Episode 44: How SOPs Can Help You Streamline Your Daily Operations with Theresa Truong

00:04

You’re listening to the Empowered business podcast. I’m your host, Monica Froese, a mom of two and your secret weapon to creating a six figure digital product business. I’m on a mission to help 1000 Women make $100,000 a year. That’s right $100 million towards financial independence for women. As an online business expert, I am teaching you everything I know, right here week after week. So you can join us on the journey to $100 million dollars. Sound good? Then let’s jump in.

Monica Froese  00:47

Today I have a special treat for you. I am talking to one of my favorite entrepreneurs ever. I am talking to our very first Operations Manager. Yes, that’s true. I did have an operations manager before Hayley except she wasn’t an employee she came in basically as a coach to help me get my business operations in line so that I could hire employees and grow as a business. So today I am welcoming Theresa Truong. She is an operations coachsultant and client experience extraordinare with a knack for all things left brained, including organizing strategizing, and systematizing, which makes her an ideal fit for her right brained creative CEO clients. With her 18 plus years experience Theresa works with creative consultants and strategist to streamline and systematize their online operations to run the right way with or without their direct involvement. Theresa wanted the flexibility to spend time with her family and the freedom to serve in her passion, creating, designing and refining systems for other types of businesses. And that’s what she created for herself. We’re going to talk about how she coaches other businesses how she created a successful digital product membership, and also how she’s leveraging those skills back in corporate now. So let’s dive in and hear what Theresa has to share with us. Theresa, welcome to the Empowered business podcast. I am super excited to talk to you today.

Theresa Truong  02:20

Yes, Monica, it’s been so long. But thank you so much for having me on here, I am looking forward to just jamming out with you on this.

Monica Froese  02:28

I know. So we’ll give context to this conversation as we get rolling. But Teresa and I have a long history to say actually used to work with me in the business. So it’s gonna be it’s gonna be a good conversation, it’s gonna give a lot of back history, I think about how things got started. And maybe you could give context about, you probably know more about me than I know about myself sometimes. So I always like to start every conversation, talking about your entrepreneurial journey, how you got started, what made you want to be an entrepreneur? And what are you doing today?

Theresa Truong  02:58

Absolutely, absolutely. Oh, this is going to be such a great conversation actually. And so it’s a really funny thing. Now that I look back to it, I just can’t believe how fast time has actually flown by. But I actually have always imagined or envisioned myself to be a business oriented person in some kind of capacity. So this kind of was a dream back in when I was 16 years old and kind of came into fruition when I turned 20, actually and so I’ve always dabbled in entrepreneurship. My parents when they had immigrated to Canada were also entrepreneurs as well. So I knew that it was going to run in my blood and run in my family. And so what kind of really projected me full time into entrepreneurship was after I had my first child, my daughter, I knew I wanted to be able to work from home have that flexibility to really be there for them as they continue to grow. And so when our major recession hit back in 2015 2016, I took the opportunity to really jump from corporate and full time into my business. And for five years I grew my business. I would like to say sustainably and successfully in my own terms, working with various different types of businesses in their back and as their operations manager as their director of operations and their chief operating officer, but also as well being able to launch my own digital products and a sop or a standard operating procedure template to membership as well. And through life through the pandemic Lots has definitely shifted and happened. And so I would like to say that this is kind of like an ongoing endeavor. And so at this point in time, I am back full time with corporate but also still focusing on my business but in a coaching and consulting capacity. So long story short, I’m pretty sure you got lots of questions.

Monica Froese  05:09

I do. I do have a question. So, okay, so let’s give some context. The way to send I met was through a mutual friend Natalie Gingerich. And Natalie Gingerich, who is going to be on the podcast, as well. And me, have you actually recorded a joint episode for her podcast. So to set the stage here, she has a Do you know the exact name of her program? Yes, the

05:33

Director of Operations certification program.

Monica Froese  05:36

Okay. So you went through her program got certified by her and I have known Natalie for years, she was like one of the very first people I met in the online space and, and she’s lovely. And I was in a state of complete burnout and overwhelm. And she’s, she recommended that we connect, and the first time we connect it, which is this is before I ever had an employee, it was just me. And I’ve talked on the podcast many times about the launch burnout, that the cycling that I went through, took on way too much for myself. And I think, I guess my youngest was just about a year old. So I was still in the throes of postpartum, which I’ve talked about my postpartum last for a while. So we get on the Zoom call. And I think your opening question to me was, where can I help you the most, and I was like a deer in headlights. I couldn’t even articulate what the heck I needed help with, because I was just so completely overwhelmed. Yes, clearly. Now, am I the only person that’s ever done that to you? Or am I unique in that way? Or is that like, pretty typical? By the time someone’s like, I need help operating this business? And they’re just completely overwhelmed by it? For sure.

Theresa Truong  06:52

I think you were the most predominant one.

Monica Froese  06:57

I remember it clear. Say, I mean, you kept asking me questions. I was like, I don’t know. And that’s so unlike me, cuz I’m very articulate, and I am very organized. And that that goes to show what kind of space I was at.

Theresa Truong  07:11

Yes, absolutely. And you know, you’re not, you’re not alone in that I’ve had, I’ve had numerous different types of looks, come through that kind of call and that kind of question over the years. But yours is definitely, I think, kind of really spoke just in the scenario and the situation you were in. And, you know, I think that looked to spoke for itself as well. And I’m kind of glad that that kind of set the stage for us, because that took down any walls, any curtains, any other like, you know, misconceptions that we kind of had coming into the conversation, and that Kant kind of gave us a really great look at, you know, where lots of the constraints were happening for you in your business. And a huge part of it was that you were a, you were doing everything? Right, you were doing it from start to end, your launches, from planning, your marketing, and all of the stuff and even trying to run the operations side of your business. And so, you know, when we started on covering through our conversation, we kind of really started seeing where some of those, you know, quick wins, the tidbits where we can start putting our efforts in,

Monica Froese  08:18

I view or type. So Theresa and I ended up working together for was it two years or a year, it was 203, it was a little bit over a year. And it’s a lot like when you join a program, and sometimes like I have this tendency to join a program before. Maybe I’m ready for the content that they’re putting out. But I’m very overzealous, like that. But I’ll look back and be like, wow, wow, that’s what that did for me. But I almost don’t realize what it’s doing for me in the moment, because it was just, I mean, I remember all of my files were in my personal Google Drive. And one of the first things you’re like, you can’t work with the team. If we don’t get this into Google workspace where your team has Team Drives. I’m like, Oh, am I gonna do that time. But the biggest thing I feel like you did, I mean, you did a lot of things for me in the capacity of being an operations manager, but you got me to hire Haley as the first time and she’s still with us. Our listeners know her by now, cuz I talked about her all the time. I don’t know if I would have done that otherwise. And that was a huge, huge win. I mean, that’s honestly that changed the trajectory of my entire business, bringing on an employee.

Theresa Truong  09:28

Absolutely. And I got to give Hayley props because hackers, she survived our five interviews. But that’s, you know, what made it so worthwhile and allowed us to really bring on such a powerful team member. And I remember like, you know, one of the biggest things whenever we started, we started talking about hiring is, you know, understanding the role we wanted to grow with and the succession path of that.

Monica Froese  09:57

Yeah, and she ended up living up Do it, which is, you know, we are the hiring process that we put her through was very intense. I think, honestly, I needed peace of mind, it was a huge, huge mindset shift to go to take on an employee and someone else’s livelihood. And I was I mean, like most people would be, I was very nervous about it. I’m not anymore. Like, now I’m like, I have it all projected out, when we’re gonna start the hiring process for the next hire. And you know, it’s now it’s fine. It’s like, I got you even like, did our first employee handbook and all of that stuff. It’s just wild to think back on. So okay, yeah, let’s talk about in that capacity, you’re actually working in my business, on a contracting basis, and really kind of like, on the head organizing all of our operations. It’s when SOP started, which are standard operating procedures. We’ll talk a little bit more about that. But you were in my business, but you also call yourself a coach Salton? That’s right. Explain what the differences between what like what is a coach assaulted in your definition? And then is that the same thing as what you were doing for me? And if not, what does that mean?

Theresa Truong  11:05

Yes, absolutely. It’s a great question. And I think this was based upon some of my early experiences, actually, because when I first started in my space, I was going more towards being a business coach. And a coach is someone who kind of walks alongside you when you are riding your bike, and kind of gives you the tips and you know, helps you learn how to navigate on your bike so that you can start pedaling faster and doing it on your own. Whereas consultant will actually get on the bike and write it for you, and kind of do the long mile mile for you. And so, you know, when I first started as a business coach, I was coaching more in towards operations in business systems. And very quickly, I realized I needed to be able to give advice, and really solid advice, because if I can see that you’re spending money on something that you shouldn’t, I need to be able to advise against that. And so that’s where the hybrid term coach salted kind of came in, was being able to know when to put on the right hat to be able to work alongside you to be able to walk alongside you on your business growth and journey. And so when I stepped into your business, I knew I was stepping in, in a, I would like to say sort of like a half employee hat, but half consultant hat as well. But then you very, you also saw now looking back in hindsight, I also had a third hat, which was the coach hat as well, in order to help you step up as a CEO in your business to start leading more in your business. And so we knew I very early on knew that it was going to be a phased transition. And so the biggest thing was to kind of really took a lot of things off your plate to be able to do take your vision and put it into a plan across the dinner table and really figure out where are we going to start? What does the recipe look like? And how are we going to get to the end product that take and you know, knowing what, how long the baking time is going to take us. And so that’s where like, you know, I was able to navigate which hat I should be wearing at which time and being able to help scale the business in that sense. Because as a as a consultant, I was able to also lay out the infrastructure of the business, what kind of tools should we use? What’s going to help us sustainably for the next three years of growth, and being able to project that and forecast that growth?

Monica Froese  13:30

It was a lot.

13:32

It was a lot.

Monica Froese  13:33

It was a lot every Monday morning, remember, I stopped wanting to do team meetings on Monday morning, because Monday mornings, I was like a deer in headlights, I was so overwhelmed by everything that had to go on that I would get on team calls. And I don’t know, there’s just so much. It was like, it was the same way our first call started. And so our and to this day, our big team meeting is on Tuesdays, because I need Monday, I can’t do calls on Monday. I need Monday to get my like everything in order. And I will say I’m a lot less stressed out now than I was back then. So I really, I really think it worked. Oh, those building blocks really worked. But they were painful. Yeah, while we were going through it, I was probably a pain in the butt. Because it you know, there’s all that resistance and mindset stuff. So like part of the coach saltan role is also helping the mindset is a huge thing.

Theresa Truong  14:24

Yes. And you know, like, the one beautiful thing I can say about our work in partnership was, you know, the ability to meet you where you were right. Like, I can honestly say even when I look back, I don’t think I felt like frustrated in those times where I felt the friction and the constraints because I knew that you needed to kind of go through that to be able to come out from the other side. Right? It’s like it’s like a kid with growing pains, right? You’re just kind of hitting those next milestones. And so I have to honestly say thank you for giving me the privilege to walk alongside you You in that stage, Haley and I talked about if we miss you, it’s like, it’s almost like you made me take off my training wheels and you’re like,

Monica Froese  15:09

now you’re good to go. And I’m like, but that’s probably like, also in your role, because your intent at coaching is never to stay in the business long term. That’s why you don’t like people don’t put you on payroll, you’re, you’re meant to be there for a period of time, and then move on. Right? Is that, is that accurate? Yes, and

Theresa Truong  15:33

no, I would like to say that, throughout your business growth, there’s going to be certain phases, where you’re going to pull me in, and then certain phases where I’m going to step out so that you can have that nurturing stage, that norm, normalizing stage, and really be able to work at it to kind of find that, like, finesse it right. And then once you get to that next stage is where you might draw me back in because there might be that next level piece where we need to keep growing or adding more spokes, or continue to simplify, right? So there’s going to be different stages in your entrepreneur growth in your business growth, where you might want to pull in the same resource again, because they know your history. They know, you know, how far you’ve kind of come and how to help you project for that next phase, the next three or five years growth as well.

Monica Froese  16:28

That’s interesting. Mm hmm. Now I don’t like what’s going to be the stage. I mean, I can, I can see it coming. Sometimes I’m in denial about it, because I try to avoid the deer in headlights look anymore. That’s one thing I strive very hard not not to get to that point, like to recognize what I need before I’m, you know, just completely overwhelmed and can’t articulate myself. Okay, so while we were working together, there was something that you did, which I found very interesting, which was you, okay. You act. It’s funny, because I wouldn’t have pegged you as a quickstart. But you do things really quickly. I I feel like Lisa, that was always my perception. So you launched a digital product membership? Yes. Like almost over a year, almost two years ago, right? are we approaching almost two years?

17:16

Actually, it’s a year and

Monica Froese  17:18

a half ago? A year and a half ago? Okay. So, and it was an SOP membership? It is an SOP membership? That’s correct. How do you feel about this, like, tell us why a membership? Was it like taking all the things you learned working people’s businesses? Is that what the purpose was, like, I want to know, I wanna know how it came about. For sure,

Theresa Truong  17:37

for sure, I think this kind of came about when the pandemic started, because I started off boarding a few clients, due to the pandemic, and they were in an industry that was hard, heavily impacted by by the pandemic. So for example, school shut down. One of my clients was, you know, their, their clients were the the schooling the education, industry. And so when that kind of hit, they kind of scaled back. And so, you know, I kind of forecasted that coming. And, you know, one of the biggest questions that I had was, what could I do, that could be sustainable, and allow me to continue to show up. And at that point in time, I also had my kids at home. And so I was like, Alright, if I want to keep this going, What can I do? And for myself, it’s really funny that you say that, because I didn’t think that I was a quick start either. But my tendency is that when I start feeling there is alignment, you know, in the path towards this dream, this goal. And if I see things just falling into place, I run really quickly. That’s like me jumping on the pedal back bike, and I’m, I’m at the store by That’s how far I can quickly go. And so similar with that, when we make up our mind, yes, yes. Once we make up our minds, we fly fast, but, and I think maybe we just process making up our mind silently. So like, to me, it seems like you act it quick, but like you were thinking about it for a while. That’s right. I was actually stewing on this for I would like to say 16 months. I was a yes, I was in a mastermind a year before. And at that time, I was like, Okay, I think I can see myself doing a membership, but what kind of look like, you know, would I ever be able to do an operations kind of membership. And, you know, a huge part of it was also finding the confidence in understanding what the business’s constraints truly were. And at that point in time when the pandemic hit, you know, the entrepreneur space was kind of like iffy. We didn’t know where some of the opportunities were going to be. And I knew that like, you know, one of the biggest parts that people are going to put on the backburner his operation support or help. And so, one of the questions I always asked myself was, how can I meet them where they are, and at the place and time where they can want afford it, understand the value of it, and it’s going to really make an impact for their business. And so that’s where I was kind of like, alright, SOP seems to be my jam, I can write it really great. I have a lot that I’ve built up over the years, but also a lot that I do want to write about. And so after that, I was like, Alright, I think this is it, I just need to kind of take the leap. And so what I ended up doing was pre selling. And so when I took concept to validation, and to pre selling was when I started seeing the fruits of that, and that was what made me go a lot faster. I think if I didn’t sell those first 50 seats, I would not have jumped in fully as I did. And so once I started selling out the 50 seats in four days, wow. In four days, yes, was when I was like, Alright, I kind of pump this out in two weeks. And so that’s how the membership kind of came to be. We launched leave 100 SOPs. To start,

Monica Froese  21:05

let’s define so SOPs or standard operating procedures. But really, what is an SOP? What is the purpose? And what does it look like when you say I put together 100 SOPs? What does

Theresa Truong  21:15

that mean? Yes, so an SOP, a standard operating procedure is basically a living document that will allow you to perform an activity or a task in your business consistently and in the same way possible each and every time. So it’s a recurring standardized method that you can do. So it’s similar to like, if you were to create an output a blog, right, you want to be able to do it in the same way so that you have that same consistency have the same look the same feel and know what kind of really is involved in that process. So that’s what a standard operating procedure is. And our standard operating procedure doesn’t have, like, you know, set guidelines of how long it should be. How we developed our SOPs is in bite sized chunks, so that no matter which team members come in, if it’s like, you know, different roles that performs that step, it can be segregated or segmented to that activity itself. And so when we do that, it’s also encompassing the technology that could be utilized. So it’s not just only the process, the way how to do it, but it can also entail the system side of it as well. So we do have certain tech or SOPs for tech platforms, but we can also have SOPs that are more process oriented in spite of any of the platforms that are used.

Monica Froese  22:40

Okay, so why would a business owner want a membership with a bunch of SOPs in

Theresa Truong  22:45

it? Yes, so a business owner would want to have a membership, because the reality is that we live in a world where technology is flat is being upgraded very fast. And so a membership like this will really be powerful to a business in two folds. The first fold is being able to, you know, find existing SOPs for the platforms that they are currently using in their business or looking to adopt into their business. The second piece is to release the resources on their team from having to do this because whenever we are documenting in your business, or needing to create SOPs in your business, it takes some huge amount of resources. Because sometimes your team members may not be familiar with how to document SOPs in your business. And, you know, some some people, it’s not their, their zone of genius, they wouldn’t be able to communicate it effectively. And so, you know, our SOPs are of the, I would like to say we have a standard in creating and developing SOPs as well, so that it can be easily communicated within the D team as well. So we whenever we create SOPs, we make sure that it is documented in a way where you know, anyone, whether they are new to business, they’re entry level, or a seasoned, you know, professional can easily understand the document.

Monica Froese  24:18

Okay, so I have an Operations Assistant, and I have your membership. And I don’t know why it took me so long to connect the dots. That because we’ve been talking a lot about SOPs and the business which you kicked off for us, but then when you left, I mean Haley and I are always flying by the seat of our pants, that’s like the nature of online business and it’s just we’re constantly always iterating and pivoting to the conditions that are going on and but every time so for listener so I hand my knowledge off to Haley and that happened in a very like we were working side by side for months on end and it was a lot of looms and stuff but you know, so she in took that but it didn’t really go anywhere past because we’re on a hamster wheel a decent amount of the time, so then our hamster wheel start burning out and we need someone else. So now Haley has to go download her information onto the next person. And it’s like, well, well, well, the more time we take to kind of like one off hand off this information, we are wasting time and resources. At some point, this needs to be documented so that when the next person Hands it off, it is not a whole troublesome thing. So this is like, I definitely recognized it on the on the third layer that this is like a waste of our resources. So we’ve been diving in to your SOPs, because there’s just so much that we don’t need to recreate why I mean, like, this stuff, there are very standard things and how to do things, we might have to add in some anecdotal information that’s, you know, unique to our business. Like if we’re talking about this is where you put something in Google Drive. And we’re gonna have to insert our our Google, you know, the the link for our Google Drive into it, or whatever it is, but it’s very, it saves. Once you can recognize how much time you’ll save by documenting your processes. Holy cow, it’s like a no brainer. And you really gave it. I mean, I was one of the first 50 people and it was like one of the best things I might not have realized it was one of the best things at the time. But hindsight, I’m like, so it’s still a thing. Right? The membership is still active. I believe I you’re making some changes to it, though,

Theresa Truong  26:27

right? Yeah. Absolutely. So you know, due to some personal events in my life, this year, I ended up missing out on my birthday, like the SOP Success Lab memberships birthday, so we turned one on May 1 of 2021. And so, you know, I was kind of stewing on how I’m going to take it to the next level. And, you know, after a year of feedback of serving, and really understanding like, you know, what has been effective and where a lot of the constraints still exists today, I’m now ready to kind of take it to the next level. So this whole last month, I have been stewing on version 2.0. And originally, when we first launched, I, you know, launched it in through member vault, that’s where that’s a course platform where we housed a lot of our SOPs in. And we also had a Facebook group, which was the community aspect of it. And so I felt that it was still kind of disjointed, and we weren’t the members weren’t fully leveraging it to the best of their abilities, right? Like, I mean, it’s great that they have the cushion on where to kind of go to if they are curious or needing an SOP. But I wanted to be able to have it more on the, the proactive side, the front of mind. So then that way, as you start building new things, how can you then start, you know, having more of a systems mindset, bringing it on the first level versus like, catch up level? Right? After everyone’s

Monica Froese  28:01

always playing catch up?

Theresa Truong  28:03

Exactly. And so in version 2.0, I’m actually migrating away from Facebook and from member fault into our own space. So we will be, you know, working within a gated community, it’s going to have forums based we’re going to have very specific topics to speak towards, like, you know, SOPs, how do you onboard new team members? Where do you get them starting to be familiarized with the systems concept? Because a lot of people like, you know, I see business kind of swinging from like one end where, you know, SOPs never really existed all the way to like a heavily SOP based business. But what ends up happening along the way is we’ve trained employees to stop being able to critically think and know how to problem solve in the business. So what they end up doing is, you know, when an obstacle happens, or a challenge happens, all of a sudden, they’re like, I don’t know what to do, you know, manager, business owner, we have this problem, please tell me what to do, right, versus being able to find the solution. So in this next version, that’s kind of the concept that I would like to bring towards and help bring up lift teams to be able to say, hey, SOPs are guide, they will work 80% of the time, but you need to be able to optimize that 20% utilizing your knowledge, your expertise, and being able to help contribute to the business is growth going forward. That is

Monica Froese  29:39

genius. This is why I loved working with you. Um, you just hit the nail on the head because when I was in corporate and this is SOPs were never foreign to me because I grew up in corporate and that’s corporate is very SOP heavy. The first time I was asked to create an SOP was on a topic that was very nuanced. There were lots of exceptions and To me, I felt like I had to document every single exception that was in my brain. So that overwhelmed me as the creator. And it also cut the person getting the SOP from me off at the knees because they they no longer thought critically about how the process worked. You know, all the things, I figured out that were nuanced, I had to critically figure out and that’s what you know, and I never I had such a hard time in corporate with that balance. So. And as the business owner, the reality is, is that I know how to do, I’m still at the point where I know how to do probably 90% of what’s in the business at this point, very few things I haven’t done myself. So I don’t need an SOP. Like, I’m not the one that’s ever going to fall on us, okay, in my own business. So it’s, it’s easy to forget, as the business owner, how important it is to not cripple your employees to also still think critically about these processes.

Theresa Truong  30:56

Yes, exactly. And so, you know, I think as we grow our own business, from, you know, small microbe stage to a medium or even a multimillion dollar business, we need to have that concept or that systems mindset. And I think like, you know, that’s just digging into the depth of, you know, understanding what kind of culture we want to build as well. Yeah. Oh,

Monica Froese  31:22

that’s so good. So would you say, because right now, you’re sort of side hustling with the business, because you went back to corporate for this last year, which is very fascinating to me. I think I, you know, when we got on, before we start recording, when you told me you, it seems like you really like it? Is that correct? Like do you like working in corporate to a degree like, what’s the difference to? What do you like about it? Versus what do you like about your business?

Theresa Truong  31:50

Yes. So funny thing you ask because I stepped back into corporate not outside of the scope that I’ve already been doing, like, this is my jam, right? Like, process is my world is my jam, it’s actually a field that I’ve gone back into corporate for. So I’ve actually stepped back into corporate leading up the process department. And so you know, I see it full circle. And a huge part of it is stepping back into corporate not as a consultant, but as a collaborator and an influencer in that dynamic. And so it is interesting, I wouldn’t say I hate it. And I wouldn’t say that I fully love it, it’s kind of really exploring myself through it again, because now I’m able to really take what I’ve learned in helping and working alongside East CEOs, and now working alongside senior management, or the VP level management, and supporting that kind of connectivity between upper management or, you know, the highest management and the ground floor. And so being able to drop new methodologies, new concepts, and really having a more confident, you know, influence over that dynamic, that is definitely something that does light me up and spark me up. Because I know, eventually, when I’m ready to fully step back into entrepreneurship, and through, you know, you know, continuing on with my operations, support and process work, there is going to be some fruit for the small business owners again, right, so I see it as, you know, viewer to think of it like a circle, and, you know, the circle doesn’t really overlay itself, if you know what I mean, it there will always be, you know, a different overlay, and you’ll see it with a different, you know, weight, so to speak. And so that’s what I’m kind of envisioning of all this and how it’s going to kind of move towards but overall, like, you know, at the end of the day, we’re you know, my decision to go back to corporate is definitely more towards, you know, my end goal. And so see it as a stepping stone versus like, you know, stepping backwards, right, your forward and just a different dynamic.

Monica Froese  33:56

Totally understand, I don’t I don’t see. But I’ve seen lots of people step back into corporate, I don’t view it as a step back at all I can. Honestly, I often think I couldn’t go back to corporate IT. I, I just could not, that’s just me, however, I could if I needed to, you know what I mean? Like, if it was like, there was life circumstances that called for it, I could do it. But I will say, I am very confident if I had to go back to corporate I would slay because I just what you learn by running your own business, I can imagine makes you such a better contributor inside of a corporation and are they respectful of you having a side hustle, do they know you have a side hustle,

Theresa Truong  34:43

but they know that I have a side hustle, I think you know, like a huge part of it is understanding priorities and knowing like what would come first right? And so like, you know, one of the biggest attractions for me going back to corporate is who is going To be my leader. So that was also another indicator, or, you know, something that I did assess going back to corporate. And you know, at the end of the day, it’s to make sure that there is really great balance between both, you know, like, now I see I, it’s really interesting, because going back to corporate has also ignited, we ignited my love for my entrepreneur work. Because now it’s sort of like, instead of feeling this immense pressure of having to really show up, and having this type of delivery and contribution and impact that I sold, like, you know, desired in the depths of my soul, I find that I’m finding ways to love it again, and being able to show up like this podcast, usually on a podcast, I would have this huge anxiety, like showing up and being able to talk about my work. And now it’s sort of like, hey, I really want to talk about my work and talk about that journey, because it isn’t a, you know, standard journey that we’ve been kind of painted on throughout the, you know, the different marketing aspects, or space, right. It’s really kind of fun to start talking about the things that we don’t care about.

Monica Froese  36:13

Yeah, for sure. So the memberships not going going to go anywhere anytime soon. No, no. Okay.

Theresa Truong  36:20

I do still have a team that runs the membership as well. So it’s, I was wondering about that. Yes, yes. So with, you know, if I didn’t have my team, I don’t think I would have been able to support it to the best that I could. But I still have my team there. And they are amazing. And, you know, also being able to be responsive to our members.

Monica Froese  36:41

Yeah, well, I think you’re amazing. I mean, you’re incorporate you still have a team? You know, you have two small children. You’re I mean, you’re you’ve always been, you’ve always been an inspiration to me.

Theresa Truong  36:53

Oh, thank you. And that’s where, you know, those are the true connections and relationships that I have honestly been so thankful and grateful for, throughout my journey through entrepreneurship through life even.

Monica Froese  37:07

So, yeah, I agree with you. Okay, so

Theresa Truong  37:09

how can people find you? Yes, well, people can still find me through my website. So it’s www dot loop, Link inc.com. I’m sure you’ll add it to the show notes. They can also find me on YouTube. So while YouTube is still there, it’s still providing lots of great value. And I am really looking forward to reigniting it with a few additional videos before the end of the year.

Monica Froese  37:37

So I can attest that your YouTube is great, because you were building it while we were still working together. And I remember asking you when do you have time for this tree? So you’re like, Well, I wake up at 5am and do my script. So I’m like, well, well. You are just you have always been an overachiever. It is impressive. Yes. And

37:54

you know what, like, as organizers, you know, the best way for you to be able to be successful in anything is being a master of your own time. Right.

Monica Froese  38:03

Oh, Mike drop that’s a quotable. We’re gonna use that as a quotable for this. Yes. You and you have that down. You are. You’ve always been super good with your time. Yes, most of the time. Most, most of the time. We are human. We are allowed to be human. Yes, absolutely. Absolutely. Well, thank you so much for sharing your journey with us. And I will make sure to link to everything and for everyone listening. I know SOPs might sound boring. And Teresa and I have the weird mindset that like we kind of like them. However, I promise hindsight, they are. I wish I had done more with them sooner, it would have made so much of my business easier. So I mean, it is should I you have over 100 in there. Now. So if this is something, you know, if you’re even like even if you’re at the stage that you’re just bringing on contractors. Trust me, get those SOPs in place now. It will only make your life easier.

39:06

Yes, that’s right. That’s right.

Monica Froese  39:09

Awesome. Well, thank you so much for joining us, Teresa. Yes. Well,

39:12

thank you so much for having me, Monica.

Monica Froese  39:15

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of the Empowered business podcast. If you want to get started creating your own digital products and don’t know where to start, we have a brand new training that can help. It’s called the passion to profit. How to discover your unique million dollar digital product formula, head on over to empowered business.co forward slash profit to join the training for free. Plus, we’ve added on a private podcast feed to make consuming the content even easier. You can choose to consume it via video or a private podcast feed. I can’t wait to see you back here next week.