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Why I've decided to step OUT of routine (hint: there's magic involved), how to feel comfortable when everything is telling you to feel uncomfortable... and why I choose to live a life a little on the edge. LOVE LINKS meet your authentic self + kick self-doubt all the ways to connect with me + book a healing session

What a crazy past couple of months it has been. After reflecting on my own experiences, I've realized that the highs & lows are not always things we can choose: we can simply embrace the change, move forward with joy and continue to focus on the life we are here to live (aka our most visionary life!) This is what I have chosen amidst the chaos. Has it been easy? No! But I’m choosing to show up as a leader, an encourager & a hugger (I don't even know if those are real words, and I don't care). In this episode, I am sharing an update on what I've been up to over the past few months. My hopes are that you'll find comfort and inspiration in my process of navigating this unsettling time, or simply feel less alone. In this episode I chat about... Why I've been doing daily YouTube and IGTV videos (& whether or not I enjoy it) The 1 thing I've been doing MORE of in my business that has helped me grow exponentially Reasons I've been able to stay positive (& how you can, too) Revenue update for March and April 2020 Why I was scared to measure my performance over the past few months A fun announcement that ALL listeners of Visionary Life should hear & MORE --   CONNECT p.s. Whenever you’re ready, here are 3 ways that I can support you Get mentored by me. The VISIONARY Coaching Programs are designed for creative, driven and ambitious women like you who want to make money doing something the love, while regaining their freedom & sense of joy. Click here to learn more about coaching. Double tap this Social Media Course. The world is going DIGITAL and I want you to be a part of it! Whether you want to make extra income as a Freelance Social Media Specialist, or just want to learn Strategies to Grow Your Brand Online… you’ll love this self-study course called VISIONARY Social Media! Learn the Visionary Framework. If you’re thinking about starting an online business (or are in the early phase of building your brand), book a free (re)vision call with me and I’ll show you step-by-step how I built the VISIONARY brand   THANKS TO OUR SHOW SPONSORS Healthy Planet Canada With the best prices, the largest selection, and brands you won’t find anywhere else.. Healthy Planet is a shopping experience that I can stand behind & it has been my #1 choice for natural goods for 5+ years now, but especially in this wild time we’re living in. If you need to stock your fridge & cupboards for the week ahead, use code visionary10 at checkout to save 10% on any online order over $49.99 https://www.healthyplanetcanada.com/   No Issue I never thought I’d be this excited about Tissue Paper! Ya, you heard me right. This tissue paper is different because it's CUSTOMIZABLE. You better believe I'm getting our Visionary Branding stamped all over this beautiful paper. See for yourself at https://www.noissue.ca/ & use code "visionary" to save money on your first order.

-Introduction to the technique of "Direct-Inquiry" or "Self-Inquiry"-Demonstration and insights from my own practice-Why I've found investigating core existential questions to be the most practical use of my time-Lucid dreaming as a metaphor for the new way of being that can arise as a result-Tips for where to start your own investigation

Although the product is an important factor, at the end of the day, it is customer experience that determines the success of your business. And one of the best things that can lead to great customer experience is through systemizing processes. In today’s episode of Freedom in Five Minutes, guest George Chen, founder of UBestPacks.com talks with Dean about the importance of offloading tasks, leveraging your VSAs, and the influence of customer service over the success of your business. ----- Automated Transcription Below: Dean Soto  0:00   Hey, this is Dean Soto — founder of FreedomInFiveMinutes.com and ProSulum.com P R O S U L U M . com. And we're here again with another Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast episode. Today's topic is this. Systemizing Global Manufacturing the Easy Way with George Chen. That and more coming up.   Oh. Today is going to be a treat. An absolute treat! Because I have one of my favorite people here on this podcast. Someone who has taken – oh my gosh, like he not only does – he systemizes in a way that allows his global manufacturing business to run with as few people as possible.   He is so creative when it comes to systems and really doesn't hesitate to at least try to systemize pretty much everything in his life as well as with his business. So, that being said, I am here with Mr. George Chen. He is the President and CEO of U-BEST PACKAGING SOLUTIONS. George! What is up, my man? How's it going?    George Chen  1:29   Hey. What's up, dude? Stoked to be here. Very excited. Yeah.    Dean Soto  1:34   Awesome. Awesome. So we actually met through — Paul who is a mutual friend of ours.   And he introduced us and we started working together. You do some pretty amazing things. I had no idea - when we first started - all of the things that you do. Can you kind of give an overview of what you are in charge of? And really, how did you get to that point?   George Chen  2:03   Yeah. So, what I'm in charge of. So, I run U-BEST PACKAGING SOLUTIONS. We're based out of Brea, California, Orange County. And we do anything branded. So, if it involves putting your brand on it, whether it be packaging, business cards, flyers, to clothing, apparel, we do it all. So, what I oversee is I oversee our U.S. operations as well as our overseas operations. We have manufacturing sites here in Orange County, as well as in Taiwan and China as well. We not only do packaging, but we also do shoe manufacturing as well. So in various different industries. And how I got here. Well, it's funny, I started a sticker company. In college, I traded two DJ turntables for a vinyl plotter. And what a vinyl plotter is — if you look at cars. And they usually have those family stickers where it has a mom, dad, son, whatever. Yeah, so I traded two turntables for a vinyl plotter to cut both stickers. And from there, we moved into different types of packaging. And that's kind of how it started.   Dean Soto  3:21   That's crazy. That's crazy. So actually, were you selling your vinyl cuts to your friends and things like that? What I mean — that's pretty dang cool.   George Chen  3:36   No. I was — originally, I just wanted to make a bunch of stickers for myself. And I was pretty into the car modding industry where you take the parts off of that. So it kind of went hand in hand. And then eventually, we started selling parts. Vinyl, you know, kind of like tinting parts for certain head lamps and headlights. I would sell it to car modding shops. And that's kind of how it started.    Dean Soto  4:05   That's crazy. That's so crazy. And now, you have a whole manufacturing company in Brea that I have been to a couple of times. You have a staff there, and you do some really amazing things there. So what's out? Give a big rundown of some of the things that you're able to do right now. I know you say you have your shoe manufacturer and you have whatever. What's your favorite thing right now? What's the most innovative or what was your — kind of the thing that you love the most that you're doing right now?   George Chen  4:43   I wouldn't say it's one single product that we do. I think it's more so the gratification of printing something and showing our customers and seeing the look on their face. That's what I love doing. I love — it's not that I love printing or I love manufacturing. I love the feeling of giving my customers a product and having them go, "Holy crap, this is better than I imagined. Thank you for this, like, I'm so stoked." That's usually where I get my gratification. But if you want to boil it down to kind of more so a product, I would say, our paper packaging. Doing boxes and doing retail packaging, or a lot of marketing, influencer marketing packages. So, a lot of times we've worked with global brands and we make special influencer boxes for them that they ship out to all these marketing influencers. And we build like really, really cool custom wooden boxes. Sometimes plastic boxes, clear acrylic boxes and just make the user experience something super cool that they can post online and share with the world.   Dean Soto  5:57   It's amazing. It's amazing. You actually deal with a whole bunch of different industries right? With all of this? And as I've seen your packaging too, and we'll get into some more deep questions in a little bit. But I've seen your packaging. It's funny because when I think of packaging, I think of just — it sounds bad because you're probably gonna be like, "Yeah. That's like totally not what we do." But I actually just think of like, cardboard box around   George Chen  6:31   Brown shipping boxes.   Dean Soto  6:32   Yeah.   George Chen  6:34   Literally what everyone says, "Oh, you do packaging? Can I buy like brown boxes?"   I'm like, I mean, we can do that. But that's not our bread and butter. Yeah. And then everyone's like, Oh, yeah, you guys are like... I say no. Yeah.   Dean Soto  6:48   So yeah. I want people to get an idea of all the different things that you have created. Some of the most creative things like for Afters Ice Cream, which is really big over here in Southern California you did some really creative amazing things for them and for some pretty big named companies right? So what are those kind of things?   George Chen  7:12   We're pretty big in the restaurant industry. I would say we do a lot of franchise restaurants nationwide and we do local franchise areas like Afters Ice Cream. We did everything from their wall installation. So if you go on their website, I think it's AftersIceCream.com. You guys can go through their portfolio and see some stuff that we've done. So we do all of their ice cream cups for them. We do all of their wall installations for them. So, wallpaper wraps, signage, photobooth opportunities. We just recently did the Rick and Morty collaboration, and we did all the window clings that go in the storefront. The wallpaper packaging and merchandise quoting   Dean Soto  7:58   The Rick and Morty Thing man was so cool. Like kind of give an idea of what that actually was just because, man. If you guys saw the video of this, you felt like you were in the cartoon.   George Chen  8:12   Yeah. So I think it was at their Pasadena store. And they have this building on the side just solely for a photo op. But once you walk in the door, it's covered in wallpaper of different designs of Rick and Morty and you go in there and you take photos, and with ice cream and whatnot. But, you know, you just gotta go to the website and take a look at it for yourself. It's kind of hard to explain.   Dean Soto  8:41   I love it. Like I always kind of — I always think of what you do as putting ideas and dreams into a physical and tangible product whether it's actual packaging for something. Or you know, wrap or something like that. It gives that whole physical... You're able to put these ideas into a physical form which is absolutely amazing. I love it man.   George Chen  9:13   We like to say we bring ideas to life. If you have an idea and you saw something super cool and you want to recreate it, or you want to redesign it into something that fits around your product, that's what we're good at. We're really good at building packaging around our customers' products — whether it be boxes, bags, or whatever it may be. We're really good at you know, catering to certain customers and making something very memorable.   Dean Soto  9:41   Yeah, I love it. So guys, if you haven't noticed, I'm like, these guys. You guys got to know exactly what this guy does. So that as we go deeper into how he actually gets this done, you'll just be blown away that he's able to do what he's able to do. So with such a lean organization. All that being said, when we first met, I mean... prior to us even meeting, you already seemed to have a mind for systems and operations and you run your business, from what I can tell, very differently than a lot of other people in your industry. And that one of those things is definitely a focus on outsourcing and documentation. So, what is your whole idea when it comes to those two things — documentation and outsourcing? So that you can maintain a flexible but still powerful organization?   George Chen  10:51   Oh, it's funny. Before we met, I actually did not really thinking that kind of way. It might have seemed that way but not really. I did learn from a friend one time. We were — I can tell you, when we started this company, I was typing out invoices on Microsoft Excel and doing inventory counts manually by hand, typing them into Microsoft Excel and calculating our inventory that way. So that's where we started. And we my friend was helping me out. And we were talking about inventory management systems because going through my inventory every week and counting everything was not working. So we found a company called StitchLabs.com. And he explained to us like, you know, you have to catalogue everything. You have to go through and input all this data. And it's going to take a lot of time, but if you put in the work now, it'll be smooth sailing later down the road, because you'll have all this infrastructure that you've implemented. So that was kind of the beginning of where I had that kind of system thought and operations way to do things. But in the like, until we met, that's when it started really kicking in and understanding. They are doing the outsourcing and documenting all of our processes. Because, you know, in the very beginning it was me. I was doing the account managing. I was doing the sales. I was doing the invoicing. I was doing the purchase orders. I was doing the accounts payable, accounts receivable, so literally doing everything. So there wasn't really a way that I systemize everything, it was just Oh, something came up, I had to do it, and I just did it and then we'll go on. But slowly as we met, you know, I started realizing, "Hey, I can document all this stuff. Cuz at the end of the day, how to type an order is going to be the same every single time."    Dean Soto  12:46   Exactly.    George Chen  12:47   So how do I document it so that I can pass it along and have someone else take care of it for me? Where I can focus on the more important parts of scaling my company, doing business development to product development. Things that actually I'm very valuable at because at the end of day, my time isn't used best if I'm typing up invoices or purchase orders, right? But yeah systems changed the way I run the company.    Dean Soto  13:12   That's awesome. That's awesome. What was  the first thing that you put into a system that — not necessarily the first thing... But the first thing that where you were blown away where thought "Oh crap I don't have to do this thing ever again and now that gives me time to do this other thing that's way valuable. What was the first thing where the light bulb just clicked?   George Chen  13:43   Order processing and invoicing. I hated doing that. Like, I absolutely hated it. I don't like typing out invoices and typing out orders. It's such a waste of my time. And once I implemented that package. I was able to focus on sales. I can just talk to a customer and say, "Hey, please process order and these are the details of that order." And never have to do it again. That was the beginning. And that, you know, that snowballed into even... I mean, we've always had a process on how to do some of the printing in our warehouse. Yeah. But once that happened, I was like, "Okay, now I'm starting to look into all of the different things that we do, and how I systemize this?" Coming from a startup company or coming from, like, not having any business background - learning on the fly. Now I have to think, how would a global corporation do this? Right? They have all the standard operating procedures. Now, that made me realize, because I was doing everything myself — I knew that I had my operating procedures. Those are all in my head.    Dean Soto  14:48   Yeah.   George Chen  14:48   There's no way for me to teach someone and have them replicate it time and time again, without any errors because then it's all subjective. Then it's like, "Oh, you have your way of doing this. I have my way of doing this." I'm teaching you how I'm doing it. But you're not going to be doing it the same way I'm doing it, because there's no documentation.   Dean Soto  15:05   Yeah, exactly. So   George Chen  15:06   I started looking in my warehouse, and, you know, printing facilities. And I'm looking at, how do I systemize this now? So now I went through our printing process and started documenting. Okay, you mix the ink for 16 seconds. And why do we do this? Like, we started listing out all the different reasons why we do certain things, and what to look out for. If the ink is not mixed properly, you're going to get separation and whatnot. And it kind of teaches everyone "Hey, this is the exact way to do it. And if something goes wrong, then we look at that document and say, okay, where did it go wrong?"   Dean Soto  15:42   Yeah.    George Chen  15:42   And you can easily pinpoint now, at what process something went wrong. And now, we have a much better quality control because now we know, "Hey, this print station is producing something different than this other condition. What's the difference between the two? Or what not.   Dean Soto  16:00   I love that. I love that. That's cool. Especially the the idea that because you have the process, you can see where something breaks down. It's not a person, you know. If somebody messes up and it's just because it's in their head, then it's like, "Okay, well how do I fix that?" And that's not very fixable, especially if they keep on messing up. But if it's the process, it makes it super easy to be able to say, "Boom, there's a problem right there." And to fix it, I love that. Before we get into more of the tactical stuff, walk me through how a new customer comes in. Like what's your entire system from new customer comes in to ideation where you're coming up with strategy and everything like that to actually delivering a product. What's your involvement in all of that?   George Chen  17:00   Now. So in the beginning, I was — beginning to end, I was in everything. Now we started outsourcing a lot of our account managing. So now, when a customer comes in, they call us right? Either whoever's in the office will take the call or if I take the call, I'll get their contact information. They'll most likely give me a brief of what they're looking for to do. "Okay, cool, thank you. And I tell I instantly, as soon as that call is done, I provide my VSAs who the customer is, what their email address is. I say, please send them an intro email. And what an intro email is — it has our customer application form. It also has some of our portfolio and some of our past projects, and it kind of gives you a brief about our company and what we do. So it starts off there. They send the customer application, they get set up and then they respond with what they're looking for. Get a quote for, say it's a very standard product, they'll go through a quote, if it's involved. And then they email us what they're looking for: quotes. So then my VSAs, will go ahead and grab that information and start working on the quote, looking at either where to pull some products from different places, wherever it may be, shoot back the quote to the customer. Quote, good customer start placing the order they'll send us the artwork, my same VSA. So at this point, I haven't touched anything. I'm just monitoring my same VSA will take that artwork, send it to our pre-production department, they'll come out with a proof. The proof goes out back to the customer through the VSA. Customer approves the proof. Then we move into manufacturing that is done either here overseas, wherever it may be. And from there, the product gets delivered. I have not touched this product or talked to the customer. The only time I'm involved is more so product development. So if they're trying to build the packaging around their product, or if they're trying to come up with something new with different types of materials, that's where I kind of jump in. More of the creative side and helping them understand what capabilities — because a lot of times, most, I would say 90% of customers... they have a graphic designer in house or they have hired someone to do graphic designing. But that graphic designer is solely for online. You know how to make pictures, put it on a website and make it look nice. Yeah, they don't have the experience of doing graphic design for packaging or for printing because it's way different. You need bleeds, you need Pantone colors, you need all different check points. So the difference is that's where I come in and I help them guide through that process in doing the understanding of how to build these custom projects.   Dean Soto  20:05   That's the stuff that you enjoy. Yeah?   George Chen  20:08   Yeah. No, it's fine. It's fun. Because then I'm on starting it from scratch, and then bringing these ideas to life. Where at the end of the day, the customers like, "Wow, that was super cool." And for us, you know, we try to provide a five-star experience every time we work with a customer. We know what it's like, dealing with, you know, I don't know someone like... Well, I can't really compare but someone like Vistaprint or someone like youprint.com to do your business cards, right? You just send something online, you hope it comes out and you get your product and it's like... We guide you through that whole process because we know what to look out for. We know that if you're printing a box and it needs to go in the fridge or you're printing a box and it's going to go on something that's what... We know that "Hey, you need to use different types of material to get what you're looking for." That's why we're different from most suppliers in that we will look at your product and try to understand it instead of just trying to sell you something. Yeah, that's not our goal. Our goal is to give you a five-star experience where you can tell us "Hey, this is what I'm trying to go for." And we take the reins, and we guide you along the process. And that's our way of providing a five-star experience.   Dean Soto  21:26   I love that and you have the time to actually do that.   George Chen  21:30   Yeah, I'm not typing out invoices and purchase orders all the time.   Dean Soto  21:34   Man, man. So there was a time where, when you were working with your Virtual Systems Architect, your VSA. She did something where... Because she, you know – obviously you guys had the processes that you guys created. All the documentation. everything got systemized but there was a time where the customer actually sent something to you. Like an image. And she knew right away. It wasn't really through the process, she actually knew that it was wrong and like, slapped your customer on the hand a little bit, right?   George Chen  22:21   So that specific example is when one of our customers sent us artwork that was not print ready. So what it means is that once you send us the artwork, all we do is take it, make a proof out of it and print it. We don't touch it. We don't do anything at all. But what they sent to us was an artwork. But it had text in the middle, giving instructions on what needed to be what size and whatnot. And if we took that and we printed it, that would have went wrong, or it would have had all that markings on there. So what my VA did is that she responded and saying "Hey, we noticed that the artwork that you sent was not print ready. Please make sure you remove all of your markings and resend this artwork so that we can move it into print."   Dean Soto  23:11   Oh my gosh, I love that. I love that. And that was like not necessarily something in the process. But you feel like because you had so much documentation... Because all that – because you know, as your VSA is actually creating all that documentation. They're learning your business. Do you feel that that? That's one of the reasons why that happened?   George Chen  23:36   Yeah, I think more so why that happened is that just copying them a lot on every single email that goes out. I think it's more so just the training process, right? If you have someone with you at all times, and they see how you interact with someone, they'll start picking up on that, right. They'll start seeing "Okay, he treats them in a very professional manner. Very courteous. Certain ways you talk to them. They'll start picking up on that. And that's kind of how we've educated every single one of our employees here. You help. You educate them. Versus telling them to do. Yeah. Help them understand why we're doing what we're doing. And why. Because for us, sometimes, a lot of our customers think, "Oh, I need this today." But we realize, "Hey, if you do something quickly, problems happen." Then you start skipping steps. And then that's why we have such a strict, strict guideline on our processes. They're able to pick that up because of our training. And if you have a good training process and teach people why they're doing what they're doing, versus "Hey, go do this." It help them understand a lot more. And for them to pick up on it, and for them to execute it better.   Dean Soto  25:04   Yeah. Yeah, it's cool because, you know, out of all of the people, you definitely — with your documentation, you know, a lot of people that I know who create this type of documentation whether it's with a VSA or not, they just say, "Here's the process. Go do it, but you really do bring the why. Like, why is this process being done? Why? Even like, during the middle of the documentation, you say,"Mix for 15 seconds." like you'll have things like why are you mixing for 15 seconds? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing it? Why? I've just noticed that because of that, your guys are like superhuman. They're able to take on a lot more that they otherwise, wouldn't. A lot of business owners want this kind of robotic kind of just do as I say type thing. Whereas I can tell with your guys to the point where it seems like you're able to just hand off to your I guess she would be your general manager or ops manager — hand whatever off and she handles a lot of the stuff you're doing. What have you noticed that has come with that "why?" Compared to because you know, other people who do this type of systemization stuff. Do you notice that your staff is better because of that?   George Chen  26:42   Yeah. 100%. So, because for us, you can print the sticker using probably five different methods of printing the sticker, right? You could print a sticker, you could digitally print it. You can silk screen it. You could print it with flexo. There's so many different ways to print a single sticker. But you have to understand what your customer is trying to achieve. Are they trying to put it on a box? If they're trying to put it on a shipper box, you know, the brown cardboard box that you thought we do. You don't need such a crazy sticker for that, right. But if you're trying to put a sticker on a bottle that is going to go through a wash, you want to make sure that you're using a vinyl sticker for that. So, understanding "why" helps them better process on which method to print the product for the customer. And teaching them "why" helps them able to empower them to come up with solutions on their own. Right. If you give them an education, they can now offer that same education to your customers. And that creates so much value added to your company. Very, very rarely do you have these companies think for the customer? Because usually it's all about me. How do I get the sale? How do I make this next paycheck? Whatever it may be. For us, it's like, how do we maintain this relationship? So that, you know, you can count on me? Yeah, every single time we talk. Right? That's the difference between us and a lot of other people. We teach them "why" so that our employees can come up with the solutions themselves. So that I don't have to be answering the same way every single time. If I tell you, these are our capabilities, of course, there's going to be times where it's something that they've never experienced or whatever. But a lot of times, it's how you have to understand the machine. You have to understand our different methods of producing a product and which solution is going to be best for the customer. Because it's going to be different every single time. And if I gave you — Okay, if I told them it's a sticker, then you go misprint it but that's not the way, right? You have to understand if they're printing a sticker, what's the sticker for? Yeah. Are they trying to match certain colors? You know, with printing it. That's why we get a lot of customers — they say this today. I got a call from a customer. "Hey. We're looking for woven labels, and we're looking for bags. What's the price?" You're like, I'd be zero information. You told me two categories and expect me to know what's in your head and give you a price. I can't do any of that. Right. So now I have to ask them all these questions and teaching my employees that same thing. Like, you have to understand why you're doing what you're doing. Yeah. So that you can offer the best solution for the customer.   Dean Soto  29:32   Well, it's cool too because you have the ability to do that. Because of all the things that you've systemized in your operation and stuff. It's cool, too, because you could, I mean, theoretically — you probably could just say it would be this much. But then, say they bought that stuff off you. And it didn't work for whatever application they're doing. Like, that hurts your business big time.    George Chen  29:54   Yeah, no. They won't come back. There's no way they would come back. Yeah, and they expect you are the professional. You're supposed to know what I'm looking for. Pretty much, you're supposed to read my mind — is what they want.   Dean Soto  30:07   That's crazy. That's crazy. So one more thing I want to touch on before I ask the strategic Five Minute Question. And then get more information about your business and customer base and stuff. So you kind of mentioned this, you kind of alluded to it before,       There was a pretty big shift where you're getting questions like all the time even when you had systems, documentation, and things like that. You were getting questions. And there was a point where we even talked and you're like, "Oh, I should just make it to where they asked somebody else." Can you kind of explain like how you had to make that mindset shift of always being the person who's getting the questions when you could delegate that to say your general manager who, you know, your VSA who runs the other VSAs?   George Chen  31:10   Yeah. So we originally, you know, I mean, during the training process, you're always going to be the one to answer all the questions. Yeah. But if you're training multiple people, you don't want to be answering the same question for the new trainee every single time after that, right? So what we learned is that we created a frequently asked question document for everything in our company, right? So when, you know, when a customer is asking, what is the duty charge from China to LA for a .... Right? Now we have frequently asked... like that's gonna be asked every single time when we have a new account manager that we're bringing on or whatever. So we've created this document where they can refer to that, and they'll know "Hey, if the customer is asking for duty charge, hey, go look in their frequently asked questions." It should be there. And then if it's not, you know, ask who you report to. Ask them the question and if not, then come ask me. So now I've delegated all the questions that are being asked into my main manager. And then from there, you know, if it needs to get escalated, then it gets escalated.   Dean Soto  32:16   I love that. I love that man. You don't do any of the training whatsoever for anyone new that comes on as far as like a VSA like remote person, right?   George Chen  32:24   Not anymore. So the VSAs of Pro Sulum... they come systems trained. I'm sure if you're listening to this podcast, you know that. They all come to some trainings and I hired one in August of last year. I think August No. Two years ago now. Yeah. August two years ago. And then, within three months, I had that VSA training the other VSA. And it was mind-blowing seeing her you know, within three months, be able to train two new people in the same way that kind of I trained her. And she was really quick to pick up on, you know, how you train. How we do training in our company. And since then, I haven't had to train anyone.   Dean Soto  33:16   The best thing was when I talked to you. One of the speaking engagements that we did. When I said, "Hey, how's your new one coming along?" And you're like, "I don't know, my main VSA is..."   George Chen  33:38   Yeah, I had the ability to say, I have no idea what's going on.   No, it's not good. But no, I mean, I obviously I did kind of know. But I think it's more so just having that weight off your shoulder and knowing that a task that is delegated and being taken care of. Because the worst thing is, you delegate a task, and then you have to go follow up. and say, "Hey, what's the update?" Yeah. Seriously, that is something that I hate. Yeah. But, you know, with these standard operating procedures, "Hey, you need to report to me after a certain amount of time, because that's our operating procedure now. And I haven't had to go follow up anymore. And it's been handed to me." And I think that's one of the biggest differences now. Systemising all this stuff is that these are my expectations. But it's not. It wasn't in our standard operating procedure. Yeah. So when it wasn't happening, it was making me mad. But that's at the end day. That's my fault. Because I didn't systemize it. I didn't implement it into our process. And now that it is, I get so super hands-off approach now, and I get reports handed to me and that's how a company should be run. Yeah, you know, all right.   Dean Soto  34:59   I love it man, I love it. I love it. So, two more questions. The first one is, if you had...if you were talking with someone, and they said, George, what's one thing that you can tell me that if I implemented right now. We call this like the Five Minute Focus Question. If I just did this one thing and more strategic, not like a tool at all or anything like that. I mean, it could be a tool, but more and more in the strategic level that would improve their life, their business. What would that one thing be?   George Chen  35:40   I think it would just be in stead of trying something, just do it. Because if you think about it, you know, as adults, we don't really fail at things nowadays. Right? We have this level of comfort in our decision making that we're going to take — most of the time, we're going to take the same solution or we're going to decide on something that we already know is a most probable outcome. Yeah, when we have come across something that we don't know, a probable outcome, we usually don't make that decision anymore. We just push it off to the side, or we keep not attending to it. And it just kind of gets lost, right. So a lot of people have a hard time trying new things or being willing to fail because we've taken all of that out of our day to day now that we're older, right? When you were kids, you always fail. You always fall down, you always get back up, right. But now, when's the last time you fell? Yep. Never. Right. So I think just doing it and being being willing to fail again, and just being willing to fall down and see what happens because you're not gonna die. It's not the end of the world if something doesn't go right. But then you learn from it. I think that's the biggest thing and just doing it. Whenever, like something comes up, just, just don't be afraid to fail. I think that's, that's one thing that really changed the way I think and just being confident in moving. Once you move like you can only start winning after that.   Dean Soto  37:22   I love that man. I love it. And that's one thing I definitely noticed about you. You just do things.   George Chen  37:29   Like, my motto is do it first and then ask forgiveness later.   Dean Soto  37:36   Man, I love it. It's so good. It's so good. Yes, so who is your dream client? If someone were to come and work with you. Who would be your dream client and what would they expect with working with you and U-BEST?   And keep in mind guys, he works with really big names as well. Like these are huge companies that you're probably wearing shoe-wise right now. But, yeah. Who do you feel that you serve best? Or at least you have the, you know that like, "Oh my gosh, we changed these people's lives all the time." These types of people.   George Chen  38:37   Yeah, that that is a very good question that I have actually not thought about.   Dean Soto  38:42   Sorry. I know.    George Chen  38:45   That's a great question because for us, when we see an opportunity we'll always go... I would say for a while it was Adidas. For a while, it was trying to work with the adidaa. Either in shoe manufacturing or doing marketing or packaging for them for a while. It wasn't even — I guess it could still be. I think I was really into shoes for a while — being a sneaker head and, you know, trying to go for all the easy stuff. But when I was really into that I think Adidas was definitely on my top priority in trying to do because very few companies do "Made in USA" shoe manufacturing.    Dean Soto  39:34   Oh yeah.    George Chen  39:34   We're one of them to supply certain brands that do "Made in the USA" shoes. But the trend has a lot of big shoe pumping brands. They've started moving manufacturing here to reduce lead times and to better serve the changing market nowadays. So yeah, if Adidas was listening. My company would love to work with you. Going back to what you said, what kind of what would they expect? They would expect a five star service, right? Being able to delegate a task to us or a project to us, and letting us take care of it. Because a lot of times how companies utilize us now, when I was the main dealing with all the customers at once...They would be like, "George, this is what I need, go get it done." And then you know, take it, give them the product and have them stoked about it. And that's, I think that's the easiest way to help these brands scale. So our bread and butter is taking a company from either three locations. So in the restaurant industry, our bread and butter taking company from three locate two to three locations and helping them scale in 200 or 500 stores within a short amount of period of time. And the only way to do that is for us to take all their print materials and everything they need printed and taking it off their plate so they could book.   Dean Soto  41:13   Oh, sounds like   George Chen  41:15   there you go.   Dean Soto  41:19   All right, so it sounds like you cut out a little bit. Are you still there right now? I knew this was gonna happen. It always happens at the most inopportune time. Can you hear me right now?   George Chen  41:33   Yeah. I cut out.   Dean Soto  41:34   You cut out right at, like, toward the end of what you were saying like what they can expect...   George Chen  41:44   What they can expect is... they can expect a five star experience regardless if the customer would say "Hey, George, this is what I want. Take it." And then that's what we do. We would take it and then run with it and provide them a product. And that's our bread and butter — helping companies scale and taking away a lot of their tasks to do. So our bread and butter from the restaurant industry is taking a brand with two to three locations and helping them scale to 100 to 500 stores. And how we do that? We help them with all their print marketing & print materials, so that they can go focus on the franchise sales. They can focus on finding their next locations; for their next next door to be open. That's where they're valuable. And utilizing their time not trying to shop for the best or cheapest business cards. That's a waste of their time and working with us they get that five star experience in delegating a task and knowing that it's going to be handled properly and it's going to be executed and the products are gonna come out exactly how they want. And that's our five star experience.   Dean Soto  42:56   And what I've noticed too, for those listening as well is that you're almost actually like a more of a trusted adviser. I've seen where you've taken — I always think of when somebody comes into especially like a restaurant or store where a package is going out. I mean, you know, I'm always proud of my iPhone package when I get it like it's one of the things I look forward to every two years when I get my upgraded iPhone. The packaging and just undoing it. There's something about it that's prestigious and I've noticed that you've actually taken several businesses that had went the cheap route and their packaging has to be wrapped in a rubber band and all this other stuff. And you've made it look like so professional that it takes the brand. It actually does take the brand to another level because people are willing to handle that. It sounds so dumb, but, you know, even just in takeout food. If you have a really cool package. If you have something like, it's like, I'm going to Instagram, I'm going to take pictures of it. There's something about it that you are able to bring to people and it's literally not that much more expensive than going like... They're really paying for you, George. Because you have the time to be that trusted advisor like "Hey, let me help build your physical brand."   George Chen  44:34   Yeah. Well, I mean, what they say is "Camera eats first, right? Yeah. That's the image we live in right now. So everything is instagram every one is taking pictures of food. And yeah, at the end of the day, they get me or they get us. Right? Grant Cardone said it in his book, right? The difference? I can go to this shop down the street and get it at this price. Yep. The difference is you don't get us. You don't get us to think for you and figure out what the best way in keeping your costs low and still getting that wow effect when a customer opens that box or opens that product.   Dean Soto  45:14   I love that man. I love that. So how can people contact you? Work with you? What's the best way for them to actually get to work with George?   George Chen  45:23   Yeah, so our website is UBestPacks.com U as in umbrella. Best B E S T. Packs P A C K S .com. My Instagram is George Chen @georgechen. George with a zero for the O. Yeah, you contact us there through our website or through our Instagram.   Dean Soto  45:48   I love it man.    George Chen  45:49   Would love work with all of you,   Dean Soto  45:51   Dude. Yeah. And so if you're listening and you want some amazing branding, like I mean if you want to really take your business to the next level when it comes to Physical branding and you want your packaging to look better. I mean, better than all of your competition. You have to work with George it is absolutely amazing. So, George, thanks for being on man. And for sharing all the things that you do. It's honestly amazing. There are so many other ninja stuff that he does. But I didn't want to keep him for so long. But yeah, man, it's so good having you and I appreciate you being on.   George Chen  46:29   No, thank you so much it was, it was a treat getting to share our experiences and what we do. And just trying to try to teach people and giving them a better experience, as we know. I mean, we've heard of so many times, customers like "Oh, I can go on Alibaba and order this. And they order $10,000 worth of product and it gets here in the wrong color." That has happened for us, too.    We help customers avoid it. And it's night and day, their experiences. We've had customers leave us a lot of times and saying, "Oh, I got this wrong, you know?" I remember one time this girl. She was nickel and diming us for five cents off a T shirt. For I think for like 500 shirts or something. She was like, "Oh my gosh, like why can't you just give it to me for five cents cheaper?" And I'm like, I've already done so much for you. Like, this is my price. I'm not making any money. I'm doing this out of courtesy because you are a friend of a friend. Whatever it may be, the next order she ended up going to someone else. And I heard that supplier made her cry. The service and how they would not do everything that she asked. And I was like, "Dude that's what you get." But I think customers always have to understand. It's always better to pay five cents more. Yep. And have that peace of mind, knowing that something else is going to be taken care of, where you don't have to worry about it. To have five cents is for something, you know, maybe not in the millions of quantity. But you know, for something — if it's a smaller, like, trust that you get what you pay for at the end of the day. Yeah, and you would want that peace of mind. And paying a little bit more customers have to understand that at the end of the day. It's all about service. It's rarely about product. Of course, the product plays a factor. But at the end of day, it's the service you get and why companies do so well through customer service, because you always remember when you had that great experience with that one supplier. And you always go back to them and you don't really care as much about what the price is. You really care about how you felt and how it was a piece of cake. Yeah.   Dean Soto  48:59   Yeah. No and that's what's... You're spot on with that because you've engineered it yourself to be able to give that service and you know think of all the not just the money that was wasted by her but the time that was wasted by her and the stress and all that stuff that    George Chen  49:23   The stuff that you can't put a price on.   Dean Soto  49:27   I know, exactly. For five cents per shirt.   George Chen  49:32   You got actually five cents.   Dean Soto  49:35   Oh, but it's time that she can't get back. She that probably put a huge amount of stress on her. At the end of the day if you find somebody who's amazing at what they do, and as long as they have the systems to stay amazing like you do, you're only making things better. Like all the time. That's what makes what you do so valuable that I can't think of anybody, any other company that's built like yours to where you're just constantly delivering more and more value over time as you figure out more systems to offload.   George Chen  50:19   That's what we learned. High-end value. How not just to take, but to give even as a supplier, right. Like, how do you give to this person? And that's definitely helped us for longer for sure.    Dean Soto  50:33   Dang, I love it. Well, thanks for being on man. I appreciate it. And guys, go check out UBestPacks.com George is amazing. He is. Yeah. If you really want your brand to soar from the physical design standpoint. you got to go check him out. And we'll have him on again to talk about his other exploits with systems and operations. But until then, guys, thank you. This has been the Freedom In Five Minutes Podcast and I will catch you on the next Freedom In Five Minutes podcast episode.

Schools are closed, kids are home, businesses are shut down, and we are dealing with a new normal. These times are so trying because we have no certainty, we do not know how long this swirl will last.  In this episode, I offer a way to approach this fearful time to support you, your family, your business, and our communities. While this time is unprecedented, there are time-tested methods we can implement to turn fear into gratitude. Please give yourself permission right now to feel all the feelings, and I hope this episode helps.  HIGHLIGHTS 0:39 - Why I've spent money on personal development and not business growth 3:05 - Why I feel prepared for this moment in our world 5:28 - The need to feel the fear and anxiety 7:40 - Modeling how you show up best for your kids 10:05 - Two stages of growth 12:18 - My challenge and encouragement for you 13:54 - How can I show up for others that are scared? 14:21 - My invitation and gift to you ABOUT ME I’m Kari Keating, mom of 3 young boys, that ditched a 17-year, 6 figure corporate career to go after her dreams. I’ve been coaching professionally for over 2 years and have had a wide variety of clients from recording artists, website developers, photographers, professional network marketers, and other life coaches. My zone of genius lies in helping soul-based entrepreneurs get out of their heads and into inspired action, so they can make the impact they crave and the income they deserve. Find me at my website - https://www.kari-keating.com/ Connect on Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/karikeating/ CREDITS Podcast edited and mixed by 51 features. Connect with Andrew at andrew {at} 51features {dot} com.

I believe people could be a lot happier. A lot more content with the way their life is going. A lot more EXCITED to wake up and live another day. But they aren't. Why? I've uncovered the #1 reason why people fall in a rut, start to get negative and cynical, and start to judge other people. Tune in to find out what it is! Want to build passive income but confused about where to start? Click the link below to book a FREE 45 minute strategy call with me. https://brian-ellwood.mykajabi.com/freestrategycall On the call we'll layout your goals, what holds you back, and exactly what you need to do next. Book your call now, slots fill up fast! https://brian-ellwood.mykajabi.com/freestrategycall

Happy Tuesday my loves and welcome back to another episode! I'm currently writing this literally minutessss before the scheduled upload time cause ya girl been traveling alllll day!! So, praying y'all enjoy this one and all the tea I spill for ya on this Tuesday, cause it took a lot of willpower to look at my bed, say "brb, bb" and jump on my computer to finish editing. (Ironic this episode is on burnout....lolol!) In this episode I’m talking all about: My upcoming (well, past now, trip to Jersey)! Woo! Why I've been exhausting myself and why I struggle to set boundaries around how much I work... What burnout really means + my ups and downs with burnout... Update on the Manifest Daily membership - interested in joining the waitlist? Find it below! Sign up for the membership waitlist here: http://bit.ly/MDMWaitlist Free scripting e-book: http://bit.ly/ScriptEBook Phone vision board wallpaper templates: http://bit.ly/MobileVisionBoard Research survey for the membership: https://forms.gle/thKNQFCu4AaVAt4W6 Full episode show notes: MANIFEST DAILY on Instagram @TheManifestDaily You can find me on Instagram @DheandraNicolette

Why I've been radio-silent, and what big event is about to happen. Here's a hint... Funnel Hacking Live 2020! Get access to the Three Pines Free membership area Join the EXCLUSIVE membership site with access to 2 journals a week and so much more! ʟɪᴋᴇ ᴜs ᴏɴ ғᴀᴄᴇʙᴏᴏᴋ ғᴏʟʟᴏᴡ ᴜs ᴏɴ ɪɴsᴛᴀɢʀᴀᴍ ʟɪsᴛᴇɴ ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ ʟɪғᴇʟᴏɴɢ ʟᴇᴀʀɴɪɴɢ & ʟᴇᴀᴅᴇʀsʜɪᴘ ᴘᴏᴅᴄᴀsᴛ

Why I've been a great big naughty slacker, a big BB disappointment and 15k words in the pot --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/self-publishing-journeys/message

Today on another Episode of REAL Talk, We will be talking about Why I've been gone For 3 months and also talk about what happened to the Thanksgiving Podcast and if it's GONE FOREVER or not? Stick around folks and take a seat, Cause Lucy Haz som' esplaining to do! ( Over half of you won't even understand that reference XD !!!)

This week we fact check on PBS WNED, David Heinemeier Hansson, Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion. We follow up on Parallels, Hey! Siri, Jamie Heinemeier Hansson posts her story about the Apple Card credit rating, and Amazon's abandoned AI recruiting tool. We discuss how the Apple Watch has transformed users with autism and CP. Use this handy calculator to find out how much subscriber TV will cost you. Joe Cieplinski's post "About That Keyboard" drives another discussion about the MacBook Pro 16 keyboard. Apple is planning a Dec event celebrating gaming. Apple's Developer app will provide information for developers year round. Apple breaks ground in Austin to build Mac Pros. Ricky brings us A Companion for SwiftUI, the SwiftUI Lab, and About-SwiftUI. 1Password partners with Accel for continued growth, Çingleton 2013 - Dave Teare, and A love letter to DHH and others concerned about our recent funding announcement. Xcode 11.2 Banned From Apple Itself. Apple may be working on a successor to iTunes on Windows 10. Porting by a 1000 Patches: Bringing Swift to Windows. Why I've started asking companies about their technical interviews before proceeding with them. Voice Control link roundup via Back to Work 452. Picks: WT:Social, Take Charge of those Xips, QuickLook certs In the Finder, Apple launches a dedicated mobile app for its developer community, 100 Days of SwiftUI, SwiftUI by Example, Survey results: iOS Dev Weekly 430 link roundup, I Accidentally Uncovered a Nationwide Scam on Airbnb, Renovate is now part of WhiteSource Special Guests: Mike Vinakmens, Peter Cook, and Ricky de Laveaga.

"Children's television is wonderful for people starting out in the industry because there tends to be more opportunity for people who don't have a long list of credits." — Wendy Gray I've fast-tracked a few skills after discovering the short courses offered by the Australian Film Television Radio School (AFTRS). In this episode, I chat to Wendy Gray from AFTRS about their courses and who they're designed for. We also chat about Wendy's career in the screen industry, including her extensive experience working in children's television.  Friendly manners: this is not a paid endorsement. Podcast Guest Profile Wendy Gray currently runs the short course and industry certificate programs at the Australian Film Television Radio School (AFTRS). Over the last seven years she has been Head of the Open Program, Head of the TV Unit and began life at AFTRS as the Industry Program Manager. In her current role she liaises with Industry through the Industry Advisory Panels, runs industry-related events and oversees the development and delivery of industry short courses and industry certificates. Wendy started her career in the media at ABC TV, where she worked for twelve years in a wide variety of production roles, across all genres. Her final years at the ABC saw her devising, producing and directing a number of children’s television series including AFI-award winning series The Ferals and forty episodes of Play School. Subsequently as a freelance producer Wendy worked on a wide range of television productions, including documentary series Greatest Cities of the World with Griff Rhys-Jones, and The Upside Down Show, an award-winning children’s series with The Umbilical Brothers, Nickelodeon US and the Children’s Television Workshop. She returned to the ABC joining the (then) New Media Division to work on the launch of ABC2, designing and executing channel branding and program development and production. Wendy has also worked on a number of online projects including working as Online Content Producer in the marketing department for Southern Cross and as a senior website producer for Gadfly Media, supervising website content for clients such as SOCOG and NRMA. She also worked for the Australian Film Commission (now Screen Australia) on a major online content project Australian Screen Online and taught production at SAE Byron Bay. She has a BA (Communications) from Macquarie University and a Grad Dip in Interactive Multimedia from UTS. Time Stamps 0:53 | Why I've been doing short courses through AFTRS 8:01 | Interview with Wendy Gray Interesting Links Australian Film Television Radio School https://www.aftrs.edu.au/; Telephone (Australia): 1300065 281 Australian Writers' Guild https://www.awg.com.au/ Film Victoria https://www.film.vic.gov.au/ Say Hello! I'm at taku.com.au, Instagram/Twitter: @takuspeaks or Facebook: @TakuTV.

In this episode I discuss: My problems with consistency and priorities. Putting the writing of my traumatic brain injury nonfiction book on pause. Accepting that all my head trauma has left me with an injured and underfunctioning brain. Why I've been doing the Wim Hoff 10-day course on the Commune app. That I just completed Act 1 of the second book in the Tales of the Blessed and Broken series. I just added two more co-authors to the Try Not to Die series and will put out an episode next week developing one of those books. Also includes the short horror story "Glory" (14:40)

I'm so excited for this episode because it signifies a really big milestone for the podcast (revealed in the episode!). I intended for episode 40 to be about leaving what's comfortable behind to move forward in life and instead I sat down and talked about perseverance. This podcast wouldn't be here today without my constant decisions to keep going even when the numbers, the growth, the results said I should do otherwise. So, today I sat down to tell my story, my podcast story, and relate it back to perseverance and why you'll always get to your destination if you keep moving forward. Grab ya drinks babygirrrrlllsss and tune in for a hot one - cause I got new gems for you and they're dropping in this episode!   In this episode we’re talking all about: The podcast story, like the true behind the scenes of how much the podcast has grown over the past 9 months (numbers included!) Why I've almost quit the podcast twice and what brought me back both times The reason your favorite legends are legends and which parts of their come up story they'll always focus on How to keep going (even when it feels like no one is clapping for you) Gems about perseverance even when you feel like quitting   2020 ManiFEST Circle Event, Get your ticket here: http://bit.ly/2K8VZHl Free Scripting E-Book: http://bit.ly/MDScriptBook Full Episode Show Notes: http://bit.ly/35u2SLD MANIFEST DAILY on Instagram @ManifestDailyPodcast You can find me on Instagram @DheandraNicolette 

Why I've never had a b/f, good morning texts are for suckers... and the eagles got a much needed W feat @damn_fool914

Why I've been absent for 3 days, and the great news of my upcoming interviews. I will be interviewing 20-25 people on this same journey. People from all over the world in network marketing, affiliate marketing, and any type of make-money-online venture.

Wanting to achieve a lot and fighting that you need breaks. I confess and accept all that I am. Why I've been away.

In this episode, I chat about: Why I've been M.I.A + How I was able to overcome my recent struggles. What to do when life feels like it's working against you & everything is falling apart. How to break free from a negative cycle. Letting go of the "victim mentality" Rebuilding yourself and your life. ♥ Sign up for the Got Glow Newsletter HERE! ♥ Follow my instagram for #DAILYGLOWTIPS @missjasmineshah! ♥ Subscribe to my youtube channel HERE! ♥ Follow me on twitter @missjasmineshah! ♥ Email: infojustglowwithit@gmail.com --- This episode is sponsored by · Anchor: The easiest way to make a podcast. https://anchor.fm/app

What's up Freedom Fighters! Hey, welcome back for another episode. Today I am your guest, Mike Hambright! Today, I'm gonna talk about something that's been on my mind and something that I've been struggling with personally...it's a little cliché but it's "what is your WHY"? I've been struggling with it myself and I actually asked this question in the Facebook Group the other day and I want to share some thoughts with you...Let's get started! To learn more about Investor Fuel, visit InvestorFuel.com.

What's up Freedom Fighters! ​Hey, welcome back for another episode. Today I am your guest, Mike Hambright! Today, I'm gonna talk about something that's been on my mind and something that I've been struggling with personally...it's a little cliché but it's "what is your WHY"? I've been struggling with it myself and I actually asked this question in the Facebook Group the other day and I want to share some thoughts with you...Let's get started! To know more about Investor Fuel, please visit InvestorFuel.com.

  On this episode, we’re talking all about what to do when you don't hit your goals and you feel like your launch or program is a failure and what you should do next.     Highlights:    Why I've been re-examining my own expectations for myself and my role in my business What happens when we tie our self-worth to our sales goals The two most common failed launch scenarios and what went wrong Four actions to take after a "failed" launch or promotion   Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode:    Join the Waitlist for Plan to Profit  

What do you after you set your goal? What if you know what to do but you aren't getting anything done? Today I'm going to answer those questions and talk about how I use a planner. I know it's February, and most people think about planning and planners and overhauling their habits at the first of the year, but I'll be honest with you: this year I didn't start even THINKING about my new year until January 20th. Between the logistics of a new 2 year old foster placement in my life and the learning curve of toddler parenting, I had no brainspace to spend thinking or planning. And once I started talking about my planning on Instagram (@taraswiger), I started getting questions that I wanted to answer here on the podcast. And hey, these are the questions I'm dealing with right now, as my whole work life is different now that I’m a new mom. So the real question, for most of us when it comes to productivity is "how do I get done what I want to get done?" In my experience getting things done comes down to three different parts of the process. At least one part of the process probably comes to you very naturally, and you don't have to even think of it. But another part of the process may not feel natural. You may get frustrated because you have such a clear vision about where you want to go, but your days seem to slip past you. Or you may be a pro at checking things of your list, but you feel fuzzy about where it's all going. What you need is to identify how you do all three parts and then focus in on where your system is breaking down. The Three Parts of Getting What You Want Done: First, identify the destination. Where do you want to go? If you just start planning your day or setting goals without a vision for the destination, it will be hard and you'll probably change course often and not make a lot of progress. The clearer you are, the easier this will be, but I don't want you to fret too much over this. The longer you work on your business, the clearer you'll get about your Ideal Destination, and the more you'll know about the business you want. Your vision can evolve as you move along your path. But you do need to spend time thinking about the aspects of where you want your year or your life or the next 3 months to go. What do you want to have more of? How do you want to spend your time? How do you want to feel? The first section of Map Your Business walks you through this. Second, map out the steps to get closer to the destination. Break your destination down into a smaller goal (for the next 3-6 months) and map out the steps you'll need to get there. This is the heart of my book Map Your Business, it has worksheets that guide you through this process 4x a year.   I hear from women every day who are using Map Your Business to get clear about where they are in their business and where they want it to go. (I LOVE hearing from Mappers and seeing your posts on Instagram, so if you are using Map Your Business, please tag me!) But it's not just about SETTING the goal, Map Your Business walks you through identifying what you'll need to do to reach your goal - the mini-goals you'll hit on the way there, and the actual tasks you'll need to complete. When you're done mapping, you'll have a big to do list that will move you where you want to go.   You can't make progress unless you know SPECIFICALLY what to work on. Third, give the tasks a time and space. This can be as free or as structured as you like. There are any number of ways to do this, but for many of the makers I talk with, this is the step they're skipping. They may have done Map Your Business and now they don't actually get the tasks done because they haven't set aside the time and space. The big thing to remember is: this aspect will probably have to change as you grow. For years, I would have the same set workday, and then just take my map to do list and work through it during the workday. Over time I learned I work best when days have a specific focus, like writing on Monday and recording on Tuesday. Within those boundaries, I'd work on my to do list. Now my whole schedule has been blown up by a 2 year old, so I'm rethinking how I do this. Here are some ways that work for the women I know: Have set work hours and just work down your list during those hours. Theme days: writing days, shipping days, sewing days Time Block your schedule: look at the blocks of time you have and assign the blocks kinds of tasks (the main thing is to STOP doing that task when the block is over). You may get your family out the door from 6-8, workout from 8-9, work on marketing and photography  9-12, then work on production from 1-3. Then family time from 3-8. Your blocks can be tiny (1 hour) or bigger (3 hrs is probably the max for your focus and attention). Plan when you'll do what task at the beginning of the week (useful if your schedule changes a lot). I want you to remember: it doesn't matter HOW you organize time or even how much time you have, what matters is "are you working on what matters to you and to your goals during that time?" It's possible you have one of the above systems in place (or you intend to) and yet you still aren't working on what matters? Why? I've found that most of us are dealing with one of the following reasons: We aren't actually working on what we planned to. Instead of taking photos for Instagram, we're scrolling instagram. Instead of writing the email newsletter, we're looking at our email stats. That's ok! Don't beat yourself up! Just recognize it, identify where you do it, and move on. We haven't written it down. I don't know how you'll keep track of what to work on if it's not written down somewhere visible. You can make a pretty planner, you can use Asana, you can just write a list on a post-it, but I've never met anyone who didn't need SOME way of keeping track of what to do next. If you find yourself NOT working during your work time, stop and write down what you'll do next. It may see silly or unnecessary if you've already written it all down, but this is my quickest productivity hack: I just write down the next 2 things I'll do starting...now. You're not keeping track of all you DO do.Many times I've talked to a business owner who is complaining she never gets anything done and then she tells me about her day and OMG she is DOING SO MUCH. But she's not "counting it". So start writing down and planning ALL that you do, not just your business or not just the newest goal. Having it all written down in front of you can make you more realistic about the time you have to spend on this new goal and help you celebrate all that you get done! If you liked today's episode but you wanna go WAY deeper into productivity and how to plan a workday that works for you, check out my creativeLIVE class, How to Get More Done. It's 6 hours long with awesome bonuses and worksheets and you can find it at taraswiger.com/time. And if you want to see my own planner system, check out my YouTube channel, my Monday videos have recently been about the systems I have used and how I plan now!   Listen in at TaraSwiger.com/podcast244

Why I've been away... and what changes are coming up for the podcast!

I tell you WHY I've decided to writhe a book

00:00 - 00:28: Intro 00:29 -03:36: Why I've been absent 03:37 - 09:02: Danielle Kang chat 09:03 - 16:18: Recapping last 4 weeks through my eyes 16:19 - 40:29: Adam Stanley chat 40:30 - 44:00: WGC Preview & Sign-off --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/rj-mccullough0/support

Wheatgrass juice is a superfood, many call it nature's wonder food or panacea as it has innumerable benefits and nutrition qualities - from boosting immunity and energy to better skin and being used as an effective treatment for cancer, diabetes and ulcerative colitis.What you’ll learn in this episode: Why I've been drinking wheatgrass juice for 16 years and love it! How to reap its anti-aging and beautifying properties The surprising effect it has on our hair and skin Why chlorophyll is so powerful and alkalizing to our bodies and what it does Why not all wheatgrass powder and green juice supplements are the same and what to look out for and avoid My recommendation for where to buy wheatgrass at the highest quality and at an affordable price Show notes: http://www.LauraRimmer.com/eh030Listen/download in iTunes: http://www.laurarimmer.com/podcastGo to http://www.LauraRimmer.com for show notes and to get your FREE Optimum Health Scorecard.http://www.laurarimmer.com/podcast

Why I've stopped doubting the man I loved

The happiest man in the world (according to science) has some advice for you. No, I'm not the worlds happiest man, although I took his advice and I am quite a bit more chipper now than I used to be. What scientists discovered is how happy a brain can be, and I've got news for you, it's off the charts compared to what they thought was possible before. In this episode of the podcast I go over the way you can hack your brain to produce more of those happy brainwaves. This increases the parts of the brain associated with happiness and compassion, and actually weaken the areas that promote negativity. This leads to a base level increase of your happiness. Full show notes: https://www.brilliantside.com/happiness-brain-hack-sub-020/ Talking Points: (2:30) How happiness can be trained just like running (7:00) Happiness is a skill. Did you learn your happiness skills when you were a kid? (9:00) Building up a skill requires work, effort, and it kind of sucks at first. (10:00) How one skill can apply to many different areas of your life (11:30) The Happiest Man in the world according to science (13:25) How scientists measured happiness (15:15) The key to training your brain to be happier (15:45) The difference between happiness and wellbeing (17:44) Why I've been a hypocrite (18:30) How I increased my happiness by 20% (30:00) This is the last episode for 2017! 2018 is going to be amazing... a preview of whats to come.

A lot of people struggle with liking photos of themselves. Why? I've no idea. I know I did until a few years ago when I opened my own business. I knew I'd have to have some good shots of myself. Why? Because people buy you and your business. If you come across shifty, incompetent or unfriendly, you've just done yourself out of some business. Decisions about people through their profile photo are made in 40 milliseconds. Yep. That fast. And most people aren't even cognizant of having weighed, measured and found you wanting. They just know they aren't going to do business with you. So if your profile photo space is blank -it's the same thing. What are you hiding? Why aren't you visible for your business? Are you telling the truth about who you are and what you can do? So much pressure in this selfie laden online world. Take some of these tips, get a friend with a steady hand and for the love of all that is holy don't use a selfie and add a profile photo to your social media platforms, website and wherever else it can go. Your business will thank you for years to come.

My Bland Soup Experiment Today I talk about how I went to purchased a 2 Quart Slow Cooker ($8) and was amazed at how much SALT is in the "ready made" seasoning mixes for slow cookers. So I decided to make my own. I purchased some stew meat, a bag of frozen mixed vegetables, and some no sodium beef broth (that still have 79 mg of salt). I browned the meat, and through everything together and went to visit my brother. I came home and everything was done, but it was pretty bland. The good new is I could add salt to taste instead of having 900 mg of salt that I didn't ask for.  It turns out that 2000 mg of salt is a teaspoon. The 2010 Dietary Guidelines for Americans recommend an upper limit for sodium consumption of 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day for adults. If you are African American, age 51 or older or have high blood pressure, diabetes or chronic disease, that recommendation is lowered to 1,500 milligrams per day. The good news is I tried something new. I learned some insights, and thanks to the internet I'm sure there are plenty of health slow cooker recipes for me to try me to try. I do love set it and forget it cooking (with very little clean up as well).  Probiotics - Do We Need These? My answer is I don't know. I get that your "Gut" has enzymes that help keep us healthy, and some of our food kills the good enzymes. In looking at some Probiotic Complex, there was a video that states that a study in england more or less dismissed them as necessary unless you have diarrhea or have IBS. Fooducate - Not Only Says a Food is Bad, but WHY I've used other apps to help share some insights into what foods are good and which ones are bad, but they were totally free. I am always worried they are being paid by companies to spotlight their food as a healthy choice. Fooducate has additional "pro" versions so you don't have to about that (their prices are very reasonable for bonus features, and their free features are great). I love that they tell you why something is getting a less than steller grade. I love in some cases, they throw in some good old honest SNARKINESS. It's pretty entertaining.  One of my favorite features is you can log your food (including the ability to scan a bar code - I love that) your water, sleep, and activity and it gives you a grade for the day. I would love to see it integrate with fitbit so I wouldn't have to log my information twice.  Check it at out at fooducate.com (available for both iOs and Android). The food tracking is only in the app, you can do food lookup on their website.   

So just to be different (and because a few people asked), it's just me today. I've taken this opportunity to introduce myself and what it is that I do over at The Inspired Table, because believe it or not, even some of my closest friends and family get stumped when asked what I do for a living. In this episode I discuss: *My childhood and upbringing in a blended family. *How The Inspired Table was born. *And how it has evolved overtime. * Why I've stopped calling myself a slashie. * The importance of having a strong message. *Why the two different sides of The Inspired Table are more connected than you might think. *I divulge the agenda for my event series Inspired Lunar Nights. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Why I've always played poker. Why poker is such an awesome game. Why you probably shouldn't play because you will suck.

The Amazing Task of File Management! A little to enthusiastic? Oh well, can't blame a guy for trying. The fact is file management is probably one of the most boring tasks we do as graphic designers. Boring, but necessary if we want to run an efficient and streamlined business. After all, the less time we have to spend searching for some file we haven't touched in several years the better. A good file management system will make your life as a designer so much easier. So although file management isn't the most glamorous topic to cover in a graphic design podcast, it is what I choose to cover In this week's Resourceful Designer. Different areas of file management In order to try and make this week's podcast episode a little more interesting I decided to break it into seven different sections of file management Resources Client Files Logos Fonts Training/Education Material Bookkeeping Backups Resources Resources cover everything you may use that helps you be the wonderful graphic designer that you are. I'm talking, image libraries, application plugins, Photoshop actions and styles, website themes, Wordpress plugins etc. Anything that you can use in the design process. If you're like me you've probably purchased a few design bundles at some point (or many, don't judge). Design bundles are a great way of acquiring resources for your work. The thing with design bundles is they often come with way more than what you're actually interested in at the time. However, some of those pieces are worth saving for that "someday" you may need them. Having a Resources folder makes it easy to find all those often used or seldom used pieces to help you in your designing. My Resources folder contains many different folders for all of the above. For example; we all know that sometimes a good background can complete a design project. In my Resources folder I have a Backgrounds folder that contains every image file I own that can be used as a background. The folder is divided into sub-categories to make it easier to find what I want. Metal, stone, leather, paper, wood are a few of those sub-categories. If I'm ever working on a project and I think a nice wood background is needed I know exactly where to look for one. That's good file management. Also in my Resources folder is a Stock Images folder. In it I have the original copy of ever single stock photo and image I've ever purchased. I have this folder subdivided as well into Photos, Vectors, and Illustrations and each of these is also subdivided. For example, my Photos folder is divided into People, Landscapes, Vehicles, Interiors, etc. and each of those is subdivided further. People is divided into Women, Men, Couples, Seniors, Families etc. Every time I purchase a new stock image I make sure to put it in the right category. If it could go into multiple categories I make aliases of the file (Shortcuts in Windows) and put them in each category they fit into. This makes it extremely easy for me to search through specific categories and quickly find what I'm looking for. There are other ideas for the Resources folder I talk about on the podcast. Client Files File management of client files is a must. Otherwise you could spend hours searching for things when an old client contacts you down the road. On my computer I have my client files organized like this. I have one main folder that I call "Jobs In Progress". The title is a bit misleading since not everything in the folder is "in progress" but that's the name I gave the folder over 10 years ago and I just never bothered changing it. Inside my Jobs in Progress folder I have a separate folder for each client I have. There are two special folders in there as well called "Old Clients" and "Inactive Clients". Old Clients is for any client I know will never come back. Businesses that have closed or have been bought out. That sort of thing. From time to time when I need to clear up HD space I will move these clients to an external device but for the most part I leave them there. Why? I've learnt over the past 25 years that just because a client doesn’t exist anymore doesn't mean you wont need their files anymore. It's happened more than once that someone came looking for something and I was glad I has saved them. My Inactive Clients folder is for any client that I haven't heard from in over 2 years. They're still around but either they've found someone else to design for them or they haven't had need of me. That leaves the rest of my Jobs In Progress folder that contains a folder for every client I've worked with over the past two years. Opening any one of the client folders shows folders for each project I've done for them. Stationary, Flyers, Billboards, Website etc. Now what's found in each of these changes depending on the client. Clients that I do a lot of work for I may divide their folders by year, month and date if need be, others just by year. Regardless of that hierarchy, once I get down to it, every single client project folder I have is built the same way. Inside the project folder is the actual layout file (QuarkXpress or InDesign), or the website files. There are also four folders in every project folder. Working; for all the .psd and .ai files pertaining to the project. Images; for all the completed images that are actually used on the project. Supplied; for all file that the client has supplied me. Final; The final approved file to be sent to the client, printer, etc. If there are common elements such as graphics or photos that are used across all marketing material I store these in a special "Images" folder at the root level of the client folder. Logos Now you may be wondering why logos don't fall under the images folder for the individual clients? I discovered many years ago that it's much easier to save each and every logo I have on my computer in one centralized location. In my case I have a Logos folder in my Resources folder. In it I have all my clients logos as well as every single logos I've accumulated over the years. The reason i do this is for those time when you need to include "sponsor" logos on some poster or website for a client. Trying to remember if, or on what project you may have used some obscure logo a few years ago isn't fun. Since I started keeping all my logos in one place I've never had this issue. Listen to the podcast for a fun story about my logo storing method. Two Tricks For Acquiring Logos Sometimes it's a real pain to get good, usable logos from a client. Especially if they don't understand what it is you need. I have two tried and true methods of acquiring good quality logos quickly and easily. But you'll have to listen to the podcast to hear them (hint, it's at the 27 minute mark) Font Management Fonts are another thing we graphic designer tend to amass over time and it can be a real pain to sort through them to find just the right one. That's why I think everyone should have some kind of font management software to help organize the chaos. I can't speak for all the various options but I can tell you about Suitcase Fusion by Extensis. I've been using Suitcase Fusion since before they added the Fusion to it. This font management software integrates with all the design software we use to turn fonts on and off as we need them. This way you don't bog down your system with unnecessary fonts. Suitcase Fusion is a great way to organize your fonts and make it easier to find that perfect one for the project you're working on. In the application you can create sets to organize your fonts. I have mine set up alphabetically as A, B, C, D etc with each font in it's appropriate folder. I also have special folders for Celtic Fonts, Script Fonts, Hand Drawn Fonts etc. The best thing about Suitcase Fusion is the ability to assign styles and/or keywords to fonts. This makes it so easy to narrow down your choices. Looking for a slab serif font? Eliminate all fonts that don't fit that category and your search just became that much easier. Training/Education Perhaps not file management in the technical sense, but I've found that keeping all your training material in one place is a big help. Any eBook, video, guide, manual, web clip etc. should be in easy access for when you do need it. I have my Training folder divided into Web, Photoshop, Illustrator, (plus other applications) etc. Any time I download a guide or manual I store it in the appropriate place. Any time I stumble upon a good tutorial page or video I I grab the URL, label it as what it is, and put it in my Training folder for later access. Having this resource has saved me many hours searching online for something that I remember seeing some time in the past. Bookkeping This is a simple one that I use. The numbers on every invoice I send out begin with the current year. This January I opened my invoicing program, I use Billings Pro by Marketcircle, and I changed the numbering to start with 16-xxxxx. This makes it easer down the road to know exactly when a certain job was done. Backups Now backing up really has nothing to do with file management. But, what's the point of implementing a great file management strategy if you end up loosing all your files due to some unforeseen circumstance? There are things in this world beyond our control. Fire, flood, tornadoes, theft are just a few. On-site backup via Apple Time Machine or some other external device is a must for all graphic designers. But off-site backup is something we should all be using as well. For this I use a company called Backblaze. Backblaze is a set it and forget it solution. It works in the background backing up your files so you never have to worry should a natural disaster ever happen. There are other solutions available but Backblaze is the one I'm familiar with. Another form of backup you should look into is website backup. Most hosting providers offer site backup but they don't say how often. Some are every 30 days, 60 days, even 90 days. That's fine for a static website. But for any site that is updated on a regular basis it wont do. My preference for website backup is BackupBuddy by iThemes. BackupBuddy offers real time backups of your site. As soon as something is changed on the site it gets backed up. I have all my and my clients' sites backed up this way. So there you have it. File Management in a nutshell. I hope that wasn’t too hard to get through. I would love to hear your comments. Share your strategies by leaving me a comment. In next week's episode of Resourceful Designer I'm going to talk about the dangers of working from home. Questions of the Week I have another Question Of The Week to answer. If you would like me to answer your question in a future episode please visit my feedback page. This week’s question comes from Teri, Hi Mark, I have just started listening to your podcast in the past month and am really enjoying it! Thanks for all the fantastic advice! I have been working in the industry for about 7 years now here in Atlanta, Georgia. After the birth of my daughter a year and half ago I have started working from home part-time (which I love) and it has been keeping my quite busy! I was wondering if you had any advice on passing off work to other designers? Is there a good network you use or how do you build that network? I also feel that part of my value as a designer is that I know the clients and what they are looking for, thus it is difficult to explain that to another designer, especially with a super fast turn around. To find out what I told Teri you’ll have to listen to the podcast. Resource of the week is BackBlaze One of the scariest things you can think of as a designer is what would happen if disaster strikes and you loose all your computer files. What would it mean for your business? Backblaze offers a simple unlimited online backup solution for your design business for less than $5/month. And it’s so easy. You just set it up and forget about it. Backblaze works in the background automatically backing up your files. And if you ever loose your data for whatever reason, you wont have to worry because you’ll know everything can be restored from Backblaze. If you’re interested in finding out more about Backblaze’s online backup solution and trying a 15 day free trial, visit resourcefuldesigner.com/backup Subscribe to the podcast Subscribe on iTunesSubscribe on Stitcher Subscribe on Android Contact me Send me feedback Follow me on Twitter and Facebook I want to help you. Running a graphic design or web design business all by yourself isn't easy. If there are any struggles you face running your design business please reach out to me. I'll do my best to help you by addressing your issues in a future blog post or podcast episode here at Resourceful Designer. You can reach me at feedback@resourcefuldesigner.com  

http://RadicalPersonalFinance.com/patreon Today, we launch our brand-new crowdfunding campaign! I've closed the old Irregulars membership program and am replacing it with this new campaign. Tune in to the show to hear: What worked well in the Irregulars version 1.0. What didn't work at all. Why I've felt guilty every time I've recorded a show for the last few months. Why I'm launching the new crowdfunding campaign. Also, we're launching our brand new app! Go get it from the app store and let me know what you think! Joshua Links: Check out the Patreon Page!

It takes certain tools to run an online business, and there are choices that need to be made. In this episode of The Blog Program, I get into some of the behind-the-scenes nitty-gritty details of what makes an online business tick. Specifically, we'll be talking about email marketing, and why after YEARS of working with Aweber, I decided to switch away from it and make the move to Office AutoPilot (aka Ontraport). This was a pretty big move for me, and one which isn't going to be applicable to everybody in my audience. However, this episode will be a good one for those of you who... Are running established online businesses and find yourself getting frustrated with some of the limitations of your current software, and feel you're leaving money on the table because of it. OR... You're still fairly new, but are still interested in some of the considerations that go into an online business as it grows. This episode covers such topics as: Why I've been recommending Aweber over Mailchimp for my readers 8 different reasons why I decided to switch from Aweber to Office AutoPilot (aka Ontraport) What the #1 most important asset of your business is Some of the "holes" you may have in your business while using a traditional email marketing service like Mailchimp or Aweber.

In this episode, I jump into the subject of productivity and getting more done. Bloggers and online entrepreneurs are particularly prone to overwhelm and the shiny object syndrome. In order to succeed online, you've got to have yourself organized. In these 15 productivity tips, you'll discover real-world, actionable advice from the trenches to help you get more productive online - and not let all these shiny objects get the best of you. Even though this episode doesn't solely apply to bloggers, I thought it was important to cover this material early in the lineup of The Blog Program. ... Because, if you're not organized, you just won't get anywhere with your online business. If you're overwhelmed, little will happen. In this episode, you'll learn about: Why you should consider NOT reading very much. How I personally use Evernote to plan my week (and capture blog ideas) The solution to strategy overwhelm that usually follows reading a bunch of blogs about blogging. How to deal with your email. Why I've been a clean-freak lately (and my wife is lovin' it) Why a desk that you stand up at isn't as crazy as it seems. And a lot more.

Catching up on unfinished business // Dogfish Head + Sierra Nevada = Life and Limb 2 // Why I've been away // Brazilian BBQ, Pao de queijo, and how to make your own // The restaurant business is not for everyone // Price of food increase // Grocery store strikes loom in California // Rachael Ray is a notoriously bad tipper? // Coming this Fall to ABC - The Chew