Episode 018: Overcoming tech overwhelm in business

Ever felt overwhelmed by all the tech needed to run your business? In this episode Jenn explains how they help, and gives examples of tech needed for business in start-up and beyond.

Jenn Hume’s website: https://hellyeahtech.com
Jenn Hume’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hell-yeah-tech-jenn/

Watch this episode on: YouTube.

Listen on: Spotify, Apple Podcasts.

Transcript:

Introduction

Lou: All right, so in this episode, I have got Jen with me, and Jen, as far as I know, loves tech. That’s what Jen is all about, and so I thought I’d invite Jen to talk about how to overcome the overwhelm that you might feel when you’re sort of newish in business. In my experience, I see people feel really enthusiastic about starting their business… But then not actually knowing what they need to know… And then discovering there’s so much that you need to know once you start digging into things.

Jen’s Perspective on Overcoming Overwhelm

Lou: Maybe, Jen, you could start by telling us about what sort of problem someone is having when they come to you, and then we can progress to how do you overcome the overwhelm.

Jenn: Gotcha, yes, yes. So, I get a lot of people on my mailing list who are in the early stages, and a lot of my clients have got off the ground and DIYed it, and they have kind of different problems. The people at the beginning are really overwhelmed and have that shiny object thing, and the people that have DIYed it are very tired. They’ve been through it, they’re very proud of themselves, but very tired and a little bit unsure… A little bit worried if they’ve done it right.

Lou: Oh wow, yeah.

Jenn: So there’s the two stages there. So if anyone listening is out there and like, “Yeah, that sounds okay, that sounds like me,” yes, that is how we do it. And yeah, if DIYing it is fine, don’t think that you have to. You can DIY your tech, make, set up your own website, mailing list, and so on, and you will worry if you’ve got it right. That’s quite normal. I don’t think there’s many people that sit out there going, “Yeah, I’ve got all this 100%.”

Anyway, I’ve wandered off on a tangent, as is my want, but yeah, with the overwhelm: I think it comes because, you said it, you get really enthusiastic at the start of your business. Because you’re like, you’ve got this idea, you’ve got something you want to do, and you’re like, “Yeah, this sounds great.” And then sort of the reality sets in, you know. It’s like a fart in the face where you’re like, “Oh my God, no, suddenly what I have to do taxes, I have to do this,” and all the reality creeps in. And you could feel bad for a bit, you feel like, “Oh, you know, am I just being naive?” and so on.

But I think what happens as well is, certainly what’s happened in the past, there’s been an awful lot of people teaching you like, “Hey, I’ll teach you all the ins and outs of how to set up your business,” and they’re not really very techy themselves.

Lou: Yeah.

Jenn: Which is, you know, some will say that and they’ll bring in other people who are. They some will say, “Hey, you know, don’t worry about it too much, you know, just get something out there,” which is good advice when you’re starting. It can create a mess further down the line.

And I think this is where the third strand comes in that can be problematic is when people are pushing you to be too big too quick. They’ve got a sweet affiliate deal with system X, and they’re saying, you know, “Use system X,” and it’s kind of like, “Okay, you know.” And this is where you have, you know, horses for courses, tech for… I can’t think of a great sort of funny thing there. Insert amusing phrase there.

Lou: Use ChatGPT to that for you.

Embracing Simplicity and Manual Processes

Jenn: Yeah, it’s just like people can end up overcomplicating everything. And I think, you know, if I could reach through the screen, reach over the airwaves, and grab people by the labels who are starting out and getting all worried about the tech: I’d be like, just keep it really simple. And I would say a manual process is absolutely fine.

And no one automates their business when they start.

Lou: No.

Jenn: there’s a huge thing on automation because they see the big people being really automated, and they think either that’s what I want, and yes, that’s a good thing to want, or that’s who I want to be. And it’s like, you won’t be at the beginning. You’ll be doing this manually, and that’s fine. Because when you do it manually, you’re figuring out your process and your steps. And then you can get the tech in. So

Lou: Exactly, that’s spot on.

Jenn: Yeah.

Lou: Don’t automate it until you know how it works and the process works for your business.

The Importance of Experimentation and Personalization

Jenn: Yeah, and it’s automating stuff and standardizing and systemizing, and you can’t do that to something that’s really new. It’s like asking a toddler to run a marathon. It’s, you know, it’s your business is still a toddler. It’s still finding its feet. It’s still taking steps and falling over and landing on its bum. And that’s quite normal, and that’s fine. And you can’t automate and systemize that because you haven’t nailed down what you’re about. And the best way to nail down what you’re about is just put out there and do it. Fling the spaghetti at the wall, figure it out, experiment. Yeah

Lou: Those are some beautiful analogies there. Yep, yeah, and I think you’ve got a good point there.

Oh, it’s just, it’s good to try stuff and get a feel for how things work rather than be afraid to do it at all.

Jenn: Yep, you will break it, you will get things wrong, you will send out the wrong email to people. I think as well, this is where, you know, your copy comes in, your words, and your voice, and your personality. Because no one ever minds, well, actually, that’s an absolute, can’t talk in absolutes, people rarely mind if you make a mistake and you send them an email saying, “Oh my God, I’m so embarrassed, I did this wrong, here’s the stuff,” you know? Or..

Lou: Big companies do that!

Yeah, or if you send them an email saying, “You know what, I would so love to have an all-singing, all-dancing, Fancy Pants invoicing system, but hey, you know, like, we can’t all go on a date with the person of our dreams, so here’s my invoice in Word…

Lou: Yeah!

Jenn: …in Google.” Yep, yep, absolutely fine. You know, you can make a joke out of it, you can use a bit of humor. Humor will get you a long way, and yeah, and just don’t be afraid.

When I say the flinging the spaghetti at the wall thing, that was it. I mean, it makes me shudder because I’m such an organized, systemized, everything in order person. I mean, if I go to your house, I will look, go to your fridge, magnets on your fridge, and straighten them all. So that’s how I like everything organized. I can’t help myself. I would do it, and I’m not judging you.

Keeping Tech Simple

Jenn: Um, so when I see people flinging spaghetti at the wall, you know, trying all these different things, it does make me shudder a little. So, you know, when it comes to the tech, I would say, you know, keep it as simple as possible. MH, experiment with your offers, with your marketing, with your delivery, that’s all fine. Don’t worry about getting an expensive system in. Please don’t get an expensive system in. Please use the cheaper ones, the free ones.

Lou: Yeah, there’s absolutely no need to fork out for the premium email service provider. Like, you don’t need the premium MailChimp or MailerLite or whatever you use.

Jenn: No, I think I put together once a little “here’s what to use” thing, and it came out about £150 for the year. Like, there you go. Yeah, certain things you, I would say, pay for hosting, email. Apart from that, yeah, you’re not needing the big system.

Avoiding Temptations and Overcomplication

It’s very tempting as well. We’ve just had Black Friday where everyone’s going, “Hey, there’s this great deal.” Oh yeah, those great deals have been around for years. Those great deals will roll around next year.

Lou: Exactly

Jenn: That’s, you don’t need to worry. And don’t worry about making too much of a mess. Yeah, you can always clear it up later. That’s where I come in with a lot of my clients who have made a load of mess, and I go, “Right, let’s, you know, they’ve got half their stuff done manually, some of it systemized. I’m like, “Great, let’s systemize it now.”

Dealing with Mistakes

Lou: I don’t know what it’s like in England, but in Australia, if you’re a small business and you mess something up with the tax office, like, they’re fine. They understand that you’re just a solo, and they’ll forgive you.

Jenn:  They will, yeah. I mean, I don’t dig into my client’s taxing, but yeah, they do. You know, I made a mistake early on in my years. I received £900 by accident, oh, I wasn’t meant to get, and when I found it, I just rang them up and said, “Oh, what do I do?” And they said, “Oh, just write into us, tell us it was a mistake, and refund the money,” and that was the end of it.

Nobody banged on my door, nobody closed my business down.

Lou: They didn’t send the police after you.

Jenn: No, there was no big, no big scary bald men with dogs. Nothing that happened at all.

Experimenting with Offers and Marketing

Lou: Yeah, yeah.

Jenn: That’s, I think, I say keep it simple. Yeah, with the, you know, when you’re experimenting with your offers and your marketing, don’t go for the big hairy confusing system. Go for the cheaper ones, do it manually, if you need to, and yeah, that way, you’re less likely to run into issues.

You know, most of the time, I see people having problems when they get an idea that they won’t let go of, and they get fixated on making this look bigger than it actually is. And, you know, they’ll either buy a big system, or they’ll get something sort of done by someone, some techy somewhere…

Lou: They’ll pay for someone on Fiverr, and it’s a mess.

Jenn: Yeah, and it’s not documented, and yeah, it’s documented nowhere. It knocks other things over. It’s like, “Oh God.”

Being Specific with Tech Requests

And that’s another thing about Fiverr, I mean, yeah, with sort of asking people to do tech things, you need to kind of know what you’re asking for. If you’re going to do that, you can’t just someone, “Hey, can you set up my sales page for me?”

Lou: Exactly.

Jenn: Not going to work. So yeah, and you know, when it comes to designing tech, you know, the greatest tool is this one. And for the people who can’t see, I’m holding up a pen and paper because you can design all your processes quickly on there and then just do them as cheaply and as simply as you can.

Lou: Yeah.

Jenn: Think about the minimum viable system. You know, what’s the, think to yourself, “What’s the quickest and easiest way for me I can get this out the door?”

Lou: Yeah, good.

Hypothetical Situation: Starting a Group Program

Lou: Okay, so I want to put forward a hypothetical situation. Let’s say the start of 2024, and you’re a relationship coach, and you want to start a group program with a new business. So, what is the minimum tech that you need to be focusing on?

Prioritizing an Email List

Jenn: Oh, for that, I would, I mean, my sort of business brain comes in a bit and goes, well, have you already got a big enough list to fill this group program, for starters?

Lou: All right, so an email list should be a priority? If you don’t have that, you don’t have that.

Jenn: Yes, start building up your email list. The number they give is around 100. Get 100 people on your list, you’ll start seeing, you’ll start getting better conversions because I think it’s something like 1% might become buyers. So yeah, 1% of 100, you know, you’re not going to get a huge amount of traction with a smaller list. Some people do, though. I’ve launched something out to a list of what was it, there were 50 people, and I got six buyers, so that was pretty cool. Yeah, it does happen, but yes, build your list if you don’t have one. Build your audience as well, if you don’t have one.

Simplifying Program Delivery

Jenn: Group program, I would say the easiest thing to do is just put it into your mailing system. I would go with MailerLite because you can start on free. I would go with New MailerLite and just schedule out the content of your program as you would newsletters. So just put everyone into a group and schedule it there.

Lou: Yeah, I agree, that’s really simple. You don’t need to get multiple different tech platforms to run your program.

Jenn: No, no, you can just easily email people saying, “Hey, here’s the Zoom link for our call, here’s the materials, if you’ve got any problems, email me back.” Great.

Payment Options

In terms of paying for it, you know, Stripe, PayPal, even. You could even send out a Word or Google Doc invoice and do bank transfers. It depends on the relationship you’ve got with the people. Some people are a bit wary of doing bank transfers, some people would prefer to pay by card.

Lou: Yeah.

Jenn: So yeah, Stripe’s a bit of a battle, PayPal’s probably a bit easier, but yeah, not my favorite. Stripe, if you can manage it. Yeah, or Square, I’ve heard good things about Square as well. That might be because Square has an affiliate program, doesn’t it? So, I’ve not dived into Square myself, but one of those for taking payments or just PayPal, or just… Ask people to pay you by bank transfer and then just keep a track in a little spreadsheet.

Jen’s Assistance and Open Office Sessions

Lou: Yeah, that’s simple. So, Jen, is that something you can help someone with?

Jenn: Yes, yes, I do. I set that up. I tend to work with people who are a bit further along in their business, but with starters, I do hold every month an open office.

Lou: Oh, how does that work?

Jenn: That is where it’s just me on Google Meet, and people can drop in. It’s like my virtual office, where there’s a couple of squishy comfy sofas, and they can ask anything they want. Some people come with a pre, you know, they’ve got a question they really want to know, tech questions. Others just turn up to have a cup of tea and a chat. Often while we’re chatting, people will go, “Oh yeah, there was something I wanted to ask,” blah blah, and we help each other out with our sort of tech and our process and our systems.

Lou: Oh, that’s…

Jenn: So, that’s really useful. And it’s a nice way for people to get to know me as well and get some help. And it’s generally people when they’re fed up Googling and they’re fed up asking around everyone and get five different answers or conflicting with each other.

Lou: Yeah, yeah, totally.

Crowdsourcing Advice from Facebook Groups

Lou: That’s one thing I wanted to touch on was crowdsourcing advice from Facebook groups.

Jenn: Okay, if anyone can see my face now, I just made a face of disgust. Yeah, those are a bit of the bane of my life because people come in and they go, “Okay,” they’ll ask, “What’s the best system for this?” They’ll get different answers from different people with different approaches, different goals, different aims. So, the best system really is the one that helps you achieve your goal in the fastest way and easiest way.

And so different things will suit different people. You won’t know what will suit you till you try a few as well. So there is no best, really, but if you start asking, “Well, look, I’m trying to achieve this, and I wanted to do that as well, and please bear in mind this other thing,”

Lou: Yeah, that helps.

Jenn: You know, just being a bit more open about your situation.

Lou: Yeah, that’s actually good advice for how to ask for advice.

Jenn: Yeah, yeah, and beware the affiliates. I mean, I affiliate with a lot of stuff, but only stuff I either use or have used or a lot of people I know use and find good. So in some groups, you can get people saying, “Oh yeah, this is really great, here’s, you know, I’ve got an affiliate link, la la la,” you’re like, “Um, um.” Others will be like, “Well, I use this system, it’s really good, I like it because of this, that, and the other, and here’s my affiliate link.” I have no issue with those people.

Lou: Yeah.

Jenn: Put a bit more thought into it. So that’s where I stand with Facebook, and it could just be even more overwhelm as well.

Closing Thoughts and Announcements

Lou: Yeah, exactly. Well, that’s really helpful.

So, I like to keep these podcast episodes short, so I thought maybe we’d just move into an announcement you’d like to make or a plug or some kind of service.

Jenn: Oh gosh, yeah. I’d just say, come and join me as my pen pal. Get on my mailing list, you know, on my website, [www.hellyeahtech.com]. That’s probably ages me going Wuh-wuh-wuh-Hell-Yeah-Tech-dot-com. There’s a page on there, Pen Pals. Come along, sign up, it’s free, and then you’ll be asked as well if you want to get notified about the Open Office stuff. So if you want that, I hold those every, oh God, I did remember the structure. They’re either on a Wednesday or Thursday. They’re usually in the first or the second week of the month. They do move around a bit because I move around a bit. I’m an out-sitting digital nomad, so I’m all over the place. And around 4:00 to 5:00 p.m. UK time, so whoever that would suit you. Yeah, it’s not just geographical, some people just like to stay up late and work in the me small hours. Yeah, if that time suits you, I’d say come along there and have, yeah, get to know me, get a feel for me, and see.

Lou: Oh, that’s lovely. Yeah, so that was Hell Yeah Tech, was it?

Jenn: Yes, Hell Yeah Tech dot com.

The Origin of HellTech

Lou: How did you come up with that name?

Jenn: Oh my God, that’s a whole story. Okay, I’m not very good at naming things. I needed to rename my business because my business was very gendered before, and I’d realized like, oh no, I’d not really, you know, I’m more, I am non-binary rather than female. And so I had to get rid of that, and I didn’t know what to do. And I was living in Krakow in Poland at the time. I didn’t know how to name it, so I went out and got really drunk and ended up in a dive bar in the Kazimierz District when the name came to me, and I scribbled it onto the table. So it’s probably still, the word Hell Yeah Tech is still on a table in that bar.

Lou: Oh, beautiful. I love it.

Jenn: And the hangover, I registered the domain.

Lou: Oh, that’s awesome. I love that.

Wrap-Up and Gratitude

Lou: Well, thank you for sharing that story too. That made my day.

Jenn: Oh yeah.

Lou: Cool. All right, I’m going to wrap up here, but it’s been really beautiful to have you, and yeah, great to hear that there’s someone out there who’s on your side when it comes to all the tech headaches.

Jenn: Yep, yeah. Oh yeah, just smoothing it out and making it simple and sustainable. Absolutely. And thank you for having me.

Lou: Oh, it’s been a pleasure. I hope to see you around on the internet.

Jen: Oh yes.