Virtual Assistants, Digital Colonialism, and Standard Operating Procedures with Jennifer Crawford

As a small business owner, you're always on the go. Between marketing your products and taking care of your team, it's easy to feel overwhelmed and overworked. It's no secret that outsourcing tasks for your business can save you valuable time. It also helps save money. How do you know when your business is ready for a Virtual Assistant? How do you become a better CEO? And what is "Digital Colonialism"? Join Jennifer Crawford, owner of Sparent LLC, a virtual assistant agency as we tackle these topics. 

Jennifer started her first business at age nineteen with just $75. Once she learned to delegate, Jennifer built that business into a seven-figure company that she eventually sold. That experience left her hooked on entrepreneurship as a path to freedom and financial independence, especially for women. She is now a delegation expert and the co-founder of Sparent, LLC, a virtual assistant agency staffed entirely by a talent pool of stay-at-home-moms. Sparent, LLC was born from two wishes: 1. To help all women delegate more and build businesses that support them financially and align with their values. 2. To provide moms who were displaced, disenchanted, marginalized or discriminated against in the workforce with flexible, rewarding, remote work opportunities in a mom-friendly, inclusive culture. 

During this episode, we talk about:

• Overcoming social rustiness (4:15)
• Building a 7 figure business from $75 (5:09)
• Importance of Standard Operating Procedures (13:06)
• Living wages and digital colonialism (16:14)
• CEO tasks (29:55)
• Importance of community as women business owners (36:58)
• Ways to work with Jennifer (43:32)

 

Visit Jennifer:

Website: https://sparent.co/ 

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenrunsbusiness/ or https://www.linkedin.com/company/sparent/  

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sparentco/  

SOPeasy:   https://growth.sparent.co/SOPeasy 

CEO Training Days:  https://growth.sparent.co/ceodayshome 

 

 

 

Thanks for tuning in to another episode of Collab with Kiva. Growth stage, brick-and-mortar business owners come to Kiva to document their day-to-day processes and optimize their systems to free up their time and grow their revenue and impact without investing more time in their business.

>> Every good team has a playbook. Does yours? Ready to build out your business playbook to not only take things off of your plate but help your business scale? Book a call with Kiva  =>  https://www.the516collaborative.com/schedule-call

Let’s stay connected!

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kivaslade/ 

Website: https://www.the516collaborative.com/ 

 

Episode Transcript

Kiva Slade  0:01  

Hello and welcome to collab with Kiva. I'm your host Kiva, Slade. From the marbled halls of the US Congress to my racing themed office chair. I've learned that there is no perfect path to the life of your dreams. My journey over the past 20 years has included being the legislative director for a member of Congress, policy director for a nonprofit, stay at home mom, homeschooling mom, jewelry biz owner, and now the owner of a service based business. Whether your journey has been a straight line, or full of zigs and zags. Join me and my guest as we share insights hope in lessons learned from our female entrepreneurship journeys. Made the collaborative sharing of our stories be the tide that lifts your boat. Let's dive in. Hello, everyone, and welcome to another episode of collab with Kiva. I am so excited today to share with you a local business woman to me, and her name is Jennifer Crawford. She's the co founder of spirit. And I'm gonna give me a little bio on Jen. Before I introduce her, okay, she started her first business at the age of 19, with just $75. Yes, I'm gonna let that set there for a minute for everyone. She learned though, how to delegate. And she built that business into a seven figure company that she eventually sold. That experience left her hooked on entrepreneurship as a path to freedom and financial independence. expecially for women, she is now a delegation expert. And as I shared the co founder of Sparent, LLC, a virtual assistant agency, staffed entirely by a talent pool of stay at home moms, and you guys know that is super close to my heart. So Sparent LLC was born from two wishes, one to help all women delegate more and build businesses that support them financially, and align with their values and to to provide moms who were displaced, disenchanted, marginalized or discriminated against in the workforce with flexible, rewarding remote work opportunities, and a mom friendly, inclusive culture. Welcome to collab with Kiva. Jennifer, I'm so happy you are here.

 

Jennifer Crawford  2:28  

I am super excited. This is like the best thing of the week for me to be here with you. Because we speak the same language, we walk the walk, we danced in the same music, whatever. So I just love talking to you whenever we connect. So I know this is gonna be fun.

 

Kiva Slade  2:47  

Yes, this is super exciting, because we obviously have that same passion. But entrepreneurship is definitely a vehicle for women. And it's one that I don't know, if we tap into enough. And I know like, this year, I think just most recently, we finally celebrated Latina women's Equal Pay Day, you know, and it was like the last one on the calendar. And it takes us so much longer to make that same $1 that others do. So for us to talk about this to have that financial independence. And then obviously having been a stay at home mom, the fact that you create these amazing opportunities for you know, moms, basically, that fit their life instead of them trying to force their life into their work is such a helpful thing. So I'm super excited. We first connected on LinkedIn. But we have the privilege of being local to each other. So I'm excited now all these restrictions are lifted. I'm looking forward to a face to face meeting.

 

Jennifer Crawford  3:43  

I would love that. Although I am socially very rusty and I need new pants.

 

Kiva Slade  3:52  

I love that. Goodness. I'm with you on that. I went somewhere the other day. And I was like, I don't feel like I know how to dress anymore. I've been like super, super comfy. And now it's like to go out again. I was like yeah, I mean, you just shop. I just saw me with you. So maybe that's it. We'll go to pants shopping together and then we'll go have chats.

 

Jennifer Crawford  4:15  

You know it the social rustiness is real. We we had the pleasure my husband I had going out with some friends for brunch for the first time since before the pandemic. And at one point, we just kind of stared at each other and I realized, Oh, we're not used to like making conversation and they're like, and they laughed and we're like, oh, exactly. We're like out of practice with like, you know, nurturing along the conversational topics and things and we you know, we got unrest do and and re acquainted with that but it was funny because we were we were kind of stalled for a second we realized why. So everything. It definitely

 

Kiva Slade  4:54  

is that and in meeting new pants so so let's Be here $75 to seven figures, obviously, it's quite impressive. Um, tell us more about this first business that you had.

 

Jennifer Crawford  5:09  

Yeah, I know, just the soundbite. The clip sounds really impressive. But I can tell you it was not very glamorous journey. In fact, and I have no problem telling the story, my first business transaction was a bank overdraft, because when I pranced into that bank to, to open up my first business account with my $75, which was all. At the time I was broke, basically, um, and I opened up the account, and they're like, Well, you need to choose your checks. I was like, Oh, well, this is fun. And they showed me the options. And one of the options was this big binder with ginormous checks. And I was like, Well, that looks like business. Like, I don't want the tiny checks as a business, it's gonna be big. I want a big check. So I ordered the binder. And I was so naive. I thought it was just free. I don't know why I thought that but nobody brought up the fact that the binder was 7999. So that came out of my account with $75 in it. So my that was that was the start of the business. And I remember thinking, What have I done, I know so little about business and life. And here I go prance again, like, you know, I've got the tiger by the tail, and the tiger is going to eat me. So that was a bumpy start. And it was several years of me, I was very fortunate and that the business grew very quickly. But it was me doing everything. And before I knew it, I was working 12 hour days, 14 hour days, 16 hour days, seven days a week, no days off, no sick days, no vacation days, I dealt with every client, I took every call. Yeah, we talked on the phone back then. I was essentially running myself ragged. I was working when I was sick, I was working when I was exhausted I was I missed the entire 90s I don't don't ask me about pop culture, because I worked the 90s That's all I did. And at one point, it just occurred to me that I had really boxed myself into a very bad position and that I couldn't take any more business I was tapped out, you know, I, I did need a few hours every night to sleep, I was exhausted. And I had created this just a terrible job with a horrible boss that never gave you days off. So that was me, I was the worst boss. And my whole reason for starting the business was to do something I loved. But also I wanted to build a legacy. I wanted to be financially dependent. I wanted to circumvent sexism and discrimination against women in the workplace. I wanted to you know, be in charge of my own destiny. And that was not happening. So it was a big wake up call. And I realized I had to stop servicing every client, I had to get off the phone, I had to start hiring people and coming up with processes and systems and procedures. And it didn't happen overnight. Because it can't. But eventually it did. And I went from like barely cracking six figures, to you know, unlimited income potential working. When I wanted, I was working part time I was paying, you know, got to pay myself through the company, a full time salary. And, you know, manager, you know, I had to manage a bunch of employees, but I actually hired managers to so I really, I just kept firing myself from every day to day operation until I was really just making the big decisions, right, like, you know, strategic partnerships, financial decisions, you know, if we were changing a procedure or a policy, I would come in and and make those decisions, but I never got on the phone again. I never did a client job. I didn't do any client work. In fact, by the time I sold the company, most of our clients didn't even know I existed. I was so in the background, and it was a process and you know, and you probably experienced this to Kiva, that that's a really hard process for a lot of business owners starting out who start out as solopreneurs. But being a solopreneur is not sustainable. If you don't have a team you just you cannot go it alone. I promise you solopreneur if you don't bring on a team, you're going to do exactly what I did which which is create a very bad job that actually when you break down the hours, pays horribly, horribly. Even at six figures I was making minimum wage when you factored in my the my hours and my my time commitment to the business. And I'll never get that time back. I can always make more money, but that time gone forever.

 

Kiva Slade  9:52  

Absolutely. No, that is such a very key important point. And I think that when especially thinking about solopreneurs there that dilemma that they have kind of an internal conflict. But when do I delegate? And what is that look like to delegate? So based on your experience, you know, obviously not only as that person who was in that space, but then also as the co founder of spirit. What do you tell CEOs? Like? How do you tell them, hey, you know what it's time for you to delegate, what makes you go through that process with them.

 

Jennifer Crawford  10:25  

I think that the first thing I look at is resources, right? When you first start your your business, your financial resources are typically pretty low and your time resources is high. But at some point, your time resource decreases and your revenue resource increases. And there's a, you know, a delicate little intersection there. And that is when you really need to start delegating. And luckily, we didn't have virtual assistants back in the days of my first business, in fact, we didn't even have the internet was just kind of fruition, I didn't have a website I didn't have, there was no email, everything was very manual and paper. So, you know, we didn't have GPS, I mean, none of these things. I mean, we had dinosaurs walking the streets, you get the idea. But But now, you know, business owners have so many more options in terms of easing into getting help, you don't have to commit to an employee, once you need help, you can look at a virtual assistant or a virtual service provider. And and make that look however you want it to look. So maybe it's you start with five hours a week, and you get used to delegating, and you start getting your SOPs in place and, and you get some of those critical tasks off your plate, get comfortable with that, and then add another five hours a week, I mean, it can be very transitional. And it probably should be because delegating takes a lot of time in itself. And you have to do some pre work involved with delegating well, and you don't want to, you know, commit to you know, you can Oh commit to too much delegating and then end up being a poor leader having high turnover because the relationship fails because of that, that lack of good leadership and, and good delegating. I answer your question.

 

Kiva Slade  12:15  

Yes. Because it's so important, though, I think for people to realize that as the CEO, you can't continue to hold everything in your head and back to grow and scale your business in a way that doesn't burn you out, or, you know, send you to those long fall 16 hour days where there really isn't a break and you do hate your boss and that boss is yourself. You know. So when it comes though to that delegating what three mistakes maybe would you say you find that CEOs make when it comes to hey, I've got this virtual assistant now I'm ready for them to take on tasks. I've been kind of transitional maybe in that process, but I want to see more things happen. What are the mistakes that you encounter?

 

Jennifer Crawford  13:06  

I mean, I sound like a broken record. But a business owner that sleeps on standard operating procedures otherwise known as SOPs, is a business owner that is essentially tying one hand behind their back. They're making everything so much more difficult, including, you know, especially delegating, but also the growth and scale of their business. You know, not documenting your systems, a system is simply a repeatable procedure, right, something that is done repetitively. And I always say repeatable is scalable. So you want as many repeatable, replicable systems in your business as possible. And you want to document them, you can not only like discover inefficiencies, but then you can delegate them, right you have this living document this living resource for your first team member, your second team member, your third team member to to pull from so you know, lowers your training time and improves the whole operation of your business. So not having SOPs is making delegation 10 times harder if you don't have them. Delegating too late, you know, when you're in a state of chaos and overwhelm, it's really hard at that point to slow down so that you can speed up. And what happens is, when you're in that sort of chaos, in that state of overwhelm, you tend to expect people to read your mind because you do not have time to get things out of your head and document them. So you expect your virtual assistant or your team member to meet a lot, you know, to just sort of by osmosis figure out what they're supposed to do, and you're really just throwing them to the wolves. They have no idea. And we'll see the third mistake there. So I know. I'm not not vetting your team member carefully because again, a lot of times when people business owners are bringing on their first team member, they've already waited typically too late. So, you know, they're short on time that that time resource, so they hire somebody quickly. And that person might not be the right fit either. And I'm talking about soft skills fit, because I feel like hard skills can be trained. But again, if they need to be trained and you don't have time to train them, then that quick hire is not going to work out. If they don't have the soft skills that complement or mesh with your culture, your personality, your work cadence, then it's not going to work out. And how many times have I heard business owners say, Well, I've been through three virtual assistants, none of them worked out. But then when you dig further, you're like, Well, of course, it didn't work out because you were the virtual assistants problem. And I'll throw a wild card in there, too, is not paying well, right, like low pay and high expectations is going to take any delegation relationship, whether it's a VA, an employee, a con, any other contractor service provider. So yes, can you get a $2? An hour VA? Absolutely. Is it ethically against everything I stand for? Absolutely.

 

Kiva Slade  16:13  

We have in that.

 

Jennifer Crawford  16:14  

Yeah. And I don't care what you hear on the internet. $2 an hour is not a living wage, in any place on the planet. Okay, I've done my research, I dug deep on this. It's not a living wage for anybody on the planet. And then my industry, which I of course feel, you know, our industry, which we feel, you know, such a deep love for, it's, it's heavily dominated by women, women that do this work, you know, women with families and children that were underpaying you know, we're, you know, there are plenty of entrepreneurs out there getting rich on the backs of marginalized labor, it's digital colonialism, I'm sorry, I'm going off on a tangent, I'm supposed

 

Kiva Slade  16:55  

to preach on that term digital colonialism, because that's really, it's what it boils down to. It's,

 

Jennifer Crawford  17:02  

nobody's talking about it, I mean, very few people are talking about it. And you know, we're just a small agency, you know, with a small voice, but we're willing to put it out there, it's, you know, something we feel very strongly about, if we can change the industry in any small way, if we can pay, you know, somebody, you know, a living wage in a country that normally doesn't get that type of wage, then we can feel feel good about about our business, and we're okay being less profitable in order to accomplish that. I mean, how profitable do you need to be where you have to dollar an hour of labor?

 

Kiva Slade  17:37  

Absolutely. And didn't brag about the fact that you depend on the backs of people who you were paying to $3 an hour, it really does. And that's something that gets me going. Because it's, I don't think it's a tangent, I really do think that for a lot of us, like you said, as women, you know, we're looking basically at our sisters, and they may not be in this particular country that we are in in terms of the United States, but they are women with the same life struggles that each of us are facing, in trying to provide for a family and take care of children, you know, maybe even take care of parents or something of that sort. And yet, trying to do it in a way that, Hey, um, a traditional nine to five, you know, isn't working for me for whatever reasons, maybe my kids and the daycare, or my parents or my husband or whatever the situation is. And so we're saying, hey, yeah, you know, what, we totally need you, we need your skill set. And I want you to have the most up to date technology and software. And oh, yeah, no, $5 Yep, that's as high as I can go. And it's just like, there's a disconnect there, people.

 

Jennifer Crawford  18:48  

There's so much disconnect. And there's so much not only is there disconnect, there's so much justification for underpaying people from developing nations, right? So, oh, well, they're happy to get $2 $3 $4 $5 Well, I always say, Well, if you're starving, and somebody offers you a cookie, you're going to take it, but what you really need is three nutritious meals a day. Right? So So don't tell me that oh, just because they're willing to work for that, that. That it's okay, that that makes it okay. And yeah, it's so, so sickening. And then the other justification is, oh, they're only doing admin work? Well, you can't have it both ways. You can't say, oh, you know, I'm growing my amazing business using vas, but then diminish their value by saying it's only admin work. And by the way, admin work today is pretty darn complex. And most of the work that our VA talent does, I can't do absolutely. I mean, they have really sophisticated skills. So you know, navigating these online platforms and tools. I mean, they're they're pretty complex by nature, and and not just anybody can can roll up and, and hold up a business, you know, single handedly, not to mention and give the argument is like, particularly with, you know, the Philippines as a is a common resource for a bunch of work virtual talent. And we have people in the states using, you know, Barry and I hate the word cheap labor, but that's, you know, that's the term to run their businesses and expecting them to work on us time. So,

 

Kiva Slade  20:27  

yes, right. And there's a 12 hour time differential, you know, but you don't know, if you don't know, like, right now, when Jen and I are recording this, it's 2:37pm. But there are people expecting their VA, who is in the Philippines at 2:37am. Tomorrow there in the future, okay, they're expecting them to be up and responding and doing these different tests. Think about that, in terms of their family life and their interaction, they have literally flipped their lives around in order to serve as a labor pool for many US based entrepreneurs and businesses. And that, you know, their kids are going to school during their daytime, which really, they're half the time going to be sleep for, or struggling to make it through because they're working through their night time in order to accommodate us. And it's, it's, it's disturbing on a lot of different levels. Because when you started talking to people who are Filipino, it's, they're working 60 hours a week, in order to try to make ends meet with a lot of these low level wages that are being paid to them. And as you said, the tools, Ville no multiple platforms inside and out, only to still be able to garner maybe eight or nine or $10 an hour. And in thinking about the impact that we can have, and the legacy that we want to leave as a business owner, we I mean, just understanding impact alone, trying to how would you like if we were in their shoes in our lives, where this is now our daytime, but we're really on somebody else's night time, basically, and we're trying to live and function and have whole lives and show up as our best selves, it makes it very hard and complicated. And we oftentimes don't take the time to learn about cultural norms, or, you know, paying for the 13th month there, you know, and giving this, Hey, here's a whole month of salary, you know, because this is a cultural norm there. But you know, there's so many it's just one of those things I can we, I think, can talk about this topic alone, for an entire episode, because I know that we both feel so super strongly about it is really doing right by the people that help us grow our businesses. And I think we see a lot of that even here in after this pin Well, during this pandemic, where people are leaving places of employment that, hey, I'm not feeling valued. I'm not feeling that, like I've already known I wasn't going to get paid what I, you know, probably should be getting paid. But when I'm looking at all the other aspects of my position, you know, what, it's just not even, it's not even serving me at this point. And people are leaving positions, or you'll see the job that's have a master's degree in 15 years experience for, you know, $20 or something and our entry level level pay, you know, so it's, there's so many I think dynamic shifts that are occurring in the employment space as a whole, that really, I think will force a lot of entrepreneurs and solopreneurs. And those that run businesses that might rely on virtual talent to really understand that shifts have to occur in order to attract the type of people that you want to attract that align with your values that will actually serve your your business in its growth phase.

 

Jennifer Crawford  24:17  

And I hope that's true. You were speaking truth. And and I will, and I will back that truth up with some anecdotal evidence. And so my last few, a handful of discovery calls at spirit. I have been asked by each of the clients what we pay our VAs. It's on our website, we're very transparent. So one of our core values but you know, they didn't see it. And that was important to them. So they weren't looking for they purposely did not want an underpaid, overworked VA. They wanted to feel good about the company they were working for. They have their own values that translated and how they spent their money. Could they've gotten a $5, $6, $7 dollar VA? Yes, but We charge $45 an hour, and they did not have a price resistance to that, because it was backed by ethical wages and ethical company. And that was more important than maximizing their profit. And so there is it, of course, these were all women. But there is a change happening. And it is seismic, it is a seismic change. And for all of the those business owners or CEOs, they're out there just for profit without, you know, thought to morality and ethics, you're gonna be very poor soon, because your your businesses are going to ultimately crumble. I mean, you got to play the long game and business right, overnight, but, but it will happen. And I think the businesses that are going to sustain themselves and be able to be around for decades to come are going to be those that operate ethically,

 

Kiva Slade  25:52  

after it. Yeah, absolutely. And I think you've touched on something that I, I always drive home with clients is values, you know, what are the values of this business? Why, you know, why do these values exist? And are you sharing those values, because I tell people who are also looking for work, ask what the values are of that company to see if there's an alignment. Because if you find that something in their values doesn't feel aligned with you, then it's very likely that as you get into that work, and you're doing things, there are things that are going to happen that are going to come up that you're just like, this does not feel good. For me, this is not a place that I'm feeling very comfortable. And I think that as business owners and CEOs, like really taking time to dig deep into what are our values, what are those things that we want to stand on, and that we want to stand behind as it relates to how we do business. And I think that that's really critically important because it's no longer enough, as you said, to be profit driven. It's also just not enough to not have something be the bedrock of bedrock of what it is that you're doing and why that you're doing it. So I love that you focused on values, and you share those and that you are transparent. On your website, how much your moms are paid that that work for you. And let's talk a little bit about that. Because do you find that? Um, let's do let's just even I won't even ask that question. I'm saying more so about when it comes to moms, how do they find you? How do they know that you

 

Jennifer Crawford  27:32  

exist? Well, it's really been primarily our current Sparents, they have been enjoying working with us. And so they have been posting in their mom's Facebook groups. And I can always tell because our, our website stats, like actually just happened yesterday, like, all of a sudden, we had, like, you know, 120 hits, like on our website, and they all came from Facebook. And then I looked at like, what page they were on, it was like all like it was there, you know, the FB parents page, and then we started getting the applications in. So that's tip, like going abroad scope, that's how they hear about us. And then we often get introduced to other Sparents, like a personal introduction by our current group twos, where we now have about 30 Sparent vas. So I think we're, we're at the point where that's really working for us that, you know, we have a strong enough community, and enough numbers that, you know, it's sort of generating more and more of that sort of personal referral, which we love, because, you know, you sort of have that little built in reference coming to the table, you know, a personal connection, somebody that can, you know, vouch for them. And we always do reference checks anyway. But it's always nice when it comes from somebody you already trust. So

 

Kiva Slade  28:49  

I love that it's word of mouth, that's exciting to me. Like I said, it has been hit haven't been a stay at home, mom, you know, those opportunities to actually I don't want to say just even feel like you're adding a contribution to the household, because you're already doing that normally, as a stay at home mom not to diminish those roles at all. But you have a personal fulfillment that you're like, you know, there's like, hey, and it's for a lot of women, you know, we used to have some other career. And it's like that ability now to still, I don't know, just satisfy our creative juices, and doing things that actually help others grow their businesses, as well as super helpful. So yeah, I want to do a slight shift, though, because we've talked a lot about CEOs and film some of the things that they can do. And I know that we share a similar passion around CEO days and things that and how CEOs need to show up. So talk to me as to what you would define as a CEO task in a business because you said you fired yourself and only got yourself to that point where you were doing those CEO tasks.

 

Jennifer Crawford  29:55  

What are those tasks look like? Yeah, I'm a true CEO task is really the things in your business that only you can do that nobody else can do that cannot be delegated any way, shape or form. So those are the true SEO tasks, it doesn't mean that you as a CEO are not going to be doing other tasks. Like, right now, for instance, I'm doing all of our onboarding with new clients, well, I that's not scalable, right, at some point, I'm not going to be able to do all the onboarding. So we have systems in place, so that that can eventually be delegated, at some point to somebody else. So it's a CEO test today, but it's not a true CEO test. So a true CEO tasks are making financial decisions for your company. Finding and seeking out strategic partnerships, developing new revenue streams, you know, creating new products or services, or improving upon the ones that you have, creating and defining your culture and your core values. Those are all SEO tasks. And by the way, very important, your mission statement, all of that. I mean, everything starts with your core values, it really is the bedrock, like keep aside, like, it drives all of our business decisions, we always refer back to our core values, like when we're trying to make a big business decision without them, you know, we would just be you know, kind of aimless. And so those are the types of things that you know, writing a book, speaking, obviously, only you as a CEO can can do that. Those are the types of CEO tasks that I'm talking about. It's it's, you know, business development, you know, where is your your business going, you know, and actually thinking and planning ahead towards towards that growth. And really only you, as a CEO can do, can do those things. So you need to free up your time, otherwise, your business is going to stagnate to some degree, it's never, it's never going to see its full potential if you don't make the space to work on those things.

 

Kiva Slade  31:43  

Absolutely. So that would lead into the CEO day. So I'm curious because I love to schedule them in my, in my life. So why is it important for a business owner to have a CEO day?

 

Jennifer Crawford  31:58  

Well, because most business owners spend way too much time working in their business handling the day to day operations, just you know, and those are all important. I mean, without them, your business doesn't happen, right? You need to, you need those daily operations to exist, they're not going away. But most business owners are very involved in daily operations. And so they tend to, you know, suck up the majority of their time, leaving, leaving them not a lot of time to work on their business. And even when they attempt to work on their business, they're easily distracted by the other demands of day to day operations. So my co founder, business partner, Meredith and I, we started way back started having SEO days. And you know, switches when we call them and it was our time to meet over zoom and work on our business like, and do those, those big pick that big picture, make those big picture decisions and planning. And the proof is in the pudding, we were very vocal about this from between 2020 and 2021, our revenue grew over 400% 408% so much that our accountants actually called us not wanting paperwork from from us for once, but to congratulate us on the growth because it was it was, you know, it was significant growth. And we continue to grow every month and hit our revenue goals. And we're not the important part here. And, you know, it is a little bit of a brag, but I think women should brag about themselves, you know, we should put our accomplishments and our achievements out there because we tend to not, so I'm bragging, but I'm also pointing out that even though our business grew 408% In one year, my hours did not grow, my stress did not grow, my overwhelm did not grow. Because the business is structured to scale and we delegate and we try to be as involved with daily operations as little as possible. If we are, we're always planning on firing ourselves from that, you know, we're putting systems in place, we're documenting SOPs, so that when the time is right, we can delegate.

 

Kiva Slade  34:01  

I love that. I love that 408% That is amazing. And congratulations to you and

 

Jennifer Crawford  34:09  

to you. And it's so it's so rewarding to us on a number of levels. One, like, you know, we're practicing what we're preaching, and then we actually can show that it works. So that's really, really important. I really believe you don't need an MBA, to have a successful business. You really just need to get out of your own way. And then the other thing is when we first started our first year, we it was rocky it was we were getting to know our business. We made some mistakes. We didn't have a lot of revenue, and our biggest expense was our accountants, women women owned company, by the way in Rockville, and they saw that they were our biggest expense. So they suspended billing. They did they they provided services without fees until our revenue was enough that they felt like we could handle the expenditure, but they believed in us and They believed in what we were doing. And they felt like it was an investment for them. Well, now we, you know, we can easily pay them not a problem whatsoever. But as a woman and as a business owner, and you know, to have somebody in your early days, like believe in you and back you up and have that, like, I mean, it's huge, like, who does that? Right? Like, I mean, it's such a heart centered way to conduct business. And so for them to then call a couple years later and congratulate us on the growth and we're like, Oh, my God, like, they believed in us. And like, we actually were worth believing in like it all. Like, it was such a moment. It was such a moment for us, and it meant so much, you know, because of that.

 

Kiva Slade  35:44  

I love that, though. And it's that really kind of nicely goes into what I had as another question for you. Because I think we hear the terms collaboration over competition, often, you know, they're mentioned in networking groups, and so many circles, especially as women entrepreneurs, and women, business owners, I love the what this firm did, and actually walk the walk and the talk in terms of how they run things, and very heart centered. And I'm curious, because I don't see sometimes the collaboration between people, and you have a business partner, I see people try to coordinate or some level of collaboration around, hey, let's do something together, like, hey, let's do a podcast together something like, what is it like to have a business partner and have that level of collaboration? And what challenges have you faced? Or what tips would you share with anyone else? Who might be thinking of that? Because I see a lot of people who have the I want to say capacity, I think where their businesses would have a nice connection point where they could literally offer different services that would very, very complimentary, though, so I'm curious as to what it's like to have a business partner.

 

Jennifer Crawford  36:58  

Yeah, well, I, I have to say, I love it so much. And I'm only mad at myself for not considering it sooner. Like I've always been very much a lone ranger, right. And I was like, I was a perfect personality type for a solopreneur like, I could do it all, I'll do it all, I don't need your help. Thank you very much. I'm like, I do my way or the highway, very stubborn, you know, and so, but the business partnership has been amazing. I will say that, legally speaking, we're married, you know, like, we're very, you know, we had a, you know, a contract and, you know, spend time getting things in writing, like, what happens if something happens to your business partner, what happens if you, you know, come to an impasse and can't agree on something, what percent ownership Do you have? What are your responsibilities, like, we have all of that worked out and documented, which I think is very important. The other thing is, um, in our case, that worked out that, you know, I have strengths and I have weaknesses, and she has strengths and weaknesses, and they happen to complement each other. So she's strong, where I'm weak, I feel like I'm strong where, where she might be weaker, or interested in doing parts of the business that she's not interested in vice versa. So I really love the sales and the, in the vetting, and hiring and like building our, our talent pool, she's really good with the systems and, you know, delegating to technology and making sure that everything is streamlined on the back end of the business. And it's not very glamorous, because she you know, I tend to be more out front for the business, but it's what she loves, it's what she's good at. And I have no interest in that piece of it whatsoever. i She handles paperwork, and spreadsheets and workflows and all of that brilliantly. Where I can't do that. So you know, complementary skill sets for sure. Legal, you know, get it in, talk to a lawyer, get your paperwork in, you know, in your, your contract together, very as detailed as possible. Like, even though some things will probably never happen. Life is unpredictable. So get it down, get it down and writing it's been really rewarding. I mean, we don't always agree. I think this is the biggest challenge and it's not even that much of a challenge because Meredith is usually right but you know, you know we we have different approaches sometimes the business it but we we talk it out we've never fought we've never argued ever raised voices to each other. And we're both pretty mild mannered people. But we both respect each other that enough that we listen to each other. It's like It's like Excellent. Well learn, it's always right. Because I respect her mind and her prowess as an entrepreneur so much and I have such confidence that a lot of times I just am like she must be right because she you know, she's brilliant. And so it's nice to have that much confidence in your in your partner and you know, you split the money, but that's okay. Because I feel like we can make more money as a partnership than we could on our own.

 

Kiva Slade  39:51  

Right, absolutely love that invest the fact that you've also taken the time to do the inner work to know where your own strengths and weaknesses lie and what you know. really lights you up in terms of the functions of a business? And what really is like, oh, not necessarily your jam. It's like to have someone who's like, you don't like that? Oh my gosh, that's my most favorite thing, you know, and that you guys have that, you know, balance already worked out. And like you said, having it written down, okay, let's think through the scenarios of all the what ifs and the possibilities so that we have this document that we both agreed upon, and we're able to move forward. So that's exciting. All right. So yeah, no, I think I find it fascinating. And I think that there are some of us who, you know, may not necessarily like the sales part, or being that forward facing one, but are so super amazingly talented, and to be able to partner up with someone who has that, that strength that is really a weakness for ourselves. Not that we couldn't stretch ourselves to get better at it. Oh, no, because we always want to do that. But really realizing it's not, it's not our best thing. And we have other things that we are much better at. So I, I find it fascinating. And I think that it's something to dig deeper into, you know, it's like not enough to kind of have it as a slogan, collaboration or competition, but really look to see where are there some strategic partnerships that could be formed, that might literally be a partnership of not just like, hey, we're, we're we do things that are similar, you can be a referral partner for me, and vice versa into Hey, is there something that we can explore deeper here where we actually have a business, but you're bringing in your assets, I'm bringing in my assets, whether those, you know, businesses or skills or knowledge, whatever, and we actually put that together, and it forms a really nice puzzle that were slightly to do that. So I, I don't know, I'm intrigued by it. So

 

Jennifer Crawford  41:56  

I can see you partnering up if smartly with with somebody Kiva. Yeah, and, you know, and I can't underestimate the the power of just having someone to bounce ideas off of and brainstorm and, and, you know, with regard to like, new products and services, like, you know, being able to hash all of that out, you know, all those years as a, you know, a single business owner, a sole business owner, all of those decisions were made, you know, in a silo right? It was me, I had to make those final decisions. So now I can I have somebody else that I banter with, before any final decisions are made. And there's such a value in that, you know, having two heads come together, you know,

 

Kiva Slade  42:34  

often approaches to things like you said, like, you know, so you see things through different vantage points, you know, but there's, there's a beauty in that because of those different vantage points, you're able to say, hey, actually, you know what, this is pretty good for us. And hey, this can be tweaked just this way. And it's even better for us because those two heads have come together. And you both have vested interests, you know, and it's obvious with the 408% growth, and that that vested interest, and that collaborationis working out so nicely. So all right, we've talked about CEO days, we've talked about the importance of SOPs, and documenting processes. And we've also talked about the fact that, hey, stay at home moms, there are amazing virtual opportunities for you to connect with spirit. So I understand though that you do two specific things about SOPs being easy and see Oh, training days. So how can people find out more about those offers that you have? 

 

Jennifer Crawford  43:32  

Yeah, absolutely. You can find out more on our website @sparent.co or you can email me Jennifer at sparent dot co but also on on our social media channels sparent.co. But there are two programs. One is two hours each time the CEO days or two hours of working on your business, it's it's guided, we have a mini presentation, and we have a focus. And then we actually do do the work because, you know, it's why I hire a personal trainer because I need to, I'm accountable through that payment to him that I worked out. Otherwise, if I'm left to my own devices, something else always becomes a bigger priority. And that that's true was working on your business too. It's just a different kind of workout. So we're going to work out your SEO muscle and we're going to carve out that time but but also working that muscle so that you know how to conduct your own SEO days, get them on the calendar and you know what to do because we were talking about our SEO days before we had the SEO training days of the program. And people are like, Well, I I carved out time for my SEO day. But then I got there and I was like, Well, what am I supposed to do with it? We're like, oh, well, we can help you with that. And then so Peasy is our master class for creating your SOPs. Again, people are like they get really hung up on what their SOP should look like what should be included how to write an SOP. So this is both a training but also work doing the work. I don't like any all of our programs, we always do the work Because I think that's so important that we're not just going to talk and share, share our lofty wisdom, we actually got to get stuff done. So, you know, you'll leave with at least one complete SOP ready to delegate after we figure out what critical SOPs you need. So because you're not gonna write all your SOPs in one day, but they're probably we tried to narrow down to three that you really need to have right away in order to delegate those critical tasks. So

 

Kiva Slade  45:27  

that's that I love it and so peasy. Okay.

 

Jennifer Crawford  45:33  

I know it's a weird, yeah, I'm a, I get a little too creative with the names. And so nobody knows how to say it. So who knows what's gonna keep that day but it's so hey,

 

Kiva Slade  45:45  

I get it. I think the training days are super helpful, because like you said, you can wind it with the time on your calendar, but not know exactly how to best utilize that time. So Oh, my goodness, Jennifer, I'm so excited that we have this time together. And that you were able to share just truly that those insights we've touched on in all people. So if you want to talk to us further, especially about digital colonialism, or any of those topics, so you can definitely find out more, I will include all of Jen's links in the show notes. But you can definitely find her on LinkedIn, which is are we connected, but she's elsewhere as well in terms of Instagram, and Facebook, and will also share the details for SOP Z and CEO training days so that you have time on your calendar to not only think about what you might want to do in your business, but actually have accountability with someone else to say, Hey, this is what I've gotten done during this time on how to move my business forward. So if you're looking for more details on those, definitely again, check out the show notes. And again, Jennifer, I am so appreciative of you and all that you were doing not only to spur other women forward to achieve not only financial goals, but additional goals in their own lives and make valuable contributions not only to their families and you know, to businesses as well. So and I love the fact that hey, values are important, everybody. Make sure that you know what yours are spend some time getting really comfortable and clear with yourself about what those values are, that are important to you and for your business. So, Jen, you're amazing. I look forward to just continuing to learn from you I feel at this particular point, and welcoming all of you into the world. That is Jennifer Crawford in spirit lol

 

Jennifer Crawford  47:45  

Oh my gosh. You're such a great interviewer and conversationalist you were born. You were born for this.

 

Kiva Slade  47:51  

Thank you very much. So make sure you tune in to the next episode. And make sure to check out the notes to learn more about Jennifer and how you can work with spirit. Take care. Thanks for tuning in to this episode of Collab with Kiva. You know my heart and it wants you to know that you are uniquely made and that your business path is unique to you. I hope that now you have some clear takeaways from this episode that have left you inspired and motivated to keep pressing forward on your unique path. Make sure you subscribe so you don't miss out on any future episodes. And of course, your reviews on Apple are greatly appreciated. If you are a small business owner and you are ready to build out your business playbook, and you're ready to document and delegate what takes place in your business so it can grow beyond you. Make sure you visit me on my website, the 516 collaborative.com and let's schedule a time to talk. I'll see everyone next time. Bye