092: 7 Surprising Ways a Bookkeeper Can Help Grow Your Business – Part 1

1. Bookkeepers do more than just help with numbers.

As a business owner, the ability to be transparent and talk with someone about your financials only builds your confidence. The relationship between leader and bookkeeper becomes much less of a transactional relationship than people anticipate. Getting to that level of trust can only help your business.

2. A lot of business owners forget about the chart of accounts.

Bookkeepers can create a report intentionally by looking at your chart of accounts first. Sometimes, that list can grow seriously long. The bookkeeper can sit down, review the chart, and provide reporting to the level of detail that you want that helps reflect your business goals.

3. Bookkeepers can help with your budget.

So many business owners are paralyzed by the idea of undertaking a budgeting process. Bookkeepers can help with the building blocks of that and set a foundation for healthy finances. This is vital because your budget reflects your values.

Melissa Baggett on LinkedIn

Melissa Tidwell on LinkedIn

BELAY’s Accounting service

Melissa Baggett:

It’s really been an honor getting to partner with our clients and their bookkeepers and watch their journey. Then when they meet their bookkeeper for the first time on the kickoff call and you just see that connection, and you can almost see the relief that the client’s feeling because the bookkeeper understands their pain points. And just following that journey has really been a tremendous honor.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Welcome to One Next Step. The most practical business podcast in the world. You’re now one simple tip, practical tool and small step away from growing your business. One Next Step is brought to you by BELAY. The incredible 100% remote organization, revolutionizing productivity with virtual assistants, bookkeepers, and social media managers. Accomplish more, juggle less. Modern staffing from BELAY, and now to your hosts.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Welcome to One Next Step. The practical business podcast that helps you run your business so it stops running you. I’m LZ. And today, we’re going to talk about all the surprising ways that you can use a bookkeeper to bring value to your business. Joining us is our very own Melissa Baggett and Melissa Tidwell. I’m so excited. Melissa Baggett has been with BELAY for almost five years as a senior client success consultant at BELAY. And Melissa Tidwell, well, she is the OG. She has been an a solutions consultant with BELAY for nine years, but has been here way before that, even a bookkeeper. So we have the experts for you. Both are powerful members of the BELAY team. And together, they help guide our clients to effectively work with their bookkeeper. They have seen up close what works, what doesn’t work and what is possible. They’re going to help us understand some of the surprising ways you can use your bookkeeper to bring more value to your business. Welcome ladies. Yay.

Melissa Baggett:

Thank you, LZ. So happy to be here. Yes.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Oh my gosh. I just feel like I’m among legends. I mean, truthfully, this is just awesome. Of course, I’m a finance lady. And so, to be with my people, I feel good. I really do.

Melissa Baggett:

I mean who better to lead this conversation, right?

Lisa Zeeveld:

I feel like we could just do about anything right now, but we should probably maybe spend the time solving some world problem, but I know we’ve got folks who want to also solve their bookkeeping problems. So really seriously, thank you for joining. I love to start these conversations with some little unknown facts or just fun things. So my question for each of you would be, have you ever been told you look like someone famous and if so, who?

Melissa Baggett:

So I don’t get this often, but I do recall, and this y’all, this is probably 20 years ago and it happened one time, but I’m hanging on it because someone told me I looked like Michelle Pfeiffer, so I will take it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I can see that though. Now that you said that I could see that. So that’s a good one. Yeah,

Melissa Tidwell:

That’s awesome. Well, I haven’t been told that. And so, I couldn’t come up with a good name on that to share, but I have been told and I take great honor in this, that my daughter does really looks like me and that she can’t deny she’s mine. So, I consider that a win, that she can’t hide on that side.

Melissa Baggett:

I’ve seen pictures, and I second that. It’s true.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yes. Totally, totally. I have to say I’m on the opposite end and I get that all the time. And so I either feel like, because I’m a redhead, everybody just that every redhead looks identical. Like they’re like, “Oh, I know someone who looks like you.” Or maybe I just have a very recognizable face. I don’t know. So, I think I’d rather be on your side MT, where I don’t look like anybody else.

Melissa Tidwell:

Well, they say everyone has a twin somewhere out in the world. So I just haven’t quite met that yet.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yes. Yes. And for our listeners, you probably just heard me say MT. And so, that is Melissa Tidwell’s nickname here within Belay. Obviously, I’m LZ. I don’t know. We must have this two initial thing going on here

Melissa Baggett:

For sure.

Lisa Zeeveld:

But if you hear me say that’s what I’m going to reference is Melissa Tidwell when we talk about MT. So, I would love for you each to tell us a little bit about yourselves and how you ended up in your current positions at BELAY.

Melissa Tidwell:

Well, I’ll jump on that one first being here from the beginning side of it. So, I have the honor of meeting the founders of BELAY at the very start and had been in church finance and other church leadership roles and loved the idea that they were bringing forward about serving pastors and their teams with some assistant support and bookkeeping support, and just really wanted to have a seat on the bus. I thought it was going to be a great adventure. It definitely has been. I’ve loved every moment of being here. And my role, as you mentioned LZ at the beginning was as a bookkeeper. So we started off being as a bookkeeper, actually doing the bookkeeping. And then as time evolved, I’ve moved into the role of a solutions consultant and just really enjoy my time talking to pastors and other nonprofit leaders about the solutions they’re looking for and help them figure out how BELAY can be a possibility for them or how we can connect them to others that might be a resource for them or just helping them solve this problem.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I love that. And MT, you are on the same kind of pathway that me and Tricia are on. There’s just a handful of us where you were a BELAY employee and also serving still as a bookkeeper. So, I remember those early days when we each had multiple roles.

Melissa Tidwell:

Yes. Jumping in and did it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I know, I know. We’re like being paid peanuts and doing a million things and it was crazy.

Melissa Tidwell:

Wow.

Lisa Zeeveld:

So, I love that about your journey, and I love how you’ve just been here to support our owners and what has been created in you’re awesome and such a valuable resource. So thank you.

Melissa Tidwell:

Thank you.

Lisa Zeeveld:

All right, Melissa Baggett, all right. Tell us your journey.

Melissa Baggett:

And I love MT’s journey. I love hearing it and yours too LZ and Tricia’s, and how many business leaders out there can completely relate, right? Wearing all the hats in the beginning and then, look at you now. So yeah, I actually found BELAY after taking an extended leave from the corporate world, actually to raise my two boys. Still raising them, of course, but they’re just older now. But prior to that, I really spent most of my career before that in the distribution industry.

Melissa Baggett:

So, I really found my love for spreadsheets and numbers there, which is funny, because I was actually a psychology major. So, it was just sort of this found love. And then my career took a completely different path from that. So, pretty funny but I think both skills have come in handy. But anyway, I found BELAY and just knew immediately I wanted to be a part of this company and this culture. But beyond that, when I read the job description for the client success consultant, I seriously thought it was written for me. And I’m like, “Okay, numbers, people sign me up. This is mine.”

Melissa Baggett:

So, it’s just been the greatest decision I made and haven’t looked back. It’s really been an honor getting to partner with our clients and their bookkeepers and watch their journey from the beginning meeting a client for the first time. And then when they meet their bookkeeper for the first time on the kickoff call and you just see that connection and you can almost see the relief that the client’s feeling, because the bookkeeper understands their pain points. And just following that journey has really been a tremendous honor.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I love that. I love that. And like you said, everybody’s journey is unique and special. And I think what I love about your journey is that you did find belay when you were looking for something different. And like you said, it was specifically written for you and that you joined at the perfect time because we had figured out a little bit of stuff.

Melissa Baggett:

By that time, yes.

Lisa Zeeveld:

By that time we had figured out some stuff. And not that we still have it all figured out, but we had figured out some stuff. And so we knew the kind of talent that we needed and you were perfect. And so, thank you-

Melissa Baggett:

Oh, thank you.

Lisa Zeeveld:

… for finding BELAY. I really appreciate that. Well, I know there’s a lot of common misconceptions that clients and prospects have about bookkeepers. And I know that you guys probably have a list of them. So, would you mind sharing just some of what those misconceptions can be?

Melissa Baggett:

Yeah. Thinking about this, I really think that most people who come to us for a bookkeeper have a very specific need in mind, right? It’s a very specific role they’re wanting to fill. They want their bills paid on time. They want their bank accounts reconciled, their credit cards reconciled. They want the financial reports. It’s just a very transactional role that they’re looking to fill. But what I think is fun to watch is that they end up getting so much more than that. Yes, those numbers are important. The details are important. Those debits, credits, journal entries and all that fun stuff, but those numbers tell a story, right? And if you don’t know what that story is, how do you make decisions for your business with confidence? Right? So, having this person who really becomes a partner to sit down with and have a conversation about those numbers to me is value that I don’t know that they anticipate beforehand.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, that’s great.

Melissa Baggett:

Yeah. I think it just ends up being much less of a transactional relationship than they anticipate.

Melissa Tidwell:

And I would definitely add so many times they think that those conversations aren’t fun, but bookkeepers have great personalities and they enjoy people. I mean, they know their numbers but they really enjoyed the relationship and being able to have fun on those calls. And as Melissa was pointing out there, just releasing some of that fear of understanding their financials, a lot of times an individual knows they need the information, but they’re uncomfortable with asking when they’re meeting with maybe a financial officer type role or a CPA type role and bookkeepers just get the business leader. They understand bringing it down if it needs to be to a level they can really stand, and getting that fear of going over that information behind them so they can feel really equipped to make those decisions, and being able to have the information that they really need to do that with.

Melissa Tidwell:

And I also think a lot of times people are surprised at the amount of knowledge they have about outside things that tie into their systems and processes, right? They think again, they’re only going to be focused on that debit-credit type of process and getting a bill paid, but they bring a lot of experience and tools and resources that are out there for them to really continue to help build the organization as well. So those have definitely been the surprises that I’ve seen in watching people come on board with BELAY and interacting with their bookkeeper, realizing that it can be a lot of fun. That number nerds can be fun and that they can really help them understand their financial information so they feel really equipped and that they can help bring forth new ideas and tools to help them succeed in managing all of that number side.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yes, yes. And I love that. We definitely have to debunk the idea that finance people are not fun. If only we could share some of BELAY images and videos of all of us finance, numbers people, I would say we’re pretty fun.

Melissa Baggett:

Yes. Pretty fun group, for sure.

Lisa Zeeveld:

We’re a pretty fun group, yes.

Melissa Baggett:

It is a core value

Lisa Zeeveld:

Fun, yeah.

Melissa Baggett:

Have fun, then you’re probably not here.

Lisa Zeeveld:

We’ve worn costumes. We’ve lip synced. I mean, just over and over again, we have shown up in surprise. So I think that one’s pretty easy to debunk over here.

Catherine Bowman:

So one of my favorite things is getting on a Zoom call. And a couple of times I’ve looked into the eyes of some exhausted entire leadership. I implemented really a focus for my clients on delegation and had one leader in particular who just held it all in. I said, let’s start with delegating and doing that from a financial perspective. And so we built his budget and his chart of accounts around what ministry had is going to own this. I challenged him to not look at the nitpicky line items, to just look at the overall budget for a couple of months and he quickly became relieved of that stress. And that was a huge win for that client. I remember talking six months later and he was not the same person he was six months ago, and it was a win-win for both of us because I could do my job and his people do their job and then he could do his.

Ryan Fitzgerald:

Their story can be your story too. And all it takes is one next step to get started. You shouldn’t have to do everything. And with a BELAY bookkeeper, you don’t have to. Visit belaysolutions.com today to start accomplishing more and juggling less.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Let’s talk about some of the surprising ways that a business owner or leader can use a bookkeeper because I think that for those who might not even have a finance professional in their personal life. I’m thinking about some of the business owners I’ve met over the years or my friends. They’re just kind of those turbo tax people in their personal life, and they just feel like they can do everything themselves. And so then they go to start a business and again, they think they can do it all themselves or they know it all. And so they don’t even know what they don’t know, right? I mean, don’t you feel that way MT when you get some prospects sometimes that they don’t know, they don’t know? And so, what are some of the ways, maybe surprising ways that an entrepreneur business leader can use a bookkeeper?

Melissa Tidwell:

Well, I’ll pick my favorite one first and it is their chart of accounts. It is amazing how many times that they feel they’ve set it up one time and that they can’t touch it or that they shouldn’t touch it. There’s just a lot of mystery around it when really it’s such the important driver of all of your reporting. So, I love when they have those conversations and we are able to help them see how we can help tell that story a little bit differently based upon the chart of accounts. And I think they just are surprised that that’s a possibility or that there’s someone who can talk it through with them to get it, to be a good report generating tool for them.

Melissa Baggett:

I do think a lot of business owners forget about the chart of accounts when they’re thinking about their financial reporting. They’re thinking about plugging in the transactions, but they don’t think that you can create a report intentionally by looking at that chart of accounts first. So this list just grows over time, right? And you have people come in and it might be eight pages long. And what are your reports reflecting, right? What is the level of detail that’s really important to you? So, having someone to sit down with and you that, can we consolidate something? Let’s talk about your goals, right? Like, what’s important to you as a leader to see in the reporting? And let’s clean that up a little bit to reflect that a little bit better.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. I think to the opposite of that is when you have people who feel like they can’t touch it. So maybe they started with a out the box solution and they don’t feel like they can change that. And this is real life you guys. I mean, we are at the point in our business here at BELAY where we’re needing to get a little bit more detailed. And so, our director of finance and myself yesterday were like, “Hey, we’re going to add a little sub account here because I actually need to drill into that.” The chart of accounts gives you the ability. It’s a living, breathing, a chart of accounts, literally. And so I think that’s where I find too, that people get stuck is that they don’t feel like they can change it. Now, to the opposite like you said, Melissa, they can go too far. I feel like this, sometimes our church and nonprofit clients maybe go too far, but being able to customize it, I think is really, really important. What’s something else that you feel like is an area that we can use our bookkeeper for?

Melissa Baggett:

I think on the note of reporting also, looking at the details of the report and what you’re tracking, I guess not just as an example. It’s not just income and expenses, right? I mean, what if what you really need to see is the profitability by each project?

Lisa Zeeveld:

Right.

Melissa Baggett:

Right. I mean, where are you really making money and where you may be losing? Okay. So, I’m making money over here, I need to target those type of projects. You don’t know to make that decision unless you have that type of information. So I think sitting down with a bookkeeper and having a conversation like, “Hey, have you ever considered that can be done in QuickBooks?” I think another powerful thing that we can bring is helping with a budgeting process. And I know MT can speak to this, especially with churches and nonprofits, but every business needs a budget. Is that budget in QuickBooks? I mean, that budget versus actual report is a really powerful tool for people. And if you don’t have one, your bookkeeper can actually help with that. Obviously, they’re not going to tell you how you should spend your money, but let’s look at the history, right? Let’s run some reports and talk through them together. Use that as a starting point for creating a budget.

Melissa Tidwell:

Yeah. So many times people are just paralyzed at the idea of even how to undertake a budget planning process. So I think that they are surprised that the bookkeeper can start giving those building blocks to them to enable them to build out the rest of their spending plans for the year, what they want to do from their vision on it. So, it always surprises me that that seems to be a gap and they don’t realize how helpful a bookkeeper really can be to help them start getting those building blocks in place on it.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Totally, totally. How about things like just clean up?

Melissa Baggett:

Mm-hmm. Yes.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Like vendor management, maybe those types of things. I mean, that’s definitely an area I think that a bookkeeper, and dare I say this, we love it. Is that okay to say?

Melissa Baggett:

I’m so glad you said that. That’s so important to know because I feel like a lot of people feel like they need to have their books ready and tidy for someone to take over. No, no, no. Your bookkeeper loves creating order out of chaos. Let them do it.

Melissa Tidwell:

Well, and I think too, you’re so busy as a business leader just getting the data in, getting it reconciled, getting some form of report, but then you don’t realize that you’ve duplicated vendors or that you don’t have your [inaudible 00:19:44] nines. And I think that is something that a bookkeeper loves those checkpoints and loves looking through the files and the data and activating old vendors and just really taking the time so that way the file does stay very clean and concise for them.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah I mean-

Melissa Baggett:

Then it, when it’s time for [inaudible 00:20:04] nines, they’re ready. They’re not in a panic trying to go back to the entire year to get everything caught up. So the consistency is a huge value add here.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yeah. When I think setting up timelines, like I think about starting with BELAY, like most founders, owners, they really leaned on a CPA at first, instead of starting with a bookkeeper. And so there were just some missing pieces because CPAs are not bookkeeper. They actually don’t like to do it. They don’t want to. If you’re currently using a CPA firm to do your bookkeeping, I hate to say this, but they probably don’t really want to do your bookkeeping.

Melissa Baggett:

So true.

Lisa Zeeveld:

It’s not their favorite thing, but for us, it was all of a sudden putting into place really like a calendar of tasks that were due during certain times. So like quarterly, like we do here at BELAY, we do a vendor check. Do we have all the addresses that we’re supposed to have? Do we have EIN numbers? All of a because yes, you mean to do it in the moment, but sometimes there’s a gap or just something fails. And so doing those quarterly checks are really good. But those are the things, the pieces that your bookkeeper, I think can put into place, the things that you would never think of as having that really nice timeline to follow up on to make sure that when it comes time to do those W-9s that you’re ready to go.

Melissa Baggett:

I love it. And I tell clients all the time, let us be the bad guy. Tell this new vendor, “I’m sorry. We can’t issue that payment. My bookkeeper needs the W-9 first.”

Lisa Zeeveld:

Right. Yes. I love that. Being the bad guy. Yeah. We’re okay with that because generally, we’re so nice. It’s it’s fun sometimes to be the bad guy.

Melissa Tidwell:

Exactly.

Melissa Baggett:

We’re just protecting them.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Yes, yes, yes. Well, this is the end of this episode. I think that we probably have given our listeners enough to think about. For those who are not in this spot, sometimes it can be a little overwhelming. So we’re just going to pause here, but would you guys mind staying around for maybe like a bonus question?

Melissa Baggett:

Absolutely.

Melissa Tidwell:

Absolutely.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Awesome. Well, I’m going to tee it up for us. I would love to know how a bookkeeper can be a game changer when you go virtual with your business. So, we’re going to ponder on that. We’re going to tease it out. You guys, my listeners, you definitely don’t want to miss it. In order to hear the clip though, you need to subscribe to our email list and we’ll send you a link to all the bonus content, or you can visit us@onenextsteppodcast.com, where you can find a link in our show notes. As always, we also have a one next step for you to take. You don’t want to miss it. This week, it is our financial wellness quiz for a quick and easy assessment of your company’s financial health and bookkeeping needs. And the best thing about this quiz is that there’s no right or wrong answers. So it’s easy and you’re going to get an A guaranteed. Thank you so much for joining us. Next week, come and see us again for more practical tips and actionable tools to advance your business one step at a time. Start by making today count.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Hey Friends! Next week we will continue our conversation with our great friends, Melissa Baggett, Senior Client Success Consultant at BELAY and the one and only MT, Melissa Tidwell, Solutions Consultant at BELAY. They will be sharing a little bit more about the surprising ways a bookkeeper can bring value and help your business grow. I’m telling you, you don’t want to miss it. So, here’s a brief preview….

Melissa Baggett:

They were all just very stretched and they just really could not find good local help. They just needed a good bookkeeper. They’d gone through so many. The wife’s jumping in. She’s doing her best, but she’s so stretched. So they came to us, and I’m not going to say it was easy right out of the gate. There was a lot to clean up. But you guys, bringing in this bookkeeper for them and quicker than I think they ever imagined, they finally had clarity that they’ve never had across all businesses.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Like you said Tricia in the beginning, it’s like giving up those things that are easy and then growing that muscle over time. When you communicate well, that just breeds for more trust.

Tricia Sciortino:

Trust begets trust, begets trust, begets trust. The more you trust, the more they trust you, the more you trust them, the more they trust you. You go into this very positive trust cycle.

Speaker 3:

Welcome to One Next Step, the most practical business podcast in the world. Helping you get more done, grow your business and lead your team with confidence, with tips and tools you didn’t get in business school. Here are your hosts, Tricia Sciortino and Lisa Zeeveld.

Tricia Sciortino:

Welcome to One Next Step. The practical business podcast that helps you run your business and make it stop running you so you can enjoy your work and your life. I’m Tricia Sciortino, the CEO of BELAY.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I’m Lisa Zeeveld, the COO of BELAY. Together we are T and LZ. We have known each other since 2005, and have worked together for a decade. Growing a 100% remote business from startup to being recognized on the Inc 5,000 fastest growing companies list for six years running.

Tricia Sciortino:

LZ and I have learned a lot along the way, and have made some great friends and partners. For One Next Step we are cashing in some favors to bring you episodes filled with excellent content delivered by some talented people, and we may have a thing or two to add ourselves. One Next Step is here to help you on your leadership journey.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Each week we release a new episode, answering your questions about running an organization. We will always highlight one next step for you to take immediate action, and include an activation guide that reinforces what you’ve heard.

Tricia Sciortino:

We are excited you’re with us today. In this episode, we are continuing our conversation around how to help you better lead your organization by learning to leverage your executive assistant in more effective ways. Here to join us again for this conversation, our very own executive assistants, Kate Sawtelle and Melissa Lawrence. They are ready to help us discuss how leaders can best work with their executive assistant to build trust, effectively create expectations and better communicate.

Lisa Zeeveld:

This is so important. Working with an executive assistant isn’t a one size fits all experience. Each leader has their own communication style and management style, and guess what? So does your EA. Being able to use your unique qualities to better work together as a team can be the catapult to your potential as a leader and the growth of an organization. Tricia and I couldn’t lead the way we do without the support of our executive assistants. Kate and Melissa are the best EAs around. They support us in their own unique and different ways, and keep us moving smoothly in the right direction.

Tricia Sciortino:

Supporting a CEO and a COO is no easy task.

Tricia Sciortino:

Especially when it’s T and LZ. But they have learned what makes us tick, and use those unique qualities to help us work better together as a team. They are here to share their secrets and tips for how we as leaders can better lead through building trust, creating clear expectations and effective communication. Now let’s dive in.

Tricia Sciortino:

All right guys welcome back to your second episode of the One Next Step podcast. Hey ladies.

Melissa Lawrence:

Hello.

Tricia Sciortino:

This episode devoted to all things virtual assistant again, so thanks for being with us, it’s going to be an awesome part two conversation.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Thank you so much for coming back we had so much fun the last time. I know that we didn’t get to some of the key elements just even for us as leaders. I think that it’s important to discuss because so many leaders have a hard time with these next few steps. The first one is really how to build trust. I know that when we are at events, that’s again, one of the first questions besides what do I delegate, goes how do I trust them? How do I know it’s going to get done? Tricia you are the expert in this area of the business. How did you start out with your EA? Then I know now with Melissa, really giving trust and relinquishing that control.

Tricia Sciortino:

First I will go down by saying I am a control freak, so this is a good lesson for everybody, because I do not like giving up control. However, if I’m going to be a healthy and thriving leader I must. All of you out there listening who think you cannot do this, you can, I promise. If I can do it you can do it. First and foremost I think it’s realizing that, those things. Realize you’re a control freak and you don’t like giving things up. When Melissa first started I was very transparent with her about that being the case. Some things I found very easy because I had no emotional attachment to them or I didn’t feel like I was good at them. Those were the things I could easily give away, like calendar and travel because I hated it, and so I had no problem giving it up immediately.

Tricia Sciortino:

Then by setting really clear expectations about exactly how I liked it and how I wanted it, and ideal work week and all the things we’ve talked about before, she was able to really run with it and deliver things successfully right out of the gate. I think starting with what will be easy for you to let go that you don’t have control or emotional attachment to, is an easy way to give your assistant a quick win and an easy way to make an impression and build that trust to start. Then I think from there, it’s an evolution and it grows. I think you sit in the seat of naturally giving trust even when it feels unnatural to you. If you can’t relinquish and give trust to your assistant, and more and more over time, you will find yourself in a place where you’re unable to leverage this relationship, and you’ve kind of become the lid on your own capacity. I think being able to trust your assistant is really important for the success of this relationship.

Melissa Lawrence:

Yeah definitely that’s really good Tricia. From my side as the assistant, I think trust is built within the relationship. Of course from executing on my responsibilities and deliverables and communication, all of those things. But also for me by being really deliberate about finding ways to show you that I care about you as a person. Asking after a busy day how I can help you wrap up so that you can finish up early, or following up after an important meeting to ask how it went. Things like that, that really help you to see that I have your best interests in mind, I think really helps to develop that trust.

Kate Sawtelle:

Showing that you’re in their corner, that’s ultimately our goal. We want you guys to succeed, because if you guys succeed we succeed. It’s a two-way street and so thankfully we have a culture here that trust is just automatically given at the get go, which is not usual but very refreshing. Knowing that walking into the situation of, when you say that you don’t actually believe it, because you have history with other places where that’s not the case. But then after one week, two weeks, a month, you’re like they really mean that they’re going to trust you from the start. That’s also very empowering that you guys actually own what you say and lead it well.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I think the small, like you said Tricia in the beginning, it’s like giving up those things that are easy and then growing that muscle over time. When you communicate well, then that just breeds for more trust.

Tricia Sciortino:

It’s like a cycle, it’s like a trust loop. Trust begets trust, begets trust, begets trust. The more you trust, the more they trust you, the more you trust them, the more they trust you. You go into this very positive trust cycle.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Just because there’s like, and hear me, trust is in that cycle. You don’t just give it and take it away and give it and take away. You have to know that everybody is human. Just like I make a mistake, Kate is going to make mistakes. If there’s a deadline missed or a calendar, we gave that example. That doesn’t mean that I no longer trust her. I think that’s where we see a lot of leaders that’s where the relationship gets strained. Because usually if there is a miss it’s because expectations weren’t communicated in the beginning. I think that’s a key element to trust.

Tricia Sciortino:

Well, and that’s a perfect tee up to the next step in all of this is really having clear expectations for your assistant and vice versa, so that those misses can be minimized and really setting the stage for clarity. LZ I’d love for you to sit there for a minute and talk a little bit about what it means to create expectations in delegation and how we work through that maybe when they are missed.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Well Kate and I within the first month created a document of expectations and promises. That was really, really good for me to say, hey, what do I actually expect her to do? I can’t just keep it all in my head. There’s one thing to delegate. Delegating is easy, can you please do this? The expectation part of it is the hard part, and especially as a busy leader. Now this is not a document that works for everything, but it really did help us get off on the right foot and it’s something that we now visit annually, works for us because it’s a pretty evergreen document that we just bring up. But I also wanted to know what was her expectations of me. It’s not a one-way street. I was like, “Okay, take a look at this and let me know how can I make sure that I serve you well?” It is a two-way street.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I think that’s a great place to start. The promises of that are a little different than the expectations. I promise to always have your back. I promise to always keep your best interest in mind. I promise to protect you and encourage you, like all these things that are really important to having a great relationship. Because at the end of the day outside of my immediate family, Tricia it’s you I need to trust you, you and I work so close together that we are a true partnership and then it’s Kate. That deep, deep relationship has to have some sort of additional expectations and promises that you might not just have with another peer.

Tricia Sciortino:

I think that’s something that people miss. I think that leaders miss the importance or the value that sits inside the leader/executive assistant relationship. I say it and I’ve said it on other podcasts and from stages, but it’s literally one of the most important relationships and roles to me as an executive. I don’t say it lightly when I say I could not be successful in my role if I did not have Melissa, I literally mean it. I literally will say to her sometimes like, “I would die.” She relieves so much pressure and stress for me. Really knowing that that is really the case, the amount of energy and effort and care that’s put into that relationship for it to be successful is high. Just as my relationship with you LZ. The relational capital and the connection, and the ability to work really well together is as important with Melissa as it is with LZ.

Lisa Zeeveld:

One of the things that I think too that helped Kate and I is that it was a two-way street, and so that accountability part of her calling me out as part of the promises was good wouldn’t you say Kate? When you and I first started talking about it, was it weird? Was it odd?

Kate Sawtelle:

No, and we talked about this in episode one, right? Setting those expectations at the front end and really laying that groundwork, I think is what really helped us succeed in the long run. Because we sat down and really thought through, okay, what does LZ expect of me to provide support for her? But then vice versa. For example, I work better with a due date and we’ve talked about this. If I’m given a bunch of projects, I want to know, okay, when do you need these done so that I can then prioritize my work, and my other things that don’t have due dates that are just the everyday things that I need to do to help you succeed.

Kate Sawtelle:

That was one thing that I requested was, “Hey, I just need some parameters on these tasks that you’ll send. When do you need it by?” Because then that helps me help you. No I don’t think it was weird. I think it was, I mean it was great. It makes you think, right it’s like, “oh, well, what do I expect of my leader?” My job is to help you. I’ve got the list of things I need to do, but what do I expect? Like you said, I know that you always have my back, the due dates that you have my best interest and we’ve talked about all those and those were all things that we laid out in that document.

Tricia Sciortino:

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Lisa Zeeveld:

Numbers are totally my thing Tricia, and thankfully numbers are BELAY bookkeepers’ thing to. Our sponsor BELAY believes you deserve top notch bookkeepers to produce balance sheets, pay bills, reconcile bank and credit card statements, and monthly reports to keep you up-to-date on the numbers of your organization. Whether you’re a church, nonprofit or a business, they have the right people ready to help. Talk to their team today and never lose sleep over your financials again. Get started by visiting belaysolutions.com/services/bookkeepers today. Kate is not just my assistant, but she becomes the assistant COO. If we’re not connected, we’re together, she’s an extra arm. We have to go through this together. If we’re not locking step, then some of the relief that’s expected, that comes with the vulnerability and the authenticity of things that she sees that nobody else sees would be missing, because we didn’t make those things clear in the beginning.

Melissa Lawrence:

I would say Tricia and I approached it a little bit differently. We didn’t really sit down and lay all that out in the beginning, but we just had this ongoing feedback conversation, where as things came up she would let me know if I was on the right track or needed to adjust a little bit. Then she would be continually asking me, “What do you need from me?” We just had this ongoing conversation, and we’re still having this ongoing conversation today. That continuous feedback loop really accelerated the rate at which I was able to support her. I was able to understand her needs and her preferences and decisions that she was comfortable with me making on my own, versus when I needed to come to her. That really helped me to reach that strategic partner status much more quickly.

Tricia Sciortino:

Well we talked a lot about communication, and I know that both of you had been in environments where remote work was a possibility and you had done that, but not to this level. As we talk about communication and expectations and delegation, how did you find that it was different working with leaders in a remote environment? What was different about that?

Melissa Lawrence:

I think in a remote environment you definitely have to be much more intentional about communicating. I know in the beginning Tricia would send me an email with something that she wanted me to take care of. I would think I’ll get back to her when I’ve taken care of it. That way I can, trying to avoid extra traffic in her inbox. I would wait and try and get it taken care of so I could just provide her the final update. Then I realized from her feedback that she would just like what we call the virtual nod, where I say, “Hey, I got this I’m on it.” Making that adjustment really helps build that trust between us.

Kate Sawtelle:

Those first couple of weeks it takes some adjusting, absolutely going from being in an office to a virtual world. The virtual nod you have to get used to I just need to acknowledge yes I’ve seen this, I’ve read it. Just like you would with a person if you were standing in the hallway with them, it’s like okay I got it, and walk away. Then you give the feedback it’s the same exact thing it’s just virtual. Definitely an adjustment to get used to that. But then it’s become so normal. I even talk to friends who work and are normally in an office, and I was like, “Yeah I’ve sent like 10,000 emails in the last six months or something like that.” He looked at me and he goes, “I think I’ve sent like 50.” Night and day difference. We’d just communicate on everything by email.

Tricia Sciortino:

Yes. Because we don’t have the opportunity to run into each other in the hallway like you said, I can’t run into you and be like, “Hey Melissa, can you ba ba ba?” I actually have to reach out to you intentionally, whether it’s an email, text message, instant message and all of that stuff. Which brings up a great nother just short topic is, define your modes of communication for you and your assistant? Some leaders love to be on a text message and virtual assistants do some don’t. Some people prefer everything to be in an email so there’s an easy record, you can follow the reply. Sometimes people like a good instant message.

Tricia Sciortino:

I think getting on the same page and understanding the way with which you communicate, especially when you’re remote is key. Melissa and I know we use instant message and email, and those are our primary sources of communication. We don’t stray too far from there. Obviously Zoom, we have our Zoom meetings. Those are our three modes of communication. We don’t try and be in too many other areas. Those are the most important three for us and we know that about each other, and that makes it easy to know where to look and to be prepared for where to see when the communication is coming back and forth. That’s been a good one for us too around communication.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I’ll let you go to this one Kate. How do you track me down?

Kate Sawtelle:

We were chatting the other day, I had to actually think about this because we utilize all three. I would say instant messaging actually less than email and texting. I think we email and text the most. I feel like I’ve gotten a good grasp on when to text and when to email. A lot of it has to do with where you’re at. If you are out and about, I know that I can reach you quickly by a text, or if you’re in meetings. I don’t want to distract you from the meeting because of an instant message popping up, I would rather send a text so it doesn’t… It just all depends. I think I’ve just gotten into that rhythm of I just know this question will be better via text because I need it quicker and it’s not necessarily a task, but emails are all the tasks, the longer bits of information, not the “hey what kind of coffee do you want?” Well tea, “what kind of tea would you like?”

Tricia Sciortino:

Which tea? We already know black tea, no instant messaging. These are the things I know about my girl. Yes, my work wife Lisa does not like instant message nor coffee.

Lisa Zeeveld:

No nor coffee. The other funny thing too, and this has happened the very first time is that Kate and I have very similar personalities. My prior assistant, I was similar to her husband. Actually Kate and I talked about this, this week or last week. That we were saying that how we work together or whatever. I said, “Yeah, it’s so interesting,” because she just has a level of professionalism coupled with the fact that pretty much she knows what I’m going to want because now she knows me after two years, but it’s because how she would like it to. That’s really fun to have that depth of relationship. We both find energy of doing something more at the last minute. I know that makes you cringe Tricia.

Tricia Sciortino:

That makes Melissa and I both cringe, we are both cringing. We are the planner group over here that are like please give us weeks of notice.

Lisa Zeeveld:

I love nothing more than a challenge, so we laugh a lot. We need other people in our lives that you and Melissa, to compliment our need for things to be exciting and last minute.

Tricia Sciortino:

You’re going to have to find another duo for that one.

Lisa Zeeveld:

No, you see you complement us.

Tricia Sciortino:

I guess.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Then we’re helping you guys see that last minute things aren’t all that bad.

Tricia Sciortino:

I’m going to agree and leave it at that.

Lisa Zeeveld:

To disagree?

Tricia Sciortino:

I’m going to say the word disagree. I’m going to go okay.

Lisa Zeeveld:

This again you guys was so super fun. I hope you both know how valuable you are to T and myself and to this business to BELAY. We definitely could not do what we do without you guys, and love working with you both. Thank you for supporting us so well and trusting us too. Thank you for joining us for episode two, this has been awesome.

Tricia Sciortino:

Yes thank you.

Kate Sawtelle:

My pleasure.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Now it’s time for the one next step. As the most practical business podcast, we want to make sure taking action isn’t overwhelming to you. With each episode, we’re going to offer you one next step to propel you and your business forward. Today’s next step is to download this episode’s activation guide, which is our delegation worksheet. This multi-page document will walk you through how to fill out our delegation matrix. Use this list resource to help you identify tasks that only you can do and things you should delegate.

Tricia Sciortino:

So important. This is a good one guys. To download it now, text the phrase one next step to 31996, or visit onenextsteppodcast.com. When you request today’s guide, you’re also going to receive a summary of today’s episode, which includes key quotes and takeaways and links to resources mentioned in the episode.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Thank you guys for listening to this episode of One Next Step. We hope you enjoyed it and that you will join us next time for more practical tips and actionable tools to advance your business one step at a time.

Tricia Sciortino:

Until next time, own your journey. It’s your life and your business. It’s up to you to create the life and organization you want.

Lisa Zeeveld:

Start by making today count.

Speaker 3:

Thanks for listening to One Next Step. Be sure to subscribe on Apple podcasts or follow us on Spotify. Then join us next time for more practical business tips and tools to help you get more done, grow your business and lead your team with confidence. For more episodes, show notes and helpful resources, visit onenextsteppodcast.com.