What happens when a former corporate leader and disabled combat vet sees small business owners struggling with overwhelm and lack of structure? They build a company that helps solopreneurs and entrepreneurs move beyond the “do it all myself” mindset. In this episode of the One Small Change Podcast, Yvonne McCoy sits down with Brandi Cox who shares her three-step method for scaling with ease: building systems, mastering delegation, and true outsourcing—strategies that free up your time to focus on your genius zone. Listen in for actionable insights on how to stop being your own VA and finally step into your true role as visionary.

Guest Bio:

Brandi Cox is a disabled veteran and entrepreneur who turned adversity into fuel for creating thriving businesses. She helps solopreneurs escape the tech and admin grind by teaching them how to “clone themselves” through smart systems and outsourcing. With a mix of grit, humor, and straight talk, she shows overwhelmed business owners how to step into their CEO role and scale with ease.

Chapters:

00:00 "Delegate to Maximize Focus"

05:58 "Realizing I'm the Problem"

08:16 "Ensuring Team Continuity"

11:34 "True Outsourcing vs. Delegation"

16:09 "Prioritize Your Unique Gifts"

18:16 "Caring, Preparation, and Connection"

21:44 "Embrace Change, Embrace Growth"

Quote from the Guest:

“You do what you do best, we'll do the rest.” 

Link:

Download for ebook "You're the Visionary, Not the VA"

https://questforclients.com/wired-to-win-chapter

Welcome to the One Small Change Podcast. I can't believe it's time again

this week, and I am thrilled to embark on this journey of

exploration and transformation with you. And I'm glad you're taking time to join

me too, because I'm your host, Yvonne McCoy, and I bring almost 30 years

of entrepreneurial experience and a passion for discovering

growth through the power of seemingly small change.

And every week, I try to bring somebody interesting and new to talk to

you so that you can learn from their experience. And

this week, we are speaking with Brandi Cox.

Brandi, thank you so much for being here. I'm so

excited. So tell everybody what you do and what was

it that made you decide that's why you were going to do

it and be good at it? Well, thank you for having me.

So I was a big corporate leader and a huge global

conglomerate, and I actually became disabled.

So I'm a disabled combat vet. And when

I became disabled, I started, like, trying to figure out what

to do with myself because couldn't just sit around watching TV all the time.

So I started looking at entrepreneurs, solopreneurs, coaches,

business owners, small business owners. And I quickly

realized that there's absolutely no support

to. No structural support, softwares,

processes, anything for small businesses.

And so what we are done. What we have done is we have tried to

wing it. And I was like, hey, I used to

do this for huge global conglomerates. Why don't I give you guys my

expertise and my processes and the things that I know how to do?

And so that's where it began. So

when you were, what. What would you say is the

biggest thing that entrepreneurs, especially solopreneurs, if

they're coming out of corporate, have to deal with?

They. When you come from corporate, you have a

lot of structure. There's HR, there's management,

there's processes. There's usually, like, somebody in charge

of office supplies, you know, whatever. Everybody's in charge

of everything. And so what solopreneurs do is

they look at it and they go, I now have to do all of this.

And that's the number one reason why solopreneurs fail.

So. So, okay.

You're right. I mean, you know, I mean, it's like, wait,

I thought I had somebody to do this, and I don't, and that would be

me. Right? And so one of the things you say is

you have three steps solopreneurs can use to scale with

ease. So do you want to talk about those? And. And I have to tell

you, the word clone kind of puts my teeth on

edge a little bit. But I want to hear your explanation

first. Well, the idea of the talk of clone yourself

was because we all sometimes wish, oh my gosh, I wish there was

two of me, right? I just, I wish I had more hands.

And so what I do is I sit down with the person and

I go, okay, what do you wish your day looked like? What are you

stuck doing? So like, what is it you're stuck in the middle of? You're

mired in the mud of, you know, can't see the forest for the trees.

And then let's get all of that off your plate. So keep you focused on

what you do best. So my tagline for 10 plus years has been you

do what you do best, we'll do the rest. And

so the number one thing we do is figure out what are you doing that's

not your revenue generating activity, that's not your genius zone.

Let's put that on the hands of somebody else, whether it's a

software, whether it's a process, delegating,

outsourcing, whatever that looks like and

get that off your plate so you can stay focused on what you do. Because

when you step away from that revenue generating activity, you are losing

money. There are no big businesses, real

businesses, we sometimes like to think of them as, that are doing their own

stuff. Dell doesn't do their own communication and

customer support and tech support. Microsoft doesn't do their own

tech support and customer support. Like these

companies don't do it themselves. Why are we doing it ourselves? And the

only reason why is because we don't know any better. We don't, we haven't been

taught any better. So we think we have to do it all ourselves.

And I'm like, there's a million different ways to get this done. We don't have

to do it all ourselves. There's lots of ways we can use

software to automate things or delegate

part time project base or just outsource to another company altogether.

Well, The reason, The reason that I said when I, when you say clone yourself,

it makes me, makes my kids go this way is

because I, I used to coach women executives of non

profits and they would say to me, I just need someone just like

me. And I wanted to say, you're a mess.

You don't need another mess. You need somebody that's going to take up the

stuff that you're not good at. So

you don't want to clone. You want some people with diverse skills.

But I think One of the things that I find.

With solopreneurs is they

don't realize that it's a team

effort. If you're subcontracting to somebody,

if you're using a system, you're kind of like that.

That's part of your team. Right. And

when your team is working well, good things are going to

continue to happen on a consistent basis. And I

actually experienced this the other day when

this message just really hit me in the face really hard.

I. I did a summit, and in my brain, I thought, well, I'm doing the

summit. I'm not going to do my monthly workshop. But I didn't tell anybody

that, Right. And so, you know, the first

day I gave out the link with the date in it for

the next month, and people went, this says August.

Right. And the next day I had an affiliate say, I'm so

excited to promote your workshop this week. And at the end of the second

day, I had over 20 people registered. And it was like, oh,

things are working really well. I'm the problem,

right? Because I'm thinking that I'm still, you know, doing my own thing.

So when you said that there are three steps that

solopreneurs can take, what do you want to talk to us about those?

So one of the first things that we do, like I said,

is we sit down and we figure out what those systems need to look like,

Whether that's a process or software, what that needs to

look like to get it off your plate so we can consolidate all of that

into, you know, a plan. So it's between

building systems, delegating and outsourcing,

getting all of those things off your plate. So

that is so important because. If you are

carrying everything around in your own head. Yep. You don't

really have a business. I mean, you can't. Nobody

can replicate what's in your head unless you put it somewhere, someplace

else. And I think. I think, whoops.

I think what people don't realize all the time is that.

Having a process and a system

make sure that you have consistent quality and.

And believe it or not, people do leave, leave their jobs and stuff

like that. So if you've got somebody who. Who has put together a system for

you and not put it on paper, they're walking out the door with

your business. They are. We see that happen

every day. Somebody, you know, a solopreneur, will hire a

VA and this VA is in charge of all of the things,

and they have no idea. They just tell this va, go do this. And then

that VA gets a better job or has to quit their

job for some reason or, you know, what have you.

And then all of a sudden they have no idea how their business runs anymore

because that VA was handling everything. Yeah. And like, that's one of

the first things that we do is we make that continuity book. We make that

the standard operating procedures so that anybody

can hop in and work on something. They have all of the step

by step instructions, whether it's screenshots or software or whatever we need to

do to make sure that that happens, but they need to

have, so that anybody can just pop in, do that job

and pop out. And so like when I'm working

with my team and my staff and we're, because we're an

outsourced company, we have a staffing agency and everything. And so when

we're working with a client, that's one of the first things that I do. And

I make sure that, yes, this might be your, you

know, your head, part of my team that you're working with, but any of

my team can pop in and do that job. If that person's out sick, if

that person has to quit for any reason, I

need to be able to make sure that everything's got continuity

because otherwise then I'll be the problem with your business.

Yeah. So, okay, so systems and processes. What's the

next thing, the delegation and how that

looks and what that looks like? Not necessarily like,

oh, I'm just going to put this on their plate. Delegation has a whole.

Set of rules to it. You can't just go here, do this, and then

micromanage them or, you know,

get upset because it's not done right because they don't have the right instructions. There's

a, there's an actual process to delegation. And so working with the

business owner to make sure that they're completely aware

of what delegation looks like, how that works, what's the best

process, what is the method to

communicate? And so that's, you know,

it's really hard to get something out of your head and into the head of

somebody else if you don't know how to do that. So that's one of

the things we work with people about. So this is like one of my

favorite things. And so just very

briefly, I just want to add that when you are working

with a subcontractor, you are delegating. Right.

And so you have to be really clear

about what it is that you want. And, and I always say to people, you

know, typically they say, delegate, automate, eliminate.

I, I think you should go about it the absolute Opposite direction.

Because otherwise you were just taking the crap on the top of your

pile and saying to somebody, do it. And, and, and it goes

back to the process. Because if somebody doesn't give you the results you

want before you go, what's wrong with them? You go,

you need to go, was there a process? Did they know the process?

Did they follow the process? Does the process need to be changed,

you know, and updated? Then you go to them, right?

Because if you tell them, if you don't give them enough

instruction or there's not enough resources for them to do the

job correctly, it's not their fault. Right?

And, and I look at delegation, I say to people, you know, you think of

delegation as just giving people stuff to do. I think of delegation as

training. You're training people to take on an important part

of your business. Okay, so I got that off my chest. So

what's the third thing? Well, the third thing

is we also talk to people about true outsourcing,

which is not just delegating to internal staff

and stuff like that, but outsourcing to a whole team of experts where

this is their genius zone, this is their specialty. So

they're going to be able to give you advice instead of you pushing

this is the way it's done. They can actually say, hey, this

is a better way because that's their expertise,

that's their revenue generating activity, their genius.

And so that's what people don't realize is like you can just assign something to

a va and that's different from outsourcing to a company that's going

to take that task over completely. And so

that's, there's a very clear distinction there. And a lot of people

kind of melt, know, merge them and meld them. And I'm

like, when you are treating

somebody like, you know, quote, unquote, staff, you

treat them differently than you would a expert consultant.

And so you as a business strategist, you know that when you come in

and you're helping somebody, you have, this is a

recommended method, a best practice. And they sometimes

have their own understandings of how the world works. And

you're like, no, really, this is the better way. And so

that's a completely different process. And so that's where we like to say,

okay, depending on what your needs are, you might delegate, you

might outsource or you might automate. You know, it depends

on what you need. And so that's, that's something

where our expertise is just

like yours is to help them, guide them to the best

thing that's going to work best for them. And I. I think the other

part to this that makes life even more crazy is

nothing is standing still. No. You know, and

so a solution that worked maybe a year and a half ago

maybe doesn't work as well now or won't get to where you're

going. And I think.

This is just. You know, again, I've had really good conversations

with people today. They fit all my. All my hot buttons. But I

don't know why people are so resistant to

listening to other people's ideas. You know, and

so when I teach delegation, I say, this is what I was.

This. First, I start with what. What the end result is. This is what I'm

trying to accomplish, and this is how I would do

it. And then I say, do you have any better ideas? Or what

are your thoughts? Or how would you do it? Right.

Because sometimes their idea is so much

better than mine based on their expertise, whether it

is. You know, just. How do we put something simple together? I mean,

I'll never forget when I was working in a tax office,

and it was like we. We were, like, really short on space, and.

And, you know, it was like, all these people are like, where are we gonna

put this? You know, I mean, it was like this big thing, and the receptionist

came in and said, you could put it behind this door.

And we're like, no. And she's like, yeah. And I'm like,

this shelf would not fit. There she goes, yeah, I measured it. It would.

Perfect solution in less than five minutes. And

all of these people with their brain cells are trying to figure it out. I

mean, I always say One of the best things about doing exit interviews

or when new people come to work for you, even though you think that

the question is silly, you need to take time and listen to

it, because there's something that triggered it. And if you get the same question

every single time from new people, there's something you're not training

on or not telling them. I mean, it's a huge sense

of information, and I think we get. You know, it's like, I'm

the boss for the first time. I. You know, whatever it is.

Okay, so those are three things. That's fantastic.

You said you brought a gift. I did.

So I. It's like Christmas. Yay.

I actually have a free download of my chapter

in Wired to Win book, and

so I am giving that out to everybody who wants

the free. My free chapter on how to, you know, go from

vision, stop being the VA and start being the visionary, and

how to scale. This is something that I really want to share on The Small

Change Podcast. So fantastic. Give that away to

everybody. I'm so excited about that because I think, I

think, you know, when, when I first started coaching, one of the

things I said was, do you find that

at the, that you've been busy all day long, and at the end of the

day, all the projects that only you can do are still sitting on your desk,

then you need to do something, you know, then you need to change that, because

you're not putting your gifts where they're supposed to be.

And so I think that that is a great gift for anybody

who's listening to this. And I want to make sure you guys, you know,

you're going to find the link in the, in the chat,

in the, in the notes, and so you definitely need to do

that. Okay, so, all right, I'm going to ask you, before we run out of

time, when was the last time you did something new for

the first time? Well, doing

podcasts. So I, I, this

isn't really where I feel the most comfortable. And so

I am autistic, and I struggle with communication

sometimes, and because I think and talk like a

computer. And so I was like, okay, I need to start working on

this, because this is something that's going to help move my business forward. So I

needed to get out here and start doing it. And

action makes perfect. So the

more that I come out and the more that I talk, the more confident I

feel, the more clear I am, and the more

I feel like it's not as scary because I'm out here doing

it. And what's the worst that can happen? What's the worst that could happen? They

can't take away my birthday. So I was like, you know what

the worst that happens is? I feel like a fool. And you know

what the best thing that could happen is? It moves my business forward. So, so

I want to say congratulations. And one of the things I say all the time

is. You need to feel

uncomfortable. Right? And the other thing that,

that, you know, I find is if I don't have some

flutters in my stomach about something I'm going to do,

it means I don't care. Right? You know, because

it's like, if I care about it, it's like, I, you know, did I do

what? You know, am I prepared? Am I going to be able to really connect

with the audience? Am I going to be able to do this? If I'm talking

to a client, it's like, okay, let me see. I know they're resisting

this. How do I help them work through it or whatever. And I always

had that, like, you know, if I'm like,

you know, I'll just wing it. It's like, no big deal. It's like, that's the

signal to my brain, I don't care. You

know, and it's like, why do I not care? And if I don't care, is

this something that's really going to move my business? Am I really doing this for

the right reason? Maybe I should step aside on this.

So, first of all, I want to tell you I think that it's wonderful that

you're feeling uncomfortable and you're doing it, and you did it wonderfully.

The other thing I would say that I can't help. This is the second

time this has happened in, like, three days. Is

turning. Talking about learning styles. And I think that

entrepreneurs need to know a little bit about

learning styles because we don't all learn the same way.

And I am a highly visual person.

I mean, I'm, I, I'm. I had trouble

reading as a kid, and. I could almost

memorize the books. I mean, I don't have a photographic memory or anything like that,

but when I need to find information, I can close my eyes and

go, where did I see that? You know, my husband is

highly auditory. I mean, it is.

It is like ships moving in the night. I mean, I'll say to. If he

loses something, I'll go, where was the last place you saw it? And he just,

like, looks at me like, huh. But if I say him, what were you listening

to on the, you know, were you on your AirPods? Were you on your favorite

speakers? Were you. You know, then he gets it. You know,

it is so. It is so weird. And so part of that delegation

process, or if in terms you're doing sales, it

is really important that you understand what your style is,

because that's your natural go to. But be able

to expand that for other people, you know, whether it's giving a

different kind of example or whatever to help

your client or your employee or your, you know, to get what it

is that you're doing. So this has been my. This has been my week of

people with all kinds of learning kinds of things, myself included.

Okay, so before we run out of time, I. I got to do

the commercial. So I want to make sure

that everybody takes some time to subscribe and share and

engage on social media with the Podcast. And the reason

I'm doing it is because I'm trying to, you know, make our community even

more vibrant and fuel your quest for growth and impact. And I

do that by trying to bring as many different kinds of people as I can

with their stories and the things that they can do to help you

so that you will be able to grow your business, pick and choose, and

have experiences that you might not otherwise have. So I

hope you'll continue to follow me and listen to The One Small Change

Podcast. And if you haven't done it yet, you should listen to the first episode

or to one of the quarter clarity check-in calls

that I do where I talk about what's happening in the quarter and

what trends are coming up.

Stop being your own VA and get back to being your own

visionary. I like it. I like it a lot.

All right, guys, we've run out of time. We could talk a lot

more about some of my favorite topics. But I want you to

remember, change can be simple, but it's not always easy. And it

takes courage, resilience, and a willingness to step out of your comfort

zone. And like we said, if you really care, you're gonna, you know, feel a

little butterflies in your stomach. And, you know, what I know

is if you are not feeling uncomfortable, you're not

growing. If you're not growing, you're actually stagnating because

the world is moving forward with or without you. So I hope

you will continue to join me for The One Small Change Podcast, and together

we can build big visions and innovative possibilities. Until

then, stay very curious.

Brandi, thank you so much for giving us your thoughts and stuff.

Oh, so happy to be here. Bye.