Top tips from a systems specialist and Moxie lover to improve your online business

Most Valuable Lesson from the Conversation:

The most valuable insight is the transformative power of systems and automation in freeing up time, mental energy, and resources for entrepreneurs. Tools like Moxie, when paired with solid Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs), allow business owners to streamline processes, delegate tasks with ease, and focus on growth or creative pursuits instead of repetitive admin work.

Top 5 In-Between-the-Lines Lessons:

1. Automation as a Mindset Shift: It's not just about saving time—it's about reducing decision fatigue and mental clutter.

2. Leverage Your Strengths: Focus on tasks you're naturally good at and let systems or specialists handle the rest.

3. Start Documenting Early: Creating SOPs from the beginning of your business saves headaches when scaling or outsourcing later.

4. Trial and Error is Part of Growth: Mistakes in automation are learning opportunities; over time, you'll master the tools.

5. Delegate the Heavy Lifting: Hiring experts to fill automation gaps can drastically simplify and accelerate the process.

5 actionable steps you can take from this conversation:

1. Begin with SOPs: Set aside time to record your current processes (use tools like Loom or ChatGPT). This will highlight inefficiencies and manual tasks that can be automated.

2. Focus on Basic Automations: Start with simple tools like automated scheduling, email sequences, and invoicing. Build from there as you gain confidence.

3. Invest in Your Tools: Explore platforms like Moxie or Zapier to streamline communication, lead tracking, and workflows.

4. Learn the Tools or Hire Help: If the learning curve feels overwhelming, outsource the setup to an expert or take basic courses (e.g., on ClickUp or Moxie).

5. Prioritize Scalability: As you grow, revisit your systems regularly to ensure they're still serving your business efficiently.

Transcript:

there you are Hi how are

you I can hear you I'm wearing all pink

in brand with you you have to be you

know of course this is I'm committed

with this so can you please introduce

yourself what it is that you do because

I might not have explained it correctly

no you were right um I am a operations

manager I'm moving a little bit away

from the VA title this big movement at

the moment in Australia that a lot of

the VA are moving away from it um but

I'm still like it's it's way to explain

what I do so yeah VA appra manager SL

just you know get get done for

people exactly I love that title get

done girl you

know

professional love that you should you

should actually go for that just Rebrand

a little

bit I mean it works we're talking about

how you help people with automations and

systems and everything and we actually

met on I think on moxy's um the on the

Facebook group I love Moxy I know you

love Moxy and it has taken me a while to

automate and actually do the things that

I need to be doing inside of Moxy

because of course I'm not you but I want

you to let's just start from the

beginning I really want to know how the

hell did you end up doing this because

this is not like advertised when you are

thinking

about doing something with your life

you're are you going to be a dentist are

you going to be a lawyer oh no I'm just

going to automate for

people no you don't think about these

things well it's funny you said you

asked me this question because my

business started because I did not want

I will say um

horticulturist so I was dealing with

plants so I was selling plants to you

know landscapers gardeners people in the

industry and I just didn't want to go

back to that industry because like many

Industries is very uh misogynistic and I

was getting overworked and underpaid and

I had to commute for like 3 hours I just

had a baby I'm like I'm not this is not

this is not my life um so I said to some

I think it was my partner I'm like there

surely this a job that I can stay at

home and I just you know get things done

for people that don't want to do them

like they're not computer leader they

just can't be bothered and he said yeah

it's a virtual assistant so then I went

into this huge research Rabbit Hole a

fan of EA coaching Australia and yeah

the rest is history I'm like all right

I'm going to start my business um

because of the baby I didn't have a lot

of time so um I only had like one client

for ages and then once went to daycare I

was like okay great now it's time to

basically you know get out there put my

name out there um I had a great support

network so everyone always just referred

me to people so I had um I did social

media at the start but then I realized

this is just not what I want to do um

and then yeah I fell into automations

and how to make life better I found AI I

found zabia I just went into um Moxy and

I'm like you know people hate this

because it's a lot of brain power and

it's a lot of feeling and like if you

get one thing wrong it can just like you

know mess up your whole week and I'm

like I'm actually quite good at this I

understand it better the most and for me

it just makes sense because you just

it's a pattern and I I love patterns so

it's just easy to understand so I'm like

this is what it is I just need to sort

this out for people and make the

client experience better and make their

jobs better for them it's such a game

changer honestly the amount of time

we're talking about is soce and the

amount of time and freaking brain power

that I have Unleashed by using one of CH

G favorite word um just by having the

Sops ready and like just my emails

automated it's insane it's I don't think

think people really know that

no it send you so much um so much brain

usage I suppose because you don't have

to worry about that like if somebody

sends you a lead you don't have to be

like oh go we're going to chase them up

we're g to chase them up we're going to

chase them up it's not in the back of

your head because you're like no my

systems are going to chase them up and

they know they're going to be I'm not

forgetting them but they're being taken

care of by the systems I put in place

it's insane do you have any specific

case studies that have been

like with your CL just basically

changing everything and how they do it

and because it happened with me when I

started automating things I had so much

free time that I was like what what am I

supposed to do now I feel like I'm not

even working this is crazy um yeah I'm

the same not for my clients at the

moment because unfortunately my clients

the more I get done the more work there

is because I just keep hting little

things they're like oh no you can do

this okay you can do this you can do

this okay solve this problem I have this

other problem I'm like all right cool

let's just Al I guess that it could be a

case study you know I'm solving problems

for them now they can finding more

problems but they just have a pile of

things by the time people get to me they

have a pile of things that they need to

get done that slowly chipping away at

things and you know eventually there'll

be no pile and life will be great but at

the moment with everyone there see a

little bit of a pile for like a second

and then the pile goes back in yeah

pretty

much um but for myself yeah like I found

so much more time to do like um I create

three resources for my newsletter so

I've had more time to do that I've had

more time to create um you know content

for social media and I've had more time

for um studying more automations

studying more into Moxy um I'm a big

clickup fan so you know going to clickup

university did a couple of copywriting

and graphic design courses so it's more

time just to get those done as well it's

insane it's a world possibilities I just

absolutely love this so what would you

recommend to people that are sort of

starting their business how should they

start the process of automating things

and creating their Sops and all that um

if they're gonna it yeah your Sops you

can start from the start as soon as you

start your business like set aside 2

hours and you can use char for these you

can use subscribe AI you can use zoom or

Loom because you can create screen

recordings um and just start documenting

all your processes from the get-go so

then when something happens or when

you're bringing someone in or when your

business is scaling so quickly you can't

keep up at least you have all those

instructions you can just hand over um

rather than starting from zero and then

you know you have to create three

different manuals for three different

people know you have you have them all

from the start um and then once you

create those Sops you can actually see

where you're doing manual things and

where you're like hang on a second

there's an app for that there's an app

for this there an app for these so they

kind of go hand in hand once you create

one man you see your gaps and then you

can either hire someone to fill in your

gaps um yeah or hire someone to tell you

how to fill in your gaps with

automations

which is the ideal thing because

honestly it's a lot of thinking that you

need to do to be able to figure out what

the process is usually it's easier when

there's someone that already knows the

common processes the step by steps you

don't have to think about it you already

sort of see the gaps and it's just it's

easy easy yeah exactly like I have a

couple clients so they know how to use

zi but they're just like it's just too

hard for me to know what's trigger what

and then like setting up the steps and

you know every now and then the good

thing and the bad thing about

automations and the robots and you know

AI is that if you make a mistake it's

really really

obvious um so you have to be really

really explicit and even if you're like

oh no I've got it this is great you

probably do not write one word properly

or accidentally put in a different

custom fi or whatever and things just

you know exploit so you're like okay

great every single mistake at least it's

a learning curve and a learning

experience you're like all right I I

want doing that mistake again because I

know that this program thinks this way

and um this other program connects to

this program in this way so yes you're

always learning which is

fascinating yeah it totally it's it's a

learning curve so what do you think

would be the most common basic

automating processes that you would have

to tackle with someone that hasn't done

any of that and maybe have been in

business for a couple of years well it

depends what you're doing but the most

common automations that people are doing

without realizing they're doing actually

is um schedule meetings because people

get the um emails reminding emails and

even the confirmation emails

automatically like you you don't doing

that the program is doing that for you

um invoicing as well a lot of people

probably don't realize that that's an

automation like zero QuickBooks whatever

you're using um creating automatic

invoices again that's an automation um

so even if you think you're like oh I

don't have anything in place you

probably already do and um if you were

starting your business and you wanted to

start automating things I would yeah

automate um scheduling invoicing parts

of your client Journey as well as your

review process so if you finish with

someone up set up with your if you have

Moxy you can set up with Moxy or if you

don't you can set it up with your email

marketing um program so um in florid

before I had Moxy I had a um sequence

that I have for my finished clients that

every like the first two weeks we get a

reviewed request and then a month later

just like hey how's it going and then

six months after that they have a a

email going hey I'm still here if you

need any more help if you want anything

if you just want to chat a little catch

up so um yeah just automating parts of

your client Journey so you know that um

people that you've interacted with are

not Li hanging and your systems are yet

nurturing them that be the way yeah and

you stay top of mind that's super

important that has really changed a lot

of my interaction with clients just

being present and being like because

they forget they're doing their own

thing they're working on their business

and then they're like oh I've been

thinking about doing this actually and I

forgot to email you and then it's an

opportunity to just open the email and

be like hey actually this this and that

yeah exactly and like you said

everyone's so busy and if you just get

like a reminder or a ping or something

and you're like hang on a second I've

been thinking about this service or this

person or this

situation and um from my marketing

friends a lot of the time people take a

long time to interact with you before

they want to do a purchase or before

they want to you know engage with your

service so even just sending them an

email every 3 months um you know will be

like hey I'm ready I'm actually finally

ready to engage with your service and

it's only because I remember you exist

because of the email that you sent me

that's on your sequence obviously that's

not how thank you but that's you know

that's

not yeah that's pretty much the the same

for me do you have a specific sort of

workflow for the customer Journey when

you are working on the onboard side of

new clients like like for for example

for me as a web designer the client um

they need to schedule a meeting we talk

about their project and then there's

like the whole process do you have

something that serves standard for

almost everyone online yeah so um they

do Discovery call and then send the

contract and then once the contract is

signed send the first invoice on the

first invoice is paid um send an email

with a client welcome packet that has

basically instructions um of how what

they need to do for um my digital agency

clients it's like a checklist of how to

add them to the paid ads and the admin

side of Facebook and Instagram and Tik

Tok um with explainer videos um as well

as yeah scheduling a call because a lot

of people um don't

know how to give access to things as

well so for me as well I have a meeting

because a lot of people I do have a um

passwort manager but some people don't

like using them or things like that so

it's just an opportunity to get

everything out and um understand your

client's needs and it kind of just sets

the tone of a relationship as well so

like if someone's really hled you kind

of know that okay this person needs a

little bit more work needs a little bit

more help how do I make next

interactions less thred for them or if

this person's like I have no idea what

I'm doing or again if person super

relaxed and they're like you know this

is this is all for you to do then you

kind of know that they're not going to

need as much help because you're going

to be doing most of the things so um

yeah setting up a meeting client welcome

kit um I use my client portal in Moxy

and that has everything in it so it has

videos expl uh vide explaining how to

use my password manager how to use click

Hub the clickup folder the Google drive

folder as well um my scheduler they need

to schedule a meeting with me rather

than going through all my emails trying

to find a link it's all everything

everything they need for me is on that

client portal and that's that's one of

the things I about Moxy I know I sound

like a salesperson for Moxy but um same

I mean I'm like die hard Moxy fan me too

like um before Moxy I was using clickup

as my CRM because you know budget and I

tried D and I was like I just can't for

some reason that interface I just hated

it absolutely hated it couldn't get

couldn't get across it so as soon as

like Moxy came around I'm like this is

it this is where I go you know head head

in and they keep um updating and

releasing new features that you know it

just it's like like CHC would say it's a

game changer um

so yeah trying to rather than doing

everything manually or everything um

through click C which C's also pretty

great but it's you know it's not a CRM

um yeah Moxy just does everything from

point of contact to my onboarding to my

continuing um and my offboarding as well

actually I have a sequence it's like

this is all the things that youit for me

this still your Google drive folder I

recommend you copy it because you know

use time I'm probably going to Archive

it or something um and yeah that's you

know the whole nurturing sequence till

six months after after they finish with

me it's all in Moxy so yeah I I actually

need to do that I haven't set up the the

nurturing sequence after they end up

working with me I just finished it as an

at I think onboarding offboarding and

then it's just manual I really need to

sit down and work on that I'm so

obsessed with Moxy but I don't have the

time oh know that's the thing thing is

like you kind of have to have the time

and if you're like me just finishing the

last yeah I was so busy with client work

I released a new service and I didn't

realize I hadn't updated my Moxy

workflows so this one client that I

booked in that on boarded just before

the holidays she was getting all my

automated emails and she was like what

the hell's going on why am I getting

these emails I already agreed what's

happening and I'm like oh God this is

where this is where you really need to

always check your processes almost

monthly if you can just to make sure

that you not um yeah M secondly emailing

people that you shouldn't be emailing

lucky she's not um upset about her but I

was like this is not this is not a good

look you know this is not a

brand yeah but you live you learn and

then you fix it and then you move on to

something even better I love that we

actually need to we have pending working

on a couple of Moxy

tutorials sorry I'm working on tutorials

on Moxy tutorials yes we have been

about it and we haven't actually done

it yeah I really need to um every time I

do something on Moxy I'm like always um

like wearing pajamas or not wearing like

real appropriate outfits so I'm like I

need to spend a whole day just recording

everything I'm doing so at least I can

like talk over it or something um but oh

by the way I found a tool today uh I'm

going to take the opportunity to share

it with you because it might help you

I'm thinking about doing this tutorials

for to post on YouTube and of course

they're going to be probably about an

hour long and I found this tool is

called Opus I think yeah

op I'm like I'm sold this is exactly

what I needed it's

insane yeah I've heard of it I haven't

used it myself but a lot of the VA um

girls in Australia they obsessed as well

because it just makes edit it everything

for you and I think literally took me

today I was downloading the videos from

business chats to just make them into

like 30 second videos for Tik Tok for

reals whatever and I just uploaded a

couple of videos to oppus literally two

minutes it downloaded the video just

split it up it told me like I would put

this in the in the cover of this video

because it's missing a little hook and

then it needs this at the end a call to

action but this is your video under 30

seconds and then the subtitles

everything ready I was like that's great

this is insane yeah I should get on to

that so I can I have so many tutorials

that I want to put out there that I'm

just like I just need to do it but again

like you say I'm just not that I don't

want to create content I love creating

content is just taking the time and

effort to create something that

understand because I can talk for hours

about things but a lot of the time

people like I have no idea what you're

saying you know

so social media I think that works

because people are like okay but what do

you mean and then you have engagement

and then you can reply like which is

annoying to me because I feel like I

need to give out all of the answers

right away so people have no questions

but then for social media is

counterintuitive I guess I don't know

it's a very strange world out there it

is it is and um you know love social

media I'm obsessed but also it's the of

my

existence I know girl same so if someone

wanted to work with you start uh

automating their systems their processes

what do they need to do what's the first

step um so you can go on my website and

I have a little Moxy form on there um

and they can fill it in and they'll get

it on aut email to book a schedule to

book a discovery call with me and we can

talk about what they need to do how they

want to get it done what the timeline

ISS Etc or if they want ongoing support

as well I have room for one more

retainer client um I also love the

clevering people's digital Liv so if

they just want someone to come in and

clean up the canva or the Google drive

or their emails so much fun

yes

can you hear me I can't hear

you I can't hear

you I can't hear Oh no you're back I'm

back yeah yes um sorry I have this timer

on my phone that I'm only allowed to be

on social media for like half an hour

and it's already G like sorry you use

your time so oh my

God

yeah um that's right I can't I can't

figure out how to turn it off um anyway

uh yes everything's on my website um on

my linking bio as always on Instagram I

got all my links um if people want to um

just have a quick chat with me I have a

pick my brain Service as well if people

just want to come in know everything

literally have a look into my brain um

we spend an hour and then people get

resources after that because I just I

like creating things and I like to um I

guess educate people and just show

people how to do things and are easier

so um if people want to sign up to my

newsletter as well I do a monthly free

Resource as well for online service

providers um yeah so some other um

resources I've done before is um you

know email templates or um goal planners

or um the one I'm doing this month is

how to map out your client Journey

because I've been doing a few for my

clients I'm like well people sometimes I

know how to do it

so um that's amazing yeah and so yeah um

Instagram Tik Tok I'm on LinkedIn as

well you know every now and then I'm not

very corporate so sometimes don't really

like to be in there but um mostly

Instagram so if and threads I'm actually

pretty pretty big on thread not that I'm

big like I love threads because it's

just everyone's just saying the random

things and I'm like hey this is VI theen

yeah the twi Bros only just arrived so

it hasn't been ruined yet but we'll see

how it goes yeah awes okay amazing I

love that I'm definitely going to sign

up to your email list I didn't even know

that you had one for some reason to sign

up much lately I keep yeah I

have plan and I always I always go Rogue

so I also need someone to tell me stop

going rogue follow your plan

same yeah for sure same we should

actually talk about in the future making

a little maybe Moxy course or something

for new business owners that want to set

it up because I feel like it's easy to

use but at the same time in the

beginning you have to get used to it

it's a big it's a big setup yes I have a

couple of um I've done a couple Moxy

builds so I have a couple of resources

that um I've created a while so once I

like make him really amazing I'll share

them with you at the moment they still

in the testing stage um but a spread

shet basically and you map up your whole

workflow and um with pipeline stages and

what happens before and after because I

know people love spr so that's also

that that's awesome I love that this is

going to be so helpful for everyone that

watches I'm going to split up this video

and I will tag you everywhere so you can

share it too

but thank you so much for waking up so

early to be here with me all right

summer in Australia so the sun's already

shining and it's already like 100

degrees up here oh than you I love that

that's amazing well thank you so much

again for being here I hope you have a

great day talk to you soon than for

having me and thanks everyone bye bye