How to Get Your Time Back with Business Systems Strategist Expert Kate Rosenow

Kate Rosenow – Business Systems Strategist and the owner of “Work Well with Kate.”

Kate Rosenow is a business systems strategist and the owner of “Work Well with Kate.” She helps service-based business owners streamline operations for profitability. As the founder of Mavenly + Co., she emphasizes well-built systems for success. She is also the host of the “Women, Work, and Worth” podcast, which has been featured in Forbes, Fortune, Real Simple, and Business Insider.

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SHOW NOTES

Is balancing a successful business with family life, self-care, friends, and sleep achievable?

Our guest, Kate Rosenow, is a business systems strategist and the owner of “Work Well with Kate.” She’s an expert in helping service-based business owners scale without overwhelming (and understands this challenge firsthand as a mother!). She advocates for robust systems and clear boundaries in work and personal life, emphasizing planning, coordination, and reclaiming personal time.

Kate’s holistic approach encourages mothers to prioritize happiness while pursuing business goals.

Who knows? Maybe it’s possible to have it all without getting too stressed.

—

Rate Amplify on Spotify and Apple Podcasts and leave a review for Jess Ekstrom.

Amplify with Jess is produced by Earfluence, and brought to you by Mic Drop Workshop.

TRANSCRIPT

[00:00:00] **Kate**: Just kind of like, in the air, so you could like, look wherever. Um, but when I was talking to Daryl, I was like, no, I’m just gonna talk to her. And they were like, well, for certain clips, I’m like, no, I’m gonna talk to her.

[00:00:09] **Jess**: Yeah, this is just too,

[00:00:11] **Kate**: like, it won’t turn out good. That’s the thing, is like, I’ll sound weird, because I’m like, not looking at the person I’m talking to that’s right next to me. How’s she doing with, uh,

[00:00:23] **Jess**: She’s doing great. The baby and everything, yeah.

[00:00:25] **Kate**: But I think she, more than most people, is very good about hiring help for basically everything. Yeah. So I think she, like, she’s going to Pilates, she’s like, traveling, you know. But I think that she, I mean, I emphasize that to her, I was like, you know, if there’s one thing to invest in, it’s like,

[00:00:49] **Jess**: help for your mental health.

[00:00:51] **Kate**: Yes, 100%.

[00:00:53] **Jess**: Yeah. I saw some study or something recently. Read an article. Watched a TikTok that was like one of the biggest indicators of your kid’s success and happiness is the mother’s well being.

[00:01:04] **Kate**: Yes.

[00:01:05] **Jess**: And I’m just like, why is this not talked about enough?

[00:01:13] **Kate**: I literally, I just had this conversation with someone. Oh, it was this girl. She was talking about she of course doesn’t have kids so already like qualified to speak on this topic, obviously. Doesn’t have kids and she’s like I just don’t understand why screen time is even a thing like if it’s not the best choice for your child like why and I’m like so if having some screen time allows you to shower or brush your teeth or just fucking like sit down for 10 seconds, your mental health is so much more priority than whatever learning issues you think they’re gonna have that’s gonna stem from that. I’m like, of course, there’s like extremes on both ends, but it just bothers me so much when people say that because I’m like there’s so many nuances, yeah, that you’re not taking into account and it’s like, oh good moms weren’t being shamed enough. Let’s bring this up.

[00:02:05] **Jess**: Yeah, let’s bring it in.

[00:02:07] **Kate**: Yeah, and it’s people. I think that the internet based on like click-baity stuff is very quick to say something is good and something is bad but not address the spectrum and moderation and like, just different scenarios. It’s like, Oh, sending your kid to daycare before 18 months is bad. Or, uh, screen time is bad. Or, like, whatever it might be. And it’s like, well, can we address that there’s just a wide range of, yeah, if my kid woke up and I just put a screen in her face, like, all day, sure. Totally.

[00:02:44] **Kate**: Well, and if it’s like, and even the content, that was something someone brought up in the comments. They were like, my kid, and this is true of my kid, I’m like, Harry counts to 20 both like backwards and forwards because of Miss Rachel. Like that’s how he learned to do that.

[00:02:56] **Jess**: Miss Rachel for president. Miss Rachel 2024.

[00:03:00] **Kate**: I would literally cast my vote immediately. Seriously. Um, but it’s like that versus like the Disney channel. It’s a huge difference. Like it’s not educational. It’s, um, like in terms of like rapid eye movement, like it’s slower pace for them. Like it, it’s not like, what’s it called? Like, Cocoa Melon or whatever.

[00:03:20] **Jess**: Yeah, the over-stimulating thing.

[00:03:21] **Kate**: Exactly. And so, there’s so many pieces like that where I’m like, to just say it, blanket, and for people who are feeling nervous or feeling like they’re not doing enough to be like, yeah, no, the 30 minutes you were going to give yourself of like, mental time just to like, reset and come back to your kid feeling refreshed. No, don’t take that because screen time is bad.

[00:03:44] **Jess**: Yeah, yeah. One of the things that you. So, it’s so funny because I’m like, I don’t even know, are we recording, Carson?

[00:03:51] **Kate**: Yeah.

[00:03:52] **Jess**: Okay, cool. Yeah, yeah. But I think this is good to just keep going because, uh, I brought you here.

[00:04:00] **Kate**: Why am I here?

[00:04:01] **Jess**: I brought you here to talk about, like, systemizing your business, which we can get to, but I find this conversation much more fascinating and I feel like it, systems is also one of So closely correlated to what we want our life to look like. Um, and I don’t think this became so clear and evident to me as to when I became a mom. And one of your courses that I love is Business Meets Baby, because when you’re self-employed or you’re a thought leader or whatever you’re doing, even if you’re just employed and have flexibility on like a maternity leave or whatever that might look like, one of the things you said that stuck with me that rang very true is you’re going to need help, but you don’t know where you’re going to need help. You don’t know when your kid is born if you are going to have more of a pull to go back to work or and, and hire help at home, which is a privilege, or be home and get more help at work, which is also a privilege. And so it’s like a win-win and a lose-lose.

[00:05:11] **Kate**: Totally. Yeah.

VO: Today we welcome my friend Kate Rosenow, who works with service-based business owners to implement the right systems and operations so they can scale their business and create consistent income without working crazy hours. Sounds awesome right? Well, she practices what she preaches as well, and has created multiple courses so she can get that money while she sleeps. And my favorite of those, the one that resonates with me most as I record this 8-months pregnant, is called Business Meets Baby.  How can we as female entrepreneurs continue to build our businesses while being the best moms we can be as well?

[00:05:42] **Kate**: I think that it’s so funny because I was so good at systems in my business when I, you know, didn’t have kids or before I was pregnant. And then once I got pregnant, I was like, oh, well, I, like everything, like, T’s are crossed, I’s are dotted. Like I have everything ready in my business to have a kid. I didn’t even think about the fact that I might want to go back to work more quickly. And I need that same level of systemization and planning in my personal life because you become like the CEO of your household in a different way. Whenever you have a kid where it’s like, there’s so much planning and coordination and at least on my end, like more so than in my business. And it required a level of conversations that I’m used to in business, but not in my personal life. Like before you have a kid, there’s a level of independence where it’s like, I don’t have to check in with people to do things. I can kind of like eat what I want, sleep what I want. Like you can kind of make your schedule on your own. Um, but when you don’t have that and you have a kid in the mix, like the systems become so important at home. So regardless of like what level you want, like maybe you want to 50 50 in your business and then like sometime at home, like everyone has to have some type of system. In both areas to make it work. So like, and when I talk about systems, I think so often that feels like such a foreign concept to people, but really a system is just like a process or a set of steps to get to a certain thing. So like something as simple as like. It’s like we think like, okay, who’s going to be in charge of dinner? We don’t think about like grocery shopping, meal planning, taking into account dietary restrictions. Like is the food going to spoil? Like there’s so many elements of that that we have to think about beforehand that like systems become so helpful for and reduce that mental load.

For whoever’s in charge of doing it. This doesn’t just apply to women, but men and women. I think ultimately like that level of systems that we put into our business and standard operating procedure should be also reflected in our personal life.

[00:07:12] **Jess**: So when you had Harry, what, what was, um, I guess more of a shock for you like the way that you approach down your personal life or the way that you approached your business, like what were some of the biggest changes?

[00:07:29] **Kate**: I think both felt like very big changes. I think everyone I had spoken to previously talked about, you know, preparing to allow yourself. So like preparing for maternity leave and like preparing to be out of your business for a long time. And so I had planned to really be out of my business for like, I could have been out four to six months. Like I had a plan for that. And then I remember like week two postpartum, I’m like sitting on the couch watching Grace and Frankie, and I’m like, this, this kid is just sleeping. Like they’re sleeping most of the day when they’re not eating. And my mind just needed a different level of stimulation. And I went back to work super quickly. And I remember even the response from people when I would go into zoom calls. They’re like, Oh my God, you’re back already. You’re like, you don’t need to be here. And I’m like, no, like I’m going to do what feels right for me, and I appreciate the you know permission that you’re giving me to take off but stimulating my brain actually makes me a better mom and when I come back to those situations where you have to feed or you have to like do something that feels a little more at least for me like mundane like you’ve had the stimulation mentally that like makes that not as stressful, at least for me, I felt like it was really stressful.

[00:08:45] **Jess**: Yeah. I was talking to, um, texting with this woman yesterday, Sarah Wells. She’s like this amazing speaker. She’s an Olympic hurdler I’m like casual I can’t even like step over a shoe, but um I

[00:09:00] had met her when she was seven months pregnant. And she’s a speaker and she’s like, you know, I have a gig that is a month after I give birth and I want to do it, but I have no idea, like, if I should or how I should be feeling. And I was like, I will just share from my personal postpartum experience is that I turned down, um, like really gigs that were three months after Ellie was born. And I feel like on one hand, Any moment with my kids is never like a moment that I regret or waste. However, I felt like my, um, mental health, uh, suffered a bit from the, the boundary that I created between myself and work where like the longer you don’t do something, the more you wonder, I’m like, am I still good at this? And so for something like speaking for

[00:10:00] me, I’m taking it differently this time around where, you know, I do have a gig a month and a couple days afterwards because it’s something that is like, in and out. You can do it. You’re not like back. If I had to create a new talk, absolutely not. But I can get back on the bicycle and remind myself who I am. And I heard one, someone, I can’t remember who it was, refer to it as like putting breadcrumbs out for yourself, postpartum. It’s like, how can you remind yourself who you are, knowing that you’re also like evolving into a different person, but also. It’s so easy to think my job is now to feed and rock and put this, you know,

[00:10:51] **Kate**: it’s an identity crisis.

[00:10:52] **Jess**: I’m so glad you said the word job because I think so often we think like oh I get to do this thing at home and it is a privilege to be able to be home with your kids and also it’s a job. And I think with anything like we would never in any other context in our life be like, oh, yeah, you should want to do this 24 7 like why don’t you want to work around the clock and like wake up at 3 a.m. to answer an email or like

[00:11:13] **Kate**: why are you not chipper

[00:11:14] **Jess**: and ready to bed? Yeah, and like even with any other relationship, like your relationship with your kid is so special, but even like your spouse, or like maybe your family members, you don’t even want to be with them 24 7. And so,

[00:11:27] **Kate**: Jake, Jake and

[00:11:29] **Jess**: Cam can attest to that.

[00:11:29] **Kate**: Everyone needs a little breather, a little break. And so, I think that, we, for some reason, feel like motherhood is excluded from that, like, set of rules and experiences that, like, doing anything all day every day is exhausting, even if it feels mundane and small and, um, or it feels simple and easy. And so I love what you said about the fact that you can like kind of, you know, put bread crumbs out or like go in and go out of speaking because I don’t think people realize how much like going and having that experience is beneficial for your home life. And you come back, at least I would always come back after like a call or having like solved a problem for a client or, you know, coming back from speaking or at a gig, you get this different sense of accomplishment. And then you come back and there’s some newness, some excitement. And I think we all thrive off of having a little bit of a, like change in our schedule and like pivotal moments in our day. And so I’ve just seen it so often that. You know, people come back and they have this refreshed sense of motherhood. And I think it’s Casey Davis who says this all the time. She’s like, the best thing you can do for your kid is for them to have a happy mom. And I think it’s like doing what you need to do to be happy. She was speaking specifically about like sleep training, I think. And she was like, you know, for folks where if they’re waking up in the middle of the night, they’re doing it, but then they’re like, totally upset all day, or like they feel it or it’s clear to like their kids that they’re not enjoying themselves. Like in my mind, that does, that’s more detrimental.

[00:13:12] **Jess**: Than, you know, like whatever you think you’re sacrificing for your kid by doing this. Like martyrdom of motherhood.

[00:13:12] **Kate**: Yeah. Yeah. And I think one of the things that I feel like I’ve learned most from our friendship over the years, even outside of motherhood, but I think that has become increasingly. More important in motherhood is boundaries and the way that you approach business and systems is also a means for you to apply boundaries for yourself, and I had never been like my connotation around people who were like, I don’t have time or that’s not my rate. You know before meeting you it was like that must be such a hard conversation to have that’s got a ruin of a relationship and you go about it in a way that is like so clean and crisp where people like I can walk away from you being rejected and still be like, I freaking love Kate. And I, so I just was like watching you do that and I’m like, how does she do this? And I feel like, um, just going back to this theme of motherhood, which I didn’t realize would be the theme of this episode. It took me having a baby to be unapologetic and guilt free about setting boundaries. Because I know anytime I’m spending time doing something I don’t want to do, or isn’t making my family wealthier in some way, is time that I’m not spending with my kids. And, you know, On one hand, I’m like, oh great, I’m so glad that I’ve reached this point in my life. On the other hand, I’m like, why did it take me having a kid, or it shouldn’t take other women having a kid, to be able to unapologetically set boundaries in their life.

[00:14:56] **Kate**: A thousand percent. And I think so often, before someone maybe has a family or if they don’t want a family, we feel like we have to justify having quote unquote free time. And I think that that is such a disservice to just people in general. Um, and I think there’s someone that says a quote, I’m going to butcher it, but it’s something like, um, my free time doesn’t mean it’s available time. Like we forget the fact that like free time means it’s free for us to design what it looks like, not that it’s open for people to like schedule things on or we have to justify why it’s empty and if we have empty time it’s like bad or selfish. Um, and I think that so often we’ve been trained to think we have to fill all the slots or we could be doing more for free time. And like you said, I think a kid is a great way to like shift that paradigm, but also even if you don’t have a kid, it’s like, well, what are the bigger priorities in your life? Is it travel? Is it, um, you know, like home renovations? Is it a hobby? And I think when we don’t put that on our
calendar the way that like, feeding a child has to be on our calendar. Um, we allow for other people’s agenda to, um, kind of circumvent that and to say like, Oh, well, this isn’t as important
or it’s not as big of a deal. And then we have to reset and say like, well, why did I become a business owner in the first place? Or why did I become a student? It was so that I could like have some flexibility and travel and be able to like live life the way I want. Well, if you’re constantly on your phone or like running through the airport or like stressed out constantly about work, what’s the point? Like, it doesn’t make any sense to me.

[00:16:35] **Jess**: What’s all this for? Yeah. Yeah. What was our motto a couple years ago that we said, we’re like, if it’s not fun, then we’re not doing it?

[00:16:44] **Kate**: Yes.

[00:16:44] **Jess**: Yeah.

[00:16:45] **Kate**: I still stand by that.

[00:16:46] **Jess**: Yeah. And again, it’s a privilege where you can get to a point in your business where, uh, you have, the choice of what to say yes to and what to say no to, and
I feel like it’s so lucky now in my business to where, um, if there’s someone that’s just not nice, like, I don’t have to work with you, or if there is something that demands too much of a part of me that I’m not really willing to give at this point, then I can say no. If there’s a speaking engagement that either isn’t meeting my fee or maybe isn’t the right audience for me, like I used to just grip any opportunity that came in my inbox like it was going to be the last one.

[00:17:32] **Kate**: Mm hmm.

[00:17:33] **Jess**: And I think, I don’t know if it’s because my priorities have changed or the mindset around abundance has changed, but it’s just like knowing that there’s going to be something else and sometimes you don’t even know what it is, but there will be something else.

[00:17:53] **Kate**: A thousand percent. I’m a big fan of like, make that money, get that bread, like do what you got to do to like be successful financially, but I think something that we don’t think about often, and I’ll use the same example of speaking, is like, if I get booked out with gigs that I don’t like or that aren’t meeting my rate, I’m not leaving any room for gigs that would meet my rate or that are good for me. And I see it all the time and I see it across industry where it’s like, if you’re a graphic designer and you have all these websites that you hate doing, well, you’ve not left any room to market to the people that would be a better fit or, you know, go have coffee conversations with the people you think have a better fit. Like I sacrificed a lot of immediate revenue, immediate money for chasing the clients who I knew would be totally fine with me going on maternity leave, are totally fine with me structuring my business around my life. And so I think we don’t realize like the opportunity cost of taking a bunch of gigs that are like free, but they promised that it would be exposure or like, it’s a thousand dollars, but then they will also like shout me out on social media. It’s like, okay, now I’ve spent so much time in dialogue with this person who’s not a good fit and clearly doesn’t respect me or value me. I could be in dialogue with Oprah Winfrey. You know what I mean? Like it’s like you could be having conversations in a different place. And I think we only, it’s weird how our brains work. We’ll put this emphasis on conversations around like gigs or projects or opportunities or potential clients, but we don’t put that same emphasis on being proactive about like about chasing what we want to get showing up on social media in the way that you want. And the reason you don’t have time to record those reels or to send out those networking emails that would actually get you the things you like. Is because you’re busy taking shitty gigs.

[00:19:38] **Jess**: Yes. And you’re fulfilling the things that you don’t want to do. Like people ask me like, well, why don’t you coach? You could do so, you can make so much more money doing like coaching and one on one. There’s so many people that would work with you. And it’s like, because that time on my calendar is going to be blocked and scalable way. Like we do at Mic Drop Workshop or Mic Drop Academy. And I know that you’re the same way with like everything that you have going on. It’s like, well, yeah, I could do this thing that could make me quick revenue, but what is the long term goal? And I think, honestly, being, again, going back to being a mom and being a parent taught me so much about the prioritization around, like, scale and time and presence. Does it require me to be there? Does it require me to get on a plane? How many people can I reach with one hour of my time? Like, all of those things became important when they should have been important five years ago. When they should have been important before I didn’t have, uh, you know, even a paying gig is to start thinking about your scale, valuing, valuing your time and your presence. And I want to hit on the exposure part. And then I also want to get into some of the tactics around, uh, around systems, but you know, the exposure piece is so interesting because no one talks about that. There is a threshold to exposure.

[00:21:04] **Kate**: Yeah,

[00:21:05] **Jess**: I encourage women and mic drop who are just getting started. Yes speak for free. Yes speak for in exchange for footage. Speak in exchange for introductions. And then there will be a point in your career where that’s no longer serving you and you have to be aware of when that is totally and you but people don’t really talk about that shift. And when it is okay to say no, the currency I value right now is not the referrals, the footage, the testimonials. It is the fee for what I do because I now know that I, I have the track record.

[00:21:45] **Kate**: Absolutely. Well, and it’s funny when you talked about the boundaries and it’s like, how do we make people feel like I’m not saying no to them or like, you know, pissing them off. The language I would almost always use is like my priority in my business right now is X. So like, for example, Jess might say, you know, thank you so much for reaching out. My priority right now is selling my new book. I, you know, just put out this book. I think it’s going to be like a great opportunity. Let’s talk about a way to get the book in the hands of all the people in the audience or something like that. And so I’m saying no to the initial offer, but maybe I’m being generous in a different way. And so you can say like, you know, no, the exposure is not going to work for me, but maybe we can structure it this way. Or maybe we can find a company to sponsor my talk or like, let’s get creative with what we’re then pivoting to, because it’s very rare that I just say no. In fact, this morning I got an email from a brand that said, you know, we would want to do this and we want to do it in exchange for XYZ. And one of the things was like two emails on your email list. I was like, you know, um, I’m not, I’m not actually comfortable sending two emails dedicated to your software, but I’m totally fine putting you all on my list of resources that are some of my favorites.And so I think so often we don’t realize that there’s always room for negotiation and it doesn’t have to be like negotiation, like mobster style or like sliding a paper across or like have these like crazy feuds. It’s like, let’s talk about a win-win that works for us.

[00:23:13] **Jess**: And tell me what, like, telling them what your yes is.

[00:23:17] **Kate**: Mm hmm.

[00:23:18] **Jess**: I don’t know why this took me so long I’m just like I was trying to be polite. I was trying to be easy Can we can we you know swim over here? Can we talk about this instead of being like? This is what would make it a yes for me. Yep. Would this work for you and being clear? Yeah Before we wrap I want to talk about just systems tips for home and work. Whether that’s a speaker, you know, we have your course, Building Your Speaking Business 101. You can go to micdropworkshop. com slash series to get it. Uh, and it’s really amazing. It’s, it’s, if you’re not in a place where you even want to hire a VA or all of these kind of external things right now, you so clearly show almost how to build a team without building a team.

[00:24:03] **Kate**: I want to touch on something you said earlier that I think relates to this specific part so clearly where it’s like the time we’re investing in like bad gigs or whatever. We’re not investing in good gigs. The same thing goes with your business. Like, if you are a speaker, you are also a CEO. You are also like running the business of you, of speaking. And when you don’t take the time to build the systems, to build the foundation, you get stuck in the admin constantly. You get stuck in the sending one-off contracts or sending one-off invoices, or did that client even pay? I see it a lot with my clients who are speakers where it’s like, I don’t know if they paid the second half of that invoice. I don’t know if I know where I’m spending it. Oh, it’s an hour before the gig and I didn’t realize I flew here to actually speak about something different than I thought I was going to be speaking about. Like I’ve seen it run the gamut. And so, you know, building systems feels like a burden and it is. But it has such a long-term payoff that. if you don’t do it in the beginning, it only gets harder to do. Yes. And so I think people don’t realize when we’re thinking about where to spend our time, like, yes, nurture your leads and like get gigs that are right for you. But if you’re not setting up a seamless process to engage with those people that are hiring you to speak, that is such a professional experience that they want to see from you. And so if you set that up and kind of take your quote unquote business seriously, um, and make sure those systems are created like that ultimately is going to lead to many more gigs, a lot less time and friction in the admin piece of it. And that time that you invested putting those systems in will pale in comparison to like years of things being like so easy, two clicks.

[00:25:42] **Jess**: Yes. And for me, it’s like going to the dentist. Like I know I don’t want to do it. I know you geek out over systems.

[00:25:47] **Kate**: I love the dentist.

[00:25:48] **Jess**: Yes. But I know that if I just like, if I said this. like automation or this welcome series or something up now, then it’s gonna save me a lot in the future. So can you give us just a couple takeaways of like how you systemize your home and maybe a tip for systemizing your business?

[00:26:09] **Kate**: Yeah, absolutely. Anything in personal or business that is a recurring task, meaning like you have to do it more than once, should be systematized in some way. Systems don’t always equal automation. It’s not always like, oh, a robot has to do this now, or it’s like so like, you know, sterile and like devoid of any personality. Like a system can be like, hey, every Wednesday we order out. And every Sunday we do laundry because what happens when you have that type of system or, you know, my husband’s in charge of, this is actually mine, my husband’s in charge of folding. I’m in charge of putting away. And so there’s never going to be a time where I’m like, Oh, like I really wish you’d put his clothes away. It’s like, no, that’s mine. That’s me. Like when we call our tasks and responsibilities, it becomes so much easier. And if I know laundry is Sunday. I don’t spend Monday through Saturday thinking like, well, should I do laundry this morning or tomorrow? Or like, what if I don’t get the laundry done? It’s like I now have mentally cleared it because we have a system.

[00:27:05] **Jess**: Fatigue is gone.

[00:27:06] **Kate**: Yeah, exactly. Or like for me, grocery delivery, like so many of these things have been automated, whether it’s like dry cleaning laundry, and a lot of the rebuttals I get is like, oh, that’s an added expense. It’s more expensive. You know, for me, my billable rate is much more expensive than Instacart. And so if I’m saving an hour, putting my kid in the car seat, going down the aisles, maybe I missed the shopping list or, you know, maybe there’s nowhere to park when I go there. Like grocery shopping for me used to be like a two hour endeavor, you know, like it’s a lot when you’re taking a kid there. And so would I rather pay someone 90 a year? Like less than a dollar a day to not have to worry about that anymore? Yeah, absolutely. Like I, we don’t think about the cost benefit analysis enough.

[00:27:54] **Jess**: And the, what you said, my billable rate, like what is the value of your time? Yeah. And yeah, you could do it. You could go to the grocery store. You could, you know, whatever it is, or you could hire it out or delegate. And again, realizing like, what are the things you do repeatedly and what are the things that take your most most of your time? And then my favorite quote from you is the best use of your time is doing the thing that you do best.

[00:28:00] **Kate**: 1000 percent. That I like tattoo on the bottom of my eyelids whenever I’m like tinkering with the design in Canva. I’m like I am not as, like no one, this is not, this is not me.

[00:28:37] **Kate**: I mean the same goes with like cleaning your house, right? It’s like, yeah, I could do it. Or someone who’s going to make this place spotless and I’m going to be thrilled about it could do it. And I’m going to still do it. Pay for my mental health. Yes. Like I think a running joke I’ve always had with you is like we pay TaskRabbit so that we don’t have to pay for marriage counseling. Like we joke that it’s like, it’s cheaper to have a handyman come in and hang up all the pictures because that’s a hundred dollars and us fighting over the fact that the pictures aren’t level is going to be 250 in a counseling session. So like, let’s make the investment in someone doing it and we can just. Just be happy and content with each other. The same happens in your business though, and I don’t think people realize enough, like, you don’t have to be the accountant and the lawyer and the marketing expert and the, you know, content creator and the person who is constantly doing the data analytics and operations. Like you can be strategic about the systems you implement and then the people you hire to do it. But I have to say like hiring before you put your systems in place, like before you purchase this course with Jess, to me is a huge mistake because when you hire people, you don’t realize like, even if they’re an expert, they come out and say like, okay, Jess, what do you want me to do? Right. Okay. Jess, how do you want me to run this? And you need to have a process already ready for them to take over because it’s not their

[00:30:00] responsibility. To steer the ship of your company. Yes. If you are hiring a virtual assistant or a business manager or someone to like get speaking gigs for you and you are not giving them clear direction or processes for how to do that, you’re not doing your job. And so to not put these processes in place is doing a disservice and frankly wasting money on outsourcing because you’re not giving them the tools they need to be successful.

[00:30:23] **Jess**: Yes. And when our immediate reaction is to solve problems with people, instead of taking the problem in ourself and then adding people. That is a lesson that took me way too long to learn.

[00:30:33] **Kate**: Totally.

[00:30:34] **Jess**: But go get Kate’s course, MikeDropWorkshop. com slash series. Um, build your bit speaking business 101. If you’re not ready to hire, if you’re wanting to put these systems in place first, it’s a great place to start. Where else can people find you and work with you?

[00:30:54] **Kate**: Yeah, I am most active on Instagram at WorkWellWithKate, and then you can find me at WorkWellWithKate.com. There’s lots of resources, tools, and templates that you can get to help you grow your business.

[00:31:05] **Jess**: Or you can find us at any local coffee shop.

[00:31:07] **Kate**: Come to Raleigh, walk into any coffee shop, and you’ll see us there.

[00:31:10] **Jess**: Love it. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:31:13] **Kate**: Awesome. Thank you. Thank you.

[00:31:15] **Jess**: Awesome.