Missed Opportunities Are Lost Revenue | Coach Juli Shulem

SPEAKER_01 0:58

Welcome everyone to Doing Business with a Servant's Heart Podcast. I'm your host, Steve Ramona. I am so thrilled to have you join us today. This podcast is dedicated to exploring the idea of doing business in life and living life with a purpose. We believe when we approach our work and our lives with a servant's heart, we can truly make a difference. We create a show for you because we want everyone to be motivated, inspired, and educated to make an impact in your world. My guess is going to blow you today, blow you away today while you're listening to her. I want you to think about how you're going to serve today and what impact you create today. Now, people tell me, well, I'm poor, you know, I'm struggling, and we all can make an impact. And we all wait. You wait till tomorrow, two months go by, you've never made that service move, you've not served anybody, you've not created impact. Start after you listen to my great guest because she's going to motivate you to do that. And I want to, today's episode is proudly sponsored by an incredible partner, Pantheon Alliance. Imagine being part of an exclusive community of high-income, successful business owners and entrepreneurs from very diverse industries. Together, we are building a thought leader platform to impact and change the world. So you can talk about you see, I talk about impact and change. And let's start with our little own world. We're going to talk about something I love talking about productivity and revenue. Coach Julie, welcome back to the show for part two.

SPEAKER_02 2:17

Thank you so much, Steve. I'm happy to be back for part two.

SPEAKER_01 2:21

Yeah, you're you're so awesome. Why does productivity increase revenue? Because I think that people struggle with that.

SPEAKER_02 2:28

You know, it's it is a thing. And that's a really great question and um something I am going to answer for you. So when it comes down to being being successful um and increasing your revenue, uh maybe launching a company, if your productivity is not pretty spot on, you might falter there. And here's why for a lot of people, being productive means getting stuff done, right? Getting your tasks done, managing your calendar, showing up. Well, if you're not doing those things, if you're not following through on a phone call, maybe someone sent you a lead, maybe someone has sent you an email, and you don't follow up on that, or you don't follow through, and you're not scheduling your time to be able to actually move your work forward, you're gonna miss opportunities. Missed opportunities are lost revenue.

SPEAKER_01 3:34

What is your definition? I love it. What is your definition of revenue generating activities? Because I think that falls into productivity as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:42

Revenue generating activities is getting yourself out there. So marketing yourself, making sure that your brand is on point, right? Making sure that people can find you. If you don't do those activities, it you know, it's not like you have to uh have this massive marketing campaign to get attention, right? You just have to show up and be somewhere that people can actually find you. I know for myself, if if I don't keep myself top of mind in the right platforms where people tend to find me, they will assume I'm not around anymore. I am no longer in business. That's how how fast it can happen. Actually, I just had this experience a few months ago. My SEO was just kind of gone. Um, there was a problem with my website. I didn't know why, what was going on, but I found out, had someone look at it and go, something's not working here. You know, I'm I'm noticing a difference. Sure enough, in fixing it within two weeks of the problem being solved, I was booked solid again. It was that simple. I didn't have to do anything different. I didn't have to increase my marketing, I don't have to show up on you know various platforms a hundred times a week. No, no, just you know, just keep what's going consistent. Well, if you're not taking care of things, monitoring, making time to check your your systems and make sure that you are uh following through on areas that people are going to find you, but you're not going to increase your revenue. Yeah, that's uh there's a lot.

SPEAKER_01 5:32

Yeah, there's a lot to this, but we're getting tips out there which are great. Mindsets are a big part of productivity as well, right?

SPEAKER_02 5:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 5:41

Changing that mindset. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:43

Yes, because if you're I have people who get very stuck behind their productivity tasks, if you will. Like, oh, I can't do that. I I don't know how. I don't, I don't have the focus, I get too distracted. So I'm always going in 14 different ways, and I never figure out, you know, finish anything. And that that can be a hindrance, of course. But that doesn't mean you can't learn to do these things. You just may not have been taught. You may not have had the experience that gave you the skills to do that. Well, that's that's what I spend all day doing, to be honest, is give people those skills and help them to be able to do those things that they desire to do. Get those things done. And making sure that you're also prioritizing and doing the most important things. Because yeah, we can all have a, you know, a laundry list of tasks to do, but they're not all actually going to have impact. So you have to decide, okay, how much of my day am I going to spend doing those tasks that are going to really, really move the needle forward, really have impact on myself, my business, and others. And when am I going to spend time not doing any of that? Chilling out, recharging, having some creative time to think of new ideas that we want. So productivity is all of this.

SPEAKER_01 7:12

Powerful, powerful. I want to go back. You found somebody to help your website with SEO. How how important is it to go outside? I call it don't recreate the wheel. Don't try to fix the SEO yourself because that's going to suck time and productivity because you're going to spend two hours on the computer going, how do I do this? And so talk about going out and getting help and support from other industries.

SPEAKER_02 7:36

Well, as a solopreneur, that's that's all I do. I have to. There's no way I can possibly do everything myself, nor would it be wise for me to do so. And I share this with every entrepreneur and solopreneur that I work with and always have, that you have to have other people that you can delegate tasks to, some which may not be in your wheelhouse. So if you're not able to do all of your accounting and bookkeeping things, then hire a CPA, you know, hire an enrolled agent. Get someone who is better at it because they'll probably do it in a fraction of the time and they'll do it well. And that frees you up to do the things that you're particularly gifted at. You want to make sure that you're not putting your energy and your time in the wrong places because that's not going to help. I could I design and do my website? Probably, but it would take me so long. The learning curve would be a lot, more than I have time to invest. Because my time is better spent helping my clients and writing. I can write about my my work and I can write for you know my books. I can't actually delegate a lot of that to anybody. Yeah, I will hire an editor. I've hired, you know, I'll hire the printer, the publisher. These are things I can't do. I'm not going to do. And you have to be able to differentiate where are the things that I need to really spend time on and what can I delegate to somebody who may be as good or better. You know, the the the thing that defines a really good leader is being able to hire really good people to do the things that you can't or shouldn't be doing. And I make sure I I delegate out to, I have a VA team, I have my web team, I have, um, I have people that I will hire to to design for me. I have an art degree. I could have designed my web, my logo, but my designer is way better at it. And I'm thrilled because he was able to expand and see outside the box of what I may have created. I wanted someone with a different perspective. So you get different perspectives when you have different people helping put together your work.

SPEAKER_01 10:11

The old phrase my dad used to tell me, um, I just forgot the phrase. You need to spend money to make money.

unknown 10:18

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 10:19

I know it's simplified, it's much deeper than that, but that's what you're saying. Hey, you bought a web design, you bought an art team, you you know, to grow. Now, people are entrepreneurial happy at, you know, just this where they're at, you don't need to do all that. But eventually, if you want to grow and scale, which is what you do and coach people doing, this is a this is what you need to be thinking about down the road. I love it. So we talked about before the show, which I love the umbrella productivity. One of the big components of that is time management. You kind of delved into a little bit, but what are a few tips and tricks people listening can use time management? We all could be better at it across the board. I'm raising my hand because I can be as well.

SPEAKER_02 10:57

Absolutely. Yes, it's it's fascinating that no matter how how organized someone may be or feels that they are, we can always pick up a you know little tip here and there from others. And one of the things that I stress is make sure you're using a calendar. I don't care who you are, unless you're sitting around, uh, this is my my my general comment, unless you're sitting around eating bonbons, watching TV all day, you need to have a calendar because you've got appointments, you've got things you're doing. It doesn't matter you know what what what you do um for a living, you're gonna have appointments. Very least, you're going to the dentist, you're going to go and you know see your kids in a performance or something. So that should all be in a calendar. When we clutter up our mind with minutia, basically, and too much stuff that we're trying to remember that, oh, I think I got something on Tuesday night, but I don't remember exactly. And you're you're forcing your brain to remember all this stuff when there's so much going on in our world, it's not practical. And it actually takes up space in your brain from being able to be creative and and and have that freedom of thought. If you're always having to just kind of uh remember things that a device can easily take care of, and even not even device, you can you can have you know a paper calendar, that's fine too, if that's that works for you. Most of the people I work with that would not even begin to cut it. So, you know, use the tools, use the tools, people, we've got them.

SPEAKER_01 12:41

Yeah, tech's out there for not all of it's good, of course. It's like anything in the world. There's great chiropractor, not so good, great surgeons, not same with tech, you just gotta figure out or hire coach Julie, someone like that, to help you uh work through that. What's the common mistake people make with their time management?

SPEAKER_02 13:01

Keeping everything in their head.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

Okay. Yeah, honestly, that's really the biggest thing.

SPEAKER_02 13:06

That's the biggest issue I um that people um confess to me. They're like, well, I I I'll just remember it. Okay, really good luck with that. Uh I don't find too many people are able to really do that exceptionally well. Things fall through the cracks, and those things could be big, they could be missed opportunities, they could be a broken promise or commitment you made to somebody, um, they could have negative ramifications, health ramifications or financial ramifications. Why take the chance? Why take the chance? Really? Think about it. If you keep a calendar where you can not just keep track of what you what you've got to do, but where you can plan, you know, and strategize. It's like, okay, how am I going to spend my time? And that comes down to from the last question you asked as well. You know, is this the way I want to be spending my time? Looking at what my my week looks like or my month looks like. Where's the best use of my time? And you can't really do that if you're juggling everything in your brain. We need to be able to see it more objectively. Look at your calendar. And as a former guest of yours had said, you color color code. I always make sure that my clients are color coding their calendar. And I have certain colors that I train people to use based on color theory, based on science. And we we set up a calendar so that you can look at your week at a glance and know instantly where your focus is, where is the majority of my time being spent? And this is how I've actually helped a lot of my clients shift how they spend their time. I had a client who, until he did this, until he sat down and blocked his time where it was being spent. And not just not just what you where you're going to spend your time, but then I have a I have a saying where I always make sure that my clients always, always make sure your calendar reflects reality. Period. So that means that if you had this plan for the day, but it got all jumbled up, well, put it where put it back together. Actually make sure that your calendar reflects reality and shows you where you spent your time all day. Move things around, adjust the times so that you can look back and say, oh, well, that's why that didn't get done. Look at this. I had 20 meetings that day. Okay, well, there we are. And if you know you're gonna have you know eight hours of meetings and an eight and a half hour day, well, you should not have a lot on your task list because people, you're not gonna get it done. Don't don't set yourself up for failure. Yeah, because it's it's just not possible. My days that are book solid with clients. I don't have many things on that list because I'm focusing on my clients that day. Yeah, that's my that's my priority.

SPEAKER_01 16:03

The task tip that's a million-dollar tip, Julie. That that's huge. And I did that. And the nice thing about tech, like uh your calendar programs, you can block off those. Like I used to do five podcasts a day, and my partner, like, business partner, like, see, let's stop that. You need to meet clients, you need to do the things you need to do. So I dropped it the two, and it's automatic. I know people go to my calendar, they can only do two podcasts, they have to go to the next day. So utilizing that tech. One thing about productivity, I didn't ask my previous guest that we mentioned it, but came to my mind. We have anxiety and stress with our business. That's the nature of an entrepreneur, business owner, founder. How much does increasing our productivity depress comes a word, but slows down the anxiety and stress? Quell, thank you. Quells the anxiety and stress. Great word, by the way.

SPEAKER_02 16:54

I according to my clients, it makes an immense amount of difference. And I know for myself as well. When when we are able to strategize how we're going to get things done, here's here's here's the the great example. So if you've got a lot of things pending and you're anxious or worried about how am I going to get all this done, how am I going to strategize all these tasks for this project, for example, that's due next Monday. When is this all going to happen? Well, if you don't sit there and figure out how much time you're going to allocate and put it in your calendar and literally block that time, it is non-negotiable. Yeah, you're going to be anxious about how you're going to get it done because you have no plan showing yourself how you're going to do it. But once you put that in your calendar and you're like, you know what? I need 15 hours for this project. Okay, great. Where are those 15 hours coming from? They're going to be here, they're going to be here. And you block these times and you cancel things or move things around that might come in, you know, in the middle of those, where this is the highest priority. You got a deadline, you got a project, that's your priority. Other things, they can be moved around typically. What can be moved around? And you schedule that. Then when you're working on that task or that's associated with that project, you're going to have multiple tasks, of course. When you're working on that, your mind is not distracted, worrying about, well, how am I going to get the rest of it done? When is that going to happen? Um, what if what if I get you know pulled away and I have to stop? And where are the rest of the hours going to come from? I always remind people and encourage, lest I say, really encourage, that when you're scheduling tasks that you need to do, give yourself lots of buffer time. Over, you know, ex uh uh uh estimate the amount of time that you're going to need for the various tasks, because that way you're pretty much guaranteed you're gonna have enough time to get it done. You're you're increasing the time by 50 or even 100%, depending upon how you know you work. And I help people assess that. But if you you know expand and give yourself extra time to do the tasks, you're fine, you're golden. And you know, I've had I I I've had people who say, but but what if I finish early? Yeah, that's not a problem. That's a gift. And you know, if you get done early, great. If you're ahead of schedule, great, move on to the next thing ahead of time, that's fine. Or therein lies the free time concept. You can have some of that too. So whatever's gonna help you feel better. But I can assure you that if you don't schedule those things that need to be done when you've got a deadline, especially, yeah, that anxiety will just sit there and it will not go away. But I've had so many people tell me that, oh my gosh, once I planned everything out, I didn't even think about it again. I just did it. Just just follow the plan. You set it up, it works.

SPEAKER_01 20:07

It's an amazing feeling when you think it's a project.

SPEAKER_02 20:10

Whoo, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:11

I don't know if there's endorphins, I don't know if the scientific, but I know when I do and people you probably work with, like, hey, Julie, I just got done with that project I told you about. And that's another uh another attitude or mindset that helps. Okay, that's done. Don't look at it like, okay, I got five more projects, right?

unknown 20:30

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 20:31

Finish the next one, move on. Yeah, talk about that. We got a little bit of time here left. That's a big question. People go, I finish a project. Julie, I got three more left.

SPEAKER_02 20:42

But you sketch, you can schedule those two. Okay. Um, I have a great example. I have a great story that I just experienced personally. So I um took on a big project of uh uh constructing an entire one-bedroom apartment in the basement of a townhouse that I bought. And I had a deadline because tenants were moving in on a certain day. Now, as everybody will attest to, construction really goes on schedule. But I had no option. This had to be on schedule, or I would have some very bad ramifications moving forward. So I scheduled how this was gonna happen. And I had contours say, Oh, it's not, you're not gonna get done until this time. I said, Oh no, not in my lifetime. This is gonna happen the way I say. And I had to, I had to take a lot of my own personal times. I did a lot of the work myself. So I blocked time. I I lost entire weekends where I was doing tasks because I had to get this done in order for the next contractor to come in and do his job. So I had a lot that was very, very carefully designed and scheduled out. That got done, which it did, by the way, on time. Actually, a few days ahead of schedule, just saying.

SPEAKER_01 22:07

Got surprised.

SPEAKER_02 22:09

And it came out exactly as I had designed it and planned it. And I then jumped right into the next set of projects that I had because those were scheduled too. Because I knew I was going to be done with this big project at this time. And therefore, that freed me up for the next three projects that I have on my plate. And this has only been a couple of weeks since that big project was finished. So now I'm I'm rocking and rolling. It's it's all happening, checking things off the list and moving forward.

SPEAKER_01 22:42

Great answer. Real quick question meetings. You look at your calendar and go, I got a project, but some of our meetings are just discovery calls. And I don't like people, you know, I don't think you should be canceling all your meetings. But is there a time and a place looking at your time management and schedule? Go, hey, I can't meet this meeting. I need to reschedule it because something in my schedules change or something can whatever it may be. How apropos is that?

SPEAKER_02 23:12

Well, it depends upon what the point of the meeting that you're contemplating scheduling is is about, um, is that something you you you asked for or someone asked it of you? Um, where's you know, is this gonna be a collaboration, um, a win-win? Um it depends on what really what it's about. And and um, you know, a lot of times if if someone has personally suggested, hey, I think you should meet with this person, uh, that's gonna get priority because that was a that was a hand given recommendation. So um I have a responsibility, in my opinion anyway, to not just the person who's scheduling time to meet with me, but to the person who referred that person to me. So I'm gonna take that meeting. Um, I also have boundaries around when I will have meetings. So, you know, there are days of the week. I do not even exist in my office as far as anyone is concerned. It's my day where I have to get tasks done. I don't want interruptions, and I don't want to have to transition from one kind of a of a mindset to another. Just like when I'm when I'm coaching, for example, on coaching days, I am 100% focused on coaching. I am helping people, I am working with people. And I'm taking a different kind of a of a call or having a different kind of a conversation might throw me off, or I just may not be 100% on my game. And I want to be 100% for everybody that I spend time with. So that's that's kind of my perspective. Does that answer your question?

SPEAKER_01 24:52

I am not surprised, but you answered it much better than I thought you would. So not thought you would, thought I would hear. I, you know, because it that's a tough one and it's there's not a right answer, but I like you gotta look in the mirror and go, I don't usually do it, but you know, sometimes I'll get that. Oh, I didn't know we had a meeting. I think we met six months ago. I'm gonna cancel. It happened two weeks ago. I'm like, you know, I used to get mad, I don't get married anymore. It's okay, no problem, move on. But you know, it's probably why that question came about because like that's interesting. The hour before you were, but that's okay. That's where productivity and time management I she needs you.

SPEAKER_02 25:31

Yeah, and you know, I I also look at it like I had someone just cancel something today, and um, they they didn't give any reason, but they rescheduled it for another time. So my thought is something came up that was pressing. I have no judgment here. That's fine. I had time to then do something on my list. I didn't have time to do it before.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

So great, great answer. Because that's the thing, just like when you finish a project early, yeah, like you know, you get that free time. Well, I had an hour now, I got tasks list.

SPEAKER_02 26:06

You know, if you have a task list, which I'm sorry, everybody should have. Uh you got stuff to do. It's not like you're sitting around going, gee, I don't know what else to do with my life. No, no, actually, you probably have quite a long list.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 26:18

So something off of it, you know.

SPEAKER_01 26:20

It was like blessing. Great. Okay, I'll have to do that today. Okay, let's end with a great show. God, we went long and I love it. A great question. So I've got a new question. I don't think I asked you this last time. So we have a restaurant, you've got a reservation for four. You're gonna sit in one of the chairs. Who will sit in the other three chairs, dead or alive? Why would they be sitting there? And what food would you order?

SPEAKER_02 26:46

You want me to answer this in two minutes? Are you kidding me?

SPEAKER_01 26:49

I'll give you three. Three and a half.

SPEAKER_02 26:52

I'm gonna go in reverse order. What food would I order? Easy. I eat, I'm I'm pescatarian and gluten intolerant, so fish, vegetables, healthy stuff. Um and if they have a flourless chocolate cake, yeah, I might have to do that just because uh love chocolate cake. Um, who would be sitting next to me? Wow, you know, um okay, this is coming out of left field. Um Katie Perry.

SPEAKER_01 27:30

She's the first.

SPEAKER_02 27:31

He was actually our neighbor and babysat my kids. And I haven't talked to her in a very long time.

SPEAKER_01 27:38

So that would be really cool to uh shout out to Carrie Katie Perry if you're listening to this podcast. Reach out to Julie.

SPEAKER_02 27:44

She was just, you know, that's cool. Katie Hudson and me. Um yeah, she's she's she's actually really lovely. And um what else would I want to um sit next to? Oh, this one might make me kind of my mom. She passed a couple years ago. It would be lovely to sit down and have a conversation with her. Yeah. Um, she had dementia, so she wasn't only there anymore, you know. Yeah, um, and my son. My son. Um who's very much part of my life, and my daughter, actually, too. I shouldn't neglect her.

SPEAKER_01 28:35

Let's add a chair. We could add a second chair for your daughter.

SPEAKER_02 28:37

So I want both my kids there. Yeah. Um, you know, they're um, it's just it'd be neat to just just be with just them, uh, you know, just as a family, like again, in a way, you know, because they're all grown and have their own lives. Yeah, so it'd be kind of cool to to just um it's a beautiful answer.

SPEAKER_01 29:00

I love it. And I love this question because there's no right or wrong answer, it's but comes from your heart. And and Carrie, Katie Perry does not hurt because I'm sure they have a lot of questions for her. So it'd be a fun conversation for sure. Uh Coach Julie, thank you so much. You've really told taught taught us about productivity. I've learned some things, especially a task list, calendar, and all that great stuff. How can people support you, reach out to you, connect with you?

SPEAKER_02 29:27

Super easy. And you can go to my website, which is coachJulie.com. Julie is spelled J-U-L-I. F Y I. And um, I'm on LinkedIn. I'm on a very few social media sites, but LinkedIn's probably the easiest one to find me on. Follow me, chat it, you know, send me a message. Uh I respond. I don't have a bot. I don't have any, I don't have a peep, I don't have people doing that. I actually do that because that's important to me. Yeah, yeah, you'll get me, not an assistant.

SPEAKER_01 30:05

She's botless. I am botless. Yes. Well, thank you again, Coach Julie. This is awesome. Reach out to her. Do me a favor. Can um comment on the YouTube channel, comment on the Apple Podcast when it comes out. If you have comments for Julie, I'll get them to her. If you comment about the show, any feedback, good or bad, I'd love to hear that. Also, subscribe to the YouTube channel because Julie's one of many incredible people that have been on my show that are going to teach you, they're going to motivate you, they're going to inspire you to do good things and impact your world. So subscribe and learn more and more about how these guests are so powerful and so wonderful. And me and Julie, thank you so much for watching or listening to our podcast. We look forward to seeing you on the next podcast doing business with a servant's heart. Have a great day, everyone.