Virtual Assistants

VO BOSS

So you're thinking about hiring a virtual assistant... Ever wondered how to hire the right person for the job? The Bosses have got you covered. In this episode, Anne and Lau lay out the importance of understanding the job scope and setting realistic expectations. From sifting through rates and fees to seeking referrals and testimonials, we discuss it all. We share insights on how to prioritize, make substitutions, and be resourceful to afford the luxury of investing in your business. Remember, when hiring, the focus should be on what's best for your business, not just personal preference. So tune in, and let's build a successful business together, with a commitment second to none. Transcript

Intro

It's time to take your business to the next level, the boss level. These are the premier business owner strategies and successes being utilized by the industry's top talent today. Rock your business like a boss a VO Boss. Now let's welcome your host, Anne Ganguzza.

Anne Ganguzza: Hey everyone, welcome to the VioBoss Podcast and the Boss Superpower Series. I'm your host, Ngan Gusa, and I am here with my amazing, wonderful Boss co-host, Lau Lapides.

Lau Lapides: Oh, and I'm so thrilled to be back as always in the booth.

Anne Ganguzza: In the booth with the bosses.

Lau Lapides: What happens in our booth stays in our booths. Well, not

Anne Ganguzza: Well,

Lau Lapides: really, but I

Anne Ganguzza: but

Lau Lapides: don't

Anne Ganguzza: wait, wait. So wait, we also

Lau Lapides: know about

Anne Ganguzza: project

Lau Lapides: that.

Anne Ganguzza: that, we also project that out into the global universe there. Ha

Lau Lapides: We'll have to change that tagline, I think.

Anne Ganguzza: ha ha. Oh man, I'll tell you what, look, I have been so busy this week and I cannot split my time up anymore. I am one person and I'm telling you, I literally have no more hours in the day. So everybody knows that has heard me go on and on and out about. the fact that I outsource and I do have a team, I think maybe we should really talk about that because I might need to increase my team because right now I'm feeling like I don't have any more time and so how am I going to do the things that I wanna do and grow my business if I don't have the time to execute the daily tasks or whatever tasks are needed to do that law.

Lau Lapides: That sounds like what my dad would always say a really good problem to have. We

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: all want to have that problem where we're growing a company, we're outgrowing what we're doing and how we're doing it, and we're

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: not spending our time wisely. We're not working smarter, we're just working harder. And really, how do we do both? Right?

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: How do we get to that next level? We call it leveling up in the biz. How do we actually do that, Ann? What

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: do we need to do? Let's talk about that.

Anne Ganguzza: Well, first of all, I think it's important to note that there's a lot of people that are just getting into voiceover. And they may think to themselves, oh, my gosh, I can barely afford to be in voiceover, right? I just got in. I'm not booking gigs yet. Or maybe the gigs that I'm booking are few and far between. And so how can I even begin to think about hiring somebody or getting help? Because I can't even get a job. first. And

Lau Lapides: Right.

Anne Ganguzza: so guys, I want you to really this is where I think it takes courage, it takes boldness, and it takes some, I think some street smarts and savvy to really strategize how you might be able to make this work for you. Because, well, you know, while somebody might be doing some of the more maybe mundane tasks that take up a lot of your day when trying to acquire work, I mean, half of the time it's we're trying to acquire work, right, Law?

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: And it's the acquiring, that getting out there, that marketing, how do I acquire, you're either auditioning or you're marketing, right? And you are the expert at auditioning, right? Maybe you're not the expert at marketing. And so therefore, if you could have someone help you with the marketing, right, it would give you more time to be the expert in auditioning and perfecting your craft or honing your performance.

Lau Lapides: Right, and the truth is, whether you're a solopreneur and you're working alone, just starting out the first couple of years of your biz, or whether you're growing and starting to think about adding team members, we're all at that level. All of us are at that level of thinking about, we're marketing, we're constantly reaching out and going out and figuring out how we're gonna get our next prospect. So you never grow out of that, no matter what

Anne Ganguzza: Oh,

Lau Lapides: is happening, you never grow out.

Anne Ganguzza: amen,

Lau Lapides: But

Anne Ganguzza: amen.

Lau Lapides: you do have to time it well. everyone and

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: at the beginning stages I wouldn't do anything prematurely to make you know

Anne Ganguzza: Agreed,

Lau Lapides: go broke I

Anne Ganguzza: agreed.

Lau Lapides: really want to make sure you

Anne Ganguzza: But

Lau Lapides: have

Anne Ganguzza: I

Lau Lapides: a

Anne Ganguzza: would

Lau Lapides: little

Anne Ganguzza: start

Lau Lapides: bit

Anne Ganguzza: strategizing.

Lau Lapides: of capital

Anne Ganguzza: I would

Lau Lapides: start

Anne Ganguzza: start

Lau Lapides: strategize

Anne Ganguzza: strategizing

Lau Lapides: yeah

Anne Ganguzza: because I think just having the thought of, or the thought that, yes, I'm going to need help at some point, you're manifesting the fact that you're going to be getting the work. I'm a big believer in the manifestation of getting work. And also, I think you're never too early to kind of plan or strategize what type of help you might need. And just, you know, it takes time to find help. It's not something typically you can get in a moment's instant. And it is something that you will have to kind of, I would say, educate yourself on in terms of, well, you know, is there a service out here that can help me to do this? Is there someone who can help me to, I don't know, write emails to prospects or maybe generate leads? What type of work could you use? I think if you start by really assessing your business. Breaking down on a piece of paper, how much time do you spend on each thing per day? How much time do you spend auditioning? How much time do you spend researching? How much time do you spend practicing? How much time do you spend on social media? I think that's a good place to start. And then find out if there is. And of course, I totally agree with you a lot with the make sure that you've got a little bit of a nest egg that you can invest. When you need somebody to help you because again, I think we've said this so many times if you want to make money You know you need to spend some money

Lau Lapides: Mmm. Absolutely

Anne Ganguzza: Hmm

Lau Lapides: no doubt about that one. Second that notion. And I would say take a step back and look at your psychology

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: and really keep it real, really keep it real. Despite the name of our wonderful series here, you do have to realize that no one is a true superhero in doing everything yourself. And we like

Anne Ganguzza: Oh

Lau Lapides: to

Anne Ganguzza: god,

Lau Lapides: think we

Anne Ganguzza: yes.

Lau Lapides: are, especially us ladies like to think we are.

Anne Ganguzza: Outlaw

Lau Lapides: We can do everything and we're a failure if we don't.

Anne Ganguzza: Can I, oh my God, can I just like say yes

Lau Lapides: Amen,

Anne Ganguzza: to that?

Lau Lapides: amen,

Anne Ganguzza: Amen

Lau Lapides: say yes.

Anne Ganguzza: to that. I am the biggest control freak that there is.

Lau Lapides: Me too!

Anne Ganguzza: And no, if you wanna get it done right, I'll just have to do it myself. But I'll tell you what, that gets old pretty soon. Once you really wanna grow, I mean, I found that I couldn't move if I didn't outsource and I didn't hire. And I kept thinking, oh God, but maybe I won't have the money. Maybe I won't have that steady stream of income that I can pay them. And I'm here to tell you that it can work if you strategize and you're smart about it. And you really take a look at the money that you have coming in and the money that you have going out. I think that really, Law, is another sit down and really look at the numbers. Number one, how much are you spending on, you know, your marketing. How much are you spending on? And when I talk about spending on marketing, if you're not hiring anybody to do your marketing, you're spending your time. And your time should be worth X amount of dollars per hour. I like to say that I am worth so much per hour. Now, if I want to break down what I do in a day and then say how much it costs me, if I'm spending an hour doing marketing, that's, you know, it's my hourly rate. And so really taking a good look at how much is coming in. how much you're putting out. And sometimes in the beginning, that's gonna be a little unequal. I'm gonna say that I had to invest a little bit more in the beginning than was coming in. And I just needed to make sure that I had a good handle on how much I could put out to be safe and still be able to pay the mortgage.

Lau Lapides: And you don't want to go in and with a blind faith, you want to have

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: some real strategy behind how you're going in, especially if you're at a place typically within the first three to five years of growing a new business where you really are not making an actual salary just yet.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: You're really

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: not making the return on anything just

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: yet. And that's expected. And I think in our culture, North American business culture, I think we're sort of trained in a way that is more mythical than realistic and that is we should be making profit as quickly as possible in the

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: first five years. That's a real myth that just,

Anne Ganguzza: Oh gosh,

Lau Lapides: it very rarely

Anne Ganguzza: it

Lau Lapides: exists

Anne Ganguzza: so is.

Lau Lapides: that you find someone who's starting any business that in the first five years, sometimes longer,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: is making any kind of a

Anne Ganguzza: Yes.

Lau Lapides: profit, right?

Anne Ganguzza: Please. Let's

Lau Lapides: So

Anne Ganguzza: say

Lau Lapides: going

Anne Ganguzza: that

Lau Lapides: in

Anne Ganguzza: again.

Lau Lapides: realistically,

Anne Ganguzza: Let's say that again. How

Lau Lapides: yeah,

Anne Ganguzza: long, Law?

Lau Lapides: going in.

Anne Ganguzza: Five years, if not longer.

Lau Lapides: If not longer.

Anne Ganguzza: If not longer. And I will tell you, for me, it was longer. You know, it was longer than the first five years. I mean, I came from a job where I was making a particular salary, and I was like, oh, I want to be able to make this salary. You know, and I always ask my students to put their goals on a piece of paper of what they want to do in the first year. after they get their demo from me and that sort of thing. And I have a lot of people, they have very high goals of basically making that six figure salary in the first year. And I'm here to say, not to crush your dreams, but I'm here to say that it may take you a little bit longer to get to that point, but that's okay, I mean, that's very normal. And as long as you are okay and you have that little kind of nest egg there that you are strategically pulling money out of investing wisely, you're going to be okay. I mean, but it's very, very normal to not make any kind of money back in the first, you know, years of your voice over business. And especially now, it's kind of a little bit crazy these days. It just

Lau Lapides: Mm.

Anne Ganguzza: keeps getting more and more. more and more people in the industry. And then there's a lot of hype around, you know, advancing technologies and, you know, I do believe there is, you know, are we going to have jobs in 10 years? That kind of a thing. But again, I'm very much of the mindset that we create our work, we create our businesses, and we evolve. And

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: I believe we will always have a need for our human voices in

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: any aspect in the creative entertainment educational spectrum.

Lau Lapides: Yeah. And I would second that. And I think that creative energy coupled with the entrepreneurial resilience

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: is really the thing, capital T-H-E, the thing that's going to help make you successful in our businesses, being able to pivot, being able to be

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: resilient. And I did want to qualify one area you brought up that I absolutely totally agree with and adore is that it's not that you're not making money

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: in your first five years. investing and reinvesting

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm, absolutely.

Lau Lapides: in what you need to have for your studio or have for your marketing or have for yourself. And you need to do that and in order to make money back, you need to invest money in order to make money. It isn't it's not just let me do things for free or get things

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: as cheaply as possible

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: and make as much money. Business just doesn't work that way.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: Right?

Anne Ganguzza: And I think you made mention of get things as cheaply as possible. You know, we all want I think we all we all shop for a bargain. Right.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: I know I do. And so you have to understand the market as well when people are shopping for a bargain that may include your voice. Right. So I think, you know, the fact that you mentioned even that law is something that we have to take into consideration. The investment that you make into your business, sometimes making it all about the amount of money you're investing isn't necessarily the object or even necessarily a wise strategy. Because I would say if you're trying to maybe skimp on demo creation or coaching or workshops, that kind of thing, I truly believe that they are worth their weight in gold for you, because that is developing your product.

Lau Lapides: Yes,

Anne Ganguzza: Right?

Lau Lapides: yes.

Anne Ganguzza: Your product is, I mean, if you don't have a product, you don't have a business. Your product is your voice. Your voice is, you know, physically, you can't, well, can you buy a new voice? Well, maybe. I mean, I don't know, but not really. I can't buy, like, I can't buy your voice law. I wish, you know, I mean, your physical voice for me. So all I can do is develop my own and

Lau Lapides: Yep.

Anne Ganguzza: learn how to use it. more effectively and perform my job to my client's specifications. And that investment, I think, is a wise investment. And I don't think that there isn't a cheap, good way of going about that, really.

Lau Lapides: No,

Anne Ganguzza: There's

Lau Lapides: I had...

Anne Ganguzza: less expensive, but I don't think if you go cheap, you get what you pay for.

Lau Lapides: Yes, it's bringing up one of those little signs, those funny, cute characters, aluminum signs that one of my friends and former engineers bought for me on a birthday. And it was like a mechanic, you know, in front of a car.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: And it said, good work ain't cheap and cheap work ain't good.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: And I never forgot that. I was like, it's so

Anne Ganguzza: Yep.

Lau Lapides: cute and kitschy and silly, but yet it really bottom lines it. It's like you do get what you pay for. So pay wisely, invest

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: wisely,

Anne Ganguzza: yeah, absolutely.

Lau Lapides: and just know that you want to spend money in the most researched and educated and referred areas that you can, because you know it's gonna grow you. So getting back to that growing your team.

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: It's like, woo, all right, let's say we're ready to grow the team and take

Anne Ganguzza: Right.

Lau Lapides: on a VA, a virtual assistant,

Anne Ganguzza: Sure.

Lau Lapides: or take on an accountant or taking on a marketing specialist. What are the steps that we need to be thinking about strategically so that we're staying conservative, we're staying frugal, but we're unafraid, we're coming from abundance, not fear to grow the business

Anne Ganguzza: Sure,

Lau Lapides: knowing that

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: I'm going to look for a return.

Anne Ganguzza: Well, I'm gonna say number one, I think, you know, I think number one of everything is education, right? Educate yourself on the things that you are going to want to have outsourced or want to maybe hand off to someone else to do. If you've done them yourself, you know how much time it takes, right? If you know how much effort it goes into the creation of content, you know what can be done and what... maybe can't be done by a virtual assistant. And so I feel as though you've got to really research. I think in a lot of cases, you have to find someone who really understands you and understands your business and understands your voice. If you're going to have them help you, let's say, craft emails or generate leads or do social media, they still have to kind of understand who you are and what your brand is about because they're going to be representing you. If they're gonna be just doing something like, you know, the monthly numbers, you know, like my accountant, that's not as necessary, but still she has to be educated about, what are my expenses? Who am I paying? Who's a vendor? Who's, you know, what, you know, what is this expense for? So there will be some time, I think, that you'll spend, first of all, in educating yourself about what it is that needs to be done and the scope of that job, because that's the scope of the job that you will be having to provide anyone that you hire. And then that is going to then either there'll be a price for that and you'll decide if that price is worth paying for their services and what can they do that's realistic and what can they do, what can't they do. There can be a lot of people out there that will promise you the world, I'll do all of your social media. Well, okay, that's a pretty blanket statement. Does that mean you're going to actually... content for me on TikTok? Are you going to create videos? Or if you're going to do that I'm gonna have to provide you with videos that you can then edit and so that's another step that you're gonna have to keep in mind in the process. What's

Lau Lapides: Absolutely.

Anne Ganguzza: your part? What's their part?

Lau Lapides: Yes, yes, and I mean, when I think of some of the mistakes that I made when I was hiring the first year or so, I won't I don't want people to make those mistakes. So think like a chess player. Think

Anne Ganguzza: Mmm.

Lau Lapides: like a strategy game player where you're thinking three or four steps ahead. So just because you're hiring someone in a particular area that either you are not qualified to do yourself

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: or not mean that you don't have to know what needs to be done.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh god yes.

Lau Lapides: So it's a very fine line of knowing as much as you can without actually becoming that

Anne Ganguzza: Yes,

Lau Lapides: expert

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: and not micromanaging that expert, but also being three steps ahead of that expert. So the expert... never is bored, they never are left with nothing

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: to do, and they know exactly where they're going for the next month or the quarter or even the week. Sometimes, like for instance, I'll have what I call stand up Zoom meetings at the beginning of the week, and sometimes those will continue all week

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: where we'll

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: jump on Zoom and we'll have coffee and we'll talk about our goals and we'll have a laugh and then we'll get right to it. And it has a very, it has a team cohesion to it.

Anne Ganguzza: Sure, absolutely.

Lau Lapides: that I find a lot of people really love and crave

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: that connection,

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, absolutely.

Lau Lapides: but

Anne Ganguzza: I have

Lau Lapides: it

Anne Ganguzza: a team

Lau Lapides: also keeps on top of people,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: right?

Anne Ganguzza: I have a team

Lau Lapides: That...

Anne Ganguzza: meeting as well I have a team meeting as well once a week with you know Not everybody but once a week and then you know if I have like my accountant of course we meet you know At a particular time she doesn't have to be with the team of social media But I do have a general team that handles social media and all communications by behalf or some communications on my behalf. And so we meet once a week. And usually it's a two or three hour meeting. So it's not a short meeting. And of course I pay them for their time at that point as well. I think it's important to note that, oh gosh, finding the cheapest, you know what I mean? Assistant is not always the best solution. I really believe, again, you've got to research, look for testimonials, look for referrals. Because, you know, There's a lot of people can promise things. And I'm always very wary of people that I don't know, that are maybe outside of the industry. And so, I know Law, you and I have spoken about it. You interview, you interview people. And I do the same to make sure that I get a good feel for who they are. And if they are from the same industry, you also have to kind of keep in mind, well, is there a conflict of interest? Or is there, you do have to kind of think about that. I mean, I hate to say that, but you do. You've

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: got to think, is there a conflict of interest, or is there something that you're doing that they may be also kind of taking what you're doing and then utilizing it for themselves, which is absolutely fine in certain cases, but in other cases, it may not be fine. So,

Lau Lapides: so important

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: and so you have to think about this stuff.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: Also, not to downgrade in any way services that do provide voiceover talent that become VA's. That's really great

Anne Ganguzza: Oh yeah, no, yeah,

Lau Lapides: for

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: the talent themselves. That's a great side hustle for them. But my strategy is a little bit different. I actually do not want that. That would not

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: be something I would be looking for. for reasons that you're saying, but also, I actually find that people who are in the non-creative space, if there is such a thing, I

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: don't know, I think everyone's creative, but consider themselves a non-creative. They're more business-oriented, administrative,

Anne Ganguzza: Yep, they have a different

Lau Lapides: more

Anne Ganguzza: perspective.

Lau Lapides: numbers,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: they have no emotional

Anne Ganguzza: Attachment.

Lau Lapides: investment or attachment to what we are doing, and I actually

Anne Ganguzza: Agreed.

Lau Lapides: like that better.

Anne Ganguzza: Yes,

Lau Lapides: because we

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: are the emotional ones. We are the hypathos. We're what I call the crazy

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, law,

Lau Lapides: creatives.

Anne Ganguzza: really? Are we really that? I'm

Lau Lapides: We

Anne Ganguzza: not a,

Lau Lapides: are,

Anne Ganguzza: I'm

Lau Lapides: and

Anne Ganguzza: not

Lau Lapides: I'm

Anne Ganguzza: a,

Lau Lapides: one of them.

Anne Ganguzza: I'm not dramatic or emotional at all. I'm just

Lau Lapides: I

Anne Ganguzza: saying.

Lau Lapides: fully admit it. So I actually don't mind and really enjoy the other side

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: of

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: that coin. People who can come

Anne Ganguzza: Well,

Lau Lapides: in

Anne Ganguzza: mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: and they're very consistent. Their personalities are not up and down. They have

Anne Ganguzza: And they,

Lau Lapides: nothing in it for them personally.

Anne Ganguzza: well, that's it. And they bring a very different perspective. And they also can reach possibly people that you don't have access to, right? Or have, you know, in terms of, you know, it could be reach people for marketing or even reaching people for helping and doing other things. right, and you would never have been able to find them. So I actually, law, I am like, I'm between, I actually utilize both. I utilize some people in the industry, and then I utilize people outside of the industry because for that reason, exactly for that reason, law, the one thing that I run into when I look for people outside of the industry, because, and I'm just gonna say this because I've been doing this for so long, selling into this industry. When you sell into a creative industry, right, we're all starving artists. So it always seems like, okay, I don't have a lot of money to invest. I don't have a lot of money. I'm sorry, I don't have the money. I don't have the... And so what happens is when, you know, if you are that starving artist and you're trying to outsource to somebody else who's a starving artist, right, there's gonna be that, well, I don't have a ton of money. And then again, remember, you get what you pay for. I'm a big believer in paying people what they're worth because that's what I speak about and I think we should all walk the walk, right? And talk the talk, walk the walk. You should pay people for what they're worth and they will want to do a better job for you. You have to make them excited to work for you and excited to wanna be at work. And so if you're always trying to get the cheap, right? Or you can't pay a lot of money, then you may not get the performance that you're expecting out of people. as well.

Lau Lapides: Yeah, I agree, and I'm gonna take issue with this. rhetoric that floats out there in the artist's crowd, that I don't have the money. I'm gonna challenge

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, yeah,

Lau Lapides: that because

Anne Ganguzza: please.

Lau Lapides: I would sit you down and believe me, I'm not a financial advisor. I do not give financial advice. But I know from living the life that I've lived, that if I sat you down even over seven days and really documented everything you're doing, everything you're spending money on,

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, yup.

Lau Lapides: what's your fixed costs, what's your variable costs, it would kind of blow you out of the water to see

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: how much money you're spending in directions that are luxury, you don't need,

Anne Ganguzza: Oh yeah,

Lau Lapides: they're not necessities,

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: or that you're just throwing away and unaware of that could be invested. right into

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: your business.

Anne Ganguzza: totally

Lau Lapides: That would

Anne Ganguzza: agreed.

Lau Lapides: be what I call

Anne Ganguzza: Totally

Lau Lapides: found

Anne Ganguzza: agreed.

Lau Lapides: money. That's like that's like coins under the couch, right?

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: And

Anne Ganguzza: totally

Lau Lapides: as you're finding

Anne Ganguzza: agreed.

Lau Lapides: the coins under the couch,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: say, Wow, well, before I claim poverty, and before I identify with not having money, let me take accountability 100% with the money that I earn or that I'm saving

Anne Ganguzza: Yes.

Lau Lapides: and how I am spending it.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, that's why I say over and over again, you're right, you're so right on that. You've got to sit down and look at the numbers. It is, take a hard look at your numbers and don't just do it once, right? Revisit it, like revisit it monthly, revisit it weekly. I mean, really revisit it. I have, you know, I installed the, oh my gosh, I forget the name of it, the app on my phone, the financial app on my phone that tells me what I'm spending money monthly on. And you will, oh, Rocket, I think it's Rocket Money. So

Lau Lapides: Yes,

Anne Ganguzza: I invested

Lau Lapides: great.

Anne Ganguzza: in that, because now that's something I spend monthly on, but Rocket Money tells me what I'm spending every month. And so there could be those unknown subscriptions that I'm paying for. And I totally agree with you, Law, that there is that constant, I don't have the money, I don't have the money, I hear it all the time, trust me, I do. Because I sell services to the voiceover, I sell events, I sell coaching services, I sell demo production, I constantly hear the I don't have money. And it's... It's really a thing you have to understand that if you are going to hire outside of this industry people will be charging accordingly. Meaning, it's not like you may be surprised at the hourly rate that these other services, marketing services in particular, social media services will get for these things. And So, you know, that might be a nice eye-opener or maybe not a nice eye-opener. It is something, though, to be aware of, though, that in our industry, I think we're so used to hearing each other going, well, I just don't have the money, and, you know, we're trying to, like, skimp and say. But yet we speak about charging what you're worth all the time. And so consider that from all... all areas, right? Don't just consider like, well, you know, I'm charging what I'm worth, but you know what, when it comes to hiring a virtual assistant, well, you know, I can only pay you like $5 an hour. No, that's just not going to cut it.

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: Just, you know.

Lau Lapides: Yes, totally. And really, okay, I'm about to say the C word. I think this audience can handle it. Commitment.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh!

Lau Lapides: Are you willing to make

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: a 100% deep dive commitment, which means you do have to sacrifice.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: Sacrifice

Anne Ganguzza: Mm,

Lau Lapides: goes hand in

Anne Ganguzza: yep.

Lau Lapides: hand with commitment. So I may want to go to the movies all weekend. I may want to go to the amusement park. I may want to take long drives to New Hampshire. But guess what? I may not be in a financial position right now to do that while I'm building my business

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: or

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: while I'm leveling up my business because now I need a CRM tool. I need a

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm.

Lau Lapides: marketing VA I need it. Okay, so maybe I don't want to take that vacation next month.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: Maybe it isn't absolutely necessary to eat out all weekend and get Grubhub.

Anne Ganguzza: There's a big

Lau Lapides: Maybe

Anne Ganguzza: one.

Lau Lapides: I can pick

Anne Ganguzza: Yep.

Lau Lapides: up my food or cook my food or there's so many ways to cut

Anne Ganguzza: I can

Lau Lapides: your

Anne Ganguzza: give up the Starbucks.

Lau Lapides: cost.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, I just said

Lau Lapides: Right?

Anne Ganguzza: that. Oh my

Lau Lapides: Hello.

Anne Ganguzza: God. I know,

Lau Lapides: And what about

Anne Ganguzza: even my virtual assistant, she's a Starbucks

Lau Lapides: I know

Anne Ganguzza: lover.

Lau Lapides: I was like,

Anne Ganguzza: She's gonna be like, what? Don't

Lau Lapides: what?

Anne Ganguzza: you say that. You know,

Lau Lapides: Right?

Anne Ganguzza: hey,

Lau Lapides: And what?

Anne Ganguzza: look, it's all in where your priorities are. And that's fine.

Lau Lapides: Totally

Anne Ganguzza: I'm not saying

Lau Lapides: totally

Anne Ganguzza: you can't go to Starbucks. I mean, that

Lau Lapides: no

Anne Ganguzza: can be, that's like me. I have my priorities. I will

Lau Lapides: right

Anne Ganguzza: always pay for. this, and this, but I make substitutions, right? So that I can pay for this, I will also do this, or I will work an extra hour, or I will try to market myself in this way,

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: so that I can afford that luxury.

Lau Lapides: Yeah,

Anne Ganguzza: But,

Lau Lapides: you have to

Anne Ganguzza: you

Lau Lapides: be

Anne Ganguzza: know,

Lau Lapides: resourceful. You have

Anne Ganguzza: yeah,

Lau Lapides: to be resilient

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: and you have to be creative and you have to make a commitment and be willing to sacrifice. You know, some people are doing a four, five, $600 gym membership every month. Well, could I replace that possibly with a bike or with walking or with anything at home just for the time when I'm building my business? There's so many ways. And again, we're not financial advisors here, but we could sit you down and spin your head around

Anne Ganguzza: Sure,

Lau Lapides: ways to be

Anne Ganguzza: absolutely.

Lau Lapides: creative about saving money, not spending money, and then reinvesting that right into the business.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh yeah, yeah.

Lau Lapides: And then all of a sudden you can get that great microphone

Anne Ganguzza: I schedule.

Lau Lapides: or that great coaching.

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm. I schedule that review, actually. I schedule that review. It's on my calendar, you know, monthly. Because especially, you know, lately, it's been a little tough, the economy out there these days. And, you know, I don't know if, you know, I don't know where it's necessarily going, right? So I want to make sure that I'm spending my money as wisely as I can. And that includes, you know, my team and, you know, making, you know, necessary do, which is not something I love to do. But it's something that, again, I have to make sure that I've got the strategy there

Lau Lapides: Mm-hmm.

Anne Ganguzza: to make sure that I'm investing my money wisely in what services I am paying for and what I'm doing to grow my business.

Lau Lapides: And I would say too, as you grow your business, to document

Anne Ganguzza: sure I understand.

Lau Lapides: what you're doing.

Anne Ganguzza: Oh, Siri doesn't understand.

Lau Lapides: I would say to grow your business, I would document what you're doing, whether you're writing down or video,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: what you do during a day, like record it on Zoom, record it on

Anne Ganguzza: Yep.

Lau Lapides: Loom, record it so that the new people coming in can either train each other or they can be watching the videos of what you've been doing because you'll forget, you'll forget half the things you're doing because you're doing so much. Everyone's multitasking. So you really have to be documenting everything you're doing as your business builds. That way the learning curve for the people coming into your business is very quick. You don't want

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: someone on a month's learning curve. You want them on like a three

Anne Ganguzza: Oh yeah,

Lau Lapides: day learning

Anne Ganguzza: yeah.

Lau Lapides: curve so they can get to business,

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: right?

Anne Ganguzza: and you will have to train them. That is absolutely, you do have to understand and be prepared for that. You will have to train them. They are not gonna know your brand immediately. But you can make it easier for them to learn your brand as Lov was just mentioning. What a great conversation, Lov.

Lau Lapides: Great stuff. We could

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah,

Lau Lapides: go

Anne Ganguzza: good stuff,

Lau Lapides: on and

Anne Ganguzza: we could.

Lau Lapides: on with this. I mean, I got one more tip. Don't hire people that you necessarily like only. Hire people

Anne Ganguzza: Oh yeah.

Lau Lapides: that are good for you

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah.

Lau Lapides: and good for your business. Not everyone is a growth person. Some people are great people. They're great to have around,

Anne Ganguzza: Mm-hmm. Don't

Lau Lapides: but they

Anne Ganguzza: hire

Lau Lapides: may

Anne Ganguzza: your

Lau Lapides: not

Anne Ganguzza: friends

Lau Lapides: grow you.

Anne Ganguzza: necessarily.

Lau Lapides: They may not grow your business.

Anne Ganguzza: Yeah, exactly,

Lau Lapides: Yeah.

Anne Ganguzza: exactly.

Lau Lapides: Know the difference between your friends

Anne Ganguzza: But

Lau Lapides: and your business partners.

Anne Ganguzza: I think you do have to be in a good relationship with the person that you are working with. That is

Lau Lapides: Yes.

Anne Ganguzza: for sure. Yeah. But yeah, they don't have to be your best friend. So yeah, and that could be a whole other discussion for another day. But.

Lau Lapides: Yes, for

Anne Ganguzza: I'm

Lau Lapides: sure.

Anne Ganguzza: gonna give I'm gonna give a great big shout out to our sponsor IPD TL you two can connect a network like a boss find out more at IP D TL comm and Also, I want to ask you guys a question. Do you have a local nonprofit? That's close to your heart. I know that I do You can make a huge impact as a group and contribute to the growth of our communities in ways that we never thought possible. If you wanna find out more, visit 100VoicesWhoCare.org to learn how. All right, bosses, you have an amazing week and we'll see you next week.

Lau Lapides: See

Anne Ganguzza: Bye.

Lau Lapides: you next time, bye.