The Commission Code for Success
Does your gross revenue come from commissions, fees, and other types of 1099 MISC income? If you answered yes, then the Commission Code for Success is a podcast created specifically with you in mind. Each episode is designed to deliver a concept or idea that will help you increase your revenue and have more time to enjoy it.
If you are an employee on 100% commission or an independent contractor you are a business owner when it comes to how you go about doing your daily work. The mindset of a business owner puts you in exactly the right spot to maximize your revenue and maximize the impact you have with your clients and customers.
The Commission Code is the library of knowledge and the set of skills you need to grow your business and reach your desires. Please join us and our guests at The Commission Code Podcast! I look forward to seeing you there, I'm your host, Morris Sims.
The Commission Code for Success
Mastering Chaos: Turn Business Overwhelm into Systems Success
Ever feel like you're drowning in business tasks with no clear path forward? That nagging anxiety when everything seems to pile up is what systems expert Kim Young calls "absolutely icky" – and it's a feeling most entrepreneurs know all too well.
In this enlightening conversation, Kim reveals how proper systems and processes can transform chaos into clarity for business owners. She shares her journey from helping overwhelmed moms to empowering entrepreneurs and small businesses through streamlined workflows and strategic thinking. The key? Starting with your most crucial pain point – typically marketing or sales – and building efficient systems around it.
Kim doesn't just talk theory; she offers practical advice for implementation, the area where most business owners struggle. From creating simple checklists with accountability reminders to understanding when to outsource tasks (hint: marketing is a prime candidate), her approach is refreshingly straightforward. She emphasizes the importance of breaking large projects into manageable chunks, celebrating quick wins, and identifying your optimal productivity periods to maximize effectiveness.
Perhaps most valuable is Kim's insight on the distinction between working IN your business versus ON your business. As she notes, "You need both," but without proper systems, you'll never escape the daily grind long enough to think strategically about growth. Whether you're just starting out or looking to refine established processes, Kim's expertise offers a clear pathway to reducing overwhelm and reclaiming your time.
Ready to transform your business operations? Connect with Kim Young at KimberlyFYoung.com and discover how the right systems can help you work smarter, not harder. Your future self – the one with more time, less stress, and a more profitable business – will thank you.
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said, I moved from helping moms and now I help entrepreneurs and small businesses. I find that so many of them work on the business or work in the business rather than you know on the business, and you need both.
Speaker 2:Welcome to the Commission Code Podcast. We're here to help you overcome the challenges that most of us face in our business. From time to time, you know things like feeling like you're on a plateau and you just can't seem to grow your business. Or maybe feeling overwhelmed, just trying to make ends meet and yet it seems like you're always working. Or maybe you've done quite well for a while, but now nothing seems to be working anymore. Well, we want to help you solve those problems and many more. Our objective is to provide you with practical solutions so you can grow your business and have more time to enjoy the fruits of your labor.
Speaker 2:My name is Morris Sims and I'm going to be your host for this show. I've spent years okay, decades really in the corporate world teaching business owners how to increase their revenue and use professional sales processes and run their business more effectively and efficiently. I started my own consulting and training business about seven years ago, I guess, and I'm helping my clients do just exactly that Get more revenue, increase their revenue and have more time to enjoy the fruits of their labor. But I got to tell you I'm having more fun than ever helping people build successful businesses. So, with all that said, let's get on with today's episode of the Commission Code for your Success.
Speaker 2:All right. Now I got to ask are you in that position that I'm in so often, where everything seems to be piling up and you get that little bit of anxious feeling and you're kind of like well overwhelmed? I know I do, and when I do, I find that the only thing that'll get me out of it is some process improvement and systems, and that's why I'm excited to have Kim Young with us today. Kim is a motivational speaker and entrepreneur from Jamaica. She recently relocated to Jacksonville, florida, and she's uncovered her true passion for empowering women, especially women of color. Kim enjoys spending time with her friends and family, traveling and wine tasting events. Yeah, makes good sense to me, kim. Thank you so much for being on the Commission Code today.
Speaker 1:Absolutely Thanks for having me.
Speaker 2:Let's talk about that feeling of being overwhelmed and how you get out of that. I know you work with people all the time to help them do that, and you did that in your corporate career. Talk to me about that. What's your philosophy, your thinking on that?
Speaker 1:Yeah, isn't that feeling absolutely icky? It's just absolutely. For me, it feels horrible knowing that you have things piling up, things that need to get done. You don't know where to begin, you don't know where to end, and pretty soon it's just overlapping day after day and so eventually some people will get paralyzed and they don't do anything at all. Oh yeah, oh yeah. So for me, what that looks like is basically working through all of your processes, all of your systems, and actually making it work for you rather than against you. In my corporate career, that is exactly what you did. You hit the nail right on the head. I've gone ahead, I've created process maps. I've worked directly with people that weren't sure what they needed, but here comes Kim coming in to tell them what they needed, giving them the technologies to go ahead and to work and to make it work for them. So that way, it is a seamless experience. By the time that they're done.
Speaker 2:So you name it and I'm practically done. Well, you know, I can remember, you know, in the corporate world, when I was doing all that stuff, project would come up big project, huge project and I knew exactly how to plan it, how to put it all together, create my Gantt chart and work through it, delegate the processes and the tasks and then implement it and get it going. When I retired and started my own business, it was like something came over me and I forgot all of that.
Speaker 2:It was like you had to start over from the beginning, and I think that's true for a lot of entrepreneurs who get out there and they started Because at first you're just doing whatever comes naturally and whatever comes next. I had a guy in New York who told me well, I always teach my girls in soccer do the next best thing. Well, that's okay if you really know what the next best thing is, and so many times it's just whatever else came into my email or whatever else is on my list, and you and I both know you can't do it that way. It doesn't work. So where do you begin when you've got that system in front of you and it's not a system, it's just a bunch of stuff to do and it's all chaos and you got to figure out where to start and what the next best thing is. Where do you begin with folks?
Speaker 1:So typically what I ask is especially for entrepreneurs and for small businesses, because I do work with them as well. What I typically do is I ask what is the most crucial pain point in your business? Typically, what I find is either marketing or sales, or sometimes it's just playing behind the scenes. Maybe they have specific areas down pat, but they don't have the main engine, the main parts, right. I'm sure as business owners, we all want to make sure that we're going ahead and we're getting sales and marketing out there, and that's why I find that those are the two most crucial pieces that I tend to go ahead and I tend to start with. Otherwise, I will go ahead and really just tap into what I think by looking at their systems right and saying, okay, well, you don't have a system here. I think that this may be your very first one that we need to go ahead and we need to work with, but for the most part, that's usually where I start.
Speaker 2:That makes sense. I mean, pardon me, that makes perfect sense to me. You got to start with the biggest pain point and let's see if we can reduce that, and that's going to reduce the overall stress and anxiety. But when you've got somebody because what I feel like is so many of us out there probably don't have any systems, you know it. Just I've got a client and when we started working together it was like, well, you know, we know what to do, so we just do it. And you got to start somewhere with building a system. How do you do that?
Speaker 1:with building a system. How do you do that? What keeps them up at night? Right, what is it that keeps you up at night? If it is the thing that you are going to bed with and you are concerned about, then that is exactly where we begin. That is exactly where we begin. What is the process behind? It looks like, and maybe you have half a process, or maybe no process or system at all. Right, that's a valid thing. You know exactly what to do. You just don't know how to do it or what's the most efficient way to do it. Bingo.
Speaker 2:Bingo Go ahead please.
Speaker 1:No, I was just going to say so. I tend to go ahead and I tend to say, okay, well, maybe you have something, and if you don't, then let's figure out the more efficient way to do this. That's all I'm going to say.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and how do you do that? How do you figure out the most efficient way to do that and build a system?
Speaker 1:I asked what is their, what is their current process? What is the current process? What does that look like? If there isn't one, then show me what you do. Sometimes it's easier to show than to tell yeah, so show me what you do. And then that's where I get to come in and say, well, you know, this would be easier if we added a tool here. You know, this would be easier if we went ahead and if we, you know, shot it over through some AI or something. This would be easier if we and I can go down a list, basically what would be easier and what that looks like, because sometimes other people don't realize that they're not being efficient. They're being as efficient as they think that they are. I hope that made sense.
Speaker 2:It does, it does Absolutely.
Speaker 1:Right. So, with that being said, it takes an extra set of eyes, someone from the outside of your business coming in and saying you know, there are these tools that can help, because a lot of times people also don't realize that there are tools that also assist as well. And there's so many out there with you know, maybe people that are not great with technology or people that are great with technology. Either option, right, there's something out there for whoever.
Speaker 2:Do you use AI a lot in those cases? I mean, has that become part of your toolbox?
Speaker 1:No, it hasn't. Sometimes I feel like less is more right. Less is. Let's get under the hood itself. If I have someone that is interested in saying, hey, I would love AI in my systems, I'm more than happy to tell them exactly what I can't what's available out there. But I like taking the step back and the stance of let's run what this looks like from beginning to end. What's available out there. But I like taking the step back and the stance of let's run what this looks like from beginning to end, right, and then going in and saying these are options, let's go from there, right, but I'm not opposed to it either.
Speaker 2:So it's kind of where I've been with it as well. I started playing around with it to build some stuff and a course that I'm building right now, and it is. It has helped me tremendously, but it's not. It ain't perfect, that's for sure.
Speaker 1:Exactly, I completely agree and that's why I kind of look I like looking at it holistically, before I start saying let me toss in AI, because it's not at that stage yet where it is perfect and it can tell you everything that you need to know.
Speaker 2:That's for sure. Now it did take me, I guess you know, half the way there with the project that I was working on at the time. It gave me something that was half of the way there and that saved me a whole lot of time and energy and effort, but I still had to get in there and work at it. I just didn't have to start with a blank piece of paper.
Speaker 1:That is correct. That is correct, I don't disagree. Sometimes I think that if you must use AI and if you feel like you want to use AI, you go in. You start with a simple prompt of you know. Let me tell you what my process is. How can I refine this and then go in from there? I think also, too, it really depends on the prompting of what you put in, because prompting is everything. If you don't have the prompting right, then you're not going to get out.
Speaker 2:You know the output that you're looking for and the more, the better. In that prompt I find, if I, if I, if I can tell it and I did I told it all about my business and what I was trying to do and achieve and what the learning objectives were and what I wanted to be the outcome and what I wanted it to look like and how it was supposed to be formatted. And then all of a sudden it was right there in my inbox.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I agree. I definitely have seen that where people have gone ahead, included as much detail as possible, you know.
Speaker 2:I just gave you everything. Go ahead. Oh yeah, no, I was just going to say moving past AI, there are some basic systems that I think probably every business owner needs to have. What are some of those that you look at and you say, gee, you've got to do this, this and this to be more effective and efficient. What sort of systems do they need to be looking at to improve their current effectiveness in running their business?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so beyond the sales and the marketing, I tend to look at what is your onboarding and offboarding? I also tend to look at how do you do, how do you handle your clients? Not necessarily onboarding, but how are you handling the task and work of your clients? Workflow, right? Yep, your workflow, your complete workflow. It tends to get clunky in there when you have to start adding um, adding communications, uh, following up on certain things. Are you going ahead and are you actually completing, um, the necessary details? Are you skipping things?
Speaker 2:those are kind of those that's probably a main one that I also look at as well that people don't have down pat, because you kind of want to make sure you're delivering consistent, best quality service right absolutely and and I guess I don't know I I'm thinking about systems for for just operating, just systems for for being alive and keeping things going, because that's where I think the hard part is is implementing all these things that we've got to do. We've got all this stuff we got to do. We've got a process, whether we defined it or not. There is something that I do regularly.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's getting me to do what I know I need to do. That generally becomes the hardest hurdle or the biggest hurdle to jump over. How do I create a system that causes me to do what I'm supposed to do? Because you know, we humans tend to procrastinate and then not do what we know we should do and all those things lead to Alcoholics, anonymous and everything, all that stuff. But I don't know. What do you think about that? Just basic systems, personal stuff.
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when I used to work, when I initially started working with moms and women, checklists, something as simple as checklists. I love checklists. I love a good checklist as well.
Speaker 2:Here's my problem with my checklist I get it, I put it together, it looks great, and then I jump off and start doing stuff without looking at my checklist.
Speaker 1:Oh, no See, Okay, so let's take it a step further, right? I, actually, for the women that I did work with, right, I would go ahead and I would actually have them set reminders, set reminders on your phone on whatever maybe app, whatever it takes Set a reminder to look back at that checklist. Because I've had women say, oh, I made it, it's done, I just forgot it. Very similar to what you just said, exactly. And then it's like, well, I made it, it's done, I just forgot it. Very similar to what you just said. And then it's like well, you didn't create the checklist for decoration, so let's make sure that we actually use it Right. How can I make sure that you do it? Let's get a mental trigger in there and nothing more. I don't want to say annoying, but, for lack of better terms, annoying than a reminder dinging you saying hey, it's almost like a seatbelt reminder hey, look back at me, you know, use me.
Speaker 2:And then yeah, and then it continues to repeat until you actually get off your you know what and actually do something.
Speaker 1:Correct. Now, if you snooze it, then we have a whole different conversation. If you're constantly snoozing it and you're not getting that reminder done, then that's a deeper conversation for us to have.
Speaker 2:Let's have a little bit of that conversation.
Speaker 1:Yeah, because then the deeper feeling is well, what's going on while you're snoozing it? Are you procrastinating around it? Are you feeling shame around it? Are you embarrassed by any chance that you didn't get it done Right? Do you feel like it's too much, too too strenuous on you? Maybe you're overwhelmed? That's the deeper conversation that we need to have. Keep on snoozing it. You know, I get it a couple times, or maybe you just didn't get around to it right. But if you find yourself consciously and this is where the self awareness comes in you actually have to consciously dig and say okay, why am I avoiding this? Did I not do it? All right, but what's the feeling behind why I didn't do it?
Speaker 2:Yeah, and that's, I gotta say personally, that's my biggest problem. I can create a wonderful plan, I can create a process to go with it and all the things that make it into a system, and then I don't do it. Other things come up. Marketing is the best example I've got. I've got a marketing plan. I know I need to write a LinkedIn newsletter. I know that I need to do all of these things and getting it on the calendar and getting it done is the biggest hurdle that I have to deal with right now.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So for business owners, I usually tell you to outsource it. Business owners, entrepreneurs outsource it. Business owners, entrepreneurs outsource it out. I mean, if it's not something that is like near and dear to your heart, where you feel like you have to be a part of it, outsource it. And then this is where the conversation comes in of maybe I need to go ahead and have ai create my tone for me and then go ahead and start making ai write them for me. That's, this is one area I'm not opposed to at all.
Speaker 2:Oh, what a neat idea. Oh, I hadn't thought of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 2:Oh, how cool. Oh, we're going to have to end this podcast right now because I got things to do, Boy howdy, that's. Oh yeah, Because it's not that any of us don't think, when we do sit down to focus on it, that maybe that might be a good solution. It's that you look at the list and the checklist. I just can't get started on that right now. I'm going to do this other thing instead, when, if you just what? Take it one bite at a time.
Speaker 1:Absolutely. Try to eat an elephant, one bite at a time.
Speaker 2:I've said that too much. My producer tells me, morris, there are two things. You've got to quit talking about widgets and elephants. Well, okay, great, all right, tough, I'm an old guy and I talk about the same thing over and over and over again. To me, that seems to be one of the real keys to getting off your couch and actually going to work is realizing that you don't have to do the entire checklist in the next 15 minutes.
Speaker 1:That's correct and I'm okay with you just taking a bite, and maybe it's just one, you know, for moms, like when I used to work with moms, maybe it's just the top three today, right, postpone it to the weekend, maybe you know when you're not as busy with the kids, or maybe it's an earlier start on the weekends.
Speaker 1:Whatever that looks like For business owners and for entrepreneurs, it's the top three to five. What's going to happen, what needs to happen, especially if you're in a situation where you're just starting out, right, and you're trying to get the marketing going, you're trying to get the you know revenue coming in. What is top three to five, including those two top areas, right, because you're looking to generate income, and so, yeah, I would go ahead and just narrow that down, figure it out, and it doesn't have to be all in one day, but it doesn't put those as priority. I also find too, now that I'm on this topic, depending on who you are, if you're an earlier riser, you knock out those three to five things first thing in the morning, if you are. If you're not, maybe you're a night owl prior to going to bed, prior to whatever works for your schedule as well. I've found that that's what works best for people, depending on just who you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and then taking that first step, and that may be a baby step. Right, it doesn't have to be a big. You know, I've got to create a digital training course. Well, it might be just determining what the subject is for each of the modules. You know, that's it. Don't try and script the videos and do all the rest of that stuff today. The subject is for each of the modules, that's it. Don't try and script the videos and do all the rest of that stuff today. Just worry about topics for this stuff. When I do that, I seem to be able to make some progress, even though from time to time that gets put back on the shelf and I don't look at it again, one outline at a time.
Speaker 2:Exactly One outline at a time. Exactly One outline, exactly, kim. How about personal efficiency? And there I'm talking about I'm avoiding the words because I don't use the words, I won't say the words Time management. Oh look, I did, because we can't manage time. It's 24-7, 365, and there's not a damn thing we can do about it.
Speaker 1:That's right.
Speaker 2:What sort of systems do you use or do you recommend to your clients for personal efficiency and effectiveness, being able to do what you want to do during a period of time without getting to the end of the day and going damn, I didn't get anything done?
Speaker 1:Yeah, so when I worked with moms, this is where it varies. When I worked with businesses, this is where it varies. Yeah, you have to choose what's most important At that point. It's what needs to happen, what needs to happen today, and then you do it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, and especially for moms. I mean, kids sick got to go to the doctor. That takes priority, that's number one.
Speaker 1:Yep, monkey wrench right in the plan. Okay, well, we can't control when the kids get sick, right, they get sick. We're moms, we take care of them and that's top priority, correct. And that becomes top priority in that moment and you can't beat yourself up over it. You just say, well, my little was sick, right, yeah, but then we move into. All, right, they're sick today, you nurse them tomorrow, however long it is. Well, what needs to happen that day? And the priorities are going to shift. They're going to change because, suppose, it's well, one kid was sick, I got one better, but then the next one became sick. And they can free note, and it happens right they spread it around.
Speaker 2:Yeah, it's just big, big petri dishes of germs.
Speaker 1:Exactly and then and then you move into. Well, it's a week and a half. I got to get back on track. What needs to happen? Well, now we got to reevaluate those priorities. Right, Both littles are better now. What is the priority, what needs to happen? Right, and it could be something completely different than what you initially had in place, but it's something that needs to actually happen, because maybe you had a deadline on it.
Speaker 2:And that then begins to take priority in the number two slot behind the kids, and I had the honor and the opportunity to work with a number of travel advisors around the country.
Speaker 2:There are over 100,000 travel agents in the United States and they do a wonderful job of providing a service that nobody else does. And, by George, once you have a travel agent help you with a major trip or any trip you won't go back. It's like wow, I have a personal concierge, a personal systems person, to help me make sure this thing gets done, and they've got all the answers and they know things that I don't know, opportunities that I wouldn't have any thought about being able to plan or put into my trip. Anyhow, the point is, I don't know what the percentage is, but a great number of them are women and a great number of those women are moms and they're dealing with kids from cradle to teenagers to. It's just amazing and watching the really good ones with the systems work, it's amazing how they find small chunks of time and they're able to get things done in small chunks of time. Do you find that?
Speaker 1:Absolutely, absolutely, and this is another good point that I should go ahead and bring up as well. Back to the point of not eating a whole elephant, you go ahead and you take 10 minutes, you take five minutes, whatever it is that is most important to you and you know you can knock out, because then it counts as a quick win. And who doesn't love a quick win in their personal life, in their business? It just makes us feel good, right, because then we can go ahead and say I feel accomplished. No matter how big or how small it may be, you just start to feel accomplished in a sense, right.
Speaker 2:Oh, absolutely. Cal Newport is a professor of computer science and he wrote a book called Deep Work and I love Kyle's stuff. But in this book he basically says the small little chunks are okay but eventually you have to carve out a period of time where you can get into whatever it is you're doing and get into deep work. It's kind of like the athletes that say, well, I was in the zone and you've got to kind of get in the zone sometimes, especially if you're of a creative kind of a position, a business, that you're in the world of creating stuff out of your brain, and you've got to have that period of time to be able to do some deep work. You can't do it all in those little 10 minute chunks. You got to be able to carve out some real time to work on your business as well as in your business, right.
Speaker 1:Yes, absolutely. That's probably where I come in, where I start to help. I started to help the entrepreneurs. Like I said, I moved from helping moms and now I help entrepreneurs and small businesses. I find that so many of them work on the business I work in the business rather than you know, on the business and you need both. But this is why systems are so important, because if you have a system behind it, you click of a button, click of a wrist, it's you know, it's done for you in a sense right, but definitely you need to carve out that time because he's absolutely a thousand percent correct.
Speaker 1:And this goes back to what does that look like and when is your best operating time? Is it in the morning, you know? Is it? Is it in the evenings? Is it, you know, during a lunch break? Wherever that looks like, that's where you go ahead and put it. Is it Sunday afternoon, when you know you can get away, whatever that looks like, because there isn't going to be perfect time? Quote, unquote it. That looks like Because there isn't going to be perfect time. Quote, unquote it.
Speaker 2:Is more like I have a chunk of time. I have a block here that I can use, and I'm going to use it wisely. Oh, I love that. What a great statement. Yeah, I think I'll write that down. That was good. That was really really good, Kim, we could go on for another 30 minutes here, but I don't know that everybody would necessarily stick with us for that link. But I mean, I've enjoyed this. It's been a lot of fun. Thank you so much for being on the Commission Code today.
Speaker 1:Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate it. I'm always excited to talk systems and processes with anybody. Now how do we get in touch with you? Absolutely so. Email is info at KimberlyFYoungcom and, of course, my email is. I'm sorry, my website is.
Speaker 2:KimberlyFYoungcom. Kimberly F, as in Frank Middle initial F Young dot com. Kimberly F Young dot com. Hey, y'all go check it out, check it out and set up an initial meeting with Kim, because this lady's got some ideas you can use, there's no doubt. Again, kim, thank you for being on the Commission Code today.
Speaker 1:Thank you.
Speaker 2:Well, that does it for this episode of the Commission Code Podcast. This is the place where we want to help you find the Commission Code to success in your business. Remember, go to MorrisSimscom for more information and in the meantime, hey, have a great week, get out there and meet somebody new, and we'll see you again next time right here on the Commission Code. Best wishes. I'm Morris Sims.