About the Episode:
Join us as we explore the vibrant realm of tech stacks and workflow optimization with our expert guest, Sara Loretta.
In our conversation, we peel back the layers of interacting with tech tools and optimizing operations for content creators and companies alike.
Today, we'll cover:
- How Sara conducts full tech audits to streamline a company's tech stack and optimize remote team dynamics
- Sara's approach to internal training and the pivotal role it plays before considering outsourcing talent
- Sara's personal journey with content creation, her battle with consistency, and the challenges of scaling returns
- How to strike the right balance between automation and hiring and decide where to invest energy and resources effectively
- Strategies for evaluating roles within your business, the importance of long-term virtual assistant planning, and the benefits of a team audit
What You'll Learn
1. Tech Audit and Optimization
2. Cultural Development for Teams
3. Training and Role Comprehension
4. Content Operations Management
5. Tech Consultancy and Platform Expertise
6. Content Workflow Optimization
7. Utilization of Virtual Assistants (VAs)
8. Self-Reflection and Business Therapy
9. Team Productivity and Dynamics
Timestamps
00:00 Transitioning from employee to freelancer
04:37 Becoming the 10th Certified Notion Consultant in the United States
09:01 Conducting thorough tech audits and optimizing processes
11:14 The pitfalls of outsourcing content
15:50 YouTube success and the challenges of expanding content niche
20:12 Simplifying platform switching and customization
22:58 Developing an innovative workflow to increase content production
24:49 Business automation and virtual assistants
28:17 Reflecting on project outcomes, consulting with a business therapist
33:08 Using personality tests to improve productivity
Successful Business Turnaround: "By the time I left, we had just everything automated and systemized, and we went from owing the city almost 100 grand a year because reporting was wrong to being one of the top-performing organizations in the city because of the work that I did." — Sara Loretta [00:02:45 → 00:03:01]
The Myth of Indispensability in Business: "Everyone's replaceable, and it just is what it is when we are building businesses or building products. Yes, we are emotionally attached to that. But at the end of the day, if you want to take a sabbatical, if you up and decide one day, hey, I'm done, I don't want to work here anymore, the company's still going to move forward and we have to build businesses with that in mind. A lot of people just don't do that." — Sara Loretta [00:04:14 → 00:04:37]
Pioneering Notion for Business: "I was kind of the first person to talk about having a design business and using Notion for it. That video popped off. Notion came to me a couple of months later, and I then became the 10th Certified Notion Consultant in the US." — Sara Loretta [00:04:49 → 00:05:01]
Corporate Miscommunication and Culture Issues: "And this is where a lot of the culture comes in, is because you have this massive disconnect between the CEO and the low-level assistant coming in to support projects and there's no true line of succession, there's no communication plans." — Sara Loretta [00:08:12 → 00:08:32]
Optimizing Business Processes with Technology: "We find where the overlaps are that an entire team can utilize a tool. Then we go into the culture piece. So what is the internal expectations of working with a remote async team versus what is the external expectations?" — Sara Loretta [00:09:21 → 00:09:37]
Navigating Productivity Tools: "And so I actually started building out a little cheat sheet of each tool and what's possible on each. So that way I don't have to go into ChatGPT and be like, ‘How do I do this? How do I write this formula?’ And I can just easily, when I'm on a sales call or a strategy call verbatim, just drop and say, this platform is going to work for you, or this one isn't." — Sara Loretta [00:20:37 → 00:20:58]
Innovative Workflow Improvements: "And so we built this really cool workflow that auto triggers the next person in that flow when something's marked as complete." — Sara Loretta [00:22:58 → 00:23:05]
Efficient Business Automation: "I don't touch onboarding. It's one click to send an email to a client after a sales call, and the entire thing is completely automated." — Sara Loretta [00:24:57 → 00:25:05]
Client Reviews and Self-Reflection: "So after the end of every project, I sit down and I look at what skills did I learn? What red flags were there in the client? Did I charge what I said I was going to? What skills did I learn? What do I want to keep exploring?" — Sara Loretta [00:28:21 → 00:28:34]
Team Management Insights: "She had her whole team take the Myers Briggs assessment, take, I think, the Enneagram and some personality quiz, and she plugged them into ChatGPT and said, ‘What role, what tasks fit these personalities best?’ She said she just did little tiny tweaks. And her team is the best productive, smooth sailing environment that she's ever curated." — Sara Loretta [00:33:32 → 00:33:50]
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Blaine Bolus - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Ramon Berrios - Co-Founder of Castmagic
Sara Loretta - Founder of SYSTMS
