Are you ready to have their office manager not just take over their social media but do it right? Social media can be hard to run and staying on top of the constant changes that come with it is even harder. Do you have the time to keep up with it or learn everything you need to know to gain the right numbers?
That is why I made this podcast for you. I want to tell you exactly what your office managers need to know to take over your Facebook and Instagram. The project that is making you feel like you are being held back. You should not have to continue to feel this way, there is another option.
Biggest Takeaways
There are solutions and resources and I am going to tell you all about them… and… how to train your office manager to utilize them and learn everything they need to to keep your social media up to your needs.
What To Focus On
Social media is always changing and needs to constantly be relearned. However, there are some things that should always be followed if your office manager is going to successfully take over your Facebook and Instagram.
Utilize Resources and Train
Using the resources you have to stay on top of your social media is good but that does not mean your should stop training your office manager on how to use it for your business. There is so much more to look at than what you post and so much more to know that can be easily delegated to your office manager and I am going to tell you how.
Real Results
Do you want your social media to be even easier than passing it off to your office manager? What about not have to spend the time making sure your brand is followed perfectly? That is why I offer Better Marketing with Bella, to really help set you up for success because your success is my success.
It is so important to maintain your brand and keep positive energy with your social media and Better Marketing with Bella can help you do that. See what some of the members have to say and check out the website.
Show Highlights
- What you need your social media manager to focus on Facebook and Instagram [11.10]
- Train your office manager and use your resources [13.40]
- How BMWB has helped so many businesses [18:56]
Links:
The Secret to Knowing What to Post on Social Media
Better Marketing With Bella
Let’s Connect:
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Transcript:
This is episode 262 of Bella in Your Business. Hi there, I’m Bella Vasta from Jump Consulting. You might know me from CBS, NBC, Fox, Huffington Post, Entrepreneur, or maybe you’ve seen me speak on stage or read my book, The Four Dogs That Every Business Owner Needs. In any case, get ready because you’re about to get your hashtag Bella Butt Kickin’ in this next episode of Bella in Your Business.
So what do you say? Let’s get ready and jump. Bella in Your Business. And today we are going to talk about something called the art of saying no. I was looking for some podcast ideas and I went to our mastermind group and I asked them. And one thing that really gained a lot of popularity was how to say no in a variety of different areas. And so today I’m going to talk about that. But before we actually dive into that, I want you to think about someone in your life who you might ask to do something and you know they say yes but you kind of look at them sideways and you’re like, I really know you don’t want to do this and you’re doing this for me, and then it kind of makes you feel bad. And underneath that, it actually is that you can’t trust them because you can’t trust their yes or their no with a period on at the end.
One of you listeners right now might be that person that you say yes a lot more times when you really feel like you should have said no. And what happens is when you say yes instead of no, you start getting resentful of either the person, the task, or sometimes even yourself. And that just shows yourself that you have a lack of boundaries, a lack of ability to stand up for you. And while I’m not a therapist, I have done enough self-discovery to know that there are many different reasons why we do this as people running around society—whether it’s a lack of self-confidence, lack of decision-making, being told that we weren’t capable of making decisions or that we were responsible for other people’s feelings. There is a myriad of stuff, but that is the psychology way, and we are not going to talk about that today. We are going to talk about the art of saying no inside of your business when it relates to your clients, your policies, applicants, and employees. Oh yes, we’re going to cover all four of those. So let’s get into it.
The word no literally is one sentence: no. Period. No, it’s not being mean. It’s not putting people off. It’s not being a B-I-T-C-H. It’s none of those things. It is literally just saying what I cannot do. I can’t do it. This is where my boundary line is. It is one sentence. And when you say that, people know they can trust you because they’re no longer wondering, does she really mean it? Does she really want to do it? Can she really do it? Is her heart really into it? No, because if you say no to people, they also understand that they can trust you. And something else that I’ve always said—and this goes along with sales—is sometimes maybe you don’t say the word no per se, but you say, you know, someone asks you something and you can’t do it, and you’re like, well, here’s what I can do for you. And then you give them one, two, or three options. And so for those of you who really hate the word no, that’s a softer way that you can do it.
But let’s talk about it because we have these clients who are just not a match, right? And with it, you know, they’ll ask you, can you go outside of your limits? Maybe they moved outside your city limit and you start saying yes to these people and all of a sudden you’re spreading yourself too thin. Or can you not charge me a cancellation or late fee? Or can you give me more time off from an employee, right? Or I want to keep changing my schedule. Or can you bend the rules for me and just hire me anyway because your gut tells you? Or my availability isn’t what you want but you can work around it. Or a client telling you the dog is just shy or my dog pulls on the leash or can you come a little later or earlier or can you watch my mom’s dog too at my house? Or employees keep making the same mistake. You guys, all of these situations are things that happen to you on a regular basis.
So when we have clients that aren’t a match, it is not a popularity contest. You’ve heard me say that so many times and I want you to just really dig down deep into the boss in charge that you are. And I want you to realize you can say no. You know, unfortunately, we’re just not a match. Unfortunately, I want you to have your needs met and I cannot meet your needs. No. And so a lot of people, I don’t think, do this because they don’t even know who their ideal client is. You guys, if you don’t know who your ideal client is, go ahead and jump on over to my Jump and Scale course. It’s joinjumpconsulting.com. It’s a three-hour workshop in three different sections of one hour each. A lot of it’s geared towards employees, but all of the how to build avatars works for clients as well. So it’s a totally free course. You’re welcome.
But listen, you say no to the clients that just aren’t your ideal clients. So the more that you can have a visualization of what your actual client looks like—who are they? What do they do? How much money is in the bank? Why do they need you? How do they book? How do they pay? All that stuff—you can really start identifying who your ideal client is. And guess what? That builds business happiness. So when you can identify that someone is not a client for you and you can say no and refuse service, then that’s gonna really make you happy. It really is, which is going to reduce the amount of resentfulness that you have in your business, which I know many of you have.
And you gotta just say no to the wrong kind of clients, but you have to do the work and figure out who the right kind of clients are first so that you can definitely identify it when they come across your plate. Now, policies are something else that a lot of people bend on. And I’m gonna also group pricing into this. Policies that are not made by you or that don’t support you is something that can really truly build resentment and build hatred for your business and just a bad, negative working environment for yourself.
Maybe you have a policy, like a key policy, right? And you have one way of doing it, yet your clients ask you to do something else. Maybe they don’t want to give you a key and they want to hide it underneath the mat every single time. Well, that’s all fine and dandy until the one time you get there when you have tons of visits that day and the key’s not under the mat for whatever reason. Or maybe you get convinced that you will job share and you’re sharing the job and the neighbor is gonna come in the PM and you’re gonna come in the AM, and this client is out of town and the neighbor is not doing their job in the PM, making your visits in the morning even more hectic and crazy and full of more work—and let alone that the pet is suffering.
You guys, you have policies for a reason. So when people try to bend them, say, no, I can’t do that. That doesn’t work for us. No, here’s what I can do. And that’s it, guys. You gotta stand up for that because you made these policies during a time where there wasn’t a crisis, hopefully. Hopefully you’re not making policies when you’re like, “Oh, yeah, and that too, I’m going to put that in my contract because if it’s in my contract, everyone’s gonna remember.” News flash: no, they won’t. You probably won’t even. And that’s how we get reactive. You don’t wanna do that. So say no to clients who aren’t your match. Say no to people that are trying to bend your policies.
Another one is applicants. So many times I see you guys try to hire out of desperation. You’re looking for an apple and then you end up getting a pear because you’re like, “Well, it kind of looks like an apple, but it’s not really an apple, but I’ll make it work.” And then you end up screwing yourself down the road. If you’re looking for someone that has availability Monday through Friday, 10 to 2, do not go hire someone that has availability from four to seven. I’ve seen you guys do that. I’ve talked to you on the phone. Like, no, no, no, no, no, no. Or you’re looking for an office manager and you want an office manager from nine to one, and someone else comes across your desk and they have all the credentials and they seem like the best person ever, but they can work from three to six. And you’re like, okay, well, maybe I’ll change it. No.
You gotta draw that boundary line in the sand and you have to stand up to it because really, truly, this is about boundaries within yourself, and it’s standing up to yourself and holding to your word and what you said you wanted to do and what you wanted to find.
Now, the other thing is employees. There are some of you who literally every week are asking your staff what their schedule is for the week, and then you’re working into their schedule. Please stop. The other thing that happens a lot, too, is that you’ll hire someone for a certain schedule, and then all of a sudden they’ll start changing their schedule on you. No. We just talked about that in the mastermind. Someone did a really cool thing. It was Brenton from Execupets in Ohio. He’s such a baller. He basically lets them change availability once a quarter. I thought that was a great idea because it shows flexibility, but it also shows, “Hey, I’m not fooling around and I need some stability for the next three months.” You have a job to run a business, you guys. You’re not running kindergarten and kindercare and taking attendance every day.
You hired people because they told you on their application that they were available certain days and hours, and that is what your hiring decision was based on. It is a major point of the reason why you hired them. So you need to say no. And then there’s other people that are like, well, people are just asking for so many days off. You can say no. Just because someone asks for a day off does not mean that you have to grant it. You are the boss. So say no.
Now, why don’t you say no? Are you afraid that people are going to quit on you? Well, guess what? They’re doing you a favor because it’s not working for you to begin with. Let me just tell you that it is not working for your benefit and for the benefit of the company if someone is constantly changing their schedule or a client is constantly trying to bend your rules and your processes and throw kinks into your day.
It is not possible if you are driving a half hour to a client when most of your clients are about 10 or 15 minutes away at the most. This is a lack of boundary setting, and I guarantee you that there is something in your life where you have had a situation—maybe it was a narcissistic relationship where you felt like either as a child or as an adult, that you were responsible for someone else’s emotions. Maybe it was just a lack of self-confidence in your ability to say, “Yes, this is what I want,” and stand up for it because you never got nurtured or never told yourself that you are capable of making decisions.
These boundaries and making decisions and sticking with them and standing up for them is a monumental life lesson and skill that will hinder or propel you in your business, and it will show up in every area of your business. I am willing to bet that those of you listening right now are not just having problems with saying no to clients, but it’s also employees, but it’s also your best friend, your mother, your child, your aunt, your uncle, your sister, your brother, your interpersonal relationships. Anything that is happening in your business will show up in your personal life as well. And for that, I highly recommend a really great friend to talk to or a therapist.
And that is the truth. You need to learn to say no. And it’s not a matter of just saying no, but it’s going deeper and it’s understanding why can’t I say no? What is the worst thing that’s going to happen if I say no? Okay, people are going to quit. Then what? So what? What does that mean? Okay, if people quit, that means that I won’t have any sitters to work for me and I’ll have to be in the field. Okay, let that fuel your fire to find the right kind of people that won’t quit because they don’t get their way.
There’s this thing called a job and an employer and employee. You set your expectations, they agree to the expectations, and then you have a harmonious working relationship. But it’s when they know that they can start asking or pushing your boundaries or bending the rules or telling you how it’s going to be—that’s where that saying about the prisoners running the asylum comes from. It’s not that you have to be a dictator. It’s not that you have to rule with an iron fist. What I find is that people are absolute dictators and they’re like, “Do as I say, or else you’re going to get your head chopped off,” or they’re complete pushovers. It is in the middle of that continuum where the beauty, where the power lies.
And that’s all I want to do—bring that to your consciousness today and try to help you figure out how can you be the best boss in charge? That’s what I want to know. How can you be your best boss in charge? And where are you on this continuum? And what are you going to do to kind of lay more in the middle of that continuum? You guys, I hope this podcast has helped you today. I love your feedback. Shoot me an email, [email protected]. Please leave some reviews on Spotify or Google Play or Apple Podcasts. Wherever you listen to this, I love getting your reviews. They make my day.
This has been another episode of Bella in Your Business. You guys, just say no. Just like they taught us in school, if you’re my age group at least. And remember that when life gets you down, to always keep jumping. Bye now.
So what did you think? Did you love this episode? I sure hope you did because I put a lot of love into this for you. The best way you can show me that is by going to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play, or wherever you listen to your podcast and go ahead and leave a review. I just might read it on the next episode. I also want to remind you that when life gets you down, remember to always keep jumping. Thanks for listening.