Top Tips for Creating Efficiencies in your Business from OBMs and VAs Around the Country

One year ago, I was struggling to try to figure out what I wanted to do with my business and my life. I launched my corporate marketing agency, Fast Follow Co, and had some great clients, but it wasn’t 100% what I wanted to spend the rest of my career doing. Over the past 8 months or so, I had found “my people” in the online space. I loved connecting with and working with other entrepreneurs. I knew that those were the people I wanted to serve, but I wasn’t sure how my past experiences in marketing, account and project management, PR and media relations would translate to working with entrepreneurs. Until I discovered the role of an online business manager.

It was then that it all clicked. I started looking at other respected OBMs and realized there truly was a lack of OBMs in the market and my unique background and expertise in marketing would set me apart from other OBMs as well. So, I hired a brand and website designer, Oliver James, launched my business and hired my OBM mentor, Sara Wiles. These investments alone were worth every penny in getting my business up and running.

Over the past year, I’ve had the opportunity to serve so many amazing, successful clients and allow them to continue to grow their businesses. I also have learned so much about my business, just about reached the 6-figure mark, have become fully-booked out and hired a VA and SMM. It’s incredible to look back at all the changes and growth in the last year alone..

To celebrate a year in biz as an OBM, I wanted to share with you some tips for creating more efficiencies in your business from other OBM’s and VA’s around the world. 

“Time Block and plan content out in batches” 

• Noelle Campany, Social Media Manager and Virtual Assistant

“Use a task management platform like a bible!”

• Sara Wiles, Online Business Mentor

“Don’t discredit the power of content repurposing and how much time it can sae you on a weekly basis.”

• Claire Elizabeth, Executive Virtual Assistant

“Document every step that's taken to complete a task. This exercise is two-fold:

1. Seeing the entire process written out will often lend itself to being able to visualize where the inefficiencies are so you can make adjustments

2. Having your process documented lays the foundation for creating SOPs, which help you (and/or your team) perform the task consistently (and efficiently because you're not having to try and remember what the next step is - you just follow the steps without having to think through it)”

• Sarah Leigh Day, Workflow Strategist

“Repurpose your content. You can take one thing that you do and use it several different ways. For instance, Write a post, then make a video saying what you said in the post, send out an email to your list, post the info on your website, in your group, etc.”

• Bonnie Hardie, Rock Solid Social Media & Virtual Assistance

“Get really clear about those time suckers. I find a lot of people think they know where there time goes but when they spend a week tracking... it’s actually really eye opening for them!”

• Stephanie McIntyre

What piece of advice do you find most helpful?

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

Why Mindset is the Driving Force Behind Your Success

I truly believe that MINDSET is the driving force behind your level of success. Not having the most perfect strategy or knowing the right people or becoming instafamous with 1billion (fake) followers. Sure, strategy is such an important piece of the puzzle, but what I’ve come to realize over the last three to four years or so is that if you don’t have the right mindset, you will feel like you have nothing no matter how successful you are. I believe in executing a KILLER strategy - and I help so many of my clients do JUST THAT, but I also see so many people that are holding themselves back from being the best version they can be because of their mindset. Whether it’s self-doubt, fear, criticism, judgment/comparison, worrying about other people’s opinions, etc. -- it’s taking CONTROL of their future and holding them back.

This is something that I’ve learned first hand. You see, 21-25 year old Katelyn was a totally different person. I sought validation from others for most of my life. I wanted people to like me. I was jealous when other people had things I wanted or I deemed them “so lucky”. I was always (and still am) a competitive person, but I used that as an excuse vs. digging deeper into understanding the difference between healthy and unhealthy competition. I never took ownership for my own success (or lack thereof).  After graduating college and heading into the real world, things became even harder. Comparing myself to friends who had “better” jobs than me, or got promoted before me, had boyfriends or got married first, or just everyday life things. I put so much effort (for a long time) into my appearance and having a “good body” to attract guys. I just wanted attention and didn’t realize I could ever truly find that within MYSELF.

I started health and fitness coaching with Beachbody after I tried out Insanity Max 30 and fell in love with it. It was then that my world changed as I was introduced to personal development. I resisted for awhile. I thought it was dumb to ever read one of those “self-help” books. I didn’t need that. What would people think? But my coach sent me a copy of You are a Badass by Jen Sincero and that’s when my mindset started to shift. I started to realize my mindset was actually hindering my success in life. I became a “cheerleader” for others vs. jealous of their success. I stopped caring SO much about other people’s opinions. I started to take control of my life and took the approach that everything was happening FOR ME in life, not TO me. And what do you know? Things started to improve in every area of my life. And let me just tell you, I NEVER would have started my own business if I had not done the work I had for more than three years.

I want to be so open and vulnerable with you because I want you to see how powerful your mind is over your success. Here are three things I encourage you start doing to work on your mindset:

1. Gratitude Journal

   Start your day, every day, writing in a gratitude journal. Remind yourself of all the wonderful things in your life. Make a list of 10 things. If you’re struggling to find things to be grateful for, try reframing the “negative” things you have going on in your life and find some sort of positive in them. Some days that may feel hard, and it’s those days that I am grateful for the simple things in life - my breath, the sunshine, air conditioning, my home, food to eat, etc. I also add in my prayers to this journal and 5 or so affirmations. The funny thing about our brains is that it starts to believe what you tell it even if it’s not true. So if you constantly feed it with negativity then that’s what it will believe. But what if instead, you started affirming the things you want to be or have in life as if you already have them? It changes everything. Simple things to start with: I believe in myself. I trust myself. I am a 6 figure income earner. I help other people do XYZ. 
   

2. Personal Development Books/Podcasts

   No matter how “silly” you think reading these books are, they work. They are the number one reason why my mindset changed over time. And don’t tell me you don’t have time because there are so many ways to get this in. I use the app Audible and listen to most of my books on the app while driving, cleaning, showering, cooking, etc. It’s one of those things that you just have to commit to yourself to do it for 10 minutes a day. Before you know it you’ll be nodding your head to what you read/hear and things may start to shift in that brain of yours. At some point you make that decision to step into the next level version of you, envisioning and believing you are worthy of all the success you previously just dreamed of. Podcasts are another great way to get in your PD time, and there’s also SO many amazing business focused podcasts. I mentioned You are a Badass already, but I also love Girl Wash Your Face by Rachel Hollis, Girl Code and Like She Owns the Place by Cara Alwill Leyba, Failing Forward by John Maxwell, The Energy Bus by Jon Gordon and so many others I am happy to suggest if you reach out!
   

3. Find a Positive, Uplifting Community 

   Have you heard that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with? Who are your five? How would you rate them and what is your average? Are they bringing you up or bringing you down in your life? Do their daily actions and values align with who you are and who you want to be? A positive community will lift you up when you’re down and clap for you when you’re successful! They will provide you advice that will HELP you get to the next level version of yourself. They will be there to call you out on your BS and give you alternate perspectives and ideas. Finding a community (or two) has been so helpful for me to feed off of their energy when mine is low and gives me a space I feel comfortable to thrive. I love my community church group locally, and then I am in a few different entrepreneurship groups online that are amazing!
   

Once you are taking consistent, daily actions towards changing, or growing your  mindset, I truly believe your success will start to show. The things in your life will change and you’ll be on your way to living out your dreams. This does not mean that you won’t encounter hard times, but it will definitely make it a little easier to get through them. They won’t bring you down for so long, and you’ll soon realize that every challenge is a new opportunity to learn and grow.

What mindset tips do you have to share? 

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

29 things I’ve learned as an entrepreneur

Today is my birthday! It’s not just any birthday, it’s my GOLDEN birthday! If you don’t know this about me already, I LOVE birthdays! I love celebrating people and going ALL OUT for them because they deserve that at least one day out of a year, right? And birthdays are not a reason to be sad! We ALL age, but why not CELEBRATE the amazing lives we are LIVING no matter what the number is!?

I typically share my blogs on Thursdays, but I wanted to get this one out EARLY to celebrate my big day! This week, since I am turning 29 (on the 29th), I am sharing 29 things that I’ve learned since starting my entrepreneur journey a year and a half ago!

1. Just start. It doesn’t have to be perfect, in fact it will never be perfect, so just start somewhere and figure it out as you go.

2. Take inspired action! If you’re following your heart and taking action, you can’t go wrong.

3. Let go of other people’s opinions of you! Everyone has an opinion, some you’ll agree with and some you won’t. Stop letting THEIR opinions of you stop you from pursuing YOUR dream.

4. Love yourself most, and put yourself first! This is so important to not burnout and allow for creativity in your business. 

5. Surround yourself with positive, uplifting people! This will help you continue to THRIVE and GROW.

6. What you focus on you manifest - so put the good vibes out there.

7. Be a lifelong learner! Things are always changing and you can always learn from others.

8. Build relationships! Invest in people!!

9. Invest in your business! Hire the coach, take the course, purchase the new computer! Make smart investments but don’t be afraid to spend the money if it’s going to help you thrive.

10. Learn from those who are one to two (plus) steps ahead of you in business. Their mistakes can save you time and money! 

11. Take time off/vacations! It’s so easy to not do when you’re the only one working your business but DO IT, your clients will understand.

12. Following up with the vacays - remember why you started your own biz to begin with - likely for more freedom and flexibility. So don’t work yourself to death.

13. Lift up and support other women. Community over competition. 

14. Comparison will not only drain you, but your business REAL QUICK.

15. Sit down and eat lunch (or any meal). Don’t just eat in front of your computer screen. Enjoy your meals.

16. Work hard, be confident and believe in yourself and the clients will come.

17. Create GOOD, value added content.

18. Go the extra mile for your clients.

19. Create a consistent routine that works for you and do it every single day!

20. There will be GOOD days, GREAT days and BAD days, but it’s all a part of this journey and SO worth it.

21. Go back to your WHY on the hard days and remember that any other job has hard days too.

22. Find a support system (significant other, friends, family, etc) that will lift you up when you get into a rut, let you bounce ideas off of them,  or simply be your cheerleaders!

23. If you work at home, get a dog! ;) It gets lonely sometimes.

24. Learn to trust yourself and your own decisions - and ask God for help and direction when you need it.

25. Celebrate your WINS - yes even the seemingly small ones.

26. Use a project management tool so you can stay organized!

27. Be grateful and remind yourself of all that you have in your life, every single day.

28. Focus on ONE thing and doing it well first before you dive into something new.

29. Lastly, pour your heart and soul into your work and be freaking PROUD of yourself!!

What’s one lesson you’ve learned on your entrepreneur journey?

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

Mastering Public Relations as an Entrepreneur

Public relations is a skill. There’s an art to doing it well and I’ve found that many entrepreneurs haven’t a clue what PR is or why it’s important as you grow in your business. I’m here to teach you how to master public relations as an entrepreneur.

I started my career at a public relations and marketing firm here in Nashville, TN. It was always my dream to work in PR. I did all my college internships in PR, was on the executive board of or college PRSSA chapter, I joined the Nashville PRSA Chapter where I also led the annual awards gala and sat on the board, I won a prestigious award in my first couple years out of school as an upcoming leader in the industry… let’s just say I was ALL IN. I dove into consuming all the knowledge I could about how to be a PR Rockstar. I took every opportunity to learn from the leaders in my company and was given some pretty big projects to work on that led me to incredible opportunities. Yes, I am tooting my own horn a little bit here, but I did become great at getting my clients coverage and truly feel like I learned some key skills that are truly learned from being in the industry and gaining experience.

I highly recommend hiring someone who’s skilled in this area to create and execute a PR strategy for you, but if you want to take this on by yourself, I have some tips! 

1.     Start Local

If I had a dollar for every time someone told me they wanted me to get them on GMA or in Forbes, I could retire already. You have to realize that the media receive hundreds of pitches every single day and everything thinks they are the next big thing worth covering. But to be totally honest with you, you’re not likely THAT cool. Unless you have somehow gone viral or achieved something literally no one has done before that impacts someone(s) else, your story is probably not national news.

2.     Research

I cannot stress this enough. Research the publications you want to pitch and research the reporters at each publication. Nothing will get your pitch trashed faster than mass emailing to every reporter at the media outlet. Take the time to do your research. Local business journals are a great place to start as they typically have an entrepreneur focus and want to highlight the community. Not all publications are the same. Check their website to see what types of content they cover, and always look at their media kit and editorial contents (usually they have these up on their website). You want to make sure that your “story” that you’re pitching is a fit for that publication as something they typically cover. If you take the time to do this research early you’ll save yourself a lot of time in the long run and potentially embarrassment and frustration. 

3.     Build relationships

I always try to create relationships with the reporters I pitch. I want them to know that I value their time in reviewing my pitch and/or covering my story. They’re busy. They have 101 stories to research and write, so make their job as easy as possible. I think this goes without saying but be polite in all communication. I find that when you make it easy for a reporter to get the info they need and deliver them value, they continue to come back to you as a reputable source in the future.

4.     Write concise, value focused pitches

Before you even decide to send a pitch out, I need you to really ask yourself if what you’re about to send is valuable. I like to recommend asking the “so what” question. When you write your pitch ask yourself, SO WHAT? Essentially it means, why should they care. Did you let them know WHY what you’re sharing is important and why they should care? How does it impact them, or the local community or a specific industry, etc.? It should provide them and/or others by sharing this information with others. Do you have a one-of-a-kind product or service? Are you changing the world in the way you work? Have you achieved notable success? Then, make sure your pitch is straight to the point. Always lead with your strongest line and then you can fill in with a little background info, but for the most part you don’t want a long post or they will literally trash it.

5.     Follow up

You may have heard the saying that the money is in the follow up, and the same is true with your pitches. You have to follow up. At least once or twice via email and once via phone. Give it a few days after you send your initial pitch to follow up, but make sure you do it! More times than not people forget or meant to get back to you but something else came up.

One last bonus tip – stay away from the “pay to play” type of content. If it’s true PR you won’t have to pay for coverage – if you do, that’s not PR anymore, that’s sponsored content or an advertisement. Not saying all of those options are “bad” but if you’re trying to truly get PR, you should not have to pay the publication to get it.

I hope these tips have been helpful!! Please let me know what questions you have, or any other questions that come up! I know they will help you obtain some great coverage for you/your business!

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

Efficiencies, Not Shortcuts

I was on vacation the other week with my fiance and his family and the amount of times we had to go to the grocery store drove me bananas. I am a very efficient person by nature. So the idea of going to the grocery store every single day to get food for dinner KILLED ME. By the third day I finally said to my future FIL, why don’t we just plan meals for the week and buy everything we need now? He apparently likes to grocery shop and wants to decide day of what to eat #retiredlife, but it just seemed SO inefficient.

But you see I do that with EVERYTHING in life. I try to find ways to be more efficient with my work, workouts, finances, meals, where my time is spent with people, etc. because this season of life is BUSY for me, as I know it likely is for you too.

That being said, there is a difference between creating efficiencies and taking shortcuts.

Defined:

Shortcut: “an accelerated way of doing or achieving something.” 

Efficiency: “achieving maximum productivity with minimum wasted effort or expense.”

While they seem fairly similar, I want to point out three key differences.

Difference #1: Fast doesn’t always been more productive

Just because you take a shortcut and do something FASTER it does not mean that you are being efficient and creating more productivity. Take weight loss for example. Sure you can follow a diet for 3 weeks and lose 10-15 lbs  - that’s a shortcut to weight loss, but will you keep that weight off is the question? Most of the time, the answer is no. If you follow a fad diet it’s more than likely going to come right back once you allow yourself the foods you restricted again. So what’s more efficient you may ask? Follow a plan consistently over time that includes eating healthy foods MOST of the time mixed in with some fun, less nutritious foods some of the time, coupled with exercise for the least wasted effort and maximum success.

Or maybe that example doesn’t necessarily relate to you, so let’s talk business again. A shortcut may be doing a project yourself really quickly just to get it done, when it likely would have been a better use of your time to outsource it to someone else who has more knowledge in that area than you do.

Difference #2: Eliminating a step does not make it more efficient

Sometimes there are certain steps you just can’t cut. While I am all about streamlining things to reduce the number of programs being used or steps in a process, it has to be done strategically. You can’t just take a step out of a process without understanding the consequences of doing so. For example, some of my clients create custom proposals instead of having a fixed number of services that are applicable to everyone. From an efficiency standpoint it is easier to set up workflows in the system I use, Dubsado, if they have specific contracts for their services + consistent price points. But that being said, some people just don’t. So I can’t just cut out the step of manually inputting contracts/proposals for each client and automating it as that would not make sense for their clients. But what I can do is look at how they are currently writing, sending and communicating with potential clients and optimize those steps by putting everything in one platform, creating templates to work from, etc. 

Difference #3: Delegating EVERYTHING

So all of us want to work less and make more, right? I mean that is the end goal. I am all for delegation, but there is a thing as TOO MUCH delegation. In theory, delegation should give you more time back. But if you start to delegate everything in your business in order to get quickly to that end goal of more time, more money, two things could actually happen. It ends up COSTING you money because you over delegated without enough income or jobs coming in, or you over delegated work that people truly hired YOU for. It’s important to note that there is a difference.

First, if you over delegate just to have more time back but you’re not bringing in enough money to pay the people who you hired to do the work for you + pay yourself, you might as well have not taken on the clients to begin with. Or, for example, if you market yourself as a business strategist but you have someone else writing strategies for you, then people aren’t really getting YOU, they’re getting someone else. Now, if you hired someone to edit/review your written strategies, or to help execute those strategies that’s different. That is being efficient, but you have to show up and actually do the work too.

 Shortcuts HURT your business. Efficiencies HELP your business. Learning the difference between the two can save you time, stress, money and results! Think about what could help you save time, reduce stress, increase profits and then think about what the things that cause you to waste the most time, cause you the most stress and eat your profits. That’s where you can begin in terms of finding efficiencies in your business. Remember the differences noted here and you’ll be on your way to creating a more efficient, profitable business.

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.

My Exact 3 Step Process to Helping my Clients Get Results

What do you have a process for in your life? Do you have a morning routine? Or a certain way you do your laundry? What about how you do your hair? Often times even those who like to fly by the seat of their pants have more routines or processes in their life than they realize. Many have turned into habits and have become second nature.

If we didn’t have processes in place in the day-to-day world things would be mad chaos. Can you imagine going to a restaurant and just having a free for all on food? No system to order, make food or deliver food? Someone that just walked in could walk out with your meal for free. Traffic would be a mess without traffic lights and we would all be mad.

The way I wrangle in my crazy, free-spirited, creative entrepreneurs I work with is through a 3-step process. This exact process is what I take my clients through when we begin to work together. I start out all of my working relationships with a 90-minute strategy call. I truly believe that at the heart of your business success is a well thought out strategy. This process gives my clients clarity and direction for our work together.

Here is my three step process to creating a killer business strategy:

1. Brain Dump

   For those who aren’t familiar with brain dumps, I use them for just about everything in my life. All it is, is a list where you literally empty your brain so that it no longer is holding space for things like “call the groomer Friday” or “email that lead back” or your latest program idea or book chapter or item to add to the grocery list. I usually have an ongoing one for my biz and one for my personal life. These usually then get put in my Asana to-do list at some point. But the point of doing a brain dump with my clients is to get all of their ideas out on paper so that we can organize them and prioritize them based on their goals.

2. Identify Your Short-Term and Long-Term Goals

   Goal setting is so important because it gives you something to work towards in your business. Most clients I work with have goals, but they haven’t broken them down into short-term or long-term goals. This matters. If you want to make 6-figures in your business in the next 3-months will require very different actions than if you want to make 6-figures in the next year. I define short-term goals as what you want to accomplish in the next 1-3 months, and long-term goals in the next 4-6+ months. This is where that brain dump list comes in handy. You can pull ideas off of this list and categorize them into that short or long term goal list based on how quickly you want to accomplish them. I typically recommend starting with your long-term goals and then determining what needs to get done in the short term to hit those goals.  

3. Reverse Engineer Your Goals to Create a Strategy

   As you’re listing out your short and long-term goals, I use a strategy called reverse engineering your goals to then create your strategy to achieving said goals. To do this, you start with where you want to be 12-months from now. Look at those long-term goals and then break those down to figure out what you need to hit at months 8, 6, 4 and 1 to make that long-term goal possible. Often this is done with income goals, but this can be done for courses you want to launch, or a next step you want to take in your business such as offering a new service. I then go a step further in helping my clients identify what tools, systems, people, etc they will need to put into place to help them reach these goals. I help them organize, prioritize and strategize to get to the end result of a kick-ass strategy that will help them to focus on where they need to go and leave me with the execution of those back-end items.

If you want to dive deeper into this process, I’ve created a FREE workbook for you where I talk about each step of the process in greater detail and ask you questions so that you can feel clearer, more organized and on your way to a killer strategy for your business.

Download your free workbook HERE.

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Katelyn Hamilton is an Online Business Manager and Get Your Sh!t Together Strategist. She helps busy entrepreneurs organize, strategize and prioritize their business to go from overwhelmed to out-in-front.

After spending 6 years in the corporate world working with multimillion dollar companies, top-rated chefs and celebrities, she launched her own business to find more flexibility and freedom. She matched her corporate salary in just one year of starting her business.

Katelyn is also a soon-to-be wife, stepmom, dog mama of two furry friends, fitness lover, sports fanatic (Go Dawgs) and dreams of living at the beach.

Click here to book a free call to talk more about your business goals and to see if hiring an OBM is the right fit for you.