Leading Together: Empowering Teams For Your Business

Mauralyn Malinang Podcast Transcription

[00:00:00] Kris Ward: Hey everyone. Welcome to another episode of Win The Hour Win The Day, and I am your host, Kris Ward. And today we’re going to have a really interesting conversation. We’re going to talk to Maura Malinang, and we’re going to talk about how to turn a VA into a leader, a little mini CEO of their own department and listen, full disclosure, Maura works with me, but what a story she has.

[00:00:24] And we just were chatting one day and I thought, you know what? We really need to share how this sort of unfolded because it was a very unique experience for Maura. So first of all, welcome to the show, Maura.

[00:00:36] Maura Malinang: Thank you, Kris.

[00:00:38] Kris Ward: Okay, Maura. So where to start? You started working for us, Jan… We hired you in December of 2021, correct? Okay.

[00:00:49] Maura Malinang: Yes.

[00:00:50] Kris Ward: So what happened was Kasel who worked with us for a couple of years with all the lockdowns and the craziness, she had applied to go to school. She was in the Philippines. She’d applied to go to school in Canada, years before that. And then suddenly she was given two weeks notice. Hey, she’s an international student.

[00:01:06] She’s moving across the world. Boom boom. So we hired you through our 12 point hiring process, which is a whole unique thing. You can touch on that if you want, but it’s a very, you were shocked by the hiring process. Anyhow, we hired you. Then you met with Kasel. We have these super tool kits. I didn’t train you or do anything.

[00:01:26] She handed over all the super tool kits and then we went away for Christmas. I came back January 5th. I met with you and you were up to 80 capacity of the job and it was really seamless for me. Anyhow, I don’t know what it’s like for you. So I want to start there because that’s a unique perspective, but then we’re going to really get into how things were different for you and how, oh my gosh, the change in even one year of working with us.

[00:01:51] So why don’t we start from the beginning, what it was like dealing with super toolkits? Cause you really got up to speed really quickly.

[00:01:57] Maura Malinang: Yeah, the super toolkits is very new to me. I am not familiar with how it works. But when I was working with Kasel, which I want to highlight that I was only working three hours in there are three to four hours.

[00:02:11] Kris Ward: Oh, that’s a good point. Yeah.

[00:02:14] Maura Malinang: I was just, I was actually just a part time social media assistant for Kasel in there.

[00:02:20] Kris Ward: Yeah.

[00:02:21] Maura Malinang: And then after a few years of working with you, I became a full time marketing manager and super toolkits is really one of the most important factors why I became this -a leader part of your team.

[00:02:34] So super toolkits it really helped me a lot in terms of, because it’s very easy to understand. Like for example I have to do something with your… with your social media, all the steps are in there. And the good thing is that whenever there are any updates that we need to do, it’s very easy to edit.

[00:02:53] So I really follow the CUE process or the create, use, and edit. And that’s part of the super toolkits or our systems and processes that I really I really want to highlight because it changed a lot in terms of me doing my work.

[00:03:10] Kris Ward: Yeah, and what happens here so people often, like you start your own business, you think I’m not going to be bound by these crazy systems and processes.

[00:03:18] They’re so boring and restrictive, but, and that’s because you’re operating under the concept of the, the corporate world where they’re not written by the end user, they’re static in nature, they’re just really there to cover liability. And often they mix up training in that. So then you’re training people to skip over steps like, Oh, I already know how to do that, blah, blah, blah.

[00:03:37] So I think what I hear from a lot of people like yourself, Maura, and then the other VAs and stuff that we hire outsources, we hire for our clients in the winner’s circle is you don’t spend a couple of months trying to gather and react to what I’m doing and figure out the job and make notes like a lot of people, a lot of the VAs that we hire for our clients was like, Oh my gosh, usually the first three, four months, I’m just gathering information and trying to build my own job by following someone around who’s constantly reacting that there really is no system or infrastructure.

[00:04:11] It’s really it’s like picking up, we call it a game of 52 pick up. I don’t know if you guys have that in the Philippines where you take a deck of cards and you throw them up in the air and that’s like the game, right?

[00:04:22] So it’s chaos. So then it saved you time because you could just get into the job

[00:04:28] Maura Malinang: Exactly. And I just want to highlight that I am used to having manuals as part of the training. It’s like the regular systems and processes. And I can tell you that manuals or the SOPs of a company that I worked for before is really boring because they use a lot of corporate words where I really don’t understand.

[00:04:50] It’s not. It’s not like I, there’s a lot of jargon words there, which I really want to highlight because this is not included in our systems or in our super toolkits are super toolkits has a very simple words that even great students or grade three level students can understand and that is I wanna what I want to highlight to our super toolkits because if you read that any person can understand that and I think that’s one of the important things that made our super toolkits very efficient in terms of using that as our systems.

[00:05:28] Kris Ward: Yeah. So that is a really good point and I think I don’t highlight that enough, but what you’re saying is anybody should be able to come in and it’s like I give the example of you may be a carpenter and the super toolkits are not to teach you how to be a carpenter, but they’re to say, here are the measurements for our desk and what we’re producing for our clients.

[00:05:48] And in that you shouldn’t have to work for the company. Like I would see other people’s systems and processes. And I’m like what does this mean? They’re like, oh, if you worked here, you’d know that we do this on Tuesdays and la la la then when the person starting the job doesn’t know all that, like, why do we have this information that you wouldn’t inherently know?

[00:06:06] If they have the skill set, then they should be able to follow the plan. And if they can’t, it’s not a good plan. It’s oh, I just had this idea. It’s like driving with a GPS. You want the GPS in your car to be clear. You don’t have to know the neighborhood to understand what the GPS is saying.

[00:06:25] Oh, if you lived here, you’d know that you turn left on this street, or that it’s a one way street, or whatever. No, the GPS doesn’t mess around with that. It gives you clear instructions in a moving vehicle so that you don’t have to know the neighborhood you’re in. So that’s a really good point about the jargon.

[00:06:39] Okay super toolkits were really helpful for moving you along quickly. Now we have this thing that we call the leadership program, win leadership. And we work with our clients and when we hire them find them higher and on board a VA for them, then their VA is in our leadership program, which we meet with them, do training monthly and all these other things.

[00:07:02] So you’ve been through that and I’d love you to speak to what that was like a little bit in the beginning when I would push back in meetings and you can tell why I would push back. Why don’t you tell that story? We call them their scrums. Let me clarify that a meeting is drawn out, boring and time consuming. We have really powerful 15 minute scrums. We show our clients how to do it. And it’s really about moving forward really quickly and creating ambitions and ideas. It’s not about me checking their work like their parents.

[00:07:37] It’s not that kind of thing. That’s not what meetings are for. We move projects forward with new ideas, new things we want to attack in scrums. So in the scrums, I would push back on you. And what was I pushing back about? And how did that feel?

[00:07:51] Maura Malinang: You were pushing back. It’s I was one of the persons who was very shy in terms of working.

[00:08:00] Like I often before I often think about that I am just an ordinary person and I don’t have the capability to go up in that matter that I get my strengths get better and improve where I can share all my ideas that I have in my mind.

[00:08:17] Kris Ward: Okay, hold on. Let me unpack that for a second. So are you saying in previous jobs, you felt that you were ordinary person and that you didn’t have the opportunity to show your strengths or that in your mind, you didn’t even have those strengths?

[00:08:29] Maura Malinang: Yeah, that’s exactly what…

[00:08:30] Kris Ward: oh my gosh. Okay.

[00:08:32] Maura Malinang: Yeah, because I was really shy at that time. And then I… we have this traditional culture in our country that or even everyone, I think everyone have the traditional culture that we are bound to having this parent -teacher, teacher-student process where you have to get an approval first before you can speak up.

[00:08:53] Kris Ward: Yeah. Listen, let me jump in here. That’s not just the Philippines. We’ve all had jobs where you really your manager is like your, your boss. We don’t use that word, but your boss is like your parents and you don’t want to get in trouble. And then sometimes people say, Oh, we love ideas unless your idea is better than theirs or it wasn’t a good idea.

[00:09:10] And then you feel stupid and you think, Oh I’m never speaking up again. So people think it’s a cultural thing. And maybe cause I’m Canadian, they all tease us for being very polite too, but I don’t know. I think it’s everywhere. So you had been trained in the past. It’s just best to get the work done and not to speak up.

[00:09:27] Maura Malinang: Exactly.

[00:09:28] Kris Ward: All right.

[00:09:29] Maura Malinang: And that’s the practice that I didn’t actually felt when I was working with you. So that built my, that’s one of the reasons that built my confidence because I can share my ideas without even having your approval. I just share a lot of them because, and because you don’t think that all the ideas that we share is sometimes can can be a mistake. We don’t do mistakes here. We just don’t have any faults at all, but we can do, but we can improve it.

[00:10:00] Kris Ward: Okay, hold on. Let’s back up for a second because it’s not about me being nice. Or even smart. And it’s all great that you’re on the other side of this.

[00:10:09] But in the beginning, let’s go back to the original question. In the beginning, I pushed back on you. And what were the, some of the things that I was warning you about in the beginning?

[00:10:19] Maura Malinang: I have to speak up.

[00:10:20] Kris Ward: Yes. So what would happen is we would be in a scrum, me, you and Kasel. There was only like a one week overlap.

[00:10:27] And I think the three of us only met once or twice. And. You were just sitting there polite, taking notes, right? And that’s all good. And I had questions. Okay. What are we going to do about here? What do we do? Cause it’s always about projects. It’s not checking work. So then I’m coming with a new idea.

[00:10:42] So it’s not like we’re reviewing stuff. And I noticed that you weren’t speaking up at all. You had nothing to say. And I am very clear in the hiring process. You’re hired because you’re smart. We want somebody with ideas is what we’re looking for. And after pushing back a few times, I said to you what’s the problem?

[00:10:57] Because Maura the only difficulty you’re going to have with this job is if you don’t speak up. I’m… this is what I need. And you said to me, you used a word I don’t like, but that’s okay. You said Kris, you’re my boss and Kasel is my trainer. And I’m sitting in a room virtually with the three, three of us.

[00:11:16] I’m the last person that should be speaking up like who am I like, I’m sitting here with my trainer my boss like who needs my two cents and that’s not going to work here that’s going to be a problem for you like I was telling that’s the only thing that could make this job, not a success for you is you sitting there and just quietly doing your job. So what was that like how uncomfortable was that.

[00:11:38] Maura Malinang: It’s very uncomfortable because I think the major part where that pushed me back because

[00:11:46]  when I was in my previous employment employer, the last time that I started to share my ideas or the last time that I share my ideas or my feelings, something like that, I was fired.

[00:12:03] Kris Ward: Yeah. Okay, hold on. You were fired. Is that when you allegedly talked back.

[00:12:10] Maura Malinang: Yes.

[00:12:11] Kris Ward: Okay. So we’re all over the place with here are some stories. So let me tell you this one. So we also have a quarterly review and cut to the point, I gave more of her quarterly review and the quarterly review again is done very differently.

[00:12:26] It’s me asking her questions about the job. What’s your favorite part of the job? If you had a magic wand and had to remove one part of your job, what would that be? So it’s not like me judging you, it’s me pulling information out of you so that we can work even more effectively and I really get an insight to what you know, what your strengths are. In that process, you started talking to me about your interest in marketing and I was like, Oh my gosh, okay. And so I’ve had a, I have a marketing background, lots of marketing training. So all of a sudden I’m like, wow, okay, you’ve got this interest. What if we started training you more in marketing? Maybe you could help.

[00:13:00] We could lean your job because if you love it and you’re interested in it, why not add that to your job? Like, why not? It just makes everybody rise to a higher level. You came back the next day and you looked very distraught and upset and you said to me, Kris, I really like this job. The income is good.

[00:13:19] I’m the breadwinner for my family. The hours are great because we don’t do overnights. That’s a whole nother thing. And then you, it was just so sad. You said, I don’t want to lose this job. And I thought you just got a frigging promotion. Why are you going to lose this job? And then I want to tell this story, even though it’s your story, because I don’t think you’re going to do it justice.

[00:13:40] You were like in a call center. And somebody was really rude to you and then like aggressive on the phone and all this other stuff. And then you said you talked back, but I don’t even think he talked back. What did you say to the person?

[00:13:57] Maura Malinang: I just pointed out that her I just pointed out to that person that the issue is not gonna be solved if you keep yelling at me or keep saying curse words at me. So that’s how I talk back. But then I was the one who is taking that part.

[00:14:14] Kris Ward: So technically in a court of law, that’s not talking back. That was being clear and trying to write, “Hey, we need to move forward. You cursing at me is not helping anybody.”

[00:14:24] Let’s focus on the issue at hand. So technically that’s a funny part of this story is this isn’t even talking back. So then you got fired, which, oh my gosh. So I said to you, Maura, that has nothing to do with you. That person. That, that, there’s just so many things wrong with that scenario that I can’t even explain that to you.

[00:14:43] And even if they did, let’s say you were rude to somebody and hung up on them. Let’s say you just lost it. Then that’s part of their training that they should have set you up the next time you get in a difficult situation. Here’s some things you can say, you can hand it off to, let me get you my supervisor.

[00:14:58] They should have equipped you with a way out, but I thought your way out was fantastic. So So here we were is coming back to your original part of the story is you feel the first time you spoke up, you got fired.

[00:15:12] Maura Malinang: Yeah.

[00:15:12] Kris Ward: And so now I’m asking you all the time to come with your ideas and to speak up. So that must have been uncomfortable.

[00:15:19] Maura Malinang: Yes. Yes, it is. But yeah, through your encouragement and you are constantly encouraging me to build my confidence by speaking up and that didn’t take short of… that didn’t take in just a short period of time that took a lot of work for me and for you, and as the time goes by, I think I’ve already reached that part where I already built my confidence and that’s where I shared my idea on our on my quarterly review that I wanted to pursue or because I’m interested in marketing. So that’s a big leap for me.

[00:15:54] Kris Ward: Yes. And oh my gosh, you people have no idea. Like when we started giving you the little bit, like I’ve got all this training that I’ve done over the years and started giving you the videos and stuff like you took so, you took things off my plate that I thought I would never it’s something I would always have to do.

[00:16:12] And like my blogs and oh my gosh, the magic of this is there’s two things to it. One, I struggle with blogs because I was making the, I would, I like to talk directly and no fluff, big results, all that stuff. And then blogs, I don’t like when you go online and they’ll say… here’s five ways to save time, set boundaries.

[00:16:33] And they’re just so generic. So I was struggling with how to find my voice in blogs and not sound like the junk out there that I hate, but still have the vibe of a blog. And my God, not you found my voice. You created it for me and you, I’m like, Oh, that’s how I would say yes. Yes. So I, anyhow, that was fantastic to me.

[00:16:54] And then you also when chat GPT came, you took it upon yourself and you really engineered the heck out of that. Like chat GPT is really useless without the engineering. And my heavens, did you make that a machine? Like you’ve got all these prompts and you feed it stuff. And I swear, I think, and it speaks to me and uses it’s, Oh my, I think it can make a sandwich for me now at this point.

[00:17:18] Like it’s crazy. And that was 1000 percent you 1000 percent you. Oh my gosh. Okay. I, we do talk about this in the leadership program and everything that we do, but I do want people to know it’s a constant, you’re constantly improving the game because not but a week ago, you and I were talking about a blog and I was disagreeing with something.

[00:17:40] I said, I don’t think we should do it in this order. And you said to me, okay. And I was like, you should be fighting back. If you don’t agree with it. Then you need to speak up and that’s when we brought Evan into the meeting. So do you want to tell everyone about that? Like what Evan said? And even though you present ideas to me, there’s still sometimes we think okay, Kris doesn’t like that idea, especially cause now you’re comfortable presenting ideas, but what if I disagree with the idea, what does that feel like?

[00:18:08] And what did, what was your learning from Evan when I pulled him in? Cause he’d gone through the same program that you did.

[00:18:14] Maura Malinang: Yeah. Evan told me to speak what your mind is telling you because sometimes because sometimes you have to disagree because you know that your concept is right, better, or it’s better than what you think. So you have to disagree if you think that your idea is better.

[00:18:36] Kris Ward: Because you’re the expert, so you have to push. So if you’re the one doing all my blogs and I say, I don’t know about this one. And sometimes I’ll just say listen, if I come with a really good marketing example best practices is we do it this way.

[00:18:49] Cause according to this training, I think we should try it that way. If I can support it with real logic, great. But I was like I don’t know about this point in the blog. And you’re like, okay. And I was like if you think it is, you’re the one doing it. Give me more information, push back. And so that’s why I brought Evan into the meeting. Cause he’d gone through that. So anyways, go back with what Evan said.

[00:19:11]

[00:19:11] Maura Malinang: Yeah, just Evan said, just go ahead and disagree with Kris. Because at the end of the day, I will still be the one who is in charge. For what I’m doing. Yes, I what I’m doing and I’ve only done that experience. I’ve only had this histories of what I’m doing. So I should be the one who is going to control of my projects..

[00:19:33] Kris Ward: Cause you’re the expert. You’re the one working on it. And also I know Evan in the past when we were doing different projects and it’d be something that he would, we have to show the client. And I’d be like, I don’t, I like this one, but I don’t think we should show that one to the client.

[00:19:46] And he’s I think we should. I’m like, all right. At first he was like, okay. And then I was like, fight for it. So a couple of times. The one that I didn’t think should be shown to the client was the one they chose. And I think to Evan’s point, and it’s not a compliment about me, it’s really about the process.

[00:20:03] Also if I was right, and it’s no, the client didn’t like that at all, or whatever, there’s no retaliation. I thought that was really good point. Evan said, he said, you know what, if you push for something, Kris says, all right, let’s give it a try. It doesn’t work. There’s no, I told you because I don’t care.

[00:20:18] All I want is to take risks and try what we’re doing. And we won’t know, if you try it and it doesn’t work then we’ll figure out why it doesn’t work. Like it’s not a big deal, right? So there’s no punishment for speaking up or taking risks or anything silly like that. Cause man, oh man I really, truly always want to be the dumbest person in the room and I am like these people I’m surrounded with.

[00:20:39] They’re brilliant. So it’s a different, it’s a whole different game for you. I think then what you’re experiencing. And I know when we work with the other VAs of the clients and things like that, you do a better job explaining to them what this leadership program really means because you’ve been through it and it’s changed you to the point that when we were doing our WIN team training a couple times, you jumped in because we were, I would, you were there.

[00:21:06] I wouldn’t even say we’re co facilitating. I was supposed to be teaching it. And I found that you had a better presence. I found the energy change when you spoke up. I felt that you called people out that I would have probably not put them on the spot if somebody wasn’t participating, I would have been not, I wouldn’t have called them out and you did. And so what happened after that meeting? Do you remember?

[00:21:29] Maura Malinang: Yeah. After that meeting, I think I, instead of you getting in charge of that meeting, I was the one who got in charge because I spoke up a lot. I shared a lot of ideas where I know that will resonate with them. And I think that made them get better in participating.

[00:21:49] Kris Ward: Yeah. So you didn’t just speak up, you showed, it wasn’t just that you participated. You really did have some, your leadership skills became very evident there. And I do think you’re right, like they were hearing more from you at somebody that went through it. So I’m trying to get them to speak up and talk to them about leadership and giving examples and trainings that we put in place.

[00:22:09] And they’re all nodding and taking notes, which is not what I’m looking for. And you really… you push them, like I pushed you. And so you push them. And what happened after that?

[00:22:21] Maura Malinang: You made me in charge of the WIN team meeting.

[00:22:25] Kris Ward: Yeah, so we do this monthly leadership training for all our people on our win team, which are client VAs that work for our clients.

[00:22:32] And so I thought nuts to that maura did a better job than me. Why am I here? So now you do the training, which is another thing that I would have never thought even I who teach this, I wouldn’t have thought you could take over trainings for me. Like I would have thought that’s something I have to do.

[00:22:49] That’s what my, clients are paying for. I’m going to train their VAs. Oh my gosh. So I was like, all right, I don’t have to prepare for the training. I don’t even have to show up. I had, it’s nothing to do with me. We’re done.

[00:23:00] Maura Malinang: Yeah. And to be honest starting from where I was two years ago, I was this shy, ordinary person.

[00:23:08] I, I have never had the idea or I cannot imagine that I will be a leader here in the present right now. So there’s a lot of factors to say in there. I want to say something a lot about a process that the interview process, which is very new, the super toolkits, the systems, there’s a lot of juicy stuff to say there, but yeah, I just want to highlight that I didn’t become this person from being a shy person from being a part time social media assistant to becoming a full time marketing manager and this leader that you want to have if it didn’t, if it’s, if if not because of our system, there’s a lot of factors to say there, but yeah, it’s, it’s a big leap for me.

[00:23:56] It’s a big milestone for me.

[00:23:58] Kris Ward: That was really funny because when we started talking, I came up about a month ago, we were just chatting, and then you reminded me I totally forgot you started as a part time social media person a couple hours. I was like, oh, my gosh, really? I forgot about that, right?

[00:24:11] Because you’ve come so far. And I think Yes, I do think we have things set up for success. So I think the super toolkits are a big part of that because then it frees you up to get to the real work quickly and then we can start working on your leadership instead of you being buried in tasks because tasks are just, they’re just, they’re useless, right?

[00:24:31] We want you to get to real work. So the super toolkits help. The scrum meetings really help. And you made up a point too. You said, you kept saying in the beginning that it was surprising. Again, I don’t like the boss word, but you said I never had this much access to the boss. Like you would never meet with them.

[00:24:48] So it also us meeting all the time is scrums. You got an idea of when I say something, I mean it, and it changes the dynamics because you’ve got access to me. So I think that also helped as well. Would you agree?

[00:24:59] Maura Malinang: Yes, exactly. And to that point, I also want to highlight that I have full access with you at the same time.

[00:25:07] You are the one who encourages me to speak up and share something or share ideas. that I have in mind. So that’s, yeah.

[00:25:17] Kris Ward: But to me, I go the other way. I think every once in a while I shake my head and I think, Oh my God, you would have been just sitting there in a job doing boring tasks and the people around you would have no idea of your potential.

[00:25:31] Like you’ve brought so much to my company. It’s insane. Like what a treat for us. And yes, I think it’s set up with the super toolkits and the scrums and the leadership program. But what a missed opportunity all those other people had when you were working there, just keeping your head down, doing tasks. It’s so crazy limiting, right? It’s just such a limitation.

[00:25:56] Maura Malinang: Yeah. Because speaking up, I think isn’t always encouraged.

[00:26:00] Kris Ward: No.

[00:26:00] Maura Malinang: Yeah. So every day it’s, I’m working, I’m still working on it every day that I still have to speak up and it becomes a part of me towards becoming more confident leader.

[00:26:15] Kris Ward: Yeah, so you everybody’s got a voice and then you can always improve it. Although I will say to everyone we are in a meeting one time and again, we call them scrums, but so we’re in a scrum and the scrums are really short and In the middle of Maura showing me something, I had an idea that spun an idea for something else, and I was off topic. And Maura said to me, Kris, we don’t have time for that right now.

[00:26:40] And I was like, okay, get back on track. So you are getting stronger. Cause I was like, Oh, so the joke was we all work for Maura now, which is fine by me. Cause I think we’re in capable hands. I actually tease Maura, I always say if we were a public company and she was the board would have taken over and oust me by now because I’m not as useful as the rest of the team, which is really, people think, Oh, you’ve got this great team, Kris, or, I get my clients will say to them, other people say, Oh my gosh, this person is really amazing.

[00:27:09] Where did you get her or him, or can you share them? Or what platform did you hire them? From and it’s really you can get an amazing person, but I do think a hiring process is a whole thing in itself, but say you are lucky enough and you hire the right person, getting them to, to keeping them and not burying them in tasks and making their work on rewarding, but keeping them and having them blossom and grow is really about leadership.

[00:27:37] And so many people miss that because I know we had you on the show before, and you were talking about how, which I thought was really interesting. Do you remember what you said that really shocked me in the interview about you feeling like. This was, do you remember that?

[00:27:51] Maura Malinang: Yeah, that’s just because it’s like a two minute interview and I was

[00:27:55] Kris Ward: no, hold on, back, hold on, back I’m talking about when you were on the show earlier. You said you felt like this was your own company.

[00:28:03] Maura Malinang: Yeah. Now she was talking about the hiring process, because the way we set up the hiring process, it’s crazy fast. The first interview is a pre interview. It’s only like a two minute interview.

[00:28:12] Kris Ward: It’s like I have a whole bunch of things that I go through a checklist really quickly in two minutes and then I, and I move on, and then if you get invited to the main interview. But people sometimes get really shocked that I can do 20 interviews in 20 minutes. And when you’re in the hiring process, I’m sure it seems alarming.

[00:28:29] So you probably thought that was really shocking when I gave you such a short interview.

[00:28:33] Maura Malinang: Yes, exactly. That was the shortest interview I’ve had in my life..

[00:28:38] Kris Ward: And you probably didn’t think you did well because it was so short.

[00:28:43] Maura Malinang: Yeah. Yeah.

[00:28:43] Kris Ward: No, you’re here. You’re here. Okay. Maura, you have been such a treat. So fantastic. Oh my gosh. You guys have, I just, I could do a whole six part series on what maura brings to our company and just how much more just, I got a good setup.

[00:28:59] Listen, I practice what I preach. I don’t work evenings. I don’t work weekends. I’m all about that. I’m all about efficiency, but there is now freedom that I even thought I wouldn’t have where I can take on bigger projects or get to my second book quicker because of all the things that now Maura can do.

[00:29:14] And it really is through Maura’s right, our scrums, our super toolkit, our leadership program. And not only does it make my life a joy, but also I have such, I’m not on my own. I come into meetings. Like I had an idea last week. Oh, I’m going to present that to the team and get their input. Like I have resources.

[00:29:36] I’m not by myself trying to figure it out. I bring ideas to the team. And then they give me feedback and we make something great out of it. So it really is a fantastic way to scale, grow, and love your business. When you have people that you don’t, aren’t managing or delegating, you are leaning on because you’ve got this phenomenal resource.

[00:29:59] So I want to thank you again, more in every possible way I can that you are such an asset to us. And thank you for sharing this story with our listeners. We appreciate you.

[00:30:09] Maura Malinang: Always a pleasure, Kris.

[00:30:11] Kris Ward: All right, everyone else, we will see you in the next episode and share this podcast with a business buddy.

[00:30:17] Don’t let them struggle on their own. They can use this information for sure. I guarantee your business should support your life, not consume it and business should be fun. See you then.