Episode 108 - Visibility Isn’t Enough: The CEO Shift You Need to Actually Scale with Michelle Mitchell

In today’s episode, I’m sitting down with Michelle Mitchell, financial strategist and CEO of Mitchell Consulting. We are diving into a conversation about visibility, email list growth, and attracting clients. But what happens when your business is growing, and you are the thing slowing it down? 

We discuss:

• How being the bottleneck shows up in your finances, revenue, and decision-making, and the subtle signs you’ve become one yourself
• Why so many women entrepreneurs struggle to let go even when they’re ready to grow
• The connection between leadership, money strategy, and sustainable business growth

If you’ve ever felt like you’re doing everything and still not seeing the growth you want…this one is going to hit home.

Mentioned in this episode:

Connect with Michelle here:

Website: https://mitchellconsultingservice.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mitchellconsultingllc/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MitchellConsulting

Instagram (business): https://www.instagram.com/mitchell_consulting/

Instagram (personal): https://www.instagram.com/iammichellemitchell

Free Facebook Group: https://www.facebook.com/share/g/18HGKPLAsk/?mibextid=wwXIfr

Freebie: https://www.michellemitchell.co/Let-Go-To-Grow-Assessment

Entrepreneurship isn't meant to be a solo sport. That’s why I created a space that gives you visibility, community, and encourages you to promote your offers, connect with other members, and build meaningful business relationships.

Inside my free Facebook group, Be A Confident Entrepreneur: Get Visible + Grow Your Email List and Income, you’ll meet thousands of other online business owners who are building real momentum together.

Come introduce yourself, answer the quick entry questions so we know you’re a good human, and when you join, shoot me a DM and let me know you found us through the podcast. I’d love to welcome you in personally.

Join here: 

https://tracybeavers.biz/bacefromcobs

Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

One of the things slowing down your business isn't your visibility, your strategy, or your audience, but you. Not in a you're doing it wrong kind of way, but in a you've outgrown the role you're still trying to play kind of way. Because here's the truth. You can grow your email list, you can increase your visibility, and you can even bring in more leads because my friends, you've got me in your ear, and that's my that's my jam. But if you're still operating like the doer instead of the CEO, you're gonna feel stuck no matter how much effort you put in. Today's conversation is going to be gold. This is with my friend Michelle Mitchell. It's all about identifying when you've become the bottleneck in your business and how to step into your next level as a CEO without everything unraveling. And let me tell you, I have known Michelle for a long time now. First as a student in my Business Visibility Made Easy program, and now as an alum in our Business Visibility Made Easy Alumni Mastermind. And let me tell you, she does not hold back in the best way possible. Ready to grow your online business without losing your mind? You're in the right spot, my friend. Welcome to Create Your Online Business Success. I'm your host, Tracy Beavers. And this show is all about practical strategies, creative ideas, and sanity-saving solutions that you can use right now. Let's crank up the dial on your business growth and make it fun. Let's create your online business success. Michelle Mitchell, I am thrilled you are here. Why have I not had you on my show sooner? I I don't know. I can't even answer that question. But I'm glad you're here today. And I just shared You're welcome. I just shared with our listeners just a little bit about you and kind of what we're going to talk about. But I always like my to ask my guests to give the whole scoop. Like, who are you? Where did what who do you serve? What do you do? Why did you choose to be an entrepreneur like us? This is just crazy.

SPEAKER_00 2:00

Why did I choose? Right. Okay. Hi, my name is Michelle Mitchell. I'm the CEO and founder of Mitchell Consulting. We are a small boutique accounting firm and we help female founders in the in the service provider space. Uh so that's who we serve. Um and you know, I started this business 15 years ago. I was like a lonely old like bookkeeper. My background is actually in accounting. I have I have a degree in accounting. I worked in corporate in accounting, and you know, I heard the words um, you've been downsized that started me on a new path.

SPEAKER_02 2:46

I've heard those words. Yes.

SPEAKER_00 2:49

I was downsized, and at the time, and this goes way back now. At the time I was pregnant with our second child. Yeah. So, you know, I don't know what else to do. Like, I didn't know what else to do. I had this corporate background. Now I have these two little babies. Yeah. You know, what do I do? I stayed at home. I stayed at home for a while. I did you, nice, but because I'm an overachiever, overthinker, over everything, right? Yes. I'm like, I can't just like twiddle my thumbs and just take care of these kids. Yeah. So I my first business I opened was a daycare.

SPEAKER_01 3:30

No way, really? I didn't know that.

SPEAKER_00 3:32

So fun fact. I hated it. I love taking care of my own children, but taking care of other people's children, not so much fun. Right. But I did that for a good two years, probably while my daughter was still young. Uh-huh. Um, and that just, you know, I, you know, you got to make money, you got to explain like what you were doing to people. And you know, I had clients, I had clients, I had babies to serve, right? Families to serve. Yeah. Um, but then I joined Mary Kay.

SPEAKER_02 4:15

Did you really? I didn't know this either. Fun fact number two.

SPEAKER_00 4:19

Fun fact number two. I have been a Mary Kay consultant since 2001, I think. No way. Yes, but Mary Kay taught me a lot about business, yes, a lot about how to present yourself, how to present your products, how to sell the benefits of your products, yeah, and not necessarily the product. You had to get people over the price consciousness of it and share with them what the benefits were. Right. I was able to stand in front of groups of people and teach, and you know, which I naturally love teaching. Right. So those were my beginnings. So why did I start Mitchell Consulting? Yeah. Is my husband kept telling me, you need to start a bookkeeping firm. I'm like, I don't do bookkeeping. Well, you need to start a bookkeeping company. I don't like that, sir. Right, you know, because I was corporate. I was corporate and I didn't really didn't know how to do small business accounting or bookkeeping. At least I thought I didn't, but I I actually did. Yeah. And he was, you know, in economic development. So he would send me these little nonprofits, you know, and I cut teeth helping nonprofits set up and learn QuickBooks and all of that. So that started my journey to Mitchell Consulting, which has now been 15 years. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 5:54

So it's really all your husband's fault. He really just kind of got you got too close to the edge of the pool and he pushed you in.

SPEAKER_00 6:01

He pushed me in. And now I know. And now I cannot be employed by anyone for anything ever again. Like I know. I'm ruined. I'm ruined now.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

I am too. In fact, when I have a bad day and I say to myself, I think this is it. This is the end of the business. This is where it ends. I'm gonna have to go get a job. Or I just get mad and go, I'm just gonna go get a job. Then I actually, Michelle, I actually walk myself through what that means. First of all, I haven't written a resume in oh my, I don't even know how many years. I don't even know where my resume is. I don't know how to write one. And then then you would have to, okay, then you'd have, you know me, I don't fix the back of my hair. Right now, the back of my hair is not fixed. I don't want to just that alone. Just and then putting on actual pants with shoes that match, and you know, pants that have buttons, not yoga pants, and yeah, not being able to wear my slippers and not being able to go out and walk my dog when I want. I'm like, no, I can't do that.

SPEAKER_00 7:04

Right. Yeah, exactly. And then getting in your car in the morning is cold and you gotta drive someplace to like check into a job just so people can see whether or not you were on time. Like I know.

SPEAKER_02 7:17

And then putting up with people you don't really want to be with all day long, coming in out of your office. Oh no, kill me now. Okay, exactly. Oh my stars, we have so much in common. I love it. And the all and the listeners are probably all like, Yes, yeah, we feel the same way. I love it. Yes, I am so excited about the topic we're talking about today because um I've known you for a while. I shared that with the listeners in the in the cold open. First as a student in my business visibility made easy program, and now as an alum in the alumni mastermind. And one thing I know about you for sure is that you are a great listener, you are a great observer, observer, and you deliver, you're the kind of person that kind of sits and listens and processes and doesn't say you're not the biggest voice in the room. And when you open your mouth, we all lean in. It's like you'd say what we need to hear when we need to hear it, all with love, but we all know it's coming. It's like I it happened this morning on the alum call. You had this look on your face when I was it when I said something about I can't remember what. Oh, we were helping somebody, and I saw the look on your face. I'm like, Michelle's got something to say. And sure enough, you did. I was like, I know it. But I love that about you. I really do. Do you hear that a lot from people that you are this great, like it's like you're just downloading it all and processing it, and then you just come up with I know I do hear hear that from people a lot.

SPEAKER_00 8:52

I hear it like, especially when I'm speaking, like when when I have a speaking engagement, yeah. And because I'm an observer, I am like from the very beginning of my life, I've always wanted to be in the background. Yes, I have never wanted to be out front.

SPEAKER_02 9:15

We are such opposites, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

I was afraid to be out front. I almost failed speech class because I didn't want to be out front. Oh, but going through life and learning how to be in it's my zone, like I sit in the back of the room and I observe. I observe people, I observe what they say, I observe how they react to things, and then I guess I put it through this filter of mine. Yeah, and I never know what's gonna come out of my mouth, Tracy. I promise you, because I have not thought of it before I speak it. I have not. It just like it just comes out. I hope it's delivered in love, like you said, uh, because I never want to hurt anyone's feeling, but I also want to tell them the truth. Why are why am I why do people hide the truth from people? You know, so I want to speak it in love, but also give people the truth that no one else seems to be telling them.

SPEAKER_02 10:24

Yes, yes. You do you do do that with love though, Michelle. You really do. It's this, it's the way you deliver it, but I love that you don't know what's gonna come out of your mouth because girl, I'm the same.

SPEAKER_00 10:34

Tracy, I don't. I have no idea what's coming out of my mouth.

SPEAKER_02 10:39

I love it. It's usually uh most of the time, it's really good stuff. Like I can't remember a time when you said anything and it and it made me go, what did she just say?

SPEAKER_00 10:47

Yeah, a lot of people tell me I'm like an old soul, like you just you just spit wisdom.

SPEAKER_03 10:54

And I'm like, how?

SPEAKER_00 10:56

Yeah, but I've been I have been in the game a long time. Yes, yes.

SPEAKER_02 11:02

So let's talk about being a CEO, because I think we have some listeners, in fact, I know we have some listeners, that when I say, Are you a CEO, they probably go, I don't know, am I? They're thinking about themselves as a business owner, or they maybe they still have that employee mindset. I know it took me a while to realize, oh dang, I am the CEO, like it or not, because I'm the only one here, right? Um, so when it comes to being a CEO, the bottleneck in the business, yeah, at what point when my my I'm trying to get my question out, at what point does a business owner realize that they're the bottleneck? Like what are some signs that we need to watch for that we're overlooking and we're trying to figure out why the business isn't growing, why the income isn't growing, what kind of a problem do we have? And it turns out it's us. It's us.

SPEAKER_00 12:00

We get in our own way all of the time. I get in my own way all of the time. Yeah, and one of the signs of knowing whether or not you're the bottleneck of the business is that when you hand something off to someone else to do, but yet you don't really like you don't really hand it off. Yeah, you come back and check with me, come back before, ask me questions. So you're not really handing it off, right? And then what that feels like is when you're in bed and you wake up in the middle of the night, yeah, and that thing is just like right there, yeah, it's right there, you can't sleep like oh, did I forget to do? Yeah, you probably did because you didn't fully delegate it to the person who should actually own it and not you. That's why it's waking you up, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:07

Yeah, okay. So if we are still thinking about the thing to the point where we're losing sleep and we're double checking, then we are essentially micromanaging something that we it's like you either delegate it or you don't. You know what I mean? Like if you're gonna micromanage it, you might as well have just kept it, right? Exactly. Yeah. Okay.

unknown 13:36

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 13:37

So why do we why do we struggle to let go of it? You know, why why do we especially as women, why do we struggle to completely take our fingers off of it?

SPEAKER_00 13:48

Um, because we raise children. Yeah. And we may have uh spouses or significant others that this is okay, I'm gonna send my husband to the store to get something, but yet I didn't give him enough details for him to actually be to be independent in the grocery store to get the things I need because I didn't give him all the information he needed. And I didn't say, well, if they're out of X, it's okay for you to get Y. That's why he's calling you and texting you while he's at the grocery store, or that's why he doesn't want to go for you.

SPEAKER_02 14:34

Are you are you living in my house right now? Because my precious husband will call me. I always invariably when he's at the store and my phone rings, I'm like, they're out of whatever it was, and he doesn't know what to do. So okay, I need to do a better job preparing him.

SPEAKER_00 14:48

Exactly. Or when you give a team member something to do and you find an error, like you're just checking it, right? You find an error and you fix it without telling them because it's faster that way, because it's faster that way, but how are they gonna grow as the person who owns the task when you it keeps like you keep interjecting yourself, checking their work? How do you think they feel? I wouldn't know that about it. And guess what you're doing? You are paying them to do a job that you keep taking back.

SPEAKER_02 15:32

Y'all, I told you, Michelle does not hold back and she comes at you with the stuff you need to hear. Did y'all just hear that? We are paying somebody to do a job that we're not actually letting them do. We need to needlepoint that on a pillow.

SPEAKER_00 15:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 15:48

Oh my gosh. Okay. Well, that makes sense though, because as women and we're raising children, we are constantly having to check on the children. You know? Like if you tell them to go take a bath, you actually have to say, turn the water on, use the soap, put the shampoo in your hair, rinse it out. Otherwise, they'll just, I don't even know what, half the time.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

They just stand there and let the water run out of.

SPEAKER_02 16:11

Oh my gosh. So, okay, for the for the women founders who actually have a fear of letting go, but Michelle, what if they don't get the job right? But Michelle, what if they screw it up? But Michelle, what if, what if, what if? And we have this fear. Yeah. How do we move past that? What would you say to help us do that?

SPEAKER_00 16:30

Yeah. Then you implement guardrails or training wheels, right? Into the delegation process. So as you are getting stronger as a leader, your team member is learning how to trust what you say. Right? Yeah. So if we put guardrails in place so that you know they're not fully on their own, they can come back to you, but they still understand that they own the task or the process, right? Okay. And those training wheels are just feedback loops for you to give them feedback on their performance. Okay. Not for you to take it back over and redo their work. Okay. Feedback loops. Got it. So we need to schedule time with the people we're delegating things to. This can be in your business and at home. What will the feedback loop look like?

SPEAKER_02 17:43

Ooh, give us an example.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

So the feedback loop, like it could be maybe you have a one-on-one with them to review work that they have already done, you know, and you're just giving them feedback. You're not fixing their work, you're not redoing their work. They still own the task.

SPEAKER_02 18:06

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:07

You're just checking in. And eventually you don't have to have as many feedback loops in place so that they can come back to you and ask questions for clarification. And for you, as the leader, you're becoming stronger on how you're actually uh identifying, giving them all of the information that they need, all of the permissions. Because sometimes we tell our team members what to do, but yet they don't have the permission to actually execute it.

SPEAKER_01 18:43

Okay.

SPEAKER_00 18:44

We're missing that step. But yet we're gonna say you own the outcome of this, but we haven't given them the permission. Interesting. Do they have access to the credit card? Do they have access to the account, the software, whatever it is, the file? We gotta give them everything. It's called information, permission, and outcome. Okay, and until we complete that, those three steps, we really have delegated because they don't know what they're doing.

SPEAKER_02 19:18

Got it. Okay, so it's information, permission, and outcome.

SPEAKER_00 19:23

Yes.

SPEAKER_02 19:24

Okay, those three steps.

SPEAKER_00 19:25

Okay, those three steps. And then put your feedback loops in place and your guardrails so that you have a point in time where the two of you can come together. And this could be, you know, one-on-one via Zoom or in person, or it could be a async. What do you call it? Is it asynchronous? Asynchronous, yes. Like in sync words, yeah, yes, or like in Slack or a messaging app or Voxer or something like that. Yeah, you know, so just have those things in place and then have those things in place so that your team member learns and you are also learning as the leader. And then eventually you can take those guardrails off. Uh-huh. And they can just execute.

SPEAKER_02 20:17

You don't have to be involved. And then, of course, if they have a question, a big, a big urgent thing, they'll come back. But what you've done doing your um your three steps is you've gained confidence as a leader. Yes. And they've gained confidence as your teammate and confidence in their own work. Yes. And I got it. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 20:42

And they're also learning how you like to see things, right? Yeah. They're also learning that. Because a lot of times as leaders, we do things so quick and so fast, and they're always in our head. And we don't always, you know, write down in our SOPs the little um preferences we might have. Right. And the preferences we might have don't stop the task from being completed, but it's just not the way we would prefer for it to be completed, which is why we're going back to redo work. Got it. Oh my gosh.

SPEAKER_02 21:21

So I realize that when I'm the bottleneck in my business, um, it it shows up as frustration. It shows up as me feeling overwhelmed. It shows up as a to-do list that looks like a scroll of a thousand things that are on it. But can this also affect my numbers and my finances? Absolutely. Tell me how.

SPEAKER_00 21:48

And this is the point I really want people to understand. Because, like I said earlier, you're paying someone to do a task or a process or a system. Them for you, and if you it keeps coming back to you, like that efficiency on your financial statement shows up. Your net profit dips. Okay. Right? You have less net profit because you're not allowing them to do the work you have hired them to do. Uh-huh. So therefore, it's taking them, it's taking them longer to do the work, is taking you longer and pulling you away from the things that actually matter in the business. Yes. So it's showing up on poor performance on your financials because you're paying out money, but you're not getting the top-line result that you're looking for, right? It's the impact on the revenue part of the business, but yet your expenses are exploding because this person can't complete their task or task, or you are not working on the income generating activities because you're micromanaging the person who you're paying to do the thing. Right. Yeah. Yeah.

unknown 23:14

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 23:16

Yeah. Yeah. What would you say to someone who says, okay, that sounds great, Michelle, but I can't afford to hire anybody? And they just, it's almost like, because you and I both know when you this happened to me when I hired my first assistant, even if it was just for a few hours a week, that brain space that got freed up for me allowed me to make more money. Now, can I explain in quantifiable terms exactly how that happened? I probably could if I went back and analyzed the crap out of it. But what would you say to somebody who says, I'm scared to hire because it's an extra expense? It is. And I don't know if that person's gonna do the thing that I want them to do like I'm doing it. And I don't know if that's actually gonna make me extra money. I mean, I know these are the things that my listeners are thinking.

SPEAKER_00 24:04

Yeah, absolutely. And and I hear that. I hear you. But the brain space that it frees up for you because you have properly delegated something to a team member, like you can be one, it it allows you to become more creative. Yes, it did. Okay, yeah. That was one thing that happened to me. Your creativity will increase because your to-do list is not full. Like this was my to-do list last week, like for real.

SPEAKER_01 24:40

That little bitty list was your whole week.

SPEAKER_02 24:44

Girl, because I knew it's a full-size piece of paper. Okay, all right. I'm so jealous right now because you should see my to-do list. It's as full as a full size eight by 11 piece of paper and it's full.

SPEAKER_00 24:59

Yes, so it frees you up so that you have white space.

unknown 25:05

Yes.

SPEAKER_00 25:06

Do you understand what white space can give you freedom of time to think? And a lot of times we can't quantify that uh white space on our calendar, but it definitely impacts the top line and the bottom line of your business if you don't have that free space. So, yes, monetarily, it's an increased expense, absolutely. Yeah, but what was what will that do to free you up? So then I want to talk about pricing. So if you don't have the bandwidth or the space or the margin to hire someone, now we need to look at pricing. Okay, because if you don't have enough capacity in your pricing structure, you can't hire anyone.

SPEAKER_02 26:09

That's a good point. And you and I both know that as women, we do not set our prices where we need to.

SPEAKER_00 26:16

Oh, no, absolutely not. I mean, I still get challenged, like from coaches, I still get and I'm the one challenging other people. Like I challenge other people in their pricing, and I I still have room to grow. And this has been years, right? Yeah, we're leaving money on the table because we don't even realize our true value that we can bring someone else.

SPEAKER_02 26:46

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 26:48

That's why we're leaving. Yeah, that's why we're leaving money on the table and we don't have enough bandwidth to hire help.

unknown 26:57

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:58

Yeah. Yeah. That right there. Yeah. Wow. Yeah, the pricing is a big deal. So, so if we feel like we don't have the money to hire somebody even for a few hours a week, that's when you're saying and suggesting we need to be looking at our pricing. Absolutely. We need to be considering raising the pricing in order to free up the money.

SPEAKER_00 27:21

Yes. Okay. Yeah, that's the only way you're going to free it up because I guarantee you're pricing too low.

SPEAKER_02 27:27

Guarantee it. Right. Wow. Yeah, most of us are. And we see that in our alum mastermind too, Michelle, when we've got um another alum that's wanting to create an offer and price it. And most of the time we're we're all in the room going, wait a minute, what was the price? Why, yeah, why is it only $37? Hold on, you know, and exactly, yeah. But where it's it's a scary thing to charge more money.

SPEAKER_00 27:50

Scary thing. Yeah. But um, there's always someone out there that's going to pay the price. Always. You are hunting in the wrong field. Ah, okay. Yeah, you're hunting in the wrong field, right? Yeah, yeah. So we then we go back to okay, then who really is our ideal client? Right. The client that is willing, that has the problem that we can solve, has the resources to pay the price, but gives us the bandwidth so that we can hire. This is all like this all works together. Yes. It all works together.

SPEAKER_02 28:41

I can see that now, the way you're describing it. I know my listeners are going, okay. Yeah, they can see that full circle thing. So when it comes to stepping into the CEO role, what is one thing we can do first today to step into that role without everything falling apart? Because that's that's a worry that we all have is okay, I'm gonna be, I'm the CEO, I'm stepping into it, I'm gonna hire and do what Michelle did. How I mean, how do we keep that fear from popping up again?

SPEAKER_00 29:19

Oh, the fear is gonna come up. Oh, great. Okay, thanks. The fear is gonna be there. But if you follow the process, like and you have really identified where your bottleneck truly is so that you can step back and have white space, but yet have the actual activity and the task um continue to go on in your business, like it you're gonna be afraid. Yeah, you're gonna be afraid, but with the training wheels, with the right framework, you are able to do it. Now then you think about okay, then who is the hire? Yes. Who do you hire? What is it? And until you identify what's actually on your plate and what you can safely remove from you doing the task and the bill and the business not falling apart, that's your first hire. But until you analyze that, you don't know, right? So I can't give a blanket. A lot of people say hire a VA first. Maybe that's not the first hire. My first hire was another bookkeeper. Like I needed another accountant. Yeah, I needed somebody that could actually service my clients while I was stepping back, right? Right, yeah, and I did it slow and slow, I did because I was afraid until I learned these frameworks. Yeah, I was afraid, I was operating out of fear. So I would suggest as the leader, like you need to work on your leadership first. Get stronger in that first, and then you can bring someone onto the team that can help you execute.

SPEAKER_02 31:25

Got it, got it. I love what you suggested is that we don't we don't need to listen to all the voices that say, you need a VA, you need this, your first tire should be XYZ. Um, because it's going to be different for all of us. Yes. And so you're suggesting your suggestion of just get quiet, think about your business, how you want it to go, what your vision is for it, and what truly is on your plate that doesn't have to be on your plate. Um, what is what are the things that only Michelle can do? What are the things that only Tracy can do? Like this interview right here. I am the only one who can do this, and you're the only one who could be the guest. Exactly. Right. And then you know, but what when it comes to writing an email, if I've got somebody on my team that knows my voice, that's that's not necessarily something that Tracy has to do. Exactly. Yeah, love that. So when it comes to the clients that you've worked with, I would love it if you could think of a moment where you had a client and you literally saw the light bulb go on and they went, Oh my gosh, I'm the bottleneck. And then what shifted for them after that and what evolved for them after that?

SPEAKER_00 32:39

Yeah, sometimes, okay. I have I have this client, and sometimes, especially when you meet a new, a new leader, right? They they haven't really called themselves a CEO yet, but they are a glorified expert in their business. I'm the only one that can do this. I am the only one. My clients would never listen to someone else, right? And when they realize that their client actually will listen to someone else, and they're like, What? I have been spending all of my time trying to make this client happy and me show up when I didn't have to. What? What do you mean, Michelle? Like how? Yeah, yeah. So I especially when it comes to one-on-one client work, because that's what I did, right? Right. Um, I had to train my clients for that. And when I train new CEOs for that, now I'm like, it's a like you just have someone else in the room when you're talking to your client. Hey, this is my new team member. They're just gonna be on the back end listening. And eventually you can actually transfer it to the new team member over time.

SPEAKER_02 34:12

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 34:13

When they realize how easy that is, they're like, oh my God, do you know how much time that frees up? Yeah, yeah, for sure. To go get more business. Yes, to go get more business, right? And now it's the two of you delivering. Yeah, you have just doubled your capacity, right?

SPEAKER_02 34:35

Right.

SPEAKER_00 34:36

And you still have white space. So when I teach clients how to do it this way, they're like, I can't believe that worked. I can't believe that worked. I'm like, yeah. And I always I always go back to um uh KPMG, which is an accounting firm, right? Who knows who KPMG is? I don't know who KPMG is, but they talk to accountants, the clients talk to other accountants all day long. Yeah, all day long. They don't need KPMG. Where are they? Who are they? I know them three dudes at, right? I know, but yet they trust the other accountants who work for KPMG. Like, yeah, mind blowing. Right. No, and that's yeah, and as a small business owner, it can be the same for you too.

SPEAKER_02 35:33

It can. Yeah. When you when you introduce it the right way, you know, um, I have a wonderful assistant and I've started um asking her to step in for customer service type things, you know, if somebody can't log in or they can't find their password or they can't find remember their username or you know, they're just stuck in something that's easy for her to fix. And it has freed up more space for me. And and it's just that, and here's the thing, it's just that one email that I could have spent the time to handle and help. Um, but just by passing it off, I don't know, it's it's it's hard to put into words, but it's like, okay, that's gone. I can get back to what I need to be doing.

SPEAKER_00 36:18

It is. And you know, the other thing, Tracy, that when you learn how to do this, uh if something ever happened in your life where you needed to step away. Yeah, when it's just you and everything relies on you, you can't step away. No.

SPEAKER_02 36:41

I mean, you can, but you're not gonna have a business standard.

SPEAKER_00 36:44

Exactly. Exactly.

SPEAKER_02 36:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 36:47

So you are like putting in an insurance policy when you can expand beyond yourself.

SPEAKER_02 36:54

Yeah. Yeah. And I've had that happen to me when my dad passed away. There was a good, a good two weeks, uh uh prior, pretty much three weeks, that I just was good for nothing. I mean, I um even though he had lived a long life and he we he was not suffering anymore and all those good things, there was so much to help my mom with. And I just did not have the energy or the I just the business was the last thing on my mind, but thank goodness I had a great assistant that could step in and at least get the social media content out there. And then I could return a few emails. And, you know, thankfully I have wonderful people in my free Facebook group. And I basically posted and said, y'all take care of each other. I'll be back in a couple of weeks. And everybody stepped up and took care of, you know, the community. But yeah, I I you just never know when stuff like that's gonna happen. Um, you know, I you and I both know Nikita Williams, who who teaches business owners how to navigate with chronic illness. Um, so it could be a chronic illness diagnosis, it could be you have a new baby and you want to take some time off baby. It could be like my husband and I, we have a trip planned and I want to go to Scotland and spend 10 days and not think about the business. But yeah, so I I get what you're saying. We just never know when life is gonna show up.

SPEAKER_00 38:13

Yeah. And we need to have you never know. You never know. So put the systems in place when things are going well. Yes. Instead of when things when when it hits the fan and it's do or die. Like, do I take care of myself or my family? Yeah. Or or do I white knuckle it with the business? Yeah. Yeah. You know, do it before you need to, and then you can have both.

SPEAKER_01 38:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 38:46

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 38:47

Okay. A couple of questions just for fun. If you could tell your younger self one thing about business, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 38:57

Stop being afraid. I kid you not. Really, in my journal for years, uh-huh, I would write down, I have no idea what I'm doing. I have no idea what I'm doing.

SPEAKER_02 39:14

But I never quit. That is so honest, and I love it. And I hope the listeners were like, oh my gosh, she's me. She understands me.

SPEAKER_00 39:23

I am you. I really am you because I have been there at all stages.

SPEAKER_02 39:27

Yeah. Oh my gosh. That reminds me of bringing our babies home. And I was just like, did this not come with an owner's manual? Uh, you know, and raising those children, you never wanted to tell them you didn't know what the heck you were doing. I'm like, no, behind closed doors, my husband and I'd be like, I don't know what we're doing to you. And he's like, I don't have a clue. And I'm like, okay, well, let's put on a brave face and go out there and act like we do.

SPEAKER_01 39:53

Right.

SPEAKER_02 39:55

Oh my gosh. But that's an honest answer. And I, and I appreciate that honesty so much because um one of the, you know this about me, one of the things that gets my goat in the online space is the highlight reels. And everybody acting like they've got their stuff together and everything they touch turns to gold. And I had a hundred thousand dollar launch and behind the scenes, they're probably not feeling that, you know, but they're not talking about it. Exactly. And so that's why I love these honest conversations, is because if we can normalize the fact that we're all afraid on some level, as many years as as I've had in this business, I still have like this week. I'm a little worried. I looked at my numbers from Q1 and I'm like, a little lower than Q1 last year. You know, and then the mind starts to go, oh, is this where it ends? Do I have to get the resume out? You know what I mean? All the silly stuff we say to ourselves.

SPEAKER_00 40:53

Tracy, you're right. That's a silly thing to say to yourself because you're amazing and you will never quit doing this. Like, no.

SPEAKER_02 41:01

I know. I can't. I can't. But but my point is, I and I want the listeners to hear this. Michelle has been an entrepreneur for many years, longer than I have. And I and y'all know how long I've been doing this. And for both of us to say at any given day, we feel like there are some things we still need to figure out. I think that's a beautiful thing to share. All right. Let me ask you this fun question. Okay. If you had to rebuild your business from scratch tomorrow, what is the very first thing you would do?

SPEAKER_00 41:37

Oh, Tracy. I would really think about what I wanted to do, not what my not what your husband told you to do. Exactly. That's exactly it. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 41:54

Oh goodness.

SPEAKER_00 41:56

But you have a successful business, so we have to be happy about that. Yeah. I do. But I have a love-hate relationship with an accounting firm. I really do. Yeah, I understand. But I have learned so much from the clients I have served over the years, the groups I have been a part of. And it has just developed me into the that's why I talk about the CEO stuff because nobody talked to me about that. I didn't know about that. Even though I I have three degrees, like nobody told me about that. Yeah. And I want everybody else to know it's normal to not know what you're doing in a business. It's normal. And it's normal to be scared.

SPEAKER_02 42:44

It's normal. It is. We just have to get in communities of support and know, and that's where we're going to realize we're not alone. And then, you know, get some confidence and make the next right decision. And then we'll make make another right decision and we'll make another right decision. And you know, like my grandfather always said, just take it one day at a time, sis. Just one day at a time. And so I try to remind myself of that as well. Michelle, I have loved having you here, and I know the listeners have too. You brought something fun for them. And I have the link in the show notes. It looks like it's a really cool assessment. Do you want to tell everybody about it?

SPEAKER_00 43:22

Yeah, this is um basically a bottleneck assessment so that you can become more aware of your own self, whether or not you're the bottleneck, right? Right. You probably already know, but to what degree am I the bottleneck? So it's very simple. Um, I didn't mention before, but I I was in the Run Like Clockwork program, and this comes from them.

SPEAKER_01 43:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 43:49

Um, and they helped me not be the bottleneck of my business. So I'm just passing it forward. Right. And you teach the clockwork, uh I do. I am a certified coach with the clockwork program. So I do teach the clockwork frameworks because it was a game changer for me.

SPEAKER_02 44:10

Yeah. A game changer. That's amazing. And I know a couple of our alums in the mastermind are working with you to do the same thing. So you guys listening, if you feel like, oh, I may be the problem, then I want you to connect with Michelle and see if hiring her to help you is the solution. And in fact, so that begs the next question. Michelle, where can everybody find you to connect with you? Where's the best place? Yeah, the best place is on LinkedIn, actually.

SPEAKER_00 44:38

Um, connect with me on LinkedIn. I do have an Instagram, but you know how that is. I do too. I am Michelle Mitchell. Uh-huh. So you can follow me over there. I very rarely post, but I I'll I'll reach your like I'll reach your messages. So yeah, either place is where you can find me hanging out.

SPEAKER_02 45:00

I love it. So LinkedIn first, Instagram, maybe. That's how I feel about it too. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 45:05

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 45:07

All right, my friends. Here's what I want you to do now. Speaking of getting into a community where you can know that you are not alone in this roller coaster, I want you to come join my free Facebook group. It's called Be a Confident Entrepreneur. Get visible, grow your email list and your income. The link is in the show notes. We have over 4,000 online entrepreneurs. So you're definitely not going to be alone. And we offer some really cool monthly events like free networking sessions the first Friday of every month and live QA strategy sessions with me on a specific topic. And you're actually encouraged to post and ask for help or give feedback to someone else that's stuck in the area of your expertise. So I want you to come join us. And you know, I say this every single week. Don't try to do this thing by yourself because being an entrepreneur is freaking hard. It's scary, just like Michelle and I were talking about. Some days everybody wants to buy what you're selling, and other days you're wondering, does anybody even know my name? And if you feel like you're alone in that, you're not. So get into a community of support, a community where everybody has your back, and you will know that you actually are fully equipped to make your business successful. I want you to have a great balance of the week and weekend. And remember, when one of us rises, we all rise. So that is why we've got to keep sharing each other on. Michelle, I have loved this. Is there anything you would like to share before we go?

SPEAKER_00 46:28

Uh thanks for having me. And I just want to say, you know, it can feel lonely as an entrepreneur. So get involved in a group, a community that can help you along your journey. So yeah.

SPEAKER_02 46:43

Love that. All right, my friends, we will see you next week. Hey, thanks for tuning in to create your online business success. I hope you found today's episode packed with actionable tips and inspiration. And listen, if you want to dive even deeper with me and connect with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that totally get you and understand what you're building, then join us in my free Facebook group. You get to promote your offers anytime, network with other entrepreneurs just like you, and possibly find some lucrative collaborations. Just search for Be a Confident Entrepreneur, get visible, grow your email list and your income over in Facebook. Or, if it's easier, just click the link in the show notes. We cannot wait to welcome you in. Let's stay connected so we can create your online business success together.