Ice Cream with My Mom đĽ°
đ Tampa, Florida, Monday, October 13
This isnât a âlook at me, I can take Mondays offâ post.
Itâs simply a reminder that our time with the people we love is finite, especially our parents.
If our businesses arenât designed to make space for moments like this, then whatâs the point of it all?
Iâm deeply grateful for a team that allows not only me, but everyone on the team, to enjoy these moments.
Every person at Staff4Half has the same freedom and flexibility to design their work around what matters most in life, and that could very well be an ice cream on a Monday afternoon with mom and the nieces.
Three things that help us:
1ď¸âŁ Design for redundancy. Cross-training and clear SOPs ensure that no single person becomes a bottleneck, myself included.
2ď¸âŁ Protect moments that matter. We encourage teammates to block time for important family moments, no questions asked.
3ď¸âŁ Lead with trust and clarity. When I take time off for moments like these, it sends a message that everyone can too.
Business is a vehicle, but the destination is a life youâre proud to live with the people you love. â¤ď¸
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Entrepreneurship, Focus, and Freedom Over Coffee
Entrepreneurship, Focus, and Freedom Over Coffee
Had such a great breakfast in Puerto Rico with Todd Smart from EO Puerto Rico âď¸đ´
One thing I always appreciate about Puerto Rico is how connected and genuinely amazing the people are, whether theyâre from the island or chose to make it home. Thereâs always so much depth, perspective, and real connection in the conversations here.
Todd and I shared stories about entrepreneurship, and he told me more about Blom Growth, how their coaches and software are helping businesses scale at unprecedented speed and with more freedom. He also shared insights from his book Flourish, which is all about transforming your business through focus, freedom, and fun, three things every entrepreneur could use more of đâ¨
Thank you for the inspiring breakfast, Todd. Grateful for conversations like this and the community that makes them possible đ
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Everyone Knows an Emma (and Thatâs the Problem)
Everyone knows an Emma.
Emma, the founder drowning in to-dos.
Emma, who swore this month sheâd finally get help.
Emma, who spent three hours on Fiverr trying to find âa VA who can do everything.â I call them unicorns.Iâve met many Emmas, and hereâs what Iâve observed: Emma isnât the problem. The hiring process is.
When her inbox hit 1,200 unread messages, Emma went to Fiverr. She typed âvirtual assistant, reliable, proactive, English fluentâ and hired someone in 48 hours. For two weeks, things looked fine. Then tasks slipped, instructions were repeated, and eventually, the VA disappeared mid-project.
So Emma said what many founders say in this situation:
âI guess Iâm just bad at delegating.â
or
âThere are no good people out there.âBut hereâs what really happened:
⢠Nobody helped Emma define what she actually needed.
⢠Nobody asked, âWhat will success look like 90 days from now?â
⢠Nobody said, âYou donât need a VA, you need a project coordinator.âMarketplaces canât ask those questions. They just match keywords. They donât challenge business owners on what they think they need. Marketplaces are built for transactions, not transformations.
Good agencies are different. They sit with the messy notes from founders, the voice messages, the vague frustration of âI just need help,â and turn that into a clear process. They design a role before the hire.
That invisible work â the questioning, the clarifying, the diagnosing â is what turns a two-week freelancer into a two-year team member.
So stop the cycle of hiring before understanding.
Before hiring, take the time to:
1- Get help defining what you truly need.
2- Map the skills to your real priorities.
3- Make sure your new hire has the context to succeed.The goal isnât to fill a seat fast. Itâs to know when Fiverr fits, and when it doesnât.
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Stop Hiring the Person You Like. Start Hiring for What You Need.
If you donât know what you really need, youâll hire the person you like most.
Iâve read hundreds of small business job descriptions, and 95% make the same mistake: theyâre more of a wishlist than a job description.
A typical one looks like this:
We want someone who can:
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Manage the calendar
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Write the newsletters
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Run operations
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Handle support
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Think like a strategist
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Execute like a machine
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And work across four time zones
Whatâs the problem with that?
It mixes six completely different skill sets: administrative, creative, operational, technical, strategic, and customer-facing. Thatâs not a job. Itâs a fantasy.
If someone like that existed, theyâd already be running their own business, not applying to work for yours.
Hereâs what to do instead:
1ď¸âŁ Write down everything you wish this person would do.
2ď¸âŁ Circle the three most critical things.
3ď¸âŁ Build a role around those, not all seventeen.Once youâve found that person and developed a good rhythm, go back to your list, see whatâs still open, and hire the next person.
Hiring isnât about finding magic. Itâs about making trade-offs and slowly building a team that can cover all the tasks you want to delegate.
Focus beats fantasy. Every time.
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