How Mathew Heggem Built a Successful Business That Supports a Healthy Work-Life Balance!

OWEN: My guest today is Mathew Heggem and he is the owner and CEO of SUM Innovation. Mathew, welcome to the show.

MATHEW: Thank you man, I’m excited to be here.

OWEN: Let’s jump right in. This interview is all about getting entrepreneurs on here who systematized their business and we want to always learn how they did it by showcasing the current result that they’re experiencing right now as a result of systematizing and automating their business. And then going back into the journey of before now, what was it like in how you transformed the business. Starting now, what will you say are some mind blowing result that you now currently experience as a result of going through that process of systematizing and automating your business?

MATHEW: Yes, absolutely. I think the first mind blowing result that I truly experienced was actually the ability to take a vacation. It sounds very simple at the end of the day but realistically the fact is that you get so caught up in the day to day and the activities that you need to do that the moment that you really feel like you can step away from the business, it becomes a critical turning point for you. And I’m pleased to say that I actually have multiple vacations planned for this summer, and then just super excited about that. The other thing that’s really important to pay note to is quite frankly, it rolls back to the bigger conversation about work-life balance. But I think frankly when you get to the place where you can push the development of your business to have the systems that you need for it to run itself. You can spend more time with your family and friends, personal things. Another thing that I’ve been able to do in that regard is to spend some time educating myself in other ways and start to go through this certification program and really investing in my own education, my own development. And that’s a really important milestone I think for me because it really does help me to find that work-life balance that we need to have in order to be successful business owners.

OWEN: How will you say your company has been transformed as a result of systematizing your business?

MATHEW: I think the transformation really has come in the sense that you see more leadership amongst the team and certainly more leadership and management responsibility being taken by other people within your practice to lead the way. It’s a very common system or situation for business owners to feel like they have to be involved in everything and throwing their two cents in that moment, and perhaps this is the answer to the first question as well. But the moment when you realize the people around you are making better decisions than even you can make yourself, that becomes a really critical turning point. And the process of getting there, certainly with practice is not just been about technology and documentation but more so about people, dealing with people, and working with developing a culture that supports that aspect or that idea of empowering the individual to make decisions that have an impact on your business. And so working to empower them is certainly a process in and of itself that takes time to cultivate the leaders within the organization.

OWEN: And since you now have systems in your business that allow it to run without you what will you say has been the longest time you’ve been away from the business?

MATHEW: The longest time I’ve been away from the business has been about two weeks. But I will say that I feel like I could step away from my business for a full month, not dial in, and stay completely removed because of the structure that we created.

OWEN: Okay. I’m sure the listener’s wondering what exactly does your business do, because you’re answering these questions. And so what exactly does your business do and what big pain or problem do you solve for your customers?

MATHEW: Our business is an accounting practice. We’re certainly not your typical accounting practice.

OWEN: How so?

MATHEW: First of all we’re not your suit and tie kind of practice. We like go into any conversation with our clients, more so on a level that’s where they’re at. And what I mean by that is I mentioned earlier, something about culture and how important that is to our business. What it means for us is building a culture that also speaks to our clients. And our clients are creative professionals. They’re fashion designers, they’re technology people, and they really want to be in this space and ultimately, quite frankly, work with numbers people. Numbers people, they get where you’re coming from, they’re on the same page. So that sort of has been a huge distinction to provide our clients with that experience and not have an accountant that comes in there, suit and tie, and speaks their language if you will, that’s been critical. The other thing too that I will say, I think this is what makes us distinct as an accounting practice is that we quite frankly lead with accounting technology. There are so much going on right now in that space, and frankly technology is actually leading our industry, so much so that professionals like myself, and certainly my firm and my employees, we try to stay on top of the changes that are happening in a very progressive way. And making sure that quite frankly even before we have clients that need the technology we’re already learning about it so that we can be prepared to make that transition with them. And ultimately I think what comes down to, and this is something makes us distinct from others in our space is we know and assume that compliance and taking care of your taxes is mandatory. It’s a given. What we’re really concerned about is how we as the numbers can add value to the conversation, and how we can really help you to not only solve the problem and the situation that you’re facing today, but position you to become that company and grow towards that vision of what you see your business is being in the future. And that proactive approach is unfortunately an approach that many accountants are taking today.

OWEN: How many full-time employees do you guys have?

MATHEW: We have 15 full-time people and staff?

OWEN: And is your company profitable and what was last year’s annual revenue, and maybe what you expect to do this year?

MATHEW: Absolutely. When I took over the company we were not profitable. So it was actually a turnaround business for me. I’m very excited. This is the year that we’re breaking even. It’s been a huge accomplishment for us. We are approaching the million dollar mark, another huge accomplishment for us.

OWEN: Congratulations.

MATHEW: Thank you. Next year we’re aiming for 1.3 and pushing our way through to the two million mark as soon as possible.

OWEN: We’ve kind of shared with the listeners where the business is now, where the fact that it’s systematized and it can run without you, but it was not always the case. So take us back specifically to when the business was not systematized and automated like it is now. What was wrong with it?

MATHEW: Well, what wasn’t wrong with it is the real question. Quite frankly, then again, I go back to the fact that this was a turnaround business and that I was responsible for taking, really quite frankly this empty shell and turning it into something else. The first thing I had to was I had to really start generating sales. And again, there was no process for that. So what do you do? As any entrepreneur you roll up your sleeves and get to work. I will say that as I was doing that, and this is something that I’ve always suddenly think why I’ve been so successful, is that as I’m doing the work that I’m doing, and whatever that work is it’s the work that needs to be done there. I’m always asking that question of how can I get someone else to do this work? How can I prepare this activity so that the next time I do I’m actually prepared to teach someone else to do it. And then from that point forward sort of creating and documenting this process as they go along. But to go back to that question of what was wrong with it, again, I think everything was wrong with it because quite frankly that’s not a way to operate. I mentioned earlier sort of [Unintelligible 00:07:59] or perhaps the work-life balance and how important that is.

OWEN: But let’s see, because during the pre-interview you mentioned something about how initially you came in and you were working on sales, trying to get sales in and it was working. But then sales coming in, the other problem was actually delivering all the sales internally to make sure that the clients who came, actually their needs were being met and actually serviced. So that had to bring you back from being externally sales focused to start coming in.

MATHEW: Yes.

OWEN: Let’s talk about that specifically, the problem in that respect.

MATHEW: I think the problem was you can drive as much sales as you want to a business but if you’re not capable and ready to service that business then you have another problem. And so, as I learned what it was like to be in the sales position and sort of drive business I certainly recognized very early on that we had no problem generating business. And so systematizing it was one thing. But going back to looking at the inside of the business and how we actually service the clients then it became really quite frankly that next chapter of my role in systematizing the business. So actually, fortunately, it systematized the sales and marketing processes enough to hire people to take care of that for us. And then many months inside of the business, really try to rip it apart and understand what was going on so it could create more structure internally as well. And that has been a tedious process of understanding certainly the experience of each one of my employees, the experience of the customers and the life cycle of the customer. And also how, again, we can look at inserting systems and technology to improve the processes that we have so that we can make sure that we’re delivering to our clients. I can go on many examples…

OWEN: I guess we want to talk about specifically what you did, but I want to also get to the point that knowing you came in, you figured out the sales part of it and that was working. The issue was actually now you get customers, how did you deliver on how to make that happen. So that was where the issue was. Even as that being an issue what will you say at that time the lowest point and describe how bad it got. Because I think you mentioned something how there was a certain point you even had an anxiety attack.

MATHEW: Absolutely. Again, I talk a lot about the work-life balance. One of the moments that was sort of the critical turning point for me as a business owner was when I really had my first encounter with this thing called an anxiety attack or panic attack. Frankly, I never really had one in the past. It didn’t mean anything to me. But long story short I was in for the having a friend, her mother was about to move in to a retirement home and I was sort of simultaneously bound, saying balancing some work stuff, I was travelling, and I was driving on top of the valley. We were coming home from a restaurant…

OWEN: So you’re not even present in the location where you were driving. It was back at the office.

MATHEW: That happens often, right? Your mind sort of gets caught into those little moments. But anyway, I was sitting there driving this car and just started thinking about some things. And I don’t know where these anxiety symptoms happen, and for anyone that has had anxiety and panic attacks in the past. When it happens it literally feels like you’re having a heart attack. Your body and mind is falling apart. Of course again, we never had it happen to me before so I didn’t know what was going on and I freaked out. And I pulled over the car. We called the ambulance, I went to the hospital. It was a huge city and that experience woke me up and made me realize how important it was to learn to step back, but to also learn to put in processes and structures so that other people can be accountable for other aspects of your business because you can’t do it by yourself. And I think that’s ultimately that lesson that I had to learn frankly the hard way. And again, it’s been since that point, sort of at least two years of working with coaches, working with health care professionals, and working with friends and family, and even my own self and my own personal development to understand how to actually achieve that work-life balance.

OWEN: And I’m wondering, do you remember something specific that actually was happening in the office that would’ve triggered that feeling of having anxiety attack? I’m just wondering because I want to take the listener to really feel what you are feeling at that point and if you can remember what exactly was happening.

MATHEW: I think it’s really about being overwhelmed, by I can very specifically remember that we were getting into this conversation with applying it about deliverables and what we expectations wherein frankly the expectations of his client were extremely unrealistic. And on top of that we were changing our business models. There was a lot of moving parts at that same time. And I was the sales person and I was the marketing person. I was the client on boarding, but so was every role, and every position at the moment. And so to have to be in the position where you can’t step back and in these situations sort of handle that client conversation, handle the dynamics and not worry about all these other stuff. It was just not possible for me at the time. So that was really what was happening.

OWEN: Okay. I’m glad you clarified that. So when you had that event and you made up your mind that you realized that you cannot do everything. And in order for the business to run without you knowing that you cannot do everything, you have to have systems and processes in place where you can have people reliable who can follow those systems to do the work on your behalf and deliver that experience to your customer. But I’m wondering back then what was the very first step you now took to systematize the business after this realization?

MATHEW: Yeah, I think that the very first step is really quite frankly to recognize where you’re at and to recognize what you’re currently doing, and take the opportunity to just document that now. Because you’re doing it, you might as well just write down the steps that you’re taking so that the next person can do it for you. That’s really the first step in this process of systematizing.

OWEN: So you’re basically evaluating what you were doing and kind of kept track of what you were doing first of all. And then what will you say was the second step you took in systematizing the business?

MATHEW: I think for me the second step has always been to sort of get constant feedback and build some sort of a feedback loop with the people that I’m engaged with. I’m fortune enough to have a business partner that is very good at the operation side of things and he’s our finance numbers guy too. He’s been in this business for a while and that in regards. And so, to even just have that person to bounce ideas off of his being critical of us. I spend a lot of time networking with like-minded people, building relationships with other entrepreneurs, sharing my experiences with them, yelling their feedbacks, speaking to my customers about my own process, and being very humble about receiving that feedback and welcoming it from others. I think if you design a process and you create a business and you do well in this work. And above all it’s not going to work. It’s just not going to be effective. But if you can open your ears and listen to the experience that others are having around you and their interpretation. That’s what you’re really going to see, whether or not the systems that you’re creating are scalable and can help you achieve your goals.

OWEN: I get that the first part was taking an audit of what you’re doing and the second part you’re saying is getting feedback. And I’m wondering how that feedback plays directly into the systemization of the business, was it feedback from your employees regarding the systems that you created or what?

MATHEW: Yeah, absolutely. It’s just getting feedback from your employees is only a part of that process and quite frankly in my business that’s one of the most important sources of feedback because quite frankly in a fast growth environment that we’ve been in the most critical feedback is the feedback from your employees. They’re going to tell you whether or not it’s working or not working. And if it’s not working they’re going to tell you what they think is the appropriate next step to move it in the right direction. And then I like to say too I think, and it kind of goes back to that whole idea about culture and how important it is for our firm. Allowing your employees to participate in the conversation of how to do things better helps them to feel like they’re committed and they’re engaged. And in effect I said earlier that one of the aha moments was to have that moment where your employees are making frankly better decisions than you, and giving you advice that you’ve never even thought of. You have to give them that permission and let voice be heard in order for them to feel like they…

OWEN: Since we’re also talking about feedback I’m wondering is there a specific example back then as to when you were building the systems, you use that feedback to actually change something specifically in the business.

MATHEW: In terms of the conversations with my employees?

OWEN: Yeah.

MATHEW: Honestly it’s been everywhere. I think at one point we were really trying to evaluate… The best example is the brand itself. We were not SUM Innovation two years ago but we went through this whole process of learning who we are and who our brand is. And then we integrated our employees into the process of identifying who we were. Maybe that is not feedback about a process but I think that’s an opportunity where we clearly let the employees engage into the conversation. But I will say that it does tie back to process because you have to think about… One of the things that I stress is that processes are not just pieces of paper on a shelf or in a book. And there’s not just technology. These things are a means to an end. For us it’s about that process of allowing people to share ideas and creating an environment where that kind of culture is supported and that it’s regularly supported. And that was a clear example of us allowing that to happen.

OWEN: And when you were actually trying to work on creating systems for the business I’m wondering how did you make a decision of prioritizing what processes and systems you create first and which ones to create next? What was the reasoning behind how you went about it?

MATHEW: There’s a two-fold answer to that I think. I think realistically you can’t forget where you’re at. I think one of the examples that was sort of most prevalent for us in the development of our business, or quite frankly how to do with our accounts receivables process. I spend a lot of time bringing in honest business. Certainly some of it they weren’t the right clients, and maybe we didn’t structure things the right way at the beginning. And so we ended up having a little bit of an AR problem. And so I cannot as a business owner disregard that for the sake of some other process that I might be curious about. And so we put a lot of time and energy in fixing that process. And so that’s the part about listening. I think the other part of it is thinking about where you’re going and having a clear vision for where you’re going. So my business partner and I, we sit down all the time and we really think about what are our priorities right now and how do they fit in to the bigger picture and the bigger context. And it’s that dialogue that needs to happen.

OWEN: Okay. So the first part is it more like you figured out what to build systems for based on the demand of where the real bottleneck was. In that example was the issue with receivables. You’re bringing someone in as a customer yet there was an issue with their receivable process. And that was something you saw. And so because the demand of the need to face that. That’s how you now make the decision, now this is pressing. Let’s work on creating systems that fixes that. And then the second answers the question was looking at what you’re trying to be and use that as also a way to prioritize the next systems you now create. How exactly did you even document procedures and processes for the business? What tools did you even use at that time?

MATHEW: My favorite tool has been Evernote. Evernote, for those of you who don’t know. It’s this really cool app for keeping notes but they’ve got a business platform and you can share notes with other people. You can multi [Unintelligible 00:20:52] it’s a great platform. And for us, because we’ve been in this constant growth where it was really important to have sort of a repository for keeping track of the things that were talking about, but also a place where people can throw out their ideas, put in draft documents, add their two cents to things that have already been created. That was sort of a critic or a platform for us. And we have a CRM and we use that. Honestly CRM is again, just a means to an end. If it’s not using it effectively it’s not worth using. But at the end of the day it’s all about Evernote for us, and it’s a huge difference.

OWEN: And so what exactly is the CRM doing for you at the time?

MATHEW: CRM was one of the many systems that we had to put in place in the last few years. And for us it’s really just a matter of keeping track of key customer formation and progression of the conversations that we were having with them. It’s what CRM does, it helps you save records of conversations in the sales process, and ultimately tracks that conversion from becoming a prospect or a lead, and then helps you to understand the trajectory of that conversation as it evolves over time. And of course that’s been critical for us as well.

OWEN: Was it also managing to actually delivery of the work after they’ve become a customer, I was just wondering.

MATHEW: Yes, of course, it has. There’s aspects of the CRM that help us to understand what the next few date is and whether or not that’s going to be hit, and if not what’s going to happen. And our management team uses the CRM to keep abreast of the activities that are pending, the leads that are open, stuff like that. It’s all in there.

OWEN: What is the name of the CRM for the listeners just in case?

MATHEW: Yes, Method CRM.

OWEN: Okay.

MATHEW: By the way, it’s an amazing CRM too. One of the things that we were looking for in designing our process was a CRM system that was incredibly customizable. And when we spent a lot of time customizing the CRM to make it meet our needs.

OWEN: Okay. At the time when you were creating systems for your business initially I’m wondering were there any books or even mentors that had an influence on you and talk about then, and also how they influenced you in that regards.

MATHEW: I’ve always been advocate for working with outside providers that are consultants, coaches, and business advisors. I think it’s super critical to have that third party system. And for me in particular, my business coach, her name is Carol Daisy Charles, amazing woman. I’ve been working with her for the past three years and she holds my feet to the fire, she calls me out when I’m repeating my old patterns, and she helps me to keep my focus on the bigger game. And that has been a huge, huge influence on my life and my life and my development as a business owner.

OWEN: And so, if we just talk about what you did and not talk about the challenges you face while you were trying to transform the business from a systems standpoint then we don’t give the full story of what really happened. So at the time when you’re putting systems for business what will you say was the biggest you experience when you initially try to systematize a business and how did you solve it?

MATHEW: Yeah. I think one of the biggest challenges, it’s funny, the CRM is actually the perfect example of that. The biggest challenge with any new system is the adoption of that. Certainly you recognize as a business owner how important it is to invest and had idea that it’s not just you that’s running the show here. In my case I have to take people, and they all need to believe that what we’re doing is the right solution and a good case in point. We had actually tried to implement a CRM two and a half, three years ago, SalesForce. SalesForce is a great CRM by the way, nothing wrong with it. The problem with our engagement of that platform was that no one really, and I say really, wanted to use it. And part of it maybe there wasn’t a direct need, maybe it was a good idea but the idea wasn’t really bought into. And so two and a half years later I decided to let the staff tell me when they were ready for a CRM. And interestingly enough it did happen. It happened at a key point where I just so happened to happen… At this point it’s been 14-15 months ago. And what they said, “You know what, we actually need this to make our lives easier. And that made it so much easier to handle the adoption because they had the buy-in.

OWEN: Based on the real problem that they were experiencing. So you’re saying this is what you should do? They experience the problem. And so there has to be a better way and that where you present the solution of being a better way. It’s okay, the CRM. I get the adoption thing. But the question then comes to mind, the argument is if you allow adoption be based on them saying that there’s a problem, what if they don’t know there was a problem?

MATHEW: Well, if they don’t know that there’s a bigger problem, that’s a whole new line of questioning. But I think more importantly what can happen is people will… In our case, it’s tool a while to customizing the CRM that we wanted to have in place for ourselves. And I think what happened along the way was that people forgot why we were doing it. Because it takes time to learn a new system, and in this case to learn a new technology. And so one of the things that we found effective in getting past that adoption issue and sort of taking it to the next level was first and foremost seeds within the firm. People who we knew were the early adopters and the early advocates, and that helped a lot because it wasn’t just me carrying the torch, it was the three or four of us carrying the torch and yelling the importance of how significant this is going to be. And then coming back to that very same conversation and showing people the difference to, I think that’s another aspect of keeping the team engaged and this idea of remembering why the process is…

OWEN: Why is it important, yeah. I think you also mentioned that another problem or another challenge you face them was getting buy-ins, not specifically from your employees but from your business partner. Talk about that and how you solved that.

MATHEW: Yeah. Again, one hand it’s sort of a beautiful thing, to have a business partner and you can gain so much from having this other person and feel…

OWEN: Yeah.

MATHEW: But on the flip side you will always have situations where you believe in one thing and you have a perspective in going in direction. And they see something different. And that’s nothing but having an honest, direct, and clear conversation about why you’re visions means what it means, and why you believe what you believe. And so my business partner and I had various points had a difference in opinion. But I think what is important to do in those instances again is first and foremost hyper communicate. And secondly, show by example. I go back to the AR thing and how important it was and processes there because even with just a few, little, minor changes to the system on how we’d managed the accounts receivable, so I was able to demonstrate to him how important and how valuable it was to continue the process of having that conversation on the importance of that process. And he’s a numbers guy, so at the end of the day in his case if I can show him…

OWEN: You show the numbers…

MATHEW: Yes, exactly. It makes all the difference.

OWEN: And what I get from that too, and I think you said during the pre-interview is that you guys have disagreement where regardless of what you guys could leave them within together in front of everybody you guys are speaking with one voice.

MATHEW: Yes, that is extremely critical because you do not want to… Especially when you have multiple partners, you do not want to present yourself as a house divided, because we’re going to be looking to find who the leader is looking to find that guidance that they need. And if they get a little bit of information a little differently from one person, and a different set of information a little differently from the other person then it’s this idea that if you want everyone to go together they have to row together. If we’re all in the same boat we have to be going in the same direction, howling at the same time, we’re working as a team, because that’s the only way we’re going to get through this process. And it starts with the leadership, and it starts with the people leading that boat, leading that journey, being on the same page all the way.

OWEN: Awesome. And so given all the challenges that you mentioned so far, back then at the time where you’re actually trying to systematize the business, why did you even stay committed to the goal of systematizing?

MATHEW: Well, quite frankly I just knew that life was going to be better that way. And I guess the lesson is that it’s true. You want to find that work-life balance, you want to get to that point where you can spend your evenings with your kids or spend the weekends with your parents, and enjoy a life for all that it’s worth. And quite frankly it’s worth taking the time to roll up your sleeves, get a little dirty, put in those procedures, spending extra time because at the end of the day the grass is greener on the other side.

OWEN: So moving forward to the present time, what point in the story so far did you feel like you had to systematize the entire business and it could actually run without you successfully.

MATHEW: Yeah, I would say I had that moment about a year and a half ago. It was at that point where we really had done a lot of work on the internal side of the business in terms of putting in processes particularly around our HR and performance management systems. And then I was sort of able to just take a step back and think about strategy and the big picture again, like I hadn’t been able to up to point, and that was a beautiful moment certainly to be honest.

OWEN: Awesome. Now that we’re talking about present times one of the things we always want to do is go behind the scenes and see how your business is currently working. I’m going to use this conveyor now. On one end of this conveyor belt. There’s a customer who probably has issues with their finances and trying to get clarity into their finances, right? On that other end of that conveyor belt is this person who now have clarity into what their finances are all about and they can strategically plan because you guys are handling their books for them. But behind the scenes are these parts in your business that are making that transformation happen. So feel free to start from the sales and marketing and side, and work us, the listener to the different parts of your business and how they’re working together.

MATHEW: Yeah, when it comes to our business I think the critical step to understanding how our processes were going to be developed was first and foremost by looking at our business in three parts. So we have the sales side of the business, we have the services side of the business, and we have the operations side of the business. Now clearly there are inner sections throughout that entire infrastructure. But on the sales side one of the things that we really focus on was creating clear strips, creating PDF’s that would help the client understand, for example, how to send us their backup, QuickBooks file, really documenting the steps out for the sales people that time to understand what were the critical questions that the services team needed answered before the client even entered into the door. And that was a really, really critical process of just pawning in on sales strips and documentation. Then you move into the operation side, and I think one of the biggest procedures that we really have to put in place for our business was what we call our on boarding process. And certainly as you can see there’s an integration between the conversations that are being had on the sales side and the information side. So when you get into the on boarding process…

OWEN: So it’s like a smooth hand off from the sales into on boarding…

MATHEW: Exactly.

OWEN: Okay.

MATHEW: And so one of the questions was for example how do we prevent the customer from having to repeat one thing from the sales person to the services person. And that was all about creating forms and documents for the clients to fill out. And then having a clear internal process of introducing the prospect through the right series of management meetings to the services to you so that the hand off happened. And then with the on boarding meeting we came up with a very intensive… I think at one point it was a three-page, four-page document about what was supposed to happen, what should happen in that on boarding meeting. And it outlined the agenda and all of the alternative conversations, and the take aways, and the important items to hit as casual conversation. Not just in terms of the work itself but things like what should client expect when they have a problem with the bill, what types of issues can they talk about when they’re ready to upgrade their services. And what I’m talking about here is thinking about the whole experience of the customer…

OWEN: Your whole life cycle move through the entire business.

MATHEW: Exactly.

OWEN: And you mentioned something during the pre-interview about quarterly reviews and checking and evaluation. Is that part of the on boarding process or this is the different handle?

MATHEW: The quarterly reviews are certainly important part of the process for us with regards to our engagement with our clients. And that’s a part of our services process that has to do with helping us to take a step back and say with the client, okay, where are we now? What’s going on? And that’s a fairly regular… It is in fact a systematized process that we have where we go over a set of questions that are standardized. That’s been critical. But perhaps are you talking about our performance reviews as well like on the HR side?

OWEN: Oh no, I was just wondering if the ad review thing is part of the on boarding process. But anyways, the other thing you also mentioned during the pre-interview is that you guys are now also focusing on developing the content. Talk about that.

MATHEW: Yeah, that’s actually funny. Earlier you asked me sort of what are those moments where you realized, wow, I have the time for things I didn’t have the time for. But one of my own personal interests and something that I now have the time for is to develop content for thought leadership purposes. And so I’m talking about white papers, blogs, and we’re co-authoring content with our partners. And it’s a really exciting, really interesting stuff, and I finally have the time to do that. We actually engaged the firm that help us do that and it’s been a wonderful experience, a wonderful opportunity to work that into our marketing process.

OWEN: And it was the reason for adding this additional part to your process?

MATHEW: There’s quite clearly, actually a tangible reason for us that comes back down to the process of education our clients which I’ll explain now. We have a series of questions that our clients will always ask us, or topics that they’re always sort of intrigued by. And quite frankly at the end of the day time is money. We only have so much time. So how great is it to be able to take a white paper that you wrote on that topic or find that blog article that really says it the way that it needs to be said, and have that brief conversation with client or the prospect on the phone. But then say guess what, I actually have something for you that answers that question perfectly. And then you send that along. And so here you have a great opportunity to turn content into a part of improving and streamlining the process. That’s what I’m super excited about and the next step for our firm. And the certainly we’ve gotten there. But that’s really going to be a huge turning point for us.

OWEN: And bring that to even like automation and sales as well. It’s like if you knew that part of your whole life cycle is they go through that sales and marketing, and they’re asking your sales guys the same questions over and over again. So now you’re automating it away by creating actual content where they don’t even have to ask that question anymore. Just deliver it to them as part of the whole research mode where they’re in, and they share all that information. And now the sales person is not dealing with questions like that, they’re dealing with more higher level questions that have to do with actual moving forward to the next stage. Is that kind of what you guys were getting?

MATHEW: Absolutely. That’s the purpose. Again, we’re a professional services firm so at the end of the day we can only have so much overhead, we can only have so many people working in sales and marketing but are not billing time, And so that being said one of the important aspects of our process is actually engaging the services team in the sales process. So how do you do that in a way that’s efficient and dynamic. And doesn’t create quite frankly a burden on the services team so that rather they can focus on servicing their clients, the people that are already working with us to the best of their abilities. So it’s a huge step for us.

OWEN: And so what systems do you have in place that enable your employees to know exactly what they need to do.

MATHEW: Yeah, and you know that’s a funny question because I think, I was mentioning this in our conversations exactly because it was a funny word for me because really I think… I’ve talked earlier about how important culture is and I think what’s important for us is that our employees feel like they know exactly what they’re supposed to do. That’s the important part of the process. And so what we do to do about it is we make sure that our HR and performance management structures are well thought out and well-intended, why we spend a lot of time working with our employees, coaching them, helping them to understand what the vision is, helping them to see the results of their efforts and the work, and ultimately integrating them into each other so that they could all work as a team. And what I will say is that I think for us, it’s that thing I said earlier about creating the feedback, just as much as we are listening to them, they are listening to us and they want to listen to us. And so creating an environment where you openly welcome conversations in midstream places is critical in order for them to “know” exactly what they need to do.

OWEN: You also mentioned regarding that even tracking the results delivering that you try not to put the employees… You use this analogy like putting them in the ship by themselves. Part of the training is getting them in groups to train with one another, is that the case? Can you explain?

MATHEW: Yes, absolutely. So one of the things that’s unique about our HR performance management process is our employee review process. It’s very time intensive, and in fact that’s why we have a dedicated person that just handles that stuff. And the time intensive piece of it is we do this whole thing where we talk about what their individual goals are and how those goals fit into the bigger picture. And then we try to help them get, actually achieve those goals. So what you’re referencing was we actually had an instance, I think it was the last set of performance reviews where five employees on our team wanted to at varying degrees refine their level of knowledge with Excel. And so in one version of the story you could sit down with each of them individually, and train them individually, and find them individual resources. And then our HR manager could individually coach them up and up in through that process. But we said, “No, this is not the most efficient way to do this. Let’s create a study group and let’s put these people in pairs, and organize them in such a way that they’re actually holding themselves accountable and providing the support amidst that group so that they can achieve those educational goals. And certainly it doesn’t mean though that as owners of the company or even with our performance management person that they’re not staying on top of it. But rather it’s empowering them to empower themselves, and to achieve those goals for themselves. And quite frankly that saves us a lot of management time overseeing these performance goals.

OWEN: And now that you have a little more free time than you’re used to what areas of the business do you now focus on the most now and why?

MATHEW: I mentioned earlier how I spent the beginning of my life in this business and sales, and I came right back into sort of the operations. And from there I’m coming back out to the sales and marketing side and I mentioned earlier the whole content marketing thing. For me what’s really fascinating is this idea of digging into the beef of things and becoming that expert that we need to become. So I’m spending a lot of time writing, a lot of time planning, and a lot of time thinking about how the content that I’m producing can be leveraged as that leadership content. And that’s been truly pleasurable, and the other thing, and the second and final thing that is really a major focus for me is focusing on servicing a particular niche of our clients. We’ve had a history over the past three to four years of working with international businesses coming into the US. And I’ve said over and over again to my staff how pleasurable it is to work with them. They’re amazing people to work with but we never really had a full on strategy to actually bring in that type of business now that I’m back in this space where I can really investigate and explore what that channel is. I’m actually spending the time to build that channel by working with some of the international chambers, etc. And to be able to do that is completely gratifying and it’s fulfilling to focus on cultivating those relationships and those prospects that really have meaning for you on a deeper level.

OWEN: And so what can you say is the next stage of growth for your business and what the plan you have next and how you’re trying to achieve it?

MATHEW: Yeah, I think there are two major goals for us right now. I mentioned earlier the changing of a brand or the branding process we went through. The fact is our brand is an ever evolving thing. And so we’re at another turning point right now where we’re really trying to evolve our identity online and who we are, what our values and all this stuff to really refine the brand on a deeper level. And so that’s a very big picture conversation that it ultimately has very tangible results for us. The other thing that is really important and I think it connects to this idea of the branding piece as well. You said earlier about the international clients and sort of identify who we really want to serve. This has become another critical conversation for us, and sort of tie to the branding piece of it. We’ve been servicing New York clients quite extensively for a long period of time but we recognize that both with the influx of the international businesses and certainly in today’s world where you can work remotely and work anywhere that we actually have a lot of opportunity in the other cities to work with other clients. So we’re trying to strip away that geographic marker and speak to a broader audience, which means for us simultaneously opening up satellite offices in other cities that add value to our future.

OWEN: And as we come to the end of the interview I’m wondering what will you say is the very next step for the person listening to the interview all way to this point to take in order to calm that chaos in their business and possibly avoid even having anxiety attacks or whatever. And he would get to that point where the business can actually run with them. What will you say is the very next step that person should do after just listening to this?

MATHEW: Well, after just listening to this? I think the very first step is to go take a walk honestly. I can’t tell you how much time… And I say go take a walk in sort of again, in a relative sense. That walk could be have a glass of wine, go sit with your best friend and have a casual conversation. Basically what I’m saying is go take a break and get out of the office. That will give you the opportunity to gain a clarity on where you’re at step away from the dialogue because I think that’s a really important piece of the process that quite frankly many business owners forget to do. They forget to step away for a little bit. And it’s in that moment where you step away that I think you can open up that channel of creativity and let new insight in. And that’s a really critical first step for a lot of people today.

OWEN: Awesome. Is there a question that you are wishing I would’ve asked you during this interview that I didn’t ask you? It could be around systemization and automating the business or whatever you think would help to even make this interview more rounded? So post that question and the answer to it.

MATHEW: I think the question that I’m always driven by is the question of what you’re passionate about? I’ll say one thing before I answer that question. I think the reason why that question is so critical is because at the end of the day if you’re not passionate about what you do, if you’re not driven by what you do then you’re not going to love it and it’s going to show in your work. It’s going to show in for example the quality of the processes that you put in place. So know what you’re passionate about, know what your why is. And so for me I think the thing that I’m most passionate about is quite frankly working with my people, working with the team that I have. It’s so inspiring to see the people around me achieve success and to accomplish their goals. That’s what drives me, that’s what motivates me. That’s why as much as I believe in the importance of processes and certainly I’m one of the hugest advocates of technology. At the end of the day as I’ve said it once I’ll say it again. These are a means to an end. It’s all about being human and connecting with other human beings on a very human level, and helping each other to grow and become who can we be. And it’s all that drive and that dedication.

OWEN: Awesome. What will you say is the best way for the listeners to connect with you and thank you for doing the interview?

MATHEW: We could go old school. Is email old school I guess. Or another way that I love connecting with people is through social media honestly. We’re huge fans of Twitter. Our Twitter account is @SUMInnovation, it’s just the name of our business. I’m very active on that and love connecting with people in that format.

OWEN: Now, I’m speaking to you the listener. First of all, thank you for listening to the interview all the way to this point. And if you’ve enjoyed this interview what I want you to do is feel free to give us a positive review on iTunes. To do that go to sweetprocess.com/iTunes. And if you know another entrepreneur who will find benefit and value from listening to this interview feel free to share this interview with them. And finally, if you’re at that point in your business where you’re tired of being the bottleneck and you want to get everything out of your head so your employees know what you know, sign up for a free 14-day trial of SweetProcess. Mathew, thank you for doing the interview.

MATHEW: Thank you man, it was a pleasure.

OWEN: And we’re done.