Kirsten Graham on how Outsourcing is Self Care!

Kirsten Graham believes that outsourcing repetitive tasks (the ones you don't like to do) is a part of self care. And that in outsourcing those tasks not only provides jobs for those who enjoy the work, but also allows you to expand your business and provide more opportunities for others.

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Transcript

Kirsten Graham, Six Figure Business Coaching
on how Outsourcing is Self Care, and how it helps you create more space to support more people:

[00:00:00] Penny Fitzgerald: Hi, Kirsten.

[00:00:41] Kirsten Graham: How are you? I'm good. How are you? Good. Well, I'm excited about our conversation today. I 

[00:00:48] Penny Fitzgerald: am too.

[00:00:49] I am too. Welcome to Penny for your shots. I'm so 

[00:00:52] Kirsten Graham: grateful you're here. Excited to be 

[00:00:56] Penny Fitzgerald: here. Well, Kirsten, we met, um, through Sassy Sisters and I actually, um, had encountered some of your, um, Ideas, your training online somewhere before even, I'm not sure where, but, um, but yeah, I'm grateful to meet you in person and, um, learn from you.

[00:01:19] So why don't you tell our audience a little bit about you and 

[00:01:21] Kirsten Graham: what you do? So, um, I actually spent a very long time in real estate, so that was my first career and that actually ended up leading me to business coaching. And then I ended up realizing that. Most business owners, the biggest struggle they have is lead generation and also showing up as the authority or the expert in their space.

[00:01:44] So I partnered with Jeannie Wilson, and that's what we really focus on. We focus on helping our clients. Either create a YouTube channel or a podcast, um, and having a virtual assistant who takes care of everything for them, including their social media marketing. And we do that a little differently. We don't act as an agency.

[00:02:02] So the virtual assistants actually go to work directly for our clients. And we feel like that's really important because, well, you know, Penny, as a solopreneur, you're wearing a lot of hats, right? Yeah. It's true. Yeah. And so having people, um, get the support that they need in their business and realize that they, they deserve to have the support in their business.

[00:02:23] I think that's been really, um, powerful. I didn't expect to hear clients say things like, you know, I feel like a real business owner now. Or I had no idea how much I was beating myself up because I couldn't get everything done. Or now that I have the support person, my vision for my business is tripled.

[00:02:43] Like, those are things I just didn't expect to hear because you kind of think about, you know, you think about a virtual assistant, it's somebody who's getting tasks done for you consistently, but the impact on your business and on your confidence is huge. Wow. How, how 

[00:02:56] Penny Fitzgerald: did you, did it kind of morph into that or how did you find 

[00:03:01] Kirsten Graham: that path?

[00:03:03] Sure. So, um, Jeannie actually was one of my clients when I owned a mortgage company. And, um, that's kind of how I went into mentoring. A lot of my clients were business owners. So it's either personal taxes and their business tax returns. And then they'd ask if they could take me to lunch to pick my brain.

[00:03:19] And that kind of led me into, yeah, yeah. My brain, I don't know what you're going to get out of there, but we can try, but yeah, so that kind of led into the coaching side of the business and, um, Jeannie had been a client and she called one day just to check on interest rates and I knew she'd started a business, so I just said, how's it going?

[00:03:37] And she said, well. It's good, but I don't really know any other business owners and I feel like I just need a coach or a mentor and I said, I'm happy to help you do that. And so I started meeting with her and helping her with their business and we put together a focus group and this is back when.

[00:03:53] Facebook first came out with fan pages. I don't know if you remember that. Yeah. Yeah. It's so crazy to think how much time has passed. Yeah. But so I think LinkedIn was coming on the scenes and blogging and email marketing. And so we put together a focus group and then she taught classes on those things.

[00:04:11] Yeah. But then her marketing agency blew up because all of the people that took the classes didn't want to do all of these things themselves. And so I said to her as her kind of mentor coach, I said, I've read about outsourcing overseas. Would you want to try that? And she said, okay. And that led us down this journey of hiring.

[00:04:30] And I think we've hired in six different countries. We've hired hundreds of people over the past 16 years. And this is before zoom and before all of those things, it was a lot harder back then, but, you know, we like to say if it could be done wrong, we did it wrong. And, um, it's a learning experience. It is, it is.

[00:04:48] And I think we were probably super crappy bosses in some regards and we definitely got taken advantage of and other cases. So, yeah, but it was a learning curve and. We just ended up falling in love with outsourcing and the power that it can bring to your business. Wow. 

[00:05:01] Penny Fitzgerald: So how, how did you, I guess, what, was it just kind of a, out of necessity, you learned how to do all these things or, I mean, how did you measure what you were, what you were doing and the successes that you were seeing?

[00:05:14] What, what led you to 

[00:05:15] Kirsten Graham: that? Sure. Sure. With Jeannie's agency, again, this was back when fan pages first came out, you know, this is, This is kind of back when a lot of business owners were still saying, Oh, I don't need a website because the yellow pages work right. Gosh, I know. Right. So getting, um, getting people to understand the importance of having a Facebook page for their business or having the LinkedIn profile or email marketing and blogging, those were things that she was really educating about.

[00:05:41] And then what happened was she got busy. But at that time, like you didn't really know what to charge for those things because people didn't see the value in it yet because they hadn't seen results from it yet. So how about a necessity being able to outsource overseas was very cost effective. I think for a lot of business owners, it just allows you to get support long before you could otherwise.

[00:06:02] And so that was the main reason was cost effective. And so with her success rate, it was really, she had virtual assistants. You know, building websites for her clients, creating layout designs for social media posts, setting up their LinkedIn profiles, setting up their Facebook fan pages back in the day.

[00:06:19] So, yeah, so she was really able to build a team that supported her in growing her business. And so I think it could be a huge asset, um, for someone who's in a marketing business, but I think marketing's changed a great deal. Oh yeah. And. Even more so with AI coming on the scene. Oh, gosh, I think video marketing is so important.

[00:06:38] So people see you. I think it's really, really important now. Plus, I think it's harder for an agency to try to get your message out. I think an agency can do a great job of running ads for you. But I think when it's. When you're talking about your content marketing, it's easier if you show up as yourself and build that know, like, and trust.

[00:06:57] Penny Fitzgerald: Well, it's your business, like as a, as a solopreneur, it is. It's all about you, what you're, what you're presenting and building relationships with people. It's not, you know, product necessarily. Wow. So the, the people that you work with overseas, how do 

[00:07:16] Kirsten Graham: you find them? Thank you. Yeah, like I said, we did a lot of things wrong, and so eventually we created a really streamlined process.

[00:07:23] Jeannie's great with documenting how things are done, so we actually have a team now. So we have a process of, uh, finding, well, we get a lot of referrals. First of all, a lot of the virtual assistants that work for us or for our clients, they refer people to us because. They love the structure. They love the fact that, you know, our clients are great people and pay them on time and give them bonuses and treat them well.

[00:07:45] So we do get a lot of virtual assistants that come to us as referrals. And then we also place ads and we have a really strict process for how we hire. And then the virtual assistant goes through a training portal and then they go through a paid internship. So it's, it's a long process. It takes a few months for us to get a virtual assistant.

[00:08:04] Uh, graduated as we call it, but they can go to work for a client. 

[00:08:07] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. And well, it sounds like that would be a good way to ensure that they have the skills that they need, that they can build a relationship with their client or with their, would they be then reporting directly to. The entrepreneur that is hiring them is 

[00:08:26] Kirsten Graham: absolutely.

[00:08:27] And it's really funny because in our program, it's not, you know, it's not a one way street. It's a two way street. So we talk a lot about cultural differences. So Americans, we communicate very aggressively and the Filipino people tend to be very kind and sweet. So we talk about the cultural differences on both sides and we coach both sides of that.

[00:08:46] Because we want to give our entrepreneurs the opportunity to feel confident and giving feedback on their content. We want them to feel comfortable, um, talking about the things that they want to see in their content, whether it's, you know, different B roll or different images or changing the fonts, whatever that is.

[00:09:03] And a lot of times, especially with our female entrepreneurs, they don't. They don't always feel comfortable or confident enough. So we coach on that, but the virtual assistants are really, um, trained for the graphic design, social media marketing. They're, they're great with graphic design, um, audio editing, video editing.

[00:09:21] So they, they have the skills, but the biggest thing that most business owners lack in which we lacked was SOPs standard operating procedures. So everything that a virtual assistant does for us is documented. And then we teach our entrepreneurs how to manage the virtual assistant through those SOPs.

[00:09:38] Okay. So it's very time efficient. If you think about it, it doesn't make sense to outsource if you end up spending so much time following up or having meetings or checking on things. Yeah. So we really have created a structure that makes it easy for the virtual assistant to know what to do and when to do it, how to do it, and for the business owner to know how to manage them through that and know where everything is at every moment.

[00:10:01] Penny Fitzgerald: Brilliant. Yeah. Because otherwise it'd be more efficient for you just to do it yourself. Instead of having to go through that every time. 

[00:10:11] Kirsten Graham: Well, of course, yeah. Yeah, it's so, I think most of us, you know, most business owners are probably more like me. They're not great at creating SOPs. And that's why Jeannie and I make great partners because she's fantastic.

[00:10:22] And it's just really funny because so many of our clients take our standard operating procedure for their YouTube production or podcast production and social media production, and then they're able to apply that to other areas of their business. So then they are able to go on and create structure because I don't know about you, but I never took a class on how to document procedures.

[00:10:44] You know, or how to use a project management software. I just, I, I must've missed that class. 

[00:10:50] Penny Fitzgerald: I don't recall that one either, but yeah, I, I know back in my career, corporate days, that was part of what I did too, is document what, what I did, cause it was going to go to someone else at some point. So you had to have written procedures for everything, but yeah, when you work for yourself.

[00:11:08] You know what you do, 

[00:11:09] Kirsten Graham: but 

[00:11:10] Penny Fitzgerald: it takes a long time. Yeah. If you had that written down, everybody needs a system, I think for to be more efficient, to be effective and not think about those daily tasks that you have to do and in your business and in just in your life. 

[00:11:28] Kirsten Graham: Yes. Yeah. We, I pretty much document every part of my life now, but yeah, it's good to get it out of your head.

[00:11:35] Right. It's out of your head. Then it's the visionary. You have time to focus on the vision to strategically plan your business because all those little tasks aren't. aren't running around nagging at you Yes. Yes. 

[00:11:46] Penny Fitzgerald: There's room for more things. 

[00:11:49] Kirsten Graham: Important things. Yes. Yes. 

[00:11:50] Penny Fitzgerald: Absolutely. So you brought something up that made me think of another question.

[00:11:54] So you, you outsource and you go to the Philippines, right? Is that exclusively where you are in the, for your, um, virtual 

[00:12:02] Kirsten Graham: assistants? At this point, primarily, yes, we have outsourced to several different countries. I just find that the Filipino culture and once the cultural differences are understood by both parties, it's just a great relationship and we're looking to employ people for long term.

[00:12:19] So it's not a freelance job. They understand that our clients want them to work with them, you know, for a long time, have a set salary, have paid vacation, all the things that you often don't get in a freelance job. So, yeah, we love, we love it. 

[00:12:32] Penny Fitzgerald: That's very cool. Okay. So have you traveled there? Have you been there personally?

[00:12:36] Kirsten Graham: I have not. It is on the list at some point to get there, but yeah, I think it would be amazing because we just have, we have a fairly large team. So just seeing our own team members, but then also getting to see some of our clients, virtual assistants would be really fun too. 

[00:12:50] Penny Fitzgerald: Do you, do you do some things via zoom or how do you work with your, your team over there?

[00:12:56] Kirsten Graham: Yeah. So all of our interviewing process is via zoom, we have a training portal for them. We also have zoom calls for coaching. And again, we put them through a paid internship. So we're looking to make sure that they meet, um, they meet deadlines. They communicate clearly. They're asking good questions.

[00:13:14] They're really learning the SOPs and that they embrace them. Because like you said, in your corporate career, you documented everything. And I think when you're in corporate procedures and processes are the norm. It's not the norm, you know, for entrepreneurs. And so with the virtual assistants have been acting as freelancers, or they've been working for a lot of entrepreneurs that do not have structure.

[00:13:36] We need to make sure that they're going to embrace the structure that we provide for our clients. They really want to use it. And that's, we've been really lucky that that's, that's been happening consistently. Wow. 

[00:13:46] Penny Fitzgerald: Very cool. Yeah. I imagine too, that with the The time difference, it would be difficult to, to zoom.

[00:13:52] I mean, cause isn't it, um, halfway around the world basically. 

[00:13:58] Kirsten Graham: Yeah, there's 12 hours ahead of us. So right now it's what, 11 or 1 14, 1 14 in the morning on their time. But most of our clients, because their virtual assistants are doing things like video editing and audio editing and creating social media posts, that virtual assistant can really work on their time schedule to do their work, but then they can meet with their virtual, they can meet with their.

[00:14:18] Their boss either in the morning. So 8 a. m. Is 8 p. m. Their time. We also have to remember that it's a hot, it's, it's hot there. So a lot of times they do work later into the evenings because it's cooler. Um, and about 50 percent of the country works overnight. So again, it's a very, yeah. No, but for the marketing virtual assistants, we don't really care when they do their work as long as they're able to meet with us or they meet with their client, you know, our client.

[00:14:45] When they, when they want that to happen. And again, they're 12 hours ahead of us on the East coast. Obviously that's different, you know, in different time zones, but you know, we work with the clients to figure out the best time for them to meet with a virtual assistant. So it's good for both parties. And then once they have that consistent meeting on the schedule that it's just, you know, let's just roll with the punches.

[00:15:04] Yeah. After they're up and running, they really just need to meet with them once a week. 

[00:15:09] Penny Fitzgerald: but I imagine as an entrepreneur using those services, that that would be, um, advantageous too, because you would be then, you know, working off out off opposite of each other almost. And then you couldn't hit the ground running when you have all of your things done by your assistant.

[00:15:26] That would be very helpful, I would think. 

[00:15:28] Kirsten Graham: Yeah, when Jeannie owned her agency, she used to say it was like waking up on Christmas morning every day. You'd wake up, all this work had been done. You just had to sign off on it or get feedback on it. And so, you know, because again, she had, her team was doing her client work for her.

[00:15:42] So it is, um, so sometimes time zones can be, A real advantage because then that gave her the whole day to approve it or give feedback and move forward with it. So it really does work well. And we are actually, Penny, we're actually rolling out another program and that is to help our clients get booked on podcast.

[00:16:03] Oh, how fun. Yeah. You love podcasting. I do. So do I. 

[00:16:09] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Well, that brings up another question. Tell us about your podcast. Let's, let's hear what, uh, you know, I've been listening to it, so I know a little bit about it, but tell my listeners what, what you 

[00:16:18] Kirsten Graham: do. Sure. So we have Six Figure Business Mastery and that's a podcast where we bring on experts that can help business owners and we try to make it a very tight podcast.

[00:16:31] It runs about 20 to 22 minutes. Because we're really asking our guests to bring on actionable content, like things that people can listen to and then take action on so we don't want to overwhelm them and that podcast, it may focus on, you know, the three best ways to use Pinterest. Or, you know, things you should know about contracts in your business.

[00:16:52] So we really cover a lot of different topics, but it's all geared towards supporting entrepreneurs and things that they need to know for their business. Thanks. And so it's been really fun and a lot of, it's been a lot of fun. 

[00:17:02] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. I've enjoyed listening to your experts. They come on, um, you know, and everybody has their own set of, you know, what they do best.

[00:17:09] And when they're sharing their top three tips, you can, you can glean a lot of information from those. It's great. 

[00:17:17] Kirsten Graham: Absolutely. And Penny, we actually have another podcast coming out, um, it'll come out in May. Yeah. And it's called blueprints for brilliance, coaching insights. And it's a, it's a podcast, um, by coaches for coaches and we're just exploring with people.

[00:17:33] What was their journey to becoming a coach? You know, what have they learned along the way? You know, they've sometimes they'll share transformational, transformational stories that they've had with their clients. And then we always ask them to end with. You know, one piece of advice to make the world a better place.

[00:17:49] Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, I love that. That's great. You're, you're launching 

[00:17:53] Kirsten Graham: that in May, you said? Yes. I think we have 15 or 16 episodes recorded. Nice. That are in production right now. And so that's the other thing when you're training virtual assistants in a paid internship, we have to have content for them. So we're really lucky that we could, you know, do several podcast interviews a week and put those into production.

[00:18:14] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Wow. That's great. How long have you been 

[00:18:17] Kirsten Graham: podcasting? It's really funny because we started off, I guess I kind of resisted podcasting for a while because it's not really searchable for a business owner. You're creating content that may or may not get found. And that's changing quickly.

[00:18:33] Uh, so when YouTube decided to really. Dive in all in on podcasts. I thought it made sense because, you know, YouTube is the second largest search engine. It's owned by Google and we already had a YouTube channel. We were already doing a lot of talking head videos and tutorial videos. So it really made sense for us to add on podcasting.

[00:18:50] Uh huh. And we had already been interviewing people in our Facebook group. So we already had experts coming on and we were interviewing them in there. And so we just kind of moved that over. So it was a natural 

[00:19:02] Penny Fitzgerald: transition. 

[00:19:04] Kirsten Graham: Yeah. How old have you had your podcast now? Oh, gosh. Um, 

[00:19:06] Penny Fitzgerald: I launched November 2nd of 23.

[00:19:10] So just, you know,

[00:19:11] 4 or 5 months?

[00:19:13] Kirsten Graham: That's exciting tho. It's 

[00:19:16] Penny Fitzgerald: been very fun. I've learned so much and, um, you know, I've really enjoyed telling women's stories and you know, when we come together, we are just unstoppable and if we can share our ideas and lift each other up, it's just amazing. I love it. It's been a great journey. 

[00:19:36] Kirsten Graham: Yeah. And I think that, um, a friend of ours, Ben, he said.

[00:19:40] I feel so lucky because I just to get to pick, I get to pick people I want to talk to because I'm so excited to learn about them and what they do. So it really is amazing to think that you just get to reach out to these people and say, Hey, I'd love to interview you. And most people say yes, and then you get these great connections and you make these great new friends and it sometimes leads to collaborations or affiliates, so many wonderful 

[00:20:03] Penny Fitzgerald: things.

[00:20:03] Yeah, absolutely. Yeah. It's just about being curious and, you know, really listening to others and hear what they're what do they do? Just learn that, hear the stories and share them when we share stories, too. I think that really helps, um, bring the points across. Like if you can share what you, you know, this is what you know, that's great.

[00:20:25] And I'm learning it. But if you can tell me a story about how that impacted you or impacted someone else, then that's when you really, you, you, You understand the concept and you can learn it, internalize it, and really maybe put it into practice in your way, put your own spin on it. So, yeah, that's been kind of fun to hear everyone's stories.

[00:20:46] So, um, , who are your ideal clients? Like who, who do you work with mainly? What entrepreneurs or what kind of business do they have or what would work best for you? 

[00:20:59] Kirsten Graham: Sure. So. For the program where we help our clients start a podcast or start a YouTube channel with their social media marketing email marketing, that can really be ideal for real estate agents because realtors get, you know, fantastic results.

[00:21:12] In fact, we had a client on our coaching call 2 weeks ago, and she had been with us at that point 9 weeks. She'd had a YouTube channel for almost two years and had never received a call off of that channel. Um, her virtual assistant was up and running for six weeks. And in that six weeks she had three people book calls with her from her YouTube channel.

[00:21:32] And one of them was under contract. So I feel like, especially the way people are moving around now for real estate agents, I think it's so important for them to really lean into YouTube. And also now with this new law for them. With the commission and everything, I think by showcasing their knowledge and their expertise, it shows that they're bringing value to the transaction.

[00:21:52] And hopefully that will help them, you know, with the commission and not have any issues with that. So we work with a lot of real estate agents, law firms, law firms are great because they're educating the consumers on the type of law that they practice and they're answering questions. And, you know, if you think about it, I had a friend, I have a friend that owns a law firm in Virginia.

[00:22:10] It's a workers comp law firm and she used to run really inexpensive ads because they would run in the middle of the night. Well, if you have clients that have been injured at work, a lot of times they're up at night because they're in pain or they're restless or they slept a lot during the day. So it makes sense.

[00:22:24] And it's the same with YouTube. If people are, you know, out of work, you know, and they're in pain, they're searching for results. They're searching for things that can help them. And that's where having a YouTube channel that can educate them can be so powerful. But we've, we've been really lucky. We've got to work with a lot of people in a lot of different industries.

[00:22:41] You know, moving companies, interior designers, we work with coaches and consultants. So a lot of different people see the value in creating educational based content. And I think that's really the key. We don't focus on, you know, having your virtual assistant create a commercial for you from out, you know, you showing up week after week with valuable information and content.

[00:23:03] That lets people really get to know you and they like you and I trust you. And if you give them information that they're looking for, they're going to raise their hand. They're going to reach out. They're going to talk to you. 

[00:23:12] Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, that's wonderful. Yeah. I feel like the more you give people, the, the more people you lift up, the more it raises.

[00:23:21] your business as well. Not just your business, but your whole, I don't know. I just feel better when I don't, I don't, we all, I think 

[00:23:29] Kirsten Graham: most of us, yeah. Nobody wants to be sold to, right. We all, we all want to buy something. We'll solve our problem. We want to buy it. Yeah. We don't want to feel like we're being sold to.

[00:23:38] And that's where I think, you know, just creating real authentic content that, You know, shows people that, you know, what's going on in your industry and you have solutions to problems. And, you know, people will often say, well, how much do I give away for free? Well, let's face it. It's the internet. There probably isn't anything someone can't figure out how to do on the internet.

[00:23:56] Right. So even if you're not delivering it, someone else is. And generally what happens is if you educate people enough, they'll, they'll usually want to work with you because they want everything together. They want to work with someone who really can solve their problem and guide them through it, you know, without.

[00:24:12] You know, kind of the minefield of just patching things together that they find all right, 

[00:24:17] Penny Fitzgerald: right. And it's, it's you that they're not necessarily buying, but it's you that has delivered it in a way that, that they can relate to, that they are interacting with and, um, feels good that you're their vibe, you're their people.

[00:24:31] Yeah, you gotta find 

[00:24:32] Kirsten Graham: your people . Yeah. And then for our other program where we help, um, our clients get booked on podcast, Uhhuh , that is really ideal for coaches, consultants, speakers, and authors. It's people who, you know, maybe they've got a new book out and they wanna get booked on a ton of podcasts so they can, you know, spread the word out their book or if they're a coach or consultant and they can work with anywhere, anyone, anywhere in the world.

[00:24:54] Mm-Hmm. getting booked on podcasts can make sense for them. Mm-Hmm. . And for a lot of people it's less, um. Stressful than creating their own content. So, yeah. 

[00:25:05] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. I find, um, it's easier to conduct a podcast. It's easier to interview someone than to be interviewed. I just, I like being curious about other people's stories and, um, listening to them and, um, asking questions,

[00:25:23] Kirsten Graham: It is. It is different. I think as a host of a podcast, you really learn what to do and what not to do from the guests that you have on, you know, right. And sometimes we have guests on and they're just so fabulous and I'm thinking, wow, the next time I get interviewed, I want to emulate that, you know, so it really is interesting when you are on both sides, you know, you're the host and then you're the guest.

[00:25:45] Yeah. I do feel like. You're always evolving. So then when I'm a guest, I'm always learning things from things from the hosts that they did. Then I want to take back to our podcast and do differently 

[00:25:56] Penny Fitzgerald: or do better. Yeah, exactly. Exactly. And then, and some other people will ask you the questions that help draw out your stories too.

[00:26:03] And that's always very fun. It is. That's a lot of fun. Yeah. Very good. I 

[00:26:09] Kirsten Graham: would like, let's, let's circle to you just for a second. I love the name of your podcast. Yeah. Penny for your Shots. So yeah. How did you come up with that name? Okay. Well, I didn't. 

[00:26:20] Penny Fitzgerald: That's, that's the fun part. Um, one of my girlfriends, um, you know, she knew I was going to do a podcast and I hadn't, um, honed in on the name yet.

[00:26:29] And uh, there were like four of us that we get together all the time, Jill, Janet and Jennifer. So shout out to my girls. We had lunch together and, um, we're talking about it and. On, I had a farther drive. So by the time I got home, Jill had shot me like four different ideas and this was the first one.

[00:26:48] She goes, Hey, I got a name for you. And this was it. So it's stuck. It was just perfect. I thought, yeah, it fits. It's, um, it encompasses all the things that I, I want to talk about and the ideas to come up with. So yeah, 

[00:27:03] Kirsten Graham: it was Jill. And it's such a fun name. I love it. Oh, thank you. Yeah. Hopefully 

[00:27:08] Penny Fitzgerald: it's memorable and, um, It kind of encompasses the, the fun part of it too, because.

[00:27:14] I like to have fun with wine and cocktails, 

[00:27:19] Kirsten Graham: which brings me out for drinks. Yeah. 

[00:27:22] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. We don't get together nearly enough and, uh, we live kind of far apart from each other. So we travel to each other and hang out and spend a, spend a weekend usually when we do it.

[00:27:32] That's so Yeah. 

[00:27:34] Kirsten Graham: Um, 

[00:27:35] Penny Fitzgerald: so that brings me to a new question for you. Um, what is your favorite cocktail or glass of wine? What, what, what would you enjoy if you had your choice? 

[00:27:47] Kirsten Graham: I love a nice rich Malbec. Um, full body, but I also love Prosecco outside concert this past weekend and they had Prosecco on tap, which I've never seen that before.

[00:28:02] I was like, it was like winning the lottery. So that was really fun. And then I definitely am a margarita kind of girl. I love Mexican food and having a good margarita. Uh huh. 

[00:28:11] Penny Fitzgerald: Absolutely. Yeah. Those that's, it just, um, brings a party. 

[00:28:17] Kirsten Graham: It does. Yeah. So party in a glass, a party in a glass. Yeah, for 

[00:28:20] Penny Fitzgerald: sure. So what's a favorite memory with girlfriends sharing a cocktail or sharing a margarita or a glass Prosecco.

[00:28:28] Kirsten Graham: Oh my gosh. So many, like I said, this past weekend, we were out at a live music concert. It was great. I think I was with Susan Oh yeah. And so we were having Prosecco together. So lovely. Yeah. And I've got, um, I've got a couple of girlfriends. We actually do a zoom call one's in France and one's up in Rhode Island.

[00:28:46] Oh my gosh. We'll all bring our beverage and just have, you know, a glass of wine together. Yeah. Sometimes it's a cup of tea depending on what time zone we're in at the time. Yeah. Yeah. And then, um, Jeannie, my business partner comes here, um, to Florida. She'll be here in a couple of weeks and we usually go out for a nice dinner somewhere and enjoy a nice bottle of wine.

[00:29:05] And yeah, we were in Vegas. back in January. And we got to meet one of our clients for the first time in person. He was in San Fran. And so we went out to this really nice steak house and had a couple of fabulous bottles of wine. So yeah, I definitely enjoy sharing a cocktail with friends. Yes. It brings out 

[00:29:24] Penny Fitzgerald: more stories.

[00:29:25] Kirsten Graham: Yes, 

[00:29:26] Penny Fitzgerald: absolutely. Vegas has so many nice places to eat to so many great restaurants and Michelin starred restaurants. Don't they? I think they have the largest number of, um, Michelin star restaurants in the world. 

[00:29:39] Kirsten Graham: I believe could be in the food was amazing. 

[00:29:42] Penny Fitzgerald: So good. Amazing. Okay. What, um, what have I not asked you that you would love to share with my people?

[00:29:52] It's

[00:29:53] Kirsten Graham: really interesting because since I have started doing more podcast interviews, One of the things that really keeps coming up is that outsourcing is a form of self care for women. Oh, wow. I love that. I feel like, yeah, I feel like men will delegate everything. Like if they have a secretary or an assistant, they would say like, Hey, here's a post it note.

[00:30:11] Don't forget to go to the bathroom for me at two o'clock. They will delegate everything. And women, I don't, I don't know if it's our perfectionism or our fear of judgment because we're not doing everything. But I do feel like getting support in your business. is so important. It is a great way to take care of yourself because we can make more money, but we can't make more time.

[00:30:33] So if you're missing out on spending time with your family, or you're missing out on doing the things that you love, because you're just grinding, grinding, grinding at your business, you know, eventually you're going to burn out and it's not the life that you want to live. And I look at it in a way that for us, outsourcing is not only a way to take care of ourselves, but it's also a way to provide jobs for women halfway around the world.

[00:30:55] And to truly help them. They get to work from home, so they get to be with their families. So I just feel like it's so important to realize that you deserve to have support in your business. 

[00:31:05] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. That's great. And not only creating jobs across the world, but. You know, the more your business grows, the more concepts you can come up with, the more things that you share with the world, that's going to lift others up too and help them everywhere.

[00:31:21] Kirsten Graham: Right. And I think that's, that's, that's a, that's a great point, Penny, because a lot of people think, well, you're taking jobs out of the country. Well, for a lot of our clients, you know, to spend 250 to 500 bucks a month, they can afford that. Where they couldn't necessarily afford to hire an agency for 3 to 5 grand a month, right?

[00:31:38] So by taking that, you know, out of the country, getting the support that they need, consistently marketing their business. Then they are growing their business. And now maybe they're hiring a local bookkeeper to take care of their books, or maybe they're hiring. We did have a story where someone else hired, um, additional organizers.

[00:31:55] She owned an organizing business. And once she really started marketing her business and getting clients consistently, then she had too much business. So then she was able to hire other local professional organizers. So it is so true that by outsourcing. Um, overseas, it could actually really help you grow your business here, but also then allow you to provide jobs for other people here in the U S 

[00:32:15] Penny Fitzgerald: exactly.

[00:32:17] And it's not a zero sum game, right? Because that job is in the Philippines does not mean that there aren't other, I mean, it doesn't mean that there's a limited amount of jobs available or limited in amount of tasks to be done. The more you create, the more you 

[00:32:33] Kirsten Graham: create. Yeah. And for us, we also see a lot of our clients, once they understand the value of having support, You know, in our case with their marketing, then they are more likely to outsource other things like, you know, again, hiring a local bookkeeper, or, you know, they're ready to bring on someone, maybe to help with sales and their business and they'll bring someone on here in the U.

[00:32:52] S. Yeah, so it does empower people to realize that, you know, I do deserve the help. And I can be a good boss. I think that's another fear for a lot of women. I've never managed or led, or I don't know how to be a good employer or boss. And once they get that experience under their belt, then they are more likely to hire, you know, other people as well.

[00:33:12] Penny Fitzgerald: Right. Right. I think we, we limit ourselves in what we choose to choose to do and what we are, um, I know I look at my own business and I'm like, I, I have to do it all. I feel like I have to, but, um, yeah, that is changing. 

[00:33:34] Kirsten Graham: Yeah, we can go have it. We can go have a bottle of wine and I'll change. Let's do that.

[00:33:40] Yeah. And it's, it's just, it's so empowering. I think. You know, women start more businesses than men, but men tend to build bigger businesses. And I really do think it is the component of outsourcing of realizing you do not have to do everything yourself. And it's so funny because let's use video editing or audio editing as an example.

[00:34:00] Video editing. I couldn't edit a video or audio if my life literally depended on it, you know, just not happening. Right. And, but the reality is I don't need to know how to do something to give constructive feedback, you know, slow that down, speed that up. There's a little bit too much background sound there.

[00:34:18] You know, I don't like the B roll that you chose for that because, you know, it has a lot of men in it. And a lot of our clients are women. I do not need to know how to do something to delegate it or to give feedback on it. And I think that's a very powerful place to come from. And, you know, I do feel like that need to know how to do everything in your business.

[00:34:37] Does slow a lot of women down from building, you know, a larger business or to have more time and space in their lives while having a successful business. 

[00:34:47] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. And I feel it's a scalability thing. So, you know, when, when you get started, you have to do a certain amount of things to understand. I feel like I have to do a certain amount of things to be able to understand them so that eventually I can.

[00:35:01] outsource you know, understanding what, what direction I want to take my business or learning all the things that I want to do, then what are the things that I can get rid of? What are the systems that I can work with and, you know, make it. You know, scale it so I can get bigger so I can do more things and help more people , 

[00:35:21] Kirsten Graham: all of that.

[00:35:22] Yeah, and, and you're very lucky, penny, because in your corporate life, that's what you did. Yeah. Yeah. So you have a skill that a lot of us don't have. Yeah. And so that, it totally makes sense that not only. You feel like you have to, but I'm sure there's a little part of you that's excited to create because it's what you've done and you're really good at.

[00:35:39] Yeah, I can 

[00:35:40] Penny Fitzgerald: see that. Yeah. And taking all of the experiences. So I'll, you know, from the wine part of it, you know, and then going back way back to corporate days and all the things that we did for all the things I did for that. Career, you know, and just melding them all together. So it's above all, I think, very grateful for all of the experiences, even though they re they've run their course.

[00:36:03] Now I can take all of those things and put them together and, you know, kind of, I can cherry pick too, what pieces of each are fun and what I want to keep doing. And, um, yeah. Then outsource the rest. 

[00:36:16] Kirsten Graham: Yes. Yeah. If you can't, yeah. We always say, you know, don't outsource, don't outsource the things that you love to do.

[00:36:22] Right. You know, outsource the things that you don't really enjoy doing. And there may come a time, you know, and I think a great example of this is my business partner, Jeannie. She's a fantastic graphic designer. So if we're going to put together a new landing page or create a new logo for a program or something.

[00:36:39] You know, I'll always ask her, is this something you want to do? Because she can get really jazzed up and excited about it. Sure. Yeah. And then she gets to decide, yeah, I've got time and I want to really dig into this or I would like to, but I don't have the time for it. So I'm going to go ahead and delegate it and I'll do something creative next time.

[00:36:55] Penny Fitzgerald: Oh, very cool. How nice is that to have the choice to pick and choose what you want to do and what lights you up. I think we forget that, especially women, we're doing so many things. We forget what brings us joy because we just do what we have to do. But yeah, if you could focus in your business on what brings you joy, you can keep, if you do the things that, that are fun for you, you get better and better at those things and can share those with the world and really be, that can be your 

[00:37:29] Kirsten Graham: business.

[00:37:31] And it's also incredibly rewarding. To let other people do tasks that lights them up, you know, the virtual assistants and the interns that we work with that are, you know, video editors and audio editors and graphic designers. They love doing that, like that's their thing. And so to see how excited they are when they're showing you a video that they've done or social media posts that they've done, you know, to see them light up over their work.

[00:37:55] And so I don't always think of it as letting go of tasks, you know, that I don't want to do. But realizing I'm handing off to tasks to people who are incredibly creative and incredibly talented and giving them work and a job doing what they love doing. 

[00:38:08] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. What a great way to look at it. Yeah, 

[00:38:12] Kirsten Graham: that's neat.

[00:38:14] It's funny because even with the virtual assistants, they get me booked on podcasts, you know, the virtual assistant that does that, you know, their personality is very different. You know, they're not necessarily a creative person. They're a person who really likes Follow up and follow through and research and the things that I get, I would just not be good at at all.

[00:38:31] And she loves it. You know, when I meet with her and we go over everything that she's done, she's so excited about, you know, again, I followed up with this person. We were able to book that that's exciting because she is excited about it. And what's exciting for me is all I have to do is show up for that interview.

[00:38:46] Right. Yeah. I just get to show up because she's taking care of everything else. 

[00:38:51] Penny Fitzgerald: That's so important. You have to be present when you're having a conversation and anywhere, not just on a podcast, anywhere. 

[00:39:00] Kirsten Graham: True. So true. 

[00:39:04] Penny Fitzgerald: Very cool. Well, um, I, I just want to, I want to open it up a little bit more and, um, Um, if, if there's anything else that you would like to share, well for, for sure, let us know where can we, where can we find you and what would be the best way to get in touch with you?

[00:39:20] Kirsten Graham: Yeah. Our business is six figure business coaching and that's S I X figure business coaching. And that's also our YouTube channel. So if you want to check us out there, we have our podcast interviews there. We have, you know, a lot of training videos there. And actually I have a resource, um, if anybody would like it, it's called double your income with a marketing virtual assistant.

[00:39:39] And you can get that at outsourcingforbosses. com. Again, outsourcingforbosses. com. So if you've been thinking about it, it's just a guide that'll give you a little bit more information. 

[00:39:49] Penny Fitzgerald: Wow. That's great. Thank you so much for sharing that and allowing everyone to hop on that. Yeah. Is there anything else that you would like to, like to share with us?

[00:39:59] Kirsten Graham: No, I'm just so glad that I met you. Me too. Can you hear my dog? 

[00:40:05] Penny Fitzgerald: I heard it. I heard him a little earlier, but 

[00:40:08] Kirsten Graham: she's usually, she's usually napping this time, so I don't know what's got her, there might be someone at the door or something.

[00:40:13] Oh, that makes sense. Authentic. And people love puppies. So it's okay. She's, she's so fun. Yeah. But I, I'm really glad that we met and you know, I'm just so excited. It's so fun to talk to other podcasters and, You know, you and I locally are interviewing a lot of the same women, which is really exciting. And so, yeah, I'm just excited to be on this journey with you and looking forward to staying connected and doing more things together.

[00:40:36] Me too. 

[00:40:37] Penny Fitzgerald: Me too. This has been super 

[00:40:38] Kirsten Graham: fun. Thank you for having me. I really appreciate it. 

[00:40:42] Penny Fitzgerald: Thank you. Thank you. 

[00:40:43] Kirsten Graham: What are you doing business wise 

[00:40:44] Penny Fitzgerald: right now? Um, well, I am, this is part of the thing that I'm working on is, um, courses for systems. So I use, Yeah. I use Boards a lot. I use Todoist, I use, you know, several of those organizational tools that keep me on track. And so I'm documenting, um, here we go. I'm documenting those things and, um, yeah, creating courses around those things.

[00:41:10] And some, um, you know, just videos on how to do, how to use them in your daily life, how to use them in your business. Um, and, and yeah, and I've got, um, got some wine 

[00:41:22] Kirsten Graham: words as the texting tool, right? What's that is Boards. Yeah, it can. 

[00:41:27] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. It's you, you know, we all have things that we say continually, like written, written things like in, in email or in text.

[00:41:37] And, um, so Boards is a way to kind of capture all of those things that we continually send out, like maybe an invitation to this or, um, here are step by step, Things for that. So those, um, texts that we create or videos or, uh, links that we share quite often or, , images, images or graphics that we share quite often.

[00:42:02] So those, those we can put into a board. And then your keyboard on your phone, you can just flip right over to Boards and share 

[00:42:12] Kirsten Graham: it with one click. You have actually had me sign up for that. I've used it a little bit, but probably not to the extent that I could. Would you want to do a podcast interview with us about that?

[00:42:22] I would love that. I would love that. Yes. Yeah. We, um, we, we, right now we document everything in Trello, um, because it's free and allows us to share all of our SOPs with our clients, but I think Boards is brilliant for when you're out and about. 

[00:42:38] Penny Fitzgerald: Yes. It's very quick. Very easy. 

[00:42:41] Kirsten Graham: Well, I will send you a link to get you booked on that podcast. I think that would be a fantastic conversation. And I would love that. Yeah. And then with your courses, are you planning to just sell them like click and buy, or do you plan on selling them with a phone call?

[00:42:56] What's your, what's your strategy? Um, click and buy 

[00:42:58] Penny Fitzgerald: partly, and I'll do, it's so new. I'm still in development with a lot of them. I'm creating the courses. So I'll do some just, you know, like you were talking about giving of knowledge. So let's start with the free version of Boards and let's talk about that.

[00:43:14] And I'll. You know, show people how to use that. And then we can move into, okay, if you want to get dig deeper, if you need more of this in your business or for your life, then here's the course that you can buy. And I can take you a little bit deeper on it. So that kind of thing. So, and also wine classes, like, okay, here's Chardonnay, but did you know that Chardonnay tastes so different in this region versus that region?

[00:43:36] And here's why. And you know, those kinds of things, but yeah, a lot of different, um. Pieces are from all the different past lives coming together. Um, 

[00:43:46] Kirsten Graham: and yeah, 

[00:43:48] Penny Fitzgerald: the most recent thing I'm working on is the, um, retreat or the most, um, developed, I guess, thing that is happening right now is we have a, um, I'm working with a business partner.

[00:44:00] Uh, she was a leader on my team in traveling vineyard and, um, she now has her own podcast as well. And we're, she's a fitness instructor too. So we're getting together and doing a retreat for ladies in Texas Hill country in September. Wow. Yeah. That'll be super fun. So she'll lead yoga in the vines or in the, in the hills and we'll, that'll start our day.

[00:44:22] And then we'll go out and do some wine tasting. I'll teach a little bit about, you know, how to taste wine. Um, why you, how you pair it with different things and specifically, you know, what's Texas Hill Country Wine all about and how you enjoy it more and. All of that. So super fun. We're going to end with a hoedown.

[00:44:39] Kirsten Graham: Oh, that's so fun. It's going to be so fun. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. That's going to be a blast. Wow. That sounds amazing. Yeah. You've got all kinds of good things going on. 

[00:44:49] Penny Fitzgerald: Yeah. Lots of irons in the fire. But, um, yeah, we are, uh, I'm moving ahead with a lot of different things and that's, you know, that's my challenge is, you know, coming together on, you know, let's, let's So let's make a really good product.

[00:45:02] Let's give some really good value and then expand. 

[00:45:07] Kirsten Graham: So focus, focus, focus. Yes. Yeah. It's because there's so many great ideas, right? And with technology it's always evolving and always changing. 

[00:45:15] Penny Fitzgerald: For sure. Yeah, exactly. And that's the thing with any of the tools that you use, they kind of They enhance them, but I, I think that's like, that's a very good point because people kind of freak out with new things or it's, you get comfortable with what you know, and then something changes and then you have to relearn the algorithms or relearn the, yeah.

[00:45:39] Yes. Yeah. 

[00:45:41] Kirsten Graham: Marketing is always evolving and always changing, which is exciting, but it can be a little daunting. Yeah. What platforms are you going to host your courses on? 

[00:45:49] Penny Fitzgerald: I use MailerLite. Okay. Okay. Yeah, it's been easy to learn. It's kind of intuitive and it's more, um, you know, I've been using it for my newsletters.

[00:46:02] So it's just, that's where my, that my website is hosted there as well. So yeah. Perfect. Penny for your shots. com. 

[00:46:11] Kirsten Graham: Love it. Well, I'm glad to hear you got some exciting things. I will definitely send you the link. I'd love to talk about you helping people. Create SOPs. And I love the idea of talking a little bit about Boards for texting.

[00:46:21] I think it's brilliant. Yeah. And super easy once 

[00:46:24] Penny Fitzgerald: you get it set up. 

[00:46:26] Kirsten Graham: Yeah. Yeah. And I guess it's just that matter of constantly updating when you have something new that you find you're sending out consistently. Yeah. Yeah. What's that thing? If you do it three times and it has three steps, you should document it.

[00:46:39] Oh, that's a very good rule. Yes. It's the rule of three. If somebody has more than three steps, three or more steps, and you actually do it three or more times. Oh, I love it to document it. 

[00:46:50] Penny Fitzgerald: When we forget those things, you know, I mean, uh, well before, before Boards, it just copied and pasted and that's all well and good until you copy and paste the wrong thing or only, right.

[00:47:02] Copy, you know, a portion of what you intended to copy or you forget to update the name on something or, yeah. Yes. 

[00:47:10] Kirsten Graham: It's so true. So true. Wonderful. Thank you so much. You're welcome. Well, thanks for the interview. This was so fun.

[00:47:17] Thank you so much for having me. Thank you. 

[00:47:19] Penny Fitzgerald: I appreciate your time and all your tips and your business is amazing. 

[00:47:25] Kirsten Graham: Love it. My, I, you know, we have male clients, female clients, but I feel like my mission is to help women, help women realize that they deserve support. 

[00:47:33] Penny Fitzgerald: Yes, absolutely. 

[00:47:36] Kirsten Graham: All right, Penny, well, you have a great day and I will see you on Wednesday.

[00:47:39] Penny Fitzgerald: Yes. Thanks so much, Kirsten. Bye. Bye.