ThinkBiz Podcast
ThinkBiz Podcast is your go-to show for real conversations about building and growing your business. Hosted by Garrett Hammonds of Hammonds Media and Nolan Rogers, we dive into the challenges, wins, and strategies that matter most to small and startup companies. Tune in for expert advice, inspiring stories, and actionable tips to take your business to the next level.
ThinkBiz Podcast
From Overwhelmed to Optimized: Systems & Strategy with Bridgette Gaffney of AnswerFlow Solutions
Are you an entrepreneur stuck working 70 hours a week, saying yes to everything, and constantly wondering where to find the time and effort? In our 10th episode, we interview Bridget Gaffney of AnswerFlow Solutions, your expert guide to navigating the complexities of business ownership without burning out or going back to Indeed. Bridget unpacks common pitfalls like the "shiny object syndrome" and the struggle with client retention, emphasizing the power of digital tools like email marketing for nurturing relationships at scale. Tune in to understand the importance of implementing robust systems and discover the flexible services AnswerFlow offers, including their "Flow and Grow Collective" and business audits, designed to help you scale and grow sustainably.
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Podcast is produced by Hammonds Media. For assistance with you digital marketing needs, visit https://www.hammondsmedia.com
What
SPEAKER_00:are you talking about? Everything, Garrett. Nolan. Nolan, Nolan, Nolan. Good morning, everyone. Hello, hello. We are at... Drumroll, please.
UNKNOWN:Drumroll, please.
SPEAKER_00:Our 10th episode of the Think Biz podcast. Bouncing baby 10. Can you believe we have actually hit double digits? I can't because this is fun. So of course we're going to do it after a thing that we already have to be at every week. That's fair enough. I mean, fun for one of us at least. I don't know. You're just busy. I have to be in the same room as you every single episode. I'm filthy. I'm absolutely disgusting as a person. But we have saved an incredible guest for our tenth episode of the podcast. The one. The only. Bridget. How are we today?
UNKNOWN:Woo woo.
SPEAKER_01:I'm doing well. We're doing well. Starting the week off great.
SPEAKER_00:Amazing. And I agree with that because Bridget had an incredible presentation that she gave here in person today. And it was just a whole masterclass on ways that you can improve. I don't even know the right word. Expedite. De-stressify. She read us the Riot Act is what she did. Yeah. My toes hurt. They've been stepped on. No, but it's just brilliant stuff. And so, Bridget, tell us a little bit about yourself and your business and what all you do.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. So hello, everyone. So I am Bridget and I own Answer Flow Solutions. We are currently in Edmond. I'm married, have a couple of kids. Nice. And what we do at Answer Flow Solutions, we are a business and resource agency, I like to say. And Kind of a lot of things, all things business, right? So when we go into business, no one tells us all the stress, late nights, early mornings, struggles, broke days, wealthy days, and how we can make it better to where we're not stopping and going back to Indeed every month or so because money is not coming in or we're not getting any clients. Just all the things that come along with business. So we kind of revert back to nine to five corporate world to kind of help us, you know, because we're not making any money or it's just stressful. And it's like, I'm just going to work for somebody else. Yeah. So we kind of help help with that.
SPEAKER_00:Oh, and that's process. That's amazing, because so much of the time. Entrepreneurs, we know some of the risks that we're taking on, but we don't know exactly what that will look like. And then we stumble across a few different surprises along the way. And then what do you do? Because usually what that looks like is... I know that I'm working 70 hours a week. Oh, I know that I'm just saying yes to everything and not no to enough things. Or I have these five tasks I've wanted to do, but goodness, where do I find the time and effort? And then all of a sudden you're stuck.
SPEAKER_01:Yes. And it's hard because, you know, a lot of times you do get stuck, but... to get that help sometimes it's like you only get the bare minimum of information or it's like oh yeah I can help you but you know it's going to be three grand for you to ask me these two questions and so it's just like as you're starting out I mean I haven't made no money yet how am I going to do that so that's one of the huge struggles for sure with that
SPEAKER_00:yeah That resonates with me because, I mean, in my world, on the marketing agency side, it's like... It hurts me sometimes because my business in particular, I want to be able to help small businesses, but I can't always. Sometimes businesses are at a stage where there's just not a way to be able to do everything. And the fact that we have solutions out there from somebody who has that three grand plus level of experience for just a short amount of your time. You're just masterful at what you do. But you offer it in a way where it's accessible and you can help people. So I think that's super admirable. Yeah. And that accessibility too, because we've talked a little bit and you have lots and lots of tools under your belt. But how did AnswerFlow Solutions kind of get started? Was it solving Bridget's problems or did somebody else come across your plate that you had all these tools already prepped for?
SPEAKER_01:A little of both, actually. So in my time of working my nine to five, one of the things that I definitely loved about it and a lot of my roles, I was able to promote quickly because I do like structure and I think everything should have a process when you're at work. And so I'm looking at companies that have high turnover rates. And it's usually because there's no process for anything. So everybody is doing things 10,000 different ways and then upper management is getting mad because it's not done this way or something got dropped or there's a lot of issues and things like that. And it's like, well, I mean... how are we supposed to do it? There's nowhere that says, you know, this is how it needs to be done. Everybody just kind of do their own way. So I definitely liked that part of everything. And then when I did start my first business, my boutique, it was like, yeah, I'm going to start this business. It's going to be great. I'm going to have time to do all kinds of things, go to the gym and spend time with my kid. And then it was like, oh, I need an account inventory. I need to order stuff. I need to message this person back. I packages, I need to go post, I need to, I was like, ooh, this is a lot. Trying to fit everything in and then enjoy life as well. So that was definitely a struggle and did cause me to go back and forth to Indeed and go back to work because I'm like, okay, I need to go make a little bit more money along with this to be able to order more inventory and do the things. And then the other part that I really liked was dealership, the BDC department, building those customer relationships and turning those nos into yeses and being the dealership that people choose to go to because most people hate going to dealerships because they hate the whole car buying process, talking to salespeople, all of the things. So being very successful into where people's like, I want to work with Bridget. And it's like, Bridget's not a salesperson. And it's like... But I really want to work with her. So I would go down there sometimes, talk to them, whatever. You're in good hands. I'll get you with somebody that's really great. So I don't know, just incorporating those two things. I was like, I like to do that. So I incorporated AnswerFlow Solutions. And that's kind of how it was started to be able to, for one, give business owners the opportunity to be able to focus on their business while I'll take care of some of the operations and different things like that. And then I also wanted to work with dealerships as well. to be able to make their BDC departments better.
SPEAKER_00:So tell us a little bit about that piece, BDC. Did I say the acronym correctly? Yes. Okay. So tell us about that because that's a unique specialization too. You work with any businesses, but you have this kind of specialization that you're mentioning with dealerships. Yes. What more can you tell us about that?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so it's their business development center. So in that aspect, so dealerships, of course, are getting leads all the time for different cars that they may have. So usually they'll go to the website, say they want more information about this particular car. The lead comes into the dealership. Our department is the one that... gets the initial first reaction for the lead, kind of call the potential buyer, ask those questions of kind of what they're looking for, kind of pretty much start nurturing that relationship between us and the potential buyer, answering any questions they have and getting them ready for the salespeople. So it kind of eliminates their... cuts down their time that they have to be at the dealership, different things like that. So we try to get pretty much everything together. So when they speak with the salesperson, all they're doing is doing the test drive and then kind of doing paperwork and they're done. So kind of speed up that process and nurture that potential buyer before, during, and after the sale.
SPEAKER_00:Okay. And you also mentioned your boutique as your kind of comeuppance. Yes. I've known a lot of people that have gotten into business and they're like, I'm going to sell this product or this thing. What's the one thing that always tends to go sideways with those physical product businesses that your tools in particular are just masterful at solving?
SPEAKER_01:Um, a lot of times follow-ups, sometimes people like, well, um, like say, cause I do have, um, like pheromone based products, um, like lotions and stuff. And so they're like, I love that. Um, but, uh, when they get done with it, a lot of times people don't put their information on the bottles or they're like, dang, I'm out of it. I need to figure out or remember where I bought it. So I think, um, a lot of times, uh, well, I know a lot of times when you are setting up those automations, like, Hey, you bought this, you know, making sure that you're still nurturing that person, um, throughout that process. So when they do finish it off, they know who to go to. They can remember it's right there. It's very easy for them to be able to reorder again. They don't have to go and look for it because it's not something that you can go to Walmart or Target or something like that and go and get. So being able to use like an email marketing tool, something like that, to be able to continue to nurture that customer will be is going to be the beneficial thing. Perfect.
SPEAKER_00:Yeah. That's, I mean, that's, uh, makes so much sense that we get so focused on, on the initial thing and whatever business that we're in, you know, we can get this tunnel vision sometimes. And so often, you know, people, including myself, we can, we can have that shiny object syndrome. And then we forget that customers aren't just somebody who goes to our website and purchases a thing or, or makes a want. It's customers are someone we build a relationship with and a relationship then leads to ongoing sales. And that's, that's what really matters, right?
SPEAKER_01:Yes. Yes, absolutely.
SPEAKER_00:That's awesome.
SPEAKER_01:I think that's, yeah, you're right. Like, um, a lot of times, you know, you, everybody's looking for a new client, a new client, a new customer, a new customer, a new client is like, but what about, you know, these other 50 that you sold to or helped or spoke with or they supported your business, but you forget about them trying to find the new one. So that is super important to make sure remembering those people who did buy from you and continuing that relationship to where they're coming back.
SPEAKER_00:And can you speak a little bit more to especially how a lot of these digital tools I hear from a lot of people, oh, I don't want things online, I hate social media, all of the other kind of anti-technology stuff for one reason or another. But can you kind of speak a little bit more to the understanding of how those tools actually maintain those relationships when we don't necessarily have the time for it?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so with technology now, especially with social media, social media is so powerful in so many ways. It just helps you because a lot of times you can like schedule out different things to a week from now, two weeks from now. And so it just it helps you to keep track of because, you know, of course, in the beginning, it's a lot easier. You only got, you know, a few clients or customers. But then what happens when you have 100 200, 300, a thousand, you can't keep up with all of those people on a consistent basis. So that's where these tools and different things come in place to where you're able to schedule this stuff out. You're able to group it to where like, okay, I need to put that physical touch in at this point. I need to make sure I actually send out something for me at this point to this group of people. So just, Being able to set that stuff up and group it together of when you want to make those contacts, when is it important to actually put that personal touch where you're actually okay. 50 people on this day is easier to reach out to than trying to keep up with 500 on that day. So being able to group that together and schedule it out and really come up with a strategy. I think a lot of times business owners, they miss the strategy. They're just kind of going on a whim of when they're going to do certain things. So building out that strategy beforehand is going to be super beneficial. And then using those tools as well to keep everything Right.
SPEAKER_00:And you mentioned strategy. There's a lot of times where we read all of these books about different strategies and whatnot. Yes.
SPEAKER_01:doing the things. I think a lot of times people like read all these books, pay for all these courses, take all these notes. They got notepads and calendars and all these things of all these notes and things, but they don't really use them. So they hear it once. They may try to use it once or twice, but if it's not something instant, then it's like, okay, I need to go buy another course or I need to go and do another tool or I need another whatever. But it's you got to do the thing that's going to be the best way to come up with the best strategy for you and your business is to do the thing so you can know what works, what doesn't work. You have actual data there to go along and then you can build your strategy or, you know, there's a lot of people that are expertise in different things. You can definitely, you know, kind of get their strategy and tweak it and different things. But again, it goes back to you have to do the thing. So I think that's a huge thing. Yeah,
SPEAKER_00:we've got to use our tools. Absolutely. I think everyone in this room is bad about using their own tools in one way or another. Maybe. No, but I mean, it's, I think that's a great example because we say somebody bought a brand new Mercedes. Oh my goodness. It's just beautiful. And it's just, it's sitting in the driveway and you're looking at it and it's sitting there and then it's in the driveway, but you never drive it. Then you have this beautiful car and it's not doing nothing. And we, we, you know, would very obviously be be like why would you do that that's dumb but then we do it all the time
SPEAKER_01:yes
SPEAKER_00:you know and so
SPEAKER_01:yes
SPEAKER_00:it's fascinating though how much technology and what like you're saying can help us save time and build out more robust parts of our businesses at scale. And we can't replace the human piece, but we can supplement it heavily. Yes,
SPEAKER_01:yes.
SPEAKER_00:So I've had people be shocked before hearing how much I pay on a monthly basis for some of the softwares that I use. But I say, well, how much would I pay an employee to do this full-time or part-time.
SPEAKER_01:Right.
SPEAKER_00:Probably a lot more than what I'm paying for this software. Right. You know, that can do the same thing.
SPEAKER_01:Or if you try to do it yourself, it's not getting done. Right, right. So therefore, you're losing a lot of money because, you know, the stuff is not getting done because you're like, yeah, I'll do it. That way I can save, you know, this$200 and then, yeah, it's not happening.
SPEAKER_00:So what's some of the go-to things softwares that you know of that everybody should be using or looking into for their business?
SPEAKER_01:I think one of my... My favorite platforms is Constant Contact. So it's a email marketing software. So you can do your emails. The thing that I definitely love about it is as you're curating your email, it also gives you like two social media posts and also a text message prompt as well to send out to your people from that email. So everything is a lot more cohesive. So you can do that. You can do landing pages. You can set up some automations. It integrates with a lot of different platforms as well. If you host events, you can do your event setup. As far as tickets, like everything can be set up through it. So it's got like a lot of... And it has... a lot of trainings as well. So if you are doing email marketing, which you should be, it has a lot of different trainings of how to use the platform, how to get to that target audience, just a lot of tools and resources within it as well. So it's one of my favorites. You can do your social media posts in it as well and schedule those out. So as they are creating those things, you can post from that platform as well. So you don't have to keep copying and pasting to your actual social media. You can already just schedule it out onto those platforms that is needed. So it's just a lot of things in there. It's super powerful. So if you don't have maybe the money for a CRM, this is another option that you can use to house a lot of your people and be able to keep track of them. Excellent.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. Now, we've kind of gone over a little bit of shiny object syndrome, just doing the thing. What would you tell Bridget before she started any of her businesses or started worrying about whether or not she needs to go back on Indeed that might have prevented some of those problems? Let's talk to new entrepreneur Bridget for a second. What would you tell her?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I mean, it goes back to the shine. Get the get the systems and do the thing. So as you're taking notes, as you're absorbing information, put that into somewhere all where it's there, all in one place. So you don't have, you know, 10 different notebooks, five different planners, because I think a lot of us are not. guilty of buying all the planners thinking it's going to get better because you have, you know, a planner that now has, you know, an extra notes section or, you know, just different things. So just making sure housing that stuff all in one place, making sure you have your CRM and you are actively using it and get into a habit of using it because a lot of people, they do have the CRM. But they don't use it. They still have, you know, business cards over here and things over here. And so just, you know, that whole aspect of that. Getting the systems, spending the money on them and using them, get in the habit of using them for everything, because it is hard whenever you are in the middle of things and then you're trying to be organized when the systems is like, oh, shoot. OK, so, yeah, if I if I would have done that in the very beginning. Yeah.
UNKNOWN:Yeah.
SPEAKER_00:It would be a lot
SPEAKER_01:better. of money there. So we do have a flow and grow collective. So it is a group that is$37 a month. You're able to go in there. We do different things for like bulk creating posts for your social media. So that way, you know, that makes that a lot easier. Funding opportunities, business credit, personal credit, because a lot of times with businesses as well, funding is a huge thing that That is a roadblock for a lot of us. And then, you know, you don't have the credit or anything to be able to get that together. So we have different people that come in to kind of go over that, answer questions, how to get started. We also have like if you're in business and you're like, I think I kind of maybe need some help or kind of figure things out. I'm not really sure. We can do kind of like a business audit. So it's the answer flow jumpstart. So we kind of do like a 90 day plan for you to start with. You're able to kind of audit your business, your socials, your website, kind of you answer several questions. And then we put together a 90 day plan for you. So you can kind of start working through that, kind of see how that is working for you. if you get through that and you're like this sucks I don't want to do this either then of course we can put together kind of like a full package of what you're actually needing for your business to survive to where you can actually scale and grow it And then we also have a course where it's like a leadership and time management course. So if you do have a team or planning to have a team or if you're just like all over the place and you really need like that guy to like really focus on, figure out what it is, all the things we have a course that you can take. do as well. So there's several different options, different price points to be able to work with us so that way we can make sure that you are successful and you're not having to go back to Indeed.
SPEAKER_00:That's awesome. And also it speaks to a... An area for businesses when you're growing versus when you're established. Established businesses have different needs than the growing businesses. And sometimes we don't always know what we need. And so the fact that you have so many different offerings to be able to connect people together with those resources that they need, I think that's super cool. Well, one thing I want to make sure... As we're going through, we've covered so many things today. And one of the common themes that has taken us through is that business is kind of hard sometimes. So we have everything from, you know, technology and having to learn and use the technology that we implement to business. getting with this shiny object syndrome where we can't keep the right information in the right places and we can get sloppy because we're just going after whatever pops up in front of us. And so you've given us a lot of good examples like Constant Contact and some of the services that you just mentioned a moment ago of ways that we can tackle those as business owners more efficiently. I am interested, though, with... You're in particular business. What's the next steps and the future of answer flow solutions? What's on the upcoming?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so we are coming into kind of director of operations roles in sales. So heavily on going into businesses, being able to be that strategic partner with the business owner, looking at processes, looking at revenue, looking at training, looking at leadership, just different things like that to see kind of where where the help is needed, um, where the cleaning up is needed, where the execution is needed. Um, and then, like I said, we're going back into dealership world. Um, so we're definitely heavily, uh, that is, um, one of our deal clients. Um, but definitely we are here to assist with all clients, um, and different industries. Cause, um, I just feel like it's definitely needed, um, But, yeah, that's kind of like where we're going. We want to help people to make money not only doing the thing that they do, but when you're asleep, are you making money? Or when you're on vacation, are you making money? And just coming up with those plans as well, those revenues, so we make sure we're generating income on a daily, whether we're doing the thing or not.
SPEAKER_00:I love
SPEAKER_01:it. It's amazing.
SPEAKER_00:Now, I have one more big question on my end. If you had to do an assessment of Nolan.
SPEAKER_01:No, I'm just kidding. All right, guys, it's been great.
SPEAKER_00:No, I think, you know, kind of. One of the last things is just where can people find you? You know, if they want to be able to use your incredible suite of services and solutions, where do they reach out to you
SPEAKER_01:at? Absolutely. You can go to answerflowsolutions.com. You can email us at contact at answerflowsolutions.com or you can call us 405-883-8042. We're going to host social medias, LinkedIn, Facebook, Instagram, all of those. But just call us.
SPEAKER_00:Nice. It's been so much fun. We, you know, we've made it through 10 episodes and so glad that you were. Yeah. Number one. Oh, one. Oh, but as, as always, we're going to have you help us with the sign off. And so stay sharp. Think
SPEAKER_01:this.
