Category: Strategy

[00:00:00] Ela: Holi Holi, and welcome to Building Blocks and Puzzle Pieces. This is a Rain or Shine podcast, and I am your host, Ela Miranda. I’m so excited to welcome you here under our umbrella and to dive into how to build your own accommodations, the building blocks you need to get there, and the puzzle pieces that you might need to solve along the way.

[00:00:17] In today’s episode, we’re going to talk about finding the right tools. We’re going to cover the damage wrong tools can have, how to assess a new tool, and the secret power behind any tool.

[00:00:29] One of the things that I see most frequently when people come to me is they’re going to have some kind of specific tool in mind already, typically. And one of the things that I ended up telling clients most frequently is, it’s not the tool that will guarantee your success. It’s not the tool that’s going to make your systems. You’re always the magic ingredients in these processes and in your business, right?

[00:01:00] And the reality is that all of these softwares and programs and the tools that are out there have entire marketing teams dedicated to proving to you that their tool or their software is what’s going to solve all of your problems. And they’re really good at their jobs. Right.

[00:01:22] I don’t ever want anyone to sit here and be like, oh yes, I have to invest thousands of dollars into the software into this platform in order for me to have a system. And I think that’s the trap that a lot of people fall into. I have a lot of people who come to me and are like, look. I tried to Dubsado or HoneyBook or Notion or like any of these other platforms that are designed too be very complex and allow you to do a lot of things with one software. And they’re like, I tried it and I didn’t feel like it was super helpful for me because I don’t want to become a software expert as my main job.

[00:02:12] And it felt like in order to achieve my goals with these tools I had to dedicate my time to becoming an expert in this software or on this tool or this program, before I could even begin to start utilizing it in a way that would be helpful for me.

[00:02:32] And that’s absolutely fair. Right. Like, I went down a hyper-focused rabbit hole of in taking information for three days when I first discovered notion and most people don’t have that kind of time and dedication to learn how to use a tool just available to them.

[00:02:53] And the reality is that. No matter how good you are with tech or with software, no matter how good you are at learning how to use new programs. At the end of the day you have to have a clear idea of what your processes and systems are. In order to implement any of these tools.

[00:03:14] I like to tell people that there are two parts to systems design. There is the design of the system. The sitting down and intentionally going through every step of your process and making as many decisions ahead of time as possible.

[00:03:30] And then there’s the building of the system. Which is figuring out how to utilize whatever tool you’re interested in. And build those processes and templates and all of the automations and things that are going to make your life easier and are going to make implementing that process easier for you. Especially when it’s something that you’re doing over and over again, or on a consistent basis. So you want to have that aspect of I know when I’m doing. And here is how I am going to do it.

[00:04:05] But if you don’t have that first part. I know what I’m doing. I know what my processes are. I know why I made these decisions. I know why I do things in this way. And I have that goal and those values and those reasons to come back to when a tool doesn’t work or at my situation changes or I’m bringing somebody else into the team, right? If you’re sitting here and you’re doing something over and over again, but you don’t have a clear and well-defined and intentional process. Probably you’re going to be doing things differently every time. Because you haven’t sat down to make those things easier for yourself.

[00:04:44] And I think a lot of people get really focused on, okay. How can I build templates and how can I you know, come up with a good project management system. And how can I communicate this with other members of my team or there’s all sorts of problems that people come [00:05:00] to me to solve, but at the end of the day, You have to start with defining your processes. You have to start with knowing what it is you’re doing, why it is, you’re doing it. And then we can move into the, how.

[00:05:13] And what I tell people when they come to me with a specific problem, typically focused around how am I going to do this? Right. What tool am I going to use, et cetera. When I tell people is that once you focus on that, why. Once you have your processes clearly defined in an intentional manner. It doesn’t matter what tool you use. Because you’ll be able to implement and utilize that process in any tool once you have an understanding of why it is you’re doing what you’re doing.

[00:05:45] I explained this to someone recently. During an exploration call actually. ‘ cause I was like, look. I have a whole system of note taking. For every explanation call that I do. And what that means is I have a specific list of questions that I ask you. There are a specific list of questions that people ask me during these calls, things that I want to make sure I explain things that I answer, et cetera.

[00:06:08] Ela: And I know those questions intimately. I know what information I need from any person who jumps on a call with me. And I know what are the most common questions and the things that people are typically worried about. And sure, every person is different. And I always want to leave space to honor that in these calls, but. There are certain things that I want to make sure are covered in the short amount of time that we have together.

[00:06:32] Because these calls are as much for my benefit as they are for yours. And I want to make sure that we both walk away feeling like this is a good fit. Because that matters to me. I don’t want you to feel pressured into making a decision or to feel like, you know, like you can’t come to me with questions or like, I am unable or unwilling to answer things for you.

[00:06:52] And so there’s a specific process. There are specific questions that are answered, right. And because I am intimately familiar with this process, I have intentionally gone through and made a record of the questions that I want to ask. The questions that have been asked to me. And I know those.

[00:07:10] I can come back to those questions and make notes about those questions in any tool that I Right. Because I am a notion nerd. The majority of my system utilizes Notion, right? But I can sit down and ask you those questions and take notes about those questions on a random piece of paper or in a word document. Or on my notes app in my phone. And any one of those tools would be successful in their goal. Because I know what my process is. And I know what notes I need in order to come back to. I know what notes I need in order to implement a review process later. I know what nodes I need two ensure that we are a good fit. And I don’t have to sit here and remember every detail of our call. When you book, especially because most people book several months out.

[00:07:58] My memory is fine. But it’s much easier for me to have a place where those notes live so I can come back to it whenever I need to. And I don’t have to sit here and try to remember all of those things.

[00:08:11] And for me the tool becomes the most important factor when it comes to the review process. Typically, because, like I said, I could make every note I’ve ever needed in random notebooks or scraps of paper. And that works. It’s not an unfunctioning system.

[00:08:30] But when it comes to keeping those notes organized. And being able to come back to them whenever I need them and pull them up easily. Paper fails me. Often. And that’s okay. Right. I know that. That’s not a skill of mine. And I know without being able to search things in a program, With one button is really important to me because of the way in which I work. And that’s why I do my best to digitize every note that I know I will need to come back to. So that it is easy for me to come back to them.

[00:09:04] But again, All of this comes back to knowing my processes, knowing my needs, knowing that the tool only matters in so far as it can help me make things easier for myself. When I won’t know how to do that or what things specifically I need the tool to do until I know my processes. Until I know what my needs are. Tell I know how I can meet them and how I can be best supported.

[00:09:30] That’s why this process is so important to me. And why like I said, a lot of people come to me with the, how do I do this in mind? First and foremost? And that’s okay with me because I understand that you do have some fairly intimate knowledge of what your process is and what your needs are. In order to get to the, how do I do this question? But I don’t think people take the time to really sit down and define those things before they come to me. Typically and that’s okay. Most entrepreneurs and small businesses don’t have a process for creating standard operating procedures. Because when you’re the only one doing the work it doesn’t seem like it’s that big of a deal.

[00:10:14] And even if you do have like a VA or you have other team members who have people to support you. I still see most most of the time. You didn’t go to business school. you never had any instruction in how to do these things. And that’s why you’re turning to other experts and other people to support you in these things. And so it makes sense. These aren’t things that are common for you or aren’t things that you’re like really thinking about or feel like are important enough for you to take time out of all of the other things that you’re doing in order to focus on. That is completely understandable and frankly, reasonable. Right.

[00:10:48] But that is also why I make sure that the majority of our time is going to be focused on creating some kind of visual document that you can come back to and edit easily and understand easily. So that you don’t have to rely on just one tool.

[00:11:04] A lot of my process focuses on building that system with you so that you do understand it. You do have an intimate knowledge of why. Again, why we made those decisions, why we did things in the way that we did so that you can change them whenever you need to, or you can come back and if you’re doing many different things as a lot of entrepreneurs and artists are. You know the process well enough that you can add things into the system that we’ve built on your own.

[00:11:34] My goal is never to give you something that you can never use on your own, right? I understand that there are business models that are specifically focused on making sure that your client needs you again and again, and again, and again. And that’s fine.

[00:11:49] And there are a lot of people who will come back to me to go through the same process again, because they found that having support and having someone so intimately familiar with all of these aspects is very helpful for them and that’s fantastic. But the process itself of defining your why, defining your processes, defining the ways in which you work and the support that you need. Isn’t difficult to understand? And should not be difficult for you to implement on your own. If that is something that you want to do.

[00:12:18] Again, a lot of people that I work with have some kind of neurodivergence and so it’s often helpful to have somebody else in the room with them. It’s often helpful to be able to just talk things out and know that somebody else is over there making notes and making sense of the auditory processing that you are doing. And my goal once you walk away from our session. Is for you to be able to go through this process on your own as many times as you need. Knowing that if you have questions or if you find that you do want that support. I’m here for you. But it’s not a necessity for you to move forward.

[00:12:55] All of that being said, right. Once you have that why down you have that intimate and intentional understanding of your own processes. There are questions you can ask. And a framework that I use for understanding whether a tool is actually going to be helpful for you. In regards to those processes. And to understand How to define the things that you need in terms of these tools and these softwares are going to use.

[00:13:22] I’d also like to make a note here that like, In regards to those specific terms that software use. I do recognize that this is where I have an area of expertise that often people do not have. Probably you have done some research into tools prior to coming to work with me. So hopefully you have some understanding of these terms and of the things that softwares and programs and tools can offer to you.

[00:13:44] But I do spend a lot of my time going through different tools and trying new things and trying different softwares and seeing What terms and what features and benefits product developers and designers are using. In order to attract customers and in order to define what their systems and softwares and programs can offer to you.

[00:14:08] So don’t be afraid I’m sitting here and going, like, I have no idea what terms people are using or how to search for this specific need that I have. In a way that will get me the results that I’m looking for.

[00:14:23] I think that’s something that’s going to come with time and with practice and I do genuinely believe that being able to define your needs. And define what it is that you’re looking for will still be helpful for you, even if you’re not using those specific terms. Because there are people in your communities as you can reach out to who will be like, oh yeah, like I know a tool that can help you meet that need. Even if you aren’t using those specific terms that a company would use to market their products.

[00:14:56] So it’s okay if you focus more on your needs than you do on the specific terminology. Being able to define things in those specific terms just makes your search a little bit easier, but it’s not necessary.

[00:15:08] Unfortunately, I do not have a magic genie of a tool that will solve all of your problems for you, that I can just pull out of a hat. But we all know the importance of finding a tool that does work for us, right? Because when you have a tool, or you try a tool, and you think it’s going to be fantastic, and it turns out that not only does it not have the features that you really need, but it’s actually, like, causing damage to your processes and to your client experience, it’s heartbreaking, right? Because you spend so much time and effort in setting up these tools, and finding these tools, and to have all of that time and effort not only be wasted, but sometimes [00:16:00] even be damaging, is incredibly frustrating as a business owner.

[00:16:04] So, while I don’t have a perfect one size fits all, magical tool that I can just pull out of a hat for you, I do have a framework that I use to assess whether a tool is going to be right for me or for a lot of my clients as well. And I’m going to share that with you here today. So, If you’ve been around for a while, if you’ve ever been to a systems recess session, you know that I really genuinely believe that starting from a place of positivity is incredibly important when making any assessment.

[00:16:41] I don’t know about you, right, but I need the dopamine. I need to know, hey, These things have gone really well. These things have worked. I’m doing okay. Not that, like, these things really actually mean anything about us, right? But it just feels good to, like, be able to take a look at things and see, like, okay, you know, it’s not all doom and gloom, even though sometimes my brain likes to tell me that it is.

[00:17:04] There have been things that have gone well, even if Perhaps I’m using a tool that I don’t like. So, the first question that I ask is, what do you like about the tools that you’re using, right? Are there specific features? Are there automations? Are there Connections with other tools that you use frequently and really love?

[00:17:27] What is it about this tool that got you started thinking about using it, right? What got you excited about it in the beginning? Have those things delivered? And what are the things, you know, that you do like about this tool. What would keep you still using this tool, right?

[00:17:43] What has worked, what do you like? And then I want you to sit down and make a list of all of the things that you want out of this tool, right? Like, what are the things that the tools you’re currently using don’t have, that you really desperately want, what are the things that you would switch to a new tool for, right?

[00:18:04] Like, what are those features? What are those different aspects of a tool that you want and that you feel like are going to make you more productive or more efficient or more of whatever it is that you want or that you are getting out of this tool, right? And then if you are like me and you sat down with a piece of paper to like answer those questions, right, or some sticky notes or whatever, make yourself a Venn diagram.

[00:18:30] Take a look at which tools have both of the things that you already like and the things that you want. Are there any tools that have that magical overlap of a Venn diagram? Right? what are the things that, like, you absolutely need to have in the middle of that in order for this tool to be Useful to you, right?

[00:18:50] Are there some things on either your want or your likes list that maybe could be on the outside of that circle and it wouldn’t be the end of the world? I joked in the beginning about having, [00:19:00] like, this magical genie, like, one size fits all tool that you can just pull out of a hat. And as much as it can be difficult. There are times where you are going to have to compromise in the tools that you’re using, There are going to be times where it’s like, well, you know what? Having a tool that connects directly with slack so that my team can always be Notified of everything that’s happening within this tool is way more important to me than having the ability to like download files, right? I’m just like throwing out some examples here, but you get what I mean, right?

[00:19:31] There are going to be things that are your top priorities when it comes to these tools. So make yourself a list of those and see which tools have those top priorities in the middle of the Venn diagram. And then. Talk to the people who built those tools, right? See if you can get demos. Talk to people who have used those tools, right?

[00:19:50] Don’t, like, jump into this all, like, blind eyed, like, happy enthusiasm, and spend a lot of time setting this up without really making sure that, this tool is genuinely going to help you make things easier and make things better in your business. Because at the end of the day, The real power behind any tool that you use, right? The secret, special sauce that is gonna end up making it successful is you. The way that you use any tool is what’s going to dictate its success for you and your team. Not whatever features this tool has. Not, like, if it’s the shiniest, newest tool on the block, right? At the end of the day, while tools are incredibly useful and incredibly helpful and are often a very large building block in our successful ecosystem of systems, what makes a tool successful is you, And your processes and your systems and how you’re using it not necessarily the tool itself.

[00:20:54] I know a lot of people who have downloaded Notion, one of my personal favorite tools of all time and were like, the learning curve on this is just way too high and it’s not going to end up being useful to me. They’re not using it to its full potential. And a lot of people are still incredibly successful with it, right? There are some people who never touch an interconnected table, right? They never connect databases, they never, like, create these fancy tables and all of these things. there are a lot of people who, like, never touch any of these aspects of Notion. Maybe they only use it as, like, a bullet journal or to, like, keep lists for themselves. And that’s all they need it for, right? And to them, that tool is successful because that’s the aspect that was missing from their system and their way of doing things.

[00:21:47] Even though this tool has so many capabilities and there are so many other things that it can do, at the end of the day, Your use case and your specific situation and needs is always what going to be the most important aspect of whether a tool is going to be successful for you, not necessarily all the different features of the tool itself.

[00:22:07] So don’t be afraid to try new things, but also recognize that like, at the end of the day, Once you have your systems and your processes set up, and you have an idea of what it is that you’re doing, what it is that is difficult for you, and what things you need in order to make that easier, that’s how you’re going to find that perfect tool that fits you, So that you don’t have to waste your time trying to jam your feet into that one size fits all tool, right?

[00:22:37] That really doesn’t actually fit you and your needs because they’re different.

[00:22:42] Because not all people are the same size and that’s okay. All right. I think I’ve pushed that analogy about as far as it’s gonna go. feel like I end up telling clients this a lot, that having the right tool can absolutely be incredibly beneficial and super important, but in order to know what the right tool for you is, you have to know how you work and what things you do in a way that is different from everyone else and what things are difficult for you, what things come easy to you, because those things are going to be different for every business owner, and sometimes they’re different for every employee, so you might need something that’s going to support your whole team, and you might be looking at this from a lot of different use cases, in which case, that’s going to be a more complicated process, and I’m absolutely available for help if you need that. at the end of the day, You, and your systems, and your processes, and your use case is the most important thing to look at whenever you’re looking at any new tool.

[00:23:36] Not necessarily all the features, and the fancy bells and whistles, and the tool itself. So go out there, experiment, try something new, stick with what works for you, and whatever you do, I hope you remember that this shit should be easy and you’ve got this.

[00:23:50] Until the next episode, may you find ease and joy in the life that you’re living, rain or shine.