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The Story Engine Podcast: Where we teach you how to make marketing easier, more powerful and fun through storytelling. Each week we learn from top entrepreneurs, influencers and world-changers on how to share your story through content, copywriting, speaking and how to make your story your most powerful marketing tool.

May 14, 2019

Optimizing Your Business Operations for Explosive Growth with Alyson Caffrey image of Kyle and Alyson

 

Today on the show we have Alyson Caffrey. Alyson is a master of operations and communications. She helps businesses achieve explosive growth by getting super clear on their key process and optimizing every aspect of it, from making sure every task is delegated and explained and documented properly and making sure everybody on the team is communicated with and knows what they're doing.

What she does is essential for so many entrepreneurs to really grow a business to fit the lifestyle or the scale or the achievement or the impact that they really want to have. She's going to share a lot of really valuable insights into how you can get started doing that, into how you can really make a big leap from either just getting started to six figures, or maybe six figures to seven figures.

 

 

 

Key Takeaways


  • [0:42] Alyson Caffrey’s Operations Agency Introduction
  • [2:33] Alyson’s Origin Story
  • [7:30] The Need to Discover What You Are Good At
  • [12:05] Communication is Key
  • [12:46] Hiring a Team with Quality Control as Number One
  • [20:51] The Importance of Trello & Slack
  • [27:20] Using the Motivational Myth to Create To Do Lists the Night Before
  • [32:11] The Need for Active Rests
  • [33:06] Creating Workflows and SOP

 

Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode


Operations Agency

The Smooth Operator Podcast

Slack

Trello

The Motivational Myth - Jeff Haden

Full Focus Planner

Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change

Pomodoro method

 

Transcription


Kyle Gray:

Hello, and welcome to The Story Engine podcast. My name is Kyle Gray, and today on the show we have Alyson Caffrey. Alyson is a master of operations and communications. She helps businesses achieve explosive growth by getting super clear on their key process and optimizing every aspect of it, from making sure every task is delegated and explained and documented properly and making sure everybody on the team is communicated with and knows what they're doing. What she does is essential for so many entrepreneurs to really grow a business to fit the lifestyle or the scale or the achievement or the impact that they really want to have. She's going to share a lot of really valuable insights into how you can get started doing that, into how you can really make a big leap from either just getting started to six figures, or maybe six figures to seven figures.

 

Kyle Gray:

So without any further ado. Let's turn it over to Alyson.

 

Kyle Gray:

Alyson, thank you so much for joining us today.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, thanks for having me, Kyle. I'm really excited.

 

Kyle Gray:

I'm really excited because I have known you for several years now, and I've seen you work in many different situations and many different capacities, and things just work. You've almost embodied whatever the original idea of Apple was where it was like, "It just works. It works good." Seems like that's how things go-

 

Alyson Caffrey:

That's quite a compliment.

 

Kyle Gray:

We were talking a little bit about it before we get on the call, but I want to introduce you properly with the first question. Tell me about a moment in your life that has defined who you are and has led you to do what you're doing today.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

That's such a good question. So as most entrepreneurs, right, we try to kind of pinpoint the one thing, and I feel like the closest I'll ever get to that, to one story, to one thing that kind of splintered this path for me, is when I was little, I wasn't the best oral communicator. I talked a lot, and so I'd just talk in circles. I also had a lot of energy, so I would get into arguments with my mom. Right? She would say, "Okay, I expected you to do this thing, but you did this thing." So we would get into arguments, or I would get punished. And I'd go to my room, and I would write down how I was feeling and how I wanted to be better. I would post it on the outside of my door for my mom to come and see.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

And that kind of blossomed a relationship between my mother and I where we would always create these agreements. Right? So when I was little she would say, "Al, go in and make sure you brush your teeth and put your socks and shoes on," and whatever else. There was this a set of agreement that she and I had kind of created.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

I remember when I first started my business. I was like, "Wow. Okay, so I've been creating agreements with people, with your business, with your systems, with everything for a really long time. And that's what I rooted my, at least, success in is just that making sure everyone is on the same page, whether it be the business owner and their team or the business owner and their systems or the business owner and X, Y, or Z, just making sure that every party is aware of, "Okay. This is what I'm bringing to the table. Here's what's expected of me, and here's how I'm moving the ball forward and showing up to my end of things." So it definitely was agreements 100%. That's how I got started. The biggest thing that I get excited about, too.

 

Kyle Gray:

I think that's so powerful, especially in a world and on teams like we've both worked on, and I'm seeing happening more and more, and especially the listeners on this show will probably agree when you have remote teams and people are moving around. People are going on planes off planes. They're traveling. All kinds of stuff is happening all the time. But it's usually you know you're working with A players. But one of the most essential things is just great communication. I think it's kind of the almost like the annoying specificity, it's something like, "The laptops will be there on Tuesday, or the laptops will be ready on Tuesday." Does that mean that they'll arrive in the boxes, or does that mean they'll be opened up and the software will be loaded on them and stuff like that? That's a night and day difference, and just drilling down in that level can be really powerful.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, totally. Yeah, and I think an additional caveat to that is that a lot of people will say, "Okay, we have an agreement." Right? And it's set in stone. But what I challenge my clients and a lot of the folks that I work with to think is that agreements are ever changing. Businesses in general are ever changing, so revisiting a new agreement and just making sure that things are on the same page.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

To your example before, if we didn't think that we needed to be that specific and we do now because something happened, then we would just know that moving forward and that would be part of the next agreement. Right? So just making sure that we have room for error, we have room to grow and change and be different, as well, is a really cool thing that I've explored especially in agreements. Right? Like with my mom for example, she'd be like, "Okay. Well, if you don't like putting your socks and shoes on what's an additional thing that you could do that would uphold your agreement on this side of things?" So I think that's also important, too, to just be aware that things are always moving forward. So making way for new agreements is also really, really, really important.

 

Kyle Gray:

That's really powerful. I think there's agreements, and then there's also something you do really well, which is systems. You were mentioning before, just we got on the call, that you work really well with people in establishing systems. People that listen to this podcast have probably been reading my books with all kinds of templates and instructions on how to build SOPs and systems, and so they dig this stuff. You've been able to grow businesses from basement operations to seven figures and have done it several times starting with really good systems. Can you tell us maybe from a very foundation, maybe even from the solopreneur to the seven figures, what do great systems look like, and how do we scale with those and grow with those?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, that's a super loaded question. I think that from a baseline perspective, I love working with the solopreneur first because I think they're the first person that thinks that they're just trading money for time. So that's the first big indicator like, "Okay, yeah. We definitely need systems."

 

Alyson Caffrey:

If they've got a lot of clients coming in, people are banging down their door to get help, they've got people that resonate with the results that they're getting for their customers, they've got people who are resonating with the change they're looking to make, or the impact that they want to make, and they're like, "Wow, I physically just can't replicate myself." I've heard this joke so many times. They're like, "I just need another me." Right? And the fact of the matter is that while business owners, entrepreneurs, founders, in general, they have a lot of strengths, they also have a lot of weaknesses especially when it comes to running their own business. So I think that the very first foundational thing is taking kind of like an inward look and saying, "What am I only good at?" so what's my special expertise, and then, "What am I doing right now to run my business that could potentially be outsourced, either for, A, cheaper, or for, B, better results than I can provide."

Alyson Caffrey:

So I think it's just that awareness is the very first foundational step to say, "Okay. This is what I do really well, and here's what could potentially be either, again, cheaper or done better than I can do it."

 

Kyle Gray:

Incredible. I like that a lot. And it's tough to do at first especially if you're just running around, you're just making sure that you're keeping all the bills paid, and you're attending all these events and making sure all the systems are up, and then it's tough to really take the time. I think a lot of it's just like sit down and really log everything you did that day and get it so granular. The more detailed you really can be, the better. What does that process look like of reflecting, and how do you dig that out of people?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. Typically with my clients right now, I can look at a process or have them walk me through a process in a similar format to this. We'll hop on Zoom. We'll get on an hour-long call, and they'll just walk me through every single thing that they would do. And I've found that that's helpful for entrepreneurs who are a little bit more creative. Right? They need someone with an analytical brain to kind of balance out. "Okay, this checklist is what's going to come out of this sequence that you're going through."

 

Alyson Caffrey:

For someone that doesn't have something like that, I would just, again, consider doing similar to what you just mentioned, going through something and either [bctt tweet="listing it out or just recording your screen - Alyson Caffrey" username="kylethegray"] is something that I've always told my clients to do, and what I've found is really helpful, especially with working with someone initially. Right? You want to see what they're seeing. You want to see the issues or their workflow. You want to see what tabs their opening next, and you want to see which people they're reaching out to. So if their open and transparent with you enough, and you being the next person who's supposed to take that process over, then you could, for all intents and purposes, create a really, really great linear flow through that workflow that they're bringing you through.

 

Kyle Gray:

That makes a lot of sense, and it can be repeated time and time again. I actually just brought on a new assistant myself, and we've been putting together videos and systems and SOPs to make sure that the podcast production gets handed off smoothly. Yeah, it's amazing once you have those systems together, and everybody knows where everything goes. It makes your business a lot more stable and calmer. And yeah, you know that the machine can keep going which I think is really what you want to be able to do. You want to solve your problems once and then be always focusing on the new horizons to tackle.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, definitely.

 

Kyle Gray:

Beyond that, as we start to scale up a little bit larger and increase our team size, how does this situation change, and where does the boundaries of the communications and processes interact with each other?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. I think that that's such an awesome question and probably the one that I get asked the most because there's such a fine line between quality control and still figuring out what you're doing. Right? So for example, if you've launched an iteration of a product or a service several times and you're still trying to figure out the tweaks and you want to bring a team behind you to support you because you either have the revenue capacity or the need to be able to do that, then I would absolutely recommend still keeping communication at super, super high input just because you need to be really clear with everyone about what's going on.

Alyson Caffrey:

Now, if we have something on a quality control perspective where we're saying, "We have this product or service. It gets X results, and we know that it gets this result every single time, and we're not going to mess up a good thing," then we're going to document that process. And we're going to basically make all of the people that come into our organization learn how we get results for people because it's the most important things that we do is get results for our clients, period.

Alyson Caffrey:

So that's what I would recommend in terms of scaling is saying, And especially when hiring a team, is that quality control needs to be number one and then communication needs to be number two. If you're still working, especially on a new product or service where you've got good players on your team, and you're like, "Hey, guys, I need your input on this specific process, or how we get results for people," then they can come in and be collaborative and communication will be a little bit higher than quality control. The larger businesses that are bringing on capable team members that are able to onboard more clients and serve more people are always saying, "Okay, this is our core process. Everyone in the team needs to absolutely know how we do this thing, and then what we'll do is make sure that we fill the gaps with any tech or tools that we need."

 

Kyle Gray:

I don't know if this would be possible. But do you have any good case studies or stories where implementing these things with one of your clients really changed their business, allowed them to grow a lot more, allowed them to bring on a lot more, just had a big impact?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, yeah. So I actually worked with someone who does done-for-you podcasting. I worked with him over the first couple months of this year. And he had a really, really, really awesome process and had a really, really high quality-control level where he was like, "Listen, we're doing these for our clients month in and month out, and we need to make sure that the level is here, and no level can be here." So he basically hired a project manager and took them through that process and was like, "Look, this is exactly how we do what we need to do. And I need you to come back and basically say, 'I understand now.' And I'm going to start to help you implement this." So he basically used his process, for lack of a better term, to train his new team member because he was so rooted in it. And he was able to raise the prices in his agency and take on more clients into that agency because he now had his project manager working full-time to manage the entire production schedule. All he had to do was coach.

 

Kyle Gray:

Perfect.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So he's probably only spending... At this point, I think he told me... I remember when we first got together he was like, "I'm spending 80 hours a week working on this." And I think now he only spends about 20 hours a week on his agency.

 

Kyle Gray:

That's incredible. That sounds really good to me.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. It's actually great. Especially, again, when you can find something about what you do because what everyone does is unique. Right? That's why we have a business. That's why we have a following. That's why we have people coming back to consume our products, to enlist for our services. If we can take that and really distill it down to say, "Yes, this is the core process that my company operates on," then if your team can get behind that, A, you have their buy-in from a cultural perspective, and, B, they're super, super clear on what piece they have in the process, and then you don't also need to train them when they first come in. You can be ROI positive on your team member within the first month. I know that sounds kind of bad, right, saying ROI positive on a team member. But it's true. Right? So many people will start to pay a team member, and then they don't know exactly what they're going to be doing yet. So it's super important to have that baseline established before you start to enlist more people to help you.

 

Kyle Gray:

That's makes a lot of sense, and it's powerful. I've seen it happen. I've seen once you really get clear, that's when the magic really happens. Do you have any involvement in the process of examining the business and seeing like, "Here is what you do that's really, really good"?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. I mean, I guess it depends on what stage our clients come to us in. Because I've had clients that come to me, like some of my larger clients, and they're like, "I absolutely know that this process works, and we just need to make sure that we're building our foundational ops around that thing." So that, to me, is such an empowering state because I know I can just run with things. I mean, I'm dressed in my sweats. I just work behind the scenes all day long. So really, it's just being able to get your hands on something like that, and that's where I find I have a lot of joy in process. But some folks who come to us they're like, "Look, I'm not exactly sure what I need to be doing or how I get the best results." So that's when we start to work with people, "Okay, walk me through how you take someone through your fulfillment journey." Right?

 

Kyle Gray:

Mm-hmm (affirmative).

Alyson Caffrey:

So a lot of the time in the beginning of our relationship is spent together walking through that. Especially from a process perspective, we talk about accelerators, like what can help move the needle for them quicker, what things we need to be sending them in the mail, those types of things, like the nitty-gritty. So that when they get all of that set in stone, then they can say, "Okay, now this is the core process that we can build our business on," because our core processes, for the most part, should be based in getting results for our clients. Because if we can't do that, then the money stops. Right? And then we have nothing else. So quite frankly that's probably where we spend the most time is just kind of figuring that out.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

I would say it's 60/40. 60% of people know the results because they're the expert in their field, and those are the folks that we like to work with are the people that know and are the expert in doing what they're doing. So 60% of those people really are clear on what their core process is, and then about 40% are mostly clear. But then we kind of need to unearth a little bit of benefits there.

 

Kyle Gray:

Also a testament to how clear you are on your own process and where your genius is.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. You know, I really do enjoy working, again, with people who already know. I love to just get my hands on making that better and finding the people or the systems to be able to support that thing because I feel like the hardest work, hands-down, comes from knowing your core process, like how you get results. So that's my biggest thing that usually when people come to me and I'm like, "Look, your not ready yet. You need to keep working with more clients on your own to figure out exactly what you do, why you're different, and why you can get the best results possible for these people."

 

Kyle Gray:

I think that's a good thing. It's a tough thing to do sometimes to turn people away, even if you like them and you know they do great. But, yeah, if it's not the perfect fit.

 

Kyle Gray:

But moving forward to kind of the communication side. I would love to know when you are communicating in small or medium-ish sized teams, what are your favorite tools or systems, ways to get everybody on the same page, keep everybody communicating well? Yeah, what are you using these days?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. For a couple of the larger teams that I work with, we use Slack, and I use Slack internally with my team. I really like that, especially, you can segment the conversation, which you know, as well as just have some informal chat. Because if we're building a nice company culture, you've got to be able to go back and forth here and there freely without too much of a structure behind your communication. If we're building a nice company culture, you've got to be able to go back and forth here and there freely without too much of a structure behind your communication.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

And then the best thing that I like to use for external teams, so anyone that you're contracting work out to, folks that you're using maybe just for a specific task, I love to use Trello, especially if the communication is more of a, "Hey, look I have a new job for you." That's probably like video editing, graphic design, those one-off kind of projects. I love to use Trello in the kind of like to-do-doing-done format kind of thing, and I'll just create a new card for each project, and then you can segment the conversation within each of the cards, which I love. So for example, if there's ever a question about a specific project, I would just login, pop into that card, and then go ahead and comment in there.

Alyson Caffrey:

So those are my two main jams communication-wise. I love how customizable they are, and I also love they integrate. I mean, Trello and Slack integrate with a ton of different external sources as well. So I've used Trello and Slack for several different types of things, and it integrates really well with other systems, too.

 

Kyle Gray:

Those are the ones I use. They're outstanding. They're free. They're easy.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Exactly.

 

Kyle Gray:

Yeah, yeah. They've got the power of an army. Are you always using Trello in the same way, just the do-doing-done, moving the cards around, or do you have any templates or special systems that you're like, "This is the way we're using the Trello boards here"?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So interesting you asked me that. I love making new processes in Trello. So my recent jam with processes specifically is when I write a new process, let's say it's in a Google Doc, and we're filing that away. I also link the subsequent Trello board with it. So ideally eventually, I'd like to make our entire playbook in Trello just because I really do love the way that it functions, and I love the way that it segments the conversation, and you can add applicable files.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

But to be quite frank with you, you can create a Trello board in the exact linear way that you would write a process, ideally establishing the KPIs and then moving either projects as cards or moving clients as cards or team members if we're training these people right through the process. We can as a business owner login and see, "Oh, wow. Sally's in this process. And they're on this portion, or they're in this list or at this KPI." And it's really, really great, especially if you're a business owner who has a lot of moving parts or clients in a lot of different spaces of the business. It's a great way to be able to empower your team to have you come in and see everything in a snapshot. Right?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So I have 10 clients, and I have a seven-step process, and they're all kind of sprinkled throughout. It's nice to see where people are, where they might get held up. Right? So if they're in one phase of the process for a little too long, we start to think, "Okay. Why? Why is that like that?" So I like establishing Trello boards in the to-do-doing-done when you're outsourcing something. Like if my genius is not graphic design, it's not part of my core process to get really, really great results for graphic design or video editing, I would do the to-do-doing-done board, and I would put all my contractors on that board. But if it's something internal, something that I'm responsible for getting results for, I would establish those KPIs via my core process, and then I would make those lists in Trello.

 

Kyle Gray:

That's awesome. That makes a lot of sense.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

I know that was a lot.

 

Kyle Gray:

I wish there was an easy template that you could be like, "Here you go." But it really just takes your genius to be able to set it up into the system which is, I think, yeah, the real power that you provide people. And then to be able to leave them with a system that's easy to work with-

 

Alyson Caffrey:

And their team.

 

Kyle Gray:

And their team.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah.

 

Kyle Gray:

Another thing you mentioned is just kind of creating and maintaining a culture. Are you involved with that as part of the process you insert yourself into teams and help develop a culture within them within the processes and the communication systems you're building?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Well, yes and no. I'd like to believe that inadvertently when I show up when I say I'm going to show up and do what I say I'm going to do, that I hope that that kind of bleeds into the teams that I work with. Because I do find that the teams that I work with, and maybe I could just be really fortunate at picking really, really good clients, but when I meet with them, they are usually always on time. It's usually always that they're asking me to do something or provide clarity. And when I kick it back to them, they get it right back to me. And the functionality is just so great that I haven't really unpacked all of my thoughts on creating an amazing culture, but I think that the best thing to do is just to lead by example. I have hopefully just brought myself to all of these projects in a way that is really based in integrity and just wanting them to be better and wanting the business to be better. So I find the people who aren't like that, they make themselves known very quickly.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So it's always important as the business owner to be thinking, "Okay. Well, who shows up for me in these types of capacities, and who might not be?" So either we're going to invite them to step up and invite them to join the culture and make sure that they're doing work that's up at the quality of the actual organization, or we're going to just invite them to maybe take another direction, or what have you. So I think that the best thing you can do, especially as a business owner, to help create culture is to just be on time, be there, do what you say you're going to do, and just be really punctual with your team's needs.

Alyson Caffrey:

One of the hugest things that I do with almost all of my clients is a weekly meeting. Every single time I'm there, it's for the most part, I mean, I'm just so open to saying, "Hey, listen, everyone tell me exactly what you need from me. What do you need from a process perspective? What do you need from a tech perspective?" and just being available. So that's another big thing is just making sure that it's not just the client's needs that you're tending to. That you're tending to the needs of your team as well.

 

Kyle Gray:

How do you manage your own energy and your organizational mind. I think, because I say this a lot, but you only get so much smart juice in your brain per day. And I think the way that you show up requires very present, very analytical thinking. And managing more than one client at that kind of level of detail and critical thought, seems very challenging. How do you make sure that you take good care of yourself, and you show up as best possible?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Interesting. So from a tactical perspective first, and then we'll go from a health perspective. So, I think tactically, I make my to-do lists for tomorrow today. So that is the biggest thing. I read a book, really, really awesome. Shoot. It's called The Motivation Myth by Jeff Haden. Amazing book. It's mostly about using the small successes along the path to motivate you to achieve larger things. Right? He talks about making the to-do list the day before because you only get so many decisions in your next day. So I love when you said creative juice or that sort of thing. I feel that way about decisions is that I feel, I'm not counting them specifically, but that I only have a few decisions in me for the next day. So I like to try to make those as soon as humanly possible and as early as humanly possible in the week.

Alyson Caffrey:

So, for the most part, I plan out my week on Friday for the for the next week. And then each evening I'm looking over my list to say, "Okay. I did these things. And I still need to do these things. And so knowing that I have a really good grasp on my checklist of stuff that I need to actually shift, that means to me that I can be really present on calls and with team members because I'm not constantly writing down, "Oh, yeah, I forgot I had to do this thing," or, "Oh, yeah. I forgot I had to do this thing." So planning is just huge for me.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

And then the second thing with regards to health is I like to, if I need to make a big decision with an organization, if we're thinking about where are we saving money, if we're thinking about hiring a new team member or launching a new product, the big stuff, I take it on my runs with me, period. I don't do anything unless I thought about it while I was running because if it doesn't align with me in that moment, I'll feel it.

 

Kyle Gray:

I love it. That's so simple.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

I know it sounds crazy.

 

Kyle Gray:

No, it's great. It gets the blood pumping. It gets you out of your zone, that's perfect. I find similar just going on even a walk and getting out of everything, and just, yeah, allowing yourself to move with it and take in the world is so good. That's really powerful. Are you using the Full Focus Planner to manage your weeks and your daily tasks?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So, I used to use the Productivity Planner by Intelligent Change. They did The Five Minute journal, and I actually use that. My entire team uses that to manage all of our clients. So we use the Pomodoro method that they teach in that book, and we plan our week out on a Trello board, actually. We have a really, really cool Trello board, and I can send you that if you want, just how we plan our weeks and what we use from a legend perspective to show how much time it can take us.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

And that, to me, really unearthed a couple of things about my team. One, is that they are just awesome. They are way more productive than I had ever thought possible. And number two, that we did a couple of shifts back a couple of months ago where I was looking at just some of the things that my team was doing, and I was like, "Hey, this is actually really cool. Let's double down on this. This seems like it's getting us some good results." Then there some other stuff that my team was doing where I was like, "Okay, maybe we need to just hearken back to the quarterly goals and check out maybe restructuring our week this way."

 

Alyson Caffrey:

So it's really, really cool to be able to see your week and your team's week in snapshot and see if they complement one another really well because you don't always want to duplicate work, especially if you've got someone else who's really powerful on your team. So we kind of adapted The Productivity Planner in the digital sense so that we could kind of peek in on each other's success and motivate one another and say, "Yeah, this is awesome. The Facebook post you made was totally amazing, and it really incited some cool conversations." So that's currently what my team is using.

 

Kyle Gray:

That's awesome. I love that, and thank you for offering to share that. That sounds like a really valuable resource.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah.

 

Kyle Gray:

I haven't been using Pomodoro recently, It's so good, so powerful, so simple. Yeah. Just give us a brief explanation of what that is.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. So the Pomodoro method, I forget. It was some fun story, and I will butcher it if I try and tell it for real. But it's basically 25-minute working increments with a five minute rest. So ideally what you would do is you would set a timer. And during the timer, you would just shut off your communication. Right? I just put my phone on airplane mode and just set my timer for 25 minutes, and then you would take the five-minute rest.

Alyson Caffrey:

And I like to do five-minute active rests. So what that means is instead of taking a five-minute rest and going and turning on the television or going and reading something, you have to take an active rest. So I would go walk around the backyard or toss the Frisbee a couple of times to my dog or get a quick bite to eat or something that's also advancing you, because you don't want to, You know, objects in motion stay in motion kind of thing. Right? You don't want to completely turn off for that five minutes because you want to hit your next Pomodoro with just as much gusto as the first.

 

Kyle Gray:

I love it. Very, very well stated. Alyson, it's been so much fun talking to you. You've had so much wisdom to share with us. And, yeah, you do great things.

 

Kyle Gray:

I want to invite you to share any closing thoughts with us. And then if there's anyway that we can connect with you or learn more from you, where can we visit you?

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah, cool. So I had so much fun today, Kyle. Thank you so much for inviting me to be on. I, truthfully, do love creating awesome workflows and SOPs in people's businesses. That is definitely my team and I's superpower. If you guys enjoyed this, I'm going to get Kyle over the Trello board for how I plan my week, and hopefully that will bring you guys some really cool clarity going into your next week. If you guys want to learn a little bit more about me and how we structure service businesses to really just grow their capacity just so well for more clients, you can head over to operationsagency.com/class. That'll be the best way to learn about how we structured high six and seven-figure businesses.

 

Kyle Gray:

Amazing. Alyson, thanks again for joining us.

 

Alyson Caffrey:

Yeah. Thanks, Kyle.

 

Kyle Gray:

Thanks for listening to The Story Engine podcast. Be sure to check out the show notes and resources mentioned on this episode and every other episode at thestoryengine.co. If you're looking to learn more about how to use storytelling to grow your business, then check out my new book Selling with Story: How To Use Storytelling To Become An Authority, Boost Sales, And Win The Hearts And Minds Of Your Audience. This book will equip you with actionable strategies and templates to help you share your unique value and build trust in presentations, sales, and conversations both online and offline. Learn more at sellingwithstory.co. Thanks for listening, and I'll see you next time.