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Running a business is one thing. Building a business that pays you, funds your lifestyle, and creates real wealth? That’s different.
On ZFO Insider, we take you behind the scenes of how high-performing entrepreneurs turn their everyday operations into generational wealth machines; businesses that create real income, lasting freedom, and a legacy that actually matters.
This is your Masterclass in financial vision and business scaling.
Real Numbers. Real Stories. Real Strategies, that turn your cash flow into power.
See you on the inside.
Speaker 1 (00:00.312)
You've got the offer, you've got clients, you're bringing in revenue, but every few months things still feel shaky because you find it hard to deliver on your services. The truth is revenue may grow your business, but your operations will increase its lifetime value. On this episode of the ZFO Insider, I'm talking with Miriam Dix, business operations specialist and founder of 180 Management Group, about how strong systems don't just save time, they save your business.
So there comes a point in time where you cannot grow anymore. You cannot serve any more customers without risking the excellence in which you want to serve them. There comes a point in time where you will hit a wall and you will not be able to go further. And when you hit that wall, that's when you're like,
probably need to change something about how running my organization. What I am saying is it takes intentionality to make sure that we are as busy as we are giving the people who are supporting our business the time, the attention, and the support they need to do their job.
For the past 15 years, Miriam has been the go-to fixer for businesses overwhelmed by fulfillment demands and ineffective processes. Most business owners hit a wall because their fulfillment can't keep up with their growth. We're gonna break down what to fix, where to start, and how to turn your operations into a value machine. Let's get into it.
Thank you. Thank you for coming on even again. know, the people don't know, man, I'm on a journey and setting up a podcast is harder than you think, isn't it? So I'm glad to, we're glad to be back and to continue our conversation that we started so long ago.
Speaker 2 (01:34.168)
Thank you for having me.
Speaker 2 (01:57.838)
But I am glad to be here with you and to have this conversation.
Yes, thank you. So I want to start this off by asking a very simple question, right? You're an operations specialist as we know And you've worked with a lot of businesses who may come and they have good offers. Maybe they have secured their revenues Right, but yet they still feel like things are falling behind. Mm-hmm. Most of the time that doesn't make sense How are you making more revenue, but you still like you feel feel like you've fallen behind? So what's usually the real issue in that circumstance?
It's usually fast growth and not having updated the systems behind the service delivery. so, you can make the money, bring in the revenue that you're looking to bring in and still feel like you're drowning on the backend. And when you feel like you're drowning, that's when you really need to stop and think about what it is that's causing that drowning, right? And what is it that has happened? And if you really look at it, it's...
It's a good thing it's growth.
Yeah, sounds like honestly, we all want to have that overnight success and just boom and the next and wake up one morning and our bank accounts are flooded because our sales pipeline is amazing. Right. But like you said, like sometimes we don't ask ourselves those other questions. There's this question I ask when I'm talking with owners and other people who grown their business. If the entire world said
Speaker 1 (03:30.328)
tomorrow that they wanted to buy whatever you were selling.
What? That.
Could you actually do it? Could you actually fulfill on that?
You know, that is scary to me. You know, some people will be like, my gosh, yes, bring them on. I want all the business. But for me, my first thought is, the processes that we have in place right now scalable? Right? Because at the end of the day, if it works for the number of customers I have today, it does not guarantee that it's going to work for a double that amount, right? Or triple that amount.
That's the first question.
Speaker 2 (04:06.35)
10 times that amount. So we don't want the 10 times, you know, 10 extra revenue without thinking about how we 10 extra service.
Yeah. So you've been doing this for about 15 years now. What's changed in how business is scaled today versus what they used to do?
wow, that's a good question. technology has really become more accessible. And when I say that, there were some types of technology or applications that were not readily accessible to the small business owner or to the average person. And let me give you an example. And I probably will date myself here, but that's okay. Before I launched out on my own and started my own business, I worked for a consulting firm.
And the consulting firm, I was a remote employee, right? And so I had a home office, but I traveled to my different clients. Well, this is before you had a lot of the web-based meeting.
Benar's and zooms all that right zoom got popular
Speaker 2 (05:10.478)
So when it came to me knowing even my coworkers who were in different states, I only recognized them by voice and not by face. So when I got to like a company meeting, I was listening like, oh, that's so and so, because I did not know their face. We had a lot of conference calls. Remember those phone numbers that you dial in and like 23 people would be on the line with you or whatever. We use those types of meeting apparatus.
back then before we used Zoom.
I remember that life. It was brief for me, but I remember.
Right? So think about the pace of business and how things change when you don't have the opportunity to learn your, even your client. So you're having to do a lot of, you know, traveling to actually have these meetings and have the face-to-face and to build a rapport. Right? So if you just think about business that way, we have Zoom, we have
of all these different platforms that have AI embedded in them so we can be more efficient than we ever could be back then. And so when you think about what is my tech stack, right? Because that's what people talk about, right?
Speaker 1 (06:23.342)
Before we go there, actually was going to ask that question because you brought us back to the past and you showed us what technology was like back then. And honestly, you're in present day, you look back and you just open up a newspaper or just watch a video back then, you're like, how did they survive? That's the one big question any millennial or Gen Z, anybody asks, they look.
painful.
Speaker 1 (06:51.81)
How did you all actually do the thing? Because I can't even imagine a world that's not as interconnected as it is or softwares that are not a part of my life. So I want you to talk about the software piece as you were just mentioning. How has the advent of or the new inventions of new softwares changed the way that business fulfillment is actually delivered?
So I'll give some practical examples, there are so many different ways we can think about it. So in the office space, when I was working for a really large organization, we still had in-office mail delivered by people in envelopes.
inner office mail delivered by people with envelopes. So you had mail boys push on the cart. I've only seen that in movies.
No, no, no, no. Like, this was in the 2000s still, like early 2000s. And so you think about the pace or the speed in which you get information. Like that's just a very prime example, right? Just a simple example, primitive example, I should say, of, you know, I'm having to wait for someone to put mail in an interoffice mailbox and I go get that mail or is delivered to me to get this form to sign that I need to enter office back to another department.
Realize
Speaker 1 (08:08.136)
This is this is you USPS in the office.
In the office. So when we started to use software like Adobe that has the signature piece or any of these document type software applications that allows you to sign virtually or digitally, I should say, that by itself, think about how quickly you can actually turn around contracts. Yeah. Right? So that's just a very small example.
I was working in the healthcare space. We went from paper medical records to electronic medical records, right? So instead of a doctor having to write down everything on a paper and every time you went to like a radiologist or you went to another specialist, everyone had paper. So they had to wait for the papers to come in to make sure that when you saw the doctor the next time your record was updated, right? So the pace of service delivery has changed because the technology changed.
Yeah, and has to. And if you don't upgrade, update, you're going to fall behind even faster than you expect.
And I can't tell you how many companies, nothing against spreadsheets because I believe that they serve their purpose for sure. But there are companies that are still keeping their books on spreadsheets today.
Speaker 1 (09:24.43)
Talk about that. Like literally 2025. When you say spreadsheet, like Excel.
They are.
Speaker 2 (09:32.802)
They're managing all their bucks.
Somebody comes in there and data entry. we made $12 today. $12.
Or they don't have the capability or the in-house knowledge to have systems integrate. So now you're pulling a report from one system, pulling a report from another system, and then trying to get those reports to give you one set of data. So now you're using a spreadsheet by manually entering in the data from two different systems. Whereas if you were to have the software talk to each other, do some data integration,
man.
Speaker 2 (10:09.74)
or software integration, then it would seamlessly flow from one systems to the other so you get the reports you need.
Which is, you know, I think, I don't know if people really realize how new of a concept that software is talking to one another or how advanced it has advanced even more recently. Because it's like every software you get, you have the expectation that it's going to talk with another software.
That's the tricky part though, because so we talk about tech stack, right? And what do you need for, I'll just name a couple, maybe you need a CRM, you also need accounting software, may need document storage.
You no, not me, you need document storage.
You need document storage. need, let's say you use proposal management software. I'm just thinking about some of the different pieces, right? When you go online to figure out what it is that you need, one of the things I do with my clients is that we come up with sort of a checklist, if you will, of what we need the software to do. And what we need it to integrate with. So that when you're trying to determine
Speaker 2 (11:19.328)
which application is going be best for your organization, you already can see if it's going to talk to these other systems. Because if you look at any software application for your company, if you go to their main webpage and you put in integrations, it will tell you all of the systems it speaks to or talks to. And that's an important part of discerning if that's the right system for you.
Yeah, but Miriam, like I'm just good at sales, marketing, and I like talking to people and this just feels like, my brain is just overwhelmed. yeah. Like there are people who are asking that question. Like, so you tell me I need a software for every step of the process and I need to itemize like this software, that software, this integrates to this one, but this one doesn't want to integrate to this one.
Well, I'll tell you what, you because you said something earlier to me before we started the podcast about you're the expert for your own business. Right. It's not about you knowing every software. It's about you being able to map out what kind of service you want to provide and how it should flow. If you can say the steps are right. And most people who run a business, they know exactly what it takes to get from A to B to C to deliver a service.
As long as you have that, someone else can help you with what systems you need for it. But the one thing that people like me can't give you is vision. You've got to have a vision for your company. You've got to know exactly what you want your company to accomplish. And then from there, we can come in and help you build everything that you need. And I say everything kind of tongue in cheek, but basically to support you in the areas where you're weak.
And when I say vision, I can't come in and say that for you and how you operate, this is the way that your business should unfold. Because I wasn't there when you got the seed to start it, when you got the vision to start.
Speaker 1 (13:20.782)
Okay, so you're saying your vision is just not no pie in the sky dream. Hey, I want to make a lot of money. Like it sounds like you're saying your vision, it paints the color of like what the operations are going to look like. And it reminds me of a conversation I was just having earlier. Literally earlier today, I was talking with a woman and she was saying, I want to grow my business here, right? But at the end of the day, I love being a therapist.
Like I like being a therapist, right? But she's also the owner, but also the therapist. she's like, and so we talked about saying like, okay, just a matter of what your goals, what is the business? A part of that vision is the type of business you're trying to design. Do you want to carve out time for you to actually still be in the client service, but you have to build the systems for the rest of your staff so that they can deliver.
So is that what you mean?
of things. One is I often engage in strategic planning for organizations.
Okay, define that so that for all the other people, strategic planning is just a buzzword.
Speaker 2 (14:34.806)
It is probably. I will say this, in the nonprofit space, organizations will engage in what we call a strategic planning process so that they can get a plan of action for the next three to five years. Like, where do you want to see this organization go to accomplish its mission over the next three to five years? Okay. Okay.
And then we look at different aspects of the organization as it is today. We conduct SWOT analysis and then we talk about what it is that you want to have happen.
blue by that swath of illnesses. Cause we're here, we're trying to teach our people.
Opportunities and threats, So SWOT analysis, strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats. Strengths and weaknesses are internal to your organization, opportunities and threats are external. And so we're looking at this climate, this assessment of the climate, right? So that we can come up with some good strategy for accomplishing the vision for the organization. And in that process, we're gonna be looking at lots of different aspects, your people, your finances, the services that you offer.
But it's all driven by a mission or vision for your organization. Mission is typically what you will hear most often in nonprofit space. Vision is what you're going to hear more in the for-profit space. Okay. So what's the vision for your company? And when I'm there, I'm facilitating a conversation to pull out what's already in someone. I'm not going to say your business should be here doing this because I don't know if that even aligns with your lifestyle and what you envision for yourself.
Speaker 2 (16:13.454)
as a business owner. But if we can come up with, what did you see in this space? How were you thinking about this? So pulling that information out of someone and putting it in a place or in a format that helps them say, that's exactly what I had in mind. I just couldn't articulate that. You know what I mean? And so that's the strategic planning process. But when you get to that level of clarity to say,
It's exactly where I wanted to go. saw my life. saw my business. saw the staff, the employees, the revenue that we're going to generate, the way we function together. That's where I want to go. Then we can start talking about processes. And we can start about structure. Yeah. Right. Because you can, and I've seen this before, anything new and shiny, people are like, I need that. Well, does it even fit where you're trying to go? And so to keep from
Then, wow, we haven't even.
Speaker 2 (17:08.174)
this opportunity or just to make sure people aren't getting into these arrangements, contracts with services and things like that that they really don't need. Let's make sure we assess the situation.
Yeah, let's go there because I feel like you're talking to me a little bit.
And you might be defining shiny things as like a new car, shoes, clothes, or something like that. For me, sometimes a new shiny thing is like that new software. Man, I'm saying the branding and the sales these days is like next level. So you feel like, I need that. They always start off, are you a business owner? do you need? I'm like, yeah, yeah.
That's exactly what I'm talking about.
Speaker 2 (17:48.974)
I need that!
Speaker 2 (17:54.919)
They know how to get you.
And so you gotta use, I gotta use a lot of self control to say, okay, I don't need that. This already does it. But tell me about that. Like, I'm sure there's people who buy and things overlap and stuff.
So let me let me give you an example.
let's say CRM, customer relationship management software. That's like your HubSpot, your Salesforce. So you got the smaller ones. You got really large, HubSpot and Salesforce are really large, And you could say, well, I saw HubSpot has this new, I don't know, new tier or they have this new offering that's a part of a package. Oh, I need that.
Go high levels. Yep.
Speaker 1 (18:42.2)
They embedded AI into it.
Right, right. I need that, right? Well, HubSpot is a, I'm not saying, I'm not disparaging HubSpot because I used HubSpot in the past. I just recently transitioned, but HubSpot is really geared for an organization of a certain size, right? For the return on investment to be there. Just because they offer that new shiny thing, do you need to get it from HubSpot or do you need to get it from Pipe Drive or do you need to get it from the software?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (19:12.258)
Go High.
Go high level. What you see I'm saying? Like do you need that one thing? Or can you get it from another vendor? Or do you really need it at all? Because if you don't have anyone to work a CRM... Another...
It's just gonna be another place to drop off your clothes, your jacket. Nobody uses.
Yep, or you know those commercials that say we can help cancel the subscriptions you don't use. It will become a subscription for your business that you just pay every month that you're not getting any benefit from.
my gosh, and that's a black hole that people don't really think about. And you know, I'm a CFO, right? And we look and evaluate the expenses on a client's account. There are so many expenses simply because you have the ability. Like think about your business spends differently than you spend personally. Usually, you know, if you're making a reasonable amount of revenue, like the spending doesn't hurt as much in the business versus impersonal.
Speaker 1 (20:11.99)
Simply because it's a deduction. it's helping me go towards profit. And so there can be a lot of spending that just goes into a black hole. You don't even know why you forgot why you subscribe to that thing and it's just continuing, continuing. There's a whole market industry on just, what is it? Handcuff subscriptions, we're call it.
You know, one of things that I'll do with an organization is do a tech assessment, right? Not that I have, you know, I'm not the most technologically, you know, bent person, right? But I am, I would say that one thing that we do bring to organizations is clarity. So when I do a tech assessment, we're going to list out every application that you're paying for. Every one of them. Well, that too.
everyone and all the people we're paying.
But when we do the tech assessment, it is really what tech are you using within your organization and what are you paying for? Yeah. Because we could probably, and I've done this a couple of times, several times actually, I could see that you have duplication of effort. Why do you have Dropbox and you have Box and you have Drive and now you don't know where you save these documents. You got them You got them all, right?
my gosh. And then you know why they have it all? Is because when you work with another vendor, they always have the other thing that you don't have.
Speaker 2 (21:34.966)
But that, mean, as consultants, absolutely. But if you are a service delivery organization, you're not trying to necessarily provide this information, that level of information to all your clients. So you don't need four different document storage systems, right? Plus we use Teams, the chat function, and then we have, what's the other chat function that has the channels? can't, Slack.
You
Speaker 1 (22:03.086)
So we got chat. Teams, you use Zoom. I've been transitioning all three. Honestly, Slack is pretty good. It keeps on talking to me. And Tiffany, if you're listening, we might transition again. I'm so sorry. one of things I love about software, because I'm a process person, right? And I can learn tech well.
One thing I really love is when things just work like magic. think Steve Jobs has said something like that. was like, technology when it's working well, it should feel like magic. And so when tech is just, it just.
So that's how people end up with four different systems. Because, not because they meant to, it's because, especially if you are technologically savvy, it's like, this could do this better. Right? And then because technology changes so fast, before you really got what you out of one system, you're already onto another system. And so,
Yeah, that's me.
Speaker 1 (22:54.958)
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (23:08.438)
if you aren't doing all of the data migrations, so let's say that you've got the CRM and you have all your clients in that CRM, right? If you go to another CRM, you should take the data out of one, dumping it to another. Instead of saying, I got this new one and I'm gonna start using it, but you never went back to move the people over to this one. So now you've got all these different systems with lots of different information.
and there's no clarity about data. And then there becomes this confusion about roles because who's supposed to have done this, right? With this data. And that's where you end up having these unclear expectations. You have these misfires when it comes to how we're doing certain things, while we're doing them, where do we find information? And it happens so quickly.
So there's two parts of the conversation I want to go. On one hand, I want to talk about how like the importance of the assessment of the needs initially. we talk, we, we, you mentioned the word like a strategic plan. I was saying how that can be broad pie in the sky type of idea. Everybody thinks they're a strategist. But what I learned is that really to actually do strategy is the first
step is actually to assess. Yes. Because it's like, it's like if you walk into a doctor's office and they just like, yeah, you need aspirin. Wait, you didn't even know my leg was actually broken and you gave me painkillers. Yeah. Right. It's the same way when you're consulting and in strategy, it's like the assessment piece is so important. And in fact, it presents, it actually positions you as an authority. Like when you assess.
someone's problem before you actually do the thing. takes longer. It takes a lot of patience. It does. process. does. But the outcome, the satisfaction from the person seems like it will be higher. Would you agree or say some of the same things?
Speaker 2 (25:07.566)
And so we actually created a proprietary tool called the Groundwork Assessment. We got it copyrighted by the U.S. Copyright Office. And that assessment is sort of a culmination of a Readiness for Change assessment as well as an operational audit.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (25:20.948)
operational audit keyword hashtag audit.
And people, you know, they cringe when I say audit. sometimes I just say, just an operational checkup and checklist.
Because it's You know I was an auditor. Yep.
Yep. So I have to be very, I had to be very strategic about using audit because it's not like an audit that you would have from the auditor, right? It's more of a, an assessment to gain more understanding insight about how your business operates. Right. And so we use that groundwork assessment on the very front end because it gives us our roadmap for the strategy. So if I'm going in and I say, okay, well, we need to understand more about your culture.
It does.
Speaker 2 (26:00.088)
which is what are the shared behaviors, beliefs, and practices of the organization and how do people see themselves within the organization? That helps with change management, right? So we need that piece. But then the other side of that is, so let's talk about your SOP. Do you have one, first of all? Let's talk about your org chart. Let's talk about the different departments that you have. And if you're small, you may not have departments, but you should have functions. You have a finance function. You may not have a department.
Let's define some of that. So SOP first.
A standard operating policy and procedure manual. Depends on the organization as to how old they are and the average age of the people who work there.
Should it be written or in video?
Speaker 1 (26:39.813)
that's another thing. Yeah.
Yes, generationally, you will find that SOPs could be written stored somewhere in a binder. Yeah. Right. Because folks who have been in their space for a long period of time who are used to having compliance audits by maybe accrediting bodies, they have to have things paper filed easily accessible for someone to come in and do an audit. And then you have folks who, you know, have... So some of that's requirement, right? That has to be paper.
do it.
Speaker 1 (27:09.581)
Okay.
But then you have organizations that are really savvy and really young. And not to say, because I try not to put any kind of...
Try not to classify people according to generations, although it does impact the organization. But when it comes to having the digital ones, so there are lots of applications like, there was a new one that came out where you just, it records you when you're writing or typing or doing whatever scribe. it automatically creates an SOP and training for you. But what it doesn't do is tell you about compliance.
Yeah, because as a nonprofit, have certain.
Well, just in general, like if your organization, let's say you provide a loan, you know, your loan servicing organization, rules and regulations that you have to abide by. So just because you wrote the scribe and said, this is how I do it, did you build any actual policy? It's one thing to say this is the process. It's another thing to say this is our policy.
Speaker 1 (28:00.802)
Yeah, you need that.
Speaker 1 (28:12.846)
Let's define that, because there's counting policies and procedures. Policies and procedures. I mean, when I hear policy, I just think these are the rules, but wouldn't that follow that procedures are the rules?
Right.
Speaker 2 (28:28.536)
So something like Scribe is just process. It's not embedded policy. You have to tell a system what your policy is. So let's say your policy is that every Wednesday or once a week, we process time sheets, right? If it's just tracking the movement on your screen, it can tell you how you process the time sheets, but it's not gonna tell you do that every day or every Wednesday.
Okay, so.
Speaker 1 (28:46.102)
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 2 (28:57.774)
for once a week, right? Because that's the policy for the organization. So that's sort of the difference between this is my process versus my policy. The policy for travel might be that you have to make sure that all receipts have been turned in by a certain time. That's a policy, but the process is I submit my receipt on Concur because that's our software for credit card management. I submit it on, you see what saying? That's a process.
Okay
Speaker 1 (29:25.178)
Wow, okay. Yeah, so let's not go all the way deep into the policies and the procedures. Keep it light for those listening so they can follow along. One of the things I wanted to ask you is like, is what is the mental shift that an owner has to make in order to, you know, decide, all right, I need to clean up my back end. Is it when things, when their business is about to hit the, about to be shut down by some
Keep it light.
Speaker 1 (29:54.156)
regulator and honestly, here's another thing because The back end always feels like it's the last thing you want some bit some businesses depending on the mindset of the owner It feels like it's the last thing you actually want to do. It's like, okay if we're able to get the clean PDF and just send it why do I still need a Automate all this stuff in the back end and worry about that So what's the mint is there a mental shift that that the owners have to make to? Find this whole
It's usually a wall. It's usually just a wall. So there comes a point in time where you cannot grow anymore. You cannot serve any more customers without risking the excellence in which you want to serve them. There comes a point in time where you will hit a wall and you will not be able to go further. And when you hit that wall, that's when you're like,
probably need to change something about how running my organization. I liken it to, I used to, and I think I may have given you this example before, but during the pandemic, I watched a lot of, of HGTV.
Okay, HGTV home. What is the G stand?
Garden TV maybe? Really? I don't know. What is...
Speaker 1 (31:13.058)
HG Homegrown TV
I don't know, homes and garden TV. That's what I'm thinking. I don't know though. But HDTV, because I was so interested in these building projects. So you had all these shows about, you know, a hundred day home being built in a hundred days or some kind of renovation project or whatever. And when it comes to operations, I liken it to sometimes these homeowners would buy a house and they would pay for someone to renovate the home.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (31:45.518)
and they would come back with this estimate that was going to cost, say, 50, $60,000, right? They start the renovation process and realize that they had some pipes, some issues with their plumbing, right? And the homeowner would be like, man, I don't want to pay $10,000 for my pipes to be replaced because I really wanted the fireplace, right? Well, if you don't replace your plumbing, you will never enjoy that fireplace because you're going to be flooded out, right?
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (32:14.974)
Operations is like that. It's not the pretty fireplace or the bay window or the sexy beams on the house, right? It is very much foundational to the support of this house. And so if you find that you start having leaky pipes is what I call it, there are symptoms of operational distress. Just like if you start seeing a pipe leak,
What are are what is like a few examples of those symptoms?
Some of those symptoms include poor employee engagement.
Okay, how do you know that?
People start to not care as much about the work they do. They stop showing up on time. They may not give a good effort. They don't produce a good work product. They're just there to collect. They're there to collect their check.
Speaker 1 (33:12.15)
Okay, and we can't have that. can't that. huh.
that you might see a lot of confusion like who's on first I thought you were gonna do that like so service gaps right I thought you're gonna do that no I thought you were gonna do that no that's not my job roll lack of role clarity yeah all right you may start to see a decline in revenue right and sometimes it's a matter of
Okay.
Speaker 2 (33:39.544)
Did the bills actually go out or the invoices go out that need to be paid so that you can see the money in your account?
Yeah, some of the basic stuff.
Right?
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (34:04.822)
Yeah, for sure. Now you mentioned, so when we talked last, you talked about this framework or this idea, PPP, not the PPP loans, right? We all remember that era. It's funny. Yeah. But we mentioned PPP as people processing platforms. And I think we spent a lot of time already diving into the platform, platform, aka software. Right. And then the
that was.
Speaker 1 (34:34.606)
processes, right? SOPs and digital SOPs versus written SOPs, right? And you started touching into talking about the people. so I want to dive bit more into that. How can a business owner make the people in the organization just better? When I see being better, I'm talking about their efficiency, they want to be there and actually add towards the
add to the vision of the business. How can you address that from an operations standpoint?
You know.
One thing that processes and platforms do for people is it helps them to feel safe that they're operating within bounds.
Really? OK, talk about that.
Speaker 2 (35:21.208)
Can you imagine showing up to a workplace and feeling like every day you don't know exactly how to do your job and you don't know exactly what you
Honestly, can, yes, I know that feeling.
I know that feeling as a business owner, but imagine that as an employee of an organization that has a job description. So now I felt like I've been lied to because I've been hired with this job description that says I'm responsible for X, Y, and Z. And then my day to day looks nothing like my job description. It's all over the place.
AI or copy the job description from another from Google or somewhere and not built it
of yourself because you didn't build, you didn't think about the fact that in order for someone to do the job and be the best that they can be at it, they had to have some structure around their work. Right. And so if you really want to have employees who are engaged, who love showing up and doing the work, make sure that they have the tools that they need to perform excellently. I believe most people want to have excellent work product.
Speaker 2 (36:27.054)
They don't come to work just not wanting to be excellent. think over time they get worn down because their efforts don't seem to be fruitful. And then they're just like, I'm just going to come in and do what I can today because I don't feel supported to do anything better. And so if you really want to have the right people in the right places and providing the right performance, you really need to have those processes and platforms that align with role clarity.
Mm-hmm.
Speaker 1 (36:42.37)
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (36:56.94)
What's your opinion about performance reviews?
They're absolutely necessary.
absolutely necessary. Is there a level of business like with your first employee? Is it absolutely necessary? Okay, tell me.
Yes. And I'll tell you why. Because everyone wants to know if they're meeting expectations. It doesn't have to be a 20 page questionnaire that they fill out and then, you know what mean? And then you got to sit down and have this long, lofty conversation.
Okay.
Speaker 1 (37:26.184)
You know that's what most of us, well I don't know about most of you, but when I think of those reviews, I think of a 20, like literally like five page checklist and it says, yeah, you know, it's a very intense process and that always feels like you're about to lose your job.
That is not necessary to be that way. So let's say you have an employee, it's your first employee, but you gave them some kind of job description. Maybe it's not as clear as it could be, but it's at least what you want them to do on a regular basis. It matches. And those five things may be high level. So then when you have this performance evaluation, let's talk about these five things. How do you feel about it? Do you feel like you have the tools that you need to do your job? This is what I think.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (38:11.854)
because people wanna know, I think you're doing great here, but I think in this area, we might have some improvement, document it and let that be done, right? So that there is this shared understanding of whether or not I as an employee am meeting your expectation as my boss. Simple as that. Now, the larger your organization gets, the more structured that process might look, the more pieces might be involved in that. So maybe you have some kind of incentive.
program or you're incentivized to do certain things and you get bonuses and structures. But that's down the road. At least have the conversation at least annually. But if you can have a mid-year conversation too so that no one's caught off guard. No one wants to be caught off guard a year later. didn't meet the expectation when you knew this six months ago.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (38:57.858)
Yeah, you know, so when we work with our clients, know, mean, clients can have one, usually they have like one to 10 employees, right? And the impact each employee has is like multiplied, right? One employee is responsible for this amount of revenue can be big, right? And what I find is that because the business transitions and it's moving so quickly throughout the year, that
falls by the wayside. It does. It can't. Because the excuse is like, I'm talking with them all the time. We're always sharing expectations. We're always reviewing the work. So is there a place for even though that you talk regularly that there should be a scheduled, structured review process?
Only because in those impromptu sessions, We're just focused on what we're focused on right now. We might've had a conversation, you know, 90 days ago about something else. So are we tying that all together for the person who has these responsibilities? See what I'm saying? Because for us as business owners, as leaders, we have so much on our plate. We are shifting directions all the time.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (40:13.452)
We have the ability to do that because we are the visionaries. We are the owners, right? But the person who's working with us, may not have right. They can't see what we see. They're not where we are. And we may not realize that we gave them one direction 90 days ago. Now we're giving them the second direction.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (40:22.744)
They're get whiplash.
Speaker 1 (40:34.606)
Yeah, that happens often.
Difficult. I'm not saying that, please hear me, if you're in this position that you're just terrible because you just throwing things at your people. What I am saying is it takes intentionality to make sure that we are as busy as we are giving the people who are supporting our business the time, the attention, and the support they need to do their job.
Yeah, and I have, and I learned that. I think that I like to tell people that your business journey is, your business is a journey, right? And in each stage of that journey, you're gonna have to start adding and developing new skills. Like at first, maybe you started and you were very technical, but once you start building your team, you have one, two, three, four, five people on your team, you're really gonna have to build the skill of that interpersonal relationship and bringing people along.
with where you're actually going because most people who work for you are not entrepreneurs. Right. Yes. And most entrepreneurs don't understand the difference between the skill set of an entrepreneur versus the skill set of a specialist, of an employee. the entrepreneur, the business owner, you will pay attention to so many things simultaneously.
There you go.
Speaker 1 (41:55.528)
And then you pivot in your mind, in your brain, and even in your daily activities so quickly because you're always juggling priorities that are in different disciplines, right, based off the needs of the organization. But your people usually are, want to specialize in a few things, a handful of things, unless you get, you can, you find those dynamic people that just, who are actually entrepreneur spirited. But I found that out as I was transitioning even from
major softwares that were like foundational in my organization. And my people who I was trying to raise up in leadership within the organization, I realized that I jumped in three, a span of probably like three months, I jumped from three softwares. And then added additional context because in my mind it just made sense. made sense. I built the process so thoroughly in my brain. I just add, add, add, add.
and built it. And then one day, one day show up on a, on a weekly meeting. Hey guys, we're implementing this. This is what you need. This is what you do. And then the team's like, Whoa, whoa, whoa. What, what just happened? And so I realized the next time I'm going to do, this is, think that's what you're mentioning when you say change management, it's really about people management and bringing them along. and I really learned how I've, and so the next time I actually wanted to make a major shift, I think I was just.
took it slow. I was like, okay, I want to do this. And I started basically bringing my people in the room. What's your opinion about going here? What are some things that I'm missing? How long can it will it take for us to actually pivot like this? that, you learn that by actually being in business. Oftentimes life doesn't let you learn that, but business, oh man, you learn so much.
It depends on the space in which you...
Speaker 2 (43:54.456)
have what you lean toward most. Right. So, for example, you talk about being more technologically savvy. So you're looking at every.
I like Texas solved everything.
Every new thing right well for me I have a
have a respect for tech, absolutely, and how it can make an organization more efficient. But because I am more bent on organizational development and operational efficiency, I'm looking at how all these things work together. So for me, my struggle might be that as a small business, I'm trying to build something that's too complex, as in,
I want everything to talk to everything and all the processes to be there and all the structure to be there. And when at certain stages, that might be the thing that one thing that keeps you from being flexible and agile enough to do that next, get that next business opportunity. Right. And so we all have these areas in which we tend to focus because that's our strengths. It's just a matter of recognizing that.
Speaker 1 (45:08.044)
Yeah.
and then making sure that you are able to be objective about it enough to reel it in when you need to. So that's, think the important part for business owners to understand is where do you typically quick to do and how can that also be something that can keep you from moving forward?
Yeah, you gotta be aware of yourself for sure. And it may, you know, your unique thing might serve you so well when you start and when you're scaling initially, but when you grow and you're trying to delegate, I mean, just like honestly, you talked about how your operations, one day you can hit a wall, you just realize you cannot do more. It's the same thing as you as the person. Exactly. Like you can be...
the greatest at whatever you actually do, but you will hit a wall because you have a limited capacity. We are limited people, energy, limited time. And so there will be that requirement that you have to figure out, okay, how do I bring people along on this thing, delegate? And it's going to bring more out of you. It's going to challenge you.
You won't be able to grow beyond your own two hands. So if everything requires you, then you won't be able to continue to grow.
Speaker 1 (46:34.414)
That brings me to this question because you have your get it out the mud type of owners. They've been doing it for maybe 10 years, millions. But they're trying to do better than they have. But they're so used to wearing all the hats. They're so used to getting such high profit margins, 80 % because...
Cause they were doing themselves?
They get 80 % profit margins, they spend very little on things, you know, they don't got to worry about anybody. But they still feel like they're not where they want to be after so many years. But they know they need to delegate. What would you say to that owner that just so used to wearing so many hats? What's the mental shift they got to change to get those hats off their head?
It really is, you have to make a decision. Do you want to continue to bring in the revenue at the margins that you are? Or do you want to take the risk to expand your organization? I say risk because,
Why'd you say risk?
Speaker 2 (47:53.07)
In my experience, sometimes you have to go down before you go up.
So if you've never delegated in a way that takes a lot of the responsibility and take those hats off, you're gonna feel like you're risking something by giving it away, right? Because who's gonna treat your baby like you treat them?
buddy, I love my baby.
So it's a risk to give something that's so dear and close to you to someone else and trust them to manage it like you would. That's a risk. But it's the necessary risk that we take if we want to grow.
Because eventually you will stunt your baby's growth because you're always holding it.
Speaker 1 (48:44.046)
Mm, that's a word. I'm gonna take that to my wife. We cannot keep holding this baby. Yeah, that's real. So I'm sure you've experienced that. You've probably walked clients through that process. And it's really a transformation process, right? Tell me a story. Tell me a story.
Gosh, you know the most delicate balance that I have to strike with clients is working with founders, business owners, right?
have hit the wall, but don't really want to let. It's a delicate balance because they've been successful doing it their way. So you're not saying that you're not a good leader or you're not a good business owner, but you also have to deliver the news of this management style will kill you. Eventually. You cannot for the rest of your life.
way. Yeah.
Speaker 2 (50:01.58)
work 80 hours a week and be healthy.
So if the end goal is for you to live a fulfilled life and you wanted to have this through your business, are you actually meeting that objective?
And if you're not meeting that objective, what do we need to put in place so that you can?
It sounds like you're thinking about a story as you're sharing that. we want to hear about it.
So.
Speaker 2 (50:38.888)
I have recently in the last, I'd say six months to a year, met three different leaders who were nearing retirement.
that we're starting to go through some kind of a crisis as it relates to what is their legacy and what are they going to lead by.
Speaker 2 (51:04.834)
And if they did not leave behind the structure that someone else can pick up and run with and continue the legacy of what they built, they're feeling some kind of way at this point in their life. Right. So what that looks like is that it's from a story standpoint, talking to someone, they're realizing that they're maybe
two, three years out from retirement, struggling with, I have some staff, but did I pour into them what I needed to pour into them and keep the business going.
They start to kind of panic.
panic or they think about how they built everything to just centered around them.
Hmm.
Speaker 2 (51:54.646)
all the relationships that the business needs to generate revenue, all of the practices when it comes to how people are managed, all those things were built around them and their own personality. And now that they're ready to step out or step back, they're wondering if the organization can survive without them. That's the number one reason why as a small business, you want structure, you want management team that can continue your legacy
And even if you decide to sell your business, what can you sell? Because you can't sell you.
No, you actually cannot. Yeah.
You right? So if you have not created a structure around your business that is not revolving, that does not revolve around you and what you can do, you really have nothing to sell.
Speaker 2 (52:49.422)
So you've got to at some point risk bringing other people in to do the work so that you can build the structure. So either you can leave it to someone or you can sell it.
Yeah, that is, that's profound because I've come to know and start to learn that I think I mentioned it at the beginning part of the podcast that revenue can grow your business. But your operations increase the lifetime value of your business.
There you go.
Literally the lifetime value and that's what we people pay for when you when you sell it That's what your kids are going to inherit Because if your operations your fulfillment is not it's not down then you might you might be passing on problems like your legacy might be attached to just added problems and then next generation comes and you realize they just sold everything because They can't really operate
I was working with a client recently and this is about, you know, helping them restructure their accounts pay process. And they had a vendor that they were really struggling to get a hold of. They wanted to pay the vendor. It wasn't, it was a vendor that had provided service. They wanted to pay the vendor, could not get in touch with the vendor and come to find out the vendor had passed away. The mother owned the business. The daughter had taken it over. She was.
Speaker 2 (54:22.926)
struggling. She was just trying to keep up with providing the service because she didn't know how her mother ran the up the back office. Right. So she's missing out on revenue because she didn't even know how, what, where, when, who, and all she's trying to do is manage the day to day. Did we serve the people that we're supposed to serve and probably missing lots of opportunities to recoup that.
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (54:49.964)
that money, right? Because you're still paying these people to provide service. You've got to bring in the revenue to pay them. And so that's what it looks like when you pass along something and never prepare others.
Yeah.
Speaker 1 (55:03.542)
Yeah, that kind of just brings our goals down to earth. Like it makes it more practical. what types of goals should you actually be goaling? But it helps you to really reshape your vision and the vision of the organization because oftentimes our vision is so luxury, relaxing, so
You know, I want to retire over here and live life on the beach, but we don't know, like, the goals in between that to actually make that a reality.
You asked me a question and I wanted to hear it is. The difference between a business that runs and a business that relies on.
difference is vision.
If you have a vision for the business outliving you, it has to run. If you have a vision for a business that's just going to give you money right now, you hustle.
Speaker 1 (56:13.464)
Pretty much, yeah. Right.
Cause it didn't have to do anything other than pay you today and tomorrow until you realize you don't want to get paid anymore and you put it down. That's the hustle. But if you want to develop and build a business that you can sell or you can pass along, that's the business that has to run.
I want to build a business I can sell and pass along. There you go. That's what I want to do. I don't know about you. That's what I want to do. You can do what you want, but I know what I want to do. And it really, when you have that type of vision, it gives you, it just sharpens your decision making. And that's what you talk about with clarity. You start understanding which softwares to say no to, how to transition. You start asking yourself more.
effective questions because you know where you're actually trying to go, how the business needs to be designed and operated to fulfill that.
which is why I say I can't give a business owner vision.
Speaker 1 (57:12.162)
Yeah. Right. Where do you get vision?
Where do I get vision?
We're looking for vision. Where to go find it?
Well, I mean, okay, so let's say that you're in this business because you just want to make some money, right? That's the vision. The vision is I want to make as much money as I can out of this business. I don't know where you got it, but that's where you want to go. We're going to have to, you know, put some things in place to make it profitable, right?
Where did I get that?
Speaker 1 (57:35.118)
But,
Speaker 1 (57:40.45)
Yeah, it might be the people we're surrounding ourselves with, what we're listening to, what we start to value. So I wonder if vision is obtained through what you expose yourself to.
You know, I'm a person of faith. And I say that because I don't think that vision is something that you get in a vacuum, isolated. I think you get vision by, like you said, the people you surround yourself with that help you grow and learn who you are to determine what you want to see happen in your life. You know?
And, it's a journey. And for me, it's filled with prayer because I could definitely have a vision that could send me off in some deep dark places, you know, but it's through community is through the power of, you know, for me prayer that I can say that the vision for my life is healthy. It's a good one to have and that my business
is a part of the grand vision for my life. It's not the vision for my life. Yeah, the vision is a part, I mean, the business is a part of the vision for my life, but it's not my life's vision. And I think that that is important to know, be cut and keep somewhere tucked in because you will be grinding, you'll be trying to figure out how to make something work. You'll be putting in all this effort, all this time, and you have to know for what.
Say that again
Speaker 2 (59:21.464)
And you have to keep that why somewhere close so you don't get lost in just buildings.
Absolutely. Man, like that resonated so much and I definitely would love to take it to another area because it really is. Your business is just a part of the thing. It's a vehicle. It is not the whole thing. And if you don't have a big enough vision, you will see it as the whole thing. Right. You won't be able to see beyond it. And it's even, you know,
Exactly.
Speaker 1 (59:53.838)
That's really the idea and the conversation that's had with mergers and acquisitions. you're able to understand that this vision, this one business serves me and I don't serve the business. It's a part of my portfolio, part of what I'm trying to do. And so that's when your vision starts to grow. You start seeing that bigger picture. But we can't dive into that Not this time. That's not the right Yes.
another another
Speaker 1 (01:00:23.52)
Valuations. All right, before we go, I want to ask this final question. Well, I have two more questions. OK. The first one is for our listeners, what's one thing that they can do this week to get clarity and improve their fulfillment?
Okay, evaluation, I love it, I love it.
Speaker 1 (01:00:48.716)
Yourself and out to ask yourself and ask of your business Where are we saying that there's too much pressure and our operate? When I say too much pressure People are frustrated Feel like you keep maybe missing the mark in this one area. Maybe there's a service gap find the pressure point Because if you can find the pressure point, you're more likely to figure out what's causing the issue
I love it. love it. And the final question. How much is there a number that someone can pay you to stop doing what you're doing? Stop being an HR specialist, mean an operation specialist. Is there a number?
No, no. Because even if I didn't do it as a consultant, I'd be doing it anyway. I am wired that way. My husband would tell you, like, we can go to a restaurant and I could see something happening in the back. I'm like, they didn't coordinate that right. I see it. I just see it all the time. Like, they're short staff. Like, they need to bring so and so out because that person's back. You know, like, I'm just wired that way.
Okay.
Speaker 2 (01:02:08.488)
cause there've been many times, let's, let's be very honest and transparent here. There were many times like, don't know if I'm cut out to be a business owner because it gets hard. No one really talks about the dark places you can go. No one talks about how you had to fail your way forward. No one talks about those things. Right. And so, I mean, that is a part of the journey. And if you believe that that's part of the journey that you're supposed to be on, then you just have to tough it out. Right. But at the end of the day,
Are you?
Speaker 2 (01:02:38.74)
I would do this if no one was paying me. And that's how I know I'm called to do it.
Mmm. That's a great way, a great place to end. Yes. There is no, so there's no dollar amount. There's no dollar amount. There's no dollar amount. Man, I thought I was about to, you know, do something, bring you on the team, high dollar amounts, but it's okay. It's all right. All right, Miriam, where can people connect with you and learn more about what you do with 180 Management?
You can always visit our website. That's 180managementgroup.com or you can find me on LinkedIn, Miriam Perryman Dix out there on the LinkedIn space. If you go to our website, you have a media page. You can hear more podcasts from us. Every time that I do a podcast, the hosts are so wonderful. They give me a little clip or whatever, or the entire podcast. post it on our media page. this will...
eventually land on our media page as well. if you want to hear more about how we think about operations, the types of strategies that we help organizations with, can definitely listen to those podcasts. And then on LinkedIn, we haven't been as good lately. We got to get some more staff, but with posting, long posts and things like that. But if you want to learn more about who we are, how we think, what we can offer your organization, we definitely have information.
not there for you. And what if I'm interested in working with you? have an offer or something? Or we just contact you for...
Speaker 2 (01:04:09.038)
Contact me. So if you go to the website, there is a basically a little button, push the button that says schedule a call because we'd like to talk to you first. You know, yes, we want to help you fix the problems that you have, but the first place is a conversation. Call us.
Sure, absolutely. All right, that's good, that's a wrap. So we'll see you on the next episode. Thank you, Miriam. Thank you. Awesome.