Ep. 13 The Stern Truth: The Struggle of the Juggle with Jordan Eaton

In this special episode of The Stern Truth, I sit down with Jordan Eaton, CEO of BOSS Assistants. She shares her real struggles and triumphs of entrepreneurship while juggling family life. Jordan also reveals her journey of building a successful virtual assistant business over the past three years while raising two young children.

Having experienced the overwhelm of entrepreneurship myself, I appreciate Jordan's candid insights about the "struggle of the juggle" and how she manages it all. She reveals her strategy of delegating tasks that drain her energy, particularly bookkeeping which she admits to avoiding completely in her first year—because "later never came."

Jordan offers pragmatic advice for small business owners feeling overwhelmed, emphasizing the importance of building a reliable team, detaching from outcomes, and implementing time-blocking. She even schedules family time as non-negotiable "meetings" in her calendar to create boundaries that support her business growth and personal wellbeing.

We also touch on my Business Therapy Thursday sessions as well, and why the connection with other entrepreneurs, the “chat” with someone who gets it, is important.

This episode aims to give listeners a better understanding of what Jordan calls a "life-first business", one that you run instead of it running you. 

Get in touch with Jordan Eaton:

bossassistants.com

linkedin.com/in/jordan-eaton

Subscribe to The Stern Truth Business Unfiltered so you never miss an episode and receive a FREE GIFT: http://www.thesterntruth.com/

Join my Business Inner Circle Community for free here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/thebusinessinnercirclegroup

Book your complimentary business blindspot assessment with me here: https://attractwell.com/MarshallStern/landing/breakthrough-session

I encourage you to reach out with feedback, topic suggestions, and share your own entrepreneurial challenges.

Get in touch in the comments or head to...
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/marshallstern/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarshallDStern
Email: marshall@marshallstern.net

Transcript

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[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: So in this special episode, I have the pleasure of sitting down with Jordan Eaton of Boss Assistants. Now, Jordan and her team are a big reason why this podcast even exists. She's my support team to get this podcast edited and launched and published, and I thank her for that. But more importantly, with this episode, you're going to hear Jordan's ups and downs of entrepreneurship.

[00:00:24] And inside of that there will be some golden nuggets, some insights and takeaways for you. So listen for. Of them take notes and enjoy.

[00:00:36] Hi, I'm Marshall Stern and I've spent over 35 years leading and growing multiple small businesses. I know firsthand the struggles of entrepreneurship, feeling isolated, lonely, overwhelmed, and feeling like you have to do all by yourself. I've been through multiple recessions, and I have felt the highs and the lows I've been there, and I get it.

[00:00:58] This podcast is here to change that every week. I will bring you straight talking advice, real world strategies, and honest conversations about what it takes to succeed in business without the fluff, the gimmicks, or the sugar-coated. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels and start making real progress, then you are in the right place.

[00:01:19] This is the Stern Truth.

[00:01:25] Welcome back everyone, to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered, and today I have an amazing guest that I all want you to get to know. Jordan, welcome. 

[00:01:37] Jordan Eaton: Hi. Thank you for having me. 

[00:01:39] Marshall Stern: Thank you for being here. And I really want people to grab a piece of paper and a pen or your laptop or notebook, whatever.

[00:01:47] I want you to pay attention though, and the show notes will be in below here. Tell us a little about, bit about your business and about who Jordan is. 

[00:01:59] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, so I started my business about three years ago. We are BOSS Assistants, so we are helping other business owners and small businesses in North America to manage their time and have a life first business is what I like to call it.

[00:02:16] Business ownership is hard. And there's so much to it. You're balancing everything. You're wearing all the hats, and you're working long hours. It's really hard for your mental health and it's really easy to get burnt out and so we help. Business owners with their backend, their administration, but we also help them with gaining visibility.

[00:02:36] So we have visibility assistance, as we call it, and we focus on organic marketing. So social media we do some outreach on over email. We do some lead generation. We help them with their LinkedIn presence. So all that kind of stuff to help them build their brand. 

[00:02:53] Marshall Stern: And podcasting. 

[00:02:55] Jordan Eaton: And podcasting. 

[00:02:56] Marshall Stern: Yes. So for those of you watching or listening, Jordan and her amazing team are my resource.

[00:03:03] So here's a quick story for everyone listening because this is, goes into really the benefit or not the benefit, the it is a benefit, but the power of outsourcing. And Jordan, you know this because we've spoken many times. I procrastinate. I had a podcast about 10 years ago, which I did for a few months and then I stopped and I was doing it all myself.

[00:03:22] I was editing it, I was trying to edit it publishing and all this stuff. And then I want, a couple years ago I want to relaunch, but I. Knew the one thing that was holding me back, which there's something that always holds us back in our business until we realized what it is. And I wasn't sure what it was.

[00:03:38] And I kept, I said I kept saying it's interesting because episode number six I think we did is all. Yeah, episode six I will when and I kept saying, I will launch it when, and then I kept saying, this year I'm going to launch it. This year I'm going to launch relaunch podcast. And it wasn't until we started talking one day and I didn't know that I was a service that you were offering.

[00:03:57] That I thought, you know what? That's what I need. I need someone on the other end. I could do this, I could do the recording. But after that, it's just so much work and for someone who does it and has a team who does it, it's just so much easier and allows me to focus on the things I love doing, which is like connecting with people and talking, but I don't want to be sitting there editing and adding music and scheduling.

[00:04:19] And so I brought you guys on and it's been amazing. So thank you. 

[00:04:24] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, we're really happy to help. The podcast management is great, but also we help people get onto other people's podcasts as a guest, which is a great way of accessing a new audience and it works out.

[00:04:36] Marshall Stern: And that's stage two for you and me.

[00:04:37] That's, we're going to go with that too. Okay. So three years you said you've had your business. 

[00:04:43] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, it's going, it's a little bit over three years now. March. So now it's April. 

[00:04:48] Marshall Stern: So I'm going to ask this question. Who is Jordan? Outside of BOSS Assistants, who are you 

[00:04:56] Jordan Eaton: Outside of BOSS Assistants? I am a mom of two little ones.

[00:05:01] And yeah, it's been a very interesting journey to balance motherhood and balance having my own business, which I actually decided to start my business on a whim. I have 15 years experience as an administrative assistant. I've worked with VPs, CEOs. Business owners, realtors, entrepreneurs. And I just thought that they were struggling.

[00:05:25] I've helped them. I've come into the most chaotic businesses, and they had no SOPs. They had no systems, they had no filing, they had nothing. And I've, I loved transforming businesses back in the day when I was working. Working in office, and I would just come in and there's a mess everywhere. There's papers and I would just organize and make everything great and create all these SOPs, all these systems, processes.

[00:05:49] So I had all that experience and then I decided one day – especially with Covid, everybody's starting to work from home and I thought, what's better than being able to be at home with my children and run a business from my laptop? It's the best of both worlds. So I decided to start my 100% remote business, and I just decided on a whim, and here I am.

[00:06:10] Marshall Stern: The Stern Truth is, it's easy, right? You got the laptop, you can be on a beach, your kids can be playing in the water, and it's easy, right? Everyone should do it. Just simple. No problems ever. It's just. 

[00:06:21] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, everyone thinks that it's just super, super easy, or I'll just start a business and I knew that there was going to be some hiccups and there was going to be, things that I have to figure out that I'm not sure about, but I really did not know it was going to be this difficult.

[00:06:36] I'm learning every step of the way and it's been an amazing journey so far. 

[00:06:41] Marshall Stern: So share with me a little bit about your, and I call it the struggle of the juggle. And I've seen you with your kids. You're an amazing mom. 

[00:06:52] Jordan Eaton: Thank you. 

[00:06:53] Marshall Stern: That's right. You're a rockstar mom. You're a rockstar mom. 

[00:07:00] Jordan Eaton: Sometimes I feel like it.

[00:07:02] Marshall Stern: Sometimes it may feel like more like a country music, but no, but you're a really good mom and you're really good. Business owner and leader for your business, but it's, it hasn't always been that way with your business.

[00:07:13] Like it, it's taken - tell me some of the, I want to hear some of your tips for sure, like the good stuff, like what you would recommend other business owners who are like feeling the struggle of the juggle and the overwhelm. But for you, what have been some of the challenges? 

[00:07:30] Jordan Eaton: I wonder, are you asking about the challenges in just managing the day-to-day or managing the team or managing.

[00:07:40] Marshall Stern: Yes. Yes. Yeah. All of it.

[00:07:41] Jordan Eaton: That's all of it. Okay. 

[00:07:42] Marshall Stern: All of it. The juggling. The juggling act. 

[00:07:44] Jordan Eaton: The juggling act. Yeah. The first thing I did was get stuff off my plate that I really did not enjoy doing or that I was putting off. So my bookkeeping, I. The first year in business, didn't do any of it because I just, I was like, okay, I'll do it on the weekend or I'll do it later, and that later never came.

[00:08:02] And so I was like, okay, this is not how you run a business. The bookkeeping needs to be done. So I hired someone that was my first hire. I just, I didn't have the know-how. I didn't want to take the time to actually learn how to do it, and I just thought, my time is better spent doing things. I enjoy building the business, managing the team, finding clients, which is one of my favorite things is sales calls, problem solving outreach.

[00:08:30] I do all the outreach for my own business. I really enjoy that aspect of it. Why would I be sitting and managing books when it's completely draining and I just, I can't stand it. 

[00:08:41] Marshall Stern: And it energizes, like we talked about, the energy audit. And it actually energizes some people. There are some people as, as strange as they may be to us, they actually enjoy the numbers, they enjoy the books.

[00:08:50] That's their thing. Yeah. What drains them is like social media. Yeah. What drains them is possibly the other stuff which you can help them with, but they're good at the numbers. They're good at the bucks. Okay. I love it that you said that you said, and I wrote it down that later never came.

[00:09:05] I want to sit with that for a moment because I think a lot of people are listeners. If you're, some of them have been in business for several years, some are newer in business, the ones especially that are newer in business. I want them to really hear that. And it goes back to the episode we just did.

[00:09:20] I will when it's the same thing that later never came. And we don't want, don't want to wait too long because if you had waited too long, we probably wouldn't be here. You and I talking like this right now, right? 

[00:09:35] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:09:38] Marshall Stern: What about the personal stuff, the personal side? You're a mom, you have two young, amazing young kids.

[00:09:45] The juggling of it, they get sick. You had to cancel calls, you got to do this, or you had to, if you didn't have, if it was just you by yourself and your business, you had to do you had to juggle it all, or you had to do the calls with them in the background in the other room, sick. How do you do it all?

[00:10:03] Like how do you manage that without losing your mind? For lack of a easier word, better word. 

[00:10:09] Jordan Eaton: I try not to lose my mind. Sometimes it gets a little overwhelming, but I do delegate to my team as much as possible. Like I lean on them. I would, I couldn't be where we wouldn't be where we are today if I didn't have my amazing team.

[00:10:22] I, like I said, I have my bookkeeper, I have an executive assistant. I have people that are helping me with clients and all that good stuff. We have a group effort and we're all working towards the same goal. If it was just me I couldn't do it honestly.

[00:10:41] Marshall Stern: No. Yeah, no, and I love that. And like you and I have worked together for quite some time before the podcasting and everything, and I've seen you grow as a business leader. What do you do in those dark times when you're, let's say you lose a client? Or client threatens to leave, but they're not happy or an employee or whatnot.

[00:11:04] There are, listen, I've been in business for a long time. It happens. It happens to the best of us. It doesn't matter how good you are in business, it's going to happen. Yeah. So what do you do when you're starting to maybe doubt this is what you should be doing? Or you're just frustrated and overwhelmed?

[00:11:18] Do you have something to turn to? What do you do? 

[00:11:20] Jordan Eaton: Those times do come they happen. Sometimes you'll be like, why did I even start this business? Or, you'll get to that place where you're like, can I even do this? Can I pull through? The best thing, there's two things.

[00:11:32] So the be one of the best ones is detach from. The situation detached from the outcome. Especially if you're doing like a sales call, don't be like, this has to work. I have to get the sale. Just be detached. I'm here, I'm helping someone out. Come from a place of wanting to help, not to sell.

[00:11:51] You want to, okay, I want to help you with your business. I want to help you grow your business. If you can't. If you don't want to move forward with us, that's okay. It's, then we're not a fit. If a client wants to cancel on you, it, we weren't a fit. So it's just business and you can't really let your emotions get in the way.

[00:12:08] And then the second one is to lean on people. You have been like a really great support system for me. There's been times where, I'm struggling so hard and I just, I have to reach out. Sometimes I'll message you and be like, okay, can we like talk for five minutes? Because if not

[00:12:24] Jordan Eaton: I'm going to, I'm going to spiral.

[00:12:26] But, just leaning on great people, having your support system, having those key people that you can really lean on when times get tough, even to just chat. Sometimes just letting things out, just venting, just having someone to have an ear to listen. It's, it makes a world of a difference because.

[00:12:44] Entrepreneurship can get lonely. Not everyone understands. Not everyone can be an entrepreneur. Not everyone wants to be an entrepreneur. So if you have friends that are entrepreneurs, which luckily I do have a few we have chats, we lean on each other, we help each other with ideas bounce ideas off each other and help support.

[00:13:03] So I think you have to build a good network of people. 

[00:13:08] Marshall Stern: Yeah, I know a absolutely and I'm all about that. That's a hundred percent. Business, entrepreneurship is lonely. Someone once said, they called it, we talked about this before, we pressed record entrepreneur shit. I. Yeah. And it sometimes it feel, sometimes it feels like that, right?

[00:13:25] It feels like entrepreneurship. 

[00:13:26] Jordan Eaton: When you're starting out, it can be quite tough. But, there is, there comes a time when you, you find that groove, you find that, yeah. And you're like, okay, I do got this actually. It's starting to work. It's starting to go well,

[00:13:39] Marshall Stern: It's a cycle though, right?

[00:13:40] Yeah. When you first start, and if anyone's like just new, they're like, I don't know what you're talking about. because when you're starting out, it's like the honeymoon period, right? It's like everything's great. I like, I tell the story, I did my books the first year and I actually enjoyed it. I'd go in, I didn't have kids.

[00:13:52] I'd go in on the weekend for my sign company. I would just do it. I would spend all day doing something that someone could do in two hours because I, that wasn't my thing. But I thought, this is my baby. It's just because I didn't have kids. I'm so excited. I love doing it. As the year went on, it started to get to be more of a drain, I'd rather, weather was nice.

[00:14:09] I wanted to go golfing, go out hiking. I don't hike, so I just said that for people to think I hike. But golfing guess. And then finally my account. Sat down with me and fired me as, not as a client, as my bookkeeper. He says, you're fired as the bookkeeper. We're getting a bookkeeper, because my books were a bit of a mess.

[00:14:31] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, and you don't have the leeway to be making those mistakes with the books, especially, it's so important. Like it could cost you money in the end or, you get the. The CRA comes after you and does an audit or something like you, just those things you want to leave to pro, to professionals, to people who are experts.

[00:14:49] That's how I think of it. It's an investment. I'm not wasting money. I'm investing money in someone that knows what they're doing and it's going to it could cost me more in the long run if I don't. 

[00:15:00] Marshall Stern: Yeah, no, a hundred percent. What happens when you, so you have a team. Because if you're under the weather, if you're not feeling it, things don't just stop for your clients.

[00:15:10] Jordan Eaton: You can't run a business if it depends on you, if you can't take a day away if you can't take a vacation. That's not really a business. It's just a glorified job. 

[00:15:20] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Yeah. No, you're perfect for this podcast because this is all about the this, these are the Stern Truths and when you're starting out, like I was saying, when you start out, everything's wonderful.

[00:15:31] It's that honeymoon period. Then it gets to the be so it's entrepreneurship and it's glory, right? This is what I signed up for, but then it goes into, at times entrepreneurship feels like that, and it's like, what the hell did I do? And so many started. Sorry. Continue. 

[00:15:45] Jordan Eaton: I was just going to say, there's a time when you get to a level, so Yeah, you start off, you're like, this is my baby.

[00:15:51] I have to do everything. There's no other way that anyone can ever do this. Like they, they just don't know. But then as time goes on, you get to the next level where it's okay. I can find someone to do this. And it's almost like a mindset shift. You have to learn to let go. A lot of people that start entrepreneurship are like a type A personality.

[00:16:11] They're very, they know exactly what they want, when they want it, like perfection like just, it's hard not. To let go. But you have to do that to get to the next level. 

[00:16:24] Marshall Stern: Yeah. If you want to get to the next level. Some people are fine. Having that sort of employee mindset, having the job.

[00:16:28] Especially with Covid, a lot of people either lost their job or decided they had that sort of aha moment like so many people did. I'm going to go in for business for myself, and they're okay having that job and just doing their skillset. By themselves. But then it doesn't grow. And then they take it with them on their vacation.

[00:16:45] They got their laptop and they're working 24 7. 

[00:16:47] Jordan Eaton: And you're not having a life first business. You're having a lifestyle business, but it's running you're not running it. 

[00:16:53] Marshall Stern: Yeah. And for, and me, and for some people, honestly, they like, they're okay with that. So I'm not, if you're watching or listening, I'm not saying you have to outsource, you have to build a team if you're fine the way it is making the income and it, everything is fine the way it is.

[00:17:09] It's okay that as long as it works for you, but if you do want it to grow, if you do want to have, if you want it to be sustainable, especially because, let's face it, we all want time off. 

[00:17:20] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. The most important thing is the mental health, the burnout aspect of it, I'm such a huge supporter of balancing of life. Like you need to have time for your hobbies, what you enjoy doing, family, friends, like you need to have time for all that stuff. And burning yourself out is just not the way to do it. 

[00:17:43] Marshall Stern: Yeah. No, a hundred percent. And a lot of people wait too long. Was it? I said I will when, and then it becomes too late.

[00:17:49] Or the later. That later never comes. And it's too late. Once you get to burnout, like serious burnout, it's not so easy to come back. You can come back from it, but let's try to avoid, and that's why someone as amazing as you and the boss assistant team are out there because you can help people avoid I.

[00:18:08] It's sneaky. Yeah. 

[00:18:09] Jordan Eaton: It snuck up on me in my first year. Yeah. Yeah. It took me a full year to get there and then it's taken me, twice as long, two years to get out. So I think I'm finally at the end of the tunnel. But, it's, it gets to the point where your body just is like, Nope. Yeah.

[00:18:23] Starts rebelling against you. 

[00:18:26] Marshall Stern: What one question I like to ask everyone is and actually I want to go back for a sec. because you said sometimes you like for yourself, sometimes, if we've chatted, you've just needed to lean on me or your friends. Just to chat. And we have scheduled coaching sessions and whatnot, but sometimes you just need to chat.

[00:18:41] So that's why we've implemented once a month. We're doing this Thursday what do I call it? Business therapy. Business therapy. Thursday, once a month. Right? These sessions. because a client once said, this feels like a business therapy session to me. And it really was. And sometimes people just need entrepreneurs.

[00:18:59] Because we're alone in our business. We just need to talk. Someone who gets it. Yeah. And without, as a coach, like there's never judgment from me anyways. Just like with you, with your clients, there's never judgment. But some people, sometimes we just need to chat with someone who actually gets it and have them listen.

[00:19:18] As opposed to trying to fix it all the time. 

[00:19:21] Jordan Eaton: Sometimes I feel like you're my therapist too. You have to talk me off the ledge sometimes. because I'm like, talk up ledge. Oh, I'm just going to burn the whole thing down. But you need to, but it's a stage. And then I'm like, okay, like I'm not going to do that.

[00:19:34] I was just, it was just a moment. But yeah, usually that's right. Yeah. I get through it always so I know there's always going to be the up after the down. 

[00:19:44] Marshall Stern: But you, yeah. But at least you need to talk through it as opposed to staying and staying in your own head. So I think next time from now on maybe we should have done a session on your sofa.

[00:19:51] Maybe you lay down on the sofa. We can have a real therapy session. Yeah. Tell me about your childhood, Jordan. So what do you, so yeah, going back to one of the questions I really, I love asking my guests, what do you think separates those? Who struggle, right? From those not necessarily succeed, but from those who don't. What do you think separates the two people who are constantly struggling, constantly in this sort of scarcity, negative negativity mindset from those who actually are going after it and actually achieving what they want to achieve?

[00:20:28] They might not be there yet. Okay. But they're on the path. 

[00:20:32] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. To get on that path. I think it's really a mindset shift, like I mentioned. So you have to detach yourself from the situation, from the outcome. You have to have your goals, but you don't have to be so hard on yourself. If you don't hit that goal, it's okay, I am, I'm pushing myself towards it.

[00:20:49] I know I'm on the journey. I know I'm on the path, I know I'm going on the right direction, but just, you have to. Yeah, you have to have that mindset shift and then also looking at things from a different lens of, okay, this is going to be. This is not an expense. I'm actually investing in this.

[00:21:06] Like my bookkeeper was an investment. Some people think, oh, it's so much money, like, why would I pay someone to do that? But it's like they're not looking at, what is the time that you're wasting to learn? What is the time you're wasting to sit there and take double the time? It would take someone who's an expert who does it all the time, like they know what they're doing, you necessarily, and you might make mistakes.

[00:21:26] So that is going to cost money if you make a mistake and you. End up owing you were supposed to owe them 2000 but you paid them 4,000 because you made a mistake. It's just all those things. You have to look at it as something that's helping you as opposed to, oh, I'm just paying this money for nothing.

[00:21:43] It's the mindset that it takes to get to that point, I think, anyways. 

[00:21:52] Marshall Stern: That's your Stern Truth. So going back to the struggle of the juggle, because there probably are, I'm going to guess there's some women listening or dads men. So women meaning moms, sorry, moms listening. Or some maybe dads listening who are the primary caregiver of their children, young children. 

[00:22:14] And they're trying to do this business thing. What have been, what are some of the challenge challenges with that and what do you see as some of the solutions? 

[00:22:24] Jordan Eaton: So the challenges are that they're only young ones.

[00:22:28] I think of it as, I want to spend as much time with them as possible, sometimes it's, I have to tell myself, okay, this can wait. This business thing can wait because they want to play a game with me or they, we need to do homework or, so I focus my time around, okay. Like when they're at school, this is my time where I'm getting down to business. I'm doing all the things I need to do When they're at home, I have that time blocked out. Even in my calendar, I have blocked out. This is the time I'm dropping 'em off at school. This is the time I'm picking them up. This is the time they're doing activities.

[00:23:01] Like it's blocked off in my calendar so that no one can book anything. And. I am making sure that I'm actually putting that time, like it's almost like I'm booking my meeting with them. Yeah. Like I'm scheduling them in my calendar. Everything I do, I schedule into my calendar. Everything is a meeting, like even my lunch is in my calendar as it's scheduled in there.

[00:23:22] So no one can tell me that they're going to try and schedule over my lunch. No, I'm taking lunch. 

[00:23:29] Marshall Stern: I love that you said that. And, that's all about time blocking intentionally. Yeah, because I do the same. I do the same thing and I, and with my clients I really encourage them to try it.

[00:23:37] Some of them push back on having the structure. But if you have the whole point of this, exactly what you said, blocking off the time, so other people can't take that from you. 

[00:23:48] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:23:50] Jordan Eaton: And it's in there and it's there. 

[00:23:51] Marshall Stern: It's there. Yeah. Even the me time. Which could be lunch, it could be going for a walk, it could be going to the gym, it could be reading a book.

[00:23:57] But no one can have that precious time. And I recommend to everyone, even a me time, aside from lunch, because we all need to eat. A lot of people don't. So you block off time for that. But even throughout the day, like even a 15 minute block, just because some people. I'll go into a session with and just to a discovery session.

[00:24:15] I just meet them and they're like, Zoom meetings back to back. Yeah. All day long with no breaks. And they wonder why they're exhausted. 

[00:24:24] Jordan Eaton: That is just, yeah. I can't do too many meetings and I make sure that I have my days where we don't take meetings, so Mondays and Fridays. Are not for client meetings.

[00:24:33] And then certain times, only allowed these times and then have to take a break in between because, yeah, it could be exhausting sitting there meeting after meeting, especially if it's on Zoom. I don't know why it's so draining, but it just is. And definitely you need to be taking those breaks, getting up, walking around.

[00:24:50] I have a client who actually has walk scheduled like every day and they're, yeah, this is when I'm taking my walk scheduled in their calendar. So yeah, making sure that you're setting aside the time and actually taking it. 

[00:25:00] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Perfect. Yeah, a hundred percent. It's so important and honestly and we do the one with my clients, the Energy Audit which is really, something you could probably give, you could give the same thing to your potential clients because it really is leading them to working with either outsourcing to someone like you and bus assistance or empowering their teamwork. They have, employees or bringing on employees if that works for them, if they need full-time employees versus outsourcing because there's a benefit to both depending on where, what seed you're at with your business.

[00:25:33] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. I've done your Energy Audit. I really enjoyed it. 

[00:25:36] Marshall Stern: And it's helpful, right? Because it, yeah some people are like, holy crap, I didn't realize what really it does drain me. And it's not just about the activities that drain. And if anyone's interested, just reach out to me and we'll put you through on it.

[00:25:50] It's very simple, but it's also the people that drain us and the things that drain us. For example, let's say the news, if you're wa, I had a friend of mine who watched news all the time and it was always even during the pandemic, right? Yeah. I remember when the pandemic first happened that, I think it was the, A weekend in April.

[00:26:09] I was watching the news constantly to see what was happening, and I wondered why that up that weekend I was so down. If we're focusing on. The world ending constantly, which it was back then or halted and who knows what was happening, but people were dying, all that. That's where your mind you're feeding yourself negative. 

[00:26:31] Jordan Eaton: Oh yeah. That was a very stressful time. Like it got to the point where I couldn't even watch the news because I'm like, it's just going to be something bad. 

[00:26:38] Marshall Stern: Yeah. because we were excited when there was less people dying and less people infected.

[00:26:42] And that's what it was. So it was all negative Now with wars and politics, governments and stuff, which we're not talking, we're not going there. 

[00:26:49] Jordan Eaton: No, I'm good. 

[00:26:50] Marshall Stern: That, that, that's draining in itself. Okay. 

[00:26:52] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:26:52] Marshall Stern: What would be, to wrap things up, what would be your new business owner, someone in business for a while, what would you be, your sort of golden nugget.

[00:27:05] This is a lot of pressure I'm putting on you kind of advice or someone watching listening. 

[00:27:14] Jordan Eaton: I think just to look within and find out, okay, why am I doing this? What's my why? What are my goals? So am I trying to have more time with my family? Am I trying to travel? Am I trying to help people? What exactly are your goals?

[00:27:31] And I love doing this when I actually have sales calls with people because I, I am like, why? Why are you. Like, why did you come to us? What exactly are you trying to achieve? Are you trying to grow your business? Are you like, some people don't want to grow their business, some people don't want to take vacations, but some people, they wanted to.

[00:27:51] Add more hours because they want to help more people. They're just driven by, wanting to help or wanting to change people's lives and things like that. So it's like you really have to dig deep and find out what exactly it is. Some people just want to have more free time and sit at a cafe or, so it just, it really depends on what you went into.

[00:28:11] Business for a lot of times we all have different guiding reasons of why we've started and where we're going and what we see. Some people want a huge global business and they want to have a hundred people on their team. And so if you're not clear about that from the start it's really going to affect.

[00:28:30] How you go through the journey, because you want to start off a lot of people, when you're starting out, yeah, you're small, but if you're wanting to have this huge company, you're going to want to start with a really solid foundation. So you want to get those SOPs as soon as possible. You want to start delegating as soon as possible.

[00:28:48] You want to get systems, processes, automations. If it's just going to be you and you just want to have your lifestyle business, you just want a little bit more free time, you don't have to have as much of a stable foundation because it's. It's just you. So getting clear on, on your vision is I think the most important thing. 

[00:29:09] Jordan Eaton: You’re writing stuff down!

[00:29:10] Marshall Stern: No, because you know what you're, do you're, this is all we talk is everything we talk about. You could do my job. It is all about the seriously, like it is all about getting clear on the why. 

[00:29:19] Jordan Eaton: Yeah.

[00:29:19] Marshall Stern: And I'm going to go that in a second before we wrap up. And the what, which is the vision, the why, skin and the mission, right? So if for our listeners, if you go back to episode seven, which just as we record this just dropped with Pauly. That's her first Business Therapy Thursday session.

[00:29:34] I don't want to give it all away, but the why was an enlightening moment for her during our conversation. 

[00:29:40] Jordan Eaton: Very cool. 

[00:29:40] Marshall Stern: So just a quick Cole's notes update on what happened, and then I want people to go. Should I tell? Okay. So she had a why She thought her why was something, but she forgot her life had changed in recent years with starting a family, and so she thought her why?

[00:29:56] She thought she was clear on her why, this is why I'm doing it, this is why I'm doing my business. But she forgot exactly what you said. She forgot why she started, and that's huge. 

[00:30:09] Jordan Eaton: But also, it can change too, throughout your journey. I think the why. 

[00:30:12] Marshall Stern: Yes, absolutely. It will evolve, especially if you have kids or whatever happens in your life.

[00:30:18] And it will evolve as you grow as a business owner for sure. But you cannot forget the reason you start it. 

[00:30:26] Jordan Eaton: Yeah. 

[00:30:27] Marshall Stern: The wise to why you get up every morning. Now might be this, but sometimes we forget why we started and we're so myopic in our, like today thinking, right? So if your wises working for you now, great.

[00:30:42] But if something is missing, because we all get caught up, you have kids they go into different stages of life. Whatever happens in our life, tragedies and stuff and everything. So if you forget the why of why you started, that might be a missing piece. 

[00:30:57] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, and I think that's why it's so important to take time for rest and breaks, because my best ideas come to me.

[00:31:05] My best thinking is when I take, I take a few days off, I go sit on a beach somewhere, or I go into nature or just have quiet peace, turn off my laptop, turn off my phone, and just think and sometimes you realize that what you actually thought isn't really what you thought, or you have different ideas, or, things come to you.

[00:31:27] So you need to have that quiet time and that time to look inwards. So I think it's super important. 

[00:31:33] Marshall Stern: Perfect. This has been amazing. I'm going to put, you can say it yourself as well, but I'm going to put your contact info in the show notes. But if people, don't want to scroll down and look because that drains them.

[00:31:44] How could, what's the easiest way for the them to get in touch with you? 

[00:31:48] Jordan Eaton: So our website is bossassitants.com,  and I hang out on LinkedIn, so if they want to connect with me, I think my LinkedIn profile is my name Jordan, and then dash Eaton.

[00:32:00] Marshall Stern: Jordan dash Eaton. Thank you so much for being a guest and thank you for everything you've done for me with my business and the podcast.

[00:32:10] This is just the beginning. We're going to be doing this for a very long time, so I thank you and I thank you for being a guest and all that. 

[00:32:16] Jordan Eaton: Yeah, I can't wait till the podcast blows up.  

[00:32:18] Marshall Stern: In a good way, please. In a good way. 

[00:32:21] Jordan Eaton: No it's going to be, yeah. I think it's great that you have so much tips and support for, business owners to listen in and learn, so. 

[00:32:29] Marshall Stern: No thank you.

[00:32:30] And a lot of them actually, you gave a lot of those same sort of Stern Truths today, so it just it's great. I've got, I've actually relearned a lot of things too, just listening to you today. Sometimes you forget certain things. 

[00:32:43] Jordan Eaton: Nice. 

[00:32:44] Jordan Eaton: Thank you so much for having me. I enjoyed it. 

[00:32:46] Marshall Stern: My pleasure.

[00:32:46] Marshall Stern: And for everyone. I would love to – here I have to do my little podcasting. If you enjoyed this time, actually, whether you enjoyed it or not subscribe comment, even if you didn't like it, but you did like it. But I do want to hear your thoughts and your feedback from this episode with Jordan and.

[00:33:01] Marshall Stern: If there's something that you want to add to what she said, I just want to, I want to hear your golden nuggets, your takeaways from this episode. And yes, please share subscribe, all that kind of stuff and we'll see you next time on the Stern Truth.

[00:33:16] Marshall Stern: If you found today's episode helpful, we would love to hear from you. Please like, share, and leave us a review. Also, if you'd like to be a guest on the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Momentum Accountability Group sessions, simply email Marshall@marshallstern.net.  

[00:33:35] Marshall Stern: That's Marshall@marshallstern.net. And don't forget to hit the subscribe button, so never miss an episode. Until next time, keep pushing forward and leading with confidence.