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Chantal Gerardy is an International Award Winning Marketing Strategist who empowers purpose-led businesses to revolutionise their online marketing approach and create a brand that resonates deeply with their online audience. If you're tired of cookie-cutter marketing advice, and seek strategies that truly make a difference, this podcast is for you.
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Welcome to another episode of the Meaningful Marketing Podcast. Today, I'm joined by Cody Thompson from WorkPod. Hey, Cody, how are you? Good. How are you? I'm amazing. Thanks so much today for joining us. Where, where in the world are you? Northern New South Wales, about 90 minutes west of Byron Bay. Oh, excellent.
So you're actually not too far away from me then, which is awesome. That's right. Um, so Cody, um, so you're involved in WorkPod. WorkPod is a virtual assistant, um, outsourcing company based in the Philippines. You want to tell us a little bit about how it all started. Um, how did you get involved? Um, and we'll take it from there.
Yeah, sure. Um, well, 10 years ago. I was a freelance graphic designer and I started hiring at first like admin assistants and people to help me spend more time designing. And then later I started hiring designers and then web developers. And ultimately, I built that, um, business, um, to about 80 staff, uh, in the Philippines.
And last August, I sold that web development company, Lightning Sites, to a US tech company. And over the last, sort of, few years, um, I've had a number of people asking me how I built my teams overseas. And I had space in a facility that we had. Um, that we had built, there was about 50 spare desks and so about two years ago or two and a half years ago, I started helping some of my friends to use my HR team to recruit staff and put them in my office.
And my theory was that if I placed 50 of those, um, people and rented out those desks that I would get my building for free. So that was kind of my, that was what I was doing it for. I wasn't intending for it to, Start another business, but those 50 desks filled up very quickly. And so then my clients wanted more people.
So we built a purpose built facility about two and a half years ago now for 500 desks, and then fill that in like 18 months. And then over the last two years, now we've placed over 900 staff, um, for our clients, mostly in Australia, but also. In the UK and the U S. Um, so yeah, that's a bit about how we sort of started.
Yeah. Excellent. So what do you think, um, like when, when people are coming to you and they considering having a VA, what generally are they complaining about all the time when they go, you know, like I'm thinking about getting a VA, um, what do you think they complaining about? What are they struggling with?
Generally? Most of the time it's, it's just feeling like they're trapped in their own business. Like a lot of the time they. They, um, have so much work on their plate that the business owner is typically shouldering a lot of tasks that frankly, they shouldn't be, shouldn't be doing in their business. Even things like filtering their email inbox and managing, you know, their calendars and then just all of the general administrate.
Administrative burdens in a business, like usually that's one of the key areas, but then also larger businesses that work with work pod. Sometimes it has to do with just like optimizing a process and making something faster, trying to save money. Uh, on a particular, um, you know, operation inside their business.
So there's different reasons, but usually it's cost savings and time savings. That's the, the two main areas that people are looking to, to, you know, solve through outsourcing. Yeah. So, I mean, I say this all the time is that when people want to outsource to someone, they need something to outsource to them.
So they've got to be clear on what it is exactly. They are outsourcing to them. And I know we've had this discussion before around how, you know, The virtual assistant is absolutely amazing to implement stuff, but they do need direction and they've got to have sort of a plan in order to be able to follow what they're doing.
They can't just go out and, and, and wing it. Well, they can, but they shouldn't be. Cause if you, because you'd just be under utilizing them, right? So what are the biggest problems that you see when people get a virtual assistant? What are some of the problems that you see happening that, um, that you'd like to speak to about?
Yeah, well, I mean, you just mentioned a great one then, like if you're a leader of a business. You need to have a strategy and you have to have a plan, um, on how you're going to grow your business and when you hire any staff member, whether they're in the Philippines or they sit next to you, um, in your, in your, in your business in Australia or wherever you're located, you need to have like a job description, you have to have a plan for the types of tasks that they'll be completing and ultimately you want to build systems in your business that allow you to hire, um, Um, you know, and bring anybody on quickly and get them up to a level where they're performing the tasks.
You need them to perform in your business. And a lot of business owners don't do that effort. Like, don't put the work in basically to, to, um, Yeah, to have those systems in their business. And then they wonder why when they hire people, none of them work out. And that's the complaint you hear all the time is like, I can't find good people, you know, there's no good people applying for jobs.
Well, if I hear a business owner talking like that, usually I can, you can tell where the problem really is. Yeah, 100%. Um, a lot of the time they'll hire, they'll fire, they'll rehire and fire and rehire and keep doing it. Um, and when I have a look at it, when I ask them and I say, you know, what's going on, they'll go, Oh, look, this person's just not working out.
And I'll say to them, how much time are you actually spending with them? And they go, What do you mean? Like I got a virtual assistant so that I don't have to like manage them and I don't have to do anything. And I'm like, no, that's not how it works. It's not a magic pill. It's not a quick fix. It's not, it's not a unicorn.
It's like it requires management, you know? So for me, I mean, I always. Um, and plan your week for the Monday. So just check that everybody's across all their tasks and everyone's, um, confidence in what they doing so that there's effective communication between you and them. And then on a Friday, I love to go through and go, you know, what worked, what didn't work, what are you still struggling with?
And then look at all the data around that as well. And as soon as I start doing that with that Monday and that Friday, suddenly they pick up. Bother me less on a Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday. Um, and then there's the next problem. And the next problem is they go, Oh, you know, we've got the system, but I just do it.
It's just easier for me just to do it. I don't give it to the VA because they don't do it. I'm like, you have to have training time. You've got to have training time allocated in your diary. So you can actually go train them. You can't just. In that system, if you just take that time to do that, they'll now know it.
And now you can walk away and you can, you know, take the hand off a little bit. Would you agree? A hundred percent. I think there's two key mindsets that business owners struggle with. And I struggle with this as well. So I'm not like I'm poo pooing on anyone else. This was stuff that I had to work through in my own business, but the first mindset.
That will hold you back is nobody can do it as good as me. Like that's the first mindset shift that you have to go through when you're an entrepreneur, you're used to doing everything yourself, but that mindset will hold you back. Nobody can do it as good as me. The reality is that's just our ego. Um, and everything that we do in our businesses can be even what we would consider our genius.
If we build good systems, it's repeatable. Like whatever we do in our business, It is repeatable. If we actually sat down and processed it out, um, and we're not geniuses. Um, and so if you process it out, you can hire people to replace yourself. The second mindset, um, is, um, it's faster if I do it myself. Um, and yes, it's might be faster the first time, but what about the 2nd, the 3rd and the 4th?
The hundredth time that you have to do that particular task in your business. It's certainly not faster than, so you've got to get rid of both of those mindsets. Um, if you really want to build a great team. Yeah. A hundred percent. I mean, I remember the first time I ever got a, um, a VA, well, it was actually a PA.
It was here in Australia. And she suddenly, uh, Left me like it was December. It was summer. I had a fitness business. So like December is like one of the busiest times for us. And she suddenly said, that's it. I'm done. I I'm, I'm leaving. I'm sorry. I can't carry on. And I actually cried for a whole month because I had no idea what she did.
No idea what she did. I had no idea how to, how to send an email, no, like no idea how to do all the other processes in that. And I swore on that day, I was like, it's never going to happen to me again. I'm going to make sure that I set things up right from the ground and whatever they do, they're going to set a system and a process.
Um, and in fact, we actually, uh, we do this. Quite often, and then I'll get my virtual assistants or to swap them, and then they have a conversation about each other's system and process, and then they give recommendations or feedback. Um, so I'm just getting them to look at what everyone else is doing because I'm like, if somebody gets hit by a bus or just suddenly leaves me, at least I, I'm not gonna be left in the lurch ever again because I'll have a system in place.
Yeah, that's, that sounds like a smart play. Yeah, excellent. So when do you think somebody like should start looking for a virtual assistant? Because for me personally, I kind of say that unless you're a six figure business, you should be investing in yourself and your ability to do your own stuff. But what are your thoughts around this?
Yeah, I think that's probably, um, like not a bad recommendation. I hired my first virtual assistant when I was doing about a hundred K. Um, I was a freelance graphic designer and, um, and I was basically just charging my time for money. Um, and then I hired a, my first person that I hired was like just a general VA, someone who could help me, um, do some bookkeeping, send some invoices, do my bank reconciliation, help me filter my email inbox, um, help me manage my own task list.
And my, my deadlines and things like that, they did a little bit of like communicating to clients on my behalf, um, just for basic emails back and forth, just things like that so that I could get more time designing. I was charging 80 to 100 an hour and I made that when I was designing and I made 0 an hour when I was doing everything else.
So, um. That was like the first hire for me, and that's kind of how I recommend people start is just doing a self audit of their time and you're basically putting those tasks through, like, basically, I call it like a delegation filter. Like, what are the, the things that I need to stop? Like, what are the tasks that I'm currently doing that are not serving the business and delete those and then look at the ones that then what can I optimize and systemize and delegate out?
To other people. So you're kind of filtering those tasks and figuring out what you can get off your plate and delegate to someone. So you can spend more time on revenue generating activities. Yeah, I love that revenue generating activities. So, so important. Um, and that goes back to the two mindset things that you spoke about earlier, because I get all these control freaks and they don't want to let anything go.
And they're literally just scrambling the whole time. It's like they never proactive. It's always reactive. Um, and they always talk about doing it. You know, get the VAs or don't give them work to do, or then get rid of their VAs. And they're literally burning out the whole time. So that comes back to that mindset again.
Um, so if there's somebody who was interviewing a virtual assistant, what would be some of the things that you would recommend that they should consider or look out for when they're actually having that interview? Yeah, that's a great question. I mean, first thing I do is look at the resume. Um, the things that I'm looking for on the resume, things like obviously past experience.
I want to see what skills that they have. Developed along the way. I'm looking out for things like gaps in employment, you know, and then how long people, how long they were staying in those different places that they were working. Um, obviously, if people have huge gaps in their employment history, I want to know why, because that could be a red flag.
If people are staying at the. Place for only a short period of time, that could be a red flag. So I basically want to make sure I, I understand like what's on their resume. And then when I go into the interview, I'll ask specific questions about what's on their, on their resume. So if there's employment gaps, I'll ask them about it.
If they were at a, at a location for a short period of time, I'll ask them why they left. Um, those types of things are important. Um, but most of all, what I'm trying to do on an interview is firstly, I want to make them feel comfortable so that they're not, Like nervous on the, you know, on the interview, um, cause if, if someone's nervous, you won't get a real true understanding of who they are.
So I try to make sure that they feel. Like, Hey, you're interviewing me as well. Like you don't have to choose to work here at work point. You can work anywhere. Um, and so you're interviewing me as much as I'm interviewing you. And so I, I use that type of language to try to make sure that they feel comfortable.
I ask them basic questions about their family, you know, what movies they like to watch when they're not working. What do they like to do? Like I. Try to make them feel comfortable. And then after that, I'm really trying to understand specifically what skills they have and, um, and what their personal values are.
So I'll ask them some specific questions about, you know, what's important to them, basically. Like, where do you see yourself in five years? Um, you know, if your friends were to describe you, what sort of words would they use? Like, what kind of person do you think you are? You know, what are your biggest strengths or what are the, you know, what is the key values that you, that you hold most dear to you?
Like I ask them questions like that so that I can try to understand what is important to them as a person. Yeah. I love that. Um, with this being the meaningful marketing podcast, I mean, we want our marketing and our businesses to be meaningful, but we also want the relationships with the people in our business to be meaningful as well.
So I think it's important that if they're going to be a right hand person, that, that you have a good relationship and you really gel with them. Um, for myself, I'm a D personality type, like in disability. So because I'm very outcome focused and, and, um, and very sort of direct when I interview my virtual assistants, you know, I always ask them, are they going to be able to work with somebody like that?
Because I want to make sure that they're comfortable. And then I also give them permission to, Permission to challenge me on things and permission to respectfully give their feedback. And because that's what I want. So I'm constantly, I'm constantly encouraging that because I know the beast that I am, like I know who I am.
So I'm like, I'm making them comfortable knowing that. So I think communication styles are really important as well. Like if you understand what type of personality type they are and what personality type you are. Um, whether or not, um, they're a morning person or a night person. So for example, early in the morning, I'm up and they know that they can be talking to me.
Um, but I had a VA and he was the opposite. He was always in the evening and I was like, this is not going to work because I've got kids and it's chaotic in the evening. My brain switches off. I can't do it, you know? So I think things like that is really important. Time zones, uh, communication systems. Um, the other thing is, and it's weird.
A lot of people say this is weird, but I love it. Um, is love languages. When I am working with them, I identify, you know, whether or not, um, definitely not physical touch, obviously, cause you can't do that, but we're talking about quality time, acts of service, words of affirmation gifts. Once you identify your, um, their personality type, it makes it really easy to sort of reward them or acknowledge them.
Um, I've got one, one virtual assistant in Nigeria and, um, and he loves quality time. So if I just give him 15 minutes a day, um, and it's 15 minutes a day and I just have to be working there online with them. Like I don't even have to be. Really talking to him. He loves that. Like he absolutely thrives if it's, if I just have that extra time with them.
Like he just loves it. And I'm happy to do that, right? Because it makes him happy and he performs better and he's more productive. Yeah. Yeah. I think that's great. You know, understanding your people is so important. I mean, I have a very simple outlook really with business. I think that if you. Look after people better than anybody else, you'll have a successful business.
Like if you look after your customers better, then people will want to buy your product or your service. Like if you have a great product, it's the best marketing that you can have. And then if you look after your staff better than anyone else, then you'll get the best talent. So if you look after customers and you look after your, your talent, then, you know, you're well on the way to building a really successful business.
Obviously there's the administrative skills and the financial skills to make sure you make money. But that's kind of like not, you know, 90 percent of the way there, if you've got a great product and a great team, then yeah, you're 90 percent of the way to building something, you know, significant. Yeah, I can say one of the things that I never, ever, ever valued or saw as important, um, I was challenged on at the beginning of this year.
And that was when I went to the iGrow conference and I had my virtual assistant come to the conference. Yeah. I'd heard a lot of people saying, Oh, when you. Make the time and the effort to go and actually meet your virtual assistant. Like, it'll be like life changing. And I was, I was like, I'm not really like that type of sucky kind of person.
I, you know, I, I didn't really value it. I didn't think it was that great. I can tell you right now that like after meeting her in person, her husband, her two gorgeous kids, and spending about three days with them, um, I was like, I could not believe the amount of bonding that we did, the amount of connection, the way that we now better communicate.
Her productivity has increased astronomically. Um, and in fact, I'll be seeing her again in two weeks time. She's kind of come spend five days with me again. So, um, and, and I'd never valued that. I never valued spending that time or doing that. And I can tell you right now, like if you have a virtual assistant and you get the opportunity, 100 percent do that because.
It is just, it's almost like beans. It's just cemented the entire working relationship by, by just spending that time together. And some of it was working, but most of it was just, um, just connecting. And now we just better understand each other. We just better click just from being in person together. Yeah, that's fantastic.
I totally agree. Yeah. Excellent. Um, so if you were going to give one final tip to the listeners today, if they are thinking about firing their current VA or they thinking about hiring their first VA, uh, what would your, your biggest takeaway for them be today? Biggest takeaway if they're looking to hire one for the first time would be to do that activity of doing a task order.
Like, I think you need to know what you're looking for. You know, before you go on the hunt. And so there's a great checklist. I'm happy to share this with your, your, your listeners. Chantel, we have a checklist. It's 156 things that you can outsource to virtual assistants. And it's a great tool to do a little task audit in your own life because you can put this checklist up in front of you and you can.
Basically see which of these tasks am I currently doing myself, um, that I could get off of my plate and what have some tasks that are on here that I've, I've always wanted to get done, but I've never had the time to do it myself and using this tool, you'll be able to basically. Create a task list of the things that you want someone to help you with.
And that way you can figure out what roles, you know, role or roles that you need to hire in your business. Right now, you can just go to work pod, W R K P O D. com forward slash checklist. You don't have to give me any details or anything. As soon as you type that in, it'll go straight to the PDF and you can access that, um, little tool, but that'd be what I would do.
First, do a task audit. Then once you know what tasks you need help with, you'll be able to decide what roles you're looking for and that will make, make it much more likely you're successful when you do hire. Oh, that's excellent. I'm going to, I'm going to add something to that. And, um, this is something that I've seen quite a lot of when they look at the task list.
If you go through the task list and you don't understand what that task means. You probably need to get yourself a marketing strategist because a lot of people go through the list and they actually don't know what some of that stuff is. Like they may not know what workflows are or they may not know what a, you know, a system or processes, they may not know what a lead magnet is.
And we see this all the time and people don't actually know what it is. So they just skim over it and just leave it and go, my business doesn't need that. And I'm like, you probably need somebody to go through this and make sure that the foundational stuff is set up on your business. So you've got something to manage.
Totally. I totally agree. Excellent. Well, thanks so much for joining us today on the Meaningful Marketing Podcast, and we will share everything in the show notes as well. If you're thinking about getting yourself a virtual assistant, jump onto the WorkPod website. Um, I'm sure you could probably. Chat to Cody as well, um, through the website and, uh, I think the interview process is free.
Anyway, you can just go on and, and have a chat anyway, can't you? That's right. Yeah. There's a link to book a call with one of our team overseas and they'll have a chat with you about your business. They'll figure out, yeah, what you're looking for, what type of role you'd be looking to hire right now. And, uh, yeah, if it's a good fit that WorkPod can help you, then we can talk about next steps.
Otherwise we can just share our knowledge. There's also a great FAQ page, Chantelle, on our website. Um, that people can check out. I think I've filmed about 70 videos, basically every question people have ever asked me about hiring staff overseas. We've shot a little video for that. So that's a great resource for your listeners as well.
Excellent. Well, I can personally say that I have trained, uh, work with business owners who have WorkPod VAs, and I have trained and I've done coaching with them and they have been nothing but delightful, um, and skilled and absolute gems. Thank you. Yeah. I appreciate that. No worries at all. Thanks so much for joining us, Cody.
Thank you for having me. Thanks for listening in. Meaningful Marketing is all about you making your marketing meaningful. If you've enjoyed today's episode, please hit that subscribe button. For subscribing means that you won't miss out on future episodes all about marketing and motivation. Stay inspired, stay focused and make your marketing meaningful.