Welcome to the Get Your Act Together podcast. I'm your host, Kelly Reynolds, ob strategist and agency coach at the Reynolds OBM agency. This podcast is all about building well-run and profitable businesses so that we can create the lives you dream of. 

Hello, everyone, and welcome to episode 79. So right now in my group program, the Get Your Agency Together group coaching program, we are working on the services that each agency owner wants to offer their clients. It is by far one of my favorite topics to talk about in business. And as I was flipping through the past episodes that I've put out, the last 78 of them, I realized that I have never talked about offers, and I love to talk about offers. And I mean, why is that my favorite? It's because it's a huge part of creating a business you love. We talk a lot here, you know, on this podcast at ROA Reynolds OBM agency for anybody that's new. And then also like in the program in the Facebook group, I talk a lot about creating a business that you love that works for you. I want to help you build businesses that are built for your life and that makes you happy. And what you offer is a huge part of that. Right? Like if you go to work every day and you hate your job. It's great to be a sitcom, but it's not great for your life. So in my group program, right now, we are doing a deep dive into what to offer. And this is a big thing, especially when you come from being a solopreneur or just on your own, however that works. And then building out an agency, how do you take the skills that you're doing now? And where does that business go from there, right? Because a lot of times you can transfer those skills, but a lot of times you're not going to want to, or you've realized that you don't really like the things you've been doing. So we are doing this big deep dive like why do you want to offer one thing over another? How does that change over time? Are there circumstances where you'd like to do this, but you can't right now, because, you know, you'd like to do all-day VIP days, maybe? But you have to pick up your kid at school. And you can't do that. So sometimes it's like the season of where we are, we can't do that. But what can we do? Maybe we'll do that later. Things like that. We had this great coaching call last week, and we did a crazy deep dive into all the things, I got so excited. I totally nerd it out. And I thought since I've never really talked about this in the podcast, you might nerd out with me on this. So I want to start by saying that, I'm going to challenge you here. I want to challenge the ideas you have around what online service providers do, what they can offer, and what their roles are. We are people who like definitions for things, right? I encourage you to write job descriptions for what you expect someone to do. So they know what they're doing and you know, what they're doing, and all of that kind of thing, figuring out different roles in your company. And that is not what I'm talking about here, figuring out what you need is one thing. What I'm talking about is in the world of this is what an OBM does, this is what a tech VA does, this is what to do, oh does. And people will fight you on it, like literally combative on Zoom calls, find you. That is not a strict definition of black, whatever that thing is right? To be clear, it is helpful to define roles, it is helpful to stick to those role descriptions in certain places, such as marketing, if you say I'm a Director of Operations, they are going to understand that you're going to handle higher level strategy and not lower level data entry. It's helpful in marketing to say this is what I am. It is also helpful in scope creep to say no, no, I do these things, but not these things. So roles being defined, is a good thing if you're using it to help you. But what I think is we put these parameters on what you can and cannot do in these roles. We got a certification, we took a class, and now I have to do these 10 things. That's my life now. And it's restricting. It's very restricting because you feel like, well, that's what this person has to do. So I have to do it. And like I want to remind you that there is no offer police, no one is going to come to your house or go on your website and review your offers and then say Oh, I'm sorry, these don't pass muster. You have to change this. This is not what a like does, no one's gonna do that. Because there are no rules. We are putting these rules on ourselves, and you end up offering services you don't like, or that don't make you any money. There are tons of people out there saying, Well, I have to offer these things. And I'm like, Are you making any money? And they say, No. And I think Well, then why the hell are you doing it? If you could work all day and make $1? Or go to the beach all day and make no dollars? What would you rather do? Why are you working so hard doing the things you don't like that doesn't make you any money? This feeling of I have to do this, is very much an employee mindset. And it's very easy, I get strung into it myself, it's so easy to get pulled into that employee mindset. Well, I have to do this with what my clients want? Well, they're not the only clients in the world, I want you to really start thinking about what you want to do, and what business you want to grow. And it's very hard when you are presented with like three options in whatever field you're in. I deal mostly with online service providers. So it seems like there are only a couple of different ways to do a thing. And when you get sucked into that employee mindset of like, well, I have to do this, because this is what the client wanted. That's just like, I have to do this because that's what I got hired to at this company, this job, right, and we got in this, we kept this place where it's just a job again. And I'm here to remind you as well, you're the boss, you own the show. Now, I understand that there are market conditions where you can't just go out and sell whatever you want, for whatever your price. But there is a lot of in-between, between this under the scale where it's like I have to do everything they tell me to do. And I'm going to make this up and it's not going to be a business worthy decision. Okay. I would like to offer this idea to you. What if, instead of saying this is what the clients want, I have to do this thing? How about you start to think about what you would like to do, and then go find people that want that? Switch the dynamic? Start thinking about things like what do I like to do. Right, like, that seems like the silliest simplest question, but most people don't ever think about it, they don't think about what they like to do. And if you're just starting out, you're gonna have to try a bunch of things, because you're gonna think you like things and you get in there. And you're like, oh, I don't like this at all. There are definite things that I knew I did not like, coming into this online world. And now there are definite like, I was like, Oh, but I can do all the other things. And then you do them a bunch, and you're like, I'm done with this. I'm done doing this thing. So what do you like to do? What don't you like to do, or the things you hate, I will never be involved in travel at all. In my corporate life, I had to book travel, and I hated it. And I will never do it. I've literally refused to. But there are other things that are not so much of a red zone, they're kind of in the gray, we're like, I don't like doing it, but I'll do it. I'm starting to write those down and avoiding those things. If possible. None of this is going to be perfect. But I want you to focus on what you want to build and build with intention. So what do you like to do? What do you not like to do? What are you doing now that works? So if you are offering some services, and a lot of us offer all the things in the beginning because we want to well pay bills, you want to be able to do this and not have to go back to a corporate job, or you want to be able to be smart, again, are all the things all the reasons we were here, but a lot of times we will offer all the things because we need the clients to come in. So start looking at what you really liked to do and what works. These are the things that I really enjoy. These are the things I don't enjoy, I have experienced these things. Or what are the things that the clients really, really, really, really love that you do that they comment on? Oh, thank God, you're here doing this. Those things that they think are so, so important. Those are the things we'll pay you more for? Can you take all of that stuff and package it up in some way? And finally, what do you want to be known for? That is a big question that I think comes up more and more as you go on in the business. April 2022, will be six years for me in this business. And I am still evolving on this question. My husband Brian and I sat down last week. And we just sat there for two hours, much to his dismay, breaking out what I wanted this to look like, intentionally but also what did I want to be known for? What are my values? What's the kind of identity that I want Reynolds OBM to have as we move forward? What do I want this to be? Intentionally I'm still doing this, I am doing this all the time. I have been through so many different offers over the years as I've tried to tweak things and test things, and do I want to do this thing, do I not want to do this thing, I don't offer certain things anymore, because I just enjoy them. And there are other things that I offer. Over time they were fine for now because they brought in cash. But I don't want to keep offering. So figuring out what those things are, and adapting and adjusting. Offers are never static. If you offer the same thing for the rest of your life. At some times, you are not going to like doing anymore. The market changes life changes when your kids are little, you need one thing when they're older, and you probably need another right? If you get divorced, you might need a lot of cash coming in, that you might not need if you had a lot of money coming in from your husband, but I don't know all the situations. These have to be revisited over time, you want to make sure that you're still in alignment. I've been doing this for six years and I will be doing it forever. So start, start there, start asking yourself these questions and write down the answers. Write down those answers. Like a brain dump, I'll say the questions against you can write them on a piece of paper and take a couple of minutes and just see what comes out. What do you like to do? What don't you like to do? What are you doing now that works? What are you doing now that doesn't work? And what do you want to be known for? Those five questions are going to start your brain thinking about the things you like and the things you don't. And I want you to start thinking about those things. For the future. You do not have to quit everything and change your whole business on a dime, we all have bills to pay. What I'm saying is start opening your mind to the possibility that you could build a business that you love, and do work that excites you instead of dread. I talked to a lot of people between my coaching as part of the do certification and just like talking to people in general, right? I love getting on coffee chats. So many people are miserable doing the work they're doing, they're overwhelmed, they're miserable. And they don't ask themselves what they'd like to do, or what will make them happy. I think you need to start there. That's a lot of the work we do in the Get your agency Together program. I want to stress building a business that you love. That's what we do, like get really, really excited about, like totally nerd out. So work through these questions. Look at what you want. Start there. And then start building something that people want to buy. And then go find your people instead of dealing with people you don't like. And if you want more help with this, if you want to build an agency, we are going to be opening a new round of the Get your agency together in April, April 1 will be the start and you're going to start seeing some of that information come out for me very, very soon, the waitlist is open. Now if you go to Reynolds obm.com You'll find that get your agency together, go to the waitlist, and you'll be the first to know when we open that next round. And seriously, let's go build businesses that fit our lives that fit the skills that make us happy. Still the other way around. We're miserable all the time and cranky people. That's so fun. All right, guys, I'll see you next week. 

Thank you so much for joining me this week. If you have an agency or want to create one, come join my Facebook community, Get Your Agency Together, where we talk all the things growing and scaling your agency for show notes and more info and all the things head over to Reynolds obm.com Follow me on Instagram and Facebook at Reynolds OBM, and finally if you enjoy this podcast, I would love for you to give us a review on iTunes.