Too many creatives fear that systems will make their business feel cold and or like a robot.

But the right approach to your systems can create a high-touch and warm experience for your clients that allows them to feel taken care of personally while giving you the capacity to go above and beyond in other areas. 

Sarah Potts, the owner of a virtual assistant agency, shares how you can create systems and delegate in a way that allows you to bring authenticity to every client touchpoint while also giving you the capacity to serve more deeply and sustain the energy you need to run your business long-term.  

02:36 — The decision to move from solopreneur to hiring team members while maintaining the personal connection 

04:25 — Why creatives should hire a virtual assistant

05:31 — How you can use the right systems to create a more premium service 

08:16 — How to infuse personality and authenticity into automation and systems

14:48 — Why not delegating and systematizing is preventing you from showing up as the full creative you area

19:40 — A sustainable business isn’t just profitability — it’s sustaining your level of output

21:47 — How to know what to delegate first (or next) and how to effectively delegate it

👋 CONNECT WITH SARAH POTTS (SHE/HER)

Sarah Potts (she/her) believes in the power of partnership. In 2014, she founded Joyfully Organized, a strategic team of virtual assistants based in Raleigh, NC and serving clients nationwide. Through her practice, Sarah is an operations consultant and virtual assistant to photographers, coaches, and creative business owners who need both strategy and support to delegate the details. Having partnered with more than 100 clients to simplify their businesses, she loves helping business owners find the time to live and grow with joy. She finds her balance through adventuring outdoors with her family, on the water, and around the world. In fact, she’s only got one continent left until she’s been to all 7!

Get the Delegation Guide: https://www.joyfullyorganized.com/delegation

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As a special bonus, just for my podcast listeners use code oncall for $50 off the course at whatsarasaid.com/course

Join us inside Words that Click!

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From a website copy polish or a custom long-form sales page to an email welcome or launch sequence, I’ll flex my done-for-you muscles and take on your top-priority to-dos in a half-day or full-day VIP experience.

VIP Days

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📸 Instagram

🎥 YouTube

Mentioned in this episode:

VIP Days

Sarah Potts: 00:00:00

I want to have this high touch experience with my clients.

Sarah Potts: 00:00:02

I want to make it feel custom and I want it to feel really warm.

Sarah Potts: 00:00:06

And what I have realized, over a course of years is actually adding these systems

Sarah Potts: 00:00:11

in place can help you do that even better.

Sarah Potts: 00:00:14

And yes, it's going to take some work to set up, we're going to have to figure out

Sarah Potts: 00:00:17

things, but it allows you to have this space so that you can go above and beyond.

INTRO: 00:00:22

you are listening to The Copywriter On Call podcast.

INTRO: 00:00:25

I'm your host, Sarah Gillis, copywriter, word, magic maker, and owner of

INTRO: 00:00:30

what Sarah said on this podcast.

INTRO: 00:00:32

You'll feel empowered to show up online in a way that has you saying, that's so me.

INTRO: 00:00:38

Let's get started.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:40

All right.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:41

Welcome back to another episode of The Copywriter On-Call podcast.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:44

I am your host, Sarah Gillis, and I am clocking some on-call hours today

Sara Gillis: 00:00:48

with an industry friend of mine and owner of Joyfully Organized Sarah Pots.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:52

Welcome to The Copywriter on-Call podcast.

Sarah Potts: 00:00:54

Thank you so much for having me.

Sarah Potts: 00:00:56

I'm so excited to be here.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:57

Of course.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:58

I'm so thrilled that you're here.

Sara Gillis: 00:00:59

I would love to just jump right in and have you introduce yourself

Sara Gillis: 00:01:02

and explain a little bit about who you are and what you do.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:05

Yeah.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:05

Awesome.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:06

So I'm Sarah, as Sarah said, and I own joyfully organized.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:10

And so we are a virtual assistant agency working with, creative

Sarah Potts: 00:01:14

entrepreneurs to basically help, organize the backends of businesses.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:18

So we really help with delegation and helping in admin, marketing

Sarah Potts: 00:01:23

and support in those areas.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:25

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:01:25

Tell us about your team, how you've built out this team that's really built to serve

Sara Gillis: 00:01:30

us creatives who really, really need you.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:33

So, yes, so I started my business about nine

Sarah Potts: 00:01:36

years ago, as a solopreneur.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:37

So it was just myself helping small businesses.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:40

I had a couple of friends that were small business owners and they were

Sarah Potts: 00:01:43

like, Hey, we're looking for admin help.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:44

And I was like, okay, this is something I can do.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:46

I partner with them and I was like, I love this.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:48

I love owning my own business.

Sarah Potts: 00:01:49

I love working with creative business owners and since that time it's really

Sarah Potts: 00:01:53

grown and I have been so thankful to add additional team members to bring in

Sarah Potts: 00:01:58

additional support in areas that I myself am not necessarily as experienced in.

Sarah Potts: 00:02:03

So I've been able to add, team members kind of help us with social media

Sarah Potts: 00:02:06

graphics or social media scheduling or helping with the numbers and data entry.

Sarah Potts: 00:02:12

So yeah, our team has grown.

Sarah Potts: 00:02:14

We were sitting at about, depends on the day and kind of what we're working

Sarah Potts: 00:02:17

on, but seven to nine team members.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:19

That's outstanding.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:20

And are you all kind of scattered throughout the

Sara Gillis: 00:02:23

United States or the world?

Sara Gillis: 00:02:24

Is that how it

Sarah Potts: 00:02:25

we are all scattered throughout the United States.

Sarah Potts: 00:02:27

We have a couple all the way on the Pacific Coast.

Sarah Potts: 00:02:30

I'm based on the East Coast, and then we do have a conglomerate of us here

Sarah Potts: 00:02:33

that are kind of based in Georgia, North Carolina, and South Carolina.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:36

That's awesome.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:37

How cool that you were able to move kind of quickly from that, solopreneur.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:42

Status.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:43

That's where I'm still at.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:44

Right.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:44

I'm still just kind of a one woman show over here.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:46

And move out into a team type of business where you really can say,

Sara Gillis: 00:02:51

I'm looking specifically for someone with these skills or someone who can

Sara Gillis: 00:02:55

support this type of business owner.

Sara Gillis: 00:02:57

How did you decide oh, this is a need area for me?

Sara Gillis: 00:03:00

How did that evolve?

Sarah Potts: 00:03:01

So I was, I did the solopreneur thing for many years,

Sarah Potts: 00:03:06

like almost five of my business years.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:08

And I thought that's the way that I would always go because I love

Sarah Potts: 00:03:11

working directly with clients.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:12

That's part of my favorite thing, getting to meet creative business owners work

Sarah Potts: 00:03:15

directly with them, and I didn't want to lose that by becoming an agency owner.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:19

And so I was like, okay, I have to figure out a way that I can do this

Sarah Potts: 00:03:22

that makes sense for what I want.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:23

But also as I started, having kids allowed me to have more balance in my

Sarah Potts: 00:03:28

life, and so being able to be like,, oh, I have to go take my kids to do this.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:32

I need someone to be able to help my clients while I'm away

Sarah Potts: 00:03:34

so that they're not losing any Coverage or support that they need.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:38

So once I really started having kids, that's kind of when I was

Sarah Potts: 00:03:40

like, okay, let's think about ways that I could do this.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:42

One model is just to kind of bring additional VAs on and have them

Sarah Potts: 00:03:45

kind of work directly with clients.

Sarah Potts: 00:03:47

I was like, well, maybe I could just broaden the kind of specialties I offer

Sarah Potts: 00:03:50

so that we can add additional support, and then they can support them in admin

Sarah Potts: 00:03:54

ways when I'm not potentially available.

Sara Gillis: 00:03:56

That's good.

Sara Gillis: 00:03:57

That's really smart too.

Sara Gillis: 00:03:58

because yeah, I mean, personally as a service provider, I love the

Sara Gillis: 00:04:01

one-on-one connection with clients and I would hate to lose that.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:05

That would be really hard for me.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:06

So I love that you found a way to kind of do both, to grow and serve

Sara Gillis: 00:04:10

your clients better, but still maintain that personal connection.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:13

Yeah.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:13

The personal connection is , what makes it for me in business, I was like, I

Sarah Potts: 00:04:16

just want to connect with people and work with them and their businesses,

Sara Gillis: 00:04:19

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:04:19

What is it about creatives in particular that really jives

Sara Gillis: 00:04:24

well with you and with your team?

Sarah Potts: 00:04:25

I think part of it is I would not classify myself as a

Sarah Potts: 00:04:29

creative and I'm always completely inspired by copywriters or

Sarah Potts: 00:04:34

brand designers or photographers.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:36

because I'm like, this is something that I don't have any skill set in.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:39

But what I can bring is I'm super organized and

Sarah Potts: 00:04:41

analytical and that side of it.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:43

And I feel like those two skill sets tend to go really well together.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:46

Because I'm like, I can help you in your business in terms of organization

Sarah Potts: 00:04:50

or things that you may not have, may not want to do, things of that nature.

Sarah Potts: 00:04:54

But then I love working with you because I get inspired by everyone's,

Sarah Potts: 00:04:57

creative work, and I'm like, this is fun for me because this is

Sarah Potts: 00:04:59

something that I have no skillset in.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:02

Yeah, I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:03

It's the ideal combination, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:05:05

You have the left brain in the right

Sarah Potts: 00:05:07

Yeah, exactly

Sara Gillis: 00:05:08

it's a real beautiful thing.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:10

because as a creative myself, I need all the help when it comes to the mathy stuff

Sara Gillis: 00:05:15

and the, I'm supposed to do business.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:17

How, what am I supposed to report to the I r s?

Sara Gillis: 00:05:20

What am I supposed to do with this?

Sara Gillis: 00:05:21

And so I think that that's a really smart way to kind of, Partner up

Sara Gillis: 00:05:25

with people who can inspire you, but people who also really need you too.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:28

I love that.

Sarah Potts: 00:05:30

been really fun.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:31

yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:31

So tell me a little bit more about why you think systems or tools are

Sara Gillis: 00:05:37

really kind of partnering with a VA for that organization, that admin

Sara Gillis: 00:05:41

type of work is so important for creative business owners today.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:45

I mean, my parents never were business owners.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:47

They've been like, loyal, steady Eddy corporate type of

Sara Gillis: 00:05:50

employees their entire lives.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:52

But I don't know how I would do my job without any sort

Sara Gillis: 00:05:56

of systems or backend help.

Sara Gillis: 00:05:58

So I'm curious, why do you think that's really kind of risen to the top as a

Sara Gillis: 00:06:01

real big priority for creatives today?

Sarah Potts: 00:06:04

I think there's a couple different reasons, but the one that

Sarah Potts: 00:06:06

always jumps out to me is I think it really, by having some systems and some

Sarah Potts: 00:06:10

automations in place in our business, it really helps us to uplevel our services.

Sarah Potts: 00:06:15

We can provide better client experience because there's a lot of

Sarah Potts: 00:06:18

things that we can have set up in the back ends of our businesses to

Sarah Potts: 00:06:22

either run automatically or run with.

Sarah Potts: 00:06:24

Some triggers that allows our clients to really feel taken care of, and

Sarah Potts: 00:06:28

then it allows us the brain space and the time to go above and beyond

Sarah Potts: 00:06:32

then to add additional things for them so that they are delighted.

Sarah Potts: 00:06:36

They have the comfort of knowing these reminders are going out when they

Sarah Potts: 00:06:39

need to because they're automated, but then we can go above and beyond

Sarah Potts: 00:06:41

because we have that extra time and brain capacity to do those things.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:45

I love that I often tell my clients who I coach, that

Sara Gillis: 00:06:49

client experience is not just giving your clients gifts, even though

Sara Gillis: 00:06:52

everybody loves a gift, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:06:54

Everybody loves a present.

Sara Gillis: 00:06:55

Communicating with them openly and in a timely fashion is client experience.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:02

And I love that you pulled that out because it's so important.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:05

I think we overestimate, or underestimate the power of that.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:08

I think that there are opportunities to really delight your clients just

Sara Gillis: 00:07:12

by simply being yourself and by really dialing up the opportunity to

Sara Gillis: 00:07:16

just serve them by communicating.

Sarah Potts: 00:07:18

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Potts: 00:07:19

And I think just that constant communication that they feel they can

Sarah Potts: 00:07:22

rely on, it allows them to just be like, okay, someone else has this handled.

Sarah Potts: 00:07:25

I can take a deep breath and I can focus then on, what I want

Sarah Potts: 00:07:28

to be focusing on in my business.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:30

Yeah, that brain space is such a big piece for me.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:33

When I'm stuck in a creative rutt and then I have admin to

Sara Gillis: 00:07:37

do on top of it, it feels like.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:39

I'm just going to continue being stifled creatively, and so the opportunity

Sara Gillis: 00:07:43

to say, Ooh, you've got that.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:45

I can focus on getting creatively inspired.

Sara Gillis: 00:07:48

I can go be in nature, I can go, read a book, I can go get inspired in some sort

Sara Gillis: 00:07:52

of other way, and just know that you've got it in terms of all of the backend

Sara Gillis: 00:07:57

stuff, all of the organization stuff, and that my clients are still cared for.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:01

That's a beautiful situation.

Sarah Potts: 00:08:03

Yeah.

Sarah Potts: 00:08:03

And that's where I want everyone to be because even myself, we all started our

Sarah Potts: 00:08:06

own businesses with this idea of what we wanted to provide, but being a business

Sarah Potts: 00:08:10

owner, there's a thousand things on our plates at any given time and it's a lot

Sarah Potts: 00:08:14

to mentally juggle and have to be doing.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:16

Absolutely.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:17

So I love the idea of bringing some personality and some authenticity

Sara Gillis: 00:08:23

to systems and tools, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:08:25

I mean, I use a C R M I have.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:28

Schedulers.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:29

I have a project management platform.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:31

All of these things that feel like they can be really stiff

Sara Gillis: 00:08:35

and automated and not friendly.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:38

And I try to infuse personality and authenticity into these types of tools.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:44

So it still feels like me.

Sara Gillis: 00:08:46

But why do you think that that's, that's a task?

Sara Gillis: 00:08:48

Why do you think that that's so important and something that we really should

Sara Gillis: 00:08:52

tackle and prioritize as creative?

Sarah Potts: 00:08:55

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Potts: 00:08:55

And kind of one of the things I want to touch on, you just.

Sarah Potts: 00:08:57

Based on what you said is infusing personality.

Sarah Potts: 00:09:00

And so we can use CRMs and I even will say this, when you had all the

Sarah Potts: 00:09:03

reminders for me to show up, first of all I felt like, okay, I'm on

Sarah Potts: 00:09:07

this, I got these reminders, but they have your personality in them.

Sarah Potts: 00:09:10

And even when I'm doing like kind of setups or helping clients, if they're a

Sarah Potts: 00:09:13

GIF person, we'll put gifs in all their emails or we'll add colors to the text.

Sarah Potts: 00:09:17

You can make what are called automated emails, have personality,

Sarah Potts: 00:09:21

so they're not just a typical.

Sarah Potts: 00:09:22

Standard template, we can have it, use the language you typically use or use

Sarah Potts: 00:09:27

colors or fonts or things like that to make it feel like it aligns with

Sarah Potts: 00:09:31

who you are as a business owner and what you want to be communicating.

Sarah Potts: 00:09:35

And by setting it up once or making edits over time, you don't have to worry about

Sarah Potts: 00:09:40

it and know that these things are just being taken care of, but that are coming

Sarah Potts: 00:09:44

out in your voice and in your style.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:46

That's so important.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:47

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:47

I'm doing an okay job at that.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:49

So yes, that's awesome.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:51

Kudos.

Sara Gillis: 00:09:52

But I also love It can be as simple as just changing the font color, or it

Sara Gillis: 00:09:57

can be as simple as just putting in a cute little gif that makes you giggle.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:01

I love the idea of really taking the time to infuse personality and authenticity

Sara Gillis: 00:10:08

into these systems that we all rely upon.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:10

What does your process look like when it comes to getting to know

Sara Gillis: 00:10:13

the clients that you serve and getting to, know their personalities

Sara Gillis: 00:10:16

enough to bring that to life?

Sara Gillis: 00:10:18

Because obviously I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:10:19

That's what I do.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:21

Exactly.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:22

So I will say it normally takes a little bit of time as you might

Sarah Potts: 00:10:26

, expect for us to really get to know a client and their business and the

Sarah Potts: 00:10:29

way that they like to communicate.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:31

One of the things that we do, especially in the first one to kind of three

Sarah Potts: 00:10:34

months that we're working with someone is we love to hop on calls at least

Sarah Potts: 00:10:38

once a month because we can talk through projects and things, but.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:41

As we're talking to them, we get to know what words do they typically like to say?

Sarah Potts: 00:10:45

What is their general personality?

Sarah Potts: 00:10:46

How do they like to communicate?

Sarah Potts: 00:10:48

Another thing that we do is we love to follow them on social media.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:51

We'll check out their website.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:52

We'll kind of just see like you can get a really good sense

Sarah Potts: 00:10:55

of someone's personality, but.

Sarah Potts: 00:10:56

What kind of words are they using?

Sarah Potts: 00:10:58

What colors are they using?

Sarah Potts: 00:10:59

Are they very casual and personal, or do they tend to have more

Sarah Potts: 00:11:02

of a professional brand?

Sarah Potts: 00:11:03

So we'll kind of use those as just cues, to kind of tell us how they

Sarah Potts: 00:11:06

tend to like to communicate so that if we're communicating on behalf of them to

Sarah Potts: 00:11:10

clients or helping with customer service, emails, things of that nature, we try to

Sarah Potts: 00:11:14

really capture that the way that they're generally responding to their clients.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:18

I love that and I love that you said it kind of takes time.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:21

It's like a slow burn almost.

Sarah Potts: 00:11:23

it is.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:23

It's, it really requires some posturing to get

Sara Gillis: 00:11:26

into someone else's brain space and to get into their brand voice.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:29

And so I love the tips and tricks that you shared because honestly, it's a

Sara Gillis: 00:11:33

big part of what I do as well, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:11:35

When I write for clients, even if it's a v i p day, I have to accelerate

Sara Gillis: 00:11:38

that process, and so I have a lot of work on the front end to really

Sara Gillis: 00:11:42

immerse myself in that person's voice whether it's, social media or getting

Sara Gillis: 00:11:46

my hands on a lot of different.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:48

Types of their writing, whether it's things that customers are saying about

Sara Gillis: 00:11:51

them and about their client experience, or really just trying to get to know who they

Sara Gillis: 00:11:56

are as people and their heart for serving.

Sara Gillis: 00:11:58

And so I love that that's a process for you guys too.

Sara Gillis: 00:12:01

I think that too often we as creatives think, oh, well I'm

Sara Gillis: 00:12:04

just, I'm an open book, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:12:06

I'm out there on Instagram, I'm out there on social.

Sara Gillis: 00:12:08

You can just figure out who I am.

Sara Gillis: 00:12:10

But putting words to someone and putting words to speak to their

Sara Gillis: 00:12:14

business, which is so personal.

Sara Gillis: 00:12:16

It's such a big task.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:18

It is.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:18

And I know that at least for our clients that I've talked with other business

Sarah Potts: 00:12:21

owners, it's one of the things that they tend to be the most nervous of,

Sarah Potts: 00:12:25

understandably, is having someone or at least delegating that portion of their

Sarah Potts: 00:12:29

business that's more client facing.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:31

And so what's one of the things that I recommend for business owners,

Sarah Potts: 00:12:34

especially if this is the first time that they're really delegating,

Sarah Potts: 00:12:36

that admin stuff, is let's start in the backend of your business.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:39

Things that'll help you in the backend that aren't client

Sarah Potts: 00:12:41

facing once you feel like.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:42

Okay, this is going well.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:44

I kind of like this.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:45

Then we move into the more client facing role.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:47

once we've figured each other out, once we figured out that communication, the

Sarah Potts: 00:12:50

style, all of those things, and then it's much more of a smooth transition.

Sarah Potts: 00:12:54

If you're nervous about that to start with,

Sara Gillis: 00:12:56

That was literally my next question for you is what's

Sara Gillis: 00:12:59

a first good step for someone?

Sara Gillis: 00:13:01

I mean, if they're thinking about backend processes, is there a first

Sara Gillis: 00:13:04

step, a first platform, a first.

Sara Gillis: 00:13:07

Tool or system that you recommend they tiptoe into with the va?

Sarah Potts: 00:13:10

So I think it depends on the client's business, of course.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:13

But one of the things I love to kind of just prompt my clients with is , okay,

Sarah Potts: 00:13:17

when you wake up in the morning, what is the number one thing that

Sarah Potts: 00:13:20

you're just like, ah, I haven't done this, or I need to do this, or This

Sarah Potts: 00:13:23

is the number one thing that's just.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:24

Driving me bananas because it's been on my list and it just keeps

Sarah Potts: 00:13:28

moving down my to-do list forever.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:29

So for some of our clients it's maybe let's just get a workflow set up in

Sarah Potts: 00:13:32

my C R m or let's tweak this workflow.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:34

And for some other businesses it's like, hey, I really need help

Sarah Potts: 00:13:38

with formatting these documents or turning them into some other format.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:41

And so it often, for our clients, it's just like there's this one

Sarah Potts: 00:13:44

or two nagging things that have been on their list forever.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:47

They're just like, Oh, push to next week, push to next week.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:49

And then they're like, but I really should get this done.

Sarah Potts: 00:13:51

That's where I'd love to start

Sara Gillis: 00:13:53

I am giggling because for me, that's always anything to do with

Sara Gillis: 00:13:56

math, anything to do with banking, finances, reconciliations, all those

Sara Gillis: 00:14:01

icky tasks that I just do not like.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:04

And those are always at the bottom of the to-do list and it's like, oh, bummer.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:07

Didn't have time this week.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:08

I guess I'll have to do that next week.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:10

That is so, that is such a good question to ask as a starting point,

Sara Gillis: 00:14:14

because honestly I think we all have those tasks that are like, oh really?

Sara Gillis: 00:14:18

Darn, I guess I have to go mow the lawn for the next, two hours.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:21

I can't do that right now.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:23

I mean, I even have them in my own business and I'm just like,

Sarah Potts: 00:14:25

well, didn't get a attend this week.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:26

I'll do it next week.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:27

I mean, I know it gets stuck in your head and you're always like, it gives you all

Sarah Potts: 00:14:31

these negative feelings that, okay, let's just have someone help us in this area

Sarah Potts: 00:14:34

because clearly I don't want to do it.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:37

And I don't necessarily generally need to be doing it like it's not normally.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:40

For creatives, it's not normally the reason you got into your business.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:43

It's not your creative work.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:44

That's the stuff you want to be doing.

Sarah Potts: 00:14:46

So let's work on delegating that piece of your business.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:48

So one of the questions that I ask everybody who comes on

Sara Gillis: 00:14:51

the podcast is about the blocks that their clients are experiencing and.

Sara Gillis: 00:14:56

Specifically when it comes to the work that you do, I'm curious

Sara Gillis: 00:14:59

about these clients that you serve and how you see them experiencing

Sara Gillis: 00:15:03

blocks that prevent them from just showing up as the creatives they are.

Sara Gillis: 00:15:07

Maybe they're overwhelmed by systems and don't know where to start, or maybe they

Sara Gillis: 00:15:11

just don't understand what it means to infuse their personality into something.

Sara Gillis: 00:15:15

Automated and stiff like a tool.

Sara Gillis: 00:15:17

So I would love to know what you see your clients experiencing when it comes

Sara Gillis: 00:15:22

to those blocks that prevent them from showing up as they are as creatives.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:26

That's such a great question because I think especially in this

Sarah Potts: 00:15:30

creative world that, we both work in, a lot of the blocks that I experience

Sarah Potts: 00:15:35

with my clients is that piece of both delegation and adding in systems because

Sarah Potts: 00:15:41

kind of as we've talked about, it feels.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:43

So stiff.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:44

It feels like this is going to take the personality out of my business.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:47

This is going to turn my business into a robot or something

Sarah Potts: 00:15:50

that doesn't feel like me.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:51

And that's not the experience.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:53

I want to have this high touch experience with my clients.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:55

I want to make it feel custom and I want it to feel really warm.

Sarah Potts: 00:15:59

And what I have realized, over a course of years is actually adding these systems

Sarah Potts: 00:16:04

in place can help you do that even better.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:07

And yes, it's going to take some work to set up, we're going to have to figure

Sarah Potts: 00:16:10

out things, but it allows you to almost have the better clients experience.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:15

It allows you to have this space so that you can go above and beyond.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:18

And so yeah, we're going to have to work through some things of what does it look

Sarah Potts: 00:16:21

like, what does the timing look like?

Sarah Potts: 00:16:22

What does the language look like?

Sarah Potts: 00:16:24

And that is going to be a hurdle that we're going to have to go through

Sarah Potts: 00:16:26

and kind of work and adjust things.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:28

But when you get to that other side, it's like, oh, all of this admin stuff, or

Sarah Potts: 00:16:32

these reminder emails, they sound like me.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:35

They're going out automatically.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:36

I'm not having to think about it.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:37

So then it's freeing up my brain space to be like, I can serve you even better.

Sarah Potts: 00:16:41

I can come to a photo shoot more refreshed, or I can come to your copy

Sarah Potts: 00:16:44

and be like, my brain is in it because I'm not bogged down by all of this other

Sarah Potts: 00:16:48

stuff that requires to run a business.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:51

Yeah, I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:16:52

I think it's really, the proof is in the pudding, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:16:55

You put in the work to make sure that the system is built for you and to reflect

Sara Gillis: 00:17:00

you and your heart for your business and your heart for serving your clients.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:04

And then you see how it works, and that's all the reinforcement

Sara Gillis: 00:17:08

you need to get over that block.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:09

Am I right?

Sarah Potts: 00:17:10

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:11

And I know it's not fun while you're in it to be like, oh,

Sarah Potts: 00:17:14

I'm setting all these things up.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:15

It's hard.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:16

Oh, this doesn't sound fun.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:17

But it's like once you get there, it's just, you'll free

Sarah Potts: 00:17:20

up so much in your business

Sara Gillis: 00:17:21

yeah, that's, I mean, that's gold.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:23

That's worth gold for sure.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:25

What do you hear from clients who have experienced that weight

Sara Gillis: 00:17:28

lifting off of their shoulders and really feel like they're showing up

Sara Gillis: 00:17:31

even in a system or a tool that.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:34

Is a way that feels authentic.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:36

They're showing up in a way that serves their people authentically and

Sara Gillis: 00:17:41

allows them to have that brain space for whatever creative work they do.

Sara Gillis: 00:17:45

What do your clients say?

Sarah Potts: 00:17:46

One of the best kind of feedback I've gotten from one of

Sarah Potts: 00:17:48

my clients, she's a therapist and she was telling me that she's been in her

Sarah Potts: 00:17:52

business for 10 years by herself.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:53

Before she even thought of bringing someone else in.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:55

because she was like, this is such an intimate business, and things like that.

Sarah Potts: 00:17:58

But we've started helping with just some of that, admin

Sarah Potts: 00:18:01

that's, not client focused, but.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:03

She's like, for the first time, I feel like I actually have time

Sarah Potts: 00:18:06

to step away from my business to just experience life more.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:10

And she was like, I love my business.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:12

I love what I'm doing, but I hadn't realized how much time I was spending in

Sarah Potts: 00:18:16

it and not like taking a step back and enjoying other parts of my life as well.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:21

And that just to me is like, that's what I want.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:23

Like we all love our businesses.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:25

That's what we created them for.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:27

Let's spend as much time in there as we want.

Sarah Potts: 00:18:29

But we also have this whole other part of our lives that we don't want

Sarah Potts: 00:18:32

to miss or not to enjoy as well.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:35

Oh my gosh.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:35

That's powerful.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:36

Yeah, I think I differentiate a lot with my clients about working in your

Sara Gillis: 00:18:40

business versus working on your business.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:43

And honestly, when working in your business is.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:47

Like if I'm serving clients, that's the stuff that fills me up.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:50

But when it comes to like, oh, I need to report my sales tax when

Sara Gillis: 00:18:54

it comes to that types of stuff and the backend stuff, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:18:58

It just feels like.

Sara Gillis: 00:18:59

It feels draining.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:00

It feels draining to me at least, and I, I'm so glad there are people out there

Sara Gillis: 00:19:04

like you that are like, I got that.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:06

I'll take care of that for you.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:08

I think that that's a really key piece in not only balancing the on your business

Sara Gillis: 00:19:13

versus in your business part of life, but just the fact that we are business

Sara Gillis: 00:19:18

owners who have lives balancing that too.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:21

yes.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:21

And I know it can be so hard, especially in the beginning of my

Sarah Potts: 00:19:24

business, I was horrible at it.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:25

I was just like, we're all in business all the time.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:28

Here I go.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:28

And then I was like, well, this is not sustainable for the long

Sarah Potts: 00:19:31

haul, which is what I want to do.

Sarah Potts: 00:19:33

So we've got to figure out some ways to make this work for the long haul

Sarah Potts: 00:19:37

so I can't go and burn myself out.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:40

Yeah, sustainability is something that is really crucial for

Sara Gillis: 00:19:43

any type of business, creative or not.

Sara Gillis: 00:19:45

I think honestly, business sustainability isn't just about,

Sara Gillis: 00:19:48

can I make money doing this?

Sara Gillis: 00:19:50

But it's about really can I sustain this level of input, this level

Sara Gillis: 00:19:55

of output for a long time, and it's just not about profitability.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:00

It's about so much more than that.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:02

So I would love to hear your thoughts on what that's looked like

Sara Gillis: 00:20:05

for you, your journey towards that kind of sustainable business model.

Sara Gillis: 00:20:08

I'm sure your team plays a big part in that.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:11

Oh, absolutely.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:12

Yeah.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:12

I would say in the beginning of my business I was definitely heading

Sarah Potts: 00:20:15

towards probably burnout because I was just like, let's do this all the time.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:18

I'm totally in for it.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:19

This is exciting.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:20

And then you almost sometimes, even if you're running in your zone of

Sarah Potts: 00:20:23

genius and really enjoying it, you're not even thinking like, Oh, I can't

Sarah Potts: 00:20:27

do this level of energy forever.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:29

And so that's when I started being like, okay, let's add another team member who

Sarah Potts: 00:20:33

can help support me so that when I do take a vacation, someone else feels like

Sarah Potts: 00:20:38

they can handle, client communication.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:40

So I don't feel like I'm leaving them in a place that's like they're hanging.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:44

But I can take the time away I need.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:45

And then I added a team member and I was like, Oh, this is really nice.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:48

I like this.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:49

Well, what if we brought in another one to help support in this area that I am

Sarah Potts: 00:20:52

not as strong in and they're better at?

Sarah Potts: 00:20:54

And then over time we've just added that.

Sarah Potts: 00:20:56

That has allowed me to be like, okay, I can do the things that I really

Sarah Potts: 00:21:00

need to be doing for my clients, but then I can add in other team members.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:03

And one of the things I love about it is my team members, they have their

Sarah Potts: 00:21:06

own businesses or their moms and they're supporting their families.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:09

And it's like, Oh, really cool.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:10

I get to invest in them and what they're wanting to do along with

Sarah Potts: 00:21:13

my clients and I was like, everyone is building their businesses,

Sarah Potts: 00:21:16

and I was like, this is so cool.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:17

This is like a fun space to be in.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:19

Oh, that's a beautiful thing, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:21:20

When you can say, I'm serving my clients and we as an agency are

Sara Gillis: 00:21:24

serving our clients, but I also get to invest in you team member.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:28

I also get to invest in what you're trying to build, the

Sara Gillis: 00:21:31

life you're trying to cultivate.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:32

That is beautiful.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:33

I love that so much.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:35

is so cool and I'm learning, definitely learning a

Sarah Potts: 00:21:36

lot about what that looks like.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:38

because I've just kind of made this up, like what does it look like to

Sarah Potts: 00:21:41

be a leader or to have team members.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:43

And so it's a lot of learning, but it's a lot of fun.

Sarah Potts: 00:21:45

Like I really enjoy it.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:47

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:47

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:48

None of us are like born managers.

Sara Gillis: 00:21:50

I honestly feel like everybody has to kind of build those skills and so I love that

Sara Gillis: 00:21:55

it's been an evolution for you, and that you're committed to that leadership role

Sara Gillis: 00:21:59

of learning how best to serve your people.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:00

That speaks volumes for sure.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:02

So tell us a little bit about the delegation guide that you have set up

Sara Gillis: 00:22:07

for your people and for anyone who's really wondering, where do I start?

Sara Gillis: 00:22:11

What do I do?

Sara Gillis: 00:22:11

I know my plate is twofold.

Sara Gillis: 00:22:14

What can I get off my plate?

Sara Gillis: 00:22:16

What can I outsource?

Sarah Potts: 00:22:17

Yeah, absolutely.

Sarah Potts: 00:22:18

So I created this guide originally for my own clients who were like,

Sarah Potts: 00:22:22

who came to us and be like, I need help, but I don't know where to start.

Sarah Potts: 00:22:25

I don't even have the ideas of what could I take off my plate?

Sarah Potts: 00:22:29

And so I started listing off things that we were working with other clients

Sarah Potts: 00:22:32

on in different areas in admin or marketing or tech support that we're

Sarah Potts: 00:22:36

assisting other clients with and being like, Hey, here's just a list of ideas.

Sarah Potts: 00:22:39

And then the more I developed this list.

Sarah Potts: 00:22:41

I was like, this is really good just for anyone in business to think

Sarah Potts: 00:22:44

about Hey, my plate looks too full, but I don't know where to start to

Sarah Potts: 00:22:47

start getting things off my plate.

Sarah Potts: 00:22:49

Here are just some ideas of ways we work with our clients, but that you could

Sarah Potts: 00:22:53

just start to look at and think about, oh, I could potentially delegate that

Sarah Potts: 00:22:56

and that piece and get it off my plate or this piece and get it off my plate to

Sarah Potts: 00:23:00

anyone who you might want to work with.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:02

Yeah.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:02

And categorizing it is so, so smart, right?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:05

Because.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:06

If you feel like you're drowning in your business because you're

Sara Gillis: 00:23:09

doing all the things and wearing all the hats, maybe there's one hat in

Sara Gillis: 00:23:12

particular that you're like, oh, I need to drop, kick this off my list.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:15

And so maybe it's the admin hat, or maybe it's the marketing side, the tech side.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:19

Hello, that is me.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:22

The tech side can be really overwhelming sometimes, and so I love that you

Sara Gillis: 00:23:26

categorize that guide to really meet the people where they are and say,

Sara Gillis: 00:23:29

look, where are you feeling overloaded?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:31

And what can we take off your plate?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:33

Love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:23:34

What does it look like to work with you guys?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:36

Is it a set number of hours per month?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:38

How does that work?

Sara Gillis: 00:23:38

Where do you serve people best and how do you like to serve people best?

Sarah Potts: 00:23:41

So we have two options that we partner with our clients on.

Sarah Potts: 00:23:44

So the first option is basically a monthly retainer, a set

Sarah Potts: 00:23:47

number of hours a month.

Sarah Potts: 00:23:48

We have some minimums, but then we work with our clients to determine

Sarah Potts: 00:23:51

what's the best fit for them each month, and then in it's month to month.

Sarah Potts: 00:23:54

And as part of that, we love getting on calls and just.

Sarah Potts: 00:23:56

Discussing the projects that you want completed that month.

Sarah Potts: 00:23:59

And along with like, where are you hoping to grow this quarter in this year and how

Sarah Potts: 00:24:02

can we help support you in those ways?

Sarah Potts: 00:24:04

So that's an ongoing monthly support.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:07

And we also offer what people call like v i p days.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:09

We call them project days.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:10

If you have a big project or maybe one or two smaller projects that you

Sarah Potts: 00:24:14

really are like, I just need help moving my email marketing system to a

Sarah Potts: 00:24:18

new platform and I just want it done now, or something of that nature.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:21

We can also do one-off project days where we meet with you to beforehand kind of

Sarah Potts: 00:24:25

talk through those projects and then our team dedicates the entire day to kind

Sarah Potts: 00:24:29

of working on finishing that project.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:30

And then we provide two follow-up calls just to make sure you feel really set.

Sarah Potts: 00:24:34

So that's really good if you are like, I'm overwhelmed with this project now, but I

Sarah Potts: 00:24:37

don't need ongoing support at the moment.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:39

I love that flexibility too, is, really allowing you to

Sara Gillis: 00:24:42

meet people where they are and what they need most in that moment that

Sara Gillis: 00:24:46

they're feeling the most overwhelmed.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:48

That's crucial.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:49

I love that.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:50

So thank you so, so much for chatting with me and for being here.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:54

Everybody be sure to check out the delegation inspiration guide.

Sara Gillis: 00:24:57

We are going to have the link for you in the show notes.

Sara Gillis: 00:25:00

But as always, thank you guys so much for listening and until next time, this

Sara Gillis: 00:25:03

is your copywriter on call signing off.

Sara Gillis: 00:25:07

Thanks for listening to The Copywriter On Call podcast.

Sara Gillis: 00:25:10

If this episode has you feeling all sorts of inspired to show up as yourself online,

Sara Gillis: 00:25:15

click that subscribe button so you don't miss my stories or practical advice to

Sara Gillis: 00:25:18

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