Ep. 22 The Stern Truth: Business Therapy Thursday with Jessica Lowen

It’s another Business Therapy Thursday Session! In this powerful episode, I sit down with Jessica Lowen, founder of TM Events and Promotions, for an unfiltered deep dive into a familiar challenge small business owners face. That critical time when you make the leap from solo entrepreneur to employer.

As a small business owner running her event planning and staffing agency single-handedly for eight years, Jessica is at a critical crossroads. She knows she needs to hire support staff. She's drowning in administrative tasks, feeling overwhelmed, but the fear of hiring her first employee is paralyzing her growth.

I walk Jessica through what the familiar "Energy Audit". Regular listeners of the Stern Truth will be familiar with it but what we do is identify which activities drain you versus energize you as an entrepreneur. 

What Jessica and I uncovered during our session is that a whopping 50% of her workday goes to tasks like bookkeeping, invoicing, hiring, and social media management. These are ALL things that could, and should, be delegated to an assistant.

We explore the loneliness of being a one-person show, along with the control issues that plague small business owners. Jessica and I explore the importance of trusting yourself, and why it’s just as important as trusting others when building your team.

This episode is raw, honest, and deeply relatable for any founder who's ever felt scared to take that next step. I hope this episode makes any other small business owners looking to scale beyond yourself feel seen, heard, and less alone.

I’m excited to bring back the ONtreprenur Bonfire Series. It’s a ZERO cost series starting in August running for 4 weeks. Email me to get your spot before they’re gone - Marshall@marshallstern.net.

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Transcript

[00:00:00] Marshall Stern: All right, we're back today with another special Business Therapy Thursday session, which we do once a month. If you want to be either featured here in a Business Therapy Thursday session with our audience, or you just want to have a private one to one Business Therapy session, reach out to me at Marshall@marshallstern.net.

[00:00:22] It doesn't have to be recorded and published to everyone unless you want to be. It could just be you and me. In a deep dive coaching session, helping you break through some of the blocks that might be holding you back in your business and in your life. Have a listen and enjoy.

[00:00:44] 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. 

[00:01:03] I've been there, and I get it. 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.

[00:01:26] This is the Stern Truth. All right. Welcome back everyone to another episode of the Stern Truth Business Unfiltered. And today we have a very special session. It is a business therapy session, AKA deep dive coaching session, and I want to introduce you to Jessica Lowen. How are you, Jessica? 

[00:01:48] Jessica Lowen: I'm good, thanks. How are you?

[00:01:51] Marshall Stern: I'm doing well. I'm doing well. Thank you. So it’s just you and me. Forget about all the millions of people watching out there, listening out there. 

[00:01:59] Jessica Lowen: Not popular, eh?

[00:02:00] Marshall Stern: Not popular. One day. One day. What would make today's, we've known each other for probably a little over a year now, I think. 

[00:02:09] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:02:10] Marshall Stern: , tell us, tell me a little bit about your business first off, and.

[00:02:14] For context. 

[00:02:15] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, so my business, TM Events and Promotions, it is, I'm an event planner and then I also run an event staffing agency and a promotional agency. So when I tell people about my business, a lot of times people are confused exactly what it is I do. I, so I do event planning. So, I do corporate, I do personal events, weddings, birthdays, sometimes celebrations of life, all that type of stuff.

[00:02:38] And then I do event staffing. So when you need a team to come, set up your decor, tear it down, bartenders, servers, hosts, that type of stuff for the actual event, I can bring those services in as well as entertainment. So, if you need like a musician or a magician or something like that. And then lastly is the promotional side.

[00:02:57] So we work with a lot of alcohol brands and other brands who need staff to execute live marketing promotions. So we do those as well. 

[00:03:07] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay, great, and how long have you been doing that? 

[00:03:11] Jessica Lowen: So, I've been in the industry for 10 years now, and then I've owned the business for, since 2017. So what is that?

[00:03:20] Eight years. 

[00:03:21] Marshall Stern: Okay. That's pretty good. It's pretty good. Staying power, going through the pen, going through the pandemic. Must have been fun. 

[00:03:26] Jessica Lowen: That was really tough. Obviously during the pandemic, the first thing to go was gatherings, which, you know, events and then also non-essential services, which again, events, promotions, stuff like that.

[00:03:38] So yeah, there was virtually no business at all. 

[00:03:41] Marshall Stern: So how did you - before we get into the actual session part or the deep dive, how did you, I'm just curious, how you navigated the pandemic. 

[00:03:50] Jessica Lowen: Well, I'm fortunate enough that with my business,  we don't have a storefront. There's not a ton of overhead. So even though I wasn't making any money, I didn't have a lot of expenses in terms of the business.

[00:04:01] So we were able to stay afloat that way because there wasn't a whole lot that I had to worry about in terms of bills and staying afloat. But, and also at that point, the beginning of the pandemic, I had a day job still, I was still trying to get my business off the ground. I had a day job, so I was able between the two things to kind of, you know, keep going.

[00:04:20] Marshall Stern: Get through it. 

[00:04:21] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:04:22] Marshall Stern: Get through it. Okay. So what would, what would make today a really, really powerful conversation for you? 

[00:04:30] Jessica Lowen: I think, like I was kind of telling you before, I'm at a point now where like I'm a one-woman show behind the scenes. I have a team of staff that help with the events and promotions in terms of actually executing them.

[00:04:41] But when it comes to sales with clients, all the backend planning, bookkeeping, all the different aspects of running the business, I do it all myself. I find that I'm overwhelmed, sometimes I feel like I've bitten off a bit more than I can chew. I'm getting drained and I need internal help, but I'm really scared to take that step.

[00:05:01] My business model has always been like, I pay my event staff per event, they do, but I've never had actual, you know, salaries or employees to keep, like, you know, on the payroll on a regular basis. So that's really scary to me to add in that aspect. 

[00:05:15] Marshall Stern: What's so, what is the fear behind it? Now, you know, you're talking about what type of support, what type of support do you think you need right now in your business?

[00:05:25] Jessica Lowen: Well, that's the other thing is right now I do everything. And when you're a one man or a woman show, I find I know what's going on and I have a system that works in my brain, but then I think of bringing someone actually on and I'm like, okay, I don't actually have the systems in place. I need the help, but where would I even put them?

[00:05:43] How would I even train them? What area? Like how would I, would they even understand the craziness that goes on that I understand. So I don't know exactly where I would want to place them. So that aspect, and then also just financially, I, you know, have someone working part-time to full-time for you and making sure they, you know, you pay their salary is another aspect. So.

[00:06:05] Marshall Stern: okay. So. Where do you - let's sort of work into the future and then we'll go backwards. So let's say two to three years from now, we have a follow-up conversation. With your business, everything's going swimmingly well in your business, everything you've achieved, everything you, or you're on the path to achieving everything you want to achieve.

[00:06:25] Where’s the business at compared to where it is now? Let's say two to three years from now, what does the business look business look like? 

[00:06:33] Jessica Lowen: I think that. I would have more solid teams and clientele in other cities in Canada. So right now we do staff Canada wide. I'm obviously based out of Vancouver, but I do have teams of event staff and promotional staff in most major cities.

[00:06:52] But I think to really execute clientele properly in those cities, I would need to have internal help within the different cities to help bring on clients and execute things and stuff like that. So. I think more widespread range of, geographically. 

[00:07:09] Marshall Stern: Okay. What, what about revenue wise? 

[00:07:12] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. I'm going to tell you, I don't even know if I should say this, but it's a little secret that I've been feeling lately.

[00:07:18] I used to have that like drive to want to like build an empire and take over the world in the event space. I don't even know if I have that drive anymore, to be quite honest. I'm kind of, now I'm at a place where obviously I want to have a successful business and make a good living and you know, continue to love what I do.

[00:07:36] But I don't know if I want to continue to expand a whole lot. Because I don't know if I want what comes with that, the extra stress, the extra hours time. So I'm kind of at a place now where I want to continue to grow the business organically, but I don't know that I really want to be a large corporation at any point.

[00:07:57] Marshall Stern: And how does that make you feel, not wanting that? 

[00:08:00] Jessica Lowen: I just, because now, I feel like as I get a little older and things change, I just feel like I want to basically what every, you know, entrepreneur's dream is, you know, make the most amount of profit with the, the least amount of time and effort, essentially.

[00:08:12] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:08:12] Jessica Lowen: Right. So. 

[00:08:14] Marshall Stern: Well, because there, I mean there's a lot of pressure out there, right? And there's a lot of pressure from all the marketing gurus and coaching gurus talking about, you know, the experts saying, oh, you can build, build a seven figure, eight figure business, follow my system. You could have this, you could build this empire.

[00:08:27] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:08:29] Marshall Stern: There's a lot of pressure on that. But not everybody wants to build an empire and that's okay. 

[00:08:33] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, no, I think I kind of, I want to continue to expand my business. In certain ways, but I'm what I call a boutique event planning and staffing agency right now. And I kind of want to keep that as well.

[00:08:45] Because there's a lot of stress. Events are fun, but planning them is not so fun and there's a lot of stress that goes behind it. So I don't know if I'm up for the challenge of taking on more. 

[00:08:54] Marshall Stern: Okay. What current - okay. So what are you thinking of in, so you know what you don't know, you know, you know something, you know you need some support, right?

[00:09:04] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:09:05] Marshall Stern: Just not sure what that looks like and financially how that would work. 

[00:09:08] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:09] Marshall Stern: Like how you pay for that person. 

[00:09:10] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:09:12] Marshall Stern: What's the most, what's the scariest part about bringing someone on your team? That internal person? 

[00:09:19] Jessica Lowen: Just making sure I can keep them. Consistently busy. I feel like I'm super busy and I can, I have the workload for them because I feel like I'm doing the workload of two people.

[00:09:30] But just making sure the profits are also there. Thing is, I think it's a bit of a catch 22 because I think in order to expand profit wise, I need, I can't take on, like there are some, I am turning down some clients at this point because I just don't have the bandwidth to take them on. So if I had the help, I could take on more clientele, therefore more profit.

[00:09:50] To pay for that staff member essentially. So I think that's kind of where I'm at right now because I feel like it's a catch 22 because I'm not, I feel scared about having to pay another salary because I can't take on as much clientele as I want to. 

[00:10:04] Marshall Stern: Right. 

[00:10:04] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:10:06] Marshall Stern: And off camera, we were talking a little bit about that you're feeling also feeling drained right now.

[00:10:11] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:10:13] Marshall Stern: What? Okay, I'm going to go back to my original question to you. Okay. What's one outcome you want from our conversation today? Like if you had one outcome, one insight, one takeaway, and it's like you'd have to pick up your phone and call all of your friends and say, oh my God, I just had this amazing session with Marshall and this is what's come from it.

[00:10:34] I have a path forward or direction forward. What would that one thing be? 

[00:10:38] Jessica Lowen: I guess just some clarity on how to expand my business and how to find the right help and put them in the right role, like how creating that role for the new edition beyond me would look what that looks like essentially. 

[00:10:53] Marshall Stern: Okay. So in all the things you do for your business, what would you say would be those activities on a daily basis that you do that really drain you, that gets you into that state where you're just, ahh.

[00:11:08] I don't want to do this. 

[00:11:09] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. Like the day-to-day stuff, right. Like the, the backends of running a business, I think are the, what are the most draining for me? Like things like bookkeeping, things like, you know, implementing new like softwares and invoicing and just all that backend stuff. I love dealing with my clients.

[00:11:26] I love reaching out to my clients. I love making their events happen. I love doing that, but it's the day-to-day stuff that has to get done that takes up the most of my time and drains me the most. 

[00:11:38] Marshall Stern: Okay. So one of the things we do is what I do with my clients is this energy audit and basically this is what you can do off camera afterwards.

[00:11:48] Okay. We'll do a little bit of it now. , actually, do you have, do you happen to have a pad of paper there? 

[00:11:54] Jessica Lowen: I do. If you gimme one second. 

[00:11:56] Marshall Stern: Sure.

[00:11:59] Okay. So what I suggest you do, we'll do a little bit of it now and then I want you to continue afterwards is, on the pad of paper, draw a line right down, a vertical line down the center of the page. 

[00:12:11] Jessica Lowen: Okay. 

[00:12:13] Marshall Stern: And then on the top, near the top, a horizontal line, sort of going across that vertical line. Okay.

[00:12:21] Almost like a T. Okay, and then on one side, energizes and on the other columns, so it's two columns,, basically drains, Energize, and Drains. 

[00:12:35] Jessica Lowen: Yep. 

[00:12:36] Marshall Stern: So let's write down all of those activities that absolutely drain you. It has that ick factor that the meh. So, bookkeeping, invoicing, backend stuff.

[00:12:50] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. So bookkeeping, and AP. Oh, you know what? A huge one that drain me is hiring Because in the event staffing world, you're constantly hiring on new staff. Because they're all subcontractors and they're all, some of them are prevent basis. So you're constantly having to bring on new team members and it is quite draining to constantly be hiring.

[00:13:23] So that's draining. I think that's it for the draining. 

[00:13:31] Marshall Stern: How are you with, what do you do on this? I know you said you love dealing with your clients. 

[00:13:35] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:13:36] Marshall Stern: So when we're talking about, let's say before they're clients, what do you do on the sales and marketing side? So social media. 

[00:13:43] Jessica Lowen: Oh, you know what social media needs to be added into.

[00:13:47] What's draining. 

[00:13:48] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:13:49] Jessica Lowen: Not – I'm terrible with keeping up with the social media and that's such a big part of, today's, like running a business in today's world, people are huge on the social media. 

[00:14:00] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:14:01] Jessica Lowen: And I am terrible at producing the content and posting it. So yeah, that's draining. In terms of energizing, I love connecting with the clients.

[00:14:12] I love, you know, discussing their events, making their events happen, the planning, all the backend work there. I love being on site at the events and actually seeing the dream come to fruition. So those are all energizing to me. 

[00:14:26] Marshall Stern: Okay. What about the actual, do you do any kind of lead generation or other than social media, like direct outreach to companies or to other people?

[00:14:36] Because you do a lot in the wedding space, correct? Events. 

[00:14:39] Jessica Lowen: I do a lot in weddings, and I also do a decent amount in corporate as well. You know, I'm, I've been fortunate enough that a lot of my business comes from referrals, word of mouth. That, you know, a lot of industries are small and there's a lot, yeah.

[00:14:54] A lot of word of mouth, but, I don't do a ton of lead generation. But, you know, something that's really resourceful in the event world is there's a lot of, especially for weddings, there's a lot of Facebook groups for wedding planning and there, there's a lot of leads to be generated there, but that's also a bit draining because it's essentially cold reaching out to people.

[00:15:13] Right. So that can get a little draining.

[00:15:16] Marshall Stern: Okay.

[00:15:19] So if you look at, if you look at, so the idea now is to look at both sides. I mean, on the energized side, you just have a few, but they're the big ones, right? Being with the clients. Connecting with the clients, you said being at the events? 

[00:15:33] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:15:33] Marshall Stern: When you say being at the events, does that mean like actually just overseeing the events?

[00:15:37] Jessica Lowen: Yes. 

[00:15:38] Marshall Stern: Okay. As opposed to actually working in the events specifically, like. 

[00:15:43] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. So whether it's a wedding or it's a corporate event or whatever type of event it is, I will actually be there onsite day of the event to make sure everything gets executed to plan right. And even though it's hard work and it maybe at the end of the night, if you ask me at 2:00 AM when I'm going home, I'll say, yeah, I'm drained, I'm tired.

[00:15:59] But it is energizing because it, it's, you know, seeing what you planned, come to life, so. 

[00:16:03] Marshall Stern: Right. Okay. So what, what I want you to do then on the drain side is go through each one. Okay. And mark it either R for revenue and generating or A for administrative. 

[00:16:20] Jessica Lowen: Okay… Okay. 

[00:16:25] Marshall Stern: Okay. So like, obviously, so what do you have for, just read, read down what you have.

[00:16:29] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, we have bookkeeping, which is administrative, invoicing, accounts payable, accounts receivable, that's administrative. We have hiring, which is administrative. I should also add in there HR. Because even though I am dealing with subcontractors, there's still a lot of kind of HR stuff that has to go on.

[00:16:48] So that's administrative. And then the social media is revenue generating. 

[00:16:56] Marshall Stern: Okay. And that cold outreach. If it's on Facebook or whatnot, that's Yeah. Revenue generating. 

[00:17:01] Jessica Lowen: Yes. 

[00:17:02] Marshall Stern: Okay. Add that in. So here's the thing. In the perfect world, in the utopia of our business, we want, we should be focusing, the goal is to be focusing on those activities, solely focusing on the activities that energize us and that are revenue generating.

[00:17:24] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:25] Marshall Stern: Perfect world. 

[00:17:26] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:17:27] Marshall Stern: And no drains, no administrative. That's it. It's a process though. That's what we want to ultimately get to. So if you could look at all the drains, the administrative drains, what type of, if you took all those bookkeeping off your plate tomorrow, bookkeeping, invoicing, accounts receivable, accounts payable, hiring, HR, just that stuff off your plate, how much more time and energy do you think you'd have back?

[00:18:00] Jessica Lowen: A lot. I would say 50% of my workday goes towards these things if sometimes, you know, more give or take, so I think I would've a lot, because you know what the thing is too, is these things, I always try to do these things in the morning 'cause they're the tangible tasks that I need to get done. So I do them in the morning, get them off my plate, and then I'm like, okay.

[00:18:23] Then when they're done, I can focus on doing. You know, talking to my clients and setting up meetings and doing site visits and all the kind of like, fun stuff, but my energy is depleted by that point, you know what I mean? 

[00:18:36] Marshall Stern: Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[00:18:37] Jessica Lowen: But I know I know I don't want to do it the other way either because I've done it the other way where I, you know, deal with my, I talk to my clients in the morning and go do my meetings and this and that, and then by, I have so much fun doing it.

[00:18:47] I could just do it all day and then the stuff that I need to get done never actually gets done. Right. So. 

[00:18:53] Marshall Stern: Okay. But if you didn't have to do it, that'd be great. Or, or most of it because, so bookkeeping is a certain skillset. So here's the, here's the things. You can get a bookkeeper tomorrow.

[00:19:11] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:19:12] Marshall Stern: Okay. So you're not going to, you most likely wouldn't find one person necessarily to do all of this. 

[00:19:19] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:19:19] Marshall Stern: Unless you found a bookkeeper. I mean a bookkeeper do the HR, or sorry, a bookkeeper can do the, so actually bookkeeper can do the invoicing. Bookkeeper can do the receivables and the payables.

[00:19:30] The, the hiring, the HR stuff depends. That might be someone separate. 

[00:19:35] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:19:36] Marshall Stern: Okay, what else would be administrative? Does that pretty much cover it? 

[00:19:41] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, that pretty much covers it. I'm thinking more so like I would need an assistant type role. Someone can kind of, because I wear all the different hats and do all the different tasks.

[00:19:48] An assistant who could assist me in doing all these different tasks because, I don't think it makes much sense to, you know, have someone just doing the books and hire someone just for HR and then hire someone just for social media at this point. 

[00:20:01] Marshall Stern: Yep. 

[00:20:02] Jessica Lowen: So I would, yeah, I think I would be looking at more of like an assistant type of role.

[00:20:06] Marshall Stern: Okay. So let's talk about the bookkeeping for a second. Because assistant can do all the other stuff. For sure. They can assist. What are you currently doing for bookkeeping? Is it you doing it yourself? 

[00:20:17] Jessica Lowen: I am doing it myself. I can't say, it may not be, there's probably better systems in place that a professional bookkeeper, but it works for me for now.

[00:20:26] Marshall Stern: Okay. Are you using like a bookkeeping pro, like QuickBooks or something? Okay. So that's one thing I would recommend you first do. How much time do you think you spend on the bookkeeping, not the invoicing and all of that, but just actual entries book the bookkeeping part of it? 

[00:20:43] Jessica Lowen: You know, it's kind of hard to say because I think if it were a daily task that were done by a, a professional bookkeeper, it would take like no time.

[00:20:55] But because I tend to. Let it pile up for a minute and then deal with it. Then it becomes more time-consuming. Right. So I don't think I'm the most efficient when I'm doing it myself. 

[00:21:06] Marshall Stern: Well, here's the thing, like even for myself, I have my bookkeeper do my stuff. It's twice, basically, like twice a month.

[00:21:12] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, 

[00:21:13] Marshall Stern: Right. So it does pile up like it's in an, here's the invoices to enter, here's the payables, here's this, here's all that. And then they just do it. They do it all. So you can, tomorrow, you can reach out, you can get a bookkeeper. Right? 

[00:21:26] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:26] Marshall Stern: They're all like contract bookkeepers, freelance bookkeepers, bookkeeping companies to tomorrow to take off.

[00:21:32] Take that off your plate. Okay. That's one person. 

[00:21:36] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:21:37] Marshall Stern: Give you back that time. The cost. You have to look at the cost. It might be depending on how much, I'm not a bookkeeper. I do work with some, but it depends on how much, how many entries you have, that sort of thing. So it might be. $300 a month, it might be 400, 500.

[00:21:55] I can't see it being much more than that. 

[00:21:57] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:21:57] Marshall Stern: For the, for the first service based business that you're in, that type of, this type of business. Just based on my experience, even with my sign company that I had, which had like nine employees and we had like tons and tons of invoices coming in and payables and that sort of thing.

[00:22:14] Still it's not going to be that much. So that's one thing that you, that you can do. An assistant now, unless the assistant is good at bookkeeping, but a lot of people. A lot of people love bookkeeping. 

[00:22:27] Jessica Lowen: But you know what, it is very simple. When I say bookkeeping, it is very fairly simple bookkeeping. I feel like it would be possible to get someone kind of with a admin background that could handle that.

[00:22:36] It's nothing super complex, hence me doing it myself for years and years. 

[00:22:40] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. So maybe it is one person. 

[00:22:43] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:22:44] Marshall Stern: You said something earlier about, but I don't have systems in place, so how would I do it? How would I bring someone on? Because I don't.

[00:22:52] Jessica Lowen: Well, just the transition, that's what I worry about.

[00:22:54] Because I think that, I think I would just have to kind of bite the bullet and it would be a little bit of a more difficult transition 'cause it would be time-consuming for me. Because I would have to organize things and put these into place in order to bring someone on. 

[00:23:07] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Upfront for sure. Okay.

[00:23:11] And I know you're going to a very busy time. 

[00:23:13] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm.

[00:23:18] Marshall Stern: If you brought someone on to your team that you paid, let's say, on a part-time basis, like let's say 50% top part, like 80 hours, a month. 

[00:23:32] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:23:33] Marshall Stern: Do you think, or what do you think you need? Do you think you have enough work to give them for that? Do you think that, would there be more, 

[00:23:43] Jessica Lowen: Would there be more work to give them, you mean?

[00:23:46] Marshall Stern: Yeah, like how many hours do you think you would need someone? 

[00:23:50] Marshall Stern: Even looking at it like on a daily basis, how much, if you had an assistant, what would that look like for you in an ideal world? 

[00:23:56] Jessica Lowen: You know, it's kind of, it's so hard to kind of assess because in this industry, like, I don't know, in this event, like some days are just craziness and then some days, you know, you could just be on a beach chilling.

[00:24:10] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:24:10] Jessica Lowen: So it's hard. It's hard. It's very seasonal and it's very like, you know, obviously weekends are when all the events take place, those can get pretty crazy, you know, on a Wednesday I might only have an hour or two of work to give someone, so it's kind of hard to assess, so the role would have to be.

[00:24:29] Sorry, what was the original question you were asking me? 

[00:24:32] Marshall Stern: Well, it was all about how many hours, like on an average day, how many hours do you think you'd be able to devote to, not you personally, but like that they would have, 

[00:24:40] Jessica Lowen: I think about four hours a day. 

[00:24:41] Marshall Stern: Four hours? Okay. So, we'll say 50%. 

[00:24:44] Jessica Lowen: Okay. 

[00:24:45] Marshall Stern: Right.

[00:24:45] So like, which would be 80 hours a week, sorry, eight hours a month, 20 hours a week, 80 hours a month. Do you think if you brought someone on, okay, let's just do the math here. Say 80. I don't even know what the going rate for that is. Let's say, do you think if you paid, if you had to all of a sudden pay someone, let's say $2,000 a month to come on your team, I just threw a number out there.

[00:25:13] It's 25 bucks an hour. 

[00:25:15] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. Okay. 

[00:25:16] Marshall Stern: Maybe a little bit less around there. $2,000 a month. Do you think you would be able to make that back in increased business? With all the - 

[00:25:29] Jessica Lowen: I do. Because it would free up so much of my time that I would be able to take on more clientele and go after more business.

[00:25:37] Jessica Lowen: And bring in more revenue. So I do. 

[00:25:40] Marshall Stern: So why don't you do it? 

[00:25:41] Jessica Lowen: Just scared. 

[00:25:43] Marshall Stern: What are you you are you scared of? 

[00:25:45] Jessica Lowen: Just, you know, I've been doing this for myself by myself for eight years, so it's just scary to think of. And you, you know what it is too. Like you, and I'm sure you know this, like in business.

[00:25:57] It's so different than having a job where you, you know, get your paycheck every two weeks or twice a month or whatever it is. And you know, regardless of if the business is super busy or not, you're making that steady paycheck. It's, you know, sometimes I have a crazy busy month where I'm working my ass off, but I don't see the profits from that month until three months down the line.

[00:26:14] You know what I mean? So there's ads and there's flows. So it's scary to me to bring someone on, especially when there's a dip, you know, during the slow season, there could still be a lot of work that needs to be done in terms of. You know, planning a client's wedding that's happening in the summertime.

[00:26:30] We're planning it in January, but so we're super busy, but we're not actually collecting any money at that point. You know what I mean? 

[00:26:40] Marshall Stern: Yes. Yeah. No, a hundred percent. How, okay. I'm curious, so you brought up a good point. There's all the work involved in preparing these events, like I know. I mean, I've done.

[00:26:53] Events, like not be personal, well, sort of with my kids and whatnot, but, and a wedding and all that. There's so much. All the work is, it's pre-work, obviously there's the work the day of, but it's all the venues, the bookings, the this, the that, the tastings, the drawings of whatever else. How much of that do you enjoy doing?

[00:27:14] Does it energize you? Does it drain you? Like all this stuff before? 

[00:27:20] Jessica Lowen: You know, I enjoy it, but I think like anything that you do, you know, like for a job on a regular basis, at some point you just become so used to it and it does, it can become a little draining, right? I enjoy it and it energizes me, especially to help bring the client's, you know, vision to life and all the steps that it takes to get there.

[00:27:44] I do enjoy doing that. But it can be a little repetitive, and when you have something a little repetitive, it can be a little draining. Right. 

[00:27:52] Marshall Stern: Because obviously the, the assistant would be assisting in all of that. 

[00:27:56] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:27:57] Marshall Stern: Right. Even if it's quiet, like even, I'm just thinking even if it's quieter times for events, what else could someone assist you with that would help move the business forward?

[00:28:09] What other work can they be doing? 

[00:28:12] Jessica Lowen: , I think my, in a perfect world, what I would like to do is I would like to continue doing my own lead generation and, you know, doing meetings with clients, bringing them on board, making the final calls, and, you know, in terms of planning the events and, and making things happen.

[00:28:30] But the, the tasks like. Just for example, like, okay, reach out to, I have to reach out to all these different venues, see if they have this data available, see what the capacity is, see what the price is. Those type of tasks would be nice to, to put off onto an assistant. Because those are the, those are the time-consuming, and draining tasks.

[00:28:49] Right. 

[00:28:51] Marshall Stern: Okay. So that's, that's saying you have an event coming or you have these event coming events coming up, but in those times. Where it's a little bit quieter. What else could, what else could they do to assist you? And I'm leaning more towards the sales process, sales and marketing. What else could they do to assist you?

[00:29:09] Jessica Lowen: Well, you know, typically during the slow times of the year, like January and February, when there's really not a lot of events, those are the times that I work on doing things within the business. So hiring, so hiring on staff for the upcoming summer season, getting them trained up, stuff like that. So there's always something that could be, you know, that needs to be done.

[00:29:27] During the summer, it's so busy that we're just focusing solely on each event that needs to happen, and we're not actually focusing that much. And I say we me, but I have a team too. But, not on like, you know, marketing, not on, you know, fixing, updating the website or doing social media or any of that backhand stuff.

[00:29:46] So those are all tasks that can be done during the slow periods that I would need to know with as well. Right. Yeah. 

[00:29:51] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Fair enough. Okay, so. It sounds like it makes a lot of sense to bring someone on. 

[00:29:59] Jessica Lowen: I think it does.

[00:30:03] Marshall Stern: But it still comes to the point of view of the fear of being scared. 

[00:30:08] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:30:10] Jessica Lowen: You know, this is super helpful as well.

[00:30:12] This, you call it therapy and I literally feel like it is therapy. Because any business owner who works only any sole pro proprietor who you know is kind of a one man or one woman show knows that like. You're making every decision by yourself. I'm thinking of things by myself. You know, you're not you, you're not bouncing things off another person.

[00:30:31] So it's helpful to kind of like, even just talking this out with you is bringing up a lot of points and I'm seeing it a lot of different angles. Then I have been in my head just thinking about it. So this has been helpful. 

[00:30:42] Marshall Stern: Good. No, that's good. One. We're not done yet. You're not going. Don't go. No, I know.

[00:30:46] No, but it's good. So, but here's, here's the truth. This is the Stern Truth. Okay? Give you the Stern Truth here. 

[00:30:51] Jessica Lowen: Okay. 

[00:30:53] Marshall Stern: I mean, you know it already, it's lonely. 

[00:30:56] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:30:58] Marshall Stern: Right. It is very lonely. Even if you have a significant, significant other or friends who are entrepreneur or sorry, unless you have significant other or friends who are entrepreneurial and get it, most of us don't.

[00:31:10] So it is lonely. We are it. And so I'm glad this is so far helpful for you, and that's the benefit of, of having a coach or mentor. Also. If you hire an assistant, this is why I'm all for it. 

[00:31:25] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:26] Marshall Stern: Now, like right now, I know you have your team for events. 

[00:31:32] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:31:33] Marshall Stern: And they're all, I guess I'm assuming, the contract.

[00:31:36] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. Contract staff.

[00:31:37] Marshall Stern: Contract staff. Right. So we have an event. That's great. If it's no event, it's fine. You're not paying them anything. 

[00:31:43] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, 

[00:31:43] Marshall Stern: But they're not yours. No, they're not your Right. So if you brought an assistant, you are no longer alone. 

[00:31:51] Jessica Lowen: Yes. 

[00:31:52] Marshall Stern: Now on the business side, the entrepreneurial side, yeah.

[00:31:54] Okay. Still, right. That's where we can have conversations or someone else, or build up a network of other business owners being around them. But you could pass, you can empower the assistant and you can brainstorm with the assistant so many different things to help your business. 

[00:32:12] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:13] Marshall Stern: Right, and they.

[00:32:16] As long as they, as long as you bring someone on that buys into your vision of the company and buys into you, I mean, it's just amazing what can happen. 

[00:32:26] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:32:27] Marshall Stern: If you hire the right person on character first, then skill, and this is for everybody who might be watching or listening. Trust me, I know. If you hire for skill and ignore the character, big mistake.

[00:32:43] It can go really bad, very fast. 

[00:32:46] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, 

[00:32:47] Marshall Stern: So always hire character. Because the scale can be developed. So if you find that right person, you're no longer owning your business. 

[00:32:59] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:00] Marshall Stern: And it's just so much more enjoyable and less draining. There's can be times, look, I'm not, I get again, this is not, nothing is ab absolute.

[00:33:12] It's not like you hire someone, there's never going to be an issue. They're human. They might make a mistake. This might happen. That might happen. 

[00:33:19] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:33:19] Marshall Stern: But you never know until you try and the amount of drains they can take off your plate, which will allow you to enjoy your business more, grow your business more, and have a business rather than, than, rather than it just being you, having a team that supports you.

[00:33:43] It's a game changer. 

[00:33:46] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:33:47] Marshall Stern: But it's a leap of faith. 

[00:33:49] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:33:50] Marshall Stern: That's the other Stern Truth. It's a leap of faith. You have to, if at any point if you're going to do it, you have to take a leap of faith. 

[00:33:58] Jessica Lowen: What I think this brings me to my next point with this is, I, since I've been doing this alone for so long, I have a control aspect of I get to control everything and I would love to delegate things.

[00:34:11] The tasks that, you know, we talked about that drain me and, you know, that an assistant could do. But I am worried, I guess I have a bit of a trust, trust issue. I guess I'm just used to things being done my way, right? So. Am I going to be able to relinquish control? 

[00:34:29] Marshall Stern: Okay. Let's get real here. 

[00:34:32] Jessica Lowen: Okay. 

[00:34:33] Marshall Stern: Do you want things to stay the way they are?

[00:34:36] Jessica Lowen: I want things to improve. 

[00:34:38] Marshall Stern: Okay. How much do you want them to improve? 

[00:34:42] Jessica Lowen: I mean, they're not bad by any means. Cool. But there's, there's always room for improvement and, you know, streamlining things. Which I'm all for.

[00:34:53] Marshall Stern: But you're tired. 

[00:34:54] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:34:55] Marshall Stern: Yeah, so I often say, okay, it is, I said, it's a leap of faith.

[00:35:04] Sometimes if we're not sure if we trust others, maybe it's just a matter of trusting yourself.

[00:35:12] Jessica Lowen: Right. 

[00:35:13] Marshall Stern: Looking at it that way, trust yourself that you will make the right judgment call. You'll bring on the right person. Trust that. Trust the process. And we can talk further. We can work together like an onboarding or whatever it would look like to make it more streamlined and simple and effective.

[00:35:33] But just trust that, trust Jessica, and step into that leader leadership role, and you bring on the right person. Then you can start to little by little release some of the control. You're not releasing, they're not doing the events for you. 

[00:35:51] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:35:53] Marshall Stern: You're just empowering them to make some phone calls to venues.

[00:35:59] The actual over now, now depending on the person, they might grow into a bigger, right? You look, you have people you hire for these events. You trust the people that you, you hire for these events or don't you or you, or you're there micromanaging them. 

[00:36:18] Jessica Lowen: No, I wouldn't say I'm there micromanaging them, especially because, like I said, we do staff Canada wide, so I can't be in all the other provinces and all the other cities and you know, a lot of times there's multiple events in one day.

[00:36:30] So yeah, there is a level of trust, but I find that when I, what's, how is the right way to put this? I wouldn't say I micromanage, but I definitely oversee, and in the past I've tried to take. Step back in certain ways on certain things and allow the staff to kind of take the lead. And it hasn't always worked out super well.

[00:36:53] So I just find that I'm trying to relinquish control a little bit, but when I do, something might go wrong and then I'm like, okay, I got to, I guess I just got to do it myself. 

[00:37:06] Marshall Stern: Well, Jessica, here's the thing. I mean, you have a reputation on the line. 

[00:37:12] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:13] Marshall Stern: And you obviously have these standards. There's always going to be, I don't care what business we're talking about, there's always going to be those times where an employee or a team member makes a mistake or they don't quite do it.

[00:37:25] I mean, you can't have that sort of level of excellence achieved every single time. It's just not possible. So there's going to be times where we, as the business owner, the leader need, might need to step in. Correct something, show them. The way it should have been done or have someone else show them.

[00:37:44] Right. It's just, that's business. If it was that, otherwise, it'd be so easy. Everyone would be doing it. Everyone would be getting amazing results. 

[00:37:51] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:37:52] Marshall Stern: But there's a difference between that and believing that you have trust issues. And so that might hold you back from hiring an assistant because you can teach the assistant how you do things.

[00:38:08] Again, they're not doing the actual events, they're just the support piece. 

[00:38:11] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:38:12] Marshall Stern: I shouldn't say just to, they're a big part of it, but they're, yeah, a part of it. You are still the one that's overseeing it. You're still the one putting your stamp on it. 

[00:38:21] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:38:23] Marshall Stern: Now, at one point down the road, if you want to back away, back away from that and have like an operations manager or someone over, or an account manager overseeing those events, those clients, that's different.

[00:38:33] That's growing the business to a different level. Right now you are it. 

[00:38:38] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:38:38] Marshall Stern: And you enjoy being with the clients and you enjoy overseeing the events. 

[00:38:42] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:38:44] Marshall Stern: But this all comes back down to the original part of the conversation was being drained and doing all these activities that you shouldn't be doing.

[00:38:55] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:38:56] Marshall Stern: And what it would, how much time and energy it would give you back and what you could do with that time and. I'm happy that you had no hesitation about that. You could earn the money back and you would have all this time, because some people don't hire. This is also a little bit of truth. Some people don't hire and they remain in.

[00:39:18] They remain in control doing all the little things because they have a fear of actually having that time to now build the business, and they're scared to do that because they don't think it's in their wheelhouse. Or what if they don't build it? What if they fail? 

[00:39:33] Marshall Stern: So I'm not hearing that from you. I'm hearing quite a bit of certainty.

[00:39:36] Like I've got this, I just need more time. 

[00:39:39] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, yeah. Because that's what I love to do and I've, I'm successful at it within the means I'm working with right now, but I know that there's a barrier stopping me from that next level of what I would consider success. Because someone said to me a long time ago, you can never grow your business when you're working within the business.

[00:39:58] And it just stuck with me. And it's true. That's where I'm at. I'm working within the business to make the day-to-day operations run, and that's pulling my time and energy away from growing the business. 

[00:40:10] Marshall Stern: Yeah, no, a hundred percent. A hundred percent. And that's what it's all about. You need to be able to block that time to work on the business.

[00:40:16] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:40:16] Marshall Stern: So you're not always in it. 

[00:40:18] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:40:19] Marshall Stern: Right. And on. It doesn't, or sorry, in it. In it doesn't. Not in it does not mean you need to step back from being at the events. Okay. Maybe at some point that is what it looks like for you. Because you make the rules, but in it definitely is the bookkeeping, the admin, even calling venues.

[00:40:41] Yeah. Researching this. Right. Posting jobs. 

[00:40:44] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. All of that. Yeah. 

[00:40:46] Marshall Stern: That's all the “in it” stuff. 

[00:40:47] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:40:48] Marshall Stern: Email management, follow up, all of it. Did you get a lot of emails? 

[00:40:55] Jessica Lowen: A ton of emails. 

[00:40:58] Marshall Stern: The assistant could do that as well. Email management can be part of their role. 

[00:41:03] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:41:04] Marshall Stern: And if they're an organized person, which would be something that would be important.

[00:41:11] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:41:11] Marshall Stern: Being an assistant is, they can have folders set up. If you don't already in your email, set something up and have it, you know. Just leave the emails that are important that you need to take care of and they can take care of the rest. 

[00:41:24] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:41:26] Marshall Stern: Then you would've all this time to really nurture the relationships with your clients, with potential clients and make the events even that much more spectacular for your clients 'cause you'd have much more energy and love for the business.

[00:41:41] Excitement and love for the business. 

[00:41:43] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. Absolutely. And you know what? A big one that just came into my head as you were saying that, that I didn't even write down is scheduling. Scheduling. It takes up a huge part of my time doing the staff, the staff schedules, which totally could be done by an assistant.

[00:41:58] It's just something that, you know, I'm the only person who does it, and it's extremely time-consuming. 

[00:42:05] Marshall Stern: Yeah, there's a lot. It might be more than a 80 hour a month job. 

[00:42:11] Jessica Lowen: It might be. It might be, yeah. 

[00:42:13] Marshall Stern: But you can always start off someone on a part-time with potential full-time, like a little flexibility. 

[00:42:20] Jessica Lowen: Well, you know what the next thing is that kind of scares me about it is the structure in which to bring someone on.

[00:42:28] Like I've never been an employer before, right? I've only ever employed myself and then had my subcontractors. So would this role also be a contract role for someone? Would this be someone I hire on as an employee? I've never had employees before, so that opens up a whole other can of worms in terms of, you know, payroll deductions.

[00:42:49] All that type of stuff that I've never dealt with before. So I don't really know, I'm thinking the structure would be more like having someone an assistant on contract. Just because, you know, during some slow times of the year, I mean, it may, may not need the, it wouldn't be like a 40 hour a week, five day a week role kind of thing.

[00:43:10] It would be more on a as needed basis. I think so. 

[00:43:14] Marshall Stern: Well, yeah, you could, you can go so you can find someone on your own, an assistant on your own. I mean, it's really a virtual assistant is what you're looking for.

[00:43:26] Jessica Lowen: I think, so I think the role could be done almost fully remotely. Yes. 

[00:43:30] Marshall Stern: Would you like the person just for your own mindset and, and comfort?

[00:43:37] Would you want the person to be local though? 

[00:43:40] Jessica Lowen: Itt depends. Like, I, it would have to be, see a breakdown of exactly what the role is. A lot of the tasks can be done remotely from anywhere. I deal with a lot of clientele out of province and 

[00:43:55] Jessica Lowen: City. So I don't know if I would want, if that person would have to be local or not.

[00:44:00] I'd have to think about that. 

[00:44:01] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. 

[00:44:02] Jessica Lowen: Depending on what the role specifically would include. 

[00:44:06] Marshall Stern: Well, okay. So I mean you, you can definitely go out and you can find someone on a contract basis for sure. You can also go to like virtual assistant firms, people who haven't, you pay a little bit more. 

[00:44:17] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, 

[00:44:17] Marshall Stern: Then you would be to someone direct, but you could have them for a certain block of hours as much as you need.

[00:44:23] And they would, and they have different people in their team that do different aspects like the bookkeeping and the social media and the email management, like all of that. Right? So that's another option as well. And that's something to maybe look at because it might make sense to pay a little bit more and have more flexibility to an agency versus.

[00:44:45] Someone. Right. And they're kind of vetted, they're people. 

[00:44:48] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:44:48] Marshall Stern: So you might want to look, I mean, it's an option, it's an, I would suggest looking at both. 

[00:44:52] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:44:53] Marshall Stern: Okay. And seeing what feels right. How do you feel about this whole process right now? 

[00:45:00] Jessica Lowen: , a little overwhelmed by it. 

[00:45:03] Marshall Stern: Yeah. 

[00:45:04] Jessica Lowen: Like we kind of said before, I think it's going to be very front heavy, meaning that like, I will have to, it's going to take my time and energy to.

[00:45:14] Bring this person on, get the systems in place, train them, you know, get them acquainted with how the business runs and what their tasks are. I think once that person is a little more comfortable in their role, it'll be a huge weight off my shoulders. But I also just think the initial part is going to be a little grueling.

[00:45:31] So that's kind of intimidating to me. 

[00:45:35] Marshall Stern: Okay. And I can totally understand that. And that's why most people in anything in business, whenever they have something daunting in front of them, usually don't do it. 

[00:45:44] Jessica Lowen: True. Yes. 

[00:45:45] Marshall Stern: Right. So maybe now's not the right time to do it right for you. My question for you, because I know from when we spoke last time, you're going to a very, very busy time this season for you.

[00:45:57] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:45:58] Marshall Stern: Which you might need to help more now than ever. Correct?

[00:46:01] Jessica Lowen: Correct. But my thought process was, I kind of, you know, before you had reached out to me and we started talking about this. I had kind of put it on in the back of my mind and I was like, okay, you know what? 2026, let me get through this 2025, busy season.

[00:46:19] 2026, I will prioritize this. I'll hire someone on in January, during the slow season, I will train them up and have them ready to go for busy season of 2026. And then I spoke with you and you were like, well, don't you need them now more than ever? And I was like, yes, I do actually. But. It was the thought of training someone up while I'm in the midst of craziness.

[00:46:45] I seemed a little daunting. That was a good word to use. So, yeah. 

[00:46:49] Marshall Stern: When does the busy season, this busy season start to slow down? 

[00:46:54] Jessica Lowen: Probably, you know, late fall, October, November, and then we get a little bit busier for Christmas again. But then January through March is pretty, is pretty dead. 

[00:47:06] Marshall Stern: Okay. If you were to, if, okay, let's just say you were to press the certainty button on. Bring someone on now. 

[00:47:13] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:47:14] Marshall Stern: Okay. When does the really busy time start? 

[00:47:17] Jessica Lowen: It started already started. I would say. It started. Yeah. Yeah. 

[00:47:19] Marshall Stern: So you're, you're in it. 

[00:47:21] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:47:22] Marshall Stern: Okay. So let's just say you had to, like, you have to bring someone on now.

[00:47:26] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:47:28] Marshall Stern: Not that you have to obviously. Because you haven't, you've, you could do it. You're, you'll continue to do it. How much time? Is there anything before we go, is there anything that would, for you, make it less daunting? That's a very open question. 

[00:47:50] Jessica Lowen: I don't know. That's a hard one. I guess maybe I wouldn't expect it to be immediate results or it to be.

[00:47:58] You know, super, like a super smooth, like someone to just jump in and know exactly what I'm thinking, read my mind and just get rolling with it right away. Obviously I don't expect that I'm a reasonable person, but that if, if I could see the results and the stress relief coming off me sooner rather than later, then I think it would make it less daunting, you know?

[00:48:17] Marshall Stern: Okay. So I want to get, before we go, I want us to cross something off the list. 

[00:48:22] Jessica Lowen: Okay. 

[00:48:23] Marshall Stern: Of all the drains. What is the act biggest activity on a daily basis that you almost want to gag at, like you really just don't want to do and it takes up so much time. 

[00:48:36] Jessica Lowen: Scheduling and hiring. Hiring and scheduling for the events.

[00:48:44] Marshall Stern: Okay. So are you constantly hiring for events like hiring? 

[00:48:48] Jessica Lowen: I'm constantly updating, so what I, I call it a roster. So I have a roster of staff, so in each city. I'll have, you know, my roster of bartenders, my roster of servers, my roster of, you know, set like labor setup that'll go do the setup and tear down.

[00:49:02] And because these people are all subcontractors, you know, some of them, they have other jobs, they work for other companies, they, whatever. So every day, basically, like, you know, on a Monday, I'll look at the coming weekend and I'll say, okay, I, well, and the thing is with events, things are always changing last minute too, right?

[00:49:17] So, I, a lot of times the Monday before the weekend, I'm like, okay, so these are the final guest counts for these events coming up. These are the final hours of when the event's taking place. Who do I need on site? What time? So I'm doing all the scheduling for that event, and then I'm constantly hiring on new people as well.

[00:49:34] Marshall Stern: Okay. Do you think it would benefit, do you think it would benefit you to have someone work with you during this busy season and just almost like, shadow you and kind of make the own like, like processes because that's what they would be actually good at. Because they're administrative. So they obviously they would have, I'm thinking of someone who's got experience in the industry.

[00:50:00] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. I mean, I would love to have someone come on and set up the systems and processes. Like I said, I have my systems that work for me, but I've been working within the business for so long. I would love an outside perspective on how to streamline things maybe a little better. 

[00:50:15] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:50:16] Jessica Lowen: Be a little more efficient.

[00:50:18] Yeah. 

[00:50:20] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. Well, that's, that's an option. So here’s the thing. This is what I want to leave you with. Okay. You have many options. Well, first my question is between 1 10, 10 being a hundred percent certain. I'm doing it between now and let's say January. Or like early part of 2026. How certain are you and committed are you to bring some sort of support on?

[00:50:52] Jessica Lowen: I honestly don't know if I'll be able to do it for this coming summer season that we're in. But I am very, very committed to doing this for the 2026 season. So maybe as things slow down at the end of 2025. 

[00:51:07] Marshall Stern: So between one and 10, 10 being a hundred percent, I'm doing it. I'm committed to doing it.

[00:51:13] Jessica Lowen: If you told me I had to do it now in the summer, I would say probably like a four. But if, if I have, if I'm going to do it for 2026 and I'm going to reopen this in October, then I would say like an eight. 

[00:51:25] Marshall Stern: How can we get you to a nine? 

[00:51:27] Jessica Lowen: We might be at a nine. I just, I'm a little scared. 

[00:51:31] Marshall Stern: Okay. Okay. How can we get you to a 10?

[00:51:32] Okay. That's good. Nine's good. How, what would it take for you to be at a 10, like a hundred percent? Like there's no doubt I'm doing it. It's just a matter of. Which month, but it's going to be before 2026. What would it take? 

[00:51:45] Jessica Lowen: Someone forcing me. 

[00:51:48] Marshall Stern: Well, that's not going to happen because you're, it does your business.

[00:51:50] Jessica Lowen: I know, I know, I know. 

[00:51:52] Marshall Stern: It’s your business. Okay, so we'll put you, we'll put you at a nine then. Okay. Okay. So that's option number one. Option number two is you can actually, if you really wanted to,.

[00:52:03] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:52:03] Marshall Stern: You can reach out. I'll give you names. You can reach out to a virtual assistant, like a firm, and you can get someone tomorrow.

[00:52:10] Who's already doing it for other companies and experienced, and they can come in and they could take the biggest thing off your, like, for as many hours as you want, it might be five hours a week. This is just for you to think about. It could be five hours a week, could be 10 hours a week, and they could take off, take one aspect or two aspects.

[00:52:26] Maybe they do the scheduling, maybe they do the, the bookkeeping, invoicing and AR, AP, like that stuff. 

[00:52:34] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:52:35] Marshall Stern: Okay. I'm not sure how much time you spend on invoicing and that kind of stuff. Like the administrative, the accounts receivable, accounts payable. I'm not sure how much time you spend on that, but that you can bring on someone right away, like an agency.

[00:52:49] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm. 

[00:52:49] Marshall Stern: And you could do it for three months, four months, until you decide, you know, or, yeah, I would. I would leave it at that. So that's another option. And then option number three is you do nothing. Right.

[00:52:59] Jessica Lowen: Mm-hmm.

[00:53:03] Marshall Stern: Period. Like you never, you just continue the way it is. 

[00:53:06] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:53:07] Marshall Stern: And hope things will change. 

[00:53:09] Jessica Lowen: I think option three is off the table. Because I've already got to the point where I know I need to do this. 

[00:53:13] Marshall Stern: Okay. 

[00:53:14] Jessica Lowen: Because it's no longer working, so I know, so I know something has to give, something has to change. So I'm in the contemplating phase right now.

[00:53:24] I know I need to do something, but I'm contemplating when and how I'm going to do it. Okay. 

[00:53:30] Marshall Stern: Okay. Fair enough. Fair enough. Has this been helpful? 

[00:53:33] Jessica Lowen: It has been. It has been. It's a good, a little, it's good to bounce things off you and it's a good accountability thing. Because I know you're going to ask me about this.

[00:53:40] You're so good about that. I know you're going to ask me about this later and what I ended up doing, so I'll expect that. So I know I got to, can't push this aside any longer. So yeah, it has been very helpful. Thank you. 

[00:53:52] Marshall Stern: I'm going to leave you with one, one thought before we go. One thing I do know from my many, many years in not just coaching, mentoring other business owners, but my own business for so many years, when we have something that we're scared of, that's holding us back, in order for us to get to the other side, we need to at some point make a decision in spite of.

[00:54:21] So I go back to that part of might. Now, you might not trust someone else right away, but just trust yourself. Work on trusting yourself and knowing what we talked about today. If you bring on someone, bring on the right person, which is what the intention is, how much more calm and how much more energy you will have to, and be able to grow your business.

[00:54:48] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:54:49] Marshall Stern: And that's where it takes a leap of faith. And that's being in business. Being in business is you took a leap of faith going out on your own. 

[00:54:59] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, true. 

[00:55:00] Marshall Stern: Right? So.

[00:55:02] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, no, I do think that once I do it and you know I am, I'm going to feel so stress alleviated. I'm going to feel I have more of time, I'm going to feel more energized.

[00:55:12] So I know I can see those results down the pipeline. I just know it's going to take a little bit to get there. So. 

[00:55:21] Marshall Stern: Yeah, well, a little bit encouragement and, it takes, it also takes, it'll take some. listen, here's the thing. It'll take some discipline. It'll take a leap of faith. It takes guts, brcause it's a lot easier.

[00:55:32] Listen, it's a lot easier just to, in short term, a lot easier just to do yourself. 

[00:55:37] Jessica Lowen: Yeah, that's true. 

[00:55:39] Marshall Stern: Right, but if we want to look more, be more as the leader and look into the vision, the long-term vision of the company, it will take. A team. 

[00:55:49] Jessica Lowen: Yeah. 

[00:55:49] Marshall Stern: At some point. And you'll know when the time is right without letting fear control it.

[00:55:54] When the time is right to spend the time, block the time off, bring someone on and tell, I am telling you from experience, you will never, you'll look back and go, how the hell did I do this all those years by myself? 

[00:56:07] Jessica Lowen: I know. I can feel that. I can feel I'm going to be super happy and I'm going to not have no regrets about it, but yeah.

[00:56:13] Marshall Stern: Yeah. Awesome. Okay, so thank you for spending some time with us today here on this special Business Therapy Stern Truth episode. And for the rest of you, we will see you again next week and we'd, I'd love to hear your comments on Jessica on some of the takeaways from this episode and how, what, what resonates with you and maybe what your some of your suggestions for Jessica.

[00:56:39] Jessica, we'll talk soon. Take care. Thanks.

[00:56:46] Thank you so much for tuning in to the Stern Truth. 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 in the upcoming episode or join us in one of our Moment Accountability Group sessions, simply email me to marshall@marshallstern.net. 

[00:57:05] 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.