Ep. 50 The Stern Truth Turns 50: The Team Behind the Mic

It’s the 50th episode of the Stern Truth! I almost can’t believe it. The guests I have are a bit different than my usual guests.

For this special 50th episode, we have Jordan Eaton, CEO and founder of BOSS Assistants (who was also on episode 13,) and Lindsey Molyneaux, BOSS’ social media manager and podcast manager. They have helped me make the podcast what it is.

I had a podcast about 10 years ago but barely made it past episode 25. The BOSS Assistants team and I work together so well, and this podcast is living proof that a good team can help you get to where you want to go in your business.

What really kicked my butt into gear to create this podcast was the accountability this team brought with them. We work well together, and we all help each other reach our goals. Having people like that in your business is truly priceless.

We also get into the benefits of hiring out vs. hiring in-house. Either way, it’s an investment, a cost of both money and time. But, on the other side of the coin, there's a huge cost in NOT getting the proper guidance or getting an expert to help you, and that's missing out on opportunities. 

Jordan and Lindsey even give a few golden nuggets to the table. The little tasks add up. The first impressions make a difference. The most important one of the episode—it’s all about building a team. It’s the best money you will ever spend.

Focus on what you do best, and let someone else, like BOSS Assistants, do the rest.

Get in touch with Jordan here:

LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/jordan-eaton/

Website: bossassistants.com

Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/

Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup

Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session

I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

Get in touch in the comments or head to...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern
Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: All right. Welcome back everyone and my friends. This is a huge episode for me. This is episode number 50. Yes, you heard it. We have made it to number 50, which for me is a huge win, huge milestone. Because I had a podcast about 10 or 11 years ago, and I think I got to about episode 20 or 25 before I lost steam.

[00:00:21] And part of the reason I'm not losing steam and not going to, is I'm not doing it by myself. So today, I'm going to introduce you to my amazing team behind the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered Podcast. You're going to get to meet them and how they've helped me start and maintain this podcast and also some tools and tips, and we have a great conversation on how you can get out of.

 [00:00:45] And remove some of the to-dos from your list so that you can focus on what you do best. So welcome, enjoy meeting my amazing team. Grab a pad of paper and pen as always, and let's go.

[00:01:03] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do it all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows. 

[00:01:22] I've been there, and I get it. This podcast is here to change that. Every week I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar coat it. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:45] This is the Stern Truth. 

[00:01:50] Alright everyone, and welcome back to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered and my friends. Today is episode number 50. We are celebrating number 50, and I have brought in my team because I wouldn't be here without the BOSS Assistants team, Jordan and Lindsey.

[00:02:09] Thank you so much for everything you've done for me. Welcome. 

[00:02:11] Jordan Eaton: Thanks for having us. 

[00:02:13] Lindsey Molyneaux: Yeah, thanks for having us, Marshall. 

[00:02:15] Marshall Stern: It has been thoroughly my pleasure. And for those of you listening and you've listened to some of the other episodes, again, this is episode number 50, which blows my mind because you know Jordan, you know, and Lindsey as well, like I talked about, restarting my podcast for the longest time.

[00:02:31] I had a podcast like 10 or 12 years ago or something like that. And I think I probably ended up at around 20, 25 episodes before I lost steam and stopped. Because I was doing it all myself. And for the past three years, I really wanted to get this thing going again. And it wasn't until probably sometime early February, Jordan, we had a conversation and I found out that this was one of the services that your, you and your company offered, was podcast management.

[00:02:58] And I, that was it. Like I – you had me at hello, basically. And it's been really so easy to work with the two of you and your team. I just want to thank you for that. This is a group team celebration today, and there's going to be 50 more and another 50 more, and another 50 more. We're going to launch season two very shortly.

[00:03:23] I'm excited to even talk about season two. But really I just wanted to bring you both on, and there's a purpose behind this other than thanking you and a huge shout  to obviously two of you and to BOSS Assistants. but there's a bigger really, lesson and learning that is behind all of that. And that is all about building a team and bringing people in your team to help you achieve the vision, to realize the vision, because most of us as business owners get stuck.

[00:03:56] And I know you both see that with clients that you, clients, you onboard. We get stuck. We're, as business owners, entrepreneurs, we're so busy being busy. We try to do everything ourselves and not very well, most of it, not very well. And then we find out we could bring people. Like yourselves on our team, but on payroll.

[00:04:16] Because that's a whole other story and there's a benefit to doing it your way and outsourcing and contracting and having experts like yourselves to do it so that we can focus on what we do well. So that's my thank you. But I also want to hear from your end, like your side, what you see on, with business owners on their struggles and how your services - I want to know what,  more about your services for people, for our listeners, first.

[00:04:41] So Jordan, maybe just explain some of you the services, all the services you offer. 

[00:04:45] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. What you're talking about, seeing business owners get in their own way, get in their heads and just procrastinate about getting things off their plate. And I'm actually guilty of it as well. It took me a while for me to realize that, hey, I can just pass this off.

[00:05:02] I was spending some of my time just doing these little tasks here and there. Ever since I've started building my team and offloading some of the stuff like my life has been so much less stressful, but also, able to focus on moving the business forward. So in terms of what we do, we work with small business owners across North America, and we're helping them obviously with their podcast management and marketing.

[00:05:30] We also do some social media management, brand building. We are basically visibility assistants, we like to call ourselves, so helping people get their names out there and helping them to grow their business. we also have an executive assistant portion so we can help with all the backend, all the tech stuff. 

[00:05:50] All the stuff that you say I don't know what to do, how to do,  it's taking me forever to do bookkeeping, all that kind of stuff. So we're – I like to refer to us as the all-in-one solution to just. You know, not lose your mind. 

[00:06:07] Marshall Stern: And, and it's kind of interesting because, so I brought you on my team, your company, on my team, so I could sort of, I could realize my vision of the podcast.

[00:06:16] I could have probably figured it out. I did figure it out 10, 11, 12 years ago. I could have figured it out again. But it took a lot of time and effort and I knew, I knew, I had the realization that I would get my – I was getting in my own way. I wanted to relaunch it for three years. I have no shortage of topics to talk about.

[00:06:36] I could talk forever, as many of you know already. I got so – creating the content wasn't an issue. Pressing record doing this is not an issue. It was the other stuff. It was having a, someone on the other end waiting. So Lindsey will message me if I'm behind the eight ball. Is episode this ready? Right. So there's accountability to it.

[00:07:00] I know that it launches every Tuesday, but I know someone is on the other end waiting for it, to edit it, to clean it up, to do their thing. So I have to get it to you by a certain time plus, Throughout – right? Sorry, continue. 

[00:07:13] Lindsey Molyneaux: Oh, sorry. I was going to say, yeah, I – that accountability portion, I feel like that's a lot of what we do for our clients, in addition to the actual social media or the administrative, it's being accountable for them. 

[00:07:30] And like a lot of entrepreneurs and small business owners that we work with, it's just them. So they don't have anyone except them to keep them accountable. When we come in, we come in and we help them and, and we are that – that like mini coach and that mini guide and, as well we help them with their visibility too.

[00:07:51] So yeah, I – we're kind of mini experts in that accountability portion. 

[00:07:56] Marshall Stern: No, a hundred for sure. And for Jordan, I mean, so it's kind of like a trickle down effect. So I came to BOSS Assistants, I came to Jordan, and Jordan can't do it all herself. So she's built this amazing team and Lindsey's a huge part of this amazing team.

[00:08:12] And I've seen, Lindsey, I've seen just your growth in the past several months, and you step up, step, I guess as I say, step up your game and the more you improve and the more you get better, the better BOSS Assistants, the better services, the better the clients are for it. The more Jordan can focus on growing the business.

[00:08:35] Lindsey Molyneaux: Yep, definitely. I'm sorry. Yeah.  That's, that's definitely it. We, we all like work together really well and it's nice to see, especially with this podcast and how it's grown, that trickle down effect that, like, it comes from you, it starts at you and then I enter, and then Jordan does some, and it all just ends up being this cool podcast that you get to release.

[00:09:04] Marshall Stern: Even though my kids say I still, I need to get a better camera, but you know, then they want me to have this whole podcast, fancy podcast studio. And, you know, and I said, but this is Business Unfiltered. This is an unfiltered podcast. So, so what do you see for – look, most of our listeners, I think I'm going to assume our business owners and entrepreneurs, or want to be business owners and entrepreneurs.

[00:09:26] I don't know who they are. I don't, I know what cities and what countries they're at, but I don't know who they specifically are unless they comment. What would you say would, be if someone, at what point do you think someone should reach out to a company like yours to get some assistance? 

[00:09:44] Jordan Eaton: I think, coming to us, usually, they're overwhelmed with all the work that's happening. They're getting stressed out, they're losing sleep, but also if they're missing out on work, they've got so much going on, but they have to turn people down. And so how are you going to scale and grow your business if you're turning down work?

[00:10:04] So that means you're either spending too much time on little things or you're not optimizing for your business. And yeah, it's just,  if you want to move forward, like how is that supposed to happen if you're not getting ready for it right now?

[00:10:17] Marshall Stern: I want to talk about sort of the, the elephant in the room. Okay.

[00:10:22] Not necessarily in this conversation, because we haven't talked about it or gone there, but in the conversations that you might have with potential prospects, I get it. You know, same thing with potential coaching clients. The cost, the investment, right. We're going in-house versus coming to someone like yourself, could you speak more on the, the benefits of that?

[00:10:45] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, I mean, there's quite a few benefits of not having someone on your payroll. First of all, I was just having a conversation with our bookkeeper about all these extra, like – we're paying CPP, we're paying EI. I think it was like, you know, tens of grant – like 20 or $30,000 worth of like extra fees that, it just comes with payroll, right?

[00:11:07] But I think when it comes down to the accountability that we were talking about, that's really priceless. Or you can't put a price on someone helping you to stick by your goals. Like if you're not reaching your goals, what are you doing anyway? Like, what is the point of this whole thing if you're, if you're not sitting down and being like, I want to reach this.

[00:11:28] And a lot of people, I wouldn't say that they're not able to, but it's just having that, that one person that's like, okay, here I'm rooting for you. This is what we need to do. Like, I even have my assistant in the mornings, like she'll check my emails and she'll be like, okay, you have this meeting, this person responded to you.

[00:11:47] This person needs this. And I have this like little mini to do list where it's like, okay, these are the things that need to be done that are important. And it really just helps me to prioritize things, and just not get lost in the day-to-day of like – it's so easy for us to get distracted.

[00:12:06] And especially with all the tech going on, all this kind of stuff, especially with social media. I don't think business owners should be managing their social media, because I've worked with so many where they're like, okay, I have to post. They pick up their phone, they start scrolling. It's like three hours later, they're like, oh no, what happened?

[00:12:22] They didn't do what they needed to do because they got distracted. So it, yeah, it's hilarious. There's this one gentleman I worked with and he's just like, I can't even go on social media. I had to delete them from my phone because every time I opened it I'd be like, oh, it's this. And then just scrolling for hours.

[00:12:39] Marshall Stern: Yeah. So talk more about like, so for social media, what is. What type of companies would come to you for guidance and what would you specifically do for them? Because it, I mean, a lot of people just social media, they, they're thinking Instagram, but like, just overall or Facebook. But what would you, what is the, the services that the BA team does and or offers, I should say?

[00:13:05] And I guess going back to the other question about the cost, that elephant in the room conversation, I'm going to say it the other way, like what is it costing them? Not to do it properly, right? Because a lot of us do post whenever we feel like it or we try to have a plan or posting the wrong thing.

[00:13:26] Like when you come to an expert like yourselves. There's an investment. I always say, like, for same thing with coaching. There's an investment part of it, but a lot of people see it as an expense, as a cost, but there's a cost to not getting the proper guidance, so why should someone stop doing it themselves and get some help with it?

[00:13:44] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, I think, so Lindsey is our social media expert, so maybe she could explain a little bit about our process. Because I know we do ours a little bit differently than some companies. So maybe she could explain that, but yeah, she's the one that's working day-to-day with all of our business owners.

[00:14:00] Lindsey Molyneaux: Yeah. Well, our process, we first, they sign the contract with Jordan. It’s – it feels a little bit like we need to prove our worth as soon as they come on. And I feel like we do, we do that really well. We do really intensive research, really intensive research into them as a company, going over their website.

[00:14:30] Any like lead magnets they have, going over their previous socials. Kind of getting a look at where they are and then seeing if they have, like, any specific goals in their socials that they want to reach. Do they want to get more impressions, more engagements? Is their profile actually optimized to get those, those things that they want?

[00:14:56] And optimization, that's something we do. We can - we'll look into, like, what the About Me page says. If they're actually even reaching out to other people, that's a big piece as well. So it's, it is time investment for them, not just the price. It's the time investment of the communication between me and that other person.

[00:15:20] I – I can write a bunch of social media posts for anybody, that's fine. But if I don't really know the person and I don't know their business and what they're about, what their goals are and what they bring to their clients and customers, then I have a lot harder time making a, you know, a schedule or a post.

[00:15:40] Or just really understanding that person. The best ones that I work with are the ones that, like, meet with me regularly. We have – we talk over Slack or over, like, have a meeting once a month. Yeah, the – I find I just understand them more when I communicate more with them. 

[00:15:59] Marshall Stern: And I imagine, so I mean, for a company thinking of hiring somewhat in-house, like on payroll versus a specialist like yourselves.

[00:16:10] Go back to the accountability piece because I noticed for me, with how you, both how your company manages the podcast. Although it's my podcast and I've hired you to manage it, accountability we talked about, it's still on me to get the episodes to you at a certain time.

[00:16:27] Whereas if you were an employee of mine, the accountability is always the reverse, right? The employee has to be accountable to their boss. Okay? So there's a benefit in that, in that whole accountability aspect, going outhouse – outhouse – ha, versus in-house. So, I just want people to really understand that it doesn't have to cost a lot.

[00:16:53] No, but it can cost a lot for yourself if you don't get the right help, if that makes sense. 

[00:16:59] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. And when people are thinking about working with a business, the first thing they do is usually jump online and they Google that company and they see what comes up. So if you have no social media, you haven't posted in years, everything's outdated, what are they going to think?

[00:17:15] Especially websites too. They look at it and it's, you know, it was made back in 2000 and, you know, they're like, oh, so they don't even have a budget to like, make themselves look professional. That's weird. Should I do business with them? So, I mean, that's every, like, all the generations, like from millennials down, we're all, it's been proven actually that, that we are more prone to work with a company that has good online reviews, has a good online presence than one that doesn't.

[00:17:51] It's just we were born in the technical age, and that's just the way that the, that we're going. So yeah, if you're, if you're pretty much invisible and you're not online and you don't have a good presence and something to present to people that like, yeah, we know what we're talking about, yeah, you should do business with us.

[00:18:10] Look at all these happy customers. Like if you don't have a Google Business page and you don't have any reviews, it's like, who are you? I don’t know. It's just a weird, weird thing for me to think about. 

[00:18:24] Lindsey Molyneaux: It's the, it's –  you're, yeah, you're so right, Jordan. It's, it's that first impression that I think a lot of business owners don't really think about, and that's what's really costing them their, their first impression that in the back of their mind, they think they can be easily found and they can, but it's, it's what like a potential customer or client sees when they first look at you, look at your web presence. Yeah. 

[00:18:51] Marshall Stern: And I think the, the biggest aspect of bringing, it's all about bringing people on your team, whether it's an employee or outside firm like yourselves, right? It's all about building the team. Like Jordan couldn't get to where she's got, Jordan couldn't get to where she has gotten to without you, Lindsey and Monica, and the rest of the team, right? 

[00:19:16] So it's all allowing the business owner – and we talk about this a lot in the Stern Truth, about focusing on the activities that they are supposed to focus on that will move the needle for their business, that is in their skillset, that they're, that energizes them, that they're good at, and outsource or delegate empower, whatever you want to call it to other people.

[00:19:42] Because we can't do it all ourselves when you, now, when we start a business, you got to sort of learn the ropes and you've got to do this, do that. I talked about in one of the episodes or a couple of episodes, I did my own bookkeeping for the first year until my account walked in at the year end and fired me from doing the, from being the bookkeeper because what I had done was a bit of a mess because I wasn't a bookkeeper.

[00:20:05] So, you know, I mean, I don't know how many thousands of dollars I spent over 29 years on bookkeeping services, but it was the best money spent because I didn't have to now spend my weekends butchering my own books. I had someone who knew what they were doing for the most part. There was one mistake at one point that's – that was in another, that was in another episode.

[00:20:27] But my – 

[00:20:28] Lindsey Molyneaux: You knew what you, you knew what you were doing, Marshall, but did you want to be doing that? 

[00:20:33] Marshall Stern: Interesting. So here's the thing, if you're new in business, you might be thinking, I've got this. It's fun. I loved it the first few months, the bookkeeping, because it was my baby. So I'd go in on the, I didn't have kids at the time.

[00:20:45] I'd go in on the weekend and I'd spend a few hours in my shop and I would do the books myself. And this was exciting. And this was in the era, this was, Windows wasn't even like, it was just starting Microsoft Windows. This was DOS. This was a DOS based 

[00:20:59] What’s now, what's now called Sage Software was Simply Accounting.

[00:21:02] And I remember I had a little sticky note on my computer saying, don't left, don't left arrow unless you're a hundred percent sure. Because it was permanent. You could, there was no, there was no control undo. 

[00:21:14] Jordan Eaton: Oh gosh. We've come such a long way with technology. 

[00:21:17] Marshall Stern: Oh my gosh, we have, we have. I remember I had a, it was a Pentium – it was a 286, had 286 megabytes.

[00:21:24] That was a big machine anyways. but I loved it. And then after a few months it started to get monotonous, and then it got, became – it was a springtime in Vancouver and my friends were golfing and they were doing this and it's like, ah, I really don't want to do this. I'm already here Monday to Friday. I don't want to come in on the weekend and do this.

[00:21:43] And mistakes start to happen. I start to get drained. I start to fall out of love with my business. Because I was now doing activities that, really, I didn't want to do. And the mistakes started happening and that's when my accountant, thank God, fired me as a bookkeeper. I wouldn't have known back then. I should hire a bookkeeper if he didn't say that.

[00:22:04] And so, so that's what I do with my clients now is just bring the experts on. It might be, it's an investment, it's a leap of faith, but what is it going to cost you if you don't do it? It's going to cost you more if you don't do it. 

[00:22:15] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:22:15] Marshall Stern: Because you'll just stay, you'll stay stagnant with your business. 

[00:22:19] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. And while you're on the topic of feeling drained, yeah, the same happened to me. Like I was working when I first started my business, working with the client, still doing all the client work. I was, I had a, a few clients. I was just too scared to let my team handle it, and it just drained me to the point where I was, you know, almost.

[00:22:41] To the point where I was like, ugh, I don't even like my business anymore. Like I'd wake up and I'd be like, Ugh. But at the start I used to wake up and be so happy and excited and I was like, oh. And I'm finally back to that now. after getting those draining things away because it's not that, it's not having that mental load, that mental drain on me, and I can actually focus.

[00:23:02] And I've actually had so many more ideas, like they just started coming to me and I'm so much more creative. I'm – I post on my own social media just because I enjoy writing, but I have ideas about new products, new services, new things that we could do, new angles, new, all these kind of stuff. And that only happened because I wasn't so bogged down with like, oh my gosh.

[00:23:23] I’ve got to send this, I got to do this and it, all these little, little things that just people don't understand that it just adds up and it really takes away from the big picture and being able to envision like, you know, how you want your business to, to look like. 

[00:23:40] Marshall Stern: No, a hundred percent. So I mean, we're like business owners.

[00:23:44] We're like the hard drive of a computer or our phones. Right, and the more we get, we're bombarded with so much information, so many to-dos, it's this and that. And everyone's coming at us, not just business owners, employees as well, like, but we just have so much coming at us and when it gets, our hard drive gets full.

[00:24:04] There's no room for anything. There's no space. There's no space for creativity, there's no space for ideas, there's no space for thinking. So we need to get some of these things, these activities off of our plate, even the team, right? So. The Lindsey, the Monica, you know, our team, the team behind the team should be focusing on things that they do really, really well.

[00:24:26] And as your business, as the BA team grows, everyone grows, right? And we need to, we all need to do whatever we can to remove distractions because those are a killer. And focus on what we do best. And let other people, oh, I like that. Focus on, I think it's been used before. Focus on what, what we, it's a VA thing, right?

[00:24:48] Focus on what you do best and let us do the rest. But it's true. It's true. So that's very true. Before we go, what would you, both of you, this is a question for both of you. What's your Stern Truths about business, business owners, outsourcing, delegating? Just gimme something. That's a very open question. I'm letting you… 

[00:25:12] Jordan Eaton: Oh, wow. We could say really anything at this point. 

[00:25:14] Lindsey Molyneaux: Oh, yeah. 

[00:25:15] Marshall Stern: But think of it at the point of value for our listeners. What should they – they own their own business. They're probably a little bit, they're learning, they're growth oriented. They want to know, what's the next step? What should I do? 

[00:25:30] Lindsey Molyneaux: I'll, I'll give a Stern Truth. It’s – you're, you're doing too much.

[00:25:38] You are doing too much. you might know how to do it all. And that's not the point. The point is you're not focusing on your, your zone of genius. You're not really – like, you always say, Marshall, you're not, you're working on your business. You're working in your business. And that, I think that would be my Stern Truth, I would say. 

[00:26:02] Marshall Stern: So actually you listen to some of my episodes. That's awesome. Thank you.  

[00:26:04] Lindsey Molyneaux: Of course I do! 

[00:26:06] Marshall Stern: No, that I love that. I love that. Thank you. Lindsey. Pressure's on, Jordan. 

[00:26:10] Jordan Eaton: I think a Stern Truth, when it all boils down to his like purpose, like we're just an empty shell without purpose. And I feel like if we're not doing things that light us up, then it's like, what's the whole point?

[00:26:27] And I even when I interview my employees to come on the team, I ask them, what do you enjoy doing? Like what, you know, not like even, outside of work, but like inside of work. Like what is your zone of genius? Like, I know they're not the business owner, but I don't want them doing things that are bogging them down too.

[00:26:47] I don't want them coming to work and being like, oh, I hate this. So I'm always checking in with them, like, you know, how do you feel about this? How's this going? Because like if they're bogged down and they're unhappy, then that's going to show to our clients. And I just am trying to build my business in a way of like, I want everybody to be excited about our values and our mission and where we're going and the type of clients that we bring on.

[00:27:17] We're somewhat selective of who we work with, because if it's going to cause us to feel drained – we've actually had to fire some clients in the past. If we just, if they're not a fit, we just can't. I can't have my assistants feeling, like, confused, not sure. Like especially when it comes to communication.

[00:27:40] If we have business owners that, I, we know, we do know that it's hard to communicate. You have so much going on, you're overwhelmed. But if you aren't able to give us time to actually, you know, explain things or give us the feedback, then it just comes to a point, like it's, it's not worth it, right?

[00:27:59] It's just, you're wasting your money if you're not going to put the effort in. So yeah, I think the Stern Truth is yeah, make, make sure that you're doing what lights you up, and then also put in the effort. So if you do decide to delegate, make sure that you're setting aside and you're actually saying to yourself, okay, I'm going to give this the best effort.

[00:28:20] I've had people come to me in the past, oh, I had a VA before and it didn't work. Then I have to dig deeper into that. Okay. Why, why did it not work? Because sometimes it is the assistant or it's the company that you're working with. maybe they just, it wasn't a fit for you. But sometimes it's on the business owner side, unfortunately.

[00:28:38] Like, I know they don't want to hear that, but, sometimes they're not very clear with expectations, deadlines, there's miscommunication. They're not answering. They're MIA for weeks at a time. It's just, it's not going to be a good time for anybody, and it's just going to be a waste of money. So make sure that if you decide to move forward with an assistant company or bring someone on your team, make sure that you have the capacity and, and the willingness to work with them.

[00:29:05] Marshall Stern: I love that. And, and I, I agree. Like, obviously I agree 150%. That's where the accountability comes in. The accountability comes in on the client side because the client has to – it's not, and it doesn't have to be – I just want to put this out there for other people. Our listeners, if anyone's thinking about reaching out to Jordan and having a conversation, which will put your information of course, in the show notes, because I highly recommend you guys, 

[00:29:31] Or just bring someone on their team. You have to block the time. You have to spend the time. It is not so overwhelming and not so scary. I want to first say that. Okay. Lindsey makes it easy for me. Like Jordan, you have a system in place. It's so easy, and I enjoy it. Like, I enjoy working with her, Jordan.

[00:29:53] We work together all the time, so it, it's easy. You guys do make it easy, but especially at the beginning and depending on what the services are, especially with social media. Probably actually with the EA stuff too, business owners companies need to realize you – it's just like bringing someone on your team, like an employee.

[00:30:11] You do have to put the work in upfront, but it will pay off. But you do have to be responsive as well. There is responsibility and accountability on your end, so not every relationship works out. But if I know for you guys, like if the client's doing their job and they're being responsive to you, then you can do your best work.

[00:30:30] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:30:31] Marshall Stern: If they're not getting you the information in time, it's hard for you to do what you're supposed to do. 

[00:30:36] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, I had a client once say to me, he's like, I really, I just have to apologize. And I was like, oh, why is that? He said, I was thinking about cancelling with you guys. But then I, then I thought to myself, oh, they can't read minds, so why am I getting upset?

[00:30:52] And then he realized that it was on his side, that he wasn't actually clear about what he actually wanted. And we were having a little bit of, you know, difficulties like trying to figure it out, but yeah, like we don't read minds and he ended up working with us for like a year and a half after that.

[00:31:09] So, and he was just super, super excited about it. But, yeah, it was kind of funny. It, it is sometimes rocky at the start, but that's why we ask them to give it a good three months basically, like you would with an employee, you give them a probation, right? So just, you know, give it the best effort possible, and I think you'll be happy with the results. 

[00:31:30] Marshall Stern: Yeah, no, I love that. And it's consistency, right? That's why give it the three months, give it time, whether it's any of your services, right? It's, it's a matter of you – it’s a, it's a relationship, it's a partnership. It's like dating. Give it the time to work.

[00:31:44] It's not going to be like day one, oh my God, there's the best thing. Everything's great. If you're looking for visibility, it takes time. If you bring on some, you know, experts like yourselves, you can speed up the process, but it still does take time. And some days, some weeks, especially with the algorithms, if it's like social media and just the posting and all that, like, you know, right now I'm seeing in Facebook groups, I still, we've talked about Jordan.

[00:32:07] I still see engagement is down in, in the couple of the Facebook groups I manage. Engagement is down and it's sort of up, it's a rollercoaster, but for years it was like it was up, but engagement is down. Ad costs are high, people are getting the results, but it does turn around because Facebook, Meta, wants to keep people on the page.

[00:32:33] So they'll do whatever they can do to keep people engaged on their platform. And people are not staying in it. They're not seeing the advertisers, they're not clicking and then they're not making the money. So they will, they will do whatever to engage the audience. So they'll change their algorithms, but it does take time and you have to give it a bit of a runway.

[00:32:49] Same thing with people who come to me for coaching. Sometimes they might get the result in day one, but sometimes it might take. A little bit of time, but it's the process, I would say trust the process. 

[00:33:00] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. And sometimes with our social media, we are able to get quick wins, like a, a booked call within the first month.

[00:33:08] Or, you know, usually their followers go up quite a bit, within the first month. Or their engagement either stays at the same or like goes higher. So yeah, we, like Lindsey mentioned it earlier in the episode, that we do try to show them from the start that, you know, this is going to be worth it, but yeah, it does to keep continuing the moment. Yeah, it takes time. 

[00:33:32] Marshall Stern: It does. Same thing with the podcast. We'll, we'll, we'll wrap it there. Like the podcast, like some days I'll have, you know, a whole bunch of listeners or list viewers, listeners, whatever. And other days it'll be like, quiet. It's crickets. But it's like, for me, it's like the stock market.

[00:33:48] It's a long game for me. Seriously. And honestly, like for me, if I can one person get something out of one episode and it moves them and it changes the direction of their life or their business, I've done my job. So the reason you know, I wanted to have the two of you on is to sell, first of all, obviously to celebrate the 50th episode.

[00:34:06] And I'm going to have you on another 50 and then another 50 after that. That's what is, but it's also to say thank you. And to not to – so this is episode 50, and not saying it to impress listeners, but I'm saying it to impress upon our listeners that if you have a vision, you deeply want something badly enough, bring people on your team who can help you achieve it.

[00:34:33] First of all, it’s so much more, so much more enjoyable in my situation. I could be sitting here in my office and I could be, like, editing and cleaning up, and then scheduling, and then writing the blog post and doing all that stuff myself and taking the time, but so much more enjoyable when I could shoot Jordan or shoot Lindsey a message and it's done.

[00:34:54] And then we, or we collaborate and we work on it together. It's teamwork. It's, it's just so much more enjoyable and allows me to just do what I really enjoy doing. So I thank the two of you for that. And here's to season two. 

[00:35:10] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. Awesome. So happy to be a part of it. 

[00:35:12] Lindsey Molyneaux: Yeah. Congrats on, congrats on 50.

[00:35:15] Marshall Stern: Thank you. And thank you for both of, both of you, for everything you do and being here and for everyone else. Wanna reach out, contact info in the, in the show notes and well, you can, you can say it as well. Jordan, what's the best way to reach out to you? 

[00:35:31] Jordan Eaton: Well, our brand new website's going to be going live pretty soon here, so bossassistants.com or find me on LinkedIn, my name, Jordan-Eaton. 

[00:35:42] Marshall Stern: Jordan-Eaton. Awesome. Thank you both. Stay on after this for a moment. And for the rest of you, you can go grab something to drink and get ready for next week's next episode of The Turn Truth Business and Filtered. Bye for now.

[00:35:58] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest in an upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:36:17] That's marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button so you never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.