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- [00:01]
A
Welcome to the Ops Experts Club. If you're at all interested in anything we talk about here in this episode, go ahead and check out the description down below and click any of the links there. Or if you just want to know more about us, click the links below. Now onto the episode.
- [00:15]
B
Ops Experts Club. Yes, Taryn Turner. How you doing, bro?
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C
Good, Taran.
- [00:22]
B
Do you think, you think anybody gets as psyched out of our minds as we do with operations?
- [00:32]
C
I met one person once who did. Kimberly did they.
- [00:36]
B
Were they cool? Kimberly does. That's true, man. Kimberly Remedies. If you're out there listening to our podcast, just know you are legend in our space, sister. Doing amazing things for Steven Diaz and then now doing amazing things for Brandon Elliott at Credit Counsel Elite. You are an operator of operators, sister. Taran, this week alone, I've had two different visionaries say something to me that I, you know, you hear different people say things and sometimes you just like turn your head and you're like, huh? Like what? Wait a minute, explain what that means to you. Because that does not compute to me. And I think, you know, and this is where I saw both the same, two very high powered dudes, two guys that are knocking down a bunch of dollars, very smart people. But both of them, I think, had the tendency to oversimplify and minimize something that just takes a pretty decent lift, you know. And I think as visionaries, a lot of times they can, they can come in and they're great at like front end of the spear and knocking down new ideas and going after new market share and, and winning sales and being great with marketing. But what they don't do well a lot of times is operations and operations. A lot of times can just seem like a suck, like a money suck, a time suck. And so they can therefore minimize or oversimplify like what has to happen there. And so like I, twice this week I had two different visionaries say, hey, well we could probably just cut that down. Let's just cut that down just to like half, let's just cut that down to like half the time, half the money. And I'm like, what? So sorry, where? How do you see that happen? Where do you see times where they can just be like, well, let's just get AI to do that. Or they like throw out, just whip it or something that's like that. Like we have these little catchphrase now that people can just throw in there and it's like one big band aid to fix the whole problem, you know, instead of like, no, no, no, let's really talk about that. So I thought we could talk about today, Taran, where should you simplify? How can you automate and what can you not simplify and what can you not automate? But what is the solution then? Like. Like what? Like, because I think that if visionaries can just see. No, no, no. So don't pull this lever of over, like minimizing and oversimplifying. Instead, pull this lever. Because this lever over here is actually the better solution when you're feeling those feelings of we're just spending too much time, energy, money on operations in general.
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C
Yeah. You know, and we've been around for a while, so we've seen. Seen quite a few lever poles in the days.
- [03:07]
B
Yes, we have quite a few pivots too, Taran, because I know you love that word.
- [03:14]
C
Levers.
- [03:17]
B
Levers love it. So, Taran, what do you feel like are good ones to pull when it comes to simplifying and automating?
- [03:33]
C
Oh, there you are. Hello.
- [03:36]
B
Lost me there for a minute. What do you feel like are some good levers to pull?
- [03:46]
C
Oh, yeah, I know. You said it right then there. You know, we've been hearing a lot, let's just get AI to do it, you know, and that's a big statement.
- [03:57]
B
And.
- [03:59]
C
It'S not like it's just something you go to a website, you know, aidothisforme.com and it's done. There's a lot that goes into switching to something to AI and the constraints involved with what it can and can't do and how well it can connect might not even. You might not even have the right app or tech stack for it to implement. And so now what are we talking about? We're going to switch apps to something that's going to implement. So, yeah, I mean, that sentence right in, right in there is really easy to say, but you say to somebody like me. And now I'm thinking through all the different things, okay, I got to create all these different constraints and workflows and sops for people to manage the AI and how to fix the AI and how we need to interact with the AI, because if we do something wrong, it's going to break the whole system. What kind of apps we need for the AI, how much is this going to cost us? How long is it going to take to build? So it's a fun lever.
- [05:00]
B
It's a fun lever. And I think. So I would say right where I've seen it work great is if AI could help us with some of the steps in the system. And I think all of us should be considering AI when it comes to helping with steps in the system, just realizing that they're not going to be able to be the answer to all the system. By the way, I loved Prairie just making her like, she just wanted to make appearance on the show. Terence Cat making an appearance. Just one claw up on the shirt. Just saying, hey. So I think in the system, as you're thinking through an SOP of how this, if it's a finance process that's happening, is there a spot where AI could help you to streamline some of the steps in this process? But you are still going to need a person that's going to set up your AI. You are going to need some. Still need a person that probably tweaks with that to get to the right spot and, and somebody, a person that's going to need to be there for breakage. Right. Like there's, you can't just like set the thing off on its course and not expect that it's going to break or going to have pain points or going to need to be refined. So it's not just going to be an immediate replacement to your people, is what you're saying, Taren.
- [06:05]
C
Yeah, yep, 100%.
- [06:09]
B
I think too. Another one I can see where sometimes people will minimize is well, let's just hire a VA from someplace overseas. I mean, where it's like, let's cut out a more, let's take a technical role. I know I've used this example in the past where I had a visionary that's like, let's just hire a finance controller from someplace overseas. But like a lot of hesitation in my mind with that because you're giving them access to your bank accounts, you're giving them access to money, sending money making vehicles instead of like. No, no, they're probably spots where we can find somebody overseas that we don't know well. But probably a finance controller isn't the best seat that you want to bring somebody into that spot. Right. So like realize that there are places where you can make savings and then there are some places where savings actually would be pretty scary by just, just because you want to drop the cost on what it costs to do this certain function.
- [07:00]
C
Yeah, it's not always the best one. And I mean VAs need management too. There's a lot of situations where, you know, you want to, you want to just let them free. But yeah, they ends up needing some, some pretty good management.
- [07:16]
B
And I'd say like, this is another one that I hear a Lot is sometimes visionaries will make a big hire, you know, and so they're spending a lot of money on this new hire and they're like, hey, we probably don't need all these other people doing these things anymore because we hired this one person to do it. But the reality is, is no matter how good that one person is, be really careful that you don't cut out a bunch of people doing a bunch of steps that actually make you get the best ROI out of the good person that you hired. And instead you're going to send them downstream to slogging in a bunch of the details. So now you're not even getting the best performance out of your more high paid employees. So I would say be really careful of cost savings by rolling a bunch of individual people into now one person. So instead be thinking about, okay, could these other individuals actually make you get your highest return on investment from this more expensive person? Because these people are going to be the building blocks they need to that he or she needs to actually be able to do their job and to be able to do analysis and to be able to actually help you make decisions and help you get best bang for your buck out of the entire team. Because they're probably going to be the supervisor, they're probably going to be the person that's going to be tasking work down and making sure they're getting the results that you're wanting to see from other team. And it's probably not realistic just to knock out three or four other players with your one expensive new hire. Unless you want your one expensive new hire to be slogging in a bunch of details that's probably not pay commensurate to what you hired them to do.
- [08:41]
C
Yeah.
- [08:46]
B
Taryn, I think something that I think it's really important for a lot of businesses to recognize is that there's a percentage for each line item of your P and L. You know, on your profit loss you should be thinking about, okay, so how much of my cost of goods should go into this unit that I'm selling? You know, even in an online space, a lot of times I can be fulfilled fulfillment cost, right? So if I'm selling this coaching program, your coaches probably are going to be in your cogs, in your cost of goods sold. Because like so it's going to be your marketing dollars, right? It's going to be like whatever tech that's in there and it's going to probably be your fulfillment is all going to be rolled up into your cogs on this product. Cost me this much. So I know how profitable we are on the other side. But I think that something that is a very good line item for most people to know is what is their labor percentage and what's a good labor percentage for them to travel at. And I think that the great thing about the age that we live in is that we' in a digital age where there's a lot of people that are documenting how much they're spending in their labor percentage. So it's pretty easy to find. Hey, what's a comparable labor percentage that I should be traveling at doing this kind of a business? And that should be the lever that a visionary should live by, is get really, really clear with whoever's doing your books. You want to see a couple of numbers and the numbers you want to see is, hey, how much is going into our cost of goods sold by line item?
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C
Right.
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B
To make sure that we're profitable and then how much labor is is being used across the organization for us to know are we traveling at a good labor percentage? I would say, you know, a pretty safe labor percentage is somewhere in between, like depending on how customer facing you are and how much customer service you need. I would say somewhere between like 12% up to like 22% is a pretty safe labor percentage if you're able to. If you're on the digital space and it doesn't require as much customer service. Somewhere closer down to the 12, 15% is great. I think if you're something that's more customer facing, somewhere between like 18 and 22%, somewhere in that range is where you should live. But get really clear on your industry and how you should be spending your money when it comes to labor, because then that's going to be actually what shows you what your profitability is rather than you just making a knee jerk decision. And then we're cutting back labor instead of. No, no, you actually need those people to actually do your deal. Otherwise you're going to have a bad customer experience. Yeah.
- [11:00]
C
And I see the trap people run into is just because I'm slow right now means that I can cut back. But without realizing the 10 things we just did last month that we're now fulfilling on that might not take the owner's time, but we're the ones now. It's consuming our time and our attention and we're responsible now for these customers or this thing that's now in our court. And the owner's time is done, but it's our time now. So that can be a trap to fall into just because he thinks, you know, he's slow and he's on a break. He or she. That the rest of the team is as well.
- [11:41]
B
Yeah, no, I mean that's a great point. Seasonal, like I'd say season. Seasonal selling, season of busyness, season of rollout. All those things need to be considered. But be really careful on just because you're not in that season right now, but are you anticipating being in that season next month? And if you let go of all of your talent that actually helps with that lift. The danger could be when you get into that talent next month, are we going to have to just go back and find new people or are we going to have to go and train new people? And then how much is that going to cost you to go and grow your team again instead of just. No, no, let's. Let's just understand that this is just the labor percentage that we travel at. And then how do we keep those people busy? Are there roles that need to be shifted in slower seasons? Is there things that we need to consider doing? But what's our. Like what is our team bandwidth needed when it comes to labor percentage? And then how do we make sure that they're doing the right thing so that we have the right team when we come into our next launch, when we come into our next big push? Because otherwise you're just going to have this flux of team that's actually going to end up costing you more money to train new people. And talent isn't equal across the board. Right. Not everything is apples for apples. Just because I have this person says they're really good at GHL doesn't mean that if I go out and hire somebody else that's really good at GHL or says they are, that they're going to be able to step right in and understand exactly where we've been up to this point. It's going to take them some time to really catch up and understand like how you're using go high level and is it's just a man. I can't overemphasize enough. Like historical people. Value your people that historically have been showing up well and man, make sure you're carrying them in the times where you don't necessarily think you need them because you're probably going to need them coming up really soon. And there's a lot of cost to acquisition new talent.
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C
Yep. Yeah. I mean when I come into companies, the historical people are. If they weren't there, you know, I'd be lost it. It'd take me two or three times as long to get to where I can without them.
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B
And I mean you're, you're somebody that's, you've worked with tons of huge names. You know, like we, we've gotten to work with some of the greatest names that are out there right now in the digital marketing space. And for you to say, no, no, it would take me like having been underneath Pete Vargas hood, having been underneath Pedro Adeo's hood, I haven't been underneath Pace Morbi's hood. I haven't been underneath all these high level entrepreneurs hoods. And understanding Steven Diaz is like, we understand how everything flows and if it would take Taran Turner two and three times the amount of time, how much more a brand new hire that maybe has done this before, maybe hasn't done as extensive as they said they did when you were interviewing. Because everybody's going to tell you what you want to hear as you're interviewing them, right? And then you get them under the hood. And a lot of times it, it takes a little while to figure out can this person actually do what they say they can do. So I, I think realize if you've got a good team, if you're happy with where your team's at, keep them happy, carry them in those times, figure out ways that you can cut other places because it's very, very easy to say, well, I'm just going to cut some labor because we really don't need those people right now. But not realize, no, no, you're going to need them in about a month from now. And if you have to go and find a whole new team a month from now, they're not going to be able to move at speed because they don't have the historical value.
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C
Oh, there you are. You're back.
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B
Man. Thanksgiving's working against us today. Taran Turner, man, the computers know it's time to take off for, oh, for Thanksgiving.
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C
Be all those Teslas on autopilot.
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B
Yes. Taran Turner. Okay, as we wrap up the show, Taran, any take home thoughts as we get ready for Thanksgiving? You doing anything cool for Thanksgiving?
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C
I'm doing the same thing as you're doing, just with different people.
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B
That's great. What's your favorite? What's the favorite food, Taryn, that you're looking forward to Thanksgiving tomorrow?
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C
You know I'm a root man, so anything with potatoes? Love some scalloped potatoes.
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B
That's great.
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C
How about you?
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B
I'm, I'm such a standard dude, bro. It's like as long as it's on my plate every year. I do like, just turkey, mashed potatoes, peas with gravy on all of it. Dude, that's so good. And my mom makes this, like, super good, like, cranberry dish. I like a little cranberry dish that she does. It's, like, pretty tasty. And then the desserts, man, I think I'm such a classic, like, pumpkin dude. Like, I'm a pretty standard American Thanksgiving eater, I think.
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C
Yeah, well, you know, you and your idiosyncrasies read you like a book.
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B
No, Taryn, I'm so. I'm so, like, that's. I'm so erratic. I'm so sporadic. I'm so, so, so spontaneous. That's the thing about everybody. Spontaneous.
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C
Yeah.
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B
You don't want your operator to be spontaneous. You want to be dependable. You want to be like. You want them to know what to expect.
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C
Yeah, you know, of course. That's a very good point.
- [16:49]
B
Awesome. Well, ops experts, I hope you enjoyed our show today. I hope you think through the pivots that your team is making where you can cut, where you can automate, where you can simplify. And I hope that our Internet issues did not disturb you too badly on this pre Thanksgiving. I hope you guys have a great. A great Thanksgiving. Taran, I hope you have a great Thanksgiving. And we'll see you on the other side here on club.
- [17:12]
C
See you later.
- [17:13]
B
See ya.