Why Every Australian Builder Needs A Virtual Assistant & How It Changes Everything

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In this episode, we sit down with Greg and Tamsin from The Doing Co. to dive deep into virtual assistants, delegation, and how AI is reshaping the way builders run their businesses. 

We cover everything from overcoming the mindset blocks that stop builders from hiring help, to what tasks to delegate first, to how AI and VAs work best together.

Transcript

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Why You Become The Bottleneck

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Most businesses um stunt their gross because they become a bottleneck and they feel like they've got to do everything themselves, they feel like they've got to have systems and processes in place before they put on a VA, but and so they make all these excuses not to hire a VA. You can work hard and like just keep working harder and harder and harder. And you might think you're achieving some goals. You might get your business to a certain amount of turnover or at some point you're going to burn out.

SPEAKER_00 0:22

He was saying, oh, you know, I've got this and this, and it was like two things. And after an hour conversation, he he you know, he had like 20 things we had identified from the list.

SPEAKER_02 0:32

Like putting on a VA to help you out opens up so many opportunities.

SPEAKER_04 0:36

The important thing is you're laying foundations for things that you don't realise that you'll be able to take care of for you in the next six to twelve months. We we do live in a culture of instant gratification. Everything's just got to be done right here, right now. And with people and with businesses, you have to invest the time, you have to do it slowly, and you have to deal with things in context. We give you the best unicorn out there, but at the end of the day, you've got to put in the effort and the work with our support. We're here for them. You've just got to put in the effort and the work, like with anything in life.

SPEAKER_02 1:13

VAs have allowed Camille and I to really increase the growth of our business and definitely help with the growth of our business, but it's more freedom as well.

SPEAKER_04 1:21

But AI can't necessarily account for that. To to rely on it 110% is a very it's it's not the best approach to take because there are inaccuracies and to rely on it 100% is is you know in in our opinion is is a is a mistake.

SPEAKER_00 1:36

As the you know visionary or the leader of the company, you have to be working on these. You can't be hiding in the admin. They need to have the vision. So you can't rely on the VA will not tell you what to do next. You they need to have the vision or they need to go and find the vision. They're the ones that knows what needs to be done.

SPEAKER_02 1:53

You've got to give the ship direction. Almost every person that won an award on the weekend or got a highly commended has a VA in their business.

Sponsor HazardCo Safety Platform

SPEAKER_02 2:01

As a builder, one of my number one priorities is making sure that my entire team, including my contractors, go home safely every day to their families. I understand that workplace health and safety can sometimes feel like it's just an overwhelming thing that you just don't have the time, you don't have the money, you don't have the resources to put in place. That's why I recommend Hazard Co. Hazard Co. is a digital platform that allows you to run more profitable projects and stay on top of your workplace health and safety requirements. You see, safety isn't a cost. Chaos will always send you an invoice. An unsafe job site is an unprofitable job site. Using digital platforms to drive safer, more profitable jobs is the way of the future. So get on board with Hazard Co. Go to www.hazardco.com and help create a safer job site for your team. From

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SPEAKER_02 2:58

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Summit Recap And Guest Welcome

SPEAKER_02 4:29

Look, there is lots going on at the moment. We've just come off the back of uh a few days. We've had the Live Life Build Winter Summit. It's been an absolutely awesome event down at Tennefield, Glen Rock Gardens. Um, I tell you what, the Live Life Build community is unbelievable. Um, but not only did we have an incredible event, we also had some incredible guests down there uh speaking to our members and just hanging out with the community. Uh, we played some golf, we did some winery tours, did some team building events, but yeah, just an absolutely cracking weekend. So uh, and it was absolutely freezing down there. I think we hit minus 6.8 on Saturday morning. But um the guests we've got with you for today actually attended the event on the weekend, which was fantastic because they come all the way over from um where are you guys? You you've moved from South Africa now, you're in Thailand.

SPEAKER_03 5:14

Thailand, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:15

So um today we've got Tamson and Greg from the Doing Co. How are you guys? Yeah, good, good.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Good, very good.

SPEAKER_02 5:21

Thanks so much for uh travelling over and attending the Live Life Build Winter Summit and now coming and having a chat to me today. It's awesome.

SPEAKER_04 5:28

That's fantastic. Thank you for the invitation. Really appreciate it, Dwayne.

SPEAKER_02 5:31

How have you guys found the like you did a bit of driving? You you drove up to Tennefield from Sydney?

SPEAKER_04 5:36

No, no, we we flew. We flew from the Gold Coast. From the Gold Coast. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:40

Well, we flew up to the Gold Coast and then. Oh, and drove from the Gold Coast. So you um you would have seen some nice scenery driving out through the country. Unbelievable, it's just amazing.

SPEAKER_00 5:48

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 5:49

Obviously, Bangkok's pretty hot, so so it was it was cold. But it was nice. It was a lot colder than we expected it to be down there in the weekend. But look, I'm really excited to have you guys here in person. We've um like I would it be five, six years, I think, Tamson, since I was introduced to you. Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 6:08

Um so just before COVID, just after COVID, like

What A VA Really Is

SPEAKER_00 6:12

2020.

SPEAKER_02 6:13

Yeah, yeah. Look, I'll um so today we're gonna talk all things VAs, business, um, where these guys have come from and and the business they run now. And um, we're also gonna really dive into AI and sort of how that plays a part in VAs and businesses and things. But um, to go back when I was first so I got introduced to Tamson uh by one of my old business partners, and I've got to admit, at the start I was very skeptical. I was like, what is a VA? What what are we doing this for? So um, and it obviously it's worked out very well because I think we got seven now, I think, all up, five through you guys, and then some that we've got through you guys that we now employ directly. So um, how do you go when you first get people come to you reaching out for a VA?

SPEAKER_00 6:57

In this day and age, I feel like I always have to clarify a VA is actually a real person. So it's a ver, you know, this word virtual assistant is now getting all muddied up. But um, yeah, so you know, the story I shared at the retreat was about, you know, people just feeling a lot of the time people are feeling overwhelmed with work and they don't really know, um, you know, they don't know how to get out from under the workload that they've got. And there's so much around the mindset, around like, I have to do it all myself, or my business isn't big enough, or I um no one can really do it as well as I can. And how to actually get somebody on board is is kind of overwhelming. Um but it's normally through word of mouth and through support of uh talking to other members. Um, you know, I'm thinking about one member who was in a room with five other guys, builders, who all had VAs, and he he realized this was kind of the piece that he needed. So um, yeah, was that the question?

SPEAKER_02 7:56

Yeah, well, just uh like overcoming the obstacles, I guess. Like I like I said, I was quite step skeptical in the beginning. It's and I I feel like a lot of my skepticism come from being a builder, like because we we do everything on site.

SPEAKER_04 8:11

Yeah, it's and I think you also have people face to face. You know, the traditional model of staff and labor is that you know you you employ somebody locally and or within your area that and and if they are in different parts of the country, they come and they work in an office and they're there day to day, and all of a sudden, you know, with the with where technology is and the ability to work anywhere in the world, especially since COVID happened, you know, you've got a a world of talent at your doorstep. Yeah. And it's just a matter of thinking, oh wow, okay, I don't need to think locally, I can think internationally and get the best talent to do the job that I need them to do.

SPEAKER_02 8:50

Yeah. I think we'll continue to employ VAs. Like, um, who knows how many we'll end up with. Like, I I definitely believe that like Camille, um, so my wife Camille and I, it's like our success, our wealth, like everything wouldn't be where it is if like we can't do everything ourselves. Like you've got to eventually employ people to help you. And for me, a a big thing's just been the skill set. Like the the variety of skills that you guys have access to through VAs is amazing.

SPEAKER_04 9:17

Well, thanks, Dwayne.

SPEAKER_00 9:18

Yeah, but it is, but it is it is the that global thing because there was such a stigma, because you I've been hiring virtual assistants for like 15 years and watching the culture change um over the years, because you know, when I started, there had to be the the people had to be working in offices because there wasn't infrastructure. COVID accelerated that, which was a blessing because um it it allowed VAs to work from home and have the great lifestyle lifestyle choices that we get to have as well. So it really opened up a whole lot of opportunity for people to work from home, have more independence, and create careers for themselves at h at home. But then um but that also opened up the opportunity to get talent for people. I mean, we we've we actually had a um a prospective client from Canada in a tiny town where they couldn't find people to come and live in this freezing cold town. And the idea in Tennessee. Yeah, like minus 60, like yeah, you know, four nine months of the year. No one wanted to go and live in the town. It was a big mining town. And she just jumped on the idea of of um remote staff because yeah, you just it just opens up, you know. But then talking about the talent, you know, we do. We have estimators, digital marketing people, which you know very well, um, and then you know, really high attention to detail, operations minded, and now more and more these A AI operators, what I call them, people that can then run your AI tools, you know, being um having the expertise in Claude or you know, all you know, upskilling and running and and then leveraging that. Yeah, because even two years ago, you know, we really needed specialists, but now just having high proactivity and more soft skills, because with AI tools and now with AI agents, it's still in its infancy, but once they start rolling out, people the the VAs will be able to forex themselves because they are they've got these tools. Um, you know, with Claude, a VA that wasn't that great at writing, now becomes an excellent social media writer with you know with the training. So it's the you know, the possibilities just are kind

Global Talent And Mindset Shifts

SPEAKER_00 11:25

of endless.

SPEAKER_02 11:26

I'll come back to that in a minute, um, because I've have heard quite a few builders say that uh I'm sort of a month away from not needing a VA AI, Claude's taking over. Um I think they're looking at it the wrong way if that's the mindset they're in. But I just want to go back a little bit because some people might be wondering why we had you down at uh at Tenerfield at our winner summit. So LiveLife Build works very closely with Tams and Greg. Um I promote them on my podcast as well. But we've been working together quite closely to create a pathway to get builders um onboarding VAs because something we've seen happen in LibLife Build with builders, but this applies to anyone in the building industry, tradies, or any types of businesses. Most businesses um stunt their growth because they become a bottleneck and they they feel like they've got to do everything themselves, they feel like they've got to have systems and processes in place before they put on a VA, but and so they make all these excuses not to hire a VA, but we know that when we see a builder that gets help in the administration side of their business, their business can 3x, 4x, 5x with the same site team a lot of the time just from getting more efficient with all the administration, all the off-site stuff. And that's where I see something like VAs are being really, really powerful for businesses in the construction industry because like once they're set up, like the tradie or the builder can continue doing what they love doing and doing meeting the clients, chasing the work, doing their physical work on site, and you can have a VA basically taking care of all the business off-site. So that's why we had the guys over here and they come to our winter summit because um they play you guys a pretty important role in Live Life Build now. Like we're um we do regular Zoom calls, we're training the members all the time on how to get more out of their VAs, all those types of things. So, and then you guys have actually built tools that allow people to identify where their weaknesses are and where they need help. So maybe talk

Delegation Tools And 110 Tasks

SPEAKER_02 13:23

us through that a little bit.

SPEAKER_04 13:24

Yeah, so I mean, I mean, a lot of the tools that we we help with, you know, like in just in terms of training materials. Like uh, you know, if they need tools like I mean, a lot of the builders come to us and they say, well, like how do I know what to delegate or or how can I keep track of all of that? And so, you know, we we often suggest using like Asana as a project management tool, ClickUp, where they basically and and we try and encourage them to do it earlier so that they can start to see what they're delegating to a VA or to their VA and and for them to keep track of their projects and tasks and workflows, and for the builder to to be able to have visibility over that. So it really helps for the the builder and the VA to know exactly what they're doing. And I think a lot of the time, you know, the builder's so used to working through their head and thinking about things and like, okay, what have I got to do today? And nothing's really documented. So we we we try and get the training and the tools in place for the VA. So for example, we have a 90-day action plan that Tamson develops with the client, and that 90-day plan is all the tools, all the steps that they need to get their systems and their processes up and running in the in the first three months. And so once Tamson's done that, then sort of what I'm doing is really making sure that they're using those tools. Because sometimes they just get so locked into thinking, I've got to get my VA to do this and I've got to get them to do that. And they're not really just putting in those processes and those systems that help them to do it systematically. And that also involves the training, you know, like doing simple Loom videos to explain what parts of their business they they need to be focusing on. Uh whether it's the inbox management, whether it's you know, invoicing, whether it's getting up speed with Wonder Build, for example.

SPEAKER_02 15:17

Yeah, yeah, Wonder Build's definitely a hot topic at the moment. But um you guys also have a really good document that they can use straight away to identify like how many hours they're losing, don't you?

SPEAKER_00 15:28

Like, when I created it, it was a a marketing tool. Um but it's now become such a such a useful document. So it's 110 tasks that the builders we've worked with over the last four or five years have actually delegated to their teams. So not everybody needs everything because you know, every builder's got a different team set up, they they have their own capabilities, their wife might you know step in, they might have a bookkeeper. But overall, you know, you just go through that list and you can see um and I I was uh talking to a builder, um, I don't know if I can mention names, you know, Steve Steve Butler. I had a he came down to Manly. We had a great session, operational session yesterday, and he was saying, um I think he's on the podcast. Yeah, coming up anyway. He was saying, um he was saying, oh, you know, I've got this and this, and it was like two things. And after an hour conversation, he he you know, he had like 20 things we had identified from the list. And we yeah, so um so that's a really good starting point in uh how to get started. And it is once I mean I think what Greg, a lot of people from the podcast before said, the the thing was about five tasks. You just start with five, you know, whether it's inbox management or starting to track your costings, um and then you just build from there. And you know, as you know, just as they bec as they become more familiar with your business and more proficient, then they can take on more and more and more. And then years, you know, years go by and then they're basically um running one of your VAs, Angelica's uh coming up for her two-year anniversary. I couldn't believe it.

SPEAKER_02 17:00

Yeah, like VAs have allowed Camille and I to really increase the growth of our business. And probably I guess a more important part for us, like it's definitely helped with the growth of our business, but it's more freedom as well. Like we've definitely like we've got big dreams and things, we like spending time with the kids and going away a lot, and that it'll like having those um tasks and knowing like having good staff that we can trust to get those um tasks done mean that we have more freedom now from the business as well. But um just to go back to that list, like I know it's 110 long, but like you said, like if Steve ends up doing 20 of those things, like a lot of things in a construction-based business are repetitive. Like you're always quoting, you're always chasing up emails, like following things up. So like most tasks you're almost doing on a daily basis, like so like if there's 20 tasks, even if they're only what half an hour each or something, like you're filling the hours very quickly. And that's all time that you're you're getting back that you can start to spend on the areas of the business that you enjoy spending the time on.

SPEAKER_04 18:05

I think, but I think I think the biggest thing is that builders often don't know what to delegate. Yeah, we often have clients that have been with us for a little while and they're still they're still trying to get into the mindset of thinking, what what can I actually delegate to my VAs? So one of the things that we do in in early on, because we do those coaching calls with the BAs and we do the coaching calls with the clients, where we're really saying, okay, here's your 90-day action plan, what are you, where are you up to, what are you doing, and and really sort of going back to that document, the 110 tasks and more, and just saying, okay, have you thought about um you know handing this off to your VA or handing that off to your VA? And sometimes it it's it's a mind shift thing, Dwayne, because you know, when you've been running your business for as long as you have, and you you your mind, even at the unconscious level, is just operating in a particular way. Yeah, you it takes time to suddenly shift gears. But it it's just the willingness to, I think it's from a lot of the builders we've talked to, when they've got the willingness to do it, it makes the whole process a lot easier.

SPEAKER_03 19:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 19:10

You know, of really just saying, okay, I'm gonna now let them do the invoicing or the bookkeeping or or really just even handle Wonder Build if that's

From Operator To Leader Mode

SPEAKER_04 19:20

the case.

SPEAKER_02 19:20

It's a it's definitely a mindset thing, isn't it? It's shifting gears from being in operator mode to be being in leader mode and actually taking control of the business. Um do you mind sharing you shared a bit of your story with the um the members down at the summit on the weekend. I think that ties in with what Greg was just talking about. Like can you do you mind sharing a bit of that with with the listeners?

SPEAKER_00 19:40

So yeah, so the the piece that I was sharing is yeah, uh I'll summarize it. But basically my background has been in operations. As I said, I've been hiring uh VAs into businesses for 15 years. And doing it for other people was easy because I I didn't have the mindset that went into it. The clients trusted me, my operational clients, and I was saying, you need a VA, they were saying, Great, you do it. And I went off and got them, got them the person we you know systematized the business, and they were getting they started to get the relief. But when it came to me having that experience myself, I I didn't realize the mindset. And what I was telling myself was when I when I finish this, then I'm gonna have time. When I finish this and slowly, slowly the business is growing. So all of those little small admin tasks, the daily this and the daily that, suddenly it's not five, it's 15, and I'm doing it all. And I was just but I I just I had this illusion that at some point I would get the time back. And it just it didn't happen. And it was really it took Greg's kind of intervention to kind of say we these these projects that are going to grow the business, that are that you you know, as the you know, visionary or the leader of the company, you have to be working on these, you can't be hiding in the admin. Um and so that was when I turned from realizing that I'd finally created the business that I wanted and I could stop being the doer and move into um being a leader, which I mean I called the company the doing co. So I love doing, you know, I love that productivity and I love getting things done, and it gives me a great sense of accomplishment. So so I had to I had to shift that. And and I do I I am lucky because I have the tools of how to how to delegate. So it was really it started to become a process of documentation. So I just wanted to talk a little bit about that because it's easy to say to someone, hey, just delegate your invoicing, but you don't know, like how how do I even do that? So it's it's looking at a process, uh a system, let's say, of like job cost trackings or a supplier. So you send an email to a client to a supplier asking for a quote, they send it back to you, you review it, then you do what, then you do what. So you would have some process that you do, even if it's in your own mind. So a VA comes. in that may you know that knows very little about your business, they wouldn't be able to just pick that up and do it. But what they could do is they could um take the email and forward it to Wonderbuild, for example, so that it's under the job. And so that like let's say 11-step system that you have for suppliers, they do step one and two and like nine. Then then then the next week they might do one, two, three, four. And then your responsibility changes to you don't have to do any of it. All you do is you check one to build once a week and you just check all the supplier quotes and then you do what you need to do. So you don't stop you don't lose touch with your business. You just touch it in different ways. Like I used to do bank rec. Now I just check the P ⁇ L once a month. Which takes me five minutes. So it's that it's that kind of thing where it is a process but once you start that documentation process, it's done. Like you only have to do that once. So it is, you know, it is an investment of time but then you know it just starts to

Document Processes While You Delegate

SPEAKER_00 23:00

to and build upon itself. And you never go back.

SPEAKER_04 23:02

Trevor Burrus But just to add on what Tamson's saying, there's often the perception that all of that documentation has to be done before you start with a VA. And and I think that's the biggest illusion.

SPEAKER_02 23:12

We do a lot we hear that we get that feedback all the time. Yeah you know you know it perfectly set out before something starts.

SPEAKER_04 23:18

Correct and that's not the case. You you literally it it it it's just you know I think Tamson has a we have a VA delegation system process where we just say look there are these eight what are the most eight urgent parts of your business or the top five urgent parts of your business and start to just make loom videos on those things. And you know it takes time for that you know that integration process to to happen because you're not only getting to know someone but they're getting to know your business they're getting to know how you work and we train the VAs to really learn about your client not just about their business. You know what makes them tech, what are they like, what are their expectations? And I think that that's where the change has come through our recruitment process is we're looking for VAs that are not just skilled, that are not, they don't just have the experience, but they have the work ethic, they have the proactivity, the initiative and the focus around really getting to know their clients. I mean one client we've got um in Adelaide, I mean he was just amazed by how much interest their estimator had in actually learning about them and why they started the business and what was the purpose of it and what were they hoping to achieve. And having that holistic context around their business made such a massive difference to her onboarding and actually learning how their business functions.

SPEAKER_02 24:40

I think it must be a cultural thing like they're very willing to please or or want to please all the time but um I guess just to go back with what you were talking on Times and I think a big shift happens in business when you realize that you don't have to do everything. You've just got to make sure everything's getting done and I feel like so many people they try they try to micromanage everything and like it's it's always like doing things your own is is great. It's always the a good way to do things but if you want something to be great and go to next level you need to build a team.

SPEAKER_00 25:14

You can't do it on your own yeah that was what I said in my talk about the Russell Branson thing and I really I've never read a book of his I don't know much about his story but that's that's the story that I tell myself when I'm when I feel myself contracting it's like Russell is his name Russell Richard Branson Richard Branson. Richard Branson couldn't have grown virgin all of the virgin companies by himself I think the first thing he probably did was hire he's probably never done a thing in his life because that's how he rolls and he's just hired good people around him all the time. But I always think about that like we're not and now I'm I'm so focused like as as a leader you know we're always looking three months down the track where's going to be our bottleneck. We just don't want to hit another bottleneck because it because we've seen how much getting the first VA accelerated our business because and then the s the the first VA and then the second VA has then accelerated it. So it's almost it is a bit counter you know counterintuitive because you think oh I've got to get busy first. But you do you really they give you the space and it's not just the the space to do more work. It's the space to to think you know that to sit for two hours at Tenterfield on the porch and sort of plan the next six months of the business. Like that's what the business needs because as you hire more you know you've got your team on the site you become responsible for those people and if you're not leading the company and you're drowning under the admin. Alec that that was the example of the story I said about the digital marketing company you know they had 25 Australian staff back before the GFC. We offshore about seven of those through to virtual assistants they and they had 10 Australian staff. If they hadn't done that I I don't think the savings from those those staff members they wouldn't have survived the GFC and those 10 Australian staff would have would have lost their jobs. So it's it's um it's a strategy anyway I'm kind of going all over the place but it's a it's a strategic it's just it's strategic and it it really helps you kind of go the next level so that you can support

Hard Work Ends In Burnout

SPEAKER_00 27:20

more and more people.

SPEAKER_02 27:21

Yeah. Look I definitely put my hand up like the the industry like in the construction industry you're taught to work hard. Like that's you're on site you're like you're just head down bum up you're in the sun you you're just doing whatever it takes to get the job done but that hard work isn't what makes a business successful. Something that I've definitely um realized now is like you can you can work hard and like just keep working harder and harder and harder and you might think you're achieving some goals. You might get your business to a certain amount of turnover or um whatever but at some point you're going to burn out. Yeah and and then so what's what's it all worth? Like is is it worth you being stressed all the time no time with family so I it's definitely that thing you've got to work smarter not harder. Like the hard work will only get you so far.

SPEAKER_04 28:12

And Tamson and I are not immune to this it's like we have our own process around how we delegate and how we let go of things. And you know I'm the first to admit that you know on the recruitment side we've spent a lot of time developing systems and processes and refining and refining it and it's it's got to a point where our success rate is very very high in terms of finding good VAs um but it it's hard when you put so much energy into that is like can can you hand over it's kind of like a baby to somebody else to actually run it. That's what I keep saying to you when are you going to yeah and and so I admit you know it it you know I mean we we've got it automated to the point that I can do it on my own. And and it's not that I I can hand that over and I will hand it over but it's um it's taken a long time to refine it and it's an evolving process. But you're right it it's uh it it is a mind shift and it is a mental shift and you know the the thing of it is it it is getting out of the preconditioning that we all grow up with which is you've got to work hard you've got to I mean like my father did this with me. It's like 18 hours a day that's what you've got to do to make your money and success is measured by how many hours you're working. And if you're if you're not doing those hours then you know what have you got you know and so it it was interesting when I was a teenager um my father actually introduced me to an HR specialist and he he said to me I know four hours a week I mean that was like a mind-blowing concept but that was back in the 90s and he had sort of touched on this four-hour week and that sat with me for years and years but it's it's hard to think you know when you read a book about it or when you hear about it you hear it but you don't actually have the experience of doing it until you have the experience of doing it and you break through those limitations inside of you that's really the opportunity where you take your life and your business and your whole way of thinking about the world to a whole new level.

SPEAKER_02 30:12

And it's just it's it's freeing up your head space. Yeah it is like putting a VA on to take care of your task is giving because look I guess let's face it like most people that have their own business like we we like like we tend to we enjoy the hard work and the hustle and growing like that's that's what I guess drives us but um obviously you've got to have goals and um you want to achieve certain things but the again it's part of that growth and wealth and all those things like having VAs to do your task gives you the headspace to be able to go to the next level and think about the next thing. So and I I I find this um this is one of the things that I struggle with a little bit now because I do feel like I I put a bit out there on social media and I would like to put out there more but I'm always like oh if I put this out there like the guys that are on site are going to think I'm not working or they're gonna think this or going to think that but I don't think I'm ever not working. It might look like to them I'm not working because I'm not on site swinging a hammer or digging a hole but I'm always working whether it's connecting with someone whether it's creating new relationships or meeting new colleagues or coming up with new ideas like as a business owner and entrepreneur like you the growth you have in that space well I I know I have like since we put on VAs like since we've got VAs to do like we've got Irvin now that does the editing and a lot of the social media stuff. So like I don't have to be focused now on creating the content and posting it and all those types of things so that's freed my headspace up to focus on other things. So like putting on a VA to help you out opens up so many opportunities. And I I feel like it's one of those things that until people invest time in it and have a go at it they're never going to understand or realize how powerful

Awards Proof And Better Proposals

SPEAKER_02 31:58

it can be.

SPEAKER_00 31:58

Yeah absolutely I mean you know Sarah and Adam Sharp who like won a lot of awards if not the top award. Yeah they need a trailer to take them alone yeah they I mean they Sarah couldn't stop saying to me how much she attributes that to her VA. So they've had a VA for probably six months now and you know it's it's the it's so so that was really sweet that she was like we wouldn't have been able to do that. And I know she invested a lot of time and training into um into her VA but that um that's the that's the idea is that you have more time to really focus on um on driving the business. I mean he won the scheduling award you know and so he could nail his scheduling and those nailing those big pieces just saves you know because you do it once and it saves hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of hours over time. I mean I think of systems back you know 15 years ago in that first company and even even Live Life Build five years ago I was involved in in setting up some of the systems and to know I mean Mary Ann showed me one of the spreadsheets because she was having a problem with the formula and I was like wow that was a system I created and for five years it's been giving back to Live Life Build. And that's what I love is like sort of setting setting that up. But that it just saves countless hours you know to to so that investment Diane taking the easy stuff of Adam Adam nailing the scheduling and the and the clients are having a better experience. He's probably his costings are going down like who knows how how um so to to have the space to to really work on your business is is priceless.

SPEAKER_04 33:41

Yeah but but but also the important thing is is that it it it just doesn't happen. Do you know what I mean? It's like often there there is a still a bit of a misperception that business owners at higher BAs offshore that it's just like a slam dunk from day one. And and it doesn't work that well you've definitely got to put in you have to put in time and the important thing is that Tams and I are constantly working to close that gap so that instead of it taking three months or four months, it happens within a month or six weeks. But but clients have to understand or people have to understand that you've got to put the time and effort in. Well you've got to get side in to go forward now every now and then you've got to put in the effort to sign it and then exactly and I think I think a lot of the time that that there's a perception oh my God it's like it's taken a week to get my inbox set up with my VA and it's like and yeah it it does take a bit of time but the important thing is you're laying foundations for things that you don't realize that you'll be able to take care of for you in the next six to twelve months. But it it we we do live in a culture of instant gratification. Everything's just got to be done right here right now and with people and with businesses you have to invest the time you have to do it slowly and you have to deal with things in context. And it's like if if there is this you know I mean Tams and I don't sell the service as if to think you're gonna get your unicorn on day one. We give you the best unicorn out there but at the end of the day you've got to put in the effort and the work with our support we're here for them.

SPEAKER_02 35:15

You've just got to put in the effort and the work like with anything in life and I that's something I can definitely vouch for you yeah you put in the you put in that bit of effort up front and you

Sponsor Highwood Timber Batten System

SPEAKER_02 35:24

definitely get the rewards from it. But all right guys I want to introduce you to a really exciting new product that I believe is going to play a massive role in Australia building healthier homes. As you all know I am extremely passionate about healthy homes and I'm doing a lot of research and putting a lot of time and effort into making sure my construction business is leading the way when it comes to building healthy homes here in Australia. We've teamed up with the guys from Highwood Timber. Highwood Timber are pioneering condensation management with their high flow ventilated LVL baton system. High flow battons give builders a stronger straighter and smarter way to create a ventilated cavity behind cladding and underneath roofs without compromising on structural performance. While tackling condensation to improve building health and ease of insulation highwood battons are built to perform. When it comes to dealing with condensation and ventilation high flow battons will help you create continuous ventilated cavities behind all your cladding and underneath your roof sheeting. They reduce condensation risk and support healthier longer lasting buildings highwood timber battons are also in alignment with the proposed NCC condensation management requirements as well as passive house ventilation requirements. Being an engineered LVL product they are stronger straighter and more dimensionally stable than a solid material such as pine this helps resist warping twisting and shrinkage ensuring more consistent installs less prone to splitting than solid timber. Howwood timber battons are precisely manufactured meaning that your installation will be faster and easier than other products on the market. The part that I like the most about these battons are they are H3 treated for long-term protection against decay and turmoiles. They use a waterborne H3 treatment which reduces reactivity with membranes and adhesives when compared to LOSP. These are the exact batons that you want to be using on your homes and your builds if you are considering building healthier homes or passive homes. Check them out Highwood Timber products. I was just reflecting on something you said Tamson about Adam and Sarah they did win a lot of awards on the weekend but I guess just to give the listeners a bit of background so we had our at the winners summit on the weekend um we had our annual awards for Live Life Builds this is our third year. And I've only just thought about literally when you're talking about this so the the award submissions this year so our awards are very different to anything else in the industry rather than just uh I guess awarding for the dollar value of a house our awards are focused on on the business and the personal side of things so it's about uh project scheduling pricing profitable businesses um there's a lot of personal awards in there as well but I commented several times at the awards on the weekend like this year's submissions were so far above the last two years it wasn't funny. Like the the quality of the documents that we got the amount of documents we got and just listening you talk about Adam and Sarah then and reflecting on a little bit almost every person that won an award on the weekend all got a highly commended has a VA in their business so it it shows like they're um they they're putting the people in the right place they're they're structuring their business and like the flow and effect of that would be enormous like so um the quality of proposals they're putting out like we we saw proposals that were absolutely next level so that means those proposals are getting put out to their clients which is going to win them more work. The scheduling award like um some of the schedules we saw this year were just again next level like the amount of information they had in them so that's going to be building trust with their clients and with their team and the suppliers like it the flowing effect's huge so I don't I'm um I would assume across all of our winners and highly commended they would have VAs doing slightly different roles and tasks. But either way it just shows you um because we have seen quite a big um increase in members in the last 12 months getting on board with VAs and I think it show it clearly showed in the awards on the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 39:39

Yeah I mean the thing that that's the beauty of having a VA because it is cost effective I think probably 90% of builders wish their proposal I I mean I'm sitting here and I wish our proposal looked you know looked looked better. You know everybody everybody always is wanting it to be better. You know they want a capability statement or they want the proposal to look better. They don't have the time so they finish it off kind of cringe a bit send it off and they go that's the best now they just need to give it two days and then they the VA could sit for eight hours on Canva or now with Claude Design and really design it up beautifully and that small thing you know it does. It does speak so much about um you know the quality and you know it it does. You know why it does I don't know but it does you know the quality of a proposal does speak about you know the the the value of the business.

SPEAKER_02 40:30

So you know you have that freedom um because the VA's got that time you know hopefully I mean some some VA's across the board isn't it like documentation is a big sort of I guess ref representation of what you what you're going to get out of that company. So like if every document is beautiful you receive from a company it's it's sort of setting a standard to what it's going to be like to work with them.

SPEAKER_04 40:54

Yeah that's correct yeah it's it's the value of of what you put in. And and that's what Tams and I are really focused on. We're very focused on creating value and constant value. So we're not we never sit down and think right we've we've set up the doing code it's all hunky dory you know everybody's going to be happy it's like we spend hours and hours talking and thinking how can we make it better? How can we add more value? Are there gaps that we're noticing with our clients so we take client feedback really seriously and we value feedback because that's the only way we can continue to improve and we're also looking at our competitors and seeing what they're doing in the space. So it it's we're we're never sitting here thinking that we've made it it's more like as with any business it it's evolving and it's continuing to add value which

VA Roles Across Construction Businesses

SPEAKER_04 41:40

is I I love it.

SPEAKER_02 41:41

It's been even just working with you guys a lot more closely in the last few months and doing the zooms with you terms and like I think it's fantastic like we we finish a zoom and like I turn my computer on the next morning there's an email from you oh how do you think that zoom went oh we should do this we should do that like um because that that's what business is like it's not just about us growing our businesses it's about how we add more value constantly to to people but I'm really keen to dive into the AI stuff but just before we get to that just want to run through some roles because I I feel like a lot of people sort of like well what what does a VA do what can I get them to do like across my businesses like we've got Irvin who pretty much takes care of all the social media editing posting um content creation all those types of things we've got Ninfa that um does a lot of backend um accounting and that sort of thing now that works in with my accounts manager. You I just introduced you to Sharon just before and Sharon was saying it's great. Ninfa just does it behind the scenes I don't even really need to like check in on her and for people that listen to podcasts they would know that I'm I'm all about the numbers like that's um something I'm very passionate about and I'm very particular on and for Sharon to say that and and that like Sharon and I have weekly meetings about the numbers so for her to say that Nympha's great she just sits behind the scenes and gets it done like that's fantastic.

SPEAKER_04 43:00

And then we've got like personal assistant type VAs we've got um Raker in Live Life Build who pretty much sort of looks after all of our tech and um develops projects and like there's WordPress yeah yeah like the variety is is massive and and and even I mean we can we can get drafts person people can do drawings like there are a lot of architects in the Philippines like licensed architects that are wanting to work remotely. So we've got clients that you know let go of their designers and have got architects that we've found for them to do the drawings. Yeah and estimators that's been a massive huge yeah and you know and obviously there's AI coming into estimation so that kind of speeds up the process. Yeah so there are are lots of those sorts of roles project coordinators um a lot of the things anything ultimately that doesn't require somebody to be physically on site um we we can find those people.

SPEAKER_02 43:58

Yeah yeah other

AI Hype Versus Reality Check

SPEAKER_02 44:00

I think it's amazing. But let's dive into the AI, because I touched on it before. I am hearing lots of builders say, oh look, I'm not going to need a VA, like Claude and AI is just going to take care of everything. But look, I I I I don't believe that. But a lot of I believe in that. I don't believe in that for different reasons. I think AI is fantastic. I think it's definitely going to change all their lives, improve our businesses, and those types of things. But I've got lots of different views on it. I I do think where people are missing the point, like you have to sort of know the fundamentals of a lot of stuff in business. You can't just rely on AI solving everything from for you. But I think with the AI stuff, the people that are saying, Oh, look, I'm not going to need an assistant, AI is going to do everything for me. I feel they're the people that don't understand the value of their time. And they like so that because they still have to manage it. They still have to put time into it. And I feel like if they valued their time more, they would realise that if they had a VA to manage their AI, then that's where we like before we talked on the growth. But then they put their time into continually growing the business.

SPEAKER_04 45:07

So they're missing that sort of I think, I think, I think there is a there is a massive and look, there's a lot of propaganda out there that like AI is just going to take away jobs, and you know, we're going to be run by robots and and systems and and you know, and a lot of the experts that are that we listen to are starting to like say, okay, we all need to just take a step back, get a bit of altitude on here. Um, the AI is a long journey, it's not something that that's just gonna happen overnight. And um, you know, Tamson and I are working extensively in this space, and a lot of the builders that we talk to don't even have the time to get their head around it, let alone implement it. And even when you do implement it, you do need somebody to be able to direct it. It's you know, anything like Claude or Chat or a Gemini Pro, they're they're wonderful assistance, but they can't take away the job yet. The technology is not there yet. It's it's still got a long way to go. You know, there are centers that need to be built to be able to house all of this technology, and there is a lot of propaganda, a lot of people are selling things that are not entirely accurate.

SPEAKER_02 46:19

Yeah, like AI combine with a VA is where you're gonna find your real benefits.

SPEAKER_00 46:25

I mean, I I I'm just like I've got like 27 thoughts all at once. That's how my brain works. But on a full, on a full um on a more pr kind of grounded practical level. This is this is my take. So not everybody is for everything. And what I always say to Greg is people, builders coming in to us, they have so many different skill sets. So I would say for tech, AI is getting to a point where you don't need to be a developer. You just need to be very tech-minded. So there are builders out there that are super advanced and can hack it. They will get to a point where they, when I say hack it, they where they will um A AI if I, so they'll you know automate a lot of things through Claude. But yes, you're right, they will be the bottleneck. But I would say that's a small percentage of people. So when we talk about AI, like like there's generative AI and we're moving into a gentic AI. So generative is just it telling you what you can do. So like um like you going on holiday to Greece, like I want to plan a two-week holiday to Greece. It will give you a beautiful itinerary and lots of cool places, and that's all it it will do. Then you have to take everything out and go, you know, to the travel agent, book the ticket, and so on. So for a VA, that's that's uh that's where generative AI AI and a VA are perfect. So I create social media content, but then my VA has to take that out and then go, you know, now there's claude design, but they have to go to Canva, create the post, and then post and then upload it to Meta. And so there's a huge function in that. So most people that we work with are still very much using AI. When I talk about AI, I'm just talking about the the you know, the G Gemini Claude or Chat GPT in that function. We're moving into this agentec where it actually starts to do things. So you could put the plan together, then it will go and find if there are air tickets available or if um if that hotel is even still exists. Because sometimes, you know. So that's very exciting. So I think that's where people are super excited because they're like, this is amazing. We won't need people, we'll just um get Claude to do it all. Um so but I I think this is the this is the illusion because people think this is easy.

SPEAKER_02 48:50

That really scares me, especially in the building industry. Like you're uh like I'm one of those, I'm probably a bit old fashioned with it, but like it's it's only as good as what you put into it. And people when I say that, people think that I'm talking about what they're putting into it. But like at the end of the day, AI's entry, like it's it's got all of our information like from around the world. So um, again, coming back to numbers, but you're if you're a builder that doesn't know their numbers and their overheads and those types of things, and you're just going, oh, AI's told me I'm gonna make money because it's putting this percentage on top, it's only pulling that percentage from the average of a million builders that it's pulled through the internet. Um, like you've really got to know your fundamentals. And that the the last part you touch on there is is it does really worry me because if you've got builders that are just using it to pull information together and produce quotes and then put that information into proposals that then gives it to a client. Like, like I've seen some posts from builders um or other coach companies basically promoting that um AI will take care of your client all the way up till signing a building contract. I'm like, are you serious? Like, maybe for a large volume builder that's just smashing out boxes, but like, do you don't you want to give your client a bit of personal experience?

SPEAKER_04 50:14

Yeah, yeah, yeah. We've even we've even had one client that's actually stripped a lot of the AI technology out of their business to get back to the fundamentals of getting people to connect and getting people to understand the work that's going on in their business, but before then reintroducing the AI technology. You know, the biggest thing is businesses and people don't operate like robots and they don't operate necessarily in a strict systematic. There are variations, there are variables that happen in life and in businesses that AI can't necessarily account for that. So to to rely on it 110% is a very um it's it's not the best approach to take because there are inaccuracies. We've noticed, like with even with doing in-depth co-work or codec with with Claude, it can still make mistakes and it can still get the messaging and the tone of voice wrong. Um and and to rely on it 100% is is you know, in in our opinion, is is a is a mistake. Again, it's a supportive tool. It can't replace the work that needs to be done. Yeah, it doesn't matter.

SPEAKER_02 51:21

I think that's the important message, isn't it?

SPEAKER_00 51:23

Yeah, I mean, with I mean, I've got I've got so many opinions on this, but AI, so so with um Let's get them out there, that's what the podcast is. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So what was I gonna say? Um the I spoke to a woman um and she was like, Oh, oh, but you're not gonna need virtual assistance anymore because I had a demo and this guy was doing this demo to her saying, Oh, I just call up um Sophie, I think it's Sophie. So I could call up Sophie, oh Sophie, um, can you, you know, what time is my three o'clock appointment? So these are all the things that your VA would be doing. Oh, it's uh, you know, my three o'clock appointment, okay. Can you move that at four? And then can you pull up all the bills that I need to pay and then tell me, and then you go and pay them. And so I got the picture. You know, there's this is the illusion of like the Jarvis, you know, the Iron Man Jarvis is just out there doing everything. But and I I do I do, for better or worse, think that that is coming. I don't think it's a s I think people think it's now, and these people are selling these these these dreams. But what they don't understand is that the the preparation and the coding and the understanding, because if you're gonna go in I did, I connected my Google Gmail to Claude and I said send an email instead of draft an email, and literally and I didn't even say the name of the person. It went into my inbox, found the email, and before I knew it, it was about to send an email that I hadn't even approved yet. So I don't know how soon I'm gonna be, you know, hooking up my Stripe account or my bank account so that it can pay bills for me. But so I think it's all in its infancy and it's very exciting, but it's not it's definitely not there yet. And that's coming. But where I see the VA kind of moving into is that there will always be an AI, what I'm calling an AI operator. So they will be the ones that are needing to oversee the bank account. You know, they there's somebody needs to press. But certainly on social media posts, on proposals, on all of that stuff. It will be wonderful to have these, and that's what I see the future is that um business owners will have an AI operator or two that is um highly efficient, organized, but will have agents, you know, a marketing agent, a customer service agent, and they will be doing the work. So we're forexing the output of the the person and they are but they're curating everything. And yes, if you don't have your VA or your right-hand person or your AI operator, that becomes you.

SPEAKER_03 54:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 54:02

And I don't, yeah, I don't want that. Like I've done it. I've spent hours and hours c training Claude. But if something breaks, it comes back to me. And I'm I just I stopped and I've got my new VA and she's walking me through it, and she is going to become our AI operator because I don't want to be the bottleneck. I want her to run everything, and she's doing approvals, and I'm only doing you know, top, top level approvals. Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 54:24

Like yeah, look, I think it's all everything's got its place, but it's you've really got to know the fundamentals and the basics. And again, I I see them working very well together, like um using VAs and AI combined to just take your business to levels that you never thought possible. Like, and if you can get that efficiency, because let's face it, most people in the in the construction industry don't like being in the office. So if you can use VA and AI to take care of all those tasks that you're probably being in a bit general now, but a lot of people in the industry don't enjoy doing.

SPEAKER_04 55:00

I mean, there there are a couple of builders, even in Love Life Build, that have done um AI courses for their business, but they don't have the time to do it, Dwayne. So they so the VAs are telling us that they're just handing these courses over to their VAs, and their VAs are learning the course and implementing it all for them. So, you know, the the thing of it is it it it it isn't um I just think it's a a mistake to sort of think, like with everything in life, that it that it just will take care of everything. It doesn't have to building process. And and I think as you mentioned earlier on, you know, you don't want to be consumed by having to do that basic administrative function or that implementation function, because your function needs to be about okay, what's what's happening to the business tomorrow? Where are we going in the next two to three months? What's the vision? Where's the opportunity? And if you're sitting there trying to work out how all of this AI stuff works and you you can't get your VA or your team to handle that for you, then again, you're still stuck in the same rut. But now you've got to deal with all the AI technology that comes with that. So I think that's the misperception. We've just got a new little toy in the play pit to play with. Um and we need to just like okay, let's be structured and systematic about this, let's get somebody to support us with this. But we still have to be in that delegation mode of thinking we've got to grow, where's the business going? What's going to happen next?

SPEAKER_02 56:29

There's absolutely no doubt that if you implement AI, it's going to make improvement. But whether it's good improvement or how much improvement is all dependent on the person operating it.

SPEAKER_00 56:40

Yeah, I mean the illusion is that AI, you know, people think that a VA should just know everything. But I I am training Claude. And it's more painful. You you have to, it's like training a person if you want to really get the best out of it. I'm committed to it, but it is. It's it's it's slower and it's more painful than than training a person, you know.

SPEAKER_04 57:02

So um and we're we're we're working with a company in the States, you know, incorporating AI agents into the company, and once we've tested them, we'll roll it out to our client base. So we're we're not like I don't want to create the perception that we're sort of shining away. We're actually putting a lot of time and money into it, uh, but we want to make sure that we do it properly, where business owners actually get the full benefit of what's out there rather than painting an illusion that that isn't quite real or not there yet, anyways.

SPEAKER_02 57:32

I'm 100% on board with that. And that's like a lot of people hear me talking about AI on this podcast and think that I'm completely against it. Like I'm not, I actually love it, and I think it's got enormous room and potential for all of us. But my fear is that everyone, a lot of people are just talking about all the wins they're having, they're not talking about how much work's gone in behind the scenes and the and the failures they've had with it. And my biggest fear in especially in our industry is cost, like people relying on it to do their quoting or estimating and and still not putting in the effort to understand the fundamentals of their business.

SPEAKER_04 58:02

But um well, I mean, like we we have builders uh calling me up, and we've got quite a few estimators out there, and you know, and the builders come to us and say, I know when the VA is used AI, and you know, no matter how good the technology is, you can't you need to do you need to know your numbers to do an estimate. You you can't possibly just chuck it into an AI tool and think that they're gonna spit out the right numbers because the builders know, and when they know, they they won't put that through to their client because there are little things that get missed along the way. And if you're having to deal with variations, those those tools don't don't have the ability to catch them. So it's like again, you know, Claude, Chat GBT, they're all wonderful tools to support you, to make you more efficient, but they're never then they're not there to take away the skill that you need to have to do the job. Yeah. Do you know what I mean? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 59:01

I feel like Claude's like it's almost it's like the account, like people rely on the accountant every year to go to and say, hey, you've made some made profit or not. And um, like a lot of people are using Claude now to review their finances and things. And if Claude says yes, you've made money, they're they're cheering, they think it's correct, but Claude doesn't understand the work in progress and what's going on inside, and like there's so many different areas that it can fall over very quickly. But um you guys also use uh VAs to um implement software

VAs Implement Wonderbuild Faster

SPEAKER_02 59:31

in businesses, don't you? I know like Wonder Build's obviously the hot topic. Um, so I know a lot of Live Life Build members, and you have other builders as well that are working in with VAs and Wonder Build to get the VAs all up like trained up in uh using Wonder Build.

SPEAKER_00 59:47

Yeah, so uh yeah, we have uh probably the majority of our VAs are working in Wonder Build, and they it's a new software, so the reality is you know, to get a zero expert is easy because it's such an old piece of software. So we do struggle to find people with experience in Wonderbuild. Um, but what so what we have internally, we have our own training, um, you know, training materials uh onboarding for the new VAs. So they are fully across Wonder Build before they start. But what we've found has been the most impactful is actually having, we've been trying to find experts to come in and sort of teach this stuff, but we've got a community. Some of our older VAs that have been with us for over a year, they've been using it for a year. So that we kind of have like a mentoring circle uh once every fortnight. Uh the newer VAs, newer to Wonderbuild, are um, you know, we all get together and they ask their questions. So the the ones that have been using Wonderbuild, they know all the good, the bad, and the ugly, you know, the bugs and all of that. Um, and so we're able to really move through. And that's been an amazing resource.

SPEAKER_04 1:00:50

Um, we do fortnightly sessions where where we have some of our VAs that are experts in in using the platform. They run specific sessions and then all the questions that the other VAs have, we all come together and they share their knowledge, and then we we're planning to kind of create turn those into resources for like yeah, like little modules on specific things.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:13

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:01:14

Because again, like lots of builders hear that there's these software out there and they want to implement them to try and get them some time back, but then they don't have the time to spend to set the software up. So that's another area where VAs can be instrumental.

SPEAKER_00 1:01:28

Yeah. Yeah. My strategy is um is they normally are using it in one particular area, but just to take one feature like like suppliers, uh, you know, request for supplier quotes, you know, get the VA to go go to Wonder Build. Wonder Build have um excellent sort of you can just book in for a Zoom call, they'll guide you through that one thing. The VA comes back, learns it, and then in five minutes tells the builder this is this is what they've come up with, they implement that, and then so on and so on. And that that's what um Diane and the Sharps, Adam Um and Sarah Sharp have done. And just you know, tick off one one bit of you know one feature at a time. Yeah. And over the course of sort of six months, it's adopted. Yeah.

Adopt Software One Feature At Time

SPEAKER_00 1:02:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:10

I think or similar to what we're talking about now, but one of the things I've found with VAs, and I know Camille um with Angelica has had a lot of growth, is like I sort of just touched on it, but like as a business owner, there's always all these bright, shiny objects that you want to get in, and it's gonna solve all your problems. But it's all good and well to pay for it and then sign the subscription, but then you've got to have the time to do it. Um, I know Camille with Angelica, like um, Angelica has spent a lot of time, like she will do the training sessions with whatever software company it is, and um, then she'll report back to Camille, they'll have a conversation about it, and then they sort of work together to see what Angelica needs to work on next. But so rather than Camille having to try and find all that extra time to learn and implement something, we've got the VA there, so the VA's able to do that, and then together they worked to get the best outcome. Um, and I feel like that would apply across the board. Like it doesn't whether it's Wonder Build or Asana or Monday or Slack, like who knows? There's hundreds of different softwares out there, but it's just another area where you're not having to try and find that time to learn something because you can pay a VA.

SPEAKER_04 1:03:21

And and you also find that it doesn't solve all your problems, Dwayne. Yeah. You know, I mean, no software is perfect, it it has its limitations. And so, you know, just to think that Wonder Build or any software can just run your business without the support is is just crazy thinking. You know, you need people to to operate it, to manage it, to get around some of the limitations that a platform might have. And I I think I think I think there just has to be a bit of a balance with with that approach, really.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:52

Yeah. But on like on that stuff, sorry, Tames, I'm not sure.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:55

No, I was just gonna say, like in that example with going off, like with Wonderbuild, they yes, because it's you it might take four hours to figure out how it's gonna work. Then the VA will make the Loom video or write the documentation. So it's like, how are we gonna manage our leads in Wonderbuild? Hmm, how are we gonna do that? Let's learn all the ins and outs of Wonderbuild. The VA goes, they come back with recommendations. Then Camille is the is the visionary and the leader. She makes the decision, they do it. And then after a couple of weeks of of doing it, then they will make the documentation. And then that becomes part of the you know, the business's usual tasks. And then every day, you know, we're checking the lead. So yeah, it's it's and then that's an ever-evolving process from one thing to the next as we innovate more and more um, you know, systems in the business to improve and improve and improve.

SPEAKER_04 1:04:45

But that that's the other thing. It's like when you're learning a new piece of software, it's it's not about trying to get your whole business into that software. It's about, as Tamson's saying, it's just like dealing with small things, like getting your costings up or getting your leads up or getting your contacts up. And just once all of that's done, then you move to the next stage and you just do it in bite sizes, you know, so that ultimately you're not rushing and then forgetting about how to do things along the way.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:10

It's just over the last 20 years, like we I couldn't even tell you. Like, we have signed up to so many softwares that a lot of them we've been paying for a 12-month subscription and we haven't even touched or opened or used. We just we physically didn't have the time to put into using it. And that's again, that's been another massive area of growth because we've got the VAs, they're able to do the training, exactly like you just said, teams. And like they come back to us, give us recommendations. Um, I've talked about this in the Live Life Build group. Like, um, Angelica come back, I think it was with Monday, and like basically said, Oh look, this this will do this far better than what you're currently using. And Camille was able to say, Oh, look, I d I've never used that before. Like, come back to me with some more information. And over the course of like a month or so, like they were able to come to a a place where Camille was comfortable to make the change. Um, Angelica Educated her on everything we needed to know. And then, like you said, once the decision was made, then Angelica was given the go-ahead to convert everything in the business over to that. So it wasn't Camille happening to try and find extra time to move everything from this one to that one. It all just happened behind the scenes.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:16

Yeah, that's it.

SPEAKER_02 1:06:17

And that's where I really think is another area where builders can really or any any business in the construction industry can benefit from a VA. Like you don't have to find the time to to learn, to study, to implement. Like you can have VAs doing it all for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:06:34

Yeah, yeah, yeah, quite. Yeah. I think, and that that goes back to what we were saying at the beginning of the podcast. It's like it's that mindset shift where you think, oh, I need to put this software in and I've got to do it myself. No, you don't. And and you know, as I said, we we a lot of our builders sometimes start, I mean, start part-time and then they transition to full-time. And that's often just because there are smaller projects that need done in the beginning. And then once they start to get a taste of what they can do and how they can get it across, then they transition to full-time. So I think there's there's no reason why you know any builder or any person can't use a VA because there's just so much that a business needs done.

Vision And 90 Day Plan

SPEAKER_00 1:07:16

What they do need to have, and this is what I was this is what I say, um, they need to have the vision. So you can't rely on the VA will not tell you what you know, like what to do next. You they need to have the vision or they need to go and find the vision. But if if so they're the visionary, there, I mean visionary is a big word, but it's like they're the they're the ones that know knows what needs to be done. And I think the more you can identify, I was talking to Sam Carroll about this, the more you can identify where what needs to be done, like what is the most broken? And there's always there's always something that's the most broken. What is the most broken in the next one to three months? Okay, what do I need, how do I need to attack this? And if it is the fact that you your pro your projects are on three different spreadsheets and you need to get one to build, go and get one to build. But if your projects are working fine on your Excel spreadsheets, but your your finances go and get zero and get them adopting zero and so on. So you they need to have that vision, but then they don't need to do the work. The VA can do the research, and sometimes it really is. Just go and break down, you know, just go and find out, you know, go to Claude and find out all about this problem, and then the VA will come back to me, and then at least I've got something to work with, and then I know what's the next step, what's the next step, and they're doing the steps. I'm just driving it literally while I'm driving in the car on my WhatsApp, you know, saying this is the next step, this is the next step.

SPEAKER_04 1:08:43

I think I think that's a good point. Is sometimes business owners think that the VA is all their visioners.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:48

Yeah, well, that's the reason I'm just gonna say, like, as soon as Timson said that, I I feel like like the few disaster stories that I've heard, and Bill's a reach out to me saying, Oh, look, I tried a VA and it was a wreck. It's because they thought that they were just gonna put on a VA and the VA was gonna run the ship for them or steer the ship for them. Like you you've got to give the ship direction. Yeah, um and I guess it's again, it's that it's probably part of that mindset thing that we're we're tradies, they're on site, like like put a plumber on site, he knows how to deal with the plumbing. Put him in an office and he's lost. Like, so I guess it's having that guidance, but I think you just summed it up really well, Tan. And like they've got to have the vision of where they want the business to go. And I'm I feel like that it could be that simple. Like someone puts on a VA, they could say to you guys, all right, this is a position I'm in, this is where I want to get the business. Like, how do we work towards that?

SPEAKER_00 1:09:43

Like, yeah, that's what we do. Greg was mentioning that 90-day operational audit. So that's what we do. We sort of have an hour deep dive so that we really know what are the biggest pain points and what are the goals in the next one to three months that they want to achieve. And if they achieve that, what would that look like? So that we A, we're making sure that the VA we hire is going to meet those um requirements, but also so the VA is crystal clear when they start that in the first two weeks, this is what they're gonna be mastering, second two weeks.

SPEAKER_04 1:10:13

Yeah, because that that 90-day action plan they study during their onboarding, they go through it in detail and um as our client success manager, she goes down micro at the micro level on what they need to be focusing on covering. So, yeah, I mean absolutely. And I I think I think it's uh that that 90-day action plan does sort of set the the tone of of where they go. But the important thing is that, and we also try and manage expectations. But the important thing is I think we're all saying is that you've still got to drive the ship. You've got to be the the navigator. You can't expect the VA to come in and suddenly run your business on day two and know exactly which direction to take and and where to go. You've got to maintain your position and then guide the resources and the talent around you to support the vision and the direction you're going. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:05

But then they do come into their own. Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:11:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:11:08

Around sort of the sometimes it's a little bit longer. They can, you know, but like around the three-month mark, you can't ask somebody in day one to come up with a new project, new project management system. They they they can't. But because I think some builders, they they just they feel a little um well, I won't say builders, I will say every business owner, business owner that I've ever met are so embarrassed to show under the hood, like, oh, they're everyone's embarrassed. And so to know that, like the VA, they they think that their systems and processes are inadequate and embarrassing, and they don't want to show people, they just want the VA to come and tell them. You need to show the them exactly how it works. And what I also say is if your business is functioning, like you know, if you can afford to be in Live Life Build, you have a functioning business. Your systems work because if they didn't, you wouldn't have a business. Because you know, you need to have some level of capacity. So even though that system isn't documented, isn't fancy, isn't on a magical flow chart, it does something's working. You are paying your bills on time. So that the VA can come in and learn how it is, and then they will just incrementally come in and improve your system. So by about you know, three months they'll be going, oh, now I understand how you do your invoice tracking.

SPEAKER_04 1:12:29

Either we do it in Wonder Build or let's get a spreadsheet going and then they can improve and they can start making recommendations and suggestions to improve the way your business is running and functioning. But they can't do it on day two, you know?

SPEAKER_00 1:12:42

Yeah, because they don't know they don't know anything about your business.

Pay Cuts That Buy Time Back

SPEAKER_00 1:12:45

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:45

It's also a money thing as well. Like people because a lot of people that are in that position, so they're in it, they're either in the position we talked about before where they're just working flat out harder and harder and harder, trying to get ahead or be successful, whatever it is, and they physically just cannot find the time to to I guess get the clarity they need around what to do, where to go, who to hire. Um and then I think the other one is is just purely a money thing. Like people are so focused on the the money value. Like one thing I really learned, like I I um did quite a lot of Grant Card Owns courses, and one thing I really took away from him is and it ties in with the slowdown to go forward, like he talks about it quite openly. Like, every now and then you've got to take a pay cut for your business to grow. And I've talked about it a lot, Camille and I have done it. Like, I feel like everyone is always so focused on them trying to earn more money, but if they actually said, hang on a minute, if I take a such and such pay cut, then I'll be able to afford to put this person on. I might only like that they don't see that, they might only have to take that pay cut for one month, two months, three months, because once that person starts to gain momentum, the business will grow and it'll make enough money to cover that person, then their pay can go up again. Like, and I feel like I guess for everyone listening to this podcast, like if you're prepared just to to take a a small pay cut to put a VA on for a three to six month period, you would you would your your salary will more than likely double or triple, like because that's how much growth you'll be able to have. But um people are so focused on just thinking they've got to earn the most money all the time.

SPEAKER_00 1:14:30

Yeah, because it is, it's like that small pay cut. If they've got an extra two hours a week to call five architects for three weeks, they've they might secure a whole job just from from the from 15 phone calls, which they never have time to make. And also it's not professional, you know, like to sit down, have the right headspace, prepare the script, um, you know, and and do it. Yeah, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:56

But even like I I think um time is more valuable than money. That's that's my driver. Um and like so for a tradie out there, because most a lot of tradies, like there is a lot of tradies now that are getting sort of business training, but most tradies are on the tools all day, like plumbers in the trenches, plasters hanging the walls and stuff. And so they're doing a their admin of night. Like we still from quite a lot of our trades get our quotes come through at 9, 10, 11 pm at night. But like if they put a VA on that and and yes, like a lot of us don't like letting away uh giving away the quoting or the estimating, that's fine. Like you focus on the quoting and estimating, but think about all the other little tasks you're doing. If if you had a so you you might be finishing work, coming home, having dinner with the family, kids go to bed or whatever, and then you sit down at 7:30, 8, 8.30 at night to start doing your office work. The first thing you're going to do is probably jump into your emails, go through, sort out your emails, clear your emails, that could show up an hour. Then after that, you might pay some bills or reconcile some stuff. So that might be another hour. And then when you're exhausted and you haven't really got the headspace, you should have to be quoting, you start doing some estimating. So, what if you had a VA on that was clearing all your in your inbox, sorting out all your emails, prioritizing things, setting up your payments? So, so all of a sudden you've got one to two hours back so that when you start in the office at 8.30, you're quoting straight away and you're in bed by 9.30, 10 o'clock. Like that's and so to me, that's like the time is a more valuable thing because even though you might still have to work at night because your business is at that point, you're not going to be up late every single night because a VA could be taking care of those smaller tasks for you.

SPEAKER_04 1:16:46

Like I mean, you even and even with the quoting, you know, you could do the basic quoting and get the VA to do all the admin around the quoting as well.

SPEAKER_02 1:16:53

So estimating Yeah, 100%. Like the VA could be sending out the re quote requests and all those types of things. Like there's I feel like this it's it's a it's a very big, I guess, thing that needs to have these open conversations around it because most people in our industry, like you said before, and and I I actually was one of those people that thought a virtual assistant was a computer sitting in an office somewhere. So back like

Making Remote Work Feel Personal

SPEAKER_02 1:17:18

five, six years ago. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:19

Um, it's a r it's a real person. And um, and you we I mean we had four three three of them came out for the Live Life Build um summit. I will say someone said it shouldn't have been called a summit, it should have been a retreat because it was it was magical. It was an incredible weekend, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:37

And that's the second time. Like we um last time we bought Raker, and I can't remember, but yeah, in one of our Adelaide events, we bought um a couple of VAs over as well. And I've got a huge amount out of bringing the V the guys over this weekend. Like it's just we've got a personal connection now, it's not just sitting in a in a screen or communicating on Slack. So um, and then we actually um on Sunday morning, so Helen Rogerson, our leadership expert, she um stayed around and we actually did a team building exercise in person, um, which was

Agency Hiring Versus DIY Recruiting

SPEAKER_02 1:18:09

fantastic to do as well. So um well, look, guys, the last thing I just want to touch on before we get out of here is, and you and I touched on a little bit last time, Greg, in your last podcast with me, was hiring of the VAs. Um, like whether people do it through a company like yourselves or they do it directly. I'm I personally I'm a fan of just coming to someone like yourselves and you guys take care of everything. So can you guys both talk to that for a while?

SPEAKER_04 1:18:33

I mean, hiring somebody directly is fine. You know, it's like if if if you want to give that a go, you know, there there are plenty of platforms and resources out there to go directly. The the question is again, is is are you adding more into your plate? And our goal is to try and help you to sit in the seat of being a business owner, to running your business with the vision that you have for yourself and for your family. And we do all of the the back-end work, the structure, the contracts, and everything else. So, you know, we we and and and also the investment that we put into the training and the development of the VAs and the training and the support for the clients, um, you know, it's it's an ongoing process. So, so we feel, at least from what our clients tell us, is that it's the best money spent. Um when you think about how many hours of your time you would have to do to handle all of that. And and are you getting the progress that you want in your business by doing it all yourself? So the idea of going through an agency like ours is that you you you constantly get that added value, Dane and Daniel.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:47

I mean, that's the cost savings. Um my two cents on that is from my years and years of experience. And I I think I also shared this at the event. I mean, I started the doing code particularly for this reason because there are lots of agencies out there. There is also direct. But I have spent my life trying to figure out how I can make this as efficient, as effective, and what makes it work. And I've tried all different variations. But these two main factors that make it really successful. And this is specifically about VAs. I'm sure it applies to anybody that's hiring anybody. Recruitment and the ongoing management. And those two together is a magic, you know, you need to have those two in order for it to be successful. So the recruitment, yeah, so we if you go onto a job board and you hire directly, all the risk is on you, basically. And if you if you if you have a lot of experience hiring people, do it. If you've never hired people before, culturally it's differ it's difficult different to pick up cues. Um and also it's remote. So it's really, really hard. So you can you absolutely can do it, but it it is a bit like a needle in a haystack because it's so overwhelming to say that every Filipino VA is amazing. I'll tell you that. But I also know that there is that there is the underbelly of it where um there are people that for whatever reason will um take on more jobs. So some people might have three full-time jobs because they then they may need to, which is unfortunate. There is a lot of exploitation where people underpay people, so they do need to have three full-time jobs, and then you can see it. We we can see patterns. Um, you know, we have our logs and um managing people for us is is about looking at behaviors and not everyone's perfect. We don't we don't ask people to be perfect because but so the recruitment is one side and then the ongoing management. So I certainly am not the person who says this, but the more you invest in people and their well-being and their care, the better they perform, the more inspired they are, and the harder they work. So we kind of do all of that. We you know, we focus on their professional development, personal development, and we do genuinely care about our team. So um, and we kind of do all of that so you don't have to if that's not your skill set or your strength.

unknown 1:22:02

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:22:02

And then you just your job is really just to um to give them tasks. But having said that, you know, love affairs, you know, every most of our clients they say they they think they have the best VA. Because because we do, we like to try and uh um, you know, match the people. But and it's amazing, you know, we sit at with that perspective when we see the clients and the VAs, and they are, they're like perfectly matched to each other. So yeah.

SPEAKER_04 1:22:25

But but again, that that just didn't happen. That took a lot of hours and hours of of analysis and evaluation to try and find like how do we look at the personality of the business owner. So it's it it's about personality matching um more than anything else. And we do look at personality and work ethic from the client side as well as from the the the VA side. And believe it or not, I mean, I think this might be a bit of a controversial thing to say, but we do screen our clients. We don't just take any client. I mean, you know, I mean, you know, yeah. So it's like if if if we know that a client isn't gonna fit within our business model, we would just say, sorry, this we're not for you. There might be somebody else out there for you.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:11

He does those hard conversations. Yeah. But he he does. He's very if we see them, yeah. If we see that they're not training their VA and we know it's it's it's kind of heading, you know, after the first two or three weeks, if there's nothing coming, you we're not gonna, you know, we're not gonna um we we need to coach them and tell them you've got you've got to um you know get more involved in training them because they're they'll otherwise they'll just be floundering.

SPEAKER_03 1:23:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:34

Um and that's a waste of everybody's time, and we'll rather take them and put them put them you know to better.

SPEAKER_04 1:23:39

But it but again, Dwayne, it's like it comes back to this whole point of this conversation. It's like if you're wanting to free up your time and you're wanting to to create the vision and the the business that you want, then why would you do it directly? It's like it's just adding more workload to your plate. And if you've never handled anyone offshore, it's it's a minefield. You know, it's like you don't even know where you're gonna put your feet. And um, and I think I think sometimes people think that it's easy, but again, it's not.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:08

Um it's not one of those money things. People think they're gonna save a few bucks, but like yeah, personally, I've I think it's um like people are crazy if they don't use your service. And like you touched on before, like your VAs, because they're all through you like your VAs get to network together. So like if they've got questions, they can reach out.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:27

That's right. We have communication.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:28

I mean, I've been planning a summit, and my whole summit is gonna be completely modeled on your summit, you know, having that day of R and R, then we're gonna have team building, um, you know, and and um presentations, um, and that yeah, I wanna yeah,

Keeping VAs Loyal Long Term

SPEAKER_00 1:24:42

absolutely.

SPEAKER_04 1:24:42

And so that they Yeah, and and also Duane, it's like it's wonderful just to hire somebody, but how do you keep them loyal to you so that they stay for the long journey? Because the worst part about it is that you get somebody in, they last six months, you then have to get a new vein, you've got to start that whole process again. Yeah, and it's like that's just a constant energy drain. Yeah. And why would you want to put yourself through that? So rather get someone like us that will just come in uh and and take care of them, nurture them, develop them. You know, we've got such a big community of VAs that share ideas and communicate with each other and share their knowledge and their intellectual property. It just a lot of our VAs come to us and say, like, this is the best place that I've ever experienced in my life. And that's we want them to experience that. So we do everything we can to make sure that our VAs are happy and they're flourishing and they're enjoying their jobs. Yeah, and it often means having hard conversations with some clients that are not pulling their weight. You know, it's not just the VAs, it's also the clients.

SPEAKER_02 1:25:42

Oh mate, I have no doubt there'd be a lot of people out there that just think they get a VA and their whole business is gonna change. But it's like everything in life, you've got to put in the F. That's exactly right.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:54

Um there was just one one thing that I will say on the note of longevity. Mostly the reason why a VA will leave is because something happens in their personal life and they they don't have the tools and they're too shy to talk about it. Um and then they'll either, you know, they'll just disappear. And it can be heartbreaking. And it's happened to me a f a few times, but we uh with our support as well, we really um encourage them to open up. So if you know people talk about like VA's ghosting, it's normally a personal situation and it's heartbreaking because the the builder loses their VA and the VA loses their job because something like their grandfather passed away, they need to go back to their home, you know, for for two weeks to to um you know um observe the grieving process. They don't feel confident um and they don't understand that Australians are actually really cool, you know, with with you know taking care of family. They'll do they think that their only option is to quit and then they won't tell you. So we I think one of the things we have really worked worked through, I mean, we have seen a lot of things where their first response is, I have to leave. They're crying because X has happened. And then we just coach them on how to how to how to get through that. And um, yeah, and I I I kind of got goosebumps because it's that kind of stuff that um shows them a different way as well. That you know, there are people that are loving, kind, supportive, um, where they may not have had that experience with past past clients.

SPEAKER_04 1:27:25

Yeah, so a lot of our VAs will share the most intimate personal things that are going on in their lives, whereas probably they wouldn't never, and a lot of them say to us, I I I just have never been able to share this kind of stuff before. And we get VAs crying with us. And you know, really we kind of feel like therapists sometimes, but it but it it but it really just shows that those bridges are solid and they're strong and they can they can get through it and it keeps the longevity going, it keeps the client relationship going, it keeps everything moving, but knowing that things happen in life, you know, yeah, and and a lot of them live in challenging situations, you know. The uh the Filipino cultures, they've got big families, um, they've got lots of personal circumstances to deal with and and responsibility, financial responsibility to families. Responsibilities to families. So our ability to support them.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:18

You've got to have a bit of understanding with their different culture.

SPEAKER_04 1:28:21

Yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_02 1:28:23

Now guys, I really, really appreciate you um well not only just coming on for this podcast, but coming over to attend the summit. Um I yeah, I just think it's fantastic what you guys are doing. I really encourage uh listeners to reach out to you guys and look, even if they're hesitant, just reach out and have a conversation with you and see what's possible. I I can only vouch from my personal experience and and now like enormous amounts of Live Up Build members that are putting VAs on, and we definitely see it from their involvement in the in the community. Um and actually something I didn't touch on during the podcasts um or earlier, just like we talked about with all the the softwares and things, like we have so many members that get their V, like they can't show up in the course platform, so they're now getting their VAs involved in the course platform, and their VAs implementing documents and procedures and systems

Level Up Takeaways And Next Steps

SPEAKER_02 1:29:14

that we have there for them. So the growth is huge once they jump on board with you. So um, last thing before we get out of here, um just from either of you, what does level up mean to you?

SPEAKER_04 1:29:24

Oh, that's a great question. Uh do you want to go first?

SPEAKER_00 1:29:27

No, you said one of us. One of us.

SPEAKER_04 1:29:30

What does level up mean? I think it in I think it says it as it is, like level up is growth, expansion, you know, really going, going, stepping out of your comfort zone and going above and beyond. Yeah. Awesome, Tavin.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:44

To me, it it it's the one percent every day, you know. How can I level up today? Like, what is that what is that one percent that I can do today to make something better? And then the next day, and the next day.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:59

Awesome. Love it, guys. Really appreciate you uh coming and spending some time with us.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:03

Thank you so much.

SPEAKER_02 1:30:04

Um, guys, thanks very much for listening. Hope you like this episode of the podcast. Um, look, I really encourage you if you're in the construction industry and you have a business that isn't quite going the way you want, you know there's got to be an easier way to do things. Um, firstly, reach out to Live Life Build if you're a builder. But um, secondly, reach out to these guys at the Doing Co, Greg and Tamson. VAs are amazing. I can definitely uh vouch for the ones that I have across my businesses, and they will they will change your life if you put in the time. So uh make sure you go to the DwaynePierce.com website, grab your level up merch so we can continue to grow the level up movement. And as always, if you've got any questions or you want to be a guest on the podcast, make sure you reach out to us, and we look forward to seeing you on the next one. Cheers, guys.