Carson Tate Joins Us On The Steve Jobs Inspired Join Up Dots Business Podcast
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Introducing Carson Tate
Carson Tate is todays guest on the Steve Jobs inspired Join Up Dots business podcast.
She is the founder and managing partner of Working Simply, Inc., a business consulting firm that partners with organizations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies.
Working Simply has served leading global brands, including AbbVie, Delta Airlines, Deloitte, FedEx, Wells Fargo, Chick-fil-A, and Lowe’s.
The author of the best-selling,, Carson Tate Work Simply: Embracing the Power of Your Personal Productivity Style [Penguin Portfolio, 2015], her newest title, Own It. Love It. Make It Work. [McGraw-Hill] and its companion workbook of the same name, was released in October 2020.
Carson’s views have been included in top-tier media including Bloomberg Businessweek, Business Insider, CBS Money Watch, Fast Company, Forbes, Harvard Business Review blog, The New York Times, USA Today, Working Mother and more.
How The Dots Joined Up For Carson
As she says “For the past 15 years, I have worked with organizations of all sizes around the world to help them improve the engagement of their employees, the productivity of their workforces, and the efficacy of their leadership.
Based on everything I’ve learned from the thousands of people I’ve taught and trained, mentored and coached, I know in my heart that one thing is true:
Our work is meant to be a full expression of who we are.
It is meant to make us happy. Make our hearts sing. Challenge and empower us, and expand our intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives.
So why is it that when jobs in essence should be who we are and what we do best, do so many people struggle to see what’s right in front of them?
And where does she see the office environment heading as move forward and out of the pandemic issues of 2020?
Back to how they were or simply a connection of remote workers sitting behind technology?
Well let’s find out as we bring onto the show to join up dots with the one and only Carson Tate
Show Highlights
During todays show we discussed such weighty subjects with Carson Tate:
Why so many people are unwilling to allow the world to take over the boring though meaningful tasks every business has.
Carson talks openly about the “bumpy ” ground that business endure unless you have solid processes in place.
Carson shares how the quickest way to change a business is simply to master the whole inbox terror we all deal with.
and lastly…….
Why it is so good to work for a free at the beginning to get proof of concept but dont make it last too long.
Books By Carson Tate
How To Connect With Carson Tate
Return To The Top Of Carson Tate
If you enjoyed this episode with Carson Tate why not check out other inspirational chat with Mark Grimes, Dorie Clark, Setting Boundaries At Work and the amazing Niall Doherty
You can also check our extensive podcast archive by clicking here – enjoy
Audio Transcription Of Carson Tate Interview
Intro [0:00]
When we’re young, we have an amazing positive outlook about how great life is going to be. But somewhere along the line we forget to dream and end up settling. Join Up Dots features amazing people who refuse to give up and chose to go after their dreams. This is your blueprint for greatness. So here’s your host live from the back of his garden in the UK. David Ralph.
David Ralph [0:24]
Yes, hello there. Good morning to you. Good morning to you and welcome to Join Up Dots. Thank you so much for tuning in one more time, or just pressing a button or however you get us. Thank you for being here. Well, today’s guest who’s on the show. Yeah, it’s an interview show today is not just me doing my stuff is the Founder and Managing Partner of working simply a business consulting firm that partners with organisations, business leaders and employees to enhance workplace productivity, foster employee engagement, and build personal and professional legacies. Working simply has served leading global brands including ABB Delta Airlines delight, FedEx, Wells Fargo, so many of them. She’s also an author of the best selling Work, Work simply embracing the power of your personal productivity style. And she’s got another book out, oh, yes, only love it and make it work and its companion workbook of the same name, and that was released in October 2020. Now, her views have been included in all the top media, including Bloomberg, and business Weibo, as she says, but the past 15 years I’ve worked with organisations of all sizes around the world to help them improve the engagement of their employees, the productivity of their workforce, and the efficiency of their leadership. And based on everything I’ve learned from the thousands, yes, thousands of people I’ve taught and trained, mentored and coached. I know in my heart, but one thing is true. Our work is meant to be a full expression of who we are. It’s meant to make us happy, make our heart sing, challenge and empowers and expand our intellectual, emotional and spiritual lives. So So with that in point, why is it that then when jobs in essence should be who we are and what we do best? do so many people struggle to see what’s right in front of them? And where does she see the office environment heading as we move board out of the pandemic issues of 2020 back to how they were simply before or a connection of remote workers sitting behind technology? Well, let’s find out as we bring onto the show to start joining up dots with the one and only Carson Tate. Good morning constant. How are you?
Carson Tate [2:33]
Morning, David, I’m doing well.
David Ralph [2:36]
Are you sweaty at the moment, Carson, we were talking off air? I you still sweaty? Are you getting sweaty here?
Carson Tate [2:43]
I am not we have the air conditioning turned down very low. Because I was worried you might make me sweat a little bit. And I just didn’t want to have that dewy glowy sheen this morning.
David Ralph [2:53]
My days of making a woman sweat or they’re long gone. I promise you I I cannot remember I cannot remember. So I want to get straight into this right? Because this is what’s been bothering me. Since I knew you were coming on Carson. And I was looking at your website today. And I was going through your business and the dream job. Okay. Now most people come to Join Up Dots and they start talking about the dream job and maybe sort of like five years ago, I would have said yes, there is a dream job. But is that realistic. Because if it was a dream job, it would be a dream hobby you get paid for when it jobs always have things that take it away from being the dream.
Carson Tate [3:37]
That’s interesting. And I would disagree with you on that because I
Unknown Speaker [3:41]
am i
Carson Tate [3:44]
i disagree because the way I come at it is that any job can be your dream job, because you define the dream. So if you aren’t in a job that’s making you happy and fulfilled, you have a piece of that action, which means you potentially have not done the work to identify your strengths, the relationship, the skills you want to develop that will enable you to make that work. meaningful work.
David Ralph [4:13]
Right, Constantine, I’m batting it back to you, right? Because I know especially in entrepreneurship, VAT when you’re building a new business, you don’t know what goes on behind the scenes. So you start off seeing the dream and thinking this is gonna be brilliant is it gonna be fantastic. But as you get into the nuts and bolts of it, you find out a lot of it. You know, I’ll give you a point in question. I love podcasting. Get me on a microphone. I love it. But there’s an awful lot behind the scenes, which is less Ben dream, you know that you still have to do? Mm hmm.
Carson Tate [4:50]
Yes. So a dream job doesn’t mean there aren’t going to be elements of it that suck. Right? So we aren’t talking about a perfectly utopian, blissful experience, what we’re talking about is crafting an intentional career that leverages your strengths and has more opportunities for fulfilment. And I would say to you, David, as an entrepreneur, the elements of the podcasting that don’t light you up, is there an opportunity for you to explore how you might outsource that? Because a higher and better use of your time and energy is connecting with guest researching guest and doing more of what you love, because that’s going to energise not only you, but the entire company.
David Ralph [5:34]
Yeah, absolutely. I agree with you. Okay. But back at you, Carson, Tate, when you’re starting a new business, maybe you haven’t got the money to delegate. And after a while, that job becomes what you do, you kind of almost forget, but you can delegate. And I know back in the day, I got trapped in a kind of, I can do it quick enough anyway. Now, that’s not that that’s not the right reason to keep doing it by any stretch of the imagination. But I know that so many people that I speak to, they are still doing things. And I say to him, why are you doing that, that there’s a small child in the Philippines that would love to do that for you know, a few dollars a week, but they stand up up?
Carson Tate [6:18]
Well, they can’t give it up, probably for one of two reasons. One, they are completely unaware. So they’re just in this mode of doing the work and kind of unconscious to Well, this is early isn’t feeding me and I don’t enjoy it. And two, they aren’t willing to let go of it. Because there’s a piece of that work that is serving a sense of self. So either I’m feeling like a hero, I can do it all I’m capable. I’m not willing to pay the $2 to outsource it. That’s on them.
David Ralph [6:49]
We’d be you growing your business? How much of it? Do you still cling to because I’ve never met anyone that has delegated 100%. There’s still little bits here and there that they could delegate, but they still keep on dealing with just sort of a quality control element to the business.
Carson Tate [7:08]
Absolutely. Well, so I want to answer that question in two ways, David. So first, I want to clarify, when we think about delegation, what we coach our clients on, there’s some things that we suggest, strongly you never delegate. So why the company hired you if you work for someone else, or if you’re an entrepreneur, your unique skills and strengths and experiences, what differentiates you from the market, those tasks that really bring you meaning and joy, and those tasks and projects where you are the subject matter expert. So that’s the foundation of things not to delegate. And then if we look at my business, as an entrepreneur, I have held on very tightly to the things that are in those three areas. So I developed the courses and do the research, I do the writing. And I still hold on to some of the training until we’ve gotten a course where I want it to be so that I can then train someone to have that create that same experience for our clients. And then I’m willing to release it.
David Ralph [8:16]
Because I always think about that film. And I mentioned this to so many clients, and most of them have no idea what I’m talking about. But molteplici tea with Michael Keaton back in the day. Do you remember that film? Yeah. And then that was a brilliant film where he was such a busy guy, but he managed to clone himself. And the East still wasn’t enough. So he cloned himself again. And then the quality went down here downhill. And he was spending more time trying to cover the mistakes of others. And that’s the kind of issue a lot of business owners have, isn’t it? I have this dream of being able to walk away and almost franchise their body out. So everyone gets that same quality. But it can’t be possible, can it?
Carson Tate [9:04]
I think it can. I think it you you can if you’re willing to do the work to define what success looks like and then build really solid processes and checklists and quality control measures. Many organisations that have scaled really well. And I’ll use what so if you eat a hamburger at McDonalds in Charlotte, North Carolina where I am and you eat one in London, that burger tastes the same.
David Ralph [9:38]
Taste dreadful wherever you are. That’s what you’re saying. Well,
Carson Tate [9:40]
I would agree with you 100% on that, and it does illustrate the point that if you will get really well they’ve gotten really good on their supply chain, but they have processes, they have checklist. It is built the same way over and over again. But that requires a level of work. That is Quite frankly, pretty boring. And most of the entrepreneurs, I know, we became entrepreneurs because we chafe against structure we want to create and innovate and not be confined processes are confining and boring and feel like institutionalisation, which is everything most entrepreneurs want to fight against. But it’s only in taking that structure in side your organisation, that you can create that scale. And that quality that I think most entrepreneurs ultimately want.
David Ralph [10:34]
Because you do start, don’t use you in a corporate gig. This is with me. And I started thinking, Why do I have to be here? When you say, why can’t I leave until you say, and I started to rebel against it, until I thought to myself, I will just have a life of leisure, I’ll just be doing what I want. I’ll be in pubs at lunchtime, and people will will query how I’ve managed to do it. And it went a bit wrong, it went a bit wrong. It took me a good few years to be able to free myself from the monster that I created. Now, it’s a very streamlined process where I learned the power of node, which we’re talking about in a little while. And I embrace the power of Yeah, let’s do it. Even though I hadn’t thought about it three minutes beforehand, I was just taking more and more on. And I never saw that podcast, and I never saw
Carson Tate [11:30]
it, you saw it at five o’clock.
David Ralph [11:32]
I didn’t even see at five o’clock I saw I saw other people drinking in it. I never got close. Well, that’s not that’s not living fully. That’s not what what I would want for anyone. Now with you being a sort of productivity grew, and you’re more than now that that just sort of puts you into one parcel. And you’re not that what is the kind of the big wins that you’ve seen, most companies be able to bring into their systems effortlessly, or at least with a limited amount of pain, but has really my differences.
Carson Tate [12:09]
The the least amount of pain. And the easiest place we typically start in transform teams and organisations is in people’s inboxes. Because that’s the primary form of communication. And still, in many organisations, that’s a project management tool, not the best one, but it is still used to that way. And so when we can help organisations craft communication norms and guidelines, and actually write emails that aren’t crappy and make sense and have real subject lines, it has the power to start to transform how people communicate and work together. And the intervention is pretty easy and pretty painless, as we work in individual inboxes and then move out and start to help them build some processes and norms around communication.
David Ralph [12:57]
Now, you’re just a young lady compared to me, but I remember working in offices when we didn’t have any email. And the business still operated. So we perhaps got off our bottoms and walked across and actually spoke to people. Now, isn’t that the quickest way to actually change inboxes? Because I always used to say to people, and you’re treating inboxes communication, but it should be confirmation. It should be Yeah, I’m happy with that conversation that we had just to confirm, bang, bang, bang done. And not this back and forth, back and forth, where somebody’s sitting four feet away from you.
Carson Tate [13:33]
I agree with that. And I would say part of the challenge of communication is knowing what modality to use. So yes, a conversation if I need to give you feedback or trying to brainstorm an idea or if we are having a problem. Working together, we need to talk to each other. Absolutely. If it is transactional scheduling a meeting confirming as you said the agreements that we made in a conversation, then email can be a very good tool. So in this new world of work, it requires an intentionality to make decisions. What’s the best way for me to connect and communicate with my team member or my manager or my client?
David Ralph [14:18]
in an office though it is to get up in it? Yeah, walk over. And you you can do it all so quickly. And you look at them in the eyes, and they understand and you walk back and it’s done. I think the last four years of my life in corporate land, I probably sent, I don’t know 15 aiming emails, hardly any. And on the leaving dead day, I had a car that I signed, and it said, keep talking and walking. And that was it. You know, it was I was known for walking around and talking to people more than actually anything else.
Carson Tate [14:54]
It is David a very powerful, effective way to community. In a cake, and as humans, we’re hardwired to communicate that way. I mean, email was not in the caves with us. 2000 years ago, I had to look you in the eye and talk to you. So we’re hardwired to talk that way. And the constraints and a pandemic, a remote workforce are forcing us to have to get better at email at talking on the phone, not using a zoom or video conference. And there are still times told a client two weeks ago, like go meet with your client, put on your mask and sit at a picnic table, you have to go talk to them in person, we still need to do it.
David Ralph [15:42]
What if they’re very unattractive?
Carson Tate [15:45]
Well, that’s your Yeah, I put on some sunglasses. Yeah, look away, but just sit there. Now if
David Ralph [15:51]
that’s my problem, I only frequent with beautiful people. You see, I’m so lucky. And that’s one of the standards that I keep to
Carson Tate [16:00]
Well, I want to know the secret sauce on that one. David, how do you do that?
David Ralph [16:05]
I just keep myself hidden away and never turn the webcam on. And then they think that I’m better than I am. You see. And I don’t know what they look like. So it’s perfect.
Carson Tate [16:17]
Perfect. Okay, somebody is gonna call you out on that one day and say you need to turn on your camera
David Ralph [16:23]
now, but never get me, I will never get me and
Carson Tate [16:26]
never get you.
David Ralph [16:28]
Off. Let’s listen to Jim Carrey. And we’ll be back with Carson,
Jim Carrey [16:31]
My father could have been a great comedian, but he didn’t believe that that was possible for him. And so he made a conservative choice. Instead, he got a safe job as an accountant. And when I was 12 years old, he was let go from that safe job. And our family had to do whatever we could to survive. I learned many great lessons from my father, not the least of which was that you can fail at what you don’t want. So you might as well take a chance on doing what you love. When did it become obvious to you that you were doing what you love? And where did this job that you’ve built for yourself come from?
Outro [17:07]
Um,
Carson Tate [17:08]
yes. So I come from a family of entrepreneurs, and was in full on resistance. So I went to corporate land, as you call it. And I took an outside sales job working for a big pharma company, and was using some strategies and tools around productivity was working out great for me. And I started helping my team members teaching them a strategy coaching them. And that’s when I had the idea. What if I could spend all day helping people be more productive, more engaged and loving their work. And so the idea was formed, did a business plan, and then did the side hustle, so kept my day job and worked on the side to build the business. And then a year after doing that, I started working simply
David Ralph [17:59]
no, with that, it seems too simple. And if this is what I’m fascinated at, you know, that, as I said, in the introduction, the dream job if we’re going to use that brings about the talents and skills that are naturally you use if they’re just congruent with you. Now, the problem that most people have, is because it’s so what they do, they don’t value it. And they just think, Oh, I can do that in a second. Oh, I was gonna pay for that. And so they try to create things that aren’t in their, their will of excellence. Did you have that kind of resistance of who was going to pay for this? You know, it’s just something I can do?
Carson Tate [18:43]
Yes, it, I definitely had, who’s gonna pay for it? And so initially, what I did is, I would do the work for free. I was like, I’m learning I am testing this business model. Can you allow when you allow me to try this out on you? And then my ask in exchange, because we need to have an exchange? In exchange? I want feedback on these three things.
David Ralph [19:10]
And what were the three things?
Carson Tate [19:14]
What was your experience working with me? describe that? Did you learn a new idea tool or strategy that’s easy for you to implement when I leave? And did we accomplish the goal that you set for us?
David Ralph [19:29]
No, that’s a good thing to do. Because, you know, testimonials and feedback are gold at the beginning, aren’t they?
Carson Tate [19:36]
Absolutely, it is gold. And it’s that real world, David proof of concept, you know, see and build your business plan. And it looks great on paper, and I’ve talked to my mentors about it. But until I went out and actually did the work and started applying, I’m like, Well, here’s the model I think will work. I don’t really know, huh?
David Ralph [19:57]
Now with that, I think a lot of them trainers get caught up in the world of free, and they start working for free. And they they kind of once again, they take one step into building their own business, and then don’t trust themselves to actually start charging for it. So they charge for almost free anyway. And they end up getting crappy clients that are really, really dreadful. And they think this is terrible. Why did I do this, where if I had charged premium, by Ben get a lot better clients who respect them and actually want their services, but they’re caught in that no man’s land of financial lack of belief. And I certainly went through that where I was doing work, you know, hours and hours upon hours of work for hardly anything. For callable hoverboard individuals. And I can say that because I probably don’t listen to Join Up Dots. And if I own listening is issue issue I’m pointing to,
Carson Tate [20:59]
and the lack of charging, what is really what your service is worth goes back to self esteem and self confidence. Right? Say, you don’t believe you’re worthy, you don’t believe your services are worthy of it. And if you don’t charge enough, as you said, I agree with you do get crappy clients. And it’s only in charging that premium and standing behind it, that you will be able to grow your business. But that takes a lot of confidence. And one thing that I learned from a mentor of mine, and it stuck with me, she told me, I will not negotiate on value. I will negotiate on price. Now that’s a very different way of of operating.
David Ralph [21:51]
Getting I don’t get it well, why Why is she not just money she negotiating at all?
Carson Tate [21:58]
Well, it she at times there, I do believe at times, you will have to negotiate on the price. But let’s say for example, I put a proposal out there, and the scope of work included X number of coaching sessions or training session materials, and they want it for let’s say $2 less, okay, well, I’m not going to deliver the same value. If you want it for $2 less well, then we are going to remove two or three of the coaching sessions, but you’re not going to get the same value the same contract for that same price. But
David Ralph [22:34]
isn’t that kind of a scarcity mindset where you think, Oh, I had that one. Instead of going, No, I want my money for this. I’m going to keep you the value you deserve. And if you don’t want it, somebody else will come along.
Carson Tate [22:48]
I agree with that. Absolutely agree with that.
David Ralph [22:51]
So So why is she wrong in in your view? Is she wrong?
Carson Tate [22:56]
I don’t know she’s wrong. I don’t think she’s wrong. Because what if there’s another purpose? So what if as an entrepreneur, you want this company, this brand this person? for other reasons, you wouldn’t use them for marketing. There’s another reason you want to have an opportunity to work in this industry vertical, and this is a path in. So is it worth it to you? Is there something else of value that you’re getting from this, that you’re willing to trade in a different currency?
David Ralph [23:29]
No, there’s not because they’re not the only people in that industry. There’s other people here, once again, that just a different way of framing scarcity.
Outro [23:42]
I don’t
Carson Tate [23:45]
I don’t agree with that. I don’t think it’s another way of framing scarcity. I believe it is a thoughtful way of pursuing a business objective. And you are making the choice. The value of this brand name is worth X to me. So I will say fewer dollars, because I want this.
David Ralph [24:11]
We’ll have to agree to disagree on this one Carlson, I think but there’s because I think I would just hold firm and if it’s, you know, if it’s Pepsi, then there’s gonna be coke. And if it’s McDonald’s, there’s gonna be Burger King. There’s always going to be another big name in that vicinity, isn’t it?
Unknown Speaker [24:30]
Yes, yes.
David Ralph [24:33]
So stick to your guns and say no, my value is this and then build from that position. You know, I met a guy once lovely guy from Australia, and a Scottish guy. And he said to me, basically, no matter how much somebody’s got to spend on a playground, that’s how much that playground is going to cost. You know, right? If I come along and I got 50 grand, that’s good. Cost 50 grand. And I think that’s the same with business. And I think as soon as we start to pick now we’ve got to jump on every single opportunity. We’re chasing our wills, and with the getting about our value point, and our value point is as much competence and self fulfilling prophecy as anything else. Once once I set my, my line in the sand, I think that is your pit, your position of growth. And once you get to that point, I don’t think that you should be taking steps back, no matter what those people can offer you.
Carson Tate [25:37]
If you look at it as a step back,
David Ralph [25:41]
oh, you’re good. I reckon you You must be a woman the way that you can change everything. But I am saying to you, I’ve learned so I’m living in a house for the females. I think you are probably a female Carson.
Carson Tate [25:54]
I am a female.
David Ralph [25:56]
You say you see, this is what you do you never fully agree with anything? can I say? You just come back at me. So why don’t you partly agree on that one.
Carson Tate [26:07]
Because you are choosing the lens of if I don’t hold the contract value at $10. And I negotiate because I see a $2 value that is not currency, it’s not pounds. It’s this brand, this person, this name on the website, this referral to four other people. That’s value to me, that’s important to my business
David Ralph [26:37]
is but what about your personal competence? The fact that
Carson Tate [26:42]
yet but that’s not a personal competence thing that is. So the difference here is it is an intentional, thoughtful choice. This isn’t me, backed into a corner and scarcity mode. This is me saying, hmm, the value of you your position, your referral and your brand is worth it to me to say I’m going to take $2 off the contract price. In exchange for this. I’m broadening the currency we’re trading in, you’re staying myopic, and cash. I’m saying there are more there’s more currency at stake to trade in, which expands opportunities.
David Ralph [27:21]
What about Ben? Right? If we say to the company, no, we’re not going to knock $2 off. But I will give you more value but we stick to that price.
Carson Tate [27:34]
Absolutely. If I’m willing to do that,
David Ralph [27:38]
oh, yeah, I can listen in because we’re being in that boardroom by lunchtime Today we will be negotiating.
Carson Tate [27:47]
Potentially, we’ll have to see.
David Ralph [27:49]
She say you’ve done it again, you’ve done the female way of backtracking from where we got you to a position and you kind of just move backwards.
Carson Tate [27:59]
Because what, what you’re trying to do is make it black and white. And I’m suggesting that there’s a middle path of shades of grey. And I’m not going to go on either side of the black and white.
David Ralph [28:13]
Now I feel very black and white at the moment. I really I’m literally like a zebra. That’s how black and white I’m feeling. I don’t know what’s come over me maybe, maybe it’s the year 2020 maybe I i I’m fed up with uncertainty. And I’m creating my own positive, firm belief system.
Carson Tate [28:36]
Oh, now you’re on to something. That’s interesting, because I think that is happening all over the world. Because human beings do not like uncertainty, our brains crave patterns. So think about when you hear that song on the radio that you love, your brain relaxes and you sing along. So this interesting bifurcation that you’re taking here on value and currency is black and white, because you can anchor into some certainty, to certainty. I’m pushing back and saying, hey, it could be this could be that Shades of Grey, that is going to trigger us particularly when there’s a lack of certainty in the world around us.
David Ralph [29:19]
Now, let’s take you back on this train of consciousness that we’ve just tapped into. When you incorporate land, you basically turn up every day and at the end of the month, they pay you and it comes into your bank account, you might get paid on a weekly basis or a monthly basis, but you pretty much get paid for turning up. When you’re an entrepreneur building your own business, you’re very much into Shades of Grey, depending on when you’re gonna get paid. Certainly in the early days, you could have a couple of really good months and then you might go two or three months with nothing at all. How did you deal with that? And how do you deal with that because I know personally I can have amazing memories. And I think that’s me sorted for a year. And then I might go two or three months, we’ve nothing at all, but it doesn’t bother me, because I’ve just had that one good month, you know, how to operate?
Carson Tate [30:12]
Well, cash is the lifeblood of the business and that you described, Floyd variable, typical, particularly early days of, it’s lumpy, you know, it’s up and down great month, and then you go into a dry riverbed have no cash. And so what we’ve done to try to smooth out the lumps, is to make sure we’ve got very favourable contract terms, and getting money up front payment milestones, credit card payments, which are much faster, taking discounts in the sense of, if you’ll pay us in 30 days versus 90 days, we’ll take it to keep the cash. So payment terms, then we also are, it’s also a selling marketing cycle to which you know, so that’s where the scalability and having additional books you can deliver the work is important, because if you’re doing it all selling the work and delivering the work, as soon as you get the big contract starts, you stop selling, and so you’re perpetuating that cycle.
David Ralph [31:23]
And so you’ll you’ll obviously now down with processes, you love a process, let’s talk about the very beginning stage of getting a process this process in place, somebody has quit their corporate job, or maybe they’ve lost their job. And they’re now sitting there thinking to themselves, what can I do? What can I do for a living? well away from the idea of what they’re going to do for a living? How would they start thinking of the processes that will make it easier moving forward? Because I think the majority of people don’t even consider processes. It’s just about how am I going to make a living, and I’ll do anything. Mm hmm.
Carson Tate [32:03]
The easiest way to build a process, David is to write down or type or dictate what you do. So as you were, in our world, like, as I’m building a training class, there is a repeatable process I go through, but the first time I did it, I didn’t write it down. Second time, it’s like I’m following the same process, you start to document along the way. And that’s how you build processes. The I think the most difficult not to mention, just fingernails on a chalkboard way to build a process is to sit down and say, Okay, I’m gonna write down the process for shipping out our product. That sounds awful. Why don’t you document as you actually do the work?
David Ralph [32:46]
Because Well, one of the things that I do all the time, and I used to do it, because I was a trainer, I used to be a coach and a trainer sort of in insurance companies, is used as sort of screen capture material, and a microphone. So even the most not meaningless, but the kinds of things like an email inbox, where somebody might say, no, it’s my personal decision, what I need to do with Bose templates, for example, podcast pitches, I get loads of people come through, asking for, you know, to be on the show. And for six years, I used to do it all myself. And now I’ve trained a guy to call James to understand what I would look for in a guest. And I basically just kept on answering the emails, talking and recording it so that we’ve got a documentation that the next person could follow and get up to speed. So it is my, my multiplicity again, I have become Michael Keaton and clone myself.
Carson Tate [33:43]
Yes, and that is a brilliant way to do it. And so James knows exactly what to do. And I hope that James is depending on his email platform, built templates, and signatures are replies that he can quickly in a matter of seconds, send back instead of having to retype
David Ralph [34:04]
Oh, we’re big on templates. We’re big on templates.
Carson Tate [34:07]
Templates are your best friend.
David Ralph [34:09]
Yeah. And he’s got something going and I don’t know what it is. But I’ve looked over his shoulder. And when he types it starts typing the words before we get there.
Carson Tate [34:18]
Oh, good, good, good, good. Um,
David Ralph [34:21]
what would that be? What was he using now?
Carson Tate [34:24]
So there’s a tool. I don’t know if he’s using it. But there’s a tool called phrase Express, that allows you to save text chunks of text. Or you can really save anything and with a shortcut key, you can automatically populate that document or that email. outlook has something called Quick parts, which would also allow James to do that. Or he could really have an overlay another programme that he’s running on top of it.
David Ralph [34:54]
His own out there, but of course you don’t know it’s out there until you find out exactly They’re always kind of time saving things. I always say to people, you don’t know what you don’t know until you find out. You don’t know it. Where Where can people kind of find these things? Because, you know, that might have opened somebody’s eyes What? Well, I can start typing an email, and it will just finish it off for me, but it’s already out there.
Carson Tate [35:19]
This is where listening to podcast talking to other entrepreneurs, being in mastermind groups, and talking to folks who are further along on the journey and asking them questions. We have a tonne of articles on our website on all of these tools and processes and checklists and templates that are free that folks can read about and always Google, if you have a question, is there a way to automate email management? Yes, multiple ways to do it.
David Ralph [35:51]
What is the one thing every day you think to yourself, I should get this sorted. I’m still doing this. Because I can think about three or four things. I think to myself, there must be something out there, but I kind of can’t be bothered to look for it. Because it’s easy to do.
Carson Tate [36:13]
I don’t have one right now. Oh, wait. Yes, I do. Yes, I
David Ralph [36:18]
do. I know you actually wait, we,
Carson Tate [36:21]
uh huh. And I actually, there is a tool that’s out there, I still take my notes, by hand on on sales calls, and then have to type them in. And that is just ridiculous. I should be using an iPad and just writing my notes on that and uploading them. But I’m doing it old school. It’s duplicative work.
David Ralph [36:46]
Because I’ve been on my email, I can’t even think what it’s called. But I just talked into my mind for bone any it types it for me. And you have to say for stop, comma, and new sentence, and it kind of just structures it out. And I also use something called voice speak, which is a recording thing where you get a little link, and it’s basically a voice recorder and you attach it to an email and you send it off to people. And that’s quick and bom bom video, I had a guest on the show. And that has been my game changer. When you attach a little gift of yourself, and somebody clicks on it, and they can see a video and you can just talk through whatever. And he’s just attached to the email. And he shows you how much of the email they watched. And when they watched it, and it gives you a lot of feedback.
Carson Tate [37:34]
Ah, that’s a great one. And loom ello M is the same type of software that does exactly that. It’s just another version of it. On your either you can always use Dragon Naturally Speaking, which is a great app on your phone, because it will transcribe and can email to you text to
David Ralph [37:55]
don’t have a bone don’t have a bone. It’s gonna be very boring for everybody out there. But I don’t have a bone.
Outro [38:05]
You don’t have a firm.
David Ralph [38:07]
I know. It’s it’s I’m getting more and more proud of saying this because I’m, I’m going to be the last person on earth be Yeah, I don’t have a phone. Your last your last class and you don’t know where to
Carson Tate [38:21]
go. I don’t even know where to go with. I’m like, how do you navigate life without a phone?
David Ralph [38:27]
Life finds me?
Unknown Speaker [38:30]
Oh, okay.
David Ralph [38:31]
And the beauty of it is I’ve realised this is I allow myself to be open to opportunities because I’ve given myself time for the right opportunities, you know, so it’s not my wife sitting there all the time, just sort of like doing little messages. And I say to her, why don’t you just phone them? Oh, I don’t want to talk to them. And I said, but you’ve spent 25 minutes just sort of sending these little messages. Why don’t you just phone them. I don’t do any of that. But I will meet up with somebody and we have accomplished this. I’ve just realised it takes me back to it being in an office with no email when I would walk across and speak to people. And my whole life is about speaking to people. I rarely send a message. I use messenger every now and again on desktop. But other than that, I do everything and get it done in that moment of communication. And then just walk away from it because it’s done.
Carson Tate [39:24]
How have you done that? in quarantine and in the pandemic?
David Ralph [39:29]
I have no friends. That’s handy.
Carson Tate [39:33]
Well, you probably should have led with that one. I don’t have a phone and I have no friends. Okay, well, there we go.
David Ralph [39:38]
It’s very easy. It’s very easy when you’ve got no friends. But yeah, no in the pandemic. I don’t know. I’ve never ever had one. So it’s never been something that I’ve had to lose our you know, my my natural systems have been built around not having one so I could imagine it’d be terrible if you had one and it got taken away from you but Never ever had a phone. So um, yeah, it’s it’s interesting times, right? But I will, I can see we’re moving very, very quickly along this episode. Let’s talk about, own it, love it make it work, which is your new book out in October 2020. Tell us about it. What is it? Who would love it? And why did you write it?
Carson Tate [40:22]
Yeah, so who would love it. So if you call him the Sunday night skerries, you dread the thought of Monday morning, you count down the days to go into the pub in the afternoon or your weekend, or you’re just stuck, work sucks, your boss is an asshole. If you are looking for something more in your work life, then this is the book for you. And I wrote it. Because all of the research will let me raise it 90% of the research, academic research. And most of the books that are out on the subject of engagement and enjoying your work are written for the companies and the managers. There’s not a book for the employee. And the relationship that you have with your company is a social contract, which is based on given take, which means both parties have an equal and powerful voice. So if I want to be more engaged, I’ve got to do the work to decide what that means for me, because there’s not a one size fits all approach. And so own it, make it love, own it, make it own it, love it, make it work, let’s see if I can get the name of my book out here is that roadmap to help you identify what you need to be engaged and fulfilled. And then how to have the conversation with your manager and your company to craft your work. So that really supports what you want to do.
David Ralph [41:50]
This is interesting to me, because yeah, we talk about telling your boss to bugger off and building your own business and going and I strongly believe that you can’t go wrong with building your own business. But you can also make your job more enjoyable. Currently, you’re already in there. So don’t make it into a drag make it into something but you, you maybe you don’t bound to it like Tigger on steroids. But Alicia, is
Unknown Speaker [42:17]
that like,
David Ralph [42:17]
you move with energy?
Carson Tate [42:20]
Absolutely. Well, I also wanted to suggest that you don’t have to quit. And you don’t have to stay and suffer, you’re talking about a third option, which is making your work more tolerable. And I would say let’s make it more than just tolerable. Let’s make it a place where you are engaged, fulfilled. And if you want to be an entrepreneur, then how are you using this job? to set you up for what you want to do in your business? Let’s make this a meaningful investment of your time.
David Ralph [42:53]
That’s interesting, isn’t it? That that is a very interesting concept. So develop yourself while you’re being paid, so that you can take all those skills and transition into something else.
Unknown Speaker [43:05]
Absolutely.
David Ralph [43:07]
But don’t tell your boss, you’re doing that, of course.
Carson Tate [43:09]
Well, it’s a well, but it’s a win for your boss. Because if you are getting better at your job, if you’re expanding your skill set, if you’re getting more feedback, and you’re really focused on your performance and getting better. That’s a win for them. Obviously, it’s a win for you because it’s going to translate into your future success when you have your own company. But if
David Ralph [43:32]
I say I would really suck because all the bosses I know, would say that’s what they wanted, but actually they just wanted the top employees to stay there because it ultimately made their life easier. And we kept on seeing that the real high fliers kind of hit a ceiling because the progression wasn’t there for them.
Carson Tate [43:54]
That is the case in some organisations and this is where it you have to look at in your organisation. If I can’t go up, can I go laterally and expand my career into a different division? Is there a different skill set so maybe it’s not moving up in a position but an expansion of skill sets and taking on new opportunities? That is still growing you and your career?
David Ralph [44:25]
Ah interesting stuff. I’ll tell you what, Carson we’re happy to have you back on the show. I think we could. We could do a whole show on just own it. Love it make it work. What do you think?
Carson Tate [44:35]
I would love to that would be great.
David Ralph [44:38]
We will get it a range. I will ask James to send it out to you. So before we sort of send you back in time on the Sermon on the mic to have a one on one with your younger self. Is 2020 been like for you because it has been a weird one to say the least. Has it been just sort of plain sailing has it been mad panic has As the process is saved you,
Carson Tate [45:04]
ah, it’s been, well, you don’t have a phone. So I was going to try to talk about in terms of emojis, but that’s probably not going to work for you. So it’s been a range of emotions. I mean, there are days that are joyful and happy and hopeful. And then there are days when I’m pissed off and frustrated and like, What in the world is happening here? From a business perspective, we have great clients, and we’ve been able to pivot the business processes have definitely helped. And there is a tremendous opportunity that we’ve been able to capitalise on because everything has changed and how we work. We’re in the change business.
David Ralph [45:45]
And I’ve been companies and individuals got lazy, didn’t we, you know, the creativity that you see, because of these restrictions, I would hate to lose that. You know, I
Carson Tate [45:56]
don’t want to lose that no.
David Ralph [45:58]
Mind fix, though, isn’t it?
Carson Tate [46:01]
It is mindful, and people are willing to explore, what if, why not? Can we? Because they’ve had to?
David Ralph [46:12]
I haven’t had to, but I realised that I wanted to. And it this, this was the interesting thing. It hasn’t affected me in the slightest. But it made me realise that perhaps I was getting a bit bored. And so this sort of creativity and the sort of just changing things around made me become, how can I say it suddenly dawned on me there was a value in my business processes that I probably wasn’t getting. And it was time to sort of shift it up here.
Carson Tate [46:47]
Well, there’s danger and comfort, being too comfortable in your business is actually a risky place to be.
David Ralph [46:56]
Come listen tight, I’m going to send you back in time, I’m going to send you back on time, because this is the part of the show called the Sermon on the mic when I send you back in time to have a one on one with Dr. Carson. And if you could go back in time and speak to her, what age would you choose? And what advice would you love to give? Well, we’re gonna find out because I’m going to play the music. And when it fades, it’s your time to talk to each other. This is the Sermon on the mic.
Outro [47:28]
We could speed up the show.
Carson Tate [47:46]
So I am going back in time to talk to my 30 year old self. And there are three things that I would say to her, play more pause and savour and use the power of your voice. So 30 years old, I’m in full on strive mode, trying to build a corporate identity thinking about potentially being an entrepreneur. And all I did was work and missed an opportunity to play and looking back. Play is a great place of creativity play as restorative plays just fun. So I would tell younger Carson play. Or another thing I would tell her to pause and savour. I didn’t have many responsibilities at 30 can you pause and savour where you are right now, without looking to the future. And without that, pull towards more Yes, use that as a catalyst to drive you forward. That can use just pause and be in the present moment. And just be right where you are, instead of always trying to be in your future self. And then the third thing I would tell her is the power of your voice and the power of your voice in the world and to remember that everyone is here with the purpose and everyone is here to add value and serve. And if you don’t use your voice, then you’re not in service. And that is not helping humanity.
David Ralph [49:25]
Great stuff. So what’s the number one best way that our audience can connect with you, Carson,
Carson Tate [49:31]
Carson tate.com, check out my website or on LinkedIn, the Carson Tate,
David Ralph [49:35]
Where have all the links in the show notes to make it as easy as possible. And custom. Thank you so much for spending time with us today and joining up those dots. And of course, please come back again when you’ve got more dots to join up because I do believe that by joining up the dots and connecting our paths is the best way to build our futures concentrate. Thank you so much.
Carson Tate [49:55]
Thank you David. I appreciate it.
David Ralph [49:58]
So Carson Tight talking about productivity and just little things can make such a big difference delegating a bit of work out, or getting systems in place for your email inbox, just whatever you do that reduces time you’ll be amazed at a compound effect. That will make a big difference. Of course, we’re gonna get Carson back on the show when we’re going to be looking at a subject that’s quite different for Join Up Dots where we say stay where you are, I mean your job, but learn to love it more. It’s not all about quitting and leaving and getting your own business sometimes it’s perfectly alright to be at work. You’ve just got to find bellhop again. Until next time, my friends, thank you so much for being here with us on Join Up Dots. And I’ll be here again soon. See you later. Bye bye.
Outro [50:48]
That’s the guy not die. You heard the conversation. Now it’s time for you to start taking massive action. Create up, create your life busy only like God. We’ll be back again. You’ll see. Join Up Dots Join Up Dots Join Up Dots, Gods jolina Join Up Dots
