Conquering Workflows & Systems For Bookkeepers & Accountants | with Alyssa Lang (Workflow Queen)

Real Truth Behind Navigating Burnout, Hiring, and Vacation Prep

• Season 1 • Episode 69

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In this solo episode, Alyssa Lang covers what the reality looks like when you are back in the trenches of “doing the work,” preparation for a three week vacation, rapid hiring team members and recognizing when it’s time to reach out for help.

In this episode you’ll hear:

  • How to handle business’s ups and downs and adjust to change
  • What it is like to rapid hire, onboard and transition 5 team members at once
  • How to prepare for a 3 week vacation, fully unplugged
  • How to reach out and ask for help when you are experiencing low points in business

Resources mentioned in this episode:

💻 Breakthrough for Bookkeepers & Accountants

👥 Indeed for Employers

📱Follow Alyssa Lang on her personal IG @heyalyssalang

⚙️ Checkr: background check system

Thanks for listening. If this episode inspired you in some way, take a screenshot of you listening on your device and post it to your Instagram stories and tag me, @workflowqueen

For more information about the Conquering Workflows & Systems for Bookkeepers & Accountants Podcast or interest in our programs or mentoring visit our resources below:

Visit our website: workflowqueen.com

Check out our courses: workflowqueen.com/courses

Follow the Blog: workflowqueen.com/blog

Connect on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/alyssa-lang-wq

Connect on Instagram: instagram.com/workflowqueen

Connect on Facebook: Facebook.com/workflowqueen

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I'm actually so happy about the episode that I just recorded. I think that you guys are really going to resonate with the conversation. And obviously the conversation is with myself because it's a solo episode today, but it's with you and you might be resonating with a lot of the things I'm going to bring up today. In today's podcast episode, I'm going to get really raw about how I've been feeling. I've been having a lot of lows lately in the business. Not necessarily in like the worst ways possible. What I mean is like I'm feeling really overwhelmed. I feel like I've been pulled back into the business more than I want to be right now. I just rapid hired like five new people. And so like bringing those people on, I'm going to share how to have those hires that I brought on were actually, coming from a different firm who let me essentially borrow their team member, which is really freaking cool. So it's a different way to. Approach the concept of hiring. I'm going to talk about how I'm preparing for three weeks off for Europe, which I leave next week. And then also recognizing when it's time to reach out and ask for help. And it doesn't just mean in the business. I'm talking in your personal life too, of like truly recognizing when it's okay to not feel like you have to constantly wear this hero's Cape. So I really hope that you enjoyed today's episode. And at any point, if you want to share your story or you want to just talk this out, reach out to me, and I'm always here for you guys. I hope you enjoy today's episode. Hey, everyone. I'm super excited for today's episode because today it's just going to be me and you. And I'm so pumped because I find that recently, a lot of you have reached out to me, directly, and really just shared that you love when I'm just real and raw about what's going on in my world. And to really share the insight of what it's like to just be at different phases in the business and transitioning between. You know, high points and low points and so on and so forth. So today's episode is going to get real deep about all the things that are kind of happening my role, and actually how it relates to you. Because a lot of these messages I'm going to share today are probably going to resonate with you more than you probably want to admit. And so I'm super excited to get kind of really deep about just some craziness that's been happening. And the realness of what's happening in both my firm and here also at workflow queen as well. And just sharing how I'm navigating it, because it's, like I said, it's really going to be super helpful for you. So before I kind of preface like really what I want to talk about, If you are in a weird season of your business, you can even be in a positive season or you could be in a negative season. What I mean by that is. Maybe you're just super overwhelmed. Maybe you have hired the team, you've done the right things, but maybe you're pulled back into the day-to-day work or maybe you're trying desperately to start hiring, but you can't get out of the day-to-day like wherever you're at in business, whether you're a high point or you're at a low point. This episode is perfect for you because as you know, in our personal life and also in business, you can never always go up and you can also never always go down. There's what they call ebbs and flows all the time. And so you will find that in your business, even though you've hired, and even though you've done all the right things and you've taken the right steps and, oh my gosh, all this, I did implement the systems and I did do that. Sometimes it works really smoothly for like a period of time. And then all of a sudden you feel like maybe you're pulled back into the business. Maybe you're like **** now we have to hire another person there's ebbs and flows that do happen in business. And I want to preface that if, if. You understand that concept and this episode's going to be perfect for you because I'm going to share with you. Some of the low points that I've been in recently in my business and just how I'm kind of climbing my way back out. Cause that's what it feels like. I feel like I'm in this like really deep hole right now that I'm like slowly climbing out of. And like I even for myself was like, oh yeah, I'm never going to be at that point again. And like, here we are. And so I've learned for myself that like, It's okay. That you're going to go through these ups and downs, and it's just recognizing how to approach them and not beating yourself up because I have beaten myself up recently for being back into this low point. So in today's episode, I'm really just going to be covering a couple of points, but it's going to kind of go off on its own place. I really don't like to script out my podcasts, uh, sessions where myself. And that's mostly because I feel like the good things I say, or the things that are really helpful for you guys or the things I need to get out or the raw or the real, the truth really comes out of me when I don't have structure. And I just allow this conversation to flow because I want it to feel like we're sitting at a coffee shop together. So a couple of things I do want to cover at least today is I did have your rapid hired guys. It's just so crazy. Like I'm still so burnt out from it. I like rapid hired five people. Two of them, I did borrow from another firm, which we're going to talk about today. So I'm actually going to share how to like borrow someone's team members. And it doesn't always mean that you need to hire someone that maybe there's other alternatives to hiring. If you're really in a need to get someone helping you out with stuff. The other thing I want to cover is like recognizing and knowing when it's time to actually reach out for help. And this can be like, for me, it's my personal life. Like my. You know, personal health, my friends helping me team members, helping me knowing and recognizing when to hire. And so on and so forth. So today I'm going to talk about that and then also how I'm preparing for Europe. So I'm actually going to be unplugging for three weeks, actually leave next week as I'm recording this episode, I'm recording today on June 5th, I'm leaving on June 12th and I plan to be fully unplugged from both workflow queen and my from magnetic bookkeeping consulting. And let my teams run the show and I don't plan to check in on them. So I'm gonna talk about how I'm prepping for that, with this really weird phase I'm in business, because you're probably thinking, well, Alyssa didn't use to say you feel like you're in a hole and you're like slowly climbing yourself out. Why would you step away for three weeks? It's because there's a lot of work that I'm doing right now in order to prepare for that moment. So today I'm going to talk about how I'm climbing out of that hole and still unplugging from a vacation. And so I am so excited for today's episode. And if at any point you want to share a story that resonates with you, I'm going to share a lot of things that I know as you, as humans are going to resonate with what I have to say. Please. I love this guys. You have literally all been reaching out to me via email. I see every one of the emails that you send to us as far as like the ones that are referenced directly to me. Like, and you guys say, Alyssa, I want you to see this. Like, my team gets those things to me. I love to read them. They're so important for me. And Instagram is the one place that even when I'm in Europe, I actually do check my Instagram. So feel free to reach out to me on Instagram at workflow queen and share your story, share whatever you've got that you, or maybe you're just going through a really low period as well that I'm going to share in just a second. So I kind of want to take a step back before I dive into all three points. Just to kind of give you guys like some context of what the freakiest happening in my world, because I feel like it's just gotten chaotic and I feel like it just like. It's like the snowball effect. I feel like it was just like one little thing after another, that slowly just compiled in my life. And also in both businesses. That now I'm back at a point guys. Like I was just talking to my friend, Brooke Swan. Yesterday. And we were making a joke because she was saying that she only works like now about 30 hours a month, which is amazing because Brooke, I have seen her firsthand work. So freaking hard on her business. I remember when we went to Oregon, I think it was around a year ago. And it was her first time, truly unplugging from her team. And I'm so proud of her because now she can just like step away. She doesn't have to be in the business. So she doesn't need to, she has truly worked so hard to get there. So it makes me so happy for her. And now I'm forgetting where I was going with my story, but I'm sure I'll get there. But anyway, so. I oh, we're joking on the phone. So during our conversation, she was like, yeah, it's so funny. Cause I only worked like 30 hours in the month guys, which divide 30 hours divided by four. That's a pretty good amount of hours. Only weekly, which is amazing. So in that moment I laughed. Cause I was like, isn't it so funny that like me and you kind of swapped I'm back to working almost full-time hours and she's now working the hours. Like I used to work. So I used to get at one point in the businesses when I had both of them. I was down to like two to three hours max, a week of working. And it's just funny that now I'm pulled so much into the work again, that like, I feel like I'm working a full-time role and I'm really overwhelmed. I'm really exhausted. And we're going to talk about that today, but just know that like, I want to tell you this and share this with you because a lot of people look at me like, Oh, it's Alyssa Lang the workflow queen. Like she must have it all together all the time. And like all these systems and all the team and all these things. And yes, those things are true, but also there's a shift in the business that happens as we grow. As we change as I need new needs and so on and so forth. And so yes, while those things are true, there's also the downfall of like, even myself that I don't really share often, because I feel like when you've become like this influence in this space, you have to feel like you have to wear this super hero Cape. And I'm tired of wearing that Cape. I'm going to be really honest with you guys. I've had some transformations that have happened recently. Through some personal work that I've been doing and I've recognized I got to put that Cape down because I can't be everyone's hero. I need to be my own hero. And I think that that's, what's so important. And the key message here. Is that like, I need to be real with you guys about what's actually happening. So you guys also can feel validated and how you currently feel right now as well. And so anyways, I've been pulled back into the businesses. So what that's been looking like for me for both magnetic. So my firm and also workflow queen. Is I've been like drowning and trying to get some homework reviews done. For our breakthrough program, just because I like took off for so many weeks straight to go to different retreats and different things for the business. I feel like I've been dropping the ball on my personal life for getting to pay my own mortgage. I've been forgetting to contact the contractors who are installing the bathtub upstairs. Like I've been just dropping the ball and then like at my own firm, like, I've just feel like I can't get approvals out to people and I can't get things done. And it's just like really overwhelming. And here's the thing I am grateful to say. I am actually out of the day to day. So what I mean by that, you're probably like Alyssa, you just said that you're drowning. Yes. I'm drowning, but I'm drowning in different ways than I used to. So. I don't know what stage you're at in business as you're listening here. But you'll notice that you'll drown in different ways, in different stages of your business. So I used to drown in the day to day because I would do all the work and I didn't have a team. Now, the team is really handling the day to day, but the things that I'm now drowning in, or the high level **** so like I'm talking like we're going through a rebrand for magnetic and I'm having like our designer and our copywriter and all these people like asking me for approvals. Like, that's the things I'm drowning in right now. So like, I feel like I'm spending so much time drowning in the high level. And so it's interesting because like these highs and lows are different versions of highs and lows. Like back in the day, like I said, when I didn't have the team and I was stuck in the day-to-day, I was drowning and like, man, I can't even get this workout for my client. So the cool part is I do have a team that has been delivering on the actual services. And at that point, I just kind of recognize, like, I can't freaking do this. Like I need someone to help me wrangle me in, help me get my thoughts. I can't even look at my own emails. Like I have my own direct email that no one has access to. As far as like, none of our students email me there. It's like high level **** same for magnetic as well. And I'm just like, I'm just exhausted. Like I can't even look at it. I like avoid my slack lately because I know that there's so many people asking me for approvals or information. And I'm just so overwhelmed that. I was just like I recognized in that moment. And this is why I wanted to share this story. That I actually need further help. And I'm not talking about just hiring a team member. I'm not talking about just another bookkeeper, just another account manager when don't get me wrong. I did just wrap it up higher, like another bookkeeper and other account managers. So that's neither here nor there. I recognize that I really truly needed to ask for help beyond just the business. I was drowning in my life. I feel like I had so much going on in my brain that I couldn't even fathom. Trying to also think about the business because I needed to pay my mortgage. I need to pay my water bill. I also need to go to the post office. I still need to order groceries. I gotta talk to the nutritionist. I gotta get my plan. It's like all these things. And I knew that, like the only thing I could do for myself is like, finally, take a step back and say, how can I get support? I'm not talking about the business, but me as an individual. And so that's when I recognize that maybe the best thing actually, how this came up was I was on a call with one of my coaches. I'm a part of a mastermind and one of my coaches on a zoom call. None of the other girls could show up that day and it was just me and the coach and I just broke down crying and she was like, what's going on? And I was just like, I'm exhausted. Like I'm tired, I'm overwhelmed. I can't get to the things that I need to do within the business. And I can't get to the things I need as an individual. And I'm stressed the hell out. And she just let me cry and let me be in that moment to help me recognize like that I really needed help. Right. And so in that moment we were talking, she said one of the most transformational roles I hired when I got to that point where like, She was out of the day-to-day too, because like, remind you guys, I'm not doing the bookkeeping. I'm not in the books. I'm not going and pulling statements from our clients. Like I'm not doing all these different little tiny tasks, but I'm in the high level and I'm just exhausted. And she was just like, I'm also removed from the day-to-day, but I would've got to a point where like I had to be on these calls and I had to be places and do approvals and listen to the team and be at leadership calls and all these things. She was like, I needed a direct assistant and I was like, I do have assistance. I have an assistant in workflow queen. Or her name was Mackenzie or is Mackenzie she's still with us, obviously. And then, then also I have an assistant that magnetic is worn her name's Kylie. I have assistant she's like, no, Alyssa, you need an assistant for you to filter everybody's messages and information to you that like you only get dropped stuff on your lap that only you need to see and not have to read through threads and threads of emails instead. They just tell you. Just what you need to know. And I was like, wow, I've never thought about that. And then I really struggled in that conversation to say, I feel like I don't deserve a personal assistant one. My brain couldn't wrap around it because I was like, you know what? How am I going to hire this role? Who's not going to generate revenue for me. Like this role literally will not make me money. and she was like, Alyssa, take a step back and think about that. If she can clear your space. At your mental space and also clear the clutter that you get filtered to you. And you can have that space where like now they're setting up certain appointments, they're doing this, they're calling your contractors at your house. They're making sure that the pest control company is showing up to your house. And so on and so forth. You will have so much space to then be therefore be able to think, to think of better marketing, better sales, better opportunities. You will have more space to be able to be on more podcasts interviews. And I was just like, it just clicked. It clicked for me. I didn't even think about actually hiring someone to just directly serve me, not to serve my students at Workflow Queen not to serve my clients at Magnetic, but purely for me. And in that moment, it just that same day guys. And I shared this on my story recently at Workflow Queen. So I do recommend I've kind of disappeared and that's because I'm so overwhelmed, but that's why you don't see me a lot on my stories, but I plan that like, as this new team member is giving me space to come back and I can finally have space. Guys I've recognized. I can't serve you guys better if I'm overwhelmed. And so like, I am doing you guys a service by actually taking care of myself and I want that message to stick for you. You need to take care of yourself first, or you can not take care of your clients and truly grow. And I'm at a stage guys where I've made a lot of money. I've made some, a lot of strides. I have literally been on stages on multiple large media platforms. I have done some really cool **** and I'm still struggling and I'm still in this space. So I really wanted to share that with you guys. And so from that moment, that's when I decided I needed to hire a personal assistant. So I shared this on my workflow queen stories. It's probably in my highlights now. Where I walked you guys through, like from the fruition of like, I need to hire this role. Into let's get the resume out. Let's put it out there. Let's interview. Let's do all these things. So. this new role, her name is Brooke, and it's not Brooke Swan because I know a lot of you guys know my best friend that I talk about all the time. Her name is Brooke Swan. this is actually my new assistant. Of course. I always hire people either with my name or my friend's names. It's very weird. But her name is Brooke white. And maybe at this point, you've probably interacted with her here and there. So anyways. About a month ago. This idea came in that I went and used my own, like insight, a breakthrough, my group coaching program. I provide like a job description builder. So that way, like my students can use my methodologies for how I find rockstar team members, because people always tell me, like, how do you find such amazing loyal team members because of my process. And so actually share my whole entire process inside of breakthrough. And so if you're a breakthrough student or you're interested in it, we give the whole process a to Z how to hire them, the fruition, the knowing the job description down to like performance. reviews and even like letting them go if you need to. So inside a breakthrough, I used my own job description builder to look for my own assistant. So I built that out and I went online and I went ahead and posted it to indeed. So I threw some money at indeed. I think I ended up paying like $300 on indeed in order to post the job role. And I ended up being introduced to, oh, so I interviewed three people. So over 300 people applied. But because of my system that I teach is that a breakthrough? I literally used my secret subject line, all the different rules and the requirements that I put, which are very strategic. It's not just the secret subject lines, all these other parameters of things they have to follow out of 300 people. About 10 of them actually followed the rules, which is really normal out of those 10, only about two of them were some that like actually stood out to me that I wanted to actually interview. Then the third person that I interviewed was actually an introduction. It's a friend of actually Brooks Swane's. Who was interested because I had randomly shared all my like personal Instagram story. Cause I have a personal Instagram. If you want to, you guys can follow me over there and that's @heyalyssalang that's H E Y A L Y S S A L A N G. If you want to follow me in my personal, I do not share anything about the business. It's literally about my personal life. You're welcome to come over and. I hang out with me personally and all the fun things, but anyways, I shared on my personal story. And I shared that I was looking for a personal assistant. And, this girl had seen it and she had mentioned something to Brooke. And so Brooke introduced me to her and we got on a call together. So at that time I actually interviewed someone named Allie, someone named Alyssa and someone named Brooke. And I'm like, what is wrong with me? I always like interview people with like my same name, like I said, or my friends. It's very weird. So out of the three, I really liked Allie and I really liked Brooke. And so broken alley, like really stood out to me. And Alyssa was great and she was super amazing, but there was just a couple of things that I just think didn't think she has had as much experience. As either Brooke or Allie. And so it was just very interesting. So anyways, I interviewed them. Absolutely loved them both, but I was really struggling because Brooke had so much more. Long-term experience working as a direct executive assistant. So I didn't know this guy. So I learned this the hard way an executive assistant means someone who is serving the direct CEO, direct owner of the company and not serving everyone else. And so this whole time I thought an executive assistant was just a fancy name, but really it's like an assistant should be serving your students and clients while an executive assistant should be serving you only. So I learned that myself, so. Hopefully you learn that to today. So anyways, Brooke had a lot more executive assistant work. And I was really leaning towards her, but Allie had like a different attribute as well. So I think they both had like their different qualities that really stood out to me, but I was really like 80% leaning towards Brooke, but I was just kind of torn. And then at that time I actually reached out and this is why it's so important guys. When I say this to you, If you are struggling to decide between a role and you do not have anyone else on the team to help you reach out to a friend. Reach out to someone that you might know, reach out to another bookkeeper and be like, Hey, I love these two bookkeepers. Can you interview them both? And just give me a gut check. So, what I did was I called my best friend. Her name is Erin. And so Aaron is actually the VP of a really large e-commerce brand. And she does like consulting for some of my e-commerce clients too, which is super cool. She's wicked smart. She knows what the hell she's doing. And she's rapid hired so many people in her career that I just leaned on her. And I said, Hey, can you do me a favor? Can you interview. This one girl, I actually didn't even have her interview. Allie actually only had her interview Brooke at that time because Brooke white like really stood out to me and I wanted to get into that check. So my friend, Aaron did an interview. And at the end of it, she called me and was like, dude, she's literally everything that you could ask for. And I think that she'd be such an incredible role and be a super major asset. And so I was like, cool. I trust you. Like perfect. And I trust my own gut too, and I'm going to do it. So then I was at stagecoach actually recently, and this was in April and I sent an email and I said, I would love for you to move forward. We did a background check, which I do share. If you're inside of breakthrough, I do have a lesson on the background check user I use. The system that I use is called checker and the C H E A C K R. And I'll drop that link below the episode as well for you guys, but I use checker and checkers. Great. So if you're inside of breakthrough, I give you the whole breakdown of like, how, like what subscription on checker. The whole process of getting the background check and how to look at it. If you're interested in a break, you're also drop a link to the program as well. It's like where we give everything that you possibly need to know. So she did the background check, everything came out great. Everything was good to go. And this was probably like beginning of may when I officially offered the job to her. And she started on May 13th and this is June 5th and she has been the best. Like hire, like I've ever made. And not to say that my, all my other team members are incredible. They are, but I mean, it's because for the first time ever, I recognize that I'm allowed to be selfish. And pay this person. So she's, full-time, she's an employee, she's an employee of workflow queen. So she's employed through workflow queen, but she does help me high level and magnetic workflow queen and also in my personal life. she does not work with my students. She does not work with my clients. Like I said, we already have people who do that on my team. She is purely here to support me to only help me. And it has been such a freaking game changer. She's picked up so fast. It blows my mind. And I reached out to Allie, the other, applicant. I just was like, you know what? I, you know, went with this route and her name is Brooke and I absolutely love her. And it was the best decision I've ever made. Like I literally am so grateful that Brooke White came into my role because she's already changing my life and. I was just such a beautiful thing to recognize that I needed help. And like at first the guys I wanted to do part-time and I was like, I should just do part-time I don't have enough work, but that's what we always tell ourselves. We always tell ourselves that we don't have enough work. We do. It's just, we don't have enough time to get to the work that we actually want to do. And so I was like, screw it. I'm going to do full-time. I love her. She's amazing. I just adore her so much. And so every day we do a daily standup meeting. And the reason why I do that with her, but not my team is because during our daily standup meetings, we actually talked through, what do I need in my personal. Personal house right now. We're really doing a lot of catch-up. And so that looks like her running reports on me in Asana to make sure I'm on top of my **** because I fallen behind on my own tasks. And she's also going through and checking my emails and running them by me. We're doing travel because she's helping me plan for my Europe trip, which is so nice guys to not have to think about, oh, what about this hotel? And like, have to search for it and search for restaurants to go to. She does all the research and just gives me options. And I just say that one and it's so freaking cool guys. I've been wanting this moment for so many years, but didn't recognize, and didn't allow myself to say that I actually deserve this role that I wanted to hire for. So I wanted to like share all of that stuff because like the recognition that I needed help. Was in the moment, one of the best things that I can do for myself, because like truly I would have just gotten in my own way and felt like I'd never deserved. To have this person. I'm not saying guys, if you're listening to this episode, do not feel the urge to be like, well, this is a hiring, an assistant or a personal executive assistant than I need to. Like, if you are not taking care of your client work right now, then most likely your role that you need is a bookkeeper. I can't guarantee that if you're inside of our program breakthrough, I can actually guide you on what role to hire first. But I will tell you that, like, don't just assume that just because I have a personal high level executive assistant means that you need to have them right now, if your current need is that you're drowning in day to day emails to even get them out for clients and you most likely just need a direct assistant. Not necessarily an executive assistant. You need an eye. Like I said, I still have assistance guys. So technically I have three of them, but now two of them just serving clients and students while this person is serving me directly. And I just want to preface that because I do know like being in this space, I have a lot of people who are like, well, if Alyssa did this, I'm going to do it. So just you guys, you have to understand what you need in your business. If you're lost on what you need. Like I said, if you're in breakthrough, I'm more than happy to coach you on this, of like what you need to focus on. I just need to know, like, what's your biggest issue if you're not in breakthrough and you kind of just want to talk it through, you can always Instagram me at workflow queen and just share me like what's going on in the business. And I can just give you some advice, that might be really helpful for you on like, what should I hire for. For, so for me guys, I've already had all the other roles to finally get me to the point where like I one could afford and also needed the role of someone in this capacity. And so I just wanted to kind of share that because it just was really overwhelming and recognizing that was like a really big moment for me because I've worn this badge that like, I need to be brave and I could be fine. Like I can be strong and I can do all these things myself. Oh, I can manage my own home. And also all these things. And it's such a lie. I just couldn't do it on my own. So like that recognition was such a pivotal moment for me. And I'm just so grateful. Like I said, it's so nice that like, just going to Europe and not having to plan it is like, even though I love the idea of traveling, like, I don't feel like planning. Like I just don't. so I kind of want to like segue into the other piece of the conversation, which is how come I hired five people at one time. And what that's looking like for me. So another thing in that recognition of knowing that I need more help was like, okay, you guys were starting to get even busier at magnetic. We're also starting to get even busier at workflow queen with the number of students we're bringing into breakthrough. And like I'm on all these sales calls and I'm on all these things. And like, I can't be everywhere. People. I can't support you guys in that capacity. If I'm everywhere. And so that's when it came down to being like I need to hire. So the first hire of the five was Brooke white, which is the personal executive assistant. The second w that came after was not necessarily a hire, but a promotion. So one of my team members during, when I was hiring for Brooke wipe, one of my team members actually reached out to me and said, I would love to apply. And I said, I actually think you have a very unique skillset. That would be better in the operations role versus in that role. And I think you can shine in so many different ways We can align you with a longterm career path and all this stuff. And she was all in. So she's actually my was my assistant. But now as our operations associate at Workflow Queen, her name is Mackenzie. So you've most likely interacted with her because she's who answers all the emails for workflow queen and helps you guys, when it comes to the program stuff. And she's just freaking incredible and she's just proven over and over again, like that, she's just an incredible team member. She's more of like the behind the scenes. And so I was like, you'd be great for that for operations. But I propose to her, I said, you know what? I actually really need some help. Inside of magnetic, like, cause you're so good at documentation. You're so good at like understanding my brain. You're really good at understanding my process management. And like all that I said, I'd love to bring you inside of magnetic to help me across both workflow queen and magnetic to help my firm get more systematized because I can't do all the execution of the systems. I did have an assistant at magnetic. But, she doesn't have nearly as much experiences. Mackenzie does. And Mackenzie's just been with me for three years and she just knows my brain. And so McKenzie was like, cool. So we did a promotion. We, uh, negotiated a higher pay. So by the way, guys, if you ever want to negotiate with your team members, like, I really recommend that you ask them, like, what do you want to be paid? Have an idea in mind of like what you're willing to based off your budget. But the reason why is because I love Mackenzie because she like pitches me and it's so freaking cool to see that like that she doesn't just give me a number. She tells me this is the number and why I think I deserve it. She'll tell me about the big projects that she's rolled out. The ways that she's been supporting me in the business and why she deserves it. And she's just so it's so cool. To see that when your team and they have these career paths. And so I even had like a moment where she had told me, like, yeah, and I want this, I want like a longterm career. And I'm like, oh my God. I like literally provide careers. And it's so crazy to me still. So anyways, we did that promotion. We negotiated a higher pay. And so we brought her into magnetic. She actually just started this week inside of magnetic, which is really cool. So she starting with clearing out our support inbox. Originally Kylie was doing it. but now McKenzie's taking that over. She's helping with the off-boarding and onboarding and helping me to finalize some of our major core processes in the business. So it's really cool to have her across both. So she's still full-time but she just now, like, it's like 60% workflow queen. I would probably say like 40 to 30% magnetic, which is really cool. And so we just got on a call yesterday and I was just like training her on some of the things that she needs to learn for magnetic. And she just was picking up so fast. So that was like not really a hire, but someone that we promoted and I have to do all this training and we have to do like a re a plan for her career path. Cause I'm hoping that in a year from now we can move her into operations manager, but she needs to do certain things in order to get there. And so like that means a career path. That means like the performance reviews, new KPIs for her. So like, it felt like I was hiring a new person. the other three people was, we just introduced a brand new coach inside of breakthrough, which is super cool. Her name is Erica painter. So if you're inside of breakthrough, then you know exactly who Erica painter is. She just got announced last week. Of her being accepted as a coach inside a breakthrough. So we have three coaches now, myself. Brooke's one, which she owns clarity, bookkeeping consulting. And she's just wicked, freaking smart. She's got the same brain as me as far as like systems, but she brings a very unique approach when it comes to, the mindset side and also the like aligning with yourself as a human. And then Erica painters. She's just so freaking relatable. She's got, she's just amazing growth in her business. She started inside a breakthrough. I want to say almost two years ago or maybe a year and a half ago. And she literally has implemented all parts of the program. She has proven, she shows up to calls. And so when we had students applying for the breakthrough coach, it was a no-brainer me and Brooke decided that that too, it was so Erica will help with a coaching call. She'll be helping with some homework reviews, so on and so forth. Because remember when I shared, at the very beginning, I was dropping the ball on my own stuff. And if I can have someone helping me with that kind of stuff. That's going to allow me the space to create better lessons. For example, when I was hiring all these people, I was going through and creating like a new lesson on like, like I just created a new asset inside of breakthrough for, when you're changing your employer, your, your team members. Status. Like if they, after. They're getting promoted or a new pay raise. I gave him like the document that I use. So like, I can create that stuff when I have space. So it's so important to bring another coach in. And so I meet with her actually today to do some training, which I'm very excited about. And she's going to be taking over some of the calls, but it's so cool to have that. So we had to onboard her into breakthrough and onboarder into every part of like the workflow queen that she needs access to. And then the other two hires that I made were a bookkeeper, an account manager. And the funny thing is I really didn't like essentially hire them and I'll tell you why, and this is why this is freaking genius. And I tell this to students all the time, but this is the first time I've actually done it for myself. So. If you're stressed the hell out and you're really need a bookkeeper, or you really need an account manager. Uh, reach out to your community. People. I tell this to our breakthrough students all the time. Ask inside the Facebook group to see, Hey guys. Do any of your team members that work for you need extra hours that you just can't give to them, that you would be willing to share that team member with me for like five to 10 hours a week. And they're totally your team member. Like I'm not going to steal them from you, like whatever. And I tell people this all the time, but for the first time ever actually did it for myself. So I'm living proof that it's possible and there's light at the end of the tunnel. So I really needed to bring in an account manager and a bookkeeper. A bookkeeper because, one of my bookkeepers is just not ready for more advanced stuff. So I needed someone with more advanced knowledge. And then I wanted an account manager because I was doing some account management for some of our clients. I needed to get out of that. Like, I don't want to give feedback. I don't want to be involved. I just want to be in the sales only in magnetic. And I was actually talking to Brooke Swan on the phone, which is really funny. And we were talking and she was like, you know, what's really funny. Actually. I have two team members that want more hours. And I just can't give it to them because like, you know, they're just, they're going through a transition right now in the business. And she's like, and I don't want to lose them as a team member. What if I let you use them? And then. You just pay them separate for the hours. And I was like, oh my God, that's freaking genius. One. Brooke has the same systems as me. Like we, I, we built out her notion, but it has changed. Her notion has changed over time. So it might be a little different from mine, but we both use a sauna. We both use content snare. We have so many similarities and I was like, holy**** I didn't even think about that. So that's all to say. That we worked something out and I told the two team members I met both of them, the bookkeeper and account manager who's working for currently for Brooks Swan. At her firm. And I said, look, I will you use you guys up until the point where like Brooke can fulfill your full hours that you guys want. I'm not going to take offense to it. I just need you guys temporarily. So in that conversation and in that negotiation, we. talked about what kind of role I wanted them to play. I also asked that both of them document the SLPs, which they're very familiar with because they use the same process as Brook, which is cool because I have worked with Brooke for so many years on like, you know, I've helped her with some of her SOP stuff. She also helped me with some stuff we've helped each other. And so like, our brains are very similar. So AKA their team is going to know how I operate, which is super cool. And so this is all for me to share with you a unique approach to actually hiring. If you don't have the brain space, Y try to go down the rabbit hole. Why not post in a Facebook group and be like, does any one of you guys, especially if like, if you're in breakthrough, especially because you guys have the same system as like what we use in my own firm. Then, like, it's going to be a lot easier bringing those people on. Will you still be missing stuff? Yes. Well, you probably have your sauna set up a little different. Yes. Well, you probably have your keeper set up different of course. But at the end of the day, it's the concepts it's knowing that you don't have to train someone from scratch. It's knowing and trusting the person that you're borrowing the team members from. Knowing that like they are trained and you don't have to like, have to like start from scratch. And so I'm sharing that today because I feel like it's such a unique approach that. I tell my students all the time, but I never have done it for myself. And now I'm that living experience that it works. And so I met with them last Friday. I took the weekend to actually outsource everything, get everything documented. I got everything ready to go for them. So that by the time that they got there on Monday, I had a lot of like structure already there, but there were certain things that I need to still put in place. So I worked really hard on the weekend, which is, like I said, I'm back in the business guys. I'm like back at this point where I'm back on the weekends and it's. Exhausting. But now I'm seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. So they took over. And so now I'm not involved in any of the bookkeeping, any of the account management at all. And now I'm strictly just sales and they're taking over everything, which is super cool. They're going to work with the bookkeepers. We have a dedicated slack channel that we're all in. It's just, I'm so thankful. So that's like my experience hiring like five people at once. I had a mental breakdown last Friday. I'm going to be super honest with you guys. And I felt the overwhelm. All of a sudden it hit me and guys I'm so grateful. This is why I'm telling you like my experience of my breakdowns and my experience of what I'm struggling with is different forms at different stages in my business, because. I literally have an internal training program that like my workflow queen team goes through. So I at least didn't have the pressure of having to teach Brooke white. How to know how to create SOP is how to navigate our sauna and do this and do that. And then for Mackenzie already had things documented also for the bookkeeper, an account manager. I had a lot of things documented, except for I was missing a couple of pieces for the coach. I already had like a process in place. Even though I had all those things guys, and I had all the systems and all the things I was still overwhelmed and it's because I was still missing certain links. And I was just feeling a little bit off if that makes sense. So I want to just share with you guys that it's going to make it look different. You might just feel overwhelmed because you don't have any documentation. I will tell you, you don't need documentation in order to hire, you can hire and figure it out. Like you don't have to have everything in place. When I hired Brooke white, I told her, I said, I don't want to control anything. I'm actually not going to. Give you anything like you're going to set up your own tasks. You're going to do your own **** I don't want to control what you do. You tell me what I need to do. When I show up to calls, I am tired of making decisions and she was so cool about it. And it was just so awesome to hear that someone who can guide me. Because I didn't want to control that role. Like I, I'm just tired of like controlling and deciding for everyone else. And so I just let that go and it's been so beautiful watching her. You know, there's times where I step in and I'm like, oh, I feel like we can make the notion look like this. Cause it would be more, more efficient because she doesn't know notion. So like I'm, you know, showing her some cool, Tactics and stuff. Hey, I think we should probably organize the email like this because I do have some efficiency, knowledge and whatnot. And so I know this is like going on like a big tangent in ramble, but I hope this resonates with you because I do know what it's like to like hire so many people at one time. And five is a lot and I was overwhelmed and I cried and I called my friend. And I freaking just lost it and was just like, I'm so overwhelmed right now, trying to get these new people hired. Even though I've got all the things in place. Like I just like feel the overwhelm because I have to like, meet with them and talk to them and get ready. And then to top it off guys, and this is totally self-inflicted. I'm also leaving for Europe in like literally a week. So the Europe trip came up because a client of mine asked if I wanted to go meet with her in Amsterdam as a joke. But then I was like, dude, don't joke because I will seriously go. And she was like, no way. And I was like, for real, And so that night I actually had, it was the second day that Brooke white was with me. I called her and I was like, so you're going to learn a couple things about me. I like to travel on the fly. When people like, just say things I'm going to do it. Like I'm a fly by the seat of my pants type of person. And I can just take off whenever I want. And I said, I know this is only day two, but I just got offered by a client to meet her in Amsterdam. And I'd really love for us to chat about. Really looking at flights before I decide if I really want to go through. And so this offer to go to Europe was literally two weeks ago. And we got on a call with my new team member, Brooke. And we like looked at flights and I was like, perfect. I'm going, like, I already convinced myself, I'm going to Amsterdam. I'm going to meet up with my client. And so on and so forth. And so from that moment, That's when we were like, okay, well, how long have I got to be there originally? It was supposed to be a week. And then I was like, I'm not about to go fly and travel for 17 hours and not just do a whole trip. Right. Last time I went to Europe, I went for a month. I think I ended up planning for a month and I went for 21 days. And so I was like, I'm just going to go ahead and block off the week. So then I was going to just do. You know, parts of Europe for a week. So partly Amsterdam with her, like half of the time. And then the other half was going to be somewhere else. And then I was like, I want more time. So then it turned into two weeks and then it turned into two and a half weeks. And then as of yesterday, it's turned into three weeks of me being, going to Europe. So the reason I share this is because I'm actually fully out of office guys. Like I am not working. I will have my computer because like me and my client want to do some, like she's turned into a friend guy. She's like, I'm sure all of us have that one consulting client that we don't even talk about reports to. That you're like obsessed with that is my client. Her name is Mara and she's just so freaking cool. And, we plan to do some like high level, like strategy together. Like some marketing things we want to do. Like she's bringing her camera so we could do a photo shoot there. Cause she's a photographer. So we're going to get some brand photos. Like we do plan to do some work ish stuff, but I'm not going to be responding to emails. I will not look at my slack. I am not going to go into my Asana. I'm not doing any tasks. So I'm fully unplugged fully out of office for three weeks. Starting next Wednesday, which I'm very, very excited about. And so how in the hell am I prepping for Europe while hiring five people and also hiring this new like assistant, and then also recognizing that I need to have help one guys. This is where I'm explaining to you, even though I'm overwhelmed, I could still unplug for three weeks. I am so grateful. That I have worked so hard to create the right systems. I just feel like when I'm here, I feel obligated to have to do something. And so I need to change that mindset because like, when I remove myself more and more as a CEO, I shouldn't have to do anything. Right. But like, I'm not there yet. I'm just not I'm, I've been pulled back in and I feel like I, anyways, Europe came at the most perfect time because one it's going to give all of my people that I just hired the opportunity to operate without me. Because if you put yourself in a situation. Where you're there. They're going to ask you questions. If you're not there, they're going to figure it out. I promise you all the **** that people ask you. In slack or email and your team members are asking all these things. If you remove yourself from the picture, they will figure it out. They're smart humans. You literally hired them. Right. So Europe is an opportunity for me to step away and let them flourish in their own capacity. And like, yes, there's a person in charge. The person in charge is Mackenzie. While I'm out of office. If anybody needs direct logins, they can literally reach out to Brooke white. Everybody knows how to get ahold of everyone. And this is what we do a part of our vacation process. So we have like a notion page as well, that like documents when they're allowed to reach out to me, which really is only if like our Facebook ads account gets hacked. If our bank account goes negative, if payroll doesn't get ran, other than that, do not talk to me. They. They could talk to me like via like my personal ID to be like, Hey, I hope your trip is great, but they are not allowed to ask me about the business. And so they will figure it out. Everything's going to be fine. Brooke White has all my master log in passwords. And so she can help anybody get access to what they need. And so I'm sharing this because the prep for Europe is different. Every time that I take a long-term leave because I've already done, guys, this is now going to be my third like long-term out of office trip and I've taken so many, like short-term ones that I fully unplugged from that I'm so used to it that like, it gets easier every time. And so the prep, yes. While I am hiring all these people. I also know everything's going to be fine and like, it's going to be okay. And like, my prep looks like making sure the Asana task or outsource to the right people. And that I have a designated person on the team. That's running all the team meetings that has conversations with people that I teach the people how to delegate what they need to the permissions, to everything. And so I'm super excited for Europe. I'm going to start in, Bruge Belgium and then from Belgium, I'm going to go three hours up to Amsterdam. I'll be with my client for about five days. And then from there, I don't know what I'm going to do for the last two and a half weeks. My plan is probably Italy to go to the Amalfi coast. Maybe Florence. I might want to go to Greece this time, but I'm just going to let it be exactly what it is. And I'm just so grateful that I have all these people, but I wanted to share with you guys that like, Yes, I'm taking off for Europe. Yes, I'm very excited. But at the same time, there are some things that even in one week, I literally leave next week, this same day that I'm recording this. I still have a lot of prep I have to do. And so like, don't let that stop you. I know I'm going to be fine next week. Everything will be outsourced just recognize that I can walk away because I'm not the only one in the company. And so like, this is just to tell you guys to remember, to take a step back and say, if you want the type of life where if an emergency happens, or you want to go take a impromptu vacation or just a vacation in general, or step away with your family. You need to bring people on to support you? Yes. Could you send an email to your clients and be like, I'm going to be out of office for three weeks, but I don't think my clients would be very happy about me leaving for three weeks. So. That is why I have the team. And this is why I tell my, clients do not email me email our support, because if I'm in Europe, I'm not going to respond to you. Like I want to make sure that they get taken care of. So the whole message of this podcast episode is just to share with you guys that no matter the stage in business, you're still going to experience your highs and lows. prepping for vacation. Doesn't have to be super complicated, even though it's a lot of work hiring. A bunch of people at once is probably not the right decision. I probably wouldn't do it again. To be honest, even though I have a lot of systems in place, I feel like even I was overwhelmed. If you don't have any systems at all, hiring five at one time is not going to be fun. And then also recognizing when it's time to reach out. And that could be like reaching out to a therapist that can be reaching out to experts in the industry. Like someone like me, like leaning on support, like being a part of programs that support you. Asking other people, if you could borrow their team members, obviously you're going to pay the team members, but you get the point. Anyways. I feel like I just went on a tangent. I hope you enjoyed this episode. If any of it resonated or you want to talk through anything. Please feel free to reach out to me on Instagram @workflowqueen. Like I said, it's the only place I actually respond when I'm out of office, because I actually truly like to have conversations with you guys. I love to do voice notes. I love to talk back and forth with you guys. My social media management company pretty much operates our Instagram, but they nudge me when it's time for me to come in and like, you know, have combo. So if you guys send me a direct message, And it's personal. I'm going to know, and I'm going to be able to respond to you. If you send me an email following up on this, just know that I will respond, but I'll wait until I get back from Europe. My team will acknowledge your email, but I'm so excited. Like I said, Instagram is probably the best. If you want, you can follow my journey. I'll probably be sharing most of it on my personal Instagram, which is, HeyAlyssaLang. so that's on Instagram, HeyAlyssaLang. and, and you are welcome to follow me around. And I'm so excited that you joined on this episode. And let me know if there's any way I can support you.