Introduction:

Welcome to another insightful episode of the "Minding My Creative Business" podcast! I'm thrilled to share this valuable interview with Lorraine Kamesha, a seasoned entrepreneur and creative professional who has mastered the art of scaling creative businesses. If you're a creative entrepreneur eager to take your venture to new heights, you're in for a treat. In this article, we'll dive deep into Lorraine's wisdom and experiences, exploring the keys to growing and sustaining a flourishing creative enterprise.

Creators Bio:

Lorraine Kamesha is a name synonymous with success in the creative business world. Her journey from aspiring creative to accomplished entrepreneur is an inspiration to many. Through her extensive experience, she has built a thriving creative enterprise and is dedicated to sharing her knowledge with fellow creatives.

Key Takeaways:

* Transitioning to Leadership: Lorraine emphasizes the crucial transition from a hands-on creator to a visionary leader. Learn how to step into this role effectively and guide your business to success.

* Delegation and Systematization: Discover the art of delegation and systemization. Lorraine explains how these processes are essential for streamlining your creative business and allowing it to thrive.

* Empowering Your Team: One of the keys to success is empowering your team to make decisions. Lorraine's insights into nurturing a collaborative and empowered work environment are invaluable.

Step-by-Step Process:

Step 1: Transitioning to Leadership

* Understand the shift from creator to leader.

* Develop a clear vision for your business.

Step 2: Delegation and Systemization

* Identify tasks that can be delegated.

* Implement systems to streamline processes.

Step 3: Empowering Your Team

* Foster open communication and idea sharing.

* Encourage your team to take ownership of their work.

Quotes from Lorraine:

Lorraine Kamesha on delegation: "Delegating tasks effectively is like greasing the wheels of your business. It allows everything to run smoothly."

Lorraine Kamesha on collaboration: "Innovation often arises from the cross-pollination of ideas. Encourage collaboration, and watch your business thrive."

Resources Mentioned:

* mmcbpodcast.com: Visit the podcast's website to join the Creatives Corner community and access additional resources.

Expert Advice:

As someone deeply passionate about creative entrepreneurship, my personal advice is to embrace change and innovation. The creative business landscape is ever-evolving, and being adaptable is key. Listen to your audience, stay true to your vision, and never stop learning. Your journey, much like Lorraine's, can be a remarkable one.

FAQ:

Q1: How can I effectively transition from being a creator to a leader in my creative business? A1: Start by defining your business's vision and values. Then, delegate tasks that don't align with this vision, and focus on guiding your team toward achieving your creative goals.

Q2: What role does collaboration play in scaling a creative business? A2: Collaboration fuels innovation. Encourage your team to share ideas and work together. It can lead to fresh perspectives and solutions that drive growth.

Q3: What should I do if my creative business goes viral unexpectedly? A3: Be prepared to handle increased demand. Ensure your systems, team, and customer support can handle the influx. Use the opportunity to strengthen your brand.

Q4: Where can I find more resources related to scaling my creative business? A4: Visit mmcbpodcast.com to access additional resources and join the Creatives Corner community.

Q5: How can I leave a review for the "Minding My Creative Business" podcast? A5: You can leave a review on your preferred podcast platform, sharing your thoughts and feedback with the community.

Timestamps and Key Points:

• [00:00:00] Introduction
• Hosts introduce themselves and guest Lorraine Kamesha, discussing her background in viral marketing and entrepreneurship.
• [00:01:00 - 00:04:00] Lorraine's Professional Journey
• Lorraine talks about her transition from business coach to viral marketing strategist, emphasizing the importance of purposeful social media use.
• [00:05:00 - 00:08:00] Combining Art and Science in Content Creation
• Discussion on the blend of creative and analytical approaches in content creation, influenced by Lorraine's diverse background in music and science.
• [00:09:00 - 00:12:00] Starting and Scaling a Writing Business
• Lorraine shares her experience starting a writing business during pharmacy school, highlighting the challenges and growth strategies, including hiring and delegating tasks.
• [00:13:00 - 00:17:00] Branding and Automating the Business
• Insights on the importance of branding, the development of an automated system, and managing global teams.
• [00:18:00 - 00:22:00] Financial Strategies for Business Growth
• Lorraine explains her mathematical approach to scaling revenue and the benefits of sharing success with her team.
• [00:23:00 - 00:27:00] Challenges and Rewards of Going Viral
• Lorraine recounts her experience going viral on TikTok and its impact on her business.
• [00:28:00 - 00:31:00] Implementing Effective Communication and Management Systems
• The importance of communication tools and empowering team members through effective management and Standard Operating Procedures.
• [00:32:00 - 00:35:00] Transition to Content Creation and Viral Marketing
• Lorraine discusses her move to content creation, emphasizing the need for systemization and readiness for viral success.
• [00:36:00 - 00:39:00] Advice for Creatives in Business
• Tips for creatives on embracing different aspects of their craft and the importance of empowering others in their business model.
• [00:40:00 - 00:44:00] Outsourcing and Team Development
• Lorraine highlights the significance of training and developing team members for successful delegation and leadership development.
• [00:45:00 - 00:50:00] Final Thoughts and Wrap-up
• The hosts conclude the episode with Lorraine sharing her team size and a discussion on the importance of outsourcing in creative entrepreneurship.

What's up?

What's up?

Welcome to the mind of my creative business podcast.

My name is Shy Speaks

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: and I am Ron, Ironically jr.

And today we have a guest with us.

We have Miss Lorraine Kamisha, who is a serial creative manure.

Um, she has several businesses, one being a, uh, writing business for She also

monetizes her content creation on social media, IG, Instagram, things like that.

Um, and she is a business coach.

She is formerly one of my business coaches, actually my first business coach.

So, um, that's how I would introduce you, Miss Lorraine Kamisha.

But I want for you to be able to introduce yourself.

How would you introduce?

Well, thank you, Ron.

I am Lorraine Kamisha and I am actually a viral marketing strategist.

So I teach up and coming content creators how to monetize their following so they

can make more money on social media.

So I don't believe in just, you know, posting just a post.

We post them for a purpose and that purpose is to pay our bills.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Yes.

Yes.

I love it.

I love it.

I love it.

Um, okay.

So you say a viral strategist, say it again, a viral marketing strategist,

a viral marketing strategist, right?

So those people who are content creators, right.

You're showing them how to, okay.

How to monetize this, right.

We're not just doing it.

Once again, we know it's called social media, right?

We use it socially, but we know that these platforms are not social platforms.

These platforms are marketing platforms, right?

Right.

So you're showing them how to do that.

Okay, cool.

So, so our show, I said, we're like the number one, um, Podcast

for creative entrepreneurs, right?

So we talk about strategy, structure, and self development.

So I see you as a creative for newer, right?

Based on just me, me knowing you a little bit, um, hearing your story.

Um, do you see yourself as a creative

for newer though?

Oh, it took a while.

And, you know, before I started with the content creating, I was just, you know,

in my business, like most entrepreneurs are, they're doing all the things.

They're, you know, Sometimes doing the work, like when I started the writing

business, I was actually writing.

So yeah, that is, you know, a creative preneur doing the writing.

But then as I grew and I learned that I had to start delegating and automating

things that, you know, at the end of the day, my job was to drive sales.

And one of the best ways to drive sales online is through content creation.

So that's kind of just where I fell.

So for the most part, when my business is, I'm the one who's

pretty much the creative director, as far as the content is concerned.

Um, I am head of sales.

I do employ teams at this point.

Um, but that's just where my, my, I guess, expertise lie.

I just kind of ended up here and I do enjoy it.

So I'm glad I'm blessed to have ended up in this position.

I will say.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Right.

So, so when we're talking about that whole content creation piece, and you

just mentioned that you enjoy it, I know a lot of people, even, even people

that are creatives that hate that side.

Like when I, when it comes to the social media piece, like

I can't, I can't stand it.

I do it, but I don't like it.

So.

Do you think that's the creative in you that enjoys the content creation

piece?

Actually, I think it's the scientist in me that enjoys the content piece.

Um, because for me, it's like math and numbers.

So for some reason I can look at content or I can look at what's

trending or what's going viral and I can immediately like take that pattern

out and apply it to something else.

So that for me, it's.

It's, it's, it's a mathematical thing.

It's not as creative, the viral pieces.

Of course I got to do the content and I got to make the video.

I got to bring the vibes and all that stuff.

So that's the creative piece, but the actual, like, how am I going

to propel this content forward is like a scientific thing for me.

Hmm.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Not okay.

That's you just, you just sparked something in me.

So let's talk about that piece because you said, okay, it's not necessarily an art.

And you didn't say that, but this is what I'm surmising, right?

But there's a science to this.

So talk about that science piece.

Like, okay, you said it's numbers and it's science.

What does that exactly look like?

Um, you gotta be able to just...

analytics and tell what's trending.

And, and it's so crazy because it's a perfect meld of my personality

because, you know, on one hand, I went to school on a, on a music

scholarship, and then the, on the other hand, I'm a doctor of pharmacy.

So, you know, the chemistry and then the music and then, you know, the

biology and then the scale, you know, so it's always been this duality for me.

So it's the content creation piece.

It's just being able to take a look at those analytics.

Connect what the math says, you know, the deltas, well, you know,

what's the change over time?

You know, what, what time factors go into, you know, the

views and, and the followers.

And, you know, if I do this type of content, what is going

to give me the biggest return?

Um, being able to break that down and, and being able to not do, you

know, based on luck or create based on luck, but create based on, okay,

I know that if I do this, this, and this, I should get this in return.

Wow.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Wow, wow.

So it's it what you said that you added that on there.

You said she didn't say it is not art.

She just said, she said as a science as well.

And that's why when you go to school, you get a degree of

Bachelor of art and science.

Right.

It's an art and science combined.

And as you just said that, I heard you talk about, wow, art and science, like

that is, and all of that goes together.

And I think that from what I see, artists, or creatives, or whichever

word you want to lean into at this moment, those who have some type of,

ability to tap into that other side is that's where we see the most success.

That's what I'm, that's what I'm listening.

So saying that to say, now, listen, if you're just a pure, you're watching this

and you're just a pure writer, I like, I didn't have another degree option,

but just being able to lean in to that science side is not as much as that art

side could totally make the difference.

Yeah.

Right.

And it's something that has always been like the case for me.

Like I grew up in that environment.

My dad was an artist.

He painted, he did ceramics and woodwork.

And my mom was the pharmacist.

I'm a second gen pharmacist.

She was, you know, the, the scientist, she was the one who brought it all

together and was like, Hey, let's, you know, market this and let's sell

this and let's, you know, apply, you know, those things to the business.

I think that, you know, all creatives need that side.

I remember talking about this with Ron, you know, a long time ago.

I'm like, look, you know, sometimes the creative just wants to show up as the

creative, but it takes that other side in order to make a business out of that.

So it can sustain yourself.

And when I was in, you know, music, what's one of the thing I found out

real fast is that when I had to Do music in order to sustain myself.

I was like, not really my thing, but you know, I've landed in the correct position.

I would say.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: And I can relate to that.

Right.

Where it's like, for me, music, I love doing it.

I'm very passionate about doing it, but I never wanted to.

monetize it to where this was my sole revenue generator, you know?

Cause it was like, it, it just, it, it, for me, it took away something.

So it was like, okay, where can I fit in to where I can utilize my gift for

creating, but also be able to monetize it to where I can, you know, keep this.

Pure per se.

So no, that's, that's interesting.

I don't know if I knew that about you that you, I, I, I know you, you did

the, I know you went to school for pharmacy, but I didn't know that you

initiated going to school for music.

A lot

of people don't know that.

I mean, I was a band nerd, like drum major of the band, all that good stuff.

Like don't talk about them.

Wow.

That's really, really cool.

Okay.

So All right, so let's go ahead and hop right in.

So now we know that you are an artist.

You're, you are, you say it took you a while to figure out

you're the creative entrepreneur.

You was always a creative entrepreneur from the beginning.

You went to school to be creative and like so.

It's almost like you saw them as two separate things, and it probably

took a while to learn how to blend the two, is what you're saying.

Forever.

I changed my major in college the first time, like, eight times.

Like, I couldn't figure out where I belong, because here I

was, you know, good at music.

I was always just...

Naturally good at math and science.

I didn't know what to do.

So I'm glad that I'm, like I said, I'm glad that I'm here.

It's, it makes a big difference in your life when you can, you know,

finally put your hands on your purpose.

So speaking of putting your hands on your purpose, again, we're

talking about you're a writer, so you literally put your hands on things.

So can you tell us a little bit more about this company that

you created around writing?

Right.

So, um, back when I was in pharmacy school, I was off

for the summer and I was.

Struggling.

Like I had been in sales for a very long time, completely like did a

180 and left all that behind, left all the money and the perks and the

commission and everything behind, and decided to go to pharmacy school.

It was off for the summer, broke as a joke, and had to make 140 to

keep my kids, my twin daughters.

Who are like a year and some change at that time in daycare.

And what I was doing is I was doing this for free.

I was writing people's resumes.

I was doing business plans.

I was doing all these things for just, you know, free labor for all my friends and

family, and, you know, people are sending people to me and all that type of stuff.

So one day I decided, you know what, I, I gotta do something.

So I decided that I was going to start charging for these resumes.

When I started advertising myself, uh, which is something that I've

always done in the past, I've worked for advertising companies.

I've worked for radio stations in sales.

I started advertising myself in the business, just kind of

like took off in about a month.

I was making like 1500 a week.

Um, and then I had to figure out how I was going to sustain

that and go back to school.

So, um, that's where the company was born at first.

It was.

A one woman show, um, because like I said, it was just a hustle.

I was just trying to make a, you know, 200 max to keep my

kids in daycare and pay for gas.

And then when I came with that problem, like, Hmm, how am I going to

go back to school, pharmacy school?

You know, full time medical school and also keep this revenue coming in.

So that's when I started hiring people.

And from there, over the years, we've grown.

We, we have probably about 30 something writers over any given period of time,

depending on what the seasons look like.

We have several VAs.

I have an assistant who also has an assistant.

Um, so it just kind of blew up from there because I learned very early on

that if I wanted to make the type of money that I could sustain myself on as

a single mother, then I had to make sure that I knew how to delegate and what I

couldn't delegate, I could then automate.

Wow.

Wow.

She's talking my language.

Delegate, automate,

scale.

All of these things are sounding really great.

We're going to be talking about that a little bit more about some

of the things that you did to scale.

How do you actually delegate?

How do you automate?

So many people have so many questions about that.

Like, okay, if I'm not writing it, if I want to get anything written

well, I got to write it myself.

That could be your philosophy.

So for all the writers out there, we're going to get into how you get to the

point where you're able to delegate.

Okay.

Run, I want to, I want you to lean in a little bit and inquire about the,

the branding behind like this company.

So the name of the company, like how do you get to the point?

Like, you know, all of that.

And I say run because run loves that he nerds out on that type of stuff.

So

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: no, um, that's a great question.

Right.

So You start out providing the service and then you, you,

you realize, okay, oh great.

I'm, I can, I'm generating revenue.

Like I said, you were just trying to get 147 and you got 1500, right?

So now it's like, okay, now I have to pull some other things in

place in order for this to work.

But then at what point and what, what, when did you start to say, okay, wow,

I need to be able to like brand this?

And actually you said you had a set, you had some sales background,

so you knew, you knew sales and marketing and things like that.

But at what point in time, then does that stuff come into play?

Honestly, um, I didn't build my first website for that business

until like maybe three months or so end.

And it was really just because I needed it to do something for me.

And I've talked to Ron about this before.

Like, I don't believe in having websites that do absolutely nothing for me.

It it makes.

Um, but I, that's when I started recognizing, okay, I've got to not only

have that utility with those websites, but I also have to start being recognizable.

I know from being in sales for a very long time that the people

use your services when they can.

You know, they can find you or they can recognize you.

Um, if you think about it right now, about how, think about how many

different brands of toothpaste that you can think of, if you, if you think

about that, you could probably come up with like maybe four or five, if

you're really observant, maybe like.

7 or 8 or something like that.

There's like hundreds of brands of toothpaste.

Okay, I didn't want to be one.

I wanted to be in that four to five.

I didn't want to be in that, you know, hundred that nobody knew about.

So that's when I finally started to connect in.

But honestly, it was such a hustle for me at the beginning.

I mean, you got to imagine I was in school with twins.

Full time pharmacy school.

I mean, one of the top pharmacy schools in the country, Mercer University,

you know, afraid to flunk out.

Um, you know, running this business so that I could pay the bills, you

know, for myself, keep the kids in daycare, all that good stuff.

So I could afford the opportunity to go to school full time.

Um, so branding and stuff wasn't really at the top of my mind, but it's still

something that I worked on over time.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Right, right, right.

So in regards to, so you said this started off in the summertime, so

you was doing this in the summertime and then you had to go back.

So by, so what was that, what was that strategy that you put in place is

like, okay, I need to keep this going.

But then what are some of those things that, okay, nope, this was the first

thing I did in order for me to keep this going, to keep this revenue coming.

But I wanted to keep, but I went with this, I created this hustle.

I wanted to keep this hustle going.

That's so good, Ron.

What was the first strategy?

Okay, so I know people ask me this a lot and they're

like, what did you outsource first?

So what'd you think about first?

And what I'll tell them is that it really doesn't matter what you outsource first.

The key is that you are replacing yourself.

So whatever it is that you're doing and it's taken up the most of your

time, then you replace that with something else, whether it be hiring

somebody or automating something.

So for me at that point, because I was writing all these papers myself,

like I was literally, you know, 15, 20 papers a week, and I'm not talking

about 15, 20 pages I'm talking about Projects that could be eight pages

or 10 pages or three or four pages.

So I was sitting there on my couch really for the whole

entire summer just typing away.

Um, so when I knew at that point when I went back to school And I got to study

all this stuff and learn all these drugs and figure out all this chemistry and

all that stuff I wasn't gonna be able to sit on my couch all day and write those

papers So I had to hire writers that was that was the first thing that I had to

do Um, then when I hired so many writers and I started expanding, I had maybe 15

writers that were all over the world and I had an American based, um, customer base.

Okay.

So that means if you've got writers over across the globe and got

customers over here and you're the only person that's in between

them, then you're working 24 seven.

Okay.

So.

Cool.

Cool.

Then I had to start outsourcing management of the writers.

So I kind of built my own in house agency that way.

So I hired somebody.

They take care of, uh, you know, the writers, they do all that communication.

Um, so that was the sec, the, the second thing that I had to do.

And then when I did that, I realized, Whoa, wait a minute.

I'm still in between all these people.

So that's when I had to start automating.

So in 2017, um, I spent 20, 000 and spent a year of my time to work with developers.

With no code experience, no nothing, literally a year, um, building my

automated system so that I could remove myself, again replacing

myself, out of the back and forth between writers and clients.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Wow.

Wow.

Oh,

really, really cool journey.

I want to say this, um, this entire time we've talked about

you being a creative writer.

We talked about you spending hours writing and then how your first strategy was to

outsource something, uh, really just to kind of free up your time cause you needed

to, cause you were trying to go to school.

But for most creatives.

The need is for whatever reason you need it to, whatever it is that

they need their time back for that.

It sounds like you're saying strategy is, I mean, your first strategy is

to outsource something because that's where it creates scale, something

that's time consuming, right?

OK, so we're talking all about this writing.

We're talking about, obviously, we're not talking about how prolific you are

because you're writing all these papers and resumes and all this, all this

writing you're doing to help other people.

What I do want to say is.

We're going to get into a little bit further into like some of the

systems that you put in place, some of the structure that you put in

place to kind of manage all of this.

But I want you to drop the name right quick before we go to pay these bills.

As we say here in the podcast world, drop the name of this business

that you build so people can know exactly what we're talking about.

Sure.

There's

two sites, UniversityWriting911.

com and GradeSeekers.

com.

Those are the two.

Mmm.

Just saying.

Don't go nowhere.

We'll be right back.

What's the irony?

It's because it's us in different color clothing.

I mean, listen, we've been doing a lot of talking, and we want to make

sure that you have an opportunity to make a statement as well.

Because

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: we've seen people make statements

with their athletic apparel.

We've even seen people make statements as entrepreneurs.

But one thing I haven't seen is somebody make a statement

as a creative entrepreneur.

So what we have given you an opportunity to make a statement

as a creative entrepreneur.

Okay.

Okay.

So if they want to make sure that they're rocking that creative preneur

gear, where can they go get that?

You

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: can go get that gear from whatstheirony.

com.

Okay, when we say we're playing these videos, a lot of times

people think we got some kind of sponsor.

No, you are the sponsors.

Those of you guys who are creative entrepreneurs who are watching this,

who need some gear that they can rock to actually let people know

that you're a creative entrepreneur.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Awesome.

Awesome.

So no, like you, in the first half, you've, you've

definitely let us in on a lot.

Right.

Um, and that piece, as far as the, you wanted to replace yourself as

the writer so that you can scale.

Cause like, listen, I can't keep doing this writing somebody else to do that.

Now, a lot of this, I want to know like the mindset kind of behind that, because.

Yeah.

The average person not going to know that they need to do that.

The average person, I don't like, what, how did you come to those?

I know it's like, okay, I'm going back to school, but I want to know mindset

wise, what, what, what was going through your mind in order to come to that?

Like, is there something from the past that you knew or

yeah, where that come from?

So again, it's the math for me.

So I've always been somebody that is real focused on the numbers

and it's just natural for me.

But also when you've been in sales for as long as I had been by

that point, um, you know, you're always looking at the run rates.

You're looking at the percentages.

You're looking at your clothes, right?

You're looking at all that stuff.

And I guess I just came.

Into my business with that.

So, uh, and I've done this before, um, on some of my lives and on some of my, um,

you know, masterminds and stuff like that.

But I talk about the difference between doing everything

yourself and then outsourcing.

So the math works out like this.

If you have a job or, um, let's say something that you can

do for somebody else and you charge a hundred dollars, right.

And at capacity, meaning that you cannot do any more.

You know, for whatever reason, you can only do like 20 of those a week.

If that is the case, then you can only make 2, 000 per week, right?

However, if you hire five additional people who can do exactly what you

do and they can each do 20 of those same jobs and you charge, um, 100.

For that job, then you're looking at what 10, 000, I believe it works

out to be a week and you pay them.

Let's say 50 percent of the job.

Then you just took your revenue from 2, 000 to 5, 000 a week and you removed

yourself from having to do all that work.

So, for me, the math has always made sense.

I needed to know that I was going to be able to pay my bills, still go to school.

My kids were going to be taken care of and that I could still live a comfortable

life because 1 thing I don't like to do.

It's struggle.

The math definitely have to, has to math if you don't want to struggle.

She says the math is definitely, it was a math.

And if you're just, I'm being silly, cause that's what they say out here.

The math is not math.

And then listen, the math, the way you just mathed it really makes sense.

I'm still doing 20 papers.

or 20 whatever it is that I'm doing.

I now do, I've like brought in way more people because I have these other

people that are doing it as well.

I increased my income, but I had to share the income with the people

who were helping me do it, but I'm making more without having to do more.

It doesn't

matter.

I mean, one year we went viral on TikTok with my business.

The first video I posted on, uh, TikTok of my business, the writing business, and we

went viral and at one point we made up to $27,000 in a week and I was writing like

a check for 13,000 of that to my team.

Do you think I give a damn if I got, if I'm making 14,000 a week and I

gotta write a check for 13,000 a week,

I don't, you can have the check.

Everybody can eat.

I don't care.

I was sitting, you know, taking care of my babies.

I believe, no, I wasn't pregnant at that time, but you know, I

was chilling with my babies.

We're homeschooling.

I was doing what I

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: do.

Yeah.

No.

And I heard it said that they say that 10 percent of a watermelon.

is greater than a hundred percent of a grade.

And we have to develop that mindset as entrepreneurs.

So where it's like, it's okay to split the pie, especially once

again, if I can get a bigger pie,

right.

I'll never be able to make 27, 000 a week on my own.

Back when in 2013, when I started the business, I was doing all the work.

My max was probably about 1, 500.

Maybe about double that.

Cause my prices were a little bit different back then, you know,

that whole thing where you don't realize what your worth is and

you're under charge and all that.

I had to go through that too.

Okay.

But once I got over that, I still wasn't going to be able to make that type

of money that it's just impossible.

Wow.

You know, and honestly, so you were asking about the mindset and the

mindset is really you talked about it being math and I love the simplicity

of that because sometimes when we talk about mindset, we're thinking

like, what do I need to tap into?

And what do I need to listen?

Just do the numbers.

So I love that.

That's really, really cool.

I love it.

I think, um, okay, so, oh, I have so much that I want to inquire

about with you, with this business.

And, um, so the first thing, Ron and I are using this terminology so that

you can scale, but you really weren't trying to scale as in grow the business.

You were really just trying to get your time back so that you

can apply it somewhere else, which is technically scaling.

So.

For some people, just start right there.

Like this, just get your time.

Don't worry about trying to, I'm gonna try to bring in all these.

Just figure out how to get your time back and that will help you scale.

This is keep it simple.

All right.

So now we talk about, you talk about bringing on these other people.

You said five other people back in your case, right?

With the writing company.

If we bring on five other writers, what, okay.

There has to be some type of structure or some type of system or

something that has to be in place.

that allows you to then communicate to these other writers that, hey,

I had, you became a conduit, right?

But what needs to be in place for a person or what do they need to do

before they're able to even delegate something out and outsource stuff?

Yeah.

I mean, the communication piece has to be on point.

So that was probably one of the first things that I set up.

Like, what are we going to do to be able to communicate with you?

With each other, especially since the majority of my team was, you know,

based overseas or whatever, like, how are we going to communicate?

And that can bring a huge.

Like issue, it could be a huge barrier, especially when you're

working with people overseas.

Number one, how are you gonna do it?

Like, what is gonna facilitate that as far as you know?

Is it by phone?

Is it by text?

Is there a platform that you're gonna use, but also cul culturally?

'cause there are cultural differences that you have to deal with when

you're dealing with people who are from different countries.

You know, be me being a woman and dealing with people, you know, some of.

I ran Iraq, you know, Kenya, uh, India and all the other stuff.

They didn't really take too kindly to me, you know, being the boss

and giving them, you know, ordering them around or whatever at first.

Um, but you gotta kind of get over that.

So I would say that that communication was like the first system and

process that I had to put in place.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: If you don't mind us asking, what specific

tool do you use for communication?

Cause we know there's a plethora out there, right?

Um, I know me and Shy use Slack and there's some things like that, but what,

what, what tool do you, do you use?

So

I started off with Asana, which was weird.

Sometimes I go and I take, you know, I coach other business owners that

are doing the same thing that I do.

And I'm like, Hey, if you want to do this here, look at it.

It's a little convoluted, but work better than what you're doing now.

Um, so, uh, but if not, I do use Slack.

So we have multiple channels.

We have a channel that's just for, you know, writers.

And we also have a channel that the writers and the.

The customers can communicate with each other.

That's for one business.

And then on the other side, um, the platform that I was talking

about earlier has a built in type of communication piece, right?

He said the other type has to do with the communications.

What's the last

thing you just said?

The platform.

Remember I talked about building that custom platform that I had to build?

It includes a communication piece.

So, um, we use that there.

Okay, gotcha.

Something custom.

Okay, so, uh, when it comes...

See?

Customization.

Alright, so this is...

I like that you said that.

So, number one, there should be a go to system that you can

probably find that works for you.

Maybe it's weird, but then you may have to, like, build out something

custom for whatever it is your creative business is wrapped around.

So I like that, that, uh, that idea.

And it's probably going to be a both and, not an either or.

For some things you can use this, but for some stuff that's specific

to what you have going on, you guys may need something different.

Something specific, so.

Really good advice there.

All right.

So we, okay, go ahead, Ron.

You got something.

Okay.

So, okay.

So we use Slack.

Slack is this way for you and the team to talk.

You create channels specifically so that when we're in this channel, we're

talking about this specific theme.

And then of course, um, as it relates to probably like collaborative

writing or probably something like that, we have another custom piece.

Okay.

All right.

So now when you first want to, when you first decide to outsource something

and you're trying to delegate first, got to get the communication in peace.

All right.

So now how do you then Like, make sure you're, what system are you using to

like, properly manage this team, right?

So now, right, so just because I hired the team, that doesn't mean we're managing the

team well, or how do we keep it going, or, you know, keep that whole machine running.

I know it's communication, but like, is there something that somebody

that, that as a Creative Entrepreneur.

As an entrepreneur, do they need to implement this?

This right here is going to help you keep it

going, right?

So if you start getting to a place where you have a large team, I encourage you

to hire somebody that you can communicate with that can communicate with the team.

So this is, this is something I learned as a drum major when I was in the band.

I didn't, if I have a 200 piece band, I can't, I'm not going to

individually talk to everybody.

You know, at the same time, certain things.

Okay.

But things that are important.

What I want to do is I want to take the section leaders, which might

what about eight of those, maybe 10 at the most, bring them in and tell

them what, what the plan is, and then let them go and be responsible

for their own individual teams.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Okay.

Okay.

No, that makes sense.

It

does.

I love it.

You know, I'm the artist in me is just, I'm loving this musical, you know, because

music is being used as a way to talk about structure, which is normally not the case,

but the way you painted out, you letting people know that we got some organization

going on over here in the music side.

Yeah.

I'm a music artist.

So, so, okay.

So one of the things you talked about earlier, which was, so now I'm asking

you about systems and then it also has to be combined with structure.

Cause you talked about that just a minute ago, which is.

Hey, I was talking to my teammates and they're all in different

time zones and stuff like that.

So now I'm working 24 hours.

So now if I can create one point of contact, then that point of contact

who maybe has a better time scale with the rest of the, with the other people,

then I can communicate with them.

Then they can communicate with others.

I like that because you said it earlier, but it's like, okay,

you have to hire that person.

So then do you need to like, like develop a job title or like, what do you have?

You know what I'm saying?

What do you, what, what do they need to do to like, so they can go

ahead and get that person so they can have that person to talk to that

person, you know?

Right.

So the job title, you know, for me, that's always been kind of fluffy, but

I mean, some people get off on that.

So I don't know.

What do you call that?

Yuck their yum or whatever.

Right.

Right.

Right.

The main thing you got to do is empower them to make decisions.

So they know exactly what to do in certain situations.

Uh, we still use Asana for that.

So we have a list of S you know, SLPs.

If this happens, then we do this.

If that happens, then we do this.

And anything, anytime something new comes up, then we go back.

We, after we solve the issue, we go back, we write up a new SLP.

So now that when something happens and I'm asleep or I'm with the

kids or I'm, you know, across the world, and you can't reach me,

then y'all know exactly what to do.

You should only have to touch me in dire situations or situations

that we haven't discussed yet.

Ladies and gentlemen, we introduced the SOP.

Okay.

The Standard Operating Procedure.

You just, you really giving it to them right here.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: That's what I'm saying.

That's why I'm like, we got to get on the show because she is, you

know, when it comes to delegation, automation and all that, like.

So when I say we introduced the standard operating

procedure, she said the SOP.

So the SOP for some who may not know is the standard operating procedure, which is

a set of instructions that we use within our business to be able to communicate

what happens in any given scenario.

So that's why she's saying, so if that's there, then we don't need to contact me.

The, the person who's the founder or the president or the initial

person who, they won't have to if you actually have it listed out on

this is how we handle this thing.

When this person comes in through payment, this is what

happens from here, here, here.

If you run into this scenario, we do this.

If you run into that scenario, we do this.

And she gave the tip on, not only do you need to have the standard operating

procedure, so everything that you do should be written down, but also go

back in and update the stuff as issues come up, cause like, issues will arise.

Now,

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: how do you know, cause once again, The average

creative, let alone creative for newer, even entrepreneurs, they're not

going to know that they need an SOP.

They don't even know what an SOP is for some people.

Right.

So how did you know that?

Okay.

I need these SOPs in place.

Um, so at what point in time do you know that you need them?

And then how did you know how to actually create one?

Cause I'm tired.

I'm sorry.

I was burnt the hell out.

You know, I'm a problem solver and I've said this online before, and I think

I've talked to you about this, Ron.

As a business owner, your job every day is to wake up and solve problems.

Right.

You're the type of person who runs away from problems and, and

you know, gets defeated every time they run into an issue.

Then you're going to really struggle as an entrepreneur

because that is literally your job.

Okay.

So when you remove yourself from doing all the work, you remove

yourself from working in the business.

And put yourself in a position to work in on the business.

And when you have all these teams, your job is to make their job easier so that

they can output as much as possible.

So when I ran into this problem, I said, wait a minute, I'm tired.

I'm burnt out.

I'm not able to hold up my end because I do have a job.

You know, my job is sales and marketing, content creation.

The creative stuff, the systems, making sure the automations and stuff

are tested and working properly.

So I do have a job, and if they are constantly just bombarding me with all

these things, then I can't do my job, and if I can't do my job, they can't do their

job, then the whole system falls, right?

So I knew that I had to document this stuff, write it down, so that,

and make it easily accessible for them, so that we're not You know,

having what they call in science and chemistry, the rate limiting step.

You know what I'm saying?

What, what part of the process is going to be the rate limiting step?

The one that's going to slow everything down, you know, before

the output can actually occur.

Wow.

Come on.

Y'all better lean in on this Science at Massey.

Letting you know it'll help you with business.

What is the bottleneck?

Is what we call it in the operations world.

What is, everything is flowing through the conduit.

It's moving and all of a sudden something is slowing down.

Where it's slowing down?

We need to start writing some, writing some SOPs about that because we don't

want this to be a slowdown anymore.

We want to open this back up so that Businesses continue to flow.

I love it.

I want to say this.

You guys are listening to, um, someone who started the university

writing 9 1 1, a university.

Yeah.

So we told you about that, but, and we're asking all these questions

about, Hey, what about this?

Or can you tell us about that?

What system do you use here?

But there is another business that you have that actually helps other

writers, creative writers who want to start their own six figure.

Writing agency, right?

Can you want to, let's talk about that a little bit cause I think

we should drop them a link so that those who are listening, who are

writers are like, this is sounding

good.

Now I know how to ask.

It's not just

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: limited to writers.

No, no,

no.

This process actually I found just by trial and error on my own

applies to a bunch of different bits, service based businesses.

Um, so I've started, um, a mattress removal service, um, a local services.

I work with a local roofer in the area and we apply this to his business

and I make residual off of that.

Um, I have, uh, cars, a couple of SUVs that I'm renting out.

Um, this lovely thing behind me is actually a content

house that I've decorated and purchased in the Atlanta area.

We've applied it to some of the services and things in there as well.

So the process is something that you can take out and you can literally

use for service based businesses.

Um, but I do have, um, a guide that I wrote that talks specifically

towards writers, um, and it's called write6figures, or I'm sorry, write6figs.

com.

Um, so you can check that out and it'll give you literally a guide of

everything that I did in my writing business to scale it from, you

know, nothing to what it is today.

Wow.

Right.

Sixfigs.

com.

Okay.

I'm telling you, we'll drop a link for you in the description so

that you can know how to get here.

Ron, you got something else cause you know, I'm gonna keep going.

I don't, I don't, you

know,

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: listen.

I mean, no, it's, it's, it's, she, she said so much.

So I definitely, it's a lot of things that have been just kind of firing

off, um, in my head in regards to, um, you know, what it is she does and

how she approaches it and whatnot.

Um, but one thing I want to just kind of, leaning a little

bit for our audience, right?

So for you, you were like, okay, I'm doing all the writing.

So I had to see, okay, because I'm spending the most of my time there and

I need to free up my time so I can do other things, but for that creative

to where the writing piece or whether it's writing or whatever their creative

piece is that they enjoy doing that.

They, they want to keep doing that, but they know these other things are needed.

Speak to them a little bit, right?

Cause they don't look at it.

Like, listen, I wanted to get the writing off my plate so that I can scale it.

But for this person, like I don't want to take the writing off or I don't want

to take this other creative aspect off.

I want to keep doing that.

So how do you, what would your advice be to them?

So let me tell you a secret.

The writing never left my plate.

Okay.

It's still on there.

It's just on there in different ways.

So I'm writing ads.

And I'm writing Facebook statuses and I'm writing TikTok videos and scripts.

And now I'm studying AI prompt engineering and I'm, and I'm working with that.

Um, so the creative piece really never disappears.

It just moves to different.

You know, places.

Um, so I'm very much still writing.

I, I, I write so much in a day.

I mean, I've got files and files of content that I just sit there and I write.

Now I've gotten to the place where I've had to systemize

the, the content creation too.

Um, that's something I definitely want to talk about because when I

transitioned from, you know, whole business owner, entrepreneur, you

know, Hear me roar, all that stuff.

And then I started creating video and for some reason I thought

that it was going to be different.

You know, I was, you know, I was in a place where, you know, I could

work minimal hours, be around for my family, you know, do all the things

and then got into content creation.

And it took me probably about three, four months to realize, wait a minute, girl,

you already did this to yourself once.

You know, calm down and do what you know you ought to be doing because

that video content creation, you know, podcasting, TikToks, Reels, Facebook,

all those things will wear you out.

I mean, and I, and I went through it, like physically went through, um, so.

That's something that you have to be aware of as well.

Okay.

I like it.

I like it.

I love it.

I love how you said that basically you didn't quit writing.

You started writing something else.

And so for creative, if they're not a writer, it may

not be that you stop cooking.

You're just going to start cooking in a different way.

You know?

Maybe you didn't stop producing, you started producing in a different way.

When I say music production or something like that, maybe you

didn't stop producing the show, you started producing from another.

So it, it just basically sounds like they have to embrace the reality.

It's not that they're going to stop doing it.

So they're like, Oh, bring somebody in so stop doing this.

No, you're not going to stop doing anything you love.

You're just going to have to do it in a different capacity.

All right.

So you gotta, you gotta learn how to kind of.

Open your eyes and see stuff where it is.

Like Martha Stewart.

I mean, she's, when she had her cooking show, she was still technically cooking,

but was she prepping out everything?

Was she going to the grocery store?

Was she, you know, having to pull all her ingredients?

Was, you know, all that stuff was prepared for her, but she was still cooking, right?

So this is, it's the same thing, you know, you're still going to be creative.

And at this point, she's probably just looking over things and improving.

She's using the knowledge that she learned from all that creativity from years and

years of practicing that in a different capacity, but it's still creativity.

Martha Stewart is a creative entrepreneur.

Okay.

But no, that is so true.

There were aspects of that.

I like going to the store.

I like cooking the food.

I like doing, okay, you like all, you really like cooking, but you don't have

to go to the store or you like, you know, there's some part of it that someone

else can do without you having fear that the ball is going to be dropped.

I want you to speak to that real quick, because I see that outsourcing is very

important to you to develop, whether it's a writing agency or any agency model,

you have to begin to embrace outsourcing.

Number one, realizing you're not going to have to let go

of the thing you like to do.

You're going to get to still do it.

But what about people who struggle with like the whole idea of man, the ball is

going to get dropped or I'm going to.

Lose like clock before this thing is going.

Okay.

What would you say to that?

So one thing you had to get comfortable with when you stop doing all the work

yourself is now you take off that doing hat and you move into a trainer position.

And I think that's what most people drop the ball at, is that they believe

that people should come perfect.

People should come to, you know, into your space, knowing all the things,

knowing your systems and processes, knowing how you like things done.

And that's just not the case.

So you have to learn how to communicate, train people, develop people.

You really start to pour your knowledge into other people.

Okay, that's the first thing.

And then the second part, how arrogant do you have to be to believe that you are

the only one that can do a job the way that you do it or as good as you do it?

That is one of the most arrogant things the most, and one of the

biggest limiting beliefs that I've seen literally crack people down.

I've seen people not allow people to help them or do things for them

because in their mind, oh, nobody's gonna be able to do it like me.

I don't care if you do it like me or not.

Is the result gonna be the the same or better?

If so, move forward.

That, that sounds good to me.

Right.

So go ahead, Ron.

No, no.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Go ahead.

Go ahead.

I was going to say, um, that that part was very important when we

talk about delegating and outsourcing to realize that when I outsource, I

am not just outsourcing a task because then I'm going to create somebody

who can just hopefully follow my way.

But when I, when I delegate the.

Like the full like responsibility you're like, yeah, you do delegate the authority

and there you give them the authority to be empowered means that you kind of

have to not train them to do it your way.

You have to train them to be empowered, which is another word that you say, like

you are going to have to, yes, they're going to be able to do it, but you have

to do some form of training as well.

Because it's one thing to give people to make other task makers, and it's

other people, you're making other people leaders, and they can lead

that thing without you having to lead it, you know, the entire time because

they have the authority to lead it.

Why do they have the authority to lead it?

They already have the know how, how, which is why you hired them, and then you

train them, not to make them a follower and do it your way, but you train them

to be empowered, to execute in their authority, and they can lead that thing.

You don't need to, that's arrogance to think that you're the only leader.

There's so many leaders

out here.

Right.

And I think that's where a lot of organizations crumble.

They fall because they're not training people to work with them.

They're training people to work for them.

They want to set up this, you know, hierarchy of, you know, I'm, I'm the boss.

I'm gonna tell you what to do.

And at the end of the day, it doesn't really leave any space for people

to develop those leadership skills.

I want decision makers.

I want people who can logically think about, well, if this happens, then.

We gotta do this, or what do you think about this?

You know that that's when you're become, I, I think a true entrepreneur,

when you have people that can come to you with ideas, not just, okay, what

are we gonna, what are we gonna do?

You know, , what I'm saying, they're coming to you.

It goes from, Hey, Lorraine, we've got this problem.

What, what next to.

Hey, Lorraine, we've got this problem.

I think we should blah, blah, blah, blah.

What do you think?

Right.

And, and I encourage that because when they first come to me with problems,

well, what do you think that we should do?

Right.

What, what in your experience, have you, have you seen this before?

Have you ran across this before?

What would you do if you were in this position?

So that now we're having a collaborative effort and not just,

you know, feeling like somebody's telling them what to do all the time.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Yeah.

Yeah, listen, I want us to keep going, but you know, it is, we

are at the point of the show where we're going to wrap it up, right?

But this has been a phenomenal interview and you've given so many gems and

jewels and I'm hoping that you guys are listening to what was shared.

If you, if you need to go back, go back and listen, make sure you take

a note because she was definitely dropping some, some gems and jewels

on how, how, how you can effectively run and grow and sustain and all

these things, your creative business.

So yes, no, thank you for your time.

We're going to have to have you come back because I do want you to talk about that.

That content piece, right?

I think that's the

thing.

I'm going Just give me one something from, you said you wanted to talk.

Give me one something.

Just a nugget.

Just to tease me for the cartoon.

If you're worried about going viral, you better be ready.

That's all I gotta say.

If you're not ready to go viral, you better chill out and sit down somewhere

because going viral can just tear your whole, thing down if you're not,

that, that would be the one thing that I've dropped for now, but I would

love to come back and talk about, you know, viral marketing and how you can

monetize that um, and, and really, you know, blow your business up.

Wow.

I, I, I need to hear about it myself.

I got to hear about this.

One other thing I like to give a hardcore data.

When we have someone come on here on this show, it's cause they.

Have achieved six, seven, and even eight figure type of success.

And they know what they're talking about because they've done it.

And we're trying to follow and implementing their, their steps.

Those of us who are emerging creative entrepreneurs, a lot about

outsource, outsourcing, hardcore data.

About how many people would you say that you have, uh, hired to

be able to outsource tasks to?

Just a number.

Hmm, let's

see.

And this is correct because you asked me earlier, like, how

many businesses do you have?

I'm like, oh, I don't know.

Um, so I have, um, three assistants.

Um, one writing manager.

I have five, um, writers who work specifically on larger projects, and I

have, um, about 15 writers that I have working, um, on the smaller projects.

So that sounds like what about 20 for that?

Um, the content creation side, I have, uh, a video editor.

And I believe that's it.

Most of my stuff on content creation right now is mostly, um, automations.

There's a lot of different tools that you can use for that.

Wow.

Yeah.

This is about 30 people that we just, you know, so this is not something

that she's just saying in theory.

This is a reality and things are getting done.

So don't worry about it.

it can get done with or without your hand being all the way on it.

Speaking of being hands on and writing, y'all clap it up for Miss Lorraine.

Oh my gosh, you gave it to us.

Uh, while I'm saying thank you.

Clap it up for you.

I'm saying thank you for being on, but run.

I want you to thank anybody else that needs to be thanked as well.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: Um, once again, I think the listeners, I think each

and every listener that is listening to our, our, our podcast that are, that

are following us, please like subscribe Follow, share if you are gaining any

value from this podcast, but that's, and I will be remiss not to thank you all.

Cause once again, you all are the reason why we are here.

So thank you.

Thank you.

Thank you.

And also please, please head over to the website.

Uh, mmcbpodcast.

com and there you'll be able to join our creatives corner community,

which is both a group as well as a newsletter to kind of keep you

going in between podcast episodes.

So we want to stay in touch with you as well.

And wherever you are listening to this podcast, drop us a review.

We want to hear from you as well.

So thank you so much for tuning in before we get out.

I like to do something with.

All of the listeners.

I want you to repeat this mantra with me so that we can actually

be further empowered in our creative entrepreneur journey.

Y'all ready?

Let's get it.

Let's go.

Say this out loud.

All it takes, all it takes

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: is intention, is intention, consistency,

consistency, and laser focus to run our creative

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: business.

And laser focus to mind my creative face.

Okay.

All right.

Ron "iRonic" Lee Jr.: And on that note, we will see you all later.

Peace.