Due largely to the media we’ve been consuming, attention spans are waning. Now, more than ever, we need to focus on concise communication at work so as not to waste time or lose focus, and to cater to neurodivergence. We recently had a conversation with our team about innovation, problem-solving, and presenting the root of those problems with solutions in a clear, concise way. The importance of utilizing meeting minutes as efficiently as possible is becoming more and more evident to us, and we want to promote the concise communication of new launch game plans, offers, marketing strategies, etc. This is a skill we could all use some practice in, and today’s episode is all about how to be more concise as a leader and how to train your team to identify and communicate the bottom line of their presentation and client communication.

We know that so many business owners, at all stages of their growth, do not understand their finances and we can see how much it affects their businesses! We want to talk about what understanding your numbers will do for you and why it’s such an important thing to prioritize. Often, the anxiety when discussing finances is rooted in a lack of financial literacy and the attachment we have to money that results in avoidance.

Sometimes these kinds of conversations will be uncomfortable, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that they are bad. We want to remind you that our mission at Boss Project is to equip more women and femmes with the financial knowledge that they need to build a sustainable business that supports them financially and soulfully. These things are only possible with a level of financial literacy!

Today, we’re using you guys for practice. We have a workshop meeting coming up with the team at Boss Project to go over some updates for our team Wiki page, practices for problem-solving, and other aspects, and we wanted to share some of that information with our listeners. Consider these the highlights of what we’ve learned about innovation, problem-solving, and creative thinking.

This episode is best suited if you also listen to our recent episode on the four types of problem solvers that you need in your team. You don’t necessarily need to listen to it first, but it will help you. In the last year, we’ve been able to put definition to the culture behind the scenes at Boss Project, making our mission and vision a more prominent part of the work that we do. We talked about creating a motto to highlight the areas we really want to enhance and how we could share our philosophy with our team in a meaningful way.

Today’s episode is all about how to define your role in your company. As we look towards the start of a new year, we always like to comb through the job descriptions of the people on our team, as well as ourselves. What we’ve noticed is that defining the role of founders and CEOs is something that is often overlooked. So, we are intentional about taking the time to get really clear on the things that we need to do versus the things that we want to do so that we can find a healthy balance between the two!

As we look ahead to the new year, we’re evaluating what we want to take forward with us, what we’ll discontinue in the new year, and what we’d like to tentatively start investigating. Here at Boss Project, we’ve been in the throes of planning for 2023 and have settled on some decisions which we share with you in this episode! Tune in to find out what we’re carrying forward with us and why, what we’ve decided to drop, and three potential additions that we’re contemplating bringing into the mix.

If you dream of having a team full of problem solvers, you’ve come to the right place. In the previous episode, we talked about the four types of problem solvers that your team needs. In this episode, we investigate how to encourage your employees to be problem solvers in the first place. Efficiency is championed in the workplace, and the number one thing to get in the way of it is the brake of identifying and solving problems. For this reason, there is often a lot of resistance to turning the focus onto innovation. Yes, it takes time, but it’s worth it! Tune in to hear our advice on creating space for innovation and incentivizing problem-solving. We leave you with seven practical ways to promote a culture of creativity and innovation within your team!

We recently came across an article about the types of problem solvers (or innovators) that exist within a business. In this episode, we are going to be sharing a breakdown of this article. The idea is to encourage you, as a leader, to look at your team and determine whether it is diverse enough in terms of the perspectives and roles as well as whether it is cognitively diverse enough. This is such an important conversation because there are certain things that will be innately easy for some people and much harder for others and when you understand the dynamics of your team, everyone can help each other out. For anyone looking to grow their team in the coming year, this episode is for you!

Do you find hiring daunting? Do you want to find the right people that will grow your business but don't know how? Then this episode is for you! It’s been a minute since we’ve had a guest on the Strategy HourPodcast, but we absolutely had to bring our friend Abbey Ashley on so that you can hear more of what she's got going on with hiring, and get some tips from a multi million dollar CEO on how she has navigated hiring in her business, along with a few personal anecdotes from our experience over at BossProject.

We’re nearing the end of 2022 and auditing season is upon us! The time is ripe to start looking at how you want 2023 to pan out personally and operationally within your business. We want you to conquer the world, so today, we’re going to share some tips for setting yourself up for success in the new year. Although auditing might not sound sexy, it’s one of our favorite things to do. In this episode, we share some of the strategies we’ve used over the years to carry out an effective audit. You’ll learn how best to take stock of which areas need tweaking in order for you to reach your goals in 2023! Bear in mind that this doesn’t have to be your final iteration but making decisions in advance and working backwards from your goal is essential. Tune in to find out how to identify your financial goal and gap, find a plausible method to fill that gap, and reach your goals!

The festive season is upon us! And for service providers that means navigating the immense pressure to take part in retail-centric holidays like Black Friday Sales. In today’s episode, we answer some of the most common listener questions that come up over the holiday season. Like how to handle pressures around Black Friday Sales, when to allow discounts, when free collaborations are worth it, and whether you should work with friends and family.

It may seem like the benefits of some of those things are worth it, but they also come with plenty of hidden costs. Tuning in you’ll hear us share some of the key things we’ve learned from working with relatives, taking part in Black Friday sales, and offering our services for free. These things are a lot more complicated than they seem at first glance! Today’s episode is all about uncovering the true cost of these kinds of discounts, optimizing your price plans, and learning how to give your time the value it deserves. Because if you’re going to spend time away from work, we want it to be spent regenerating and being present with your family, not chasing false leads!

We’ve been working with our clients behind the scenes and noticing some commitment issues when it comes to setting goals and deciding on how to reach them. On some level, the hesitation stems from perfectionism and feelings of Imposter Syndrome. But there’s more to it than that. Today we want to talk about an article that we read recently which delves into the things that we’ve been talking about for years, but from a different angle. Ultimately, perfectionism, Imposter Syndrome and all the related feelings come from a place of worrying about making the wrong decisions. So, we’re going to unpack the principles of creating a regret-free business and life!

It has been really interesting for us to see how centric defining our values has been in ultimately operating our team. We didn’t realize how much we relied on them until some things came to light with our clients. So, what are values to a company? We all understand what our values are in our personal lives, but when we start talking about business values, these things are often assumed. As you grow, you have to be incredibly strategic about identifying your values.

We want to encourage you to identify three values that can help you get focused around how you are going to serve your clients. Asking questions about your boundaries, communication preferences, work style and ethic can lead to clarity around your business values. Having an internal value that is very specific around how your team runs is also critical to your culture. These values make it possible to get everyone on the same page and settle a lot of conversations around what should happen!

Let’s talk about communication! In the past, we’ve talked about how to plan for expected leave (like holidays and maternity leave), or how to deal with situations where you unexpectedly need to leave work (when you are sick or your child needs you, for example). Today, we’re discussing this topic, but from a different perspective. We want to talk about the internal structure of our team and how we set up meetings, communications, and different tools to help our team function optimally when we can’t be there. So much of it comes down to the fact that we don’t do anything in secret and always maintain consistency in the way that we show up at work.

There’s a toxic culture rearing its head in the small business world– monitoring productivity. What’s the buzzword? Productivity Paranoia! That’s the fixation that leaders have with their employee’s work, which leaves them thinking way too much about how their staff is spending their time, and what the resulting output is.

Today, we’re here to share how we monitor our teams without micromanaging them. We’ll talk about the effective systems we use to keep our team connected and all moving toward the same direction without any creepy stalking.

As a company, our mission is to help women create more financial freedom for themselves, which is why financial literacy is a foundational part of what we teach. And while we know it may be intimidating, taking action will give you fresh insight into your company, while also allowing you to make better decisions, and ultimately, save you money!

From knowing your books to mastering your cash flow, it all starts with information. Understanding your numbers is the foundation. And the only way to be free to run your business effectively is by understanding how these all work together. Tune in today to learn how to get your company’s finances under control and empower yourself with the information that's going to help you build a truly sustainable business!