#205: Dan Martell—How to Buy Back Your Time So You Can Earn More While Working Way Less

Summary

Podcast Summary: Why That Worked – Presented by StoryBrand.ai
Episode #205: Dan Martell—How to Buy Back Your Time So You Can Earn More While Working Way Less
Release Date: December 16, 2024
Host: StoryBrand.ai (Donald Miller)
Co-Host: Kyle Reed

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1. Introduction to Dan Martell and His Expertise

In this episode, Dan Martell, author of the bestselling book Buy Back Your Time, joins the hosts to share his expertise on optimizing time management and scaling businesses efficiently. Martell emphasizes the importance of eliminating unnecessary tasks to reclaim time and enhance productivity.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [00:01]: "When you hit your ceiling, all I know is your number one strength becomes your Achilles heel to scale."

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2. The Buyback Principle Explained

Martell introduces the Buyback Principle, a framework he developed over 15 years, aimed at helping small business owners audit their daily activities. This principle involves evaluating how every minute of the day is utilized, delegating tasks effectively, and building systems that allow for scalable growth without burnout.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [02:34]: "The through line is the ability for me to buy back my time. Because I learned a long time ago that if you don't do it that way, you will wake up feeling pain."

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3. Understanding the Complexity Ceiling

Martell discusses the Complexity Ceiling, a barrier that arises when business operations become overly complicated. He explains that as businesses grow, the initial strengths that drove their success can become obstacles if not managed properly.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [06:31]: "If you go through that process, you will feel pain. That pain will either stop you from growing."

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4. Auditing Your Time and Building Systems

A critical aspect of the Buyback Principle is auditing how time is spent. Martell advises business owners to meticulously track their activities, often recommending the use of calendars to log every task. This transparency helps identify energy-draining activities (red) and productive ones (green).

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [06:39]: "All my stuff's in my calendar. So it's really simple. And then I look at it and I do the energy side."

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5. Delegating Effectively and the 108010 Rule

Martell introduces the 108010 Rule, which emphasizes auditing, transferring, and filling time efficiently. He underscores the importance of delegating tasks that drain energy, arguing that delegation is essential for scaling.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [08:24]: "What got you here won't get you there."

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6. Training vs. Telling: Developing Competent Teams

Martell differentiates between training and telling. Instead of merely instructing team members on what to do, he advocates for training them to understand the underlying principles, thereby fostering autonomy and competence within the team.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [17:08]: "If you just tell people how to do the job, you did their job."

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7. Simplifying Your Business for Scalability

Emphasizing simplicity, Martell advises businesses to limit their offerings to core products or services. He cites examples like Chipotle's streamlined menu and Starbucks' recent initiative to reduce product variations to enhance efficiency and customer experience.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [11:45]: "Less complexity, less moving parts. The new CEO of Starbucks just announced simplifying the menu to reduce the time people spend in lineups."

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8. Hiring an Executive Assistant: The First Step to Scaling

Martell recommends hiring an Executive Assistant (EA) as the foundational step in scaling a business. An EA can handle administrative tasks, allowing business owners to focus on strategic activities. He shares his own experience of hiring an EA to manage mundane tasks like opening mail, which significantly freed up his time.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [21:13]: "If you don't have an assistant, start there. Don't go hire a COO."

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9. Conclusion and Action Plan

To wrap up, Martell encourages listeners to take immediate action by implementing the Buyback Principle. This includes auditing current time usage, delegating non-essential tasks, and investing in training to build a competent team. He also offers additional resources through his Instagram for those interested in further guidance.

Notable Quote:

Dan Martell [20:58]: "Start there. Don't go hire a COO. If you don't have an assistant, you are one and you're not very good at your job and you're probably overpaid."

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Key Takeaways

• Audit Your Time: Meticulously track daily activities to identify and eliminate time-wasters.
• Delegate Effectively: Transfer tasks that drain energy to capable team members or assistants.
• Build Systems: Develop standardized operating procedures (SOPs) to ensure consistency and scalability.
• Simplify Offerings: Focus on core products or services to reduce complexity and enhance efficiency.
• Invest in Training: Train team members to understand underlying principles, fostering autonomy and competence.
• Hire Wisely: Start by hiring an Executive Assistant to handle administrative tasks, freeing up time for strategic initiatives.

By implementing these strategies, business owners can reclaim their time, reduce burnout, and position their businesses for sustainable growth.

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For More Insights:
Discover how to craft clear and effective messaging that works for your business at StoryBrand.ai.

Transcript

[Dan Martell]

When you hit your ceiling, all I know is your number one strength becomes your Achilles heel to scale.

[Bobby Richards]

Welcome to the Business Made simple podcast brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast Network. I'm Bobby Richards.

[James Sweeting]

And I'm James Sweeting. Running a business isn't just hard work. It can feel like a never ending cycle of managing tasks, putting out fires, and trying to grow without letting things fall apart. If you've ever felt trapped in the daily grind and unsure how to scale without losing your sanity, this episode is for you.

[Bobby Richards]

Today, we are beyond thrilled to have Dan Martell live in our studio. Dan's the author of the bestselling book Buy Back youk Time and is a master at helping small business owners like you unlock more potential by eliminating what is unnecessary so that you can reclaim your time.

[James Sweeting]

Dan dives into the Buyback principle, a framework for auditing how you're using every minute of your day, delegating effectively and building systems that empower you to scale without burning out.

[Bobby Richards]

So whether you're battling perfectionism, you're overwhelmed by tasks, or you're just trying to figure out what is the most important priority to focus on, shout out to all my ADHD business buddies out there. Dan's going to show you how to build a business that you don't grow to hate. You're going to get all that and more right after this. How do you begin to describe your job as a marketer? Well, you have to generate leads, create content, gather data. You're spread way too thin. But HubSpot has a better way. With the help of Breeze, HubSpot's collection of AI tools and features like Content Remix, you can turn one piece of content into a suite of assets. Then pinpoint the best prospects and level up your campaign's KPIs with a new analytics suite. And most importantly, you're gonna have a way easier time describing your job at parties. Visit HubSpot.com marketers to learn more. We're so stoked that you're here because I remember buying your book and I was like, how is this guy tapping into helping me overcome my control issues? And because that's really like the only way that I knew how to really like kind of manage was going. It wasn't, you know, bossing people around, but it was like going, hey, just let me do it, you know, and you name how when you do that, you're building a business that you're gonna grow to hate 100%. And ultimately, first off, just thank you. This is so freaking awesome. That you're here.

[Dan Martell]

I'm just honored you guys read the book.

[Bobby Richards]

What was that pain point that you felt when realized that you started to go, I've got something here. I got to put it all together.

[Dan Martell]

That book is 15 years of just pain. I can point to every massive setback, challenge, pain, and every framework. Like, where'd the 131 rule come from? Where'd the replacement ladder come from? Where did even the buyback principle. And it's everything I've ever done, the through line is the ability for me to buy back my time. Because I learned a long time ago that if you don't do it that way, you will wake up feeling pain. You'll be. You'll. You'll create the prison, which is kind of nuts.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Yeah. You built it.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Like, you'll wake up and go, like, it's on you.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

It's not what I signed up for. And why does it. Why does it hurt? And does everybody hurt like this? And why is that guy smiling while he's getting hurt? You know, like, you just. You just think you're. You're doing it wrong. And. And truthfully, if you want what I share, which is, again, build a business you don't grow to hate, yeah, there is a way to do it, and there's a sequence. And I think that the idea of a sequence, even think about a recipe. If you get all the ingredients right, but you don't put them together in the right sequence. You know, one recipe creates a beautiful chocolate cake, the other one creates a pile of mush. Right. So the creatives is who I wrote the book for.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

I want creators to understand that. And this is my. My battle cry. It's. I want you just to create more. And I don't want you to not love the work of creation because then the world doesn't get your creation. And I think that's what makes it beautiful. And. And that's why I use Andy Warhol. Like, I. Examples of, like, you know, authors and media people like Oprah and, like, I was specific about the creators that they all admire to unpack. Let me show you what it actually looks like behind the scenes so you maybe get inspired because you only see the art, but you don't understand how it got created at scale. Right.

[James Sweeting]

So, Dan, for our small business owners listening and especially those that identify as a creator and want more time to do that.

[Bobby Richards]

You mean all of them all?

[James Sweeting]

Yeah, Everyone listening to them and are unfamiliar with the book and your work, tell us a little bit about the Buyback principle and even that buyback loop audit transfer fill. Just what that looks like.

[Dan Martell]

Well, here's what I learned about small business owners. Most of them have one gear, which is do more. Yeah, I'm doing the thing. People pay me to do the thing, either a widget or service. So I got the thing I got to do that technically will take 30, 40 hours of my week. And then there's the other stuff, which is the business. And when problems happen, they just default to do. Yeah, Right. It's easier for me to do it than to document it or hire somebody, tell them what to do. They'll probably do it wrong. It's going to get done right if I do it 100%. So I just don't want to waste it. And that's. That's unfortunately the trap we get into. And that's, you know, I call it complexity ceiling. Right. If you go through that process, you will feel pain. And that pain will either stop you from growing. That's. That's the part where I understand. But it does. It's. That's not the answer. Right. The pain is just there to act as a mirror and say, oh, that's just my. My ceiling. We all have it. I even have one today. Your ceiling is wherever you're at. And for you to go to the next level, you have to ask yourself, what do I do when I feel that pain? Because this is a big idea I've never met. An entrepreneur will grow into pain. If I put a knife to your throat and say, step forward. Not going to do it. Right.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

And then they beat themselves up. They go, why is. Why is Mark crushing it in his business? And why Sally, just absolutely exploding and I'm struggling is because your growth, the way you've set things up, your calendar creates chaos. I get it. Like, I'm not blaming you, but there's a completely different way. So even two weeks ago in my life, because I've been. I started a new venture company, like a structure. And then I'm like, doing so much right now with the media stuff of the book that I hit my pain line. And I go back to the same process I wrote about in the book, which is audit step one. I look at my calendar two weeks, and for me, because everything's in my calendar, it's easier for me to do. Most people, I have to get them to write it down every 15, like Pomodoro just goes up.

[Bobby Richards]

Keep it in our head.

[Dan Martell]

Just think, I know what I do every day, two and a half hours. On Tik Tok last night, laying on your couch. Let's write that one down. You know what I mean? Like, let's get a real.

[Bobby Richards]

You hold a mirror up to these?

[Dan Martell]

Yeah.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

So all my stuff's in my calendar. So it's really simple. And then I look at it and I do the energy side, which is of the things in my calendar, most of the things were 100% green, you know, that give me energy, you know, But I guarantee people listen and they go, maybe if you're a small business owner, there's like 30% that's, that's like, I love this part. This stuff's yellow. I'll do it. I don't like it. I can do it. I'm good at it. And then there's things where it's like, these are the things that are in your calendar that you don't do when they show up in your calendar. The red stuff, the energy sucking stuff, the counting, the process, like, it was like, don't make me do it.

[Bobby Richards]

Well, you talk about just opening mail. You hired someone to do that. Which I thought was like, brilliant.

[Dan Martell]

Yeah. After two years of spending every Sunday, I cannot be the only CEO running a million dollar company that's opening up his mail and spending all Sunday while my at the time, you know, fiance is like, what are you doing? So that I always go to the calendar and here's some tricks that didn't get in the book. I'll give people some, some help. It's like the, the stuff that's the hardest at scale to grow is not the red, it's the yellow. Right? Or even the green. Cause like, letting go, you don't want to go. Like, to do that you're good at again. What got you here won't get you there. And that's just a fact. When you hit your ceiling, all I know is your number one strength becomes your Achilles heel to scale. And I'll tell you why. Because it's the thing that you'll want to let go of last. It's the thing that you're most critical of. I have never criticized an invoice. I've never, like, turns out I've never created one either. I don't care. I'm just like creating an invoice. Send to this person. I've never looked at what they sent to the person, but you better believe a webpage, a photo, like, you know what I mean? Like, again, whatever you think is your number one skill, it's the thing you'll give away last and it is your bottleneck. And they call it a bottleneck because it's at the top. And I'm not saying you can't be involved, but you want to edit, you don't want to author. And that's where you got to learn to let go. Yes. Yeah. And I talk about, in my book, the 108010 rule is about that concept. So that's, that's audit transfer is giving to other people. Right. And the challenge of that is people you know, Especially if you're starting off, you hire your first person, you go, well, man, now I gotta hire them and train them. I don't have enough time to do the work, manage the business. Now I gotta train something. It sounds like a lot of work. So I just say, just record yourself doing it while you're doing. Just talk out loud. So I, I record myself doing everything. I mean, there's one, two, three people in this room recording. That's kind of my life. I have two cameras. On all my cameras, I use zoom on my desktop. I'll pull up my iPhone. I'll be in my garage doing maintenance on my road bikes, you know, my, my travel. And I'm just like, this is how we take the battery out. We do this. Why? At some point, I probably don't want to do this anymore. So then I've got the recordings. So I default camcorder method, everything. So that when I do hire the person, I'll make a list of everything and I'll just go, do I have a video for that? Yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep, yep. Cool. Guess what they do. Day one, sit down, watch every video.

[Bobby Richards]

And then make the SOP from that 100%.

[Dan Martell]

Because you know what's right in my calendar, creating SOPs, like, I know how to do it. I'm good at it. I created SOP on how to do. I don't want to ever do it again. My. My philosophy, I learned this in software is it's called dry. Do not repeat yourself. So when you write code, well written code is dry. If there's a function that takes two numbers and adds them together, it's called add, and it's in one place. And if there's a bug in the add function, you fix it one place. And any place else that calls it, it gets fixed. Copying, pasting that code all over your code, that's bad code. So a lot of businesses have that. Right? Right. They don't have a checklist for buying stuff for the business. And in there, there's, hey, is there a po Number is there. We always use this address. It's not like, did you send that to your house or to the office or to the studio? Or like, so again, and then if you do have that, make sure everybody uses that. So the. The SOP came from that. And then last part's Phil, which is. Okay, got the time back. Winning, winning. What do I do at that time? One of my core philosophies in business is simple scales. Complex fails. And I'm going to say this again, because this is 100% all people that start off in business, they make the mistake. Their business is too complicated. They're creatives. They feel like, well, I can't just do this. Not enough money in that. So I got to do this plus this, plus this, plus this. They wake up on Saturday, they're talking to a friend. They're inspired. They had that.

[Bobby Richards]

Someone's going to pay me to do this thing. I've never done that thing.

[Dan Martell]

I can learn that. They'll pay me this. And the challenge with that is if you actually look at, like, every service or widget that you have in your business, requiring things like a support document, an sop on how to do it, marketing, sales, like, everything has to be. There's a bunch of other business stuff around the thing you sell that if you want to actually grow, have to exist. So creating it might only take you four hours, but to support it, there's a whole lot of other stuff that might, let's call it a week's worth of work, 40 hours. So four hours to create it, 40 hours to build the thing around it, to make it scale that they forget to do, and you add a dozen of those, all of a sudden you wake up and your business is just complexity. And it's the default response. Okay, so imagine you do an event. Event's done. You sit around as a team and go, that was a great event. And then somebody goes, you know what we should do next time? I love that. You know what else? I love that.

[Bobby Richards]

I love that it's a meeting where it just could be four or five things. You just built out a solid month.

[Dan Martell]

But here's what's crazy. You just did an event. You asked the people that came if they're happy. They said 97% success rate. Run the play. Yeah, the 3%. I'm okay with them not being happy. They're literally the law of large numbers. Out of 100 people, I guarantee one or two or three are not going to be happy. And they'll never be pleased. It has Nothing to do with me. The amount of people that have a working system in their business that add complexity, and then they go, I can't scale it. Right? Why are you selling all this stuff? I helped my buddy once. He had a sign shop and he was like, freaking out. Like, I'm just not making any money anymore, and I don't understand why. Can you come help me out? Everybody, listen. This is how you do it. It was on a Saturday morning, sat in his office. I said, print out everything you've sold in the last 30 days. Big sheet, okay? And then I said, highlight in green everything on there that makes you money, like margins, okay? 80% plus and then volume. And I looked at it and I said, why are you selling anything that's not highlighted green? Well, I can't. If I do that and I don't do the other stuff, I won't get the big stuff. Really? Okay, let me call other people in this town that do the thing that you sell and I'll ask them, okay? So on there was LED boards, you know, LED board, 150,000. There was $150 business card item. So I called the LED board, his competitor, I said, do you guys sell business cards? They said, no. So it's just stuff like that. So honestly, just look at your business and say, what if you could only sell three things? I mean, look at the menu. At Chipotle, they call it a three by three. It's actually in the industry, it's like a standard now, because less complexity, less moving parts, less queuing up of lines. I heard the new CEO of Starbucks just announced yesterday he's simplifying the menu because he wants to reduce the amount of time that people spend in lineups. Because right now it's over four minutes. And he's just like, we don't need to sell 1300 variations of a thing.

[Bobby Richards]

The Creators Are Brands podcast, hosted by Tom Boyd, is brought to you by the HubSpot Podcast network, the audio destination for business professionals. Creators are Brands explores how storytellers are building brands online. From the mindsets to the tactics, all the way to the business side. The show breaks down what's working so you can apply that to your own mission. In a recent episode titled 3K to 45K on Instagram in one year, selling digital products and quitting his job, Tom talks to Gannon Meyer about his incredible journey to social media success. They unpack actionable strategies for building a loyal audience, how you can monetize digital products, and how to create meaningful brand partnerships. So whether you're looking to grow your presence online or turn your content into a profitable business, this episode and this show offers practical takeaways. You can start applying right away. Listen to Creators are Brands. Wherever you get your podcasts. And now back to the show. I know that in the book you had a team member with you kind of call you out on throwing a grenade is kind of what you talk.

[Dan Martell]

About in the business. Yeah, yeah. Everything's going great. And then you're like, we're going to change the whole thing.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah, yeah.

[Dan Martell]

They're like, why? Turns out entrepreneurs are entrepreneurs because they're able to deal with large amounts of uncertainty.

[Bobby Richards]

They love that chaos living that.

[Dan Martell]

They feel useful.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Like, I mean, think about stimulating. Yeah. What is the. What is the. The beginning of a business is solve a problem.

[Bobby Richards]

Right.

[Dan Martell]

Like, the reason why they start businesses is because they see the world differently. They see opportunity. They solve problems. They like solving problems. They feel useful in their solving problems. The problem is when there's no problem, they create a problem. A really good leader that has a CEO like that knows how to give them problems to go work on. Oh, yeah. Like, that's actually the ninja move. If you have somebody that's always doing that, but give them a problem that's 18 months into the future, and that's what a great CEO does. But if you've never done it before, if you are a manager on a team like that, use that opportunity to be like, you know what we really need? We need to figure out where are we going to build our next location, not how do we redesign our inventory system.

[Bobby Richards]

Right, right, right, right.

[Dan Martell]

See what I'm saying? That's what a good leader does, is they give the CEO something to go work on. Because at the end of not going to. Not solve problems. Sure.

[Bobby Richards]

Oh, yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Talk about in the book, it's like visionary.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Yeah. I'm going to sell my business. To do what? To lay on the pool side, to look at the umbrella and go, I can make a better umbrella and hire a pool guy that's cleaning up to be your first employee. Like, that's what entrepreneurs do. But for me, it's always about building the machine that builds the machine. So if I'm a manager on a team, I got to ask myself, did I create a system, an engine that does the thing that we do? And it could be producing a podcast, it could be getting a website design, it could be creating a logo. Like, if I manage the logo designers, do we have a process for, like, we have a unit that we sell. Show me the thing that talks about how you do the thing.

[Bobby Richards]

Right.

[Dan Martell]

And it's not even the sop. It's also show me in your calendar where you train people. Okay, so this is a big idea. Okay. Most people listen probably just like, I'd like to be a millionaire, and I love that, and I get it. But here's the challenge. If that's your site, is that millionaires create systems, billionaires create people. There's. It's never worked any other way. So one of the things that I often share with people is the concept of train, don't tell. So when a team member is doing something inefficient, you want to tell them how to fix it. What I do is I write it down, and then every week I have leadership training is what I call it, and it's my opportunity to coach my team up, to train them up. Now here's the way.

[Bobby Richards]

I'm still hungry for that.

[Dan Martell]

You know, that's kind of why they work for you.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Dan Martell]

Like, they. They came to you because you promised them a future that allows their dreams and goals to exist inside of. And they know they're not there yet, so they kind of need to be trained up.

[Bobby Richards]

You want to balance it so you're not just holding their hands and telling them what to do because they don't learn.

[Dan Martell]

No. And that's the difference. If you just tell people how to sell the problem, you did their job. I don't. What I do is say, okay, this thing happened. What is the principle they violated? I write it down, and then here's a fun part. I remember one time I was coaching a client, and he was mad at his team. The team is probably like 25 people. And he's like, yeah, but, you know, you talk to these people. Sure. Yeah. You're lucky. Everybody met your teams. They're great. And then it's like, okay, it's work. But, you know, I feel like people don't listen or they don't care. And I'm just listening to this guy. He had an accent, just so y'all. I think he's French. I don't like him. And I said, all right, let's do this. Take. Take a minute. Write down all the things that. That per. The team does that frustrates you. Okay. Told. Give him three minutes, man. He's like, it's friends. He was waiting. Yeah. He's like, say last. Okay, show me the list. I said, cool. Now sort it by the thing that if you taught your Team if they all knew that thing, that it affects the most people and would make you the most money.

[Bobby Richards]

Did you just break down? He went, no.

[Dan Martell]

And then he sorted it. Yeah. And he realized, okay, first one was participating in meetings. His, one of his biggest gripes is that every time he had a meeting, he felt like he was always the driver of the meeting and people weren't collaborating, they were offering solutions. They weren't doing their thing right. So then I said, this is where I got them right between the eyes. I said, show me in your calendar where you taught your team to do that. What do you mean show me or do you have a video of where you taught your team to do this? I've never done that. I said, here's the deal. We're on a call. You have me teaching you. Tell me where you're teaching your team. Do you know how many business coaches spend all their time coaching their clients and no time coaching their team? They're the worst. Yeah. Those people have a real problem because they actually have the skill. They just never realize that. Honestly, you should spend a portion of your time just developing your people, not telling them how they did something wrong, asking yourself, why did they do that? What did they not understand? Where did I learn it? Because I, you know, I've read 1600 books. I am built by books. I've had coaches, I've been to seminars. Like for me to expect a new person on my team who's never been exposed to that, to just know how to do things at my level, that's silly. So that's why we say you got to train, you don't tell them. And I've been doing that in all my companies. The coolest part, camcorder method. We record it.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

We save it, we add it to onboarding. So some stuff is. Some stuff is company wide onboarding.

[Bobby Richards]

It's built in.

[Dan Martell]

Yeah, yeah. And other stuff is team level onboarding. Right. So the media team revenue, like so. But I might teach it, but it's more relevant to the media team. Yeah. And that way when somebody new starts, they just spent. Literally when you start working on my team, it's five days of just watching videos. I try to make them entertaining.

[Bobby Richards]

Right.

[Dan Martell]

But starts at the top, work your way done. At the end of those five days, I've got somebody that understands the culture, understands how to do the work, knows what it looks like. And I think that that's a really good rhythm to fill your time with, which is go be better for your team. Teach them how to grow so we got audit calendar, transfer to other people. Fill your time with being better so you can deal with bigger problems.

[James Sweeting]

And so you're empowering them, you're coaching them, and then you're building up just a team of even more competent professionals.

[Dan Martell]

To delegate to building the machine that builds the machine.

[Bobby Richards]

Man. Man, I feel like we've only scratched the surface and we're at 10. No, don't apologize. We say thank you. Sorry that we don't have enough time. The one thing that we do at the end of every episode is we call out a plan of action, which is sort of that one piece. I mean, there's so many pieces here, but just that one piece that our listener can immediately comment. What would you say is that plan of action?

[Dan Martell]

So I'm going to tell you and then I'm going to help everybody listen. Just for you guys, in the book, a lot of people read it. It's become the unofficial sales book for every virtual assistant company in the world. Every one of them want me to be endorsement sponsor. And I'm just like, I'm not picking. Just go be awesome.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

But there's no doubt if you look at like, bang for your buck, the number one hire, the first hire is an administrative assistant and an executives virtual. Call them what you want. Somebody to help take over the errands, the emails, the procurement, the processes, the, the scheduling, the, all that and the challenge. I think what most people have and I struggle with is like, I get it, but what do they really do? How does it really work? Like, like my friend you mentioned doing the mail. Yeah, I hired Lisa.

[Bobby Richards]

Yeah.

[Dan Martell]

And the best I had then was, Lisa, could you open up the mail and put it into piles and then give me the piles like that? Initially, that was it. And then I was like, okay, maybe you could do the other part, which is drive to the bank and deposit the checks or go to drop this off at the lawyers or, you know, but what I've got, if people follow me on Instagram Tools and Martell, Dan Martell, and they message me, okay, EA executive assistant. I'll send them my internal SOP standard operating procedure, like Google Doc, it one that I use with Ann, my executive assistant, but without like my address and my credit card, you know what I mean? Clean it up. Yeah, but it'll show you. So, like, for example, we have the North Star principle. So I have five North Star. I think I actually added a six. Now of these principles of what a great EA does. Right. One of them is happy with the response. No matter what it is, the person receiving the response, even if it's a no, is happy with the no. So that way every email you reply, do you think the person would be happy the way you said that? Like, why don't we start with acknowledge them the interest and be gracious and da. And then it's a no. So like, these are like these little tweaks I have in there, plus like the templates and the agendas and I go in it a little bit in the book. But again, my editor's like university textbook, bestseller. So I put all that, those are in my sop. So I'd love, I'd love to encourage everybody. If you don't have an assistant, start there. Don't go hire a coo. I hear I'm going to hire an integrator. If you don't have an assistant, you are one and you're not very good at your job and you're probably overpaid. So we'll start there and then come find me on Instagram. I'll send you that. Yeah, just direct message me. I'll send you.

[Bobby Richards]

Is that Dan Martell on Instagram?

[Dan Martell]

Yeah.

[Bobby Richards]

I've got to admit, I did it. I took a look at that sop. It is game changing. I literally was showing Don and Kyle our strategy head in leadership. I was showing it to them this morning and I was like, guys, this is.

[Dan Martell]

And our project manager.

[Bobby Richards]

And I was like nerding, nerding out. Slacked him at 11pm last night going, you got to check this out, man. And he said, bobby, talk to me tomorrow, tomorrow morning. But anyway, but Dan, this has been an absolute pleasure, man. And we're so grateful that you took time and we know that your time is very valuable, that you're very intentional with it and everything that you gave. We know that the business owners listening are going to be able to immediately implement and feel that release.

[Dan Martell]

I'm here for them. They're my peeps. Those are the people I want to support. So I appreciate it.

[James Sweeting]

Well, that's all for today's episode. Thank you again for listening to the Business Made simple podcast where we are obsessed with helping you become a better business owner and buy back your time. We'll see you next week.