Show Notes
When your business grows to a certain level, and you can no longer run everything, and then realize you need to bring on a team to grow and scale, the next step is putting standard operating procedures in place.
We have the perfect guest to help us dive deep on SOP’s
In this week’s episode of The Marketing Natives we have Jordan Gill, owner of Systems Saved Me and master of all things operations and systems.
We’re talking about:
- The defining moment in Jordan’s business where she hated what she was doing after only five months in business and how she pivoted.
- How to use VIP days to charge by value not hours
- Quick tips to help you make the shift to charge more for your services
If you’re a local business owner who wants to generate more qualified appointments online we created a free training to show you our proven three step process. Watch the training
Connect with Systems Saved Me
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Transcript
Aaron [00:00:00] Hey, guys on this episode, we have Jordan Gill from Systems Saved Me talking about how to use VIP days and intensives to grow your service based business. We talk about the pandemic and how she shifted her company to continue to grow during this time and also the mindset shift that she's adopted to help scale her company to the next level. Go ahead, listen. Enjoy!
Narrator [00:00:21] This is the Marketing Natives, providing actionable ways to grow, improve and succeed in your business.
Narrator [00:00:29] And now your host, Christian and Aaron.
Aaron [00:00:37] Hey all, welcome to another episode of the Marketing Natives. Today, we have a special episode. We have Jordan Gill, owner of Systems Saved Me and the host of Systems Saved Me podcast, where she helps one woman shows become streamlined solopreneurs. Jordan is a graduate of KU which we love and a lover of all things pineapple's. Jordan, welcome to the show.
Jordan [00:00:57] Thank you so much for having me, Aaron and Christian. I'm super excited to get to chat about business. Obviously, it's something that I could be gig out about all day, every day. So I'm just super honored to be here.
Aaron [00:01:07] Awesome. Thank you. And for those who don't know. So the Systems Saved Me. Maybe that seems like pretty straightforward for people like us.
Aaron [00:01:18] But can you tell us a little bit about your business, what specifically you do, who you serve?
Jordan [00:01:21] Totally. So, yeah, the systems are very broad and can feel like a very complicated, intricate, secretive sort of word. And but really, all systems are is just chronological steps toward a goal. And so when you think about it that way, it's a lot more simplified. But specifically for me, the systems that I work with generally are client management systems. So I worked generally with service providers. They tend to lean seasonal. So like tutoring company, wedding planners, like those sorts tax of professionals, those sorts of folks. So during their off peak season, we will look at their client management process in its entirety, and streamline, and automate as much of the processes as possible. That way they can just show up and really just focus on the part that they're good at and that they enjoy doing. So that's really the main system that I help you people with. I'm not big with launches or stuff like that. So I, I like the client experience because I know about you. But when you experience a company that just does really well, like a Nordstrom at Disney, a Ritz Carlton, I even put Starbucks in that category like the customer experience and client experience that you have can make a client for life or can make a customer for life. And so the process of creating a really stellar client management process can really set you up to have like lifetime customers and clients. So that's why I get jazzed about it. That's what I could gig out about. So that's really the system that I focus on. But of course, I know and have done other systems as well.
Aaron [00:03:05] Dang. Yes. And I was going to say, and it's I don't think it's more.
Aaron [00:03:09] It's so refreshing. Like whenever you come into a business. So, like, before I feel like I look at this is like one of those little maps of like somebody from Peanut's who has all like the dirt and like all the squigglyness above their head. And then like you leave afterwards and it's just got clarity of like what to do in the business. So I think you just, like help simplify things. And it really wasn't until, you know, we talked to your fellow found you that we really started to digitize or like make our systems more digital and let our stuff do work for this our clients. And we just kind of optimize over time. But it's really you who kind of introduced this to us and it's been I don't know what we'd be doing now. I'd be more frustrated and I guess than anything.
Jordan [00:03:52] All right. Exactly. That tends to be it, because a lot of us don't go into business to become our own glorified secretaries is what I call them. Like, no one really likes to do all of this, like trudging like sludge, just like I don't like to do it. And most my clients like to do it where it's like these small, little, intricate details for every single little client. And it's like, you know, I'm a very forgetful person. And that's actually why I'm like praise systems, because, like that's just like not you know, if I don't think about the next five, ten minutes, like it's gone. And so I have to create systems in order to stay consistent and to stay streamlined and to know what I have on my plate and what I don't. And so I say that because a lot of people think like I'm just like this robot person who, like knows all and, you know, can juggle tons of stuff. But really, my systems are the ones that are juggling a lot of it. And I can just show up and be present in my zone genius versus having to deal with all the nitty gritty stuff.
Christian [00:04:57] How did you get started with systems? I mean, you just mentioned that, right?
Christian [00:05:02] That's kind of like where you want to live and, you know, you don't want to be organized. And if you're not, you know, you kind of miss some things. How did that come about? And I guess. Do you have any background experience on dealing with these type of things?
[00:05:15] Yeah. So I actually started at the non-profit Space after College. I've never set foot in corporate. The first time I set foot in corporate was actually a Southwest Airlines Halloween party. And it was like, oh my gosh, this is what people are talking about. But when I worked for a non-profit and they both were sports oriented and I every position that I had before becoming an entrepreneur was a position that wasn't previously occupied. So I was in charge of figuring out what this position even was like. What are the expectations for it? You know, what are the goals associated with it and creating a lot of, like, operations type manuals. And I didn't really recognize how actually powerful or how different of a skill set that is than in other areas. Until my last job, before I became an entrepreneur, which was working for an online marketing company. And she just realized that every step of the way I had a system for it. And she's like, you just create systems. And I was like, don't you? She's like no. And so she was like, can you just create a system for anything? And I'm like, probably and so then from that point on, my role changed from the head of content, which was actually more writing. My background is journalism. And so I would write all of our courses, all of our programs and our scripts. All of that stuff. And then I transition into pretty much a head of operations where I was going into the different departments and her business, streamlining it and then bringing on somebody else to hire and maintain that actual process that I created, because I recognized fairly quickly that I'm not a good maintainer. So you guys are like, what kind of systems person are you? Forgetful? I'm not a dictator, but I'm just really open and honest about it because I think, again, like, people have this, I don't know, visual of just a person who just, like has all their stuff together. And the reason I do preach systems is because I don't have all of my issues together all the time. And that's OK. And that's the point of systems. And so I notice that I'm really good at the structure side of it. I'm really good. And I think in a lot of areas, there's, you know, you think of even like website design or stuff like those, usually people who are really great at, you know, the structural like the user experience, the all of that stuff. And then there's people who can actually go out and build it. And that's what's great about you guys. You guys can do both. And so, like, I recognize that I am a structure person and not a maintainer. So for me to come on your business and just build systems month after month. You're gonna think I'm a terrible systems person because my one of my biggest strengths. I'm a big strength finders person is. Focus, focus. It's always been. As many times as I've taken the task. And it's had slight changes. Focus has always been in my top five. No matter what. And that's because I can sit there for a short amount of time, really focus, really honing on something and like knock it out much faster than if it's like dripped out over months and months and months and years. If you're like doing, you know, really longer tuners. And so I was just like, OK, like I can't do any projects past three months because then my focus dies down. And, you know, I think business is such a journey of self-awareness and you become more and more self aware of the longer you're in it and just being more honest about where your strengths are, where your weaknesses are and how to compensate and how to build a business that really does support your strengths. And just kind of like either lets go of your weaknesses or you hire out for your weaknesses, whatever that looks like for you.
Aaron [00:09:13] So you mentioned something there about like the retainers and like playing to your strengths. So did you start out with retainers? Have you changed that? What was it like?
Aaron [00:09:24] I'm assuming you have, because you said you don't do the retainers aren't really your thing anymore. So what does it look like for you now?
Jordan [00:09:31] Yeah. So it took me about five months to realize that retainers are not my thing. And that came from I start my business May 2016 and then by September 2016 I had four monthly retainer clients at the time and three out of the four were launching products like six figure like these are seven figure businesses I was working for. These six figure launches and they lauching in September. OK.
Aaron [00:09:56] No.
Jordan [00:09:58] I was like count me out. I never ever ever want to do this again. And so as a systems person, it's like all the tech crazy. So I was like, yeah, it gots to go from here. So I let go two clients, kept two it's basically like, what is the bare minimum I need to like live and then I'm going to like rebuild something from there. So I then start to learn about intensives and VIP days. And I signed on a sales coach and she did an intensive with me. And I was like, this is interesting. And I start to like be really intrigued by them. But I didn't see anybody and like the operations or system space doing them. So I was like. I feel like, you know, you always hear, like go into markets that already exist because they're already proven and all that stuff. But I was just like, well, I'm just I'm a kind of trailblazer. I'm a little bit of a rebel. So I'm just gonna try anyway. And if it flops, like whatever. And so I then moved fully into the VIP days and intensives. And while it took about five or six months to get it to the leveled outpoint, you know. I have not had a monthly since early 2017 and that feels so good. So yeah.
Aaron [00:11:13] So nobody to answer questions too or anything like that. So the VIP days and like that kind of intensive. What does that look like for you now? Has that changed at all since like you said very early on? Have you focused more on a certain type of VIP day or intensive? What is it?
Jordan [00:11:32] So I the VIP days, they used to be out for hours. I've now moved them into about six hour containers because I'm just getting a little bit more of a I guess, a broader clientele than I did in the beginning. And so, like, it was a lot quicker, a lot easier to kind of turn Burnam because the process was basically the same for all of them. And so now I'm getting a little bit more intricate businesses. I've added on two ours. So now my VIP days are six days. They're virtual, just like a Zoom room. And I take remote control of their computer or we kind of like work together simultaneously. It's almost like a virtual coworking dates, which a lot of my clients really like because what I've noticed is, especially in the systems realm, is a lot of people will hire assistants person, they'll go back in their layer, they'll like make it, and then they'll just be like, here it is. And then the person's like, well, I have actually no idea what you just built. So great, but also not great. And so that's why I do intensives with somebody. So they are literally seeing me build and see and touch everything in while they're not retaining it. It just gives them more confidence to know, like generally what's going on. Plus, they get the recording of that as well so that they can go back and reference it later on. And so that and I'm really big on breeding confidence in their clients and figuring out, OK, how can I make this as transparent of a process as possible? How can I be super upfront about things? And I am, you know, constantly looking at how I can improve my client experience and how I'm offering different aspects of business. And so, yeah, like I yeah, it was about in the beginning it was four hours for three thousand and now it is six hours for five thousand. So made a bit of a shift plus like I'm like a total expert out of it now. And so I think that I could just sit and dream and built client management systems all day, every day and not even dabbled into like student management systems, like if you have a good coaching program or stuff like that, because those are having kind of a boom. So I'm touched into those as well. And so that's really fun to do.
Aaron [00:13:55] I don't want to go too down this hole, but I'm just curious, my own, I'm sure people are wondering as well. So this is somebody who like, can you give us, like, this ideal person like Joe or Susie or whoever is like they come to you and then like when they go through this intensive, you're going through in, like, creating everything for them. And then you give them like a document to help them or what like what do they walk away with or what is this total solution, I guess.
Jordan [00:14:20] Yes. So what it looks like is when they start, I have like a five step kind experience plan, it's qualify, collect, create, comment, closed. And so in the first, you know, part of them working with me is when I am collecting everything from them. As far as contract invoice intake questionnaire, which my intake questionnaire is about 45 minutes to an hour and I get my clients to fill out the whole thing. And a lot of times they'll e-mail me and be like, do you want more information? I'm like, this is so interesting because everybody else I hear is like I asked them five questions of my clients are complaining. And so it's because I'm really big on managing expectations. I'm really big on that, you know, on the sales call when you're signing the contract. All that stuff, I'm letting you know, hey, a 45 minute to one hour questionnaire. It's coming your way. Just be aware. And so I'm constantly letting them know that's when they get it. They're like, OK, like I remember she told me about this and I'm going to sit down. I'm actually going to do it versus a lot of clients, like feel like it's a surprise or feel like all of a sudden you just like plopped a bunch of work down. And I just like to be really upfront about that. And so they do the questionnaire and then I do a little bit of pre work before. And so I'm like researching and looking at the different software they're using, you know, what their offerings are as far as services, etc. And then I'm kind of building a little bit of a plan to then give to them upfront before we start with the VIP days. So the morning of the VIP day, we're chatting through the plan and then we're literally going through and implementing the five steps that I talked about to qualify the collect the create comment and the closed. Meaning, you know, every service has a qualifying part. So in your form on a Website or through your Instagram or whatever, you're usually asking some questions because you have certain clients you work with and certain ones you don't, whether that's budget. Whether that's if they have a team or not, whether that's they're in the wrong industry. And so you have to figure out how to automate the qualify phase as much as possible. I used Dubsado as my kind of client management hub. And what's nice is I can have certain questions that if somebody answers it a certain way, then they are going to not get a scheduler to actually get time on my calendar because it doesn't make sense. Like for me, I work with people who do have teams one on one. I work with people who have teams. And so I have a question that's a little like, do you have a team? Yes or no. Does it matter? Contractors or employees? And so if they say no, then I usually will just move them into either. Like, here's a reference for people who do help solopreneurs that does basically the exact same thing as me. But for solopreneurs or also here's like a ninety seven dollars course that you can just like, walk yourself through and like do it yourself. And so I, I'd go and figure out what their qualification phase is. And then we go through their collection phase, which again like I work with, like wedding planners, tutoring companies, JIRA designers, tax professionals. So there is an intake phase for them as well, whether it's agreements and payment and all of that, make sure that's fully integrated and automated as much as possible. And then we look into creating comment, which essentially is if you are like a copywriter and you are writing in somebody's website pages. So we would need to go through and create each create phase. So maybe phase, you know, create phase one is you do the welcome page first and then you get the comment phase, which is the client signs off on the fact that the welcome page has been done correctly and you can move on to the next create phase. The second create phase is the about page and you have a comment phase that is OK this about page is good. Then we have the services page. And so we kind of build out those Lego blocks and you have as many creating and comment phases as needed for your service. And then you move into the closed phase, which is OK I'll put in the last payment, referrals, testimonials, all of that sort of stuff. And so I helped build all of that out in the six hour days.
Christian [00:18:31] Wow! I know. We've been trying to do that for our services, but it's been taken like months. Right. It's something that we said, OK, sit down for like six hours and figure all this stuff out. OK. So, yeah, that's truly I mean amazing. That you can get that done in those six hours.
Aaron [00:18:52] Like you said it's your worth the price that you pay just because like you're so efficient and such a rockstar at it. Ooooh, that's just not my forte. So.
Jordan [00:19:02] Right.
Jordan [00:19:02] Exactly. And so, yeah, I think and a lot of people are like, oh, you know, I see people who will do this for fifteen hundred dollars, but it takes six weeks. And again, I like to use I'm a big like analogy's person and so I like to think of it like the and for those of you travel, I love to travel. There's the regular security line and then there's TSA pre check.
Aaron [00:19:21] Yes.
Jordan [00:19:22] If they pre-check AMEN to TSA precheck. TSA PreCheck is where you get to skip this. If you don't know what it is. Oh, my gosh. You get to skip the security line. You don't have to take off your shoes. You don't take off your laptop. You don't have to take out your toiletries. You literally walk, put your bag and move on. And it is the most glorious I think it's like eighty dollars or something. For five years it is the most glorious eighty dollars I've ever spent. And you know, I so you can totally have a free experience which you're going to wait in line and deal with other people's gross feet and like whatever. And let me just keep myself over here. And so I like to think of myself as the TSA security checkpoint version of, you know, the client management systems, because, again, you can get a slower experience in the sense of like it takes less money and it takes a little bit more time. But for those people who are like, listen, let's get in and get out. I want to play a mess with this for six weeks. I want to go back and forth and e-mails with this person. I want to do all that stuff, like, great, I don't like back and forth e-mails either. So let's just knock it out together. And have you move on to other areas of your business that you're actually wanting to work on and be excited about.
Aaron [00:20:36] This is gonna get another little jab? Christian and I flew to Austin a couple of weeks ago and I was even telling him, it was like, yeah, was there a lot of fun? And luckily, we didn't need TSA because there was literally nobody in line. But I was telling him I was like, yeah, my wife and I, we're actually going to get TSA this summer. And then, like CoVid happened, obviously. But I was like, dang it, this is like another like you said, it's like eighty bucks for five years. This is like a no brainer.
Jordan [00:21:04] So no brainer oh my goodness, like especially if you travel a lot or you plan to travel a lot. Like it saves your whole life like I'll be waiting in a regular line like a year or two because I'd forgotten something on the plane. And so they wouldn't let me use my TSA pre check to go back into the airport. And it was at JFK or LaGuardia or some crazy big airport. And I was like. Oh, my gosh. Like, you forget what it was like, because when you're used to just like five minute, you know, passing throughs. Oh my gosh, I was like, that is the best money in a long time.
Aaron [00:21:42] So speaking of that, I feel like this not like white glove, like it's definitely more of a premium type service. So I think one of the biggest issues or one of the biggest problems people have are trying to figure out is like how to price something or how to like figure out, OK, I might pricing it by hour and my pricing and by how I'm worth. Like, how did you come up with the pricing structure that you did?
Jordan [00:22:04] Totally. So my initial pricing, three thousand for four hours was honestly my sales coach was kind of just like having me throw out numbers and I was making about thirty five hundred a month retainer. And so in my mind, I was like, how cool it will be if I could charge my retainer price for a day or really a half day? And she's like, great. That's what it's going to be. And it's like.
Jordan [00:22:32] OK.
Jordan [00:22:33] So it was a little bit of a kick in the pants. Honestly was my first go at it. And so then once people starts paying it and I was like, OK, it's price fairly where it can be. And I would say then, you know, when I start just like researching or people started doing this more, I would say most like six week client onboarding type intensives are around eighteen hundred. And so, again, for them to pay essentially a little over a thousand dollars more to get it done in a day. I feel like is a huge benefit to people. Like that seems very a no brainer. And so then when I get to the more intricate businesses, then I was like, OK, for this next jump, like really like again, seeing how much of an experience I've given other people. Like, what do I feel like is rightfully how I should be valued and how much time am I saving people and how much like just energy and all of that stuff. And again, if people I definitely work with people whose clients tend to be the lifetime value tends to be around five to 8K. And so then I was like, OK, well, it would be a really easy justification for me to be like, dude, you could just sign one more client on and then that's my price. So I really the second time I did a little bit more of an actual price analysis than the first time, but it just then allowed me to say, OK, I really like to stay in the sweet spot of like one or two of their clients or one or two of their services. That would be the price of what I'm worth, because it makes it very no brainer. But it's still a point of, like I am premium, like we're doing this thing fast. So it's a little bit of a balance. I don't necessarily have a calculator per say, but I would definitely look at, you know, how your spending your time, how much time your actual client is saving you and stuff like that, because, again, it's less about your hours because your hours for your VIP days are completely different than your hours for like a monthly retainer. Because in your VIP day, they're not getting just implementation. They're getting strategy hours. They're getting like all of this experience from doing the other VIP days. And so it I don't I definitely do not encourage people to just like take their hourly and like times at times four times of times six, because you're missing out on a lot of juicy value, like the fact that I've seen the behind the scenes of so many businesses and how they've operated and where teams tend to get stuck or where gaps are. And I can anticipate those is a value, just like I think a lot of people who work with agencies, there's so much value in working with agencies versus like a solo person because they're getting a total bird's eye view of multiple businesses. And so you actually get the benefits of basically like somebody who is inside of multiple businesses versus somebody who maybe has only worked with a few. And so I think in the same realm of the fact that I do VIP days and I've done however many of them I've done and agencies who are constantly working with multiple clients at a time, there is synergy in the sense of like you're getting somebody who really is an expert because they've done and have worked with so many different businesses.
Aaron [00:26:00] Yeah. Dang, that's a good insight, I guess for us, too. I mean.
Aaron [00:26:05] And it's really good to be thinking about. So kind of shifting gears here a little bit. We're recording this in July. As I look at this, this. We just had 4th of July here, July 2020. We're going through like a global pandemic. And that's one of the first things we are talking about is like what you do over the fourth and what have you been doing? How has this affected your business or have you changed anything or has anything changed at all really with your business?
Jordan [00:26:34] Yeah. What's been interesting is when this first hit in March and March was actually my biggest financial month in business, which I think is so interesting.
Aaron [00:26:43] Nice. Congrats.
Jordan [00:26:45] Thank you. And it's looking at OK. I am. Like, I'm doing really well, my business is doing really well. But then I literally like the world is like, you know, in such disarray that it felt really weird to celebrate something that personally was happening. But then again, like the environment, the world is kind of going through a bunch of stuff and, you know, I would say my business stuff hasn't changed per say right at the time that pandemic hit. I was actually shifting a little bit of business models into. I still do my might be VIP dasy as one on one, but now I have a good coaching program. And so, you know, I watched literally like the week that everybody was told to pee in their house. And so we sort of really great launch. 17 people join. And yeah, it's been really fun and interesting to have to do a new business model. While like adjusting to all of us, because also my marketing is a lot of in-person. I love to go to events. I love to connect with people's either speak or attend events. And so to literally be in my house, I've done a little stir crazy. But it also has forced me to market myself in different ways because I thought I wasn't marketing myself online because people didn't know me, but I always was trying to take that into an in person type connection. So it's definitely shifted in my marketing efforts, but it hasn't shifted to too much of anything else in my business, thankfully. So it's been an interesting time period for sure. I've had a lot of like I guess like two people removed, pass away from CoVid specifically and my dad's family. And then, like my grandparents, best friends both passed away from it. And so it's, it is affecting a lot of people. And even my fiance, I just actually lost his job last month. But he has some side hustles and stuff that he's so working on doing. So it is very much affecting my personal life for sure. And I think that it's also important not to just let that totally. It shouldn't put a full lens over what you're doing, because I truly believe that there will be like a resurgent like we will go back to business semi as usual as much as we can, and to not get so attached to how things are right now that you totally pivot your entire business, because again, it's gonna balance back out eventually. Do I know when? Absolutely not. If I did, obviously, I'd be making a lot of money off.
Aaron [00:29:41] I was going to say, if you do, please let us know.
Jordan [00:29:45] But I think that there's too many people who are making these gigantic pivots and making these gigantic changes that then not to say that it's going to be, you know, not for a good reason, but it also is OK if the pendulum swings. So if you swing the pendulum all way this way, then like it's gonna swing all the way back this way when it gets back to normal ish. So I kind of like to just I like to just, like, pivot my little stuff and not get too dramatic with it.
Christian [00:30:19] Yeah. I mean, I think what you said is very smart and something that we did as well. Right. I mean, we're a digital agency, but a lot of our business did come from, you know, a lot of one on one, eye to eye interaction, you know. So for sure, I think the Corona virus kicked us in the butt and said, hey, you guys need to finish out this, you know, and focus more on the online avenue. So I think it's very smart that you've done then. Any business that's listening to this right now should be definitely pay attention to that and pay attention to how to get those leads right online. So I think it's very important. I was gonna ask you, how often do you look at. Because I know you're talking about, you know, more of a systems and how often do you look at your business and think, oh, I think I can do this better or I think I can fix the system? I can add this a little bit in here. How often do you do that and what does that look like for you in your business?
Jordan [00:31:20] Oh, Christian. Yeah. Exactly right. You want to talk about some weaknesses?
Jordan [00:31:30] You know, I I'm definitely a tinker by nature. So my brain and it drains even into my personal life. I'm like, why are we grocery shopping like this? We need to go shop like this. Like this, like, OK, who cares? But I think that what's interesting is what's helped me to stop doing that is hiring a team. Because the more I tinker, the more it messes them up and then it affects everybody. And so when you're solopreneur, you can kind of tinker and it doesn't affect you. However, when you start to have a team and other people are relying on what you're doing and like relying on the tools that you have and relying on the systems you've created, like to make pivot's or to just like all the sudden throw stuff in. Like, you can't really do that anymore. And so, you know, I've gotten a few of those, you know, hand on the stove scenarios with my team. I'm just like, why are you tinkering this? Or trying to do this and you're mocking it up. And so I've really tried to kick that habit. And if I feel the need to play with something, I make sure that it's something that is not like currently running project and it's just like play over here so that it's not messing with the actual flow and operations stuff. So, yeah. Having a team will teach you a lot of things but not to tinker. Is that the biggest lesson I've had to learn.
Aaron [00:33:00] Yeah, I probably know that well myself. But I've got to say. And you're the person who helped coordinate all of this was amazing too. So just shout out to her.
Jordan [00:33:09] Good. Yeah. That's great.
Aaron [00:33:12] What would you do? So I guess this is kind of going along the same lines here. What would you attribute your success too? I think, you know, success is defined differently for everybody. But what would you attribute the success for your business?
Jordan [00:33:26] A couple of things. One for sure, like I make sure that I'm really grounded and I'm a person of faith. And so, you know, being a relationship with God is very important to me. But also included in that is, you know, therapy. I'm like a really big fan of which, again, is maybe not like the typical answer for this, but if your an enterpreneur like your personal and your business life like stuff gets really intertwined. And so I have really looked at having a therapist as an essential part of like Jordan being able to do business. And so grounding yourself first and like as a human being, whether it's therapy, whether it's meditation for some people, whether it's different avenues, that stuff has really been important to me. And the more I've leaned into those things, the better my business has become. And on the business side is connections. So, again, I love, love, love to connect with people. And I'm constantly like, oh, how do you know who does this or who does that? Or, you know, I probably send like 15 to 20 connection e-mails a week. So which is really fun for me. And I truely enjoy it. And so when people are looking for, you know, a new podcast editor or new OBM or they're looking for a site to do or whatever the case may be. I love to connect people. And so in business, I've seen that maybe that's the slower way to grow. In the sense that, you know, if you are and I don't want to say slower, it's slower in the beginning to grow. But then, like, it hits a point to where, like, yet exponentially can thrust you forward. But it seems like there's a lot more groundwork that has to be done when you're focused more on connections than the, like, Facebook ads or the like other marketing arenas that you can do because, you know, it's people. And so but I, I kind of always had in the back of my mind, like, if somehow, like the Internet shuts down or like whatever, like I have a bunch of people's phone numbers that I can call or text and be like, yo, I have shut down like whatever, like I need more clients or I'm going to keep it like this or whatever the case may be. And so that to me has made me feel really supported in my business because I think a lot of people not that I don't. I do do Facebook and I do do a lot of other marketing. And like if I don't have control over that, but I have control over, like, who I'm connected to and who I can't just like text or who's just a text away. So I would say those things have probably attributed to the success of my business the most. So really being grounded and what's important to me. And then also being connected to people who lift me up and who are a positive part of my life.
Aaron [00:36:28] That's awesome. I think this may be rooted in one of your reasons for success, too. But we've just doing some research and we wanted to make sure we add this question because I'm sure people are curious after they go look you up. But how many puzzles do you actually own?
Jordan [00:36:48] So it's interesting. What's funny about that is so I so many people have wanted to do a puzzle swap with me during quarantine. So I was like, you know, Miss Hot Shot during quarantine because I had all the puzzles for everybody to do because puzzles had an outage for like three weeks. I was like, what kind of day and age are we in? I probably on a good a good 20 thousand pieces. And I probably have maybe half maybe like 10 like 500 pieces, I would say.
Jordan [00:37:20] And I kind of like rotate around.
Aaron [00:37:24] Are they all like different types of like are they like abstract or they like pineapples or what are they?
Jordan [00:37:32] Yeah. So I would say, you know, I will say I have toyed around with the idea of starting a puzzle company and I feel like there is a lack of good puzzle artwork. But I, I would say generally they are like geometric patterns or landscapes. Those tend to be my. You don't like the geometric pattern?
Christian [00:37:51] That just sound so hard.
Jordan [00:37:54] I saw a puzzle on Facebook the other day that was like a acrylic puzzle. And I was like, I will never do that.
Aaron [00:37:59] A clear puzzle?
Jordan [00:38:00] Like all of your puzzle clear, like acrylic. And so, like, whatever you're putting on the puzzle lawn is the puzzle basically and I was just like no. None of that sounds appealing to me.
Aaron [00:38:10] Yeah, I started like 250, you know, or like, you know, maybe eight for something.
Jordan [00:38:18] It's really funny, my bonus son loves to do puzzles, too. And so isn't fun because he has like 60 pieces or like 100 piece. And so I have to, like, bring calm myself down because I like get into like race mode and whatnot. So I'll do puzzles together and stuff like that. But yeah, puzzles are definitely a big part of my life. That's why I like to spend my weekends and time with friends or stuff like that. So big puzzler.
Aaron [00:38:44] Awesome. All right. If you started puzzle company. Please let me know. I feel like. Yeah, it's I don't know. I feel like that's an untapped like I don't think there's like a you know, a cool puzzle company, right?
Aaron [00:38:56] At least that I know of.
Jordan [00:38:57] I know, and there's one that I prizing called Jiggy Puzzles or something, and I was like, that's a fun name. And they had like four that you could choose from. I was like, OK, but yeah, I would love to do like ideal worlds. I would love to do like a puzzle that's connected to like a cause. And when you buy the puzzle, a certain percentage goes to that cause, like SPCA would have like a picture of like puppies and you could do a privare puzzle and like support the cause. So I would love to do that.
Jordan [00:39:28] But time.
Christian [00:39:30] Okay I think hard questions that we had here was like, if you were not an entrepreneur, you are not doing this. What else would you be doing? And I feel like this will be a perfect fit.
Jordan [00:39:38] I would be a puzzler.
Aaron [00:39:40] And it kind of fits into both of your worlds. Right. You know, the nonprofit world, the entrepreneurial world and business owner plus that just has like millennial love, like written all over it with like a fun puzzle and a giving back to a cause. It's like making every millennial happy listening to this right now.
Jordan [00:39:58] Totally. I agree.
Aaron [00:40:01] All right. Tough question for you.
Jordan [00:40:03] Yeah.
Aaron [00:40:03] What purchase of one hundred dollars or less has positively impacted your life in the last six months or recent memory?
Jordan [00:40:12] Oohh under one hundred you said?
Aaron [00:40:14] A hundred or less can be ninety nine point nine nine.
Jordan [00:40:16] Yeah, it's right after that. The cost man.
Jordan [00:40:22] I bought a lot of stuff during this quarantine man. I honestly, I might say this like, I don't know. Silly I suppose. But like again, when you're contained in a house, there's a lot of noises. I'm a focused person and so beats headphones. We're having a sale and I bought beats headphones for like ninety nine dollars on BestBuy and they have been the best purchase because craziness like laser cat, laser tag happening running all around the house just put the headphones on.
Aaron [00:40:57] Ninety nine bucks?
Jordan [00:40:58] Yeah. They literally went on sale. I was like they're not like the coolest color I suppose. I think that's why I think they just had like a mass amount of them. But I was like, I don't like about the color. I just care that I don't hear anything that's going on now on the house. So, yeah, I was I was I was probably probably one of the best purchases under around a hundred, but I had a specially in the past six months.
Aaron [00:41:20] Dang.
Aaron [00:41:20] OK, cool. I'm kind of upset. So if you see that deal again let me know. I know because,.
Christian [00:41:24] Did you lose like beats.
Aaron [00:41:26] Yeah. I've lost two pairs of beats at this point actually. No I think I have one too. Yeah.
Jordan [00:41:31] Oh my gosh. Yeah. where do you lose two pairs of beats man?
Aaron [00:41:36] Well the first one I think somebody stole, but the second one pretty sure, like as soon as quarantine happened, like we moved everything from the office and we moved. So it's probably here or at my house. I don't know. So I haven't really looked too much, but it's not in my normal spot. So that's why. But if I don't find them, I'm still interested in a 99 dollar beats regardless. Alright. Another one to make you think a little bit before we get into something. We're real interesting in the last five years. What's a new belief, behavior or habit that's most improved your life?
Jordan [00:42:12] Whew. So I am a bit of a trailblazer and I like to.
Jordan [00:42:24] I definitely have beliefs around. Like following other people's processes. Because I create a lot of processes. And so I feel like, you know, that's a hit to my ego if I'm following somebody else's process, God forbid. And so I had to shift my beliefs around that because, again, I also have been in like this online marketing industry for six years. And so then again, the longer you're in something, you're like, I know everything, you know, whatever. And I had to shift my belief around that because with adding this group coaching program, you know, I'd actually been a coach in a few different group coaching programs. So I've seen them and understand generally how they work. But I joined a group coaching program to help build a group coaching program. And I was like we're just we're just going to have to see how this goes. Like, we'll see, like, doubled my investment in the first month. Well, and I was like, okay. Like, you know, total mindset shift of just like even if something is my zone of genius or even if I have been in an industry for a long time, there's something about following a proven process that just like can alleviate a lot of the mistakes and the back and forth and the testing that you don't have to do. And so, yeah, that was as funny as a mindset shift as that is, because I'm like the creator of systems for a lot of people. It was hard for me to then want to follow somebody else's proven created system. So I would say that was a big one for me.
Aaron [00:44:05] Dang! That's awesome. And I think it's kind of a good reminder for us, too. I mean. Yeah, you just don't wanna be like, oh, I want to do everything that my stuff's going to look the exact same as theirs like. We have coaches. It kind of keeps just telling us that, you know, what makes us unique is ourselves. Even if the process is similar. That's the process. So I think it's a good reiteration or like a good reminder for us on our end, too.
Jordan [00:44:29] Yeah, totally.
Aaron [00:44:31] Alright.
Aaron [00:44:31] So since we've been in quarantine, I know that this is something you've been doing. I feel like everybody their stock is through the roof anyway. What's the current Netflix? or I guess it could be Disney Plus, Prime, Hulu.
Jordan [00:44:45] Well, I've got it all.
Aaron [00:44:46] Yeah, right.
Jordan [00:44:49] Yeah. Oh man, so there's been a few. One I went through was trial by media that's on Netflix and that is about court cases that like basically were super slanted by like the media's perception of things, which is really fine. I love, like true crime or stuff like that. But this one was really interesting, like, um, went behind like the Rod Blagojevich Chicago scandal stuff that he was doing. And then a couple other cases that I'd never heard of. But it was showing like how the media portrayed everything and how that affected then the results of the actual court case on whether it was like a jury member, you know, got removed or like, again, like the jury had already made up their mind based off of the media. When it wasn't really a true case like stuff like that. So that was really good. And then I am trying to think if you're, like, more of a trash TV kind of person, I thoroughly enjoyed it before the 90 days. Which is a show all about like people from different countries who want to get married. There's like a K1 visa process. It's on TLC. Total trash. Like, if you're just it's absolute trash. So if you're wanting your mind to melt, this is the show you should watch. It's fascinating to me. Like human behavior type shows fascinate me. And I just feel like I don't know what it would take for me to like want to move to another country to marry somebody. Like, I just I can't really process that. And so interesting to see, like, two completely different cultures trying to like navigate this whole situation. So before that, 90 days is the K1 visas where like if somebody from France was going over to marry me, they would have 90 days in the states to get married to me. And so before the 90 days is when the person from America goes and actually meets the person they've been talking to. So they haven't even met in person, they're somehow engaged. Fascinating. And they go to the other country and meet the person and see how they live and like operate and whatever else it is juicy you guys?
Christian [00:47:08] So I've never seen a full episode, but I did watch clips on YouTube because of the Big Ed.
Jordan [00:47:18] Oh, yes.
Aaron [00:47:19] And what's that? I guess I had to check out because this sounds so.
Christian [00:47:25] There's a lot of good clips on YouTube. They don't show you the full episodes, but there's a lot of good clips. You can kind of get the idea of like, OK, what's going on here. But yeah, it was very, very entertaining to say the least.
Aaron [00:47:36] These people were definitely like you said, Jordan like you, yet you came in really put yourself in a situation where you would go and do that. So the person who does do it like the situation itself is kind of different. But then you have to think about the kind of person who would go and do that and that they're probably a little bit different as well.
Jordan [00:47:57] Totally, yeah. They are very different. And even there's one I'll leave you with this teaser because it was just like super interesting. So there's this one guy on the show that has been talking to this Russian like gorgeous.
Christian [00:48:09] Yes.
Jordan [00:48:11] Blonde chick. I'm like, OK. And he's gone to Russia four times and she's never shown up.
Aaron [00:48:17] Oh,.
Jordan [00:48:17] And he goes a fifth time and she shows up. You have to figure out if it's her or not.
Aaron [00:48:24] OK.
Aaron [00:48:26] Maybe you should be writing TV shows or something like this is like a cliffhanger.
Aaron [00:48:30] I need to get to find this. Five times to go and find?
Christian [00:48:34] I just watch like a couple of those clips. That guy crazy too.
Jordan [00:48:39] The guy was nuts. He was like they'd been talking for seven years through this, like, chat site that he was paying one hundred thousand dollars in the past seven years to have access to.
Jordan [00:48:50] She didn't have a cell phone like it.
Jordan [00:48:53] Crazy.
Aaron [00:48:53] Yeah, crazy. He has to be loaded because.
Jordan [00:48:58] Yeah, pretty much.
Jordan [00:48:59] Oh my gosh. So then he gets her get this. He gets her a cubic zirconia proposal ring.
[00:49:07] What? Probably because he's afraid that she couldn't be nice.
Jordan [00:49:10] You just got to watch it.
Aaron [00:49:14] He lost all of his money. I mean, he spent, you know, the size of the wedding ring on all these trips. That's why.
Jordan [00:49:20] Yeah.
Aaron [00:49:20] Well, we will have a chat about that. I don't. That has nothing to do with systems, but it is definitely interesting.
Jordan [00:49:28] Exactly.
Aaron [00:49:29] Is there anything that we missed today? Somebody who is a service providers, solopreneur or anything like that. They should that you should be telling them or do you feel like we missed out on if they are listening to this podcast I want to make sure that they get everything that they possibly could for it by listening?
Jordan [00:49:45] Yeah. I think one thing is if you're like, oh, I don't know if I would want to fully switch over to to VIP days or intensives. I have a lot of people who actually will do an intensive more as a qualifying offer and less of just like the only offer. So basically they still have their monthly retainer and whatever they talk about. And they actually put an intensive as a buffer to ensure that they enjoy working with this client, that this client and them like jive or whatever, and then they get access to a monthly retainer. So they actually put it as a front end. Like, again, it d just qualifies your clients a little better to be able to actually like experience them working, because it's one thing because you'll bring their representatives to, you know, their sales calls and then you start working with then and it's what is even happening? And so putting that qualifying offer in front of your monthly retainers is also a good way for you to save yourself from potential crazies. And also get paid essentially to be like, no, you're not a good.
Aaron [00:50:59] OK.
Jordan [00:51:00] Which is nice.
Jordan [00:51:01] Yeah, that's was really smart you guys. And you can do it for a little period of time and still take the cash at that point, so.
Aaron [00:51:09] Yeah, it's awesome. Thanks so much, Jordan. How can people find out more about you and system saved me?
Jordan [00:51:16] Yeah. So I am all about the gram, Instagram is my jam. Spend a lot of time on there. And so my name is @systemssavedme. Pretty easy to find, but hit me up in my DM's and I post a lot of content on IG TV and try to share interesting happenings on stories and all that good stuff. So yeah, I would say Instagram is like the main place. But you can find me anywhere at Systems Saved Me Facebook and my website, stuff like that.
Aaron [00:51:43] Awesome. Thanks so much, Jordan. This was a ton of fun. Appreciate it.
Jordan [00:51:47] Yeah. So fun. Thank you so much for having me.
Narrator [00:51:50] The Marketing Native's podcast is a production of BitBranding.
