SPEAKER_01 0:00

A lot of entrepreneurs, they they get stuck in this thought process of nobody's gonna care about my business the way that I do. And a lot of it's true, but but also there are people that do care a lot.

SPEAKER_00 0:17

All right, welcome to another episode of Connections That Matter. Today I have a super special guest, part of the Connections That Matter production team. We have Chelsea Zimmerman from Back Pocket Assistants. Chelsea, welcome to the show.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Thanks for having me. It's been fun.

SPEAKER_00 0:33

Awesome. Well, if you don't know Chelsea, it's but you might know some of her work because she makes other people's work look amazing. But Chelsea, tell us a little bit about what you do.

SPEAKER_01 0:43

Yeah, so I run Back Pocket Assistance. We're an agency of assistants that help with general administrative uh tasks or marketing tasks. Um basically we just we're the we're the secret in your back pocket.

SPEAKER_00 0:57

And you've been you've been getting your own assistance, right? I heard you're expanding and and growing your agency. Um how has that been?

SPEAKER_01 1:05

Um it's a balancing act.

unknown 1:07

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:07

So I I I like to get enough clients to where I can hire enough people to take over them. And so it's just a back and forth, and I'm learning so much. Um yeah, just lots of learning.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Well, you know, I I talk with a lot of entrepreneurs who are wanting to network and wanting to grow. And that whole like transition point of do I hire, do I scale, or maybe do I hire an assistant? Um, you know, it's a good part of the next step. But a lot of entrepreneurs love they hate giving up control. Maybe some do. But uh, how do you navigate that with uh people who are turning it over to you for the first time?

SPEAKER_01 1:45

Oh man, lots of communication.

SPEAKER_00 1:47

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 1:47

Uh so kind of figuring out uh what their priorities are, making sure that they know that I hear their priorities, that um that they're not handing over something like their baby to somebody who doesn't really understand so much. Um so it's just a lot of back and forth for a little while. And uh making sure that um I I parent an assistant that has those same values that that can meet those expectations.

SPEAKER_00 2:13

So Well, I don't I for me personally, when when uh hired you to do stuff that I was doing, you made it look way better than what I was doing. Uh just a couple of short notice. But how do you how do you put on one business number one and then you're working on business number two and then business number three? How do you how do you transition from business to business?

SPEAKER_01 2:35

Um that's a great question. Um I'm an entertainer, so I I like switching back and forth. Um and if if I can get really um vulnerable with you right now, I do have a little bit of ADHD. So I like to jump from one thing to another. And I love to take on those hats from one thing to another. It's really fun for me. And um, I think that that is something that kind of sets me, me, and my business apart is that we can switch so much. Um and another thing, and I and I would really like to talk about AI a little bit. Okay. AI has been really fun and really uh a great asset to what I've been doing. And um, it allows me to jump really quickly from company A to company B.

SPEAKER_00 3:23

Yeah, how do you use it? What are you using?

SPEAKER_01 3:25

Uh well, right now I'm just using regular Chat GBTs.

SPEAKER_00 3:28

Okay.

SPEAKER_01 3:29

Um there's there's lots of different platforms um that you can use that you can finesse a little bit from uh different things that you would really like to do. Um, but I use it in a way that's just really basic. And so um with that, I can talk with it a little bit to kind of get exactly what I'm wanting out of it.

SPEAKER_00 3:49

Any any prompt tips of how you get it? Because I think a lot of entrepreneurs uh now are using it, but some are definitely using it better than others. So what are your tips?

SPEAKER_01 3:58

Um You know, I talk to it like I I talk to my to my son. I uh I get really specific and I and you know, it even though it spits something out, it's not exactly what I want. Okay, let's retry. Um so just kind of talking to it like like a child on the it's not coaching it up. Yeah, coaching it up, you know, type of thing. So uh I think that that's kind of my approach to it is um being really specific and getting down to the basics and kind of building it up from there, like you said.

SPEAKER_00 4:29

Well, with your unique perspective, I mean you've watched a lot of different business uh uh grow and expand, or um the other thing is just have them enjoy it because they're not just working 80 hours a week, now they have it. But uh what do you what do you see that um the entrepreneurs that do scale, that do get to a different level, what are they doing differently than the other people that just seem stuck at a same level?

SPEAKER_01 4:53

I think it's a lot about attitude. Um I think just uh having that positive attitude and looking for ways that you can scale, not just, oh, well, I'm just stuck here. No, like we need to um kind of look for some different avenues. And that's uh kind of what I like to do is I like to come in and hear a problem out and think about different avenues. And if that and if that's something that I can help with, great. But if it's something that I can um bring in somebody else that might have like a better understanding or uh better like research for different things, um I think that that's really what it is. Just having that attitude of um that anything is possible. And so we just kind of gotta do the research and figure it out. Um and just scale and utilize people around you. Like some people get so stuck in their heads, but that's not necessarily all that you have to do. Um, I think that a a lot of entrepreneurs, they they get stuck in this thought process of nobody's gonna care about my business the way that I do. And a lot of it's true, but but also there are people that do care a lot and they want to take you to the next level. So it's just a matter of like seeking those people out uh so that you can leverage um what they've got to offer to grow your business.

SPEAKER_00 6:15

Sure. And I want to go back to if if I can't do it, I know other people who can do it because uh you network quite a bit. You're you're out there networking, you've been a part of some different groups. How has networking been valuable as you're growing your agency?

SPEAKER_01 6:29

Oh my goodness. Um, so back to attitude. Uh I love I love uh talking with people and I love um hearing uh what they've got to give me, you know, in a way. I know what networking is a lot about what you can give, um, but still sometimes you you can't ignore that piece of I'm learning so much right now. Um just for every person that I talk to, um I'm taking away something that can leverage what I'm doing, or um, or even one of my other clients, you know, something that that I can give to them, uh type of thing. So um it's just a lot of curiosity, uh, working the room and like everybody that you go to, like they are the most interesting person in the room, and they are a lot of times. Um, but then also connecting them with, oh, well, you know what, I met this other person five minutes ago, let me connect you guys, like type of thing. And so um it's it's just great. Like I love networking and I'm in a couple of different groups. Um then an NIA group is like really fun. Like I like that it's different things every week. Um, so it's yeah, it's just been really great.

SPEAKER_00 7:37

And uh how long I mean, how have you translated the networking, building relationships to clients or resources for yourself?

SPEAKER_01 7:48

Uh yeah, just like I said, just connecting and listening to what they've got, you know, what what they're trying to do. And um kind of thinking outside the box, maybe, too, a lot of it is um if if I do, and and that's the thing, I I keep a book of my clients' cards with me as well. So that um if I hear something that somebody that I'm networking with, um, they might need something, not necessarily my services, but a client services or something like that. Um yeah, I'm not sure if that answered the question.

SPEAKER_00 8:19

Yeah, I'm always like, you you know, you are supporting somebody else's business by taking off their social media or doing some administrative tasks. Um, but you still got your own agency to grow. So how do you manage that that kind of double where, hey, I want to help this client that's hired me succeed, but use this also to secure new clients, new relationships, put yourself out through like that?

SPEAKER_01 8:45

Um well, it's my clients, uh, some of them are really vocal about what I'm doing for them. Um shout them out.

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Who's who's your biggest cheerleader?

SPEAKER_01 8:56

Uh Maggie Thompson with Refuge Physiotherapy. Um I've gotten so many referrals from her. And sometimes they go somewhere, sometimes they don't, which is fine. But just the fact that you have a cheerleader in your corner, it it makes me feel good. And you know, it's it it the people that she's talking to, it it builds that confidence for them too, that I can't take on whatever.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

So shout out Maggie. What kind of things do you do for Maggie? What uh what would she say is the things that you give her or that you let her do?

SPEAKER_01 9:26

Yeah, so um it's I do her social media. A lot of it is just like content creation and scheduling. Um, but I've it's been really great like learning physical therapy in that way. Um and just kind of getting her feedback and what she wants to post, what she doesn't want to post. Um, she's very receptive to be like, hey, like this posted really good last week. I think we should do more of this, you know, and it's like a personal post or something like that. So she's she's really one of those people that are just like, oh yeah, like that sounds great, let's go for it, you know, type of thing.

SPEAKER_00 9:59

Yeah. And you're local in northern Colorado. Do you are most of your clients local to Northern Colorado as well?

SPEAKER_01 10:04

Or yeah. Um, so I so I started in 2020 and uh for a lot, like maybe two the first two or three years I I was with a national company. Um, and a lot of my clients were out of California. And I was just like, man, it would be really cool to work with local entrepreneurs, um, people that I can shake their hands, you know, take them out for coffee. Um, and a lot of I really love events as well. So um to be able to be there for that event or uh take photos, things like that, um, it's just been really great. Uh a little bit more hands-on, I feel like, too.

SPEAKER_00 10:41

Yeah, I see as like a business like yours, you probably can work with clients all over the nation, but uh to make a focused choice to focus on local and northern Colorado business, um, you know, that that's definitely a decision, but it's more fulfilling. And it's like, like you and I, as you help me with a podcast, I would rather have somebody that's local where since I'm talking to Northern Colorado business owners, be in my corner rather than somebody that's might be overseas or or that I don't actually have a relationship with.

SPEAKER_01 11:09

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:10

So what is your client journey like? I mean, do people hire you just for a season or do they are they do they consider that you part of their teams? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Um, all of my clients right now, I I feel like it is more of a team, like long-term team thing. Um, but I am available for certain projects. So um do like the short term or the long term is totally fine. Um and sometimes like they think that it might be long term, but it's really just a season, and that's fine. That's fine too. I want to support you and your business in whatever way that that looks. Um yeah, just different things, whether it be an event or if it's long-term social media. That's another thing where like coaching clients of social media is gonna be a long-term thing. It's not just a couple months, like it's something that you've got to keep up long term.

SPEAKER_00 12:03

When I talk to a lot of entrepreneurs, some of them love to do their own social media and it's they're just telling those stories, but other of them they they feel like it's a necessary evil, or hey, I know I should post or whatever, but I don't know how to do it, or there's so many different platforms. What's what do you see that's in and the people who do it at a better level or not? What what are the people who are doing it at a higher level? Um, you know, what what separates them?

SPEAKER_01 12:29

I think it's um how comfortable they are on the camera. Um I I find that a lot of uh the best posts, the best, the best engagement, the best um happen when you're being genuine with your audience, when you're showing your face, when you're making jokes, you know, things like that. Like those are the posts that are gonna do better. Um and so I but I get it, like showing up here, I was so nervous to go on the top of the podcast.

SPEAKER_00 12:59

Well, you're gonna run back behind the scenes, kind of now I'm putting you right on camera.

SPEAKER_01 13:03

No, and but it but it's good to um I I get so many clients that I love their personalities, and I think that they would have great personalities on on camera that would really connect with our audience, but they don't want to, and that's totally fine. We just got to figure out what way we can post that feels authentic to you and your brand. Um and I think that that's kind of the the creativity part of it for me is to figure out that that middle ground between what feels right for you and what's also gonna connect for your audience.

SPEAKER_00 13:35

Sure. And then you track it with the analytics, or is that mostly the owners that are doing that?

SPEAKER_01 13:41

Um so I do have some packages that that I will go through the analytics, but I'm I'm curious. So I checked the the analytics anyway.

SPEAKER_00 13:50

So Okay. Well, what are what are your goals? What are you where where's back pocket assistance moving to in the next two or three years?

SPEAKER_01 13:58

I'm still in that phase of um finding the assistance and figuring out a way, like some good surefire ways to uh vet them and make sure that they are uh great and and that um they're they're good for my clients as well. Um so I'm in that transition period of making sure that it's not just me, it's somebody else. So it's that that leadership and like you know, coaching other people um type of thing. I'd also kind of I would kind of like to venture into like a delegation coach kind of role um to help people um more efficiently pull out, okay, what can we delegate more instead of you having to do everything yourself?

SPEAKER_00 14:46

Yeah, let's dive into that because as a business is expanding or growing, or maybe they got a product release that's doing really well, and now there's this big influx of energy, um, you know, administrative tasks, but also like bookkeeping or uh marketing, different things. Like what other things are you seeing people need as they are starting to really ramp up their production or their results?

SPEAKER_01 15:10

Yeah, so I think uh well something that I do is I we do email and calendar management. Um so and I know people are really attached to their email inboxes, but um, if they are having that that influx of of people coming in, like we need to get a system going to where um you're not just seeing all of your inbox all at once. Uh we can kind of um batch some batch some emails together that you can spend specific time on and um you know things like that. Uh I think too um engaging with your audience on social media, like uh making sure that um if you're getting a lot of DMs and stuff like that, that you're you're following up really um regularly and things like that. So just making sure that all the consistency is there so that you can show up and and be there for your audience that's coming in.

SPEAKER_00 16:08

Awesome. And when you take clients, um, you know, people have different ethics or they different core values, like does that matter? I mean, I I I wouldn't assume that it would be just so mercenary that you'll do whatever work they need to do, but how do you vet your clients so that it's a good fit on your end?

SPEAKER_01 16:25

Uh well, like I said in the beginning, like it's just a lot of making sure um I understand their priorities. Um and if I can tell that our priorities don't align, um, that's something that's gonna be a hard conversation because I'm I'm a yes girl. So I I do like to say yes. Um, but also, yeah, like you said, it's just making sure that um we're aligning in that way. Um I think a lot of the priorities that I look at is uh being community focused, um making sure that your clients come first, you know, type of thing. Um but also that you're running your business in an ethical way. Um I I love assistant, I I love assistant work in in stateside and and being low and having local assistants and things like that. But if you're um if if you're thinking bottom dollar and you want you want an assistant across the world, like that's your prerogative, but uh this is gonna be the last meeting type of thing for for me. But um, but I like I like to support local and support our communities and things like that.

SPEAKER_00 17:35

So somebody give you a task that you've never done before. How do you how do you ramp up your own learning curve so that um you go from being a beginner to somebody that's just like in my podcast? Uh not that I was never an expert at anything, but um also now you've you've exceeded what I was doing uh with your production. But how do you how do you do that using new tools and new resources to to become an expert in a given field?

SPEAKER_01 18:00

Um I'm really curious. So I I find joy in learning new things and um yeah, just um going on YouTube and like researching all of the things and the stuff like that. Um a lot of systems, um, I'll I'll say they they kind of mimic each other in a lot of ways. So if you can navigate one or two, chances are you can figure out three and four uh type of thing. So um of course there's always learning curves, you know, but you just gotta roll with those punches and figure it out. Learn about it. Be resource be resourceful.

SPEAKER_00 18:38

What are some tools um that are easy to pick up and you have a lot of success with, or you would recommend to you know a business owner that is, you know, either looking to outsource or do it themselves that is very user-friendly and easy to do high quality work?

SPEAKER_01 18:54

Um, you know, is well I I always recommend Zapier, number one number one. Um so whatever systems that you're using, if you're using multiple systems, Zapier is one of those softwares that can kind of bridge the gap between those two. Um but they've got this new AI feature that you can talk to it like you're talking to your eight-year-old, and it can figure it out into like within seconds.

SPEAKER_00 19:17

So yeah, awesome. Well, in connections that matter, uh, we love to help our guests find additional connections. So I heard, Chelsea, that you're looking for new assistance, but is there any other kind of uh connections that you're looking for as far as potential clients, potential referral partners, anything like that?

SPEAKER_01 19:34

Yeah, so um anybody that's I don't know, that's overwhelmed, maybe?

SPEAKER_00 19:39

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 19:40

That need that needs to delegate, um, but also um I don't know, just people that have a dream that don't necessarily know how to get it off the ground. That's really uh I love that.

SPEAKER_00 19:54

So right on. Well, if somebody's interested in helping their dreams come true, uh how can they get a hold of you? How can they reach out to you?

SPEAKER_01 20:01

Yeah, so I'm at I'm at backpocketassistance.com. Um and um my email's uh I think my email's on there. It's a lot of letters. Uh so that's another thing. Like I love uh working with uh Tracy at Bookworm Accounting, and then I've also started working with uh with Kelly at Team Logic IT. And so she's gonna get me a new email address.

SPEAKER_00 20:26

Okay, all right. Well we might have to edit the show to update with the new with the new email address. But um no, Chelsea, thank you for being one of my secret weapons and helping the podcast and uh also who you are to the network. I I see you know, as somebody who is trying to help business owners grow, like more referrals or more business is only part of the picture. It is how do you scale, how do you hire, how do you um how do you uh expand your success? And I see you delivering that on multiple fronts. So uh anyway, I would highly recommend Chelsea. Uh, thanks so much for coming on the show. And uh, this is another great episode. Chelsea, thank you so much. Thank you. Hey all, thanks for watching. I love networking and building relationships with other Northern Colorado business leaders. So if you want to come meet some of these podcast guests, meet me, or meet some other amazing entrepreneurs in Northern Colorado, I would love to have you attend one of our next events. Uh, go in the podcast description. There's a way so that you can see our upcoming schedule. And maybe you could be a future podcast guest as well. Thanks.