Thanh Pham — From Hiring to Ops to Management: an Operating System for Building a 7-Figure Media and Training Company

“No matter how clueless you might feel, someone else out there is willing to help you and can teach you something. One of the best decisions I've made, being able to let go and say, Hey, I don't know how to do this. Let me ask someone who does know how to do this.” — Thanh Pham

Thanh Pham (@asianefficiency), the Founder of Asian Efficiency, is our guest today. In 2008, he dropped out of college and started as an entry-level marketing associate at a life coaching business in Los Angeles, CA. Through sheer hard work, working long days and his commitment for excellence, they promoted him to be the VP of marketing. This is where he realized he had to work smarter and be more productive with the limited time he had. Today he sits with me to share his journey and success. Tune in to learn:

• The mindset switch creators have to make to intertwine personal stories with their brand
• How to onboard and match multiple personalities on the team when their talents’ variety
• The core principles of establishing happiness in your workflow
• How a 4 day work week led to an improvement in employee NPS
• How to build a team of cross-functional generalists
• How to implement a systematic approach to hire people and upgrade their skill set to be efficiently productive
• Why you should never be discouraged to ask for help to grow your business

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Please enjoy today's episode and thank you for listening!

Books and resources mentioned in the podcast:

“Scaling up”  by Verne Harnish

“Ready, Fire, Aim: Zero to $100 Million in No Time Flat”  by Michael Masterson

“WHO” by Geoff Smart

“Delivering Happiness: A Path to Profits, Passion, and Purpose”  by Tony Hsieh

How to Get Started with An Executive Assistant w/ Tim Francis (TPS190)

Show Notes

• 01:59 - About the switch in the mindset that creators have to make
• 05:05 - On telling personal stories through your brand, and the drawbacks
• 06:30 - The core principles of the brand as a pillar of success and stability/consistency
• 09:20 - What a variety of characters can bring to the quality of work and relations
• 13:01 - How being interested and indirectly present in different industries can be an eye opening experience for you
• 17:50 - Why you should apply challenges and other insights to your way of work
• 20:37 - How to find the winning intersection of skills and characters
• 24:08 - Charting the growth of business step by step with Thanh, from operational/business to team perspective
• 28:47 - Diving into the tips & tricks on hiring an EA
• 31:14 - The detail/explicit process behind the decision making guidelines on your path to efficiency
• 35:18 - How to identify and implement the specific principles of your own happiness
• 40:01 - The scheme in organizing your personal life
• 42:46 - About Thanh’s journey through hiring and delegating, including his strategic approach
• 49:08 - What does the systematic process of building a team look like for Thanh? An original perspective on a mix of skills.
• 55:43 - The Individual Development Programme as a way to growth by upgrading your skill set
• 58:13 - What is the DNA meeting?
• 60:54 - How you can learn from mistakes, from Thanh’s point of view
• 65:54 - The insider story on recruiting and building the relation with the COO of Asian Efficiency
• 72:13 - Why is it important for Thanh to create a bigger number of SOPs every month?
• 74:17 - What are the tradeoffs of growing a business?
• 79:41 - How he benefits from the parties hosted by him
• 84:36 - The social psychology behind paying the bill
• 88:00 - On the challenges of understanding the female mind from a male perspective
• 90:04 - Why feeling clueless should not discourage you ever?

Tweetable Quotes

“I teach people how to be productive at work and in life. And so I'm always looking for people who have a passion for productivity and have a passion for teaching or how.”- Thanh Pham

“In the beginning phases, it's all about scaling yourself. Meaning you're the one who knows everything. So the more time you can free up for yourself. The more you can grow. Right?”- Thanh Pham

“I'm happy to lose face if we can preserve the relationship where the contact or the other person feels good about themselves. And so that to me is always very important.” - Thanh Pham

“When I think about strategy for my personal life, what I would try to maximize for is essential to happiness. I'm trying to maximize unique experiences, memory, and ultimately happiness.” - Thanh Pham

“I really want to communicate to everyone that hiring is a skill like anything else that you can get better at.” - Thanh Pham

“Ask yourself at least once a year if you go through every single person in your company, you ask yourself, would I rehire this person again?” - Thanh Pham

“The quality of our happiness comes from the relationships we have with people and the better relationships we have, the happier we are.” - Thanh Pham

“I want to build more deeper, meaningful relationships with people and actually get to know them as people, not who they are, what they do for work, but actually know their stories, what they believe in what they stand for, what their hopes and aspirations are, you know, who they were when they were little kids, that kind of stuff.” - Thanh Pham

“I'm just learning as we're going and people know that it's all done in good fun, and that we're all learning from each other. And to me, that's the most important thing about being open-minded enough to learn about different perspectives that I would never think.” - Thanh Pham

About Our Guest

Thanh Pham (@asianefficiency) is the Founder of Asian Efficiency. In 2008, he dropped out of college and started as an entry-level marketing associate at a life coaching business in Los Angeles, CA. Through sheer hard work, working long days and his commitment for excellence, they promoted him to be the VP of marketing. Facing failures on the way to the top he realized he had to work smarter and be more productive with the limited time he had.

Today, he has the No.1 podcast on productivity, called “The Productivity Show” where he shares his vast knowledge and expertise on productivity, time management, and efficiency to achieve your goals in record time. He also holds the top spot with his blog on Productivity & Time Management.

Having established the foundational set of principles, Thanh has mastered the optimal efficiency, and in 2011 founded Asian Efficiency, the No.1 personal efficiency platform in the world.

Thanh is regarded as a thought leader in the field of productivity. Forbes, The Guardian, Fast Company and Inc.com have all written about him. Thanh is passionate about assisting people in completing their to-do lists by lunchtime, allowing them to maximize their productivity. He believes that getting things done should not require sacrificing one's health or personal life.

As a thought leader who gives lectures on productivity, efficiency, and time management all around the world you can contact him on his website or his Instagram account.