Social Selling Sisterhood Podcast Episode 56: Finding Alignment through Outsourcing with Shannon Gill

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Hi, friend. Welcome to the social selling sisterhood podcast. I am Lindsay Dollinger and I have many titles. High school, Spanish teacher, dog Mom, world traveler and direct seller. I empower women to run your direct sales businesses the right way so you can earn the money. You deserve to live the life of your dreams and travel the world. Now we got that out of the way. Let's get started. Hello. We are live. Hey, guys. Lindsay doll. Linger here with a live podcast episode of the social selling sisterhood. And I'm super excited to bring you guys our guest today, Mrs Shannon McGill. And okay, Shannon, we're just gonna dive right in and tell us about you. You know how you got to what you do right now and what exactly it is that you do right now? I would be happy to. I'm Shannon Gill. I am founder and managing director of Diane Business Consulting out of Columbus and what we do in a very tiny nutshell, and I'll get into the rest of it later. But what we do is provide resource is for small businesses. Our goal is to keep the entrepreneur in the lane that they're passionate about. And we come behind them and build the team behind them to take all of those things that they don't necessarily like. And that's holding them back and taking them from their passion and draining their energy and all that good stuff. So we dio we have accounting I t h r admen marketing and branding sales. We have C suite executives that can come in, but we do it all in a fractional level, so people only pay for what they need, and we can all build that strategy together. I love that. I love that. Okay, So how did you pick that path? How did you get here? So I m owned. I was one of those business owners like I completely overwhelmed with small business. I owned a fitness company and we were operating out of a couple of different locations and employees, and I got into it with a passion for yoga instructor and a personal trainer and all this good stuff, and I was got into it with a passion for that. And then I had no idea I was in my mid twenties that I had no idea how much went into the business side of things like all of this stuff that wasn't generating revenue, that I wasn't good at that. I didn't like right. All of that kind of just put me in front of people. That's all I wanted to do so. It lasted in varying degrees for about eight years, and it was one of those things that by the time I was done, I was the parent that wasn't making kids soccer games. I was emotionally exhausted at the end of it on DSO I stepped away and I I did some marketing for some small businesses, like just a couple. And then I got a job with a nationwide agency and I worked with small businesses in that nationwide agencies What I did and I saw the same things play out right. Um, entrepreneurs come in, they have an idea. They're going to change the world there. They've got this passion. They've got this better product or better service than what's on the market. But then they would get to a point. They just beleaguered they everything else that goes in with it. Everyone had cowboy mentality. I'm gonna do this myself right it would be exhausted. And so about five years ago, I went through just some incredible life changes. Um, it didn't feel incredible at the time, but major health issue in and out of the hospital got a divorce. After 18 years, my father passed away like there were so many things in such a short period of time. That happened. And so that point. Then I really kind of had to reevaluate on a personal side. I realized, OK, I'm just sleepwalking through life, and I really had to work through that and some healing. But on a professional side, an acquaintance at the time kind of asked me to come and look at their business. They were like, Look, we're working 80 hours a week. My husband and I, we can't seem to make it grow and we're not sure what's going on. And as I started looking, I just realized how many inefficiencies are in small business as we spend all of our time trying to do. Things were not skilled at that kind of thing, and so as I consulted then I started to realize that I can tell small business owners all I want what to Do they don't have the time, nor the resource is to coordinate all of it and to make it look like an actual company. And so that's what that's kind of where that came from. So in July, in December of 2000 and 18, I got a bartending job to kind of start building my company out in July of 2000 and 19, I officially launched, and we were doing well. I mean, we were building that foundation. We were, you know, let's do this. And then Covid hit. And when Cove it hit, an interesting thing happened. Suddenly all these small business owners who had cracks in the foundation Cove it hit. And they were just these gaping craters, right? So lots of people needed help. So we started jumping in and we went from a team of four to a team of 14 and about 2 to 3 months right in there. And it was insanity. I don't tell you. Yeah, why in August was nothing but me putting out fires. No, but being putting out fires and I actually step back at that point because I knew I was doing the same thing to my business that I was trying to save other people from right. So at that point we pulled the marketing that we had been doing, and I spent septum September through December reevaluating, um, looking at the foundation. We decided to do things a different way thin the way we were doing it as far as, the way we interact with the people that provide our services and that kind of thing. And I brought out a CFO and a c 00 I realized my place is with people, right? Jeff is with operations. I don't want to do that, but he loves it, and Larry's place is with finances, and I don't want to do that. He does that. So as of January 1st, we have them on board and things are just going amazing. This is a way for us. Big business thrives because they've got the right people in the right places. Entrepreneurs don't have that luxury. Or if they do try to bring an independent contractors a lot of times they're overwhelmed with trying to, coordinate, manage them right? And so we've kind of put all of that together so we could build the company behind the entrepreneur. Oh, my gosh. Okay, so I wrote down so many good lessons that I don't even know if you realize that you were sharing, but I'm like, Oh, my gosh, this is so good. Um, okay, So I love how you said all these things that were little cracks in our business, like became gigantic cracks when something like Cove it happened. And it doesn't always have to be something like Cove it. But those little things that you know any little weakness in your business whether it's, um, not knowing how to do a tech thing, or, I mean, it could literally be anything but that can really have some big impact when certain the right things happen wouldn't line up. Absolutely. Yeah, it's not even, you know, at times I've even seen in business that it's not even like some cataclysmic thing like cold ID. Um, sometimes we just hate something so bad, or were we feel so bad about ourselves because we can't do it or whatever that we start to procrastinate on it. It comes up because we're procrastinating and it goes longer. And then we beat ourselves up more, and then we way avoided even more right, And then it gets to a point where it becomes this big, gaping crater in the business. And so it's important for me to help small business owners understand that we're not cowboys. We don't know it all, and it takes people with skills and passion and energy in those areas to put them in the mix so that we don't get to that point. We're sacrificing our businesses when we put ourselves in a point where we expect ourselves to do it all, ah, 100% and I like how you said, put people in their passion like it's the same thing with your own business when you're trying to do all the things I and I try to stress us with our listeners. But, you know, do the things in your business that you have to do that like you add your flair to and that you're passionate about and you love doing. But it's okay, the outsource other things, and I think that people think you have to make a certain amount of money or you need, you know, to have a certain number of customers or something. So can you talk a little bit about shifting to that mindset of when, When it's OK to outsource, who can outsource? Absolutely. So we work with very specific companies. We work with companies who are looking for rapid growth on a solid foundation. I mean, they're really wanted to scale. But any small business owners looking to outsource with for anything, right? Um, what's important to understand is that when you are aligned in your passion, that is what brings people to you. It attracts people. The right people write. It attracts people who are drawn to what you're bringing to the market. And, well, when you are in that lane and you are moving forward, your time is worth whatever it is that you're selling. Your time is 102 $101,000 an hour, right. You are actively driving the bottom line. You are actively bringing in sales when you get stuck on putting stuff in QuickBooks or posting social media content that just the technicalities drive you crazy, right or you are copyrighting and you don't like to copyright or you're designing things and you're not a designer. First of all, the quality is going to show through That's not your skills. Check the quality is gonna show through, and it's going to affect your business. Second, I'm sorry. It's gonna affect the version of your business that people see. The thing, though, is it not only takes you longer, it saps your energy. It saps your passion. You start getting frustrated with yourself. You're procrastinating, right? It takes you away from your family, all of those kinds of things. And instead of making $500 an hour, you could be paying someone $20 an hour to do that stuff. And not only is it a money exchange, it is a energy exchange. Passion exchange. You get to keep it because they're getting what they need out of it as well. So people will say I don't have the money to do it. Okay, start slow. You need to go slow. You need to identify two things that you can hand off to someone two hours a week, Right. But spend those hours doing the thing that makes you the most money. Yes. That's how you start to make the exchange. You you identify two things that trip you up, but substitute the time that you do for those in your passion and driving that business. So you are bringing in the income, and then it's a cycle. At that point, you bring in more income. You start handing something else off. I literally had a A client today telling me or a future client she's were process, She told me today she's like, I want to do nothing but talk to people. She's a consultant. I want to do nothing but talk to people and create programs. And I'm like, Done so. But we can't and her budget do all of that right now. So we have to piece by piece. I like that. I like that. Figure out what you can dio and then we'll start baby steps like a So I'm like You don't have to hire someone for, like, a full time employee like it's not like that at all. And maybe it's just an individual project. At first, you know, I had someone I made like a planner and tracker system, and we made it editable and I started doing it on Adobe and I was like, Oh my gosh, this is so clunky for me. I don't know how to use this on. And I'm like I had a via anyway, I was like, Could you please do that? And she's like, Oh, yeah, no problem. And she got it back to me. And I'm like, an hour and I'm like, that would have taken me, like, 5, 10 hours. I don't even know todo and it wouldn't have looked so beautiful. And you would have been frustrated. I was at that point. Yeah, exactly. And I'm like, Think of all this stuff then that I, in turn, was able to do with that time that I paid her to do like it just I was like, Yes, thank you. Yeah, absolutely. Thank you. Thank you. All right, So it's really just I always hammer home that point that you have to be intentional about it. And if you are offloading time that you are paying for, you have to fill that time with something that is going to bring in the money or you're not gonna be able to afford to do it right. That's a great point. Yeah. You can't just, like, have pay someone else to all your business. And then you set a home like, do nothing. Yeah, 100%. So I feel like February in Ohio. It could already be kind of dreary. You know, we've been in a lot of people, or at least I know myself. I tend to work more on my business when it's went to her, and there's not as much to do outside. And you know all that. Um, what are some things that you can suggest to avoid burnout because you talked a little bit about how you were burning out, Um, in your twenties. And I mean, that's a very riel thing. So is there anything besides hiring Help? Um, yeah, just understanding as women that we are one person who wears a lot of hats, right? And so our business is just part of that, that our business doesn't define us. Its success or its failure doesn't define us right? It is a lesson. It's a growth opportunity. Um, moving through that regardless of what happens, we're also moms were also wives. Were girlfriends were friends were part of the p t A. Like there's so many things that we feel like we have to do the thing that I have realized and Honestly, this has been a fairly recent revelation, and I'm working to get myself there. Is switching the mind set off. Okay, My clients need this stuff today or my team members need this stuff today. Here's my to do list. And then when, um I gonna figure out what am I gonna eat? Healthy When, um, I gonna work out What? Am I gonna meditate? After that? I switched it to that stuff takes precedence. If that stuff doesn't get done, nothing else may get done right. That stuff takes precedence. And the reason I've made that switch is because I'm not going to be good. And any capacity? None if I'm mentally unwell. If I'm anxious and tired and exhausted and depressed or physically unwell, I'm overweight or I'm I'm eating unhealthy things that I don't have the energy right, that kind of thing. Spiritually exhausted where I don't have that thing inside me that drives me anymore, right? If I am not taking care of those things, nothing else matters. And it's such a short race to get to the point where I'm so out of balance and I can't I can't do what I'm trying to do. So I made that shift in my mind, and I actually starting in March, had blocked off my calendar until 10 a.m. So that's that's when I do all of that stuff. Now, if I have a doctor's appointment, I'll throw it in there anything. But I identified ID me that if what was happening was I would work a full day, then I wouldn't get my workout in. Then I wouldn't get meditating that I wouldn't sleep well that night. Then the next day I would be just a little bit more exhausted working 10, 12, 14 hour day. And then what this does is this forces me in parameters to make sure that I'm doing what I need to do for me. And then I only have so much time left to get my to do stuff done. And if I don't get it done, I have to hand it off. There's no other option because needs done and a lot of time Small business owners have a hard time handing things off not because they can't, but it's because they don't know how to do it. If you put yourself in a position where you're like, Oh, my gosh. Just not going to get done. I think someone else could probably do this part of it and go, Yes, well, and to and I don't know, like, who said this or whatever. But when you when you're given a little bit less time and you have to be a little more efficient also with your work So you're like Okay, well, I guess I can't, you know, scroll through or, like, done is better than perfect. Like we're going You Absolutely. And and that's human nature, right? If we have three things to do and we have eight hours to do it, that three things are gonna extend over that three hours if we have three hours to do something and three things to do is gonna extend over three hours, right? It's it's human nature to kind of fill that time with what we have on our list. 100%. I just recently made that same switch where I'm like because I wasn't getting my workout and I wasn't getting and I was eating really unhealthy, and I was touching myself, stopping, getting fast food because I'm like, Okay, I have blah, blah lined up and there was no meantime and I was like, a I got it. I got to switch like, literally, like, three weeks ago made the switch, and it's something in here it was the burn out. I was getting the burnout. And I'm like, I'm passionate about all of this. Like the only missing piece was was planning my day better so that I know I am getting in an hour of work out Flash meditation, slash journal, You know, like that Meantime, instead of making that the last priority and the same thing, I feel like I'm showing up so much better me than I was before Thean Tristen thing that I figured out through all of that was And I think this is what made me realize to make the switch was I could literally work 14 hours and they're still be things to do, like, yeah, it never ends. There's always things to do. And then that's when it occurred to me. Okay, so I'm gonna have to put parameters here somewhere, or I am gonna be burned out. I'm gonna I'm gonna be miserable. I'm gonna be unhealthy. And then everything around me all those balls are gonna start dropping because I'm not there to keep them going. Yes, yes. 100%. Okay, So while we're talking about time management and efficient a little bit, what would be maybe a tip or two for maybe a new business owner or someone who has been struggling? And they're like, Okay, I'm getting back into it that you have found has either works for you. Or maybe you tell your clients. Um, just something that we can add into our day. My advice for time management, money management. Um, skill sets all of that. Good stuff is know yourself. I am a free spirit by nature. I No problem. What? So I've ever looking at my watch and being like, you know what? I think I need to drive to Chicago tonight, or I got a plane and got like, That's me. I love that. So what happens when I fill up my schedule with, you know, like you here? Don't put it on to do Let's put it on your schedule. So I've done that. I, like filled up my calendar one thing after another, so I make sure I get it all done I look at that in the morning. Internally, I freak out and I shut down too much pressure, like my free spirit hates it when I have a block of time and I literally just float from thing to thing, something will pop in my head and I go do that. And then something pops in my head and I go do that. I get so much done now to anyone looking on, it would look like I was being very inefficient, right? I'm not walking time, all of the standard things. Yeah, right. But I get so much done. That's the way I work. And that's the way function. So what I my encouragement for people is learn. Study up on all of the different techniques, learn and then try them. And if it feels heavy to you, if it feels anxiety inducing, if it feels that kind of thing, maybe that was not for you. Move onto the next thing. We function best when we're in alignment with ourselves, and so it's important that we take that information in not feel guilty about it if it's not for us, but to kind of internalize it and try it see what happens if it doesn't work, move onto the next thing. That's so interesting. I you're really the first person I've ever talked to that runs that way. Like, but not no, it's so good for me to hear that because I'm like, I can totally think of some women on my color street team right now who completely aligned with you and like, have really been struggling with, like we do power hours and its very structure. Well, we have a very structured one, and we have a not so structured one. But even the not so structured one there are a few women who are like this is not No. Yeah, I work. And so you I'm so glad you just share that because I'm like, Oh my gosh, I am totally sending this to them because they need to hear that It's okay like it's nothing. Yes, and what happens is we end up creating all the shame in our heads because we can't do it right. What's wrong with us that we can't do it right? And I those kinds of things, there's power hours, not kind of thing. I know which ones that I could be involved In which ones I can't be because I do I get all kinds of Yeah, yeah, mental. A mental block for sure, because that's the thing. We don't wanna feel bad afterwards. So our brain starts shutting things down because it doesn't want us to feel bad. It's trying to protect us. And if it's not in alignment with who we are, we're gonna have a really hard time doing it. Yeah. Okay, So what does this look like? Do you, like, have a an overall to do list or like, a task list? And you pick from it? Because I'm like, there's no way you could remember all the things I e use a trailer board Whose trail? Oh, for a project management across the company. But I have a just a running list, and I put the due dates on them so it pops up, you know, when that thing I review it in the morning just kind of looked down through it. And then I give myself 234 hours and I literally just popped from thing to thing to think. When we start trusting ourselves right when we start trusting ourselves, we remember a whole lot of stuff when anxiety kicks in is when it starts toe like blur all of those things. If I need to hop back on trail Oh, I will toe look at it. But I'm always shocked at the end of that time that I have given myself how many things I get and I'm like I did that. I did that. I did that. I didn't do that right. It's just now. I might not have done anything all at once, so I don't hop back in and knock off one at a time. Because then I would get discouraged because I'm halfway through 18 things right? But when I'm done, it's amazing to me how much I have got done, and I that's that's how I roll. It just works for me. No, that's so good. I literally I am so glad that you said that because, like I said, I've never heard anyone, um, express that that fits better for their personality. But it totally makes sense. Um, and it's also good for us to remember, especially when we're working with teams or, you know, other people who are whatever your business is. You're working with someone else at some point in time that not everyone works the same way you do huge part of building your team successfully. Absolutely. Um Okay, so we talked about boundaries. You talked a lot about pivoting as well in your story, even so much recently in the past, like, year. Do you have any, Um, like, if someone feels like they're maybe not so in tune with Okay, I'm ready to pivot and do something like, how do you know when it's time to pivot so? I think the foundation of anything, um, is health and, um, healing internally, as as women rate and then everything else flows out of that. And so a far, as you know, three years ago, five years ago, that kind of thing. I had so much anxiety, so much shame, so much of that kind of stuff that I would have never trusted myself to make the decisions on the fly that I have to make now, right? We are. Our company has big ambitions were going nationwide. Um, you know, like we have these huge goals for the next 10 years and so there's no way I could have done what I'm doing right now. So it took some time to heal and to grow in those areas before I got here. Now it is a belief in myself and where I'm headed, it is that belief that, yeah, I am going to hit those. And if I don't hit those goals, I'm going to do everything that I can to and I trust myself. So when the time comes, you know, and a new business and business is just over a year old when fires were going off everywhere, I had a decision to make. Okay, Do I muscle through this or do I back off? Take the PR hit. You know, people being like you're only a year old, but take your head and thinking, Okay, we can do this smarter, and we're not going to have to support clients, right? And the way we want to support them if we don't make sure our foundation is strong first. And so I chose to do that. I couldn't have done that three years ago because the embarrassment of what people would have thought or write that kind of thing within too much. So I think when you're talking about deciding when it's time to pivot, you have to determine. Is this based on? Is this based on my goals and what I'm wanting out of life and where I'm headed in this business? Or is this based on what other people think? Or is this based on traditional wisdom? Right. Traditional wisdom is good developing all of that. But their puzzle pieces, we have to look at them and determine Does this fit? My puzzle does this Does this work here and then understanding that we're gonna pivot ah lot and sometimes is small businesses. It's gonna be amazing. And we're gonna be like, Yes, a decision over Sometimes it's not gonna be so amazing. And those are lessons. We we step up, we dust ourselves off and we get back at it. Uh, love that. I heard so much mindset in there like you. So do you. Do you read personal development? Let's say like, what do you do? Okay. So I have a business coach. I also have a mindset coach. Yeah. Yeah, and then, yeah, I read. Listen to podcasts. Um, all kinds of good stuff. Do you fit that into your daily routine in the morning. Yeah, I totally due to, uh and it's it's so funny because I can I can always tell when people do not, You know, when they're on your team and they're like, I'm doing all the things I'm doing all the blue and I'm like, Are you reading e listening to a podcast like, I know it sounds blue, but like, are you doing it right? Because we all what we feed ourselves, just like our bodies are what we feed ourselves, right? Our minds are what we feed ourselves And, you know, it's interesting Something that I just started doing in the last couple of weeks. That is, I love it is, um, at the end of the night, I'm writing in my journal things that I commit toe leave in this day. So, um, like I wrote last night, I had an insecurity over something yesterday until I was like I commit toe leave this insecurity over this in February 16th, 2000 and 21 I commit toe, leaving my weakness in this area in February 16th, 2021 right? I write a few things that I commit toe leaving that day and It's interesting, because the next day, when I start to feel insecure and, like, I was like yesterday, I don't have to do that anymore. I love that mental things. Yeah, well, and you know what? Writing it. Saying it. Yeah, you know, envisioning it like it becomes reality. Like, I really love that. I'm going to start doing that. Um, awesome. Oh, my gosh. Okay. Is there anything that you want to share that I have not asked you about? That's, like, really on your heart to share to the women business owner. Listening to this business is can be this crazy, exciting adventure, or it can be a freaking nightmare. I mean, let's be completely honest, right? I I just wanna encourage anyone out there that is struggling and is beating themselves up. Then this feeling shame and all of that kind of stuff. It doesn't matter what happens with the business. It does matter what happens with you. So if you are struggling in this time, get yourself help in the form of a counselor in the form of a coach in the form of nutritionists. Whatever is that you need to start your personal journey of healing. The business follows you. The stronger you are, the stronger the business is going to become. So don't let that be your temperature gauge as far as how you're doing, determine how you're doing and then let the business to be the temperature gauge of how Hold on. I said that Wrong. Determine how you are doing and then the business will follow. Yes, Well, yeah, because it's only gonna be a strong as you are. And if you are, if you have these areas in your life where you're insecure or you're not showing up and getting, you know, being the best to you, then there's no way you could be the best to you in your business. 100% Okay, before we leave, I have been asking all of my guest and you mentioned that you could fly. You could fly to Chicago or go somewhere. So I feel like you might have a good answer to this. Um where is your favorite place you've ever traveled? To? Um oh, gosh. It's always the hard one. I know I should get. Probably recently, it has been Portland, Oregon, about 18 months ago. I think I spent two weeks there and it was, It's so fun, so fun on the Pacific Coast. It's a fun atmosphere, that kind of thing. But, you know, I love the Caribbean. Of course. Love, siesta key. My daughter and I took a impromptu trip, just siesta key last summer, and that was a lot of fun. So, yeah, I just love that. I've actually never been to Portland, Oregon. It's on my list. Oh my God. Absolutely have to. Yeah, I've heard it. It's like a really trendy town, right? It is very tricky. It's funny. It's definitely not Midwest culture. It's fun to just kind of step back and watch everything unfold. But favorite memory of I went to if something called so for sounds and it was basically you sign up. And if they only select a certain number of people and those people, then the day of our told where to show up and what three local bands were playing. And so we ended up having a concert with three local bands in this this skyscraper filled with windows as the sun went down over Portland. It was the coolest experience ever 30 of us there, right? That's the only the amount. And so just putting myself out there in different cultures and you experience some of that stuff. Oh, that's so cool. I love that. I'll definitely have toe reach out to you if I ever go to Portland and ask for the name of that again. Awesome. Shannon. Well, how can everyone connect with you and guys? I'm going to put all the links. If you're watching this live there are. They should already be up there. But if you're listening to this on the podcast, check out the links in the bios of Shannon. How can we connect with you further? So I have a strong personal brand as well. We're actually developing it more. So I pulled back some on that. But feel free to, connect with me on Social Shannon Close McGill, Um then on Facebook instagram and linked in I'm on their personally. But then also, Diame Business Consulting is the company page and I post a lot of empowerment type things for small business owner and mindset things for small business owners. So even if you know you're not in the place right now that you think you would utilize our services. We speak to small business because we believe that we're stronger together in small business. Could be a mighty team. No matter where we are, we can link arms and move forward together. So I'm here to facilitate that. Awesome. I love this. Oh, my God. She gave us so much good just advice. And like, I haven't written down this much in a podcast interview for a really long time, so I really e yeah, seriously. And I am totally going to get off here and send these wings over to a couple with it on my d movie. Like, you're fine that you don't like our power. Our It's fine. Okay, Daniel. Well, thank you so much for your time. I really appreciate it like