Creating a client forward system to generate revenue in your business with Amber McCue of the Modern CEO

Akua: One in five independent business owners have lost money due to the lack of organization in their business. Creating systems that are strategic and efficient can be exactly what you need to propel your business forward. Today on the show, we sat down with Amber McHugh, the creator of the Modern CEO and how to clone yourself.

With the systems Amber implemented into her own business, she was able to turn her side hustle into a multi million dollar company. She shares with us how we can create systems that truly aligns with our values, the mindset shifts that we need to make and how to honor our boundaries. Now let’s get into the episode.

Hey everyone. This is your host, Akua Kanadu, and you’re listening to the Independent Business Podcast. More people than ever are working for themselves and building profitable businesses in the process. So on this show, I get to sit down with some of the most influential authors, entrepreneurs, and creators to break down the signs of self made success so that you can achieve it too.

Amber: Hello. Hello, Amber. How we doing? Oh my gosh. So 

Akua: good. So happy to be here with you. Oh my gosh. I’m so happy. And I like the outfit girl outfit to the glasses. It’s giving, I’m loving it. Yes. 

Amber: It is the outfit. It’s I put on the red lips when I’m like, you know what? I need a little something extra today. And today was, I was so looking forward to this call, but I had a lot of calls today and it was like, you know what?

Red lips. That’s it. That’s going to be the pick me. Red lips. 

Akua: Oh, love it. Oh my gosh. Yay. Well, I’m super excited to know more about you and your story. And I know our audience will be too. And just really about just systems, you know, systems aren’t necessarily the most sexiest thing when it comes to entrepreneurship, but it’s truly keen to running a successful business.

And I feel like you have done it all. Very, very well. And so I’m really excited just to learn like you have had an incredible journey from, you know, just being a single mom at 18 to owning three companies. Like as a systems person, how were you able to just really manage it all and find success? 

Amber: The only way it is possible is because I have that systems mindset.

We talk about this idea that if we didn’t clone ourselves, and that’s not necessarily cloning me, but right, replicating and getting that cloned feeling and just multiplying our results without the crunch on profitability and the crunch on our time. Absolutely would not have been possible. So they are the essential ingredient.

Akua: Yes, I love, I never even thought of that like a systems mindset because naturally I’m not like that. I truly, but I just realized I really had to train myself as a business owner um, to really get adjusted with that because with my own personal journey, I left my job, I had no backup plan, and And I was like, I got like a month to make this happen.

Otherwise I’m moving back in with mom. And so I was like, I got to figure this out, but systems was not at the top of my priority. Right. It was like, I need to get clients. I need to get, um, you know, I need to be able to pay my bills. But once things started going, I was drowning. I was exhausted, drowning.

And I, Just realized I didn’t really have a systems mindset. And even still to this day, I’m training myself to have a systems mindset because I feel like naturally, if you are more so an organized person, it’s easier to fall into systems. But systems is something I’ve just never really enjoyed. And I like begrudgingly implemented them, but then I’m like.

Why didn’t I do that earlier? So now I’m actually really like four years into my business. Now I’m loving systems where I’m like, how can I really like automate this in a way to where I just don’t have to worry about it and I can focus on the things that I need to focus on. And so I love that. That’s such like a good, good key.

Yeah. Such a good thing. 

Amber: You’re spot on. And I think that I, there are things in my life, like things get messy and that causes stress for me. So systems are my way of alleviating the stress. Like simple example, my husband, we have one car right now and my husband drives it most often. It’s really his car.

And he takes the keys and he puts them in his bag. And where are they? Where is the bag? Where are the keys? I don’t know. But when I drive the car. Where are the keys? Oh, I hung them up on that hook by the door. And he’s like, oh, good idea. And eventually he got on and was like, babe, where are the keys? He’s like, I hung them up by your hook on the door.

And it alleviates so much of the stress that can pop up. Like, where are things? What do we need to do? I don’t know. What did we do last time? Right? Oh, let’s systematize this. So things smooth sailing. Yes. 

Akua: And so you used to work too. I’m really interested because you used to work in like organizational development.

How exactly did you start working with independent business owners? 

Amber: Oh my gosh. So fun. So organization development is essentially a doctor for your business. Things aren’t working quite the way we want. There’s something that’s off. We’re not getting the result, you know, all sorts of things we can assess in an organization at a large scale.

But also at a small scale and my heart and my passion really, I love working with small business owners. So that was the shift I started to make. We started our business and like, Oh, but I still like business and I want to be in business with people. And so that was the pull through like big business first, which was fun.

Really? Like I enjoyed. my corporate roles in my corporate career, but my heart is really with people and small businesses like people are the heart and soul of all businesses. But man, in a small business, we are like, we’re doing it. So that’s, that’s where the heart came for from an organizational development perspective, pulling through to our small businesses.

Akua: Oh, I love that so much. So already naturally you’re like, I’ve always been a very organized person just naturally, which I love. And, but also too, but it’s true. Like we truly being able to have that connection that would be able to building those relationships with your business owners. There’s nothing like it.

And I think even for me, that’s where I’ve also really shifted my mindset about systems because I’m like, that gives me the freedom to connect more with my My clients to be able to build more of those relationships giving the best client experience as possible and so I think that’s just such a good thing of When you are creating those systems like really thinking about how the time that you have will be freed up To connect and pour into the people that you absolutely clients and even outside of that like even in life as well And so I think that’s Such a, such a good reminder of it’s the people that you’re serving.

That’s why you’re doing this for. And so, cause you know, it’s not really fun. Like one in five independent business owners have lost money due to the lack of organization, which is not a fun, yeah, I’m one of them. And so, and it is, it is not a fun thing. I will openly admit that. Yes, I have absolutely been one of them.

And so I think again, it’s just one of those reminders of. Think of the people that you’re serving when you are truly creating those systems. And so another thing I’m really curious about is that there’s so many systems that we need to have as independent business owners that we could set up in our business.

So what would you define as a system and how does it play a role in your business? 

Amber: Oh man, so systems are there whether you explicitly define them or identify them or not. So systems I look at as the who, what, where, when, why. The W’s. Who, what, where, when, why is what’s happening here, right? So that’s how I start to think about and break down a system.

And an example of this is you walk into your favorite coffee shop. They are prepared. for you to place an order. And once that order comes in for your tall, iced caramel macchiato, actually I’d, I’d go for a cold foam right now. Cold brew with some cold foam, sweetened please. That would be ideal. And if, if we can pull out the pumpkin, I would be a okay with that.

Uh, even though it might be out of season, but you go in and you place that order. And what do you get at the end? Ideally, there is a system and a flow and steps in place that this isn’t going to take 30 minutes. And it’s going to be fairly quick. And at the end, you get what you asked for. And that is the goal of systems.

There is an input. There’s a need for a process to be executed, a set of steps. Who, who needs this done? Where are we doing it? Why are we doing it? Okay. And etc, etc, etc. So walking through those W’s to the end so we deliver a great drink, a great deliverable, a great website, great phone, like whatever that is.

And it’s one part experience, but it’s also delivering the great product. And then, ideally you do that with efficiency. So that you’re not taking 30 minutes of coffee because that would not be a great experience. Just 

Akua: the thought of that doesn’t sit right with my spirit, honestly. Just waiting 30 minutes for my drink.

But it’s so true though, like systems really are everywhere. And if you really just think about like your day to day life, I didn’t even think of that. I’m like, oh yeah, like even going to the grocery store, right? And you can go into self checkout or don’t go through the self checkout. That’s all a system in place to make sure that you can get what you need.

And I’m like, Oh my goodness, that is actually such a good point. But when you said the who, what, where, when, why, and how, I think to even really just to add to that really honing in on the, why I think that is so, so key, like why you’re doing it. Think of the bigger picture, because then I think it really adds more importance as to why you need to have the systems in place.

And I think a lot of us as businesses, we know that and. Either we don’t do it or we do do it, but we’re not also taking that time to really refine and really identify those gaps that we need to figure out and how to make it as efficient as possible. So that is just, I think that’s just those, that exercise I think is just such a key way into just really expanding our mind and having a better understanding of how truly systems can really impact your life.

So I love that so much. Like, Oh, my mind is already like, 

Amber: I love it. And you hit on something key with that. Why there personally, why am I doing this? And you’re going to connect to that, right? Okay. Is this serving the why? Like, is this process serve that wire? Do we have extra steps in there? Can we be a little bit more efficient because this is our why?

And also, if you’re working with other people, contractors, team members, et cetera, communicating the why for anyone else who’s executing that process is such a next level level activity that is so simple. Because if I understand, if I’m executing a system that you’ve designed or you’re asking me to do something and you say, Oh, by the way, this is why I went, Oh, okay.

If things come up, then I will be able to identify this doesn’t match to our why it’s just going to take everything to the next level. I will be able to deliver on that with a whole new perspective. So it’s good for you. It’s good when you’re working with other people all around next level. 

Akua: Yes, I love that.

Again, like delivering with like a different perspective, and I think that’s where it key, where you, I’ll just bring it back to what you said earlier, of just like that systems mindset. A question I’m really curious about because, you know, as a former corporate girlie, you know, you essentially, what, Corporations are, it’s full of systems.

So what are some systems that you have seen implemented in that space that could be really beneficial for independent business owners? Oh my gosh, my 

Amber: go to on this, the place to start is, this is a simple one and sometimes you can get stuck in this or, I find two things, people can get stuck in it or they completely avoid it, but you gotta do it and get a system in place so you can do it well.

Your strategic planning and your system for implementing. In fact, one of my clients, Becky Launder, worded this so well. She said, I knew I need a system in my life for reaching my goals. Like, oh, yes. Like, how well worded. So that would be a key system. Strategic planning and your implementation cycles.

There is a rhythm to that. And if you can get a system in place around that, that’s great. That is just going to accelerate everything you do. And of course things trickle down from there. So I would start there. But what’s 

Akua: so interesting, I’ve never heard that like your systems for implementation, I would love for us to like break that down because especially as we are strategic planning and goal setting and, you know, um, in our business, especially right now in Q2, I know a lot of us are going back and, and rethinking things and resetting in our business and strategizing.

What does that look like with, you know, implementation systems? 

Amber: Yeah. So, I start at the top with, if this is where we’re going, our roadmap, our strategic plan, our goals, our objectives, that is typically done annually, but we want to look back to that regularly. Every quarter, we want to look at, okay, what are we going to implement?

What do we need to do to stay on track with those goals? If we wait until the end of the year, like, okay, wait, are we on track to our goals? Wait? Oh, no, we should know well in advance if we’re on track or not So from a systems perspective we go through a workflow where we’re going to look back What did we accomplish in the last quarter in the last 90 days in the last six weeks whatever your decided system or cycle is?

Okay, what did we accomplish what worked? Well, what didn’t and then we’re going to look ahead Okay, that’s where we are But this is where we want to be or where we want to be going What do we need to do to accomplish that? And I use a simple 90 day or a six week planning cycle based on where you are, and we’re going to map it out.

What are you doing throughout the next six weeks or 90 days? And what are the milestones I need to accomplish, again, to stay on track with my goals? And then we pull that right through to, uh, every month. I want to check in. All right. This is what I said I needed to get done. Here we go. And this is calendarized.

So there is a system and a flow around it. It’s not, you know, it’s not willy nilly. It’s like, no, this is on the calendar. I’m doing this. And then every Monday and Friday, we systematize and book end that with our Monday. CEO time and our Friday’s CEO time, and every day. Now, and this sounds like a lot, but if you are regularly checking in with your goals, and you’ve got a system and a framework for this, this is happening fast, and it’s integrated into your workflow, so if it, if it sounded to anyone like, man, this sounds like a little bit of work, This is like minutes that is going to accelerate your progress.

In fact, the research shows slow down to speed up. When you pause to build a plan, you are going to implement faster. And I would argue it’s probably going to be a whole lot better because you’re not flying by the seat of your pants. 

Akua: Oh my gosh, yes, I love that so, so much. I think, again, it’s, you really broke it down into really digestible steps.

And again, like, where you have Monday where you’re prepping for CEO day, and then you have that Friday where you’re actually implementing. I think a lot of the times too, I have learned even myself, I need to prep quite a bit for certain things. Even like, for example, With the systems that I’ve created with social media.

Like I have to prep before I can even record before I can even, you know, create my captions. Like there’s so much prepping and stuff involved. And even too, when you do have your CEO days, like if I am really trying to lean more into time blocking, that’s naturally what I do, which has been really helpful for me.

But I, that I have to prep before I can even implement in that time. I have realized that. But then when you are finally. Implementing it, it goes so much smoother when you prep. So I feel like the real work is in the prep, not the actual, like when you’re implementing it, because that, because when, then it’s like, when you finally have the plan now, like I’m, I’m pushing out content, you know, I’m doing these things X, Y, Z a lot more faster.

And so for. I’m really curious to know, even to add to that question, is life happens, right? Like, and somebody who’s, people are always like, I’m so, like, how are you finding the time even with, if things don’t go to a plan, or again, something happens in life, how do you adjust? Like, what, what are some of your thoughts of the things that you do?

Amber: Yeah, absolutely. You’re spot on. Nothing goes to plan. Life doesn’t go to plan. The, the market conditions, the client schedules, nothing goes to plan. So we’ve got to build in margin. If we have our schedule packed, you know, let’s say we’ve got a plan to work 40 hours a week and every single moment is booked.

Ooh. Okay. We don’t have a lot of margin in there. So a lot of the research supports only booking. 60 to 80 percent of your calendar. I lean toward the 60 percent cause I like a little bit extra margin. I don’t want to live my life right up to the edge there. So I plan for about 60 percent of my week, but the other 40 percent I have space so that when things come up, I’m like, okay, I’m good.

I can move things around. We can easily adjust. And I do think you’ve got to be ready for that. And you’ve got to leave margin for it and have the mindset that, okay, This didn’t go to plan, but you got a plan so you can easily go through this. And the other thing that I recommend is spending a very short amount of time, just doing a little bit of scenario planning.

If you’ve got a big launch, a new product launch, a big project, like do a bit of scenario planning. Okay. If what could happen here, maybe my ads don’t go as well. I planned them to, um, maybe that client doesn’t sign the contract, maybe so and so cancels, whatever those worries that come up in your mind, don’t dwell on that because that’s counterproductive for a lot of reasons, but spend just a few minutes thinking, okay, if that happens, I’ll do this because then if it does happen, you’re good.

Like, okay, yeah, I got, I got an idea. This is a little bit of a pain, but I can shimmy some things because I have margin and I’ve already thought through this a little, so it’s not as big of a deal as it could have been. 

Akua: Yes. Oh my gosh. That’s such a, So, so key. Margin. Like, I love how you, like, you found a percentage.

Like, you know what? I’m going to leave, just do up to 60%. And so then I have that space just to breathe. But also too, I love how you said, like, thinking of scenarios, but not spiraling, because I think when you start to think of certain scenarios, it forces you to be more innovative and more strategic.

Especially, like, if you’re not hitting specific goals that you want to hit, then you’re not You can still change and pivot within that plan, right? Like if you have like not dwelling on it, but you’re like, all right, I potentially anticipated this and now this isn’t going, but I’ve already thought this through, so maybe now I’ll try this and experiment because everything that we do in our business is experimentation, everything.

And so, you know, not getting attached to that outcome, but you know, as you’re planning really again, like from that mindset shift of like, you know, having that systems mindset, but also realizing that you, this whole thing is an experiment. Right. Everything. And so it’s all just data output that you’re, you, that you’re going to use, um, to make the next best decision for your business.

And so I absolutely love that where I’m like, ah, cause I’m always like, I’m a six on the Enneagram. So we will think of like the worst possible outcome. So that’s why I’m like, to me, I’m like. Oh yeah. Like, because that’s always me in my mind consistently. I’m always trying to strategize. I’m like, well, what if this happens?

Okay. Well, like, this is what I’m going to do. Or what if that happens? Well, this is what I’m going to do. And I’m not saying this great y’all can sometimes be exhausting, but I think in your point of how you’re sharing it in a very healthy way, like maybe even putting in like a, a time limit, you know what I mean?

Like just maybe 10 to 20 minutes of thinking of some, of some possible scenarios and then implementing it instead of spiraling. And like, Freaking out. So I just think of myself just from 

Amber: personal experience. And time limit and maybe a space limit. Like maybe you give yourself one page to write out three scenarios.

If this happens, especially if you’re not inclined to do that, it could be an exercise that is more innovative. I love your flip on that. That was good. 

Akua: Yeah, absolutely. And so another question I want to ask you is what systems do you think that independent business owners need to be creating in their business to be successful?

Amber: Oh man. Okay. Number one, we need those revenue generating systems. There are so many, there’s so many, but I’m starting with revenue generating. Because if we can get that in place, sales are absolutely necessary to us building, growing, running our businesses. And to your point, it’s not always going to work, right?

Things are going to come up, things aren’t going to go as planned. So we want something that works, that we can get some peace of mind in. And, alright, we’re going to have to wrap things around that and be strategic at other times. But I want revenue generating systems I put right at the top. The next one, client facing systems.

You get those clients and we want to take care of them, of course, and there are a lot of ways to do that. Time saving systems. If this is taking you forever, if it, oh man, like, ah, we’re redoing steps here a lot. We’re making a lot of mistakes. We’re redoing it. Okay. Let’s, let’s save some time. Let’s save some stress.

Let’s save some energy. So watch for those time saving opportunities. And then my fourth is life giving because we know happy team members. Happy business owners perform better. So if there is something that you are doing and when you do it, it’s like an immediate drain. We want to start to shift that. I don’t want you to spend as much time on it.

At some point, we may want to look to engage a team member, someone else to do that, where it’s their joy and it’s in their zone of genius. But if it is not giving you life, we got like, let’s remix that. And systems are one way to like, okay, that’s a little bit easier. I don’t love it. But a system can.

Accelerate it. And one thing that immediately comes to mind, I love getting great client feedback and reviews, but it is a space I’m like, Oh, you know, I think about it a lot. I get worried. I wonder, I, it’s like, I overthink it and it’s so important. I love the feet. Like it’s necessary and good in so many ways, but that is an area, for example, that is not the process.

is not life giving for me. The outcome is life giving. I wish that was motivation enough. But the process, just woo! So, that is an area where, like, that you could dial in a system. As one example. 

Akua: First of all, I just know, I just want to know what your calendar looks like. Because I just know, it is probably so beautifully organized.

Because the fact that you have it even organized of like, How you even have it categorize all the different types of systems that you need to have in place. That is so organized. And so, um, revenue generating systems, right? Like, I love that so much. Can you give an example or maybe a case study that, um, at the top of your head where, you know, you have seen that just be really successful, even in your own business.

Like, what, Can you break down some of those details in regards to the revenue generating systems? 

Amber: Absolutely. Revenue generating system, you have an ad that goes up to invite people to a photo shoot with you. And then it kicks off from there, right? You go from the, the ad. and the photo shoot to the purchase page.

Okay. Yes. I want this purchase page or we don’t purchase. And what is the followup with that client then? And then they purchase. Okay. Now we’ve got to get their photo shoot booked. We’ve got to follow up with them. We’ve got to follow up after the photo shoot. So that is one very simple example, but it’s a great example because if you have that running well on the front end, That could be 100, 000 in sales for you.

That could be 200, that could be 306, a million, 3 million. So that’s a case study of like, man, get that dialed in and you are good to go. And that’s already very automated. Something that’s simple to automate, but maybe it’s you take a phone call. Okay. What do I say when I’m on that phone call? Um, okay, uh, when’s your, like, and what am I gonna ask?

When’s your wedding? Right? What kind of photos do you want? Right? So you go down. You can have a system for that. So every time you have a prospect call, and you’re like, hmm, what should I say? Document that. Go through it. You’re gonna show up so pro to that client, and your prep is gonna take, you know, like, Not very long because you’ve built a system for that and you’re going to be doing that on repeat.

Then you can also identify opportunities like, oh gosh, that call didn’t go very well. I want to change those questions. Oh, I should have asked this. Dang it. Next time you’ll ask that and the next time and the next time. So they can be very automated and tech oriented or less so, but they’re both systems and they’re both going to help you.

And this is why my calendar isn’t perfect. So organized. And my wife gets a little messy because I got systems to back me up. I feel like I had to confess. Every time you said it, I was like, oh my gosh, I gotta tell her. 

Akua: This is a safe space. So I’m glad that 

Amber: you, thank you all. 

Akua: I’m glad you made sure to share that.

No, I, but I love that though, because to your point, I just think of myself, of even within my systems of really think about the parts that you really hate doing. Like you said, like doesn’t give you I am horrible at emails. I am a voice, no girly through and through. So for me personally, I, I truly was at the time.

That’s why I’m like, I have absolutely lost money because when it’s truly down to even like my emails, I hated responding to them. I would forget I check it. I wouldn’t respond right away, but Oh, yeah, I’d get back to it. And then I would lose it in my inbox. Right. And so for me personally, in my honey book, I love just automating my emails.

But then when that AI email composer came out, I was like, Yes, I mean, it saved me even more time than before. And so I think again, to your point of like, systems are very simple, but then also too, I feel like there’s easily areas that we just don’t think of that we can easily automate. So to your point of just bringing it back down to that, those five, like that, who, what, where, when, why, so then he can really identify those pieces because I’m like, I didn’t even think I’m like, Oh yeah, you can absolutely.

Prep your call. You should be prepping your call, but I also do. How can you have a system in place that where it’s just like, you know, it’s just going boom, boom, boom, boom. And you’re showing up as your best self. Like you feel really good and really confident within that. So I feel like there’s always gaps in our systems that we can always, always improve.

So I love that. And another thing I also wanted to. touch on is that even life giving systems. Let’s talk about that because like I said, like you are a mom, you know, you are a wife, like you have a life outside of your business. So how are you, what kind of systems do you have in place so that you can just enjoy life and enjoy your 

Amber: business?

Oh my gosh, thank you for this question. I have a big accomplishment on this front recently. In January, my husband and I were like, he’s like, this meal plan, this meal dinner situation is not working. I don’t like to cook. I don’t like to plan. I don’t like to think about meals. My favorite meals are the ones that appear and I get to eat it.

Like I will enjoy it, but I’d rather it just appear. And, but my husband, Has been very busy at work, so it has also not been his priority, and so it was in early. February. I said, alright, we gotta change this, we need a whole new system. And a years ago, maybe a decade ago, I had a system where we had week A meals and we had week B meals.

And we didn’t get sick of them because there was enough space in between and they were all our favorites and when we did get sick of something we could rotate. So I adapted a little bit on that this round and I made like 30 post it notes of meals to plan out a whole month. at a time. And so when you plan out the month now, fast forward, we’re in, we’re ending month two and we realized like, okay, that didn’t quite work.

We’re changing out some meals, but we can plan weeks in ahead. So I don’t have to think every week. What do we want to eat? What are the groceries we need? What it was for school. What’s it’s done. And that took me two, maybe two hours. That might even be pushing it two hours on a Saturday in early February.

Fast forward. Now I’m like, I am good. We are so good. And we realized there are things we don’t like. Cause we’re going to look up some new recipes, but man, we are all. So much happier at the time save. We’re eating better, right? I mean, just off the charts impact and it’s simple. It’s a simple thing, but it matters so it 

Akua: matters.

1000%. Absolutely. And I love how you broke that down because decision fatigue is real. Real. 

Amber: It is real. And I don’t 

Akua: think we, we, I don’t think we realize the amount of decisions that we make in a day. Like I experience it so much all the time where I’m like, I don’t have the capacity right now to make this decision.

But when you have systems in place, it removes the decisions you have to make throughout the day. Like even, I sound so lame, but anytime I’m getting ready for a, an interview, I will, I literally purposely do the same makeup look because it’s the last decision I have to make. I love it. I love it. I love it.

I love it. I don’t have, so I do the exact same look every time because I’m like, it’s great. It works perfectly for me. I have everything organized when I’m getting ready so that I know I can get ready in 30 minutes. Like, you know what I mean? Those systems do matter. And then I’m not rushing. I feel really great.

Um, you know what I mean? And I feel confident showing up For these interviews. So I think again, like how can you apply systems to your life and meal prep? Right? Like you already know what you’re going to get, what type of ingredients you’re going to get from the store. You already know how you’re going to cook it.

I mean, and so it makes, again, just driving it back to that. It makes the implementation so much more easier and also enjoyable. Right? Like, you feel good, you’re eating better. And I said this in one of our previous episodes too, where, you know, we link that we, if success to happiness, but it’s actually you need to be happy in order to gain success.

And I just want to drive that again because it’s like, so you have to think too outside of your business of what are the things that are truly going to fill me up? What systems can I also have in place to be able to be able to have healthy, nutritious meals to where I can work out or, you know, whatever it is that you want to do.

Or like, for me, I love pottery. Like, where am I making those? Basis in my life, and so what systems am I implementing to make sure that I can, I can actually do those things. So 

Amber: I love that so much. big fan. I like that makeup routine. Got it. Yes. , this is it. It’s podcast day. Do by the way, your podcast system and workflow and process dialed in.

Yes. That too. Woo. We 

Akua: are, yes, we are so, absolutely, we’re so intentional, right? Because we’re small, but we’re a mighty team. And so we were like, all right, what systems can we have in place? We always check in with each other, like, and I’m like, Hey, I don’t like this. This isn’t working out. Let’s change this up here.

And yeah. Everybody is playing a role and truly, like, the show wouldn’t be what it is today without every single person that knows what they’re doing and is help contributing to the system that makes it very, very successful. So thank you for that.

So when people are creating their systems, what are things that business owners need to consider when they’re creating their systems. What are some key things that they need to be thinking about? 

Amber: Yeah, this is really important. I’m going to go big picture here. Your values. Yes. What is important to you?

And because you want that to pull through in your systems, you also hit on the efficiency. Are we doing things in this process? But that can be iterative. You can, you’ll identify things in a system that you just created. Like, why do we do that? That didn’t work. Back it up, back it up. But also when you design a system, walk through it and be like, are we being as efficient as possible?

Does this align with the why that we talked about? So we’re looking for values alignment. We’re looking for a system that makes sense and aligns with our why. Okay. And think about who it impacts in the end, and what will the result be for them. So this is a client system that’s ultimately for them, impacts them.

You want to match that up to your client experience. For example, if this is a team system, this impacts other people on the team, let’s check with them. Does this make sense for you? Are we bringing you into this process at the right time, or do you want to be involved in this later? So you’re thinking about the other side.

Stakeholders that are involved in the process in addition to efficiencies and your values. 

Akua: Oh, love that so much because values is so, so key. And I think a lot of the times we as business owners, we say that we, you know, we have our values, but one thing that I’m noticing is that we don’t have a fully understanding of how to implement them fully, right?

I think a lot of times we associate it with like, Oh yeah, like in our messaging, right? Like that’s an easy way to showcase your values, but it’s. needs to be intertwined completely in your business, even down to how are we implementing it into your system? What are your values? What are the things that are really important to you?

And, um, we had an episode too, with Lely Amati, who talked about business leadership. And she said to like, she also has her values and, uh, creates these systems in place to prepare her in case something doesn’t even align. So how can she confront things and confront people in a very healthy way? Prep, right?

That preparation. So then if there’s something that doesn’t necessarily align with her, uh, your values, how are you advocating for yourself, prepping yourself for that, creating those systems that it’s like, okay, if yes, and then, or if this is a no, here’s the next step of what I’m going to do. And I think, I think again, it just makes you so much more confident as a business owner, where you feel like you can advocate for yourself, where you feel like.

You know, you’re so grounded in your values and who you are that nothing’s going to shake you and, and, and, you know, how are you leaving that into your system? So that is so, so critical. Yes. 

Amber: You’re spot on. And you are with the values and then how do we bring them to life? Yeah, yes. In our content, but every action, every decision we make, It, we are going to notice and we’re going to be off if it’s not in alignment with our values.

Your team is going to notice, especially if you’re hiring and for people who are values aligned and they’re like, wait, you said family was a core value, but my kids are sick and you’re not being very nice about it. Like, oh, okay. Like that’s going to, people are going to notice this as are your clients.

How do you show up for them when they’re struggling with something or they’re behind like, oh, okay. Okay. Compassion maybe is a core value. So I’m gonna show up in a way that’s aligned with that. That doesn’t mean that we’re, we are sacrificing boundaries or that we are, you know, shifting our beliefs for deliverables, right?

So you still hold to your beliefs, but you operate in a way that is very aligned and consistent and that also has ripple effects. I mean, in the systems, in the team, in the client work, and all these things are so intertwined. 

Akua: Oh, absolutely. And so a follow up question because you said like, too, honoring your boundaries, I think is so important.

And I didn’t even think of that. But yeah, how are you, especially in these types of situations, you know what I mean, how are you honoring your boundaries and not sacrificing those pieces of yourself that are just so important to you? 

Amber: Yeah. You know, this is something I think that you also have to practice and plan and prepare for.

We are good at that. And thinking through this strategy, because. You’re going to be asked things that, oh, no, your body, it’s an immediate no, right? But, oh, sure. Okay. I can figure that out. You’re an entrepreneur. You can figure things out. So if you think through in advance, like, yes, these are my yeses. These are no’s because of my values, because of my pricing strategy, because I can deliver a better product if I do this.

So when you know, again, the why that’s going to help you like, oh, but you got to practice No, and one of my favorites is, oh, no, thank you. And, right, really practicing just, oh, no, thank you. It’s funny, I actually was asked in a meeting, um, a volunteer meeting I was in to do something that was not in my role and I’m happy to, like, do it.

Chip in and step outside of my role. But man, I did not have time. I knew I would not have been able to do that. Well, even if I wanted to, I’m like, Oh man, I got some other projects right now. I’m really not going to be able to take that on. And I simply said, Oh, no, thank you. And everybody looked in the room.

They’re like, cool. Is that it? And I was like, oh, oh, yes, I’m sorry. No, thank you. And just being able, now, if it were a client, if there were other things going on and it made sense for me to explain or add more, I would. And there’s something called the Disney No. Are you familiar with this? No. Okay, this is kind of fun.

Disney is the land of happiness and magic. They make magic. They’re a yes and a happiness company, not a no company. But clearly, we as business owners know, the customer is not always right. And we can’t do everything in alignment with what we want as customers or Say that we need at any given time. And so Disney, the legend is that Disney, uh, doesn’t say no, it’s the Disney.

No. And so you come with a request to go to animal kingdom at 1 a. m. Just after it closed. And they’re like, Ooh, it’s a little short notice for that. You know, if we set up that VIP package earlier, we could probably make that happen. It’s a little short notice tonight. But you know what? Here’s what I can do for you instead.

So in that sentence, you know I’m saying no, but I did not say the word no, because when we put up those boundaries, right, and we hear a no, it is received negative. It’s a negative word, right? No, no, no, no. I don’t want to hear no. So I want to, like, we’re problem solvers. Let’s make things happen. So, instead, you’re proposing an alternative, and this works in scheduling things, it works when your client wants that hair appointment at that exact time, oh, but I’m closed on that day, but I can do the same time for you on Tuesday, would that work for you?

Or if a proposal comes in, you’re like, that’s a really good proposal, but we gotta tweak some things. Hey, you put so much energy and effort into this, I can tell, and I’m really grateful for it. But I’ve got a couple of other ideas I think we can integrate into this. Would you be open to exploring and discussing those?

I didn’t outright say no. I didn’t say like, uh, no, try again. Right. But it’s very collaborative. So I’m honoring boundaries. I’m saying, Oh no, thank you. In and of itself, or if it’s appropriate, I might add a little bit more and move people to a different solution. I love the Disney no. 

Akua: Oh my gosh. Disney no.

Now I’m going to say that. Why do I clap my hands? I’m clapping my hands. Disney no. I’m sorry. Um, but yes, no, but I love that though, right? Like you, number one, because I think obviously to do a lot of a struggle with people pleasing. And sometimes you just don’t owe people an explanation. No, thank you. And keeping it at that, I think is so, so key.

But I love that. Like, You are still presenting another option and a lot of people are, all of us receive that well, right? Like, yes, this is great and here’s the other option that I can provide you, um, to still get you what you want. It’s just going to look a little bit differently than how, uh, you originally thought.

And I think that is just so, so key and such a great, great way to honor yourself. Because you really, now of course, right, if there’s clients and again, To your point, if, if it makes sense, of course. But you really also just don’t owe people an explanation. Like, no thank you suffices. Like, when people say no as a full sentence, no thank you.

And that’s that. And you know, I think I’m, I’m really working on this as myself as an individual. There’s a difference between being nice and kind. And I realized too, like, when I am doing things, I’m, it’s because I want to be nice. I want to be liked and this and that. And it’s like, I would much rather, would prefer to be kind.

Like when I, when people describe Akua, I would write them to say that I’m kind, not nice. And so it’s still honoring my boundaries, putting up boundaries, but doing it in just a very kind way. And it’s just doing it in a way that just, you’re not sacrificing yourself. You’re still honoring yourself. And so, and I’m still working on that.

I mean, I’m still, I’m recovering people, please are still, but, and I still sometimes will over explain myself and I’ll leave a conversation. I’m like, what did I do that? You know what I mean? And so I remind myself like a cool, you can be kind, not nice. Like I prefer kindness over niceness. So anyways, I love that.

There’s so many. key, key things that you shared. So a question that we always end up in the episode with is, what do you think is the biggest differentiator between the businesses that succeed and the ones that fail? 

Amber: Oh, businesses that succeed and the ones that fail. I am going to come back to heart. Uh, there is, I think the businesses that have heart and compassion and soul, certainly we see businesses that are successful that we would say don’t.

Have that, but I think that word success is uniquely defined and man, the businesses that I see that are successful care for people and they care for themselves and they’ve got an eye yes on profit, but not only on profit. So I want to bring it back to heart. 

Akua: Yes, I love that. Right. Um, I just think of, um, a previous episode with Caitlin James, like you have to have a vision and purpose that goes beyond the bottom line.

Of course, we all want to make money. Of course, we all got to eat, but you know what I mean? But the people that we’re serving, like, how are you serving them? How are you showing up for them? How are you leaning in with compassion? Because it’s people that are buying your services. And at the end of the day, we’re all human.

And so like, Really think about just having a heart behind your business. There’s a reason why you have the business that you have. And I think that’s just such a clear reminder because, you know, when you first get started in your business or you have so much passion and you’re, you know, you’re lit up, you’re just on fire.

And sometimes when the reality of the business sets in, it’s hard where you’re like, Oh, you know, when you hit those, those low points, but I think it’s, again, to remember your vision, remember your purpose, remember the heart that you have, because that’s, what’s going to really get you through, especially those mundane pieces, right?

The pieces that are not the most exciting. Um, so I love that so, so much. So yeah, this has been great. Thank you so much, Amber, for this. amazing conversation. And I think it’s just a clear reminder. I mean, you’ve just added a whole nother element to systems and why it’s so important that we need to have it.

And so for people that want to connect further with you, where can they find you? 

Amber: The easiest place to find me is Instagram at Amber McHugh or at my website, Amber McHugh. com. 

Akua: Thank you so much, Amber, for this amazing conversation and for everybody listening until next time, that ends our episode of the independent business podcast.

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