Systemize Your Success

Key Performance Indicators are measurables within a business that can be used to assess the current position of an organization. Steve chats to Georges Verdis about the essential nature and collation of KPI’s, which to use and how to interpret them.    KEY TAKEAWAYS    Georges is a busy London estate agent who has managed to systemize his work with the help of Steve. For Georges KPIs are completed...

Steve interviews John Jonas, founder of onlinejobs.ph, which is a Philippines based job board providing virtual assistants to businesses internationally. It is a simple recruitment process that enables the user to source suitable and skilled workers and for job seekers from the Philippines to find the right online employment. He also teaches how to hire Virtual Assistants and how to make the syste...

Why do some business owners make such a success of systemization, while others fail to grasp the opportunity to free themselves and create the life that they dream of? What are the differences between these two types of people?     KEY TAKEAWAYS  A reason for failure is when a single leader of a business is loathe to take that first step and hire an assistant. They may also fail to hire the right...

Steve interviews Stephen Somers who is cofounder, with his business partner Robert Rickey, of  a business consultancy called Marketplace Superheroes. Alongside his team he helps people sell branded products on Amazon effectively and profitably. Stephen began his company after selling products in Amazon for several years, and after meeting Robert and working together they created Marketplace Superh...

If you have a focused and productive meeting at regular intervals you can ensure that throughout the intervening period your necessary contact with your team will be kept to an efficient minimum. However, meetings can be complete time drains with never ending debating and arguing that can suck the energy and enthusiasm out of everybody present if they are executed badly. Steve’s here to tell you h...

In this episode Steve talks to fitness expert Joe McNee about how he helps other people with client based small businesses like personal trainers, coaches and driving schools to automate their on boarding and client progress processes. He is a schoolteacher and fitness coach and has three children, and this left him without enough hours in the day so he has utilised systems, apps and software to r...

When employing a Virtual Assistant how much should you pay them and do you have any other responsibilities towards them? What is the best way to structure reward and praise? Sometimes in the world of VA’s the rules and regulations can be a little unclear so Steve is here to summarise what you should be putting in place to pay and support your team and fulfil your obligations as an employer.    KEY...

Did you know you don’t own any of your Virtual Assistants intellectual property that they create for you? Steve gives you the method for transferring ownership to you when receiving your team members work.    KEY TAKEAWAYS  If you are a creative, whether that be graphical design, technical design, speech, music, art or prose of any kind, you own the copyright, by default, of any of your work. If y...

In this episode Steve details how you can improve or get started on your outsourcing while avoiding common pitfalls, myths and mistakes that can plague your efforts. What should you outsource, why does it need outsourcing and how can you go about doing it? He uses the example of social media to clarify what is required when outsourcing your everyday tasks.   KEY TAKEAWAYS  You don’t have to comple...

Steve reveals a quick trick for you to save one working week a year for the rest of your working life! Utilise this simple advice to free yourself up for more fruitful or fun tasks.    KEY TAKEAWAYS  Next time you come to a task and think “it will only take a few minutes, I should do it myself” consider this. It may appear that the time taken delegating that task seems like a waste of time, but ov...

A ‘Task Board Review’ is a monthly meeting Steve has with his staff which allows everybody to get on target and make sure they are focusing on the right task at the right time. Listen to how Steve holds his meetings to see how this could benefit your organization.   KEY TAKEAWAYS  Steve has a regular one to one with each of his staff he manages. In this meeting the tasks undertaken are discussed t...

Organizing your files and folders for easy access is essential for time saving and ease of operation. Steve has some advice on how to not disappear into a cloud of data chaos and increase your productivity by rethinking and modernizing the way you store your files.   KEY TAKEAWAYS    Grouping can be cumbersome due to the ambiguity of classing files by specific criteria. Labelling things to make th...

🎙 Steve describes a technique where you create a chart of everything you do in your business and find out if your employees want to do it, learn about it, or just simply hate it. This will increase the rapport you have with your team and increase their productivity.  KEY TAKEAWAYS  💡 Create a spreadsheet and list all the activities that go on in your business in one column on the left hand side....

Automation tools, used correctly, can revolutionize parts of your business, streamline your operation, reduce errors and save costs in terms of time and wages. However, used inappropriately or incorrectly they can be a substantial drain on your time and resources. Steve is here to denote correct application of these tools to help you avoid the pitfalls.   KEY TAKEAWAYS    Apps such as Zapier or In...

In this episode Steve is going to teach you how to avoid the annoying back and forth chaos that is scheduling a meeting with a busy client or employee. By using calendar scheduling apps you can eliminate the often time consuming e-mail cat-and-mouse game of allotting time and automate and simplify your appointment calendar.     KEY TAKEAWAYS    Using these apps you can book calls and meetings of d...

Steve interviews Kevin Brittain, successful entrepreneur, marathon runner and philanthropist, who is running barefoot around the world! While doing this he fits in being a husband and father and holds two Guinness World Records for ‘Fastest Marathon Runner Dressed As a Ninja’. Currently vlogging his round-the-world virtual journey of 40,075 km he is also raising money for needy children as he goes...

This episode is all about the Comms Assistant (CA) position. What is a CA? Why do you need one in your life? When should you be considering hiring one? Steve advises a CA to be sourced early on and he details exactly why a CA is an essential member of your team.   KEY TAKEAWAYS    A Comms Assistant is a gatekeeper between you and any incoming information be it e-mail, social media messaging like I...

When you have a quarterly or annual meeting and all the tasks and goals that have been previously put on the back burner are discussed and brought to light, how do you take that daunting incongruous list and present it in a way that is easy to manage and avoids “cherry picking” of the more desirable tasks? Steve has a simple way of visualizing even the largest list of jobs into an easy to prioriti...

  A fluctuating workforce is a real headache that seriously affects your overall efficiency. Steve shares his five golden rules with you that can create a much more productive use of time for both yourself and your employees.   KEY TAKEAWAYS   Throughout any type of business, time management is a key factor in keeping productivity at a premium. It might seem simple, but create an operations manual...

Steve interviews business guru Justin Esgar who works guiding business, organizations and individuals through the world of Apple IT via his company Virtua Consulting Group. He also works as a business consultant and discusses his take on modern outsourcing, his career as an technical and children’s author and utilizing the correct personnel and IT for your company’s needs.   KEY TAKEAWAYS    Justi...

Up until now the usual way of thinking when deciding which tasks to delegate and which staff to hire has been to try to employ someone opposite to you who compliments your strengths and weaknesses and to pass on tasks which you find unrewarding or difficult. However, Steve disagrees with this and shares why it's often a good idea to relinquish responsibility for doing tasks you enjoy and are good...

If you use a password sharing tool like LastPass Steve highlights a security issue you may not be previously aware of. If you provide passwords to your team via these apps Steve instructs you on how you can use them safely so this is no longer an issue.   KEY TAKEAWAYS  When running any business the number of passwords for sites, apps and software son mounts so apps like LastPass allow you to shar...

Steve chats today to David Wachs, CEO and founder of Handwrytten. Handwrytten provides solutions to communicating with your customers in pen to provide a more personal touch than mass printed type written notes and letters. Steve finds out what such a service can offer your organization in improving your relationship with your clients.    KEY TAKEAWAYS    Handwrytten is the largest provider of han...

In this episode Steve discusses job adverts and how writing a job advert in a particular way can drastically improve the chance of people applying for your position. How can you get the best people to apply just by crafting the job posting the right way? Steve details the ideal method to approach potential staff using his experience of filling over 140 different positions for himself and his clien...

In this episode Steve shares his experience of using different methods for hiring virtual assistants and staff. He covers using agencies, recruitment consultants and also hiring direct. He also discusses the recruitment system that has enabled him to hire over 140 virtual assistants and remote workers over the past few years.    KEY TAKEAWAYS    Steve has created  a recruitment system which allows...