How Outsourcing Can Easily Change Your Business And Your Life!

Mauralyn Malinang Podcast Transcription

[00:05:49]Kris Ward: Hey, welcome to another episode of Win The Hour, Win The Fay. And I am your lucky host, Kris Ward. And today we have a very special guest. I know I tell you that all the time, and I hope you realize, I think we are hitting outta the park with our guests, and that’s what your reviews say. I read each and every one of them. So thank you very much. It really helps us form the show and deliver what you guys like and love.

[00:06:14] But today I have someone like from iside. I dunno, inside the scoop behind the scenes, I am bringing to you Maura Malinang. Maura works with me. She is the W.I.N Team. She is such the backbone to that. Oh my gosh. What a talent she is. And she’s gonna give you the scoop of all this stuff that I talk about, getting 25 hours back a week for our clients in the Winners Circle.

[00:06:41] How business should support your life instead of consuming it. And that it business should be fun. It shouldn’t be stressful. Like why did you leave that job? So she’s gonna give it to you, give it to you straight on what it’s like and how we sort of run, Win The Hour, Win The Day. So welcome to the show, Maura.

[00:07:01]Mauralyn Malinang: Thank you, Kris. It’s a pleasure to be in this podcast. Thank everyone.

[00:07:07]Kris Ward: Okay, so Maura. All right. I’m gonna start with how you came to our team. And I’m gonna tell all the funny parts of this, cuz this is a very interesting story, everyone. We’re gonna start at the top. Okay. And this is a really valuable lesson for you and your business.

[00:07:23] So what happened was, we had Kasel who had been with us for quite some time and she got a notification with all the craziness going in the world. Suddenly, she was notified that she was moving from the Philippines to Canada, given like two weeks notice to go to college. She had applied for this years ago. It didn’t work out all this other stuff.

[00:07:41] So she comes to me and says, oh my gosh, Kris, like, I wanna stay. That’s a big thing about having this kind of infrastructure is they never wanna leave. She’s like I wanna stay, but my hours are gonna have to cut down to like 80%. Cause I’m going to college full time. Of course you are. So this is two weeks before Christmas.

[00:07:57] At this same time, I was asked to step in and do a speaking engagement for someone cuz somebody had pulled out last minute illness or something and it was a 4-hour speaking engagement. And it was very custom. They wanted it pulled together from, you know, I had to repurpose stuff, but I had to really work on this.

[00:08:16] Because imagine this, even if you run through it once, nevermind the setup and writing the slides and doing all this stuff, even if I did it once or twice and practice it, that’s a day. So this is two weeks before Christmas. I’ve got this speaking gig of four hours that I’ve committed to.You know, that’s fine.

[00:08:32] I hire Mara. Let’s just start there for a second. Maura, tell us about what it’s like. My interview process is probably unique. I would, I know I’m very efficient with it. Most people do it very differently. Did you notice a difference? 

[00:08:49]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes, it was actually just two minutes of interview. And then, you just asked me a specific question then I think I answered it right then that’s it. 

[00:09:00]Kris Ward: Yeah. So what she’s referring to is step one. Step one is; I say, this is a quick interview. It’s a 12 step process, but I say, this is a quick interview to see if you make it to the main interview.

[00:09:17] Can you tell me why you think you’d be a good fit for this job? So it wasn’t that you answered it, right? You answered it well, you were articulate. You showed that there was substance to your answer. You know, you had a lot of depth. Versus people saying, well, you know, I really, I like helping people or they’re very vague or they say things like, well, I’m really good at email management.

[00:09:37] Like everybody should be able to do that. Right. So that’s step one. And then there’s actually 11 other steps that we’ll talk about that maybe we’ll have you back more, or we’ll talk about that. You probably didn’t even notice some of the steps you’re going through, but so anyhow, so I hire Maura before Christmas then

Maura meets with Kasel and Kasel uses our SupeTool Kits to train Maura. I don’t even meet with you Mura until after Christmas for the first time. Correct? 

[00:10:07]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes. That’s right.

[00:10:08]Kris Ward: Yeah. So when I meet you like two weeks into January, the first time you and I go into a meeting together, you are up to like 80% capacity. You are crazy trained, and this is where the fun begins. So I’ll let you now more tell me some of the things that you kind of notice that we did differently right from the get go.

[00:10:30]Mauralyn Malinang:  Well, I actually, when I was working in the corporate industry, I used to having my task being like delegated to me. And most of them are just like repetitive and it become a routine, which means I think there are no room for me to learn more skills and improve anything

[00:10:48] any ideas that I have in mind. So for me, it’s like, I’m stuck doing all over those tasks again. And for some people like me, I think that doesn’t work at all if you want to improve every day. But when I work with Kris, the team they made me realize that my potentials gave me more space to share my ideas.

[00:11:17] And I didn’t know that I have those ideas before. So yes, in addition to that, the most difference that I notice working in a corporate industry and working with Kris and the team is that in a corporate industry, you have to like mandatory work for an eight hour schedule. So that’s like a common 9:00 AM to 5:00 PM schedule or office schedule.

[00:11:45] But with Kris, my hours are flexible and I have independence on what I do. Like, personally I think my brain functions very well in the morning. So with a good sleep. So even though Kris and I have different time zones, I find myself working anytime as much as I want. And I still set a time with Kris to do scrum every day.

[00:12:13]Kris Ward: Okay. So let me jump in here for a second more. I’m gonna unpack some of the really interesting things you said. 18-23 dead air

Okay. So something really interesting you said right at the beginning there, Maura, and I think this is crazy powerful is, you know what you were saying in the corporate world, you had repetitive tasks, there was no room to improve yourself. It was just like people gave you work and then it was just recycled all the time.

[00:12:38] And I also firmly believe, and I let’s see how you are accepting compliments that’s because you’re so smart. You get bored quick and there’s no room for growth or development, but also from the business owner. Then if you do all your work and it’s just repetitive, then in order for us to get more work done, then I have to hire somebody else because they’re just doing the repetitive work.

[00:13:00] Like that’s why the infrastructure of business is just growing. And this mass thing of a team, I’m all about keeping a team crazy lean. So when people hear teams, sometimes they think that means bigger, but it could be like, you know, two people working really efficiently. So it’s boring for you and it’s costly to the business owner.

[00:13:17] So I think you bring up a really good point there and yes flexible. So you’re talking about flexibility. Here’s the thing, even though we’re in different time zones, you’re right. One of the things I say to all my clients in the Winners Circle. This is so important. I don’t believe anybody in the world works well at five o’clock in the morning.

[00:13:35] They just don’t. And so this idea of working with someone on a completely different schedule doing the overnight shift that’s I don’t think gonna serve the business owners. So what we do is you’re expectation is that you are around for my mornings for us to have scrums. And for those that not familiar with the book or the concept, those are little mini meetings that are highly effective, like a scrum in rugby.

[00:13:57] And so if we need to connect, my expectation is you’re gonna be around to at least lunchtime my time, which is around midnight 1:00 AM your time. But then the other hours you can work when I’m sleeping. Which means it’s your morning, you are highly productive. And I come in like, you know, little fairies have been doing work overnight and all this stuff is done. So it really benefits me. And it makes your life much more interesting and more enjoyable. 

[00:14:24]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes, that’s right. So while you are sleeping, the work is already done. And I love that. And that actually improves my leadership skills as well. Like for example, I am currently owning the SEO stuff using the SEMRush tool.

[00:14:42] What I do is I improve the SEO of our website by like creating and guiding you to create more blogs. And that actually made me realize a new skill that I never had before. And I enjoy it. Because I can create more ideas and make me think outside the box. 

[00:15:04]Kris Ward: Yeah. So let me jump in here. So this is really interesting. I’m gonna talk about this and I wanna circle back to leadership. So the SEO stuff we had tried that years ago, working with SEM rush, I told you that, and it’s expensive and it’s investment on time and money. And I had tried it for a couple months and it was just so tedious to my brain and I abandoned it after a few months.

[00:15:24] So there’s a lot to tell here. So what happened was we decided we would give it a go again and you came in and often I send you on trainings by yourself. This time I joined the training and we worked it together and boy, it was clear that I still couldn’t have done it without, I wouldn’t say without you, I would say like you did, you do 90% of it.

[00:15:46] And then you tell me Kris, this is exactly what you need to do. Write it out here’s and there’s parameters like four or five steps. You say this, all the information you need. These are the keywords you have to put in. Here’s the link. Now write me a short blog with this many characters, whatever you give me the full recipe, and then I can crank it out.

[00:16:03] And it was funny because I couldn’t do it. And this is until you really sort of shaped it. And then the funny thing is when you first started working with us, we’re gonna talk about this a little bit more is you were doing that polite thing and you had this idea that I was your boss instead of your teammate.

[00:16:21] And I was always picking on you a little bit saying Maura, cuz you’d say things like, may I ask a question? I’m like, no, we’re here to have… just ask the question. Right? We want leadership skills. So I was always talking about leadership skills, which cut to… we were in a scrum meeting. I don’t know if you remember this.

[00:16:37] You were, I was trying to show you something in Sem rush and I was stuck and I was like, hold on, hold on. And you’re like, Kris, we don’t have time for this. Figure that out. bring it to the next scrum and show me what the problem is. And I’m gonna show you the other stuff we have to do today. So now the joke is I’m just trying not to get fired by Maura, but you are right.

[00:16:56] I was dilly Dolly and trying to show you something, I couldn’t find it. And you’re like, I was wasting time, which I always give you guys how to be prepared for scrums. And you’re like, Kris, we don’t have time for this. And I’m like, okay, okay. Lemme keep my job. So I did push you a lot in the beginning about what I call leadership skills. So, talk to me about what that looked like and how that felt and how it was different?

[00:17:20]Mauralyn Malinang: I was actually in the concept of a student-teacher here in the field. Right. So, that’s the culture in here. And when I work with you, I just I feel like I own the company. I mean…

[00:17:39]Kris Ward: Yes. Yeah. Okay. She covered her mouth when she said that she was embarrassed to say that loud, but own it Maura own it.

[00:17:47] I am so proud. You’ve never said that to me before. And you know what? That’ exactly what I tell people all the time is when you build a win team or what is next team. So you get to, what is next? What happens is people are talking about loyalty. Are you kidding? These people are more invested in my company than me. Like, you know, so I love that you said that. Okay. So you, so I, the way I treat you, you feel like you own the company? 

[00:18:12]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes, that’s right. 

[00:18:13]Kris Ward: Okay. I love that. You’ve never admitted that before. Okay. Keep going. Don’t let me interrupt you. 

[00:18:19]Mauralyn Malinang: Okay. And one thing that I really like about with the team, with you as well, is that whenever I bring up ideas and it’s great, it’s just great.

But whenever, it’s not that a good idea at all. We take a different route, which is a big difference in here because you know, when I share ideas with here, they think it’s not a good idea. So they will just disregard that, but then here you are, we don’t have any mistakes at all. There’s no right or wrong answers while working with you. 

[00:18:56]Kris Ward: Yeah. Yeah. So I think what you’re saying is. With me, if you have a great idea, I go, that’s a great idea. And if it’s an idea that I don’t think it’ll work, we figure out Hmm. Why won’t that work? Let’s branch off that idea. There’s no criticism for your idea.

[00:19:11] But what you’re saying is if somewhere else, if you put out a good idea, what you thought was an idea, and then it doesn’t fly, you just kind of feel like, you know, silly, like nobody even acknowledged that idea. But yeah, there are no bad ideas.

[00:19:26]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes, exactly. That’s right. And well,the most importan lesson that I’ve learned as well is that I really don’t have to remember anything as long as I have the Super Toolkits.

[00:19:39] So yes, it guides me on what to do next and the next thing after, and I don’t really need to use a lot of brain power doing that because I only have a guide and one great thing as well is that I can create, use an edit it. You’ve always shared that to me. And I’ve always been applying that and editing the Super Tool Kit over time is I think improving my skills as well and improving the things that I do. 

[00:20:13]Kris Ward: Okay. So let me jump in, let me jump in. I wanna unpack that. So what you’re referring to is our, what we created are super toolkits and for those who don’t know our work they’re like sort of standard operating procedures on steroids. That’s what my clients tell me in the Winners Circle and standard operating procedures.

[00:20:30] Historically don’t work, cuz they’re not written by the end user. They’re static in nature. And they’re really just there to cover liability where we have these super toolkits that allow you to repeat work and constantly improve the super toolkits. That’s what Maura is talking about is to create, use and edit, right?

[00:20:46] We’re always queuing it, create, use, and edit, improve it so that we can always do more and more work and less time, not so that we can get faster, but so that when we have bandwidth and space to go onto our next project, cause we’re always working on something new. And I think what you’re saying with the super toolkits too, is so many people like you in your position when you work for other people, they’re just throwing all this stuff at you and they’re expecting you to be organized and remember things.

[00:21:11] And I could see in the beginning, I’m like, oh, You’re organized. That’s great. And you’re getting a lot done, but I was starting to catch that you’re not using the super toolkits as much, cuz you’re just so used to having to like manage other people. Right. And then I kept saying, well, I love that you remember this Mauea, but you shouldn’t have to remember it.

[00:21:28] Use the super toolkit, use the super toolkit. Your brain is meant for creating ideas now for storing them. So that was something else in the beginning I was telling you, like you’re not supposed to be remembering this. You’re not supposed to be running around trying to organize other people. We have a formula. If it doesn’t work. The super toolkit or if there’s something we can improve upon it, we’ll edit it and improve upon it, right?

[00:21:49]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes, exactly. That’s why my brain doesn’t shut down using that guide and trying to remember the next thing, because I already have the super toolkit to do stuff and move on the next thing. And it brings me more space to ideas. 

[00:22:07]Kris Ward: Did you find it hard in the beginning? Like, do you remember when I would push back on words that you’re using? Like you would be talking and I’d interrupt you and I’d say, okay, Maura, don’t ask for permission. Just ask the question. Right. And I was talking, these are leadership roles.

[00:22:21] So what did that feel like? Cuz I, you know, I wouldn’t say I give you a hard time, but it matters to me. I want you to be my teammate, my equal. I don’t like you’re right. I don’t wanna be like a parent and child, like a teacher and a student. So that was probably very new. And maybe even a little uncomfortable for you in the beginning.

[00:22:42]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes, exactly. It took me… I mean, it’s not long, but it took me much time to like cope up with the environment because like for years I’ve been with a student teacher culture. But after changing my method and working with you, like, look, look at me.

[00:23:16] I mean, look at me now. I am originally an assistant of the social media manager, but after six months, I am already promoted as a content creator or content manager. Which will probably take years here in the Philippines. 

[00:23:31]Kris Ward: Oh, I see what you’re saying. So working for me, you feel like you had this big leap in your career that it would’ve taken years over there.

[00:23:40]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes, that’s correct. Yeah. 

[00:23:42]Kris Ward: So I’m just all about the fact that, what is it you’re good at and figure it out and then lean into that more. So once I pushed you and gave you some confidence and you started showing us more and more of your ideas, I’m like, oh my gosh, she can do this and she could do this.

[00:23:57] And oh, we could, we would’ve never, ever stuck with the SEO stuff cuz I just couldn’t do it right. I really want to, like, I guess turn the light bulb on. I think everybody has a light and then if you really encourage them, they can increase the wattage. Right. Also, I think to me, Maura that you bring up a really good point is so many people think about company culture when they’ve got 50 or 5,000 employees.

[00:24:24] But I always give the example of, if you are in. Let’s say ocean liner on a cruise and there’s 500 people on that boat. And something happens. You’re hoping, I don’t know, maybe a hundred people are useful and you’re gonna get outta that situation. But if you’re in a little row boat as a small business owner, you’ve got three people in that boat and something happens.

[00:24:41] You better have a really amazing team because you really need everybody that’s in that boat to help. And so to me, the culture of our company is so important because I want every one of, I want it to be a fun place to work. I want us to feel a sense of accomplishment, but I really want the culture. And this is how you get a successful culture.

[00:25:02] You know, when you do, if you ever do wanna have 50 employees, it doesn’t go from  0 to 25 to 50. Now, all of a sudden you’ve got this great place to work. It has to start every step along the way. So, I mean, that’s another thing too. A lot of small business owners are really stressed out. And I think for us, I think we have a lot of fun.

[00:25:19]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes. And what pushed me through my limit. I mean, not my limit, what pushed me to like bring up my ideas and my confidence is your encouragement to me. Like you’re always saying every day that you’re wonderful. You got this Maura. And that brings me a lot of confidence on my ideas.

[00:25:41]Kris Ward: Well, you are wonderful and you do got this and I do feel like I work for you and you’re fantastically smart, but I think a lot of times, too, in other organizations, I know when I was working, like for people like in an employment situation and sometimes people would complain, oh, my boss didn’t praise me. And I always just thought, look, if you’re not in trouble, you’re doing a good job. Like we’re grownups here. Don’t expect a lot of  praise just keep outta trouble.

[00:26:08] And then that’s it, but that was me as employee and me as somebody that’s creating a team. I do teach my clients in the Winners Circle. Like, if anything, you’ve accomplished anything, you need to let the team know how they contributed. So it might be something like when we talked about that speaking gig I had at Christmas time, when that went really well, I gave you guys all the credit because I said.

[00:26:34] All of a sudden, in two weeks, I had to clear my schedule and a clear a day to do this speaking gig and then clear a couple of days to prepare for it. And I knew that you guys took care of everything and we just reorganized the responsibilities and it was nothing. It was just easy. Everybody did it. So when that went really well, I said, thank you everyone.

[00:26:53] I knew I could depend on you. I knew I could focus on my work. I knew I didn’t have to check on yours. You guys are amazing. It’s because of you. It lets me do things like this. So I am really big on praise. And I believe even when it seems like it wasn’t directly cuz of you, I believe it is. And that you really build a different, more enjoyable, place to work when you operate from that sort of positivity. That’s my philosophy.

[00:27:20]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes, that’s right. And I agree with that. 

[00:27:24]Kris Ward: Okay, Maura, we got a couple minutes left. Anything else that you wanna share with us? What it’s like to work at Win The Hour, Win The Day, the dark secrets. 

[00:27:35]Mauralyn Malinang: Well, it’s really fun. I think I will stay longer than you thought. Yes. Yes. And I really love working here right now. And being here with you every day on the scrum makes me more confident on what I do and yes.

[00:27:58]Kris Ward: Let me jump in. I wanna bring up something, I just wrote this down two things you mentioned earlier, you talked a little bit about more work life balance, and also. We did have a situation, not too long ago where you were sick.

[00:28:09] I think you had some sort of like, what was it ammonia or you had, you were really sick. Anyhow. It took me a day, maybe even two to catch on because you just showed up to the meetings and you smiled and dammit people, she still looked good. She didn’t look sick. And I was saying things I was noticing like, Hey, you’re known as chatty as usual.

[00:28:30] So the first day you’re like, Hmm, I don’t feel a little well, and then the next day. Well, tell me more, what do you not feel? Well, like, I, you don’t tell me all your story what’s going on. Well, all of a sudden I realized. You’re not well, and I’m like Maura, like, and you’re like, well, I just thought I would try to make the meetings.

[00:28:47] I’m like, please, it’s no use to you. You’re you can’t possibly be paying attention, especially because I always tell people in the Winners Circle this too. If I’m not feeling well and I jump up and say, okay, maybe I could work for hour, two. See how I feel one that’s one thing. But when you’re meeting with me, it’s your nighttime.

[00:29:04] So you’ve had all day not to feel well. And now it’s nighttime. So I’m like, you’re not feeling well, you cannot be as productive. Your brain is foggy when you’re not feeling well. What’s the point of it. Go, it’s much better for you to go and take a couple days off and get better and come back. And so you took like a day off and then you came back and you kind of thought you looked well, you thought you were feeling better.

[00:29:26] And I’m like, I don’t think you are. So then I pushed you and said, go to a doctor, figure it out. Then you found out you’re really sick. You had like an pneumonia or something and you took the week off. But I had to really push you a couple times and say, Maura, this isn’t take a week off. Check your emails in the morning, go get better.

[00:29:45] A – we have systems in place because business not run a memory. We can figure it out. B – you’re better to us healthy than you are sick. So go get healthy. And I think that was something you weren’t used to as well.

[00:29:59]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. Yes, that’s right. And the good thing when I got back, all the tasks that I need to do is already set up. It’s already prepared. All that. All I have to do is like to just complete it. 

[00:30:16]Kris Ward: And yeah, it wasn’t a crisis because you had the Super toolkit. So you’re like, okay, I missed this. And anything that we knew was really important, we could just take your super toolkit and do it. So you’re right. When you came back, you weren’t overwhelmed. Like, oh no, I took this time off and now I’m under this avalanche of work. You’re just like, okay, I feel better. And I pick up where I left off.

[00:30:34]Mauralyn Malinang: Yes. That’s right.

[00:30:35]Kris Ward: Well, Maura, you have been a treat I’m telling you. I think we may even have you back on another show. Just talk about that hiring process, cuz there’s all kinds of things. Interesting stuff in there. So let us know guys what you thought of this because we haven’t done it before. But I had fantastic fun and Maura, thank you so very much.  We really appreciate you here and everyone else, we will see you in the next episode. 

[00:31:01]Mauralyn Malinang:Thank you Kris. END[00:31:02]