A Day in the Life of OBM Adayah Balog (From Corporate → Overwhelmed VA → Intentional OBM Agency)

Hey there and welcome back to the OBM show where we are spotlighting some of the most incredible online business managers who are, you guessed it, building intentional, sustainable, incredible businesses that really support the CEOs that they serve and the lives that we want to live. So today I am joined by the lovely Adea blog, accredited OBM and founder of balanced life business consulting, which is a full service, OBM agency that really helps growth stage entrepreneurs streamline their launches, optimize their systems and really get their operations under control. Now, like many of us, Adea started off as a virtual assistant saying yes to everything, learning new skills constantly and handling more than what she was being paid for. Now, her business grew extremely fast, too fast, mine I add, because she's really incredible at what she does. And even though she had scaled, she still felt a little bit burned out. And namely, she's a mom and, you know, has a lot of things going on like all of us in life. But this was really a turning point and this was around the time when her and I met that she realized she wasn't just juggling clients. She wanted to really lean into the OBM agency model that she was in the midst of growing. And if her business was basically going to continue to be sustainable and continue to grow, she knew she needed to restructure it. So in today's episode, we're really getting into that agency talk and how she really made that shift, how she refined her offers and dealt with her client expectations and really stopped trying to be everything to everybody. We're also going to get into the mindset that it takes to really have that sustainable growth. And what it means to build a business that really is around your strengths and why saying yes to everything is the fastest way to break your own systems. Welcome to the OBM show. The podcast that pulls back the curtain on what it really takes to thrive as an online business manager and help businesses scale without burning out. I'm your host, Serino Ked, agency owner, OBM mentor and founder of OBM School. I've been working in the back end of online businesses since 2009, building systems, managing remote teams and mentoring OBMs who make businesses run like clockwork. Now I've seen what works, what doesn't, and the messy middle that no one talks about. Here we get real about the tools, strategies and stories that drive sustainable success. Plus the tech mishaps, growing pains and lessons learned along the way. If you're ready to stop spinning your wheels, step into your leadership role and see what actually happens behind the scenes of thriving businesses, you're in the right place. Let's get started. Hey Adaya, I'm so so excited. I have been waiting to interview you for a Get Julien years because we have been working together inside of OBM School and you have been in our alumni community for quite some time. So we still do coaching regularly, but it's really fantastic to have you here because finally we can talk a little bit about you, your OBM business and how you are scaling an agency. Yeah, thank you. Yeah, I'm happy to finally be doing it. I've definitely been putting it off for a while because I don't like to be in the spotlight. Yeah, as a caveat for our listeners slash watchers, you know, we're kind of scenes people. So, you know, to be interviews and putting ourselves out there isn't always, you know, it doesn't, it doesn't come naturally, it doesn't come naturally for me either. I'm excited to have you here. So why don't you speak a little bit to your origin story as an OBM, how you got started, when you got started, you know, walk us through. I know it's hard to kind of take you back all those years, but what was the catalyst for starting this business? Yeah, so I think it kind of starts first off by looking at the VA route that I originally took. So I was originally working in corporate in a bank and my husband and I had gotten married and we started trying for a baby we decided and we spoke into the doctor and everything like that and he had told us like a six to 12 months. And so, you know, I'd being the planner that I am, I'd planned out everything, you know, like I'll finish my uni degree at this time and I'll be finishing, you know, and looking to move up in the job at this time kind of thing. And then it just happens sooner than we thought, so which was a blessing. But obviously, obviously, obviously, as a planner, I was like, okay, you know, that's not 12 months. That's what I had like a year to get my life together, basically, I don't know, to play it more around, you know, what would it look like in a career and being able to then be the mom that I wanted to be as well. So yeah, I had my my mat leave and everything like that and I had to kind of put the uni course on pause and then finish the rest. I think I had just a few more units after that and finished off. And then yeah, so in that time when we were thinking about, you know, like what's going to happen after we have the baby and trying to figure out how do I still have my career? Because I definitely knew I wanted to move up and I wanted to keep up skilling and I love continuous learning. So I definitely wanted to still be able to do that. But I didn't want to also be limited in how much I could be present with my son. So that was something I was really struggling with. And I started researching just kind of like what are the opportunities to work from home and things like that. And you know, back then it was around 2017, 2018. Everything kind of looked dodgy. Like, you know, you like it. It wasn't really, it's like, can you really do this from home? Is it actually, you know, something that will, you know, bring about income? Will it be long term? Will it just be a flop kind of thing? So, you know, I'm really blessed. I have a very supportive husband. So he was, you know, backing me and I had spoken to our accountant and I said, like, look, this is what I want to do, you know, like we need to register a business. And he was just kind of like, well, you know, I don't really know if it's going to work. And I said, I don't really know if it's going to work. But let's just register the business name and just see how we go kind of thing. Then I started, yeah, doing some courses and I took a few VA courses and a bunch of other courses after that around digital marketing, funnels, all sorts of things really, like WordPress, a lot of the different things and the skillsets that I still use now. And yeah, I had been doing the VA gig for a while and had made some connections in Facebook groups and things like that started working originally just for experience, just to kind of prove to myself that could actually be a real thing and that people would actually want to buy my services, work with me kind of thing. And whether or not I actually had the skills. So that was a bit of trial and error. And then from there, it was just referrals after that. So it did start picking up after that. And that's when I started bringing in how and outsourcing a little bit. Yeah, it was one where it like scaled quickly. And then I had to pull back because I was like, this is getting too many things and the people I'm working with. It's not the same standard that I wanted. Maybe I'm not really giving them the right expectations. I don't really know how to manage them properly. A lot of the time I would kind of take the work back and then do it myself because, you know, like I didn't want to give the client something that I wasn't happy with or something like that. And it wasn't always them. It was probably my, you know, learning in leadership as well at that stage. And then so over time, yeah, I scaled a bit and then like stripped it back and come back again. And I had then found myself working more and more in managing projects, working in launches. This is still with the VAs. So that's where the stage was at like five years. Yeah, at the five year mark. So growing a team, starting to get traction in that way. Yeah. And then so that's when I started to realize I don't really feel that this is the VA role anymore. So around that stage, I went and I did another course, so in not OBM school, but I did another course in online business management. And then I started moving into that area, but I still kept like a hybrid to my work. So I was doing VA and I was doing OBM work and I was building out separate rates. And it was just a lot. It was feeling very messy at that stage. So that's when I was kind of looking at how do I adjust this? Then European business took off. It was like the COVID time basically that my husband's worked tanked. And then that's when I started coming to you because I was like, I'm doing this and I've started. I've, I had to scale really quickly during COVID kind of thing. So yeah, yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. So I think we were doing a great, I mean, you were doing a great job. Like, you know, maybe we'll just pick up. Okay, so I have, I have an idea. Maybe it's like, when did you really figure out that it was like the OBM in disguise? So you've been, you know, you've been growing your VA business. You've been growing your team. And then at some point you realize, okay, I'm offering these two services, you know, it's probably around the time that COVID starts sinking in and, you know, things start changing in this world. When did you really decide to go into like the all into the OBM role? Yeah. So, yeah, around the time when COVID started up, we, we live in Victoria and Australia. So we were one of the places in the world that got locked down. Oh right. Very hot. Yeah, Australia. Yeah. I remember that. I was looking at an article and it was something like more than 200 days, something like something insane like that. Yeah, my, I was pregnant with my second at the time. And she was actually born right at the start of COVID. So I remember going to my obstetrician appointment and the last one basically before the birth. And she had said to me, look, we don't know if you're husband going to be able to be in the room at this stage because of the restrictions, for the actual birth. So it was a very stressful time. And you know, it wasn't the birth or the experience that we had expected, you know, like my son wasn't even allowed to come and visit her in the hospital, you know, that we'd been preparing him kind of for months. Yeah. And then so on top of that, we've got, you know, like what's going to happen with work kind of thing because my husband installs roller shot is. And so during the lockdown, basically, all of the building industry shot down here. So he wasn't allowed to go to work. Yes. And basically how that you're reminding me of the situation. I actually do remember the first call that we had together because I remember you talking to me about this and about the two different rates, the VA rate and the OBM rate. And I was like, hell, no, we're going to leave. Yeah. Yeah. And so yeah, it had just come to that stage where it was like that income is like going to be really significantly reduced or maybe not even he, depending on what happens with the lockdown, it was very unpredictable. We didn't really know what was happening. So I knew that I really had to pump up my side of the business, like my business, but also I just had a baby. Right. So yeah, I took a little bit of time off. I don't really remember how much time it's all kind of hasty back then. I think COVID and all that time is really hasty for everyone. Yeah. But then you know, started scaling really quickly because, you know, a lot of the, the businesses just had to go online. They didn't have any choice. So obviously, a lot of other OBMs and people in our, in our space, also had a lot of their businesses take off at that time. And it just kind of happened like fast. Right. And you know, I'd had a little bit experience before with scaling. But again, it was too much too soon and too many things going on and just, you know, I got to the point where a few years later when things were kind of settling back in after COVID. And then we started to see a downturn in income for clients as well because there was real uncertainty around, you know, where's money going to come from. I think, you know, about a few years after COVID, which is when I came across your, your course. And so at that point, I was like, you know, I'd had really good clients. I'd had a good, you know, roster client, roster kind of thing. And we'd had, you know, enough people coming through. But then it really wasn't balanced very well as well. I needed to look at adjusting the services and make sure I could streamline things and then really hone in because we really hadn't become the, like, Jack of all trades. We would like, you know, say to our clients, if you need something, you know, that would say anything you need to do, yeah, just come. Yes. You know, and I knew that so many of my clients had come to me, they'd been burnt by other people before. And I would always feel so responsible that I want to make sure that they don't ever feel that way. So I'd always be like, you know, I'll learn it or we'll learn it and we'll do that. So we kind of were at that stage where we're doing so many different things offering so many different services and then having the different rates because I didn't want to charge them too much. And it was obviously everybody except herself. Yes. And yeah, it was just like getting to the point where it was just, it was not sustainable, obviously, like that. And I'd already, you know, really, really burnt myself out by that point. You know, I'd already burnt myself out once originally with the BA stuff. And now it was really heating, like, yeah, yeah. Yeah. So you're kind of are in this predicament. So what was that next step for you then? Yeah. So I came across your course. I can't remember how I came across it. Maybe through Googling, maybe through ads. Yeah. The bottom of that turn, maybe. Yeah. Definitely believe that. And then, yeah, I remember having a meeting with you and just kind of feeling out, I guess it's going to be the course for me, you know, like I knew that I needed a structure to it. I knew that I needed to be able to take all of the knowledge that I had in all of the different areas and then be able to put them into a more refined workflow and make it work for my business as well as my clients. And I really wanted to make sure that I could make the business more sustainable in terms of making our packages easier to onboard and off-board clients and just make sure we were delivering things efficiently, effectively, making sure our systems were also really in check. And yeah, I also really wanted to make it easier for my team because I'm always of some mindset that I don't, I don't want to stress them out. I don't ever want them to feel that stress that I have felt when I was to that point of burnout. So I think that's a big motivation for me to always do my best to try to systemize things as well and try to get it to the point where it's, you know, more streamlined for them as much as possible so that the client also feels it at the end in their experience. And definitely, yeah, coming into the accreditation and going through all those trainings and being able to see all the resources and then apply them, that's what really gave me the ability to bring all those pieces together, which was really important because it just kind of felt like I know I can do all these things, I know I can, I know I have a lot of the knowledge, but how do I ring it all together and then make it work, you know. Making such a great point here, because I think that being an OBM comes naturally to the majority of us. And I always tell people that, you know, the hard skills are overwhelming and yes, project management and team management can make you feel uneasy. But it's really the soft skills, like, you know, like what I'm hearing you saying is like the empathy for the team and the, you know, organizing and caring about other people and being just as hard of service person. You know, it really does come so naturally to us and it's such an important part of delivering services and being an online business manager. So I love that you, you speak to that piece. And as I was, you know, even in my own agency, like I too remember getting to that point where, and it was interesting because I remember our conversation. I remember being so excited that you were an agency owner because you can be an OBM, a solo OBM and do things your own way and have it be very hodgepodge. But the second you start to scale in agency and you have team and you have, I know I know you have big, big clients and big players that you're working with. You really do have to crack down in a different way. So I think, you know, even, even with regard to OBM school and like because a lot of the templates are my own agency templates, it does really help us to kind of understand, okay, well, what needs to change in order for me to better serve my agency? What needs to change with me, with how I'm pricing and packaging things? Because pricing and packaging for solo OBM is very different for an agency. Yeah, for sure. Yeah. You speak a little bit to, I mean, maybe some of the things you do differently as an agency owner from when you were a solo OBM, so that those listening here can sort of, you know, just as a caveat for our listeners, I was speaking to someone in the community yesterday and they were like, I need to, I need to talk to idea and understand more about her agency. And I was like, I was like, hold on on that. We're doing an interview. She's going to be spilling the beans. So I would love to know like for people who are like, do I have the stomach for being an agency owner? You know, and I say that in all seriously, seriousness, because now you're not just worrying about your own income, but you have to worry about other people on your team. It's definitely not an easy road to walk in terms of you definitely have to learn the lessons the hard way sometimes. Right. And I think because I am like that people pleasing mentality, I always wanted to. We all know. Yeah, like it is just so hard to, like initially in those first stages, I wish that I had learnt more quickly, you know, a better way of kind of trialing them and then finding if they were right feet early on. And I think just before I started the accreditation, I had started to find that rhythm a bit more in terms of like giving them trial projects, which is what you teach anyways. And that definitely has really changed the game for me because it gives me a really good understanding of the attention to detail, how they respond to feedback, how they can review a process and actually follow it, all those kinds of things. And yeah, I it had taken a long time to get to that stage. And definitely, yeah, when you are, I think a lot of us as OBMs are kind of perfectionist, especially to begin with. And I definitely did working with team for so long because I was like, they're not going to care about it as much as I do or they're not going to worry so much about the client and like, they're not going to care as much as I do about the client or, you know, those sort of things. And I, yeah, like I said before, sometimes we'll just take the work back and do it myself, like work to really lay and do it to make sure it got done, you know, kind of thing. That's not sustainable. It's not. And so the biggest thing for me in terms of having team has been that that has actually opened up the ability for me to have the freedom that I wanted to have original because, yeah, you know, you start out and then you start to get more referrals and you want to help more people, but you either have to be really firm about the know or you end up working yourself too much. But if you can really get their systems in place, test them yourself and then slowly bring one person at a time and make sure you give them time. You work with them. It's going to cost you more time initially because you really need to make sure that you're giving them the one at one time and making sure that you're working with them and building that working relationship. But then once you get through that stage, it really does just give you so much more freedom. Yeah. Yeah, definitely. If you were going to do it all over again, you know, who would be that first hire for you? Who would you bring on your team first for those who are thinking of scaling their own businesses to an agency model? Yeah, I think a VA is a good fit. I, yeah, I think a lot of those administrative tasks that you don't need to be doing in your own business is a good way to trial it first. That's how I trial it. I'll get them to work in my own business first and see how they work. And if that's a good fit, then it's easier to stop bringing them in on the client work, but still keeping that communication with the client. But yeah, definitely, I think a VA is the first step. And then from that, and I think that's how pretty much a majority of, yeah, I'm up there. I started out. And then I'd kind of see those leadership skills and then the project management skills. If they're really good with the attention to detail and they're really great with systems, I have like one or two on my team that will really, they're really great at looking at the system. And then actually they always go above and beyond. And they will say, Oh, you know, this part could be adjusted. We could refine this or that's something like that. That seems very OBM. Yes. And then so once I started to see that in them, that's when I brought them in more on these other projects. And you know, I was able to trust them more. I think the takeaway here that I want to make very clear is that you definitely want to experiment in your own business before you front face a client and new team member. Yeah. I mean, it's your reputation as well. Yeah. And there's nothing more off-putting for a client who like experiences a team member and then you're like, Oh, that team member wasn't good and now they're they're gone. Yeah. That looks weird. So yes. So hiring that VA, experimenting in your business, and then it sounds like there's also a degree of training that happens where you're, you know, training them to. So how does that look like in terms of or what does that look like in terms of of your specific clients right now? Like how do you how do you get them acclimated with a client's business? How do you really really bring them on in a way that there I say takes some work off of your plate? Majority of our clients now I still meet with all of them individually. But in terms of introducing them to members of the team, I would just bring them in on administrative tasks initially and just let the client know, you know, I've got such and such coming in to help work with some of these things. Well, yeah. You know, I'm working on one of your other main projects so that we can get it done. And then over time, I would just be sharing with them some of the skills that I'd seen in this team member and asking them if they feel comfortable for them to come in and support. Usually we speak about, you know, time frames and things like that. And that's, you know, bringing in that support is going to support the time frame. Right. Because obviously I'm only one person. I can't do it all. And they are always really supportive of that. And my team always really prove themselves every time. That's great. And yeah, we also have a lot of quality checks in place. And I think that has been like the key. Absolutely. That's don't you just glaze it like that. What does that actually look like for those listening here watching? Yes. So I mean, we're upfront with the clients that as part of our work, there will be billable hours that go towards quality checking. Yeah, it would depend on how many tasks we do with them and things like that and how much involvement there is. But I actually have the team or kind of holding each other responsible. They also hold me responsible. So I kind of like that. We have this kind of accountability across all of us. And there's daily check-ins and they have their assigned people that they check in with. And then they also, you know, will chase me if I've forgotten to give them something. An organized system slash SOP around clients. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yes. Yeah. And I have their tossing. Click up around, you know, doing the same. Using a project management tool. Please. I mean, you can't. I mean, I don't think you can function as a solo OBM project management tool. Like I just wouldn't sleep at night time. I'd be like tossing and turning. Oh my god. I forgot this. Oh my god. I need to do that. That would give me killer anxiety that I just don't think I could handle. Yes. For sure. Yeah. Project management tool is a must. I don't think you can run a business well without it. But yeah. So they do those kind of things. And then usually we'll have within this standard operating procedure for whichever task we feel requires. Those quality checks will have like a checklist for the main things that we would check during those quality checks. And then we just report amongst each other. And we also provide they provide feedback. And I think that's really helped as well in my leadership role as well that I'm not having to consistently be like, you did this wrong, you know, and pulling it up. And that's so much. It's hard for me, you know, but because I made it part of the culture, like from the get go now, it's really just made it so much easier. And everyone's really receptive to the feedback as long as, you know, we make sure it's delivered appropriately. But yeah. Absolutely. Yes. Absolutely. As you were speaking, I was thinking about a lot of the questions that OBMs ask me when they're considering moving into an agency model. And one of the big concerns that I hear that I want to address is, will the client want to work with my team members? What if it's not me? You know, I'm the brand. I'm the business, but it's not me giving the OBM services. So can you speak a little bit to, you know, this concern that many solo OBMs have as they're scaling their teams? What does that, what did that look like for you? If you have onboarded them well and given them that time, really train them and ask them as well, I have open conversations with them about like whether they feel they would feel comfortable before I would, you know, put them client-facing. Yes. And I'm also like trying to ask them, you know, like, what do you need from me? Kind of thing. What can I do to support you before we get there? And I think having that open communication is really important. But then once you have introduced them in the smaller tasks and start bringing them into some of the projects and they prove themselves with the client, the client will sometimes ask for them. Oh, really? I think that's true. If they see that I'm, you know, like in some of those launch times when there's a lot of launches and they've asked me to do a specific project, but they also want to kick off another project and they're like, we're a capacity for this month, but you know, does this person have a bit of capacity? And would you be alright if they kind of let up the project? So it would happen organically on its own. And we're like, yeah, I think it's so valid and it's so valid also to feel like your clients only want to work with you, but in reality, it's just not the case. Yeah. It is important to you because you need them to have that good relationship because then otherwise you kind of get stuck where you're not taking holidays, especially I guess in the services that I have because we do a lot of launches. Yeah, I know. And you need to be there. You need to be present. You know what I mean? So sometimes if, you know, my husband wants to go camping, we want to take the kids camping or, you know, we ended up going to Canada, maybe last minute. Last minute? Yeah, it was more last week. But yeah, that means that they're more than happy when I say like, hey, you know, I'm going to be traveling on these days. I'm going to make sure these tasks are covered, but you know, this person and this person may be covering them and I've already walked them through it. We've had a meeting about it, you know, and they're more than happy. That's, you have to make sure you've done that whole process beforehand to then get to that stage. Because for me, yeah, yeah, even if my, my kids are sick or I have to run out and go to the school or, you know, if anything along those lines, I know that I can trust that I can ask someone on my team, you know, can you cover this for me? And my clients are not going to be upset about that. Right. They're just, they're just going to know it's going to get done and it's going to just going to be fine. Is there ever a scenario where you onboard a client and you immediately pair them with the OBM on your team? Yes, actually, I would you do that with, I think the last true clients that we want to release. Yeah, so that there's fresh with the OBM. Is that something that you, because you still do the discovery calls, right? Yes, I still do. Yeah, yeah. And that's something that becomes very apparent in the discovery call that they're going to be working with a direct, you know, yeah. Yeah, yeah, I think there's sometimes they can be a bit unsure about it. Yeah. But again, it's about, you know, working with them and building that connection early on. So normally, I would just be in that initial meeting with them as well and kind of introducing them and then having them work. Yeah, being a part of onboarding, but then having certain check-in points. Yes, that we absolutely, I think that's an important piece. What is the typical day for you look like as an agency owner with the old rude of kids? I think it's not, yeah, not really ever the same. Yeah, it's so funny. Everybody says when I do these interviews, they're like, it's so hard. Every day is different. I know that's sort of beauty of being an oweback is that the days are different and you're having to problem solve. Yeah, and that's it. Yes. I think it's thought that can sometimes be, you know, a challenge, but it's also something that's exciting because there's always something different. There's always something new and you're really reinforcing that, you know, thought that everything is figure out, figure out a bull. Yes. Amen. And you can get there and you are a problem solver and you can find the solution, especially, you know, working with a community, you know, working with the OBM school community as well, that definitely helps as well, you know, being able to know that. You have people there who, if you don't know the answer, they'll have the answer. That's right. But yeah, in terms of the day-to-day, I think it was a crazy day. Give us like a crazy jam pack day. Yeah. Well, right now we have our kids in two separate schools, which is not the original plan, but so we're in a bit of a transition phase and my son's school is 40 minutes from where we live and my daughter's school is only five. So we, yeah, I'm currently taking him there and then I'm working from my dad's house because he lives on that side. But, you know, in the beauty of it is that I can work from anywhere. So I just bring my laptop and my backpack and I'll set up there. So yeah, I normally do the drop off and then go and get my coffee because I just can't do it without the coffee. Oh, yeah, no, yeah. And then, yeah, I'll sit down and check communications like normally checking in Slack and click up and work through some of the notifications and things like that. We have, you know, a few US clients, so they're normally working while I'm sleeping and then I'm getting up and responding to the notifications in the morning. And then, yeah, I'll check in with my team, see if there's any messages from them, anything that they flagged that's urgent. And then after that, yeah, if there's a launch going on, normally it's the first priority to check in with the launch. Look at the key dates. What's going on on this specific date to do with the launch? Is there anything that needs to, you know, be changed, anything that needs to be sent out or just making sure that the things have been sent out, making sure that the tasks have been completed. Are there any barriers to anyone actually completing a task? And that applies not only to my team, but also to my clients teams. And then making sure that they have the things that they need as well. Yeah, a lot of you have to make sure you're checking your calendar frequently when you're doing launch management and you're just being in there clearing out the tasks as much as possible. You're checking those KBI's. Yeah. And removing the roadblocks as much as possible because a lot of them got lost during a lot. It's like it's a lot of problem solving, you know, it really is. And being able to pivot and being able to sort of be proactive about problems happening before they've started. So that's really, really great. And do you do, why don't we speak a little bit about your own internal stuff? Because you know, managing the launches and managing the team and managing the clients and keeping projects flowing. And then obviously there's the whole, you know, running your own agency, you know, so what is that? What does that piece of it look like? You know, you've got discovery calls, the whole shebang. I think a lot of it is on order pilot with my team, even managing the inside of your business. There's always room for improvement. I feel like your own business in your systems. That's always the last thing, unfortunately, but that's also why our clients bring us in. So, you know, OBMs also need OBMs. But yeah, my calendar is just linked to my discovery calls calendar anyway. So I just, if I get a discovery call coming in, then I'll just prepare for it and run through the process that is already that I've got from OBM school. And just do the preparation, things like that and then take the call. If that means that I'd have to move some other work around, then yeah, I'll bring you my team to support with that. But majority of the time, yeah, it's pretty good. I'll just go ahead and do that. And then I'll talk to the team about who might be a good fit for them if that's the the way that we're going to go. With the OBM, like which OBM to delegate the client to and everything. Yeah. Yeah. Very nice. Very cool. So I think that's, that's great. I mean, that definitely gives us a lot of insight into what it looks like to be an agency owner. Do you regret scaling your agency? Do you have any regrets? I'm happy with it now. Much happy. I think I'm having the boss. I think, um, yeah, I remember you were stressed out when we met way back when it was a few years. Yes. Yeah. I mean, there was points where I was working. I had so many people that I had to bring in and had to try to manage. So they weren't necessarily like under my umbrella, but they were kind of contractors that we would also bring in to try and support the clients with all of the things, you know, to try and get all of the things done. And that was just, you know, far too much in it. I just would never do that again. But I only have four. Yeah, they're really great. They're really great. The team. Yeah. That's great. Yeah. Yeah. So no regrets. Yeah, I think there was, you know, always maybe a little hiccup here and there and things don't come as smoothly as they could. But then after a while, things fall into place, we move on. We move on to better problems in the agency. Yeah. So I think it just does, it just does take time to find the right people on the right feet. Right. Right. It is a slow growth kind of thing. And I think that agencies are so important and so wonderful to have. But definitely not for the faint of heart. You know, is there is there any piece of advice that you could give to somebody that's, you know, aside from like the scaling your team slowly, that would be helpful for somebody who's considering shifting from being a solo OBM to an agency owner. I think really look at your packages and make sure that they are a good fit for a team. You definitely need to make sure you're zoning in on like two to three areas of expertise, I'd say instead, like do like what I did and try to see, can you give specifics on the areas of expertise here? Yeah. So for us, I'd say we're more around like the systems development and refinement, as well as CRM planning and then builds. And that the launch management piece is mainly what we do. And obviously, we also do some other things within that. But those are the main pieces that we have really been able to refine and then turn that into a really good, you know, system for us. And you know, as part of that, we do the funnel building as well, you know, webinar funnels and things like that. Would you hire to build? Yeah. High in together. Yeah. So yeah. And once you get those kind of things going and you know the steps and you know the predictable pieces where every client will be different, but you can still working into those different steps and everybody kind of knows the flow and you don't feel like you're starting from scratch every time with every new client. Because working with the team that it makes it really hard to be able to monitor it, make sure the quality is good, make sure everybody's got what they need, make sure everyone feels supported. All those kind of things. Wonderful. Yeah. I think that's that's really great advice for anybody who's considering scaling and agency. We've spoken a lot about agency scaling. What's another piece of advice you could give to any OBM or what's like that golden advice that you would have given your younger OBM self? Yeah. I think definitely setting boundaries is something that's really important. And again, coming from that like people pleasing mentality, it's not something that comes naturally because you want everyone to just be happy with you all the time and feel like, you know, you're always available. But then if you're always available, then you're never available to your kids and your family. And if that's your why, then it makes it really hard to keep going and feeling like excited to show up. And I know a lot of people in the OBM space that is their why, but even if it's not their why, you know, looking at that and seeing what's your reason behind it and then setting boundaries to make sure you can follow that why. I think that's what's helped me to be able to reset. And yeah, and then still being consistent about those boundaries, even if you've had clients for a long time, you know, sometimes the other question that you're speaking of. It's such as, you know, like a new offer or something like that will come up and it's really exciting. Yeah, and then you want to get going with it fast. Yes. Yeah. It's just about, you know, reminding them, you know, like this is how many hours we have available. This is how much time we have available. You know, these are the projects you already want to work on. So then what do we need to move to make that work? Well, I love that. That's that. I mean, it's true because, you know, you've just shared a really great point of, you know, the scope creep setting boundaries around client work. Are there other other, the other measures that you have in place to like maybe automated measures to set boundaries with clients or expectations? Is there anything there that you're doing? I think in our onboarding we do, we've done a better job about being clear around that and also in my contract as well, that I work with, she's really great. And she actually had put like my values into my contract at the start. Yeah. Into one of the newer versions. And I actually really love that that she put in there that, you know, I'm a mom and, you know, some of our team also have kids and for us, like the reason why we have these businesses is that, you know, we're here to support our family. So, you know, please understand that there may be times where, you know, it's gonna be rare. Yeah, where our kid may be sick and we call attend a call or something like that. But, you know, we'll always reschedule it. And we just ask that you please be respectful of that kind of thing. Love that. And I think it really sets the expectations well from the start. And a lot of our clients also have those values and it really helps us to align them. So, yeah, I'm really grateful with the clients that I have now, especially that day on just like very understanding of that and share those values as well. So it makes it easier to just kind of say like. It's wonderful when you have it. Yeah, when you're why, you know, can somehow line up with your clients why around your values and what you care about. It's so, so important. Like, I remember in my earlier days of being an online business manager, I think this was really well before. I mean, I still had an agency, but it was just sort of starting to scale OBM school and my kids were little, you know, I'd come to these calls, you know, I tilt, you know, you can't, for those of you on the podcast, you can't see this, but on YouTube, you know, I tilt my, my, my, tilt my screen up like that and literally breastfeed. Because I was breastfeeding all the time, but because I wanted to be, I wanted to be very clear that I was a mom. This is my priority. That's my why for doing this. And if you don't like it, it's good at all, you know, it's not like, so I could immediately tell when people were very keen and very aligned or not. And most of the time, people were, you know, very nice about it and and men and women, right? Like they were very accommodating and, you know, happy because a lot of the clients I had worked with, like my, I talked a lot about my stepping stone client on this podcast. And, you know, she was a mom as well at the time. So it made it, it made it really fun for us to scale and automate and grow things together because we wanted to spend more time with our kids. It was, yeah, very cool. So it's been wonderful speaking to you today. I feel like this is like a long time coming. And I know that you've shared so much wisdom in terms of grow agency growth, scaling a team, setting expectations with clients. And so below this video on YouTube, or if you're listening to the podcast and the show notes, we're going to leave all of ideas, contact information so that if you are looking to hire an online business manager, you can find her on our directory or you can go straight to her website and learn more. So thank you so much for being here with me today. And thank you so much for having me. I appreciate it. And I'm glad that we're able to finally do it. You know, yeah, long time coming. Thank you for being here. Thank you for sharing your story. Nora, thank you. What I love most about a day as story is how honest she is about the real experience of scaling too fast and the courage that it takes to pause and rebuild intentionally. She didn't just change her services. She just changed her approach. She stopped offering everything to everyone. And she really narrowed down her focus, cleaned up her systems, and rebuilt her agency in a way that quite frankly is more strategic, more client-serving, and sustainable for the long haul. And if you're in that stage where you've outgrown your offers, your clients, or your bandwidth, take this as a sign. You're allowed to shift. You're allowed to specialize. You're allowed to run your business like the CEO you are. Now, if you're listening to the podcast, be sure you subscribe, or if you're catching this on YouTube, hit the subscribe button there and tap that bell so you are the first to be notified when we drop a new episode. And if you're ready to uplevel your systems, your OBM offer, or learn more about becoming an OBM, head on over to obmschool.com/resources for tools to help you grow. All of our day as details are linked in the show notes and the video description. Until next time, keep evolving, keep simplifying, and keep building the business behind the business. I'll see you guys in the next episode.