In episode 078, Jhana Li, founder of Spyglass Ops, shares her inspiring journey from living van life to building her own successful operations consulting company. She talks about how she helps agency owners scale their businesses while regaining personal freedom by mastering the power of operations. 

Jhana highlights how crucial operations are for growth and profitability, explaining how optimizing team performance, delegating tasks effectively, and implementing solid systems and processes allow founders to focus on high-value activities that drive real results. This episode is packed with practical insights for anyone looking to scale their agency while building a more efficient, sustainable business.

Key Takeaways

• Operations is crucial for scaling an agency and maximizing profitability.

• Optimizing team performance and implementing systems and processes are key to success.

• Founders should focus on high-value activities and delegate tasks to free up time.

• Raising the bar for success and setting higher standards can lead to team growth and success.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

03:04 The Importance of Operations in Scaling

08:23 Maximizing Team Performance

17:23 Raising the Bar for Success

Jhana Li, founder of Spyglass Ops. Jhana started as a COO for multiple startups - while living van life. After seeing countless founders stall out & trap themselves without the proper Operations, 3 years ago Jhana decided to start Spyglass Ops. Since then she has helped more than 100 businesses scale past 7 & 8-figures. Through Operations consulting, recruitment, and training, Spyglass Ops empowers founders to simultaneously scale their businesses while regaining their personal freedom.

Jhana Li started as a COO for multiple startups (while simultaneously traveling full-time in a converted van through N & S America). After seeing countless founders stall out & trap themselves without the proper Operations, 3 years ago Jhana decided to start her own company, Spyglass Ops. Since then she has helped 100+ businesses scale past 7 & 8-figures. Through Operations consulting, recruitment, and training, Spyglass Ops empowers founders to simultaneously scale their businesses while regaining their personal freedom.

Contact Jhana Li:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/thejhanali

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejhanali/

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jhana-li/

Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@theJhanaLi/

Website: https://spyglassops.com/

Episode 077 features David Durer, an expert in training and development. He shares insights on empowering people to reach their maximum speaking potential. He discusses the principles of adult learning theory, including ownership, complexity, and primacy and recency. He also provides tips for engaging virtual audiences and delivering impactful presentations. David emphasizes the importance of understanding the audience, practicing, and using relatable stories. He also highlights the challenges of virtual presentations and suggests incorporating theater of the mind techniques. Lastly, he advises taking things one step at a time and not getting overwhelmed.

Key Takeaways

• Understand your audience and deliver your message in a way that connects with them.

• Practice, practice, practice to improve your presentation skills.

• Use relatable stories to engage your audience and make complex concepts more understandable.

• In virtual presentations, incorporate theater of the mind techniques to compensate for the lack of visual and auditory cues.

• Take things one step at a time and avoid getting overwhelmed.

Chapters

00:00 Introduction and Background

03:46 The Principles of Adult Learning Theory

07:08 Engaging Virtual Audiences and Delivering Impactful Presentations

16:17 The Importance of Opening and Closing a Presentation

26:18 Advice for Business Professionals

With over 30 years of experience in training and development, instructional design, leadership, corporate training, public speaking, and an expert in the Adult Learning Theory, David is passionate about empowering people to reach their maximum speaking potential.

Known for his engaging style and ability to connect with his audience, David is in high demand as a speaker and trainer at industry conferences, corporate events, and educational institutions nationwide.

He has a knack for simplifying complex concepts and delivering practical insights that enable his clients to elevate their presentation skills.

Contact David:

https://presentyourwaytosuccess.com/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daviddoerrier/

FREE eBook “Eight Principles of Engagement” - https://18ccf54b6b4.benchmarkpages.com/ebook1

In this episode, I got to talk to Tracy Goodheart from The PR Accelerator about her journey from being a journalist to helping individuals and brands attract sustained media attention without a publicist. She discusses the evolution of social media and its impact on journalism, emphasizing the importance of earned media over social media for brand credibility. Tracy also highlights the value of creating a messaging system and leveraging ghostwriting to elevate thought leadership within agencies. She advises agency owners to seek external validation and shares her insights on standout strategies in the marketplace.

Takeaways

• Earned media is more valuable than social media for brand credibility.

• Creating a messaging system can help streamline communication and ensure consistency.

• Ghostwriting can elevate thought leadership within agencies and humanize senior leadership.

• Seeking external validation can boost self-confidence and protect against workplace bullying.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of conversing with Liz Young, the founder of StudioLabs, a 20-year-old custom software development agency with 45 dedicated team members. Liz's journey began in a unique way when, at the age of 25, she launched her agency on the spot in her first client's lobby. At that time, she was among the few women in the industry. In this episode, she shares the intriguing story of StudioLabs' inception and how she now leads the agency.

Liz delves into the day-to-day operations of the agency, highlighting the systems that keep everything running smoothly. She emphasizes the agency's deliberate efforts to cultivate strong leaders and maintain a vibrant company culture. Tune in to gain insights into how Liz has transformed StudioLabs from a trusted resource for other agencies into a powerhouse that develops software solutions for some of the world's most prominent brands.

In this episode, I had the pleasure of conversing with Claire Hutchings from Chime Agency in the UK, renowned as the marketing agency for agencies. Claire and her team have developed a remarkable agency benchmark, showcasing how an agency can effectively create content for thought leadership and pipeline development. At the time of this recording, Chime had witnessed an astounding 100X increase in revenue in its pipeline. Furthermore, they secured speaking engagements and other opportunities, all stemming from this thought leadership initiative. Claire delves into the investment her agency made in this project and reveals the remarkable return on investment (ROI) it yielded. Spoiler alert: It's a no-brainer!