need to actually estimate your time. And I say this because a lot of people do not, you know, time-blocking is great. And you can say, "Oh, I'm going to do this for an hour." But you really have to start tracking how much time it takes you. And the reason why I said it's a good practice to do that because when you start looking at handing things off to people, you're also looking at tracking how much efficiencies that you're having in your own profit in your own business. Because the fact that you're no longer doing this, you're also looking at, "Okay, well, what was the savings to me from that standpoint?"

Shauna (30:43):

So because anybody who comes into your business really has to be able to provide an ROI at the end of the day. And if you're not seeing from the time they start, if you're not seeing an upward trend, then that's problematic. You need to probably have some coaching conversation or let them go. But from your standpoint, you need to be able to track how much time do you need to do any given task and then build your time blocks based on that, because that's going to determine what you can fit in in a day and what you can't. And the other part of this, and then I'll close with that is, only do three things. Three major things for a day. You can do a lot of little tasks within that, but you don't overcommit. The reality of it, of a day of your daily schedule, where you're actually productive. It's a lot less than you think. It's a lot less than you think. So you really need to be clear on when you're going to actually be productive. The rest of the time, you're probably just keeping lights on.

Ben (31:52):

Right? Yeah. I think, you know, knowing when you're the most productive of that time of the day and blocking the time. And I think the big struggle for a lot of people is just estimating how long a task is going to take and recording that and remembering that. Because that's really, really great stuff and powerful to just manage your time a lot better. Now, is there anything that you personally do that is kind of interesting around productivity? You know, when you have to manage all these conversations, manage all these customers and everything that you're working on.

Shauna (32:24):

So I still have a big, like I said, I'm a big fan of time-blocking. So one of the things that I do for myself, I know I get lost in the sauce on certain things. So whatever I am working on. So I used to do a lot of back-office process engineering. So sometimes I get lost in the backend of how can I use this to streamline that. So sometimes I do that a lot. So I literally, whenever I have that time block, I have a specific type of ringer or alert and some words to it to tell me to get out. Get out. It's literally, it's funny. But, I won't share it, but in terms of what I do, I literally have, because for me one of the things is I have to know.

Shauna (33:15):

And I think for everybody, you have to know what you really enjoy doing because it can really take you away from the things that you also need to do. And you know, if it's delivery work, sometimes you can just stay in delivery and not touch anything else. And you wonder, where did the day go? And that time block doesn't work. Right. So you really have to know, okay, well, if I'm going to do this, you know, you always take two hours when you're supposed to only take one. So it's about having that accountability within built-in so that you can know, okay, well, if normally this is something that I really enjoy, like doing Canva post or Canva stuff, I need to really get someone to say, what are you doing? Get up, you know? That kind of stuff. So I think that's a big thing.

Ben (34:06):

Yeah. That's an interesting take on that flow state of saying, I need somebody to kick me out of that. Kind of like inception, you know, where it's like get me out of that dream state. Pull me back in. But that's really useful because you can get lost in that. And then the day's gone. Maybe two days, and you're like, whoa, that, you know, that could have been more used more productively or differently. That's really great. So what's next for you? What are you excited about?

Shauna (34:33):

So I'm actually, so coming January, I'm actually launching my group program. So that's coming up. So that's something that is, I'm really excited about right now. I do a lot of this work one-to-one and I am excited about expanding it to a bigger audience. So that way I can spend more time with different people, as well as, you know, introduce different coaches as well into the program.

Ben (35:02):

Awesome. And where can folks learn a little bit more about those group sessions and more about everything that you're working on?

Shauna (35:09):

So right now we live mainly on Instagram. We do have a Facebook group, so you can definitely reach us through Instagram to the Facebook group where we do lives every Thursday. So if they want to find me, it's at koncavebusiness, so K O N C A V E business. And that's for both our Instagram and our Facebook as well.

Ben (35:34):

Great. We'll be sure to add that in the show notes. So everyone can be on the pulse for January to join these group sessions and just soak up all of your wisdom from your posts and everything. Shauna, it's been great to talk with you and to learn all about everything you're working on. Thanks again for being on Get More Done and I hope you have a great rest of your day and have an awesome weekend, too.

Shauna (35:56):

All right. You too.

Ben (35:57):

All right. Cheers. Thank you for listening to Get More Done. Be sure to subscribe anywhere that you get your podcasts as we have some great speakers lined up. And if you'd like to be on the show, please reach out to us on Twitter @YouCanBookMe or visit us on our forum, forum.youcanbook.me. I hope to see you around.