Christine Schlonski [0:02]
Hi Gorgeous! This is episode number 234 with the wonderful Jaime Jay.

Jaime Jay [0:08]
Hi, here is Jaime Jay and you’re listening to Heart Sells! Podcast with Christine Schlonski. Enjoy.

Christine Schlonski [0:14]
Well, I am so pumped I have Jaime Jay on the show today he is the Founder and Managing Director of Bottleneck Virtual Assistants. And together with his amazing team, they offer professional growth opportunities for ambitious leaders by creating an efficient and systematic approach to identify, hire, and cultivate team members who focus on specific roles and responsibilities. And our conversation today is really based around sales because Jaime made a huge impact in his own business when he started out and it all comes down to having new processes in place for more opportunities. So I can’t wait to dive in with Jaime Jay. Well, I am so excited to have you on the show today, Jaime. Welcome!

Jaime Jay [1:06]
Thank you so much. I’ve really been looking forward to this.

Christine Schlonski [1:10]
Yeah, I know. And you had such amazing success and building your agency, Bottleneck Virtual Assistants, helping so many entrepreneurs with, you know, getting off the ground a little bit more than just doing their own thing in their own time getting caught up in all the nitty-gritty. And I just love that. So tell me, have sales been easy for you or business building? Since you remember or is this something that you had to learn?

Jaime Jay [1:44]
Oh, um, well, I think it’s the sales end of it probably came from Corporate America. I got trained in, in kind of, I don’t know, hardcore sales tactics like you know, they’re, they’re really driven by that bottom line. The good thing out of that was that I learned how to sell and I learned how to talk about things and explain things in a beneficial way to someone else. And I learned about more about talking about the benefits, less talking about the boring features and an industry lingo and all of that stuff. And I think I’ve taken what I’ve learned out of that, and then put my own little spin and twist on it as I’ve grown because I don’t like, you know, that hard sales. I just I, you know, I cringe when I, when I do stuff like that, or when I was forced to do stuff like that. I remember in training, they had to ask me, they did teach me about isolating objections and okay, is there anything else, Christine, besides the price that would prevent you from moving forward today? And oh, man, when I hear stuff like that, I’m like, Ah! So, so the good thing was, I did get a nice fundamental understanding and God bless them. They’re awesome and they love what they do. It just wasn’t for me. Um, I do like, I do like talking to people like you and, and, and doing things like that. But I like coming from a point of education, I think it is a little bit better, or from a place where I can answer questions that people have.

Christine Schlonski [3:15]
Yeah, it’s about building the relationship, right? And if you have what they need, then obviously you can make that offer. So what challenge do you see in entrepreneurship today, especially because you do work with so many smaller companies who actually then come to you for your services? But what do you think do they struggle with, not just on the, or from the standpoint of the organizational aspect, but actually to really building their business and getting off the ground to make a consistent revenue and then to also create the lives they dream of?

Jaime Jay [3:53]
Hmm. This is a good question, and there’s probably a million different answers, but I can probably sum it up in three answers. Number one is trust. Number two is not knowing what they don’t know. And number three, which and this third one is pretty, pretty vague. But number three, I believe, if you don’t trust somebody to do any work with them, you’re not going to do any work with them. You kind of open that up. If you don’t know, you don’t know, sometimes you don’t know what questions to ask. And then number three comes along, wherein if you don’t have that trust, and you don’t know what you’re doing, you don’t really know what you need to do to build your business. And that third thing you said organizational, I’ll say systems and processes. So it’s, it’s three different things if you don’t have your systems and processes in place. And by the way, that’s a living, breathing business, right? This is constant. As soon as you finish your systems, your processes for certain tasks or whatever it is, be ready, you’re gonna have to change it again. Because as you grow through business, you’ll discover different friction points, and you’ll need to kind of massage, those friction points out. And that’s usually tweaking workflows or systems or processes. So I think it’s those three things. And there’s a lot that goes into that. So that’s like a 30,000-foot view over the top three things that I think a lot of entrepreneurs probably struggle with, even if they don’t realize that’s what they’re struggling with.

Christine Schlonski [5:18]
Yeah, and I totally agree because you know, done that, got done that got the T-shirt. You know, it’s really like having the knowledge that you do need to come up with processes and systems even if you are solopreneur, right? What to do? When you do it? Like finding a system, how to set up the podcast, how to then produce the podcast, like to outsource it. It’s still a work in progress, but at least there’s something in place and I have steps. So now I can outsource now I can add people what is required so that they have a chance to deliver.

Jaime Jay [6:00]
You see, and you have an amazing process, just coming on to talk with you. You had your bullet points, this is what you can expect. And that’s the huge thing, too, is setting expectations. Because that’s probably one of the biggest challenges I think happen. We all hear this thing about over promise under deliver or you know, over deliver under promise. You know what that is? It’s a very simple solution to that. And I’m sorry, I said solution. I hate that word. There’s a very simple answer for figuring out what that is. And that’s process. Because for the expectations, because if you don’t layout how you want something to be done, how in the world does someone else know what it is they’re supposed to be doing? I wouldn’t have been prepared for this. Had I not gotten a great tip, and here’s step one, here’s step two, you were so good about that. So I came on 100% confident, just knowing oh my gosh, I know exactly what to expect. This is great! I don’t have to be too nervous

Christine Schlonski [7:00]
Thank you! Just a thought that you could have been nervous for this conversation, makes me smile. But, you know, and that’s interesting that you say that because my question was like, How can you be confident as someone leaving out the processes to then invite people and that could be a client working with to work with you? That could be a podcast guest if your podcast host. That could be you pitching yourself to be a podcast guest? Like, how can people be more confident in what they have to offer in and believing that others will follow the process they are laying out?

Jaime Jay [7:45]
Yeah, this is maybe where they don’t think that what they do is good enough. Maybe a little bit of imposter syndrome may creep in there. And so here’s what I say to that and take this what you will but. No, but there’s nobody else. There’s no other Christine Schlonski in the entire world. Now, there’s gonna be people that are maybe have a bigger following on podcasts or they’ve been doing it longer, or maybe, you know, whatever it is that you do. But as far as a collective of everything that you do your podcasting your business, you know, just doing everything that Christine does, no one can hold a candle to that. Not even close, because that’s you. And a lot of people don’t understand and don’t empower themselves and don’t think, wow, I’m just me, what do I know? Well, Jaime’s just me, Christine is just you, but look at what you’ve done with nothing. There’s literally been no podcast until you created your podcast. There was no cover art until you created that cover art for every single one of your guests to make them feel extra special, right? And because you do that, they’re gonna be like wow, this is really neat cover, I’m going to share this out with everybody. No one else ever did that. But they may have, but that’s just part of who you are. And so what I say to that is when people think, oh man, maybe I shouldn’t be doing this, do it! And start off with at least in my opinion, I started off with friends or colleagues. And they would come back and say, I’d say, oh, do this and this and this. oh, my gosh, thank you. And then comes in that ultimate thing that I learned so well, from Scott Peavy, do something as if it’s the last time you’re ever going to do it. Meaning document. So every time you do something, write down, okay, I’m gonna work with my good friend Christine on this project. And, and Christina, I’m gonna give you a discount because I’m just starting out I just, but thank you because I know you’re going to get a lot out of this, blah, blah, blah, whatever. So you, you go through that process, and Christine now kind of is helping me you are helping me develop my process. And the more you get your process or your systems processed out, the more confidence you’ll have. And then it goes, it just, kind of steamrolls from there. And then people will look to you like, oh my gosh, like Christine knows what she’s got going on. She just, she knows that because everything was your emails were impeccable, they were perfectly well thought out and everything was super easy. I knew exactly where to go. I showed up right on time. And it was all because you had a system in place. And that to me, exudes confidence.

Christine Schlonski [10:22]
Hmm, I love that viewpoint because so many people that are listening they are starting out or they are in their first five years of business. They might have you know, part-time virtual assistant but it’s not those big corporations. And they you know, when when we start out and I would guess that’s the same for everybody you kind of feel because you’re all of a sudden making that stuff up. You do feel like you might be a fraud, right?

Jaime Jay [10:52]
But embrace it. It totally embrace. When I what I did is I wish I could take back because I kind of faked it till I made it. Made it, when it first started. Oh, yeah, no worries, we can definitely take care of that. No, I’d go figure it out. You know, and that’s okay to a certain extent. But don’t ever lie. Don’t ever say that you have so much more experienced than you really do. Just, I admit, if I go back onto it, and I don’t know how many people would do this, but I fibbed, sometimes. When I was starting out, oh, yeah, no problem. I can, I can do that. And it just wasn’t, that’s not me. But I thought I needed to do that in order to make the sell or those, you know, secure that first piece of business. And I didn’t need to. And the more I find out, the more vulnerable we are. The more the people that we’re talking to want to be with us want to be around us want to work with us. And so let you know I’m starting out like I had an interview the other day with a she’s a lawyer out of New York and she launched an app and she told me she goes, oh, to be honest with you, you know, we’ve only got like four users, I just launched this thing. And, you know, I really need some good feet. And I was like, that is so awesome. Like, why don’t more people just say that and, and, and because now I’m really want to help her. I really want to do everything I can to spread the word about her app and all this kind of cool stuff. And it was because of her blatant honesty that I think she’s really gonna do. Oh, I mean, she’s already doing well in life. She has her own law firm, but she’s, she’s really taken the next level in the tech world. And I just think more people up to do that. And let them know like, hey, Christina, I’m just starting out here. I this is the service. I know it’s going to be good, but I’d really love to work with you. And any feedback you have for me, it would be fantastic. And for doing that, I’ll bring into the beta program and get you half off, you know, something like that.

Christine Schlonski [12:47]
Yeah, yeah. Getting getting people to trust you to see who you are, and also for you to be authentic and true to your values, right? So that you don’t need to turn around and think back. Oh, I hope they never find out. I don’t know how to do this. I’m just figuring it out. Yeah. And that makes life so much easier because you’re not wasting all that energy and being worried that people find out.

Jaime Jay [13:13]
You know what it does too, though, in the beginning, you find out what you’d like to do. More importantly, find out what you don’t like to do. And don’t do that. Yeah, right. Don’t do that. And if that’s a necessary part of your business, like the E myth revisited the necessary part of that business you know, she, she loved baking pies, was a pies? I think it was pies. She loved baking pies, but she hated the accounting part of it or the management part of it. So go back to just baking pies and, and you know, do work in your business while you need to create those systems, and then hire somebody that really loves doing that stuff. Otherwise, you’re creating yourself a job. Yeah. If you’re getting into business for whatever that reason is, Why get into business for something that you don’t like doing? You also have to set expectations for yourself. There’s a 70/30 rule, or some people call it 80/20, I call it 70/30. 30% of the time, I have to do stuff, I just simply don’t like doing. I don’t like writing. I don’t like you know, doing that stuff. But I have to do that in my business. The good news is 70% of my businesses, talking with you traveling and going to events and having fun and just, you know, doing zoom consultations and things like that. That’s fun for me, 70% of my businesses fun, so 30% I know it’s gonna be challenging. 70% fantastic.

Christine Schlonski [14:37]
Yeah, and maybe you can find support for the 30%.

Jaime Jay [14:42]
I’m definitely doing that. It’s a little by little it’s coming off. It’s coming off the plate there.

Christine Schlonski [14:48]
What can an entrepreneur do that does not have like a big budget and they are kind of very to, to outsource and to, you know, to give something away because they don’t have the trust and they don’t know. Because they don’t like it. They are not really sure if the other person who says they are good at it, like it. So how can you make sure that you get someone to support you who loves the work to give them? Not just by saying so but like really truly excited about what they get to create with you.

Jaime Jay [15:25]
So how do you create kind of a raving fan base, so to speak is like?

Christine Schlonski [15:29]
Yeah, a raving fan base of, you know, people that support you that you outsource things to?

Jaime Jay [15:35]
Yeah. Well, I think if you’re just starting out, beta programs are awesome. The minute you say beta, people all of a sudden associate that with this, this new, there’s going to be some challenges. And I’m going to be a helpful participant in solving a lot of those challenges. And I would even go to that next level and let them know this is a beta program. And so what I’m doing is creating this system, so that you can get this kind of widget or service, whatever that is, to help you do better in life. I know this works, I’ve used it for me, but I’m learning how to present this to others. As soon as you level that playing field and just set the expectations, and let them know that they’re part of the beta, and oh, by the way, for being part of the beta program, um, you’re coming in at a discounted rate. And we’re going to grandfather you in for you know, you always going to get the discounted rate or whatever that may be. So you, you’re making them feel special, they feel good, and they want to help you because you’re being vulnerable. And natural. I mean, that’s just natural human beings. And the cool thing is if you’ve, you should before you do any of this before you talk to your first client, find out go do your vision, your mission, and your core values. Your vision is what you aspire to do. Your mission is what your objectives are on a day to day basis? And your core values are? How do you make decisions that are ethical and moral and fit within your belief standards or belief systems? And as long as when you’re talking to somebody you can measure against them and go through those 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10 core values every time you’re talking with somebody. And as long as you answer yes to each one of those core values on whoever organization or person you’re talking with, it’s a really good decision to move forward. So there’s a decision making process or mechanism in place prior to ever launching this beta program, which I think is really powerful because a lot of people don’t understand the power of a small decision. These are, these are impactful beyond. I can’t even tell you how powerful it is. So everybody in Bottleneck has the power to make their own decision. I don’t care for the marketing director, if you’re my assistant, if you’re doing the payroll, it doesn’t matter. Everybody has their own step by step process for making their decisions. Number one, is it good for the company? Number two? Is it good for the staff? And number three, is it good for our client? The reason is if it’s not a good decision for the company, how are we ever going to take care of our staff? And if our staff are not taking care of they’re not happy? How in the world can I expect them to take care of our clients? And so every time they do this, they go through this decision making process. And I really think that’s important. So sorry to kind of go on about that. But I think this is probably, I mean, it can really branch out from here, but that question that you asked is very powerful, and often overlooked.

Christine Schlonski [18:40]
Yeah. Thank you. And I love that you went so deep because that’s what often entrepreneurs overlook to really sit down and get clear on their values. What is what’s important for me? How do I want to show up? And how do I expect my potential clients to show up? So that I know it is a match that I know I really want to work with them, right? And I call that soulmate clients. And you know, when they share your values, you’re right when they are, love it. And it’s a vibration. And you can feel it in the conversations. Because if you don’t just sell an online product that they buy for a couple hundred bucks, and you never talk to them again, you obviously will need to have a good sales process in place. But once you sell higher products, you want to make sure you talk to the people. Yeah. And then you want to make sure that you do have a process. See, and I wasn’t, I wasn’t even realizing I do have a process for this. It’s not really long. But obviously, when I talk to potential clients, I do my checkmarks and as soon as I see a red flag, I know it’s not going to be a good match.

Jaime Jay [19:58]
You should really write that down, I would challenge you to write it down. And the reason why is because when you write it down, it kind of solidifies that you have a process. And if you think about it, even solopreneurs there’s people out there that have sold their business, you know, their one person business, and they just went off to sell that. And they’ve done very well. Because selling this, right? If someone comes in to buy your business, and maybe one day, you’re like, you know what, I’ve had a nice run at this. I’ve been doing it 10 years. It’s been a blast, but you know what, maybe I want to go invest in storage facilities, or maybe they want to go travel a little while, you know, and I just, I had my run. If you don’t have a system or process or you’re an owner, or you know, a manual guide and operation guide in place, it is really hard for someone to come in and say, okay, I’m going to take this business go on here. I’m buying this you can just go. Oh, I’m sorry, Christine. I’m going to need you to stay for another two years as my general manager so that I make sure that I learned everything from you. Like, no, I just want to sell it, well, your valuation is going to drop way down. So write it down, process it, get it, get an operations manual, or guide going. And every time we come up with a new system or process just popping in there are our company manual is 82 pages. And it is always being tweaked or always increasing. But that’s because our company is growing, we have more opportunities to do other things. So we need to process those out.

Christine Schlonski [21:36]
Yeah, wow. I don’t know who to give that quote to but there’s a saying that goes structure is freedom.

Jaime Jay [21:45]
I love it.

Christine Schlonski [21:46]
When you think about it. It truly is because you kind of save that thought process that needs to go in again and again and again and again, right? That just you have your structure you go within the structure And then you can create new structures anytime you like. But you have the freedom once you have created the foundation. While time just flies, and I love the conversation. I’m so happy to have another one. So thank you so much, Jaime. And yeah, I still have so many more questions. So I’m really excited. But for now, I’m going to let you go. So thank you for having been here. But I do want to point people to your wonderful free gift that you are giving. It’s a free consultation, to actually see if they qualified to work with you guys, and to get into your wonderful services. So can you tell us really quick about this? The links are going to be in the show notes. What can people expect?

Jaime Jay [22:48]
Oh, I love that you asked what can people expect? it’s basically a consultation where we can see if you qualify to secure a Virtual Assistant meaning a remote based Executive Assistant from the Philippines, we go through a pretty, pretty in depth questionnaire. And it’s this is all free, but we just basically the call is there for us to answer any questions that you have and see if you are a good candidate or a good fit. We are a premium service. It’s a dedicated VA, but we also offer your VA we teach them how to be a project manager. And so if you have anything that you need executive assistant wise, you need calendar management, you know, emails, stuff like that, answering your phones taking care of, but one of the this is the big challenge is I call it the golden goose rule. You typically when somebody hires somebody, they think they can do everything for them. I need you to design me a fire. Oh, add this page to my website. Oh, go do you know, edit this video for me and put it on YouTube. Well, unfortunately, a lot of the best executive assistants out there are not good audio editors or video editors or graphic designers or web developers. They’re good at designating tasks, and they’re good at details. So we have what we call the integrated services program. And that’s where you can do the graphic design and all that. But your VA, your dedicated virtual assistant acts as the project manager. And so what she’ll do or he’ll do is outsourced that to my internal team will do the project with your dedicated VA, so that our client doesn’t have to deal with any of that. It’s all handled by the VA. So it really creates a, cuts out a lot of headache. And there’s a big reason why when you learn how to leverage your virtual assistant properly, it really does free up your time and structure is freedom indeed.

Christine Schlonski [24:41]
Yeah. Awesome. Well, thank you so so much, and I’m looking forward to the next conversation.

Jaime Jay [24:46]
Yeah, thank you.

Christine Schlonski [24:48]
Well, I hope you enjoyed this wonderful episode and you understood why even as a solopreneur it is so important to have your processes in place and to have some kind of a system systematic approach to things so that outsourcing becomes easier. And maybe at some point, selling your company becomes easier because everything is set up in the right way. I hope you had some fun. In this episode, I found it really, really inspiring. And I would encourage you to check out Jaime Jay on Heart Sells! Podcast by going to christineschlonski.com, find the podcast tab, and the wonderful episode number 234. And there you have the Show Notes, the Transcripts, the Key Points, and the Resources and all the links that are leading to Jaime was just one click away. And once you’re over there, I encourage you to sign up for the Empowerment Notes. That is Empowerment right into your inbox. And I’d be sharing all the updates on Heart Sells! Podcast as well as amazing content that I usually do not share on social media. So hop on over to christineschlonski.com. Find the podcast tab and have fun. And once you’re over there, take advantage and Sign up to the Empowerment Notes. Thank you so much for being here for tuning in. If you know a friend or two who would really like the show, please forward the show to them and invite them to listen and to subscribe. Thank you so much for all your amazing work you are doing in the world for your amazing gift and that you are dedicated to your own success as well as to the success of your wonderful clients. Have a wonderful day wherever you are in this beautiful world. And I’m looking forward to having you in the next episode this Jaime Jay.