Learn how to elevate your client experience plus how to balance your business, family, and career from Rebecca Muriuki, a mom of 3 including twins, runs her side hustle coaching business alongside her high-pressure corporate job in the largest global audit firm and is a self-proclaimed spreadsheet nerd.

Rebecca’s bio:

Rebecca is a corporate mom who is passionate about helping other mompreneurs find the time in their busy schedules to build their business and take back control of their time, income & purpose, mom-guilt free!  Rebecca has helped women around the world to hit their biggest side hustle goals with ease, erasing the overwhelm and burnout that often holds them back from building a business that gives them a sense of fulfillment. Rebecca, a mom of 3 including twins, runs her side hustle coaching business alongside her high-pressure corporate job in the largest global audit firm and is a self-proclaimed spreadsheet nerd.

Join Rebecca's Facebook Community: busytobossmoms.com 

Find Rebecca on Instagram: @thisisrebeccakay

Free resource: https://rebeccakay.co/quiz

[00:00:00] Lindsay: You are listening to the book, your dream clients podcast, bite-sized episodes from one coach to another to help you create and scale your business with simplicity, no hustle required.

[00:00:15] Welcome back to the book, your dream clients podcast. We have Rebecca Kay with us today and she helps coaches create systems to scale their business without the busy work. So sit back, relax and enjoy.

[00:00:32] Rebecca. Thank you so much for being on the book, your dream clients podcast. I'm so happy to have you on. 

[00:00:38] Rebecca: Thank you so much, Lindsay. I'm so excited. I know we've been talking about this for a couple of months. 

[00:00:44] Lindsay: I know it's, it's crazy how fast time goes. And when an appointment is booked, it seems like, oh, that'll take forever until it gets there.

[00:00:52] And boom, here we go. 

[00:00:54] Rebecca: Exactly. Exactly. I'm excited to be here and to spend time with you and your listeners. 

[00:00:59] Lindsay: Yes. Why don't you go ahead and tell everyone about what you do. 

[00:01:05] Rebecca: Sure. So I help Orman predominantly moms with busy and hectic schedules. Just find time and build a business that gives them time freedom with the right systems, structures, and processes to support them while they're doing that.

[00:01:24] Lindsay: So, as you know as you might hear in the background, Rebecca is a mother. How many kids do you have Rebecca? 

[00:01:32] Rebecca: Oh, yes. I have three kids including twins. So yeah, I know we talked about how they might be screaming in the background real life here. 

[00:01:43] Lindsay: Rebecca twins love to make special appearances on calls and interviews.

[00:01:48] Right? 

[00:01:50] Rebecca: Always.

[00:01:57] Lindsay: But that is real life though. And I think it's important to share those things. You know, I have three kids too, and sometimes I'll have a little voice at my door or a knock, and sometimes they'll have a note slipping underneath because they're trying to get attention. And that's just how it is. We don't have these policies.

[00:02:16] Podcast studios and offices were no interruptions. I think that we actually thrive on the interruptions and the distractions. And I like to think of it as when your kids are, are pulling at you for something that's a sign that you need a break and not to get frustrated, but there also comes a time when we're building our businesses that we need to focus.

[00:02:40] It's really hard to focus when there's so much in front of us, we feel like there's so much to do. And that's why Rebecca is a perfect person to talk about building systems in your business. And I think one of the biggest mistakes is a waiting for your business to grow, to create systems, wait for the first client to come to create your onboarding system.

[00:02:59] Wait for the first student to come in, to create your, for, to create your onboarding students system and to wait to do this and this and this until this happens. Do you feel like we should wait to build systems in our business or what's your theory? 

[00:03:16] Rebecca: Yeah, that's definitely one of the biggest myths that people have about systems.

[00:03:21] A lot of times as coaches and in the online business in general, we tend to feel like sales and you know, the front end of our business. Always has top priority and things like systems and looking at the back end and optimizing your processes, I think you can do later on, but it catches up with you.

[00:03:42] And I always like to tell my clients that the best time. To think of creating systems and putting in structure in your business is actually when you're starting out, because then your systems can grow as your business grows. And eventually it's going to catch up with you if you haven't thought of putting in the systems.

[00:04:00] I'm not saying this to scare anyone, but we all know that when you don't have it. The structures and processes in place, it really becomes a challenge to scale because then you have all this overwhelm of everything that is manual and even getting people to come into your business. When you're building a team becomes a challenge when you don't have that system, those systems and the structure to support them.

[00:04:28] Lindsay: I can think of an example of when I first started with an email service provider many years ago, I had MailChimp and I remember I didn't want to invest in the paid option. So back in the day, you had to pay to get your emails to automatically go out when somebody signed up for something. So every single time.

[00:04:49] Somebody opted in for a, my first ever freebie, I would get a notification on my phone, which I had to leave the supper table and run to my desk and then send him the email. And one day I thought, well, this is silly because I'm not always going to be here to send out this email. And why do, why do I think that running to my desk to send it.

[00:05:14] An email is going to save you time and money. That makes no sense. So upgrading my email service provider was my first way to create that simple system. What, some examples, what are some examples of first systems that people kind of see like, okay, that's an easy win for me. I can do that. Just to get the ball rolling.

[00:05:33] Rebecca: Yes. Yes. I mean, you've hit the nail on the head. I even know people who still have spreadsheets, where every time someone wants to sign up and get their free guide, they add the person's name and the email is to a spreadsheet. And then they go into Gmail and send them. That's an extreme example, but it does happen.

[00:05:55] And a lot of times it's either because people don't know that you can actually automate some of these things, but like you said, as well, there's also that mental block that this is a cost and they don't see it in terms of the money they're making implicitly. If you were to save the time and free up your time to actually focus on those high levels, your activities.

[00:06:17] So totally agree with you there. In terms of easy to win quick wins systems for me, the one I like as a start is your task management. And I know Lindsay, you talk about Asana a lot, and I find that to be such a quick win in terms of how much time you can see. Instead of, you know, using notebooks, writing things and sticky notes, writing things on your table or your fridge door and forgetting all these things that you need to do and, you know, leaving your million dollar ideas.

[00:06:52] Systemize it brain dump everything that you need to do, put it in your task management system and eliminate the overwhelm of having to juggle all the things in your business. So for me, that's always the first one I recommend people do when they come to me and ask me what systems they should put in place.

[00:07:14] Lindsay: I love that. And I remember the feeling. Yeah. My first time ever putting all of my ideas into a sauna. And I remember thinking, where has this been all my life, because I felt like my brain was cleaned out. Like when you spring clean your home and or when you want to sprinkling your home and it just feels like a brand new place and it feels so refreshing.

[00:07:38] And like you have space to actually move and it's hard for us sometimes to get the concept of you don't have to always be. Thinking of new things to do and creating new lists and all of that. Why do you think people are so afraid to take their ideas off of paper and put them onto something digital?

[00:07:59] Why do you think there's a mental block in doing that? 

[00:08:03] Rebecca: Yeah, it could be a variety of reasons. I think one of the things that comes up is, you know, when you're used to. Writing things on your notebooks. That's, it's a system, right? And it's all in, in itself. When you're used to using that form of managing your tasks, managing your business or your life in general.

[00:08:23] I think the shift to digital becomes a bit difficult. Other people also feel that, well, maybe I'll lose things. You know, I've heard of people saying, well, what if I put everything here in a Santa? And then one day I Santa disappears and my business has gone just like that. So there's also those fears and concerns as well.

[00:08:44] But I think it's really just a way of doing things and introducing a completely different way of managing your day-to-day activities. It's definitely a jump for a lot of people. 

[00:08:56] Lindsay: I think it's a big mindset shift to put your ideas onto something that is organized and makes you feel like you can talk with them when you come into your office every day.

[00:09:07] Plus I don't want to see, I don't visualize. The CEO of my business, walking in with a bunch of random pieces of paper post-its and backs of printed sheets, because that's where all of her ideas are on and her processes. It's, that's not how I want my business to be run in the future. So sometimes I'll say, okay, in five years from now, is that how you're going to be running your business?

[00:09:33] You know, sending out an email, tracking everyone on a spreadsheet. Is that how you want to be run, how it should be run. And the answer is always no. So why are we doing that now? I'm not sure. I think people just don't know where to start. So if we, you know, we have something going like a sauna and we have all our ideas on there with some other things that coaches are doing are.

[00:09:54] Wasting time doing all the little things. Right. So what are some problems and struggles that you see your solo mompreneurs coming in? That you could say, okay, I can help you with this. Just give me an hour. I can totally help you. What are those common struggles? 

[00:10:10] Rebecca: Yes. So one of the things I see a lot, I mean, even the bigger business owners is this whole back and forth in arranging for meetings, which I find is such a time suck.

[00:10:24] Calendly or acuity and send people the link to book time in your calendar and just eliminate the back and forth unnecessary emails. So that's a big one I see is something you can within 10 minutes have set. And have it up and going. And it is really great cause it, it syncs with your Google calendar.

[00:10:44] So people aren't going to book time in your calendar if you're not available during that time. So that's definitely a definite big win. The other thing I see people do a lot in terms of manual tasks is client management now. There are so many different ways to manage your client admin, but sending emails and creating, you know, new offers and proposals.

[00:11:10] Every time you have a new client coming in is a big, big waste of time. And it's also not a way to scale your business. I mean, think of if your clients were to take. Overnight. I mean, that would be great. Right. Would you be able to handle all the client admin that will be associated with that? If everything you're doing is manual.

[00:11:31] And I even have people coming in and telling me how they've had, you know, they've sent proposals with the wrong client names, or they've sent that email to the wrong time. Everything is just so manual and there's no structure and process around it. And when you think about just mapping out your client journey and putting in some process and putting in a workflow in place, it becomes such, it's like a weight off your shoulders lifted because you don't have to think through that process.

[00:12:06] Each time a client comes in, you know what the steps are, it's documented somewhere. There's a workflow for it in your task management tool. And all you need to do is just follow those steps and use the templates that you've created so that you don't have to have that overwhelm and, you know, wasting time.

[00:12:25] I know people take. Two hours just signing on a new one on one client. What if you could have used that time to actually deliver to that client instead? So, yeah, those are the two big ones that I see are definite quick wins. I. 

[00:12:43] Lindsay: That was one of my biggest pet peeves. When people reach out to me to, you know, do an interview or whatever it is.

[00:12:50] And then they say, well, what worked, what day works best for you? And immediately I get anxious. And I just say, can you please give me your calendar please? And some people don't have those and that just blows my mind. Think of the time we could save going back and forth and please just go get a calendar.

[00:13:09] It would save everyone so much time. I don't know why people resist that, but whatever to each their own. So the next thing. The systems bringing out and bringing in clients. And we have coaches who are listening to this and, you know, Rebecca that I say prepare for the clients before they come. Otherwise, when that client comes in, you're going to be so excited.

[00:13:34] You're going to be anxious. You're going to be nervous. You're going to have so many feelings. You're going to completely blank out and that's okay. So that's why we need to have those steps in place. Talk, talk through your client onboarding experience. And I really want to make sure that everyone also knows that I don't know what systems you use, Rebecca.

[00:13:51] And if you care to share this, the program that the software you use, that would be great. I don't recommend using the expensive things out there. You don't need those. You can do most of your client onboarding with free software. So if you'd like to share what you use, that would be even better. 

[00:14:08] Rebecca: Yeah, sure.

[00:14:09] So, yeah, for sure. When starting out, I mean, you don't have to get on to adapt side or whatever, even though that's what I use, you can totally just follow, like what you're saying, use the free systems that are there and yeah. The most important thing is actually putting a process in place because you could have an expensive app and software, but if you don't know what you're going to put into it, it's really not going to do what it's meant to do for your business and for your time and the time that you want to save.

[00:14:40] So yeah, that's what I would say to that. So for clients Client admin and onboarding. You could have a workflow in your task management tool, whether it is a Santa or Trello or click up and every time a new client signs on you're going to go to your task management tool. You're going to create a new project copy and paste the template that you have created for your client onboarding and follow those, all those steps.

[00:15:09] You could also have canned emails so that you send your clients the same email every time. You signed them on, have your welcome packet there. Ready? So that you can send it in that welcome email. And so that you don't have to be creating your emails on the go and make sure you set yourself reminders as well.

[00:15:29] So if you know, you need to do one month, check-ins in your template for your client onboarding and admin. Give yourself a reminder to do those check-ins or it's all automated, and you don't have to think through all the different steps. In terms of contracting, there is HelloSign. I think there's also a DocuSign, which all offer free versions when you are starting out.

[00:15:54] So totally take advantage of those free absence software there is available to you, but if you are ready to go, you know, next level and to completely automate the entire process in one tool, I. I used upside or in my business. So everything from when someone applies to work with me to, when I send them the proposal and contract is all housed in that one tool which really also makes it nice and streamlined.

[00:16:23] But you don't have to, to get, you know, a paid version of a software to manage your clients when you're starting out. I totally agree with. 

[00:16:33] Lindsay: I still don't. I still, like, I feel like maybe I'm just old fashioned and I want to send out everything myself and that's just me. And I think it's important to know that you can do it.

[00:16:47] Any way you want, but you have to have something to refer back to for as long as you know, you've been doing this, Rebecca I've, I've been doing this. I still refer back to my workflow because there's just, you know, you're going to have other clients who are working with you on top of this. They're going to have things, projects that you're working on in your business, things going on in your family, there's all kinds of things that are going on in your brain.

[00:17:11] You're never going to have just complete downtime. So when you have all of these things floating around, And a new client comes in and you're like, oh my gosh, I totally froze. Or what do I do after the payment comes in? Do I send them the contract or do we sell them, send them the welcome kit? What do I do?

[00:17:28] You want to look super professional with your clients? Right? They want to feel like their investment is P is paying off already. You want to wow them right off the bat and continue to wow them. So if you look totally flighty and you don't know what's going to happen next, they're going to feel like, oh gosh, what did I just sign myself up for?

[00:17:47] We do not want to give those impressions off ever with our clients, because we want to have double, double dippers and triple different clients. They'll come back. If they felt like their experience with you is really, really amazing for them. Plus, you know, for me, I want to have my experience really great because I want my coaches to learn off of their experience of working with me.

[00:18:07] I've learned from the best and I've learned from the worst and I've taken all of that and made it into my own. Sometimes I, one of the best advice I can give you is if you don't know what it's like to work with a coach, but you want to work with clients, then work with a coach. So you know how it was in the back end and getting ready for the calls and doing all of those things.

[00:18:27] Do you agree Rebecca, or do you feel like you can still just Google and try and figure this out on your own? 

[00:18:34] Rebecca: I completely agree with that. First of all, you realize that the time that you're going to spend, trying to figure out what processes you need to put in place to, you know, elevate your client experience is probably not the best use of your time.

[00:18:50] And I. Always, always, always recommend people. If it is not your zone of genius, get someone who can help you do it because they are going to do a way better job than you trying to spend all your time, trying to figure out how to do it yourself. And I learned that from you as well in the, in the time that we worked together when you coach me in some of the things that I am now implementing in my business, And I would say the same thing, even for client experience, you know, you want your client, you want to be treated, you want to treat your clients the way you would like to be treated.

[00:19:24] Right. So why do you want to sort of have off the cuff. Client experience for your clients when that's not what you would like. Right. Do you want to give them that elevated white glove experience that they really feel cared for? And sometimes it's just the little things that count. And like you said, you, you want to make your clients feel at ease.

[00:19:50] And not anxious that, oh my goodness, whatever I just myself into. So if the first impression you're giving them is, you know, sending them the wrong email or forgetting to send them the email. When you promise you are going to send it yesterday or not sending the contract out in time, all those things build up.

[00:20:11] And it also creates this kind of, you know, anxiety and doubt, and they don't have the confidence that they may have had in you. If you had a more seamless client experience in place. 

[00:20:26] Lindsay: Oh, yes. So much goodness right there. And she just said something that I always love to think of. How would you want to be treated?

[00:20:34] You know, it's your business. Yes, but we are dealing with human beings who have families and other things going on. Do you want to increase their stress levels? Cause they're probably stressed out anyway. Do you, or do you want to make them feel like you just lifted a weight off their shoulders to want to make them feel taken care of or like this is going to be a long three months, right?

[00:20:55] You have to decide how you believe that they deserve to feel and then try to cater to that experience. Rebecca has a full-time job as well. She has a high pressure corporate, right? And she has her three babies and she has a business. And I think that is beautiful. Rebecca, do you want to share what your typical day looks like?

[00:21:18] Rebecca: Yes. So I'm sure you've already heard that been happening in the background. That is usually what happens most of my day. So I try and utilize my morning. Very early in the morning because that's literally the only time I have to myself. And so I love having that morning routine in place where I can do my prayer and meditation, do some journaling, just getting the right frame of mind.

[00:21:48] And then I try as much as possible to put in at least one hour. Even if it's just half an hour into my business. And that way I know. I can get at least one of my big three priorities for the day, Dan, and really, really just gives me that boost of confidence that, okay, I've got something done. I can do this.

[00:22:10] And I feel more in control of my day when I start my days, right. With a good morning routine. So that's how I start the day. Then obviously eight to five belongs to my employers. So I typically maybe spend half of my lunch hour, just checking in with my clients, getting onto Instagram, maybe doing one or two stories.

[00:22:33] And then in the evening, that's also time for my kids. I try as much as possible to give them, you know, some really present time because I find that when I give them my time and I'm not on my phone at the same time, they're more understanding when I then work on my business and I'm not focusing on them.

[00:22:53] So I try and have at least an hour just dedicated to, you know, snuggling with them. Being with them during your feeding time. And then I try and put them into bed. And then after that I put in another hour or so to just get ahead with, you know, whatever it is that I need to get ahead. I love just working in threes because that completely has taken the overwhelm out of running and scaling a business while jacking all the things.

[00:23:25] So I'll only ever focused on three things at a time. And even if I only just get one of those priorities, then I am okay. So I'll spend the, yeah, the rest of that hour, just catching up and then yeah. Try and get into bed early so that I can have a good start for the next day. Hmm. 

[00:23:48] Lindsay: I think that's a great day and it's definitely jam packed.

[00:23:51] I totally feel you, Rebecca. I would love to talk about your, your three that you have. Well, you have three kids, you have three major priorities. I know you have three priorities for your business. Talk about that. 

[00:24:03] Rebecca: Yes. Yes. So first of all, what I love doing is having themed days. So let's say a Monday is your day.

[00:24:15] Tuesday is client day. I will try and focus on your type activity. On Mondays only, and then client type activities on a Tuesday. So if it's a Tuesday, for example, my three priorities for the day will be centered around clients. So whether it is, you know, trying to. Improve on maybe may service gate or trying to look into my client processes and seeing if there's something I can improve or trying to do some deliverable for a client.

[00:24:50] All those things will be my focus for that day. And that way, I don't know. You know, all these different things competing for time and space in my mind at any given time. So that's just how I feel. I work most efficiently. And I think it's a really good structure that your listeners can use, especially if you're a mom juggling all the things and wearing all that.

[00:25:16] I 

[00:25:17] Lindsay: think that's so important and to have those theme days, and it's so freeing when, you know, okay. Fridays, I have, I take care of my podcast on Fridays, and then when I'm done, I'm done. I'm not going to try and do more because that's reserved for another day. I know it's sometimes tempting to do those things and remember, you're always free to do whatever you want in your business, but having those themes can really help you control.

[00:25:42] The amount of time you're spending in front of your computer. Cause I don't know about you, but we love working on our business. Cause we, we created it. We love it. I mean, seriously, if we could, if we could work on it all day, we probably would, but we need to, we have other things in our life that we need to take care of.

[00:25:58] A lot of us have full-time jobs. We have families, we have. We have lots of other things and that's the beautiful part of it. We're all, there's so many different facets to what we are, who we are and what we do. And the only way to make them all operate at a high level is to do things like Rebecca recommends.

[00:26:16] So I appreciate you sharing your day with us. And all the little voices in the background are just proof that you can do this. You don't have to wait until your kids are older or anything like that. I remember. Running a challenge while holding a newborn baby the whole time, you know, we can, we can do this.

[00:26:33] And having women who are open and transparent to their lives is empowering to the women who are afraid to step forward and go for their dream of running their business. So thank you for sharing all of that with us, Rebecca, why don't you go ahead and, and let us know how we can find you on social and your website.

[00:26:53] Rebecca: Thank you so so much, I've had so much fun having this conversation with you, Lindsay. So I hang out a lot on Instagram. So you can find me on Instagram at this is Rebecca Kay and I also have a website, Rebeccakay.co. So check it out as well. And I have a free resource that I would like to share with your listeners.

[00:27:17] It is a quiz that will just help you discover what's your work and task management style and what kind of systems you need to put in place next to sort of unlock that time. Freedom. Space, whatever it is that you want from your business, that is going to help you get to the next level and get to wherever you want your business to take you.

[00:27:40] So I would definitely highly recommend you try it out. It's quite fun. You can check it out@rebeccakey.co forward slash quiz. 

[00:27:50] Lindsay: I love it. I love quizzes so much. It reminds me of being in high school and like searching for all the quizzes and all the magazines. 

[00:27:59] Rebecca: Yes. Yes. I love those too. They were so fun. 

[00:28:04] Lindsay: My, one of my favorite memes I saw was me being 10 minutes late for a work meeting, because I'm trying to figure out what kind of garlic bread.

[00:28:11] I, yeah, that was hilarious. 

[00:28:16] Rebecca: Yeah. I remember buying. Just to get the latest quiz and then share them with my friends. 

[00:28:23] Lindsay: They just are special life changers. 

[00:28:27] Rebecca: Yes. You always discover something new about yourself. Don't know if they're all true, 

[00:28:32] Lindsay: right? We'll put Rebecca's links in the show notes. And go ahead and follow her on Instagram.

[00:28:38] She has, I love her reels. They're amazing. Go follow her and watch all of her reels. Go download her, go take her quiz because this is so important as you're growing your business, it's never going to be something that you're going to be okay. I'm done managing everything and I have this great system in place.

[00:28:56] You're always going to be growing. You're always going to need to revisit this. So having somebody you can go to, to help you is amazing. So thank you Rebecca, for being here. It's been a pleasure and please let her, let her know how much you love the episode as well. 

[00:29:11] Rebecca: Thank you so much, Lindsay,