Reading The Four Hour Work Week is easy. Implementing the lifestyle it puts forth requires effort, discipline, and often a bit of help from others.
Zsofia Banyai happens to be one of those others. She helps busy entrepreneurs automate and systematize their lives and is today’s guest for Mads Singers Management Podcast. Zsofia didn’t initially opt for the 4HWW life herself. Her undergraduate studies started in history but her practical side kicked in and pushed her towards finance, where she spent some years in the corporate world before starting her own business.
Zsofia shared that clients tend to come to her for two reasons. They either:
- Want to proactively put systems into place and delegate better
- Aren’t excited about putting systems in place, but know that the only alternative is burnout.
- That led to an important conversation about setting expectations and Zsofia has a one-hour video to onboard new members of her team and I mentioned that kickoff calls are a key part of our onboarding process for virtual assistants as well.
We also discussed the importance of giving team members ownership and impressing on them early on that they can own processes that they develop for clients. Rather than heavy-handedly insist on doing it a particular way, one should really give the person responsible for actually executing the task the opportunity to document the process, but only after they’ve done it a few times and are comfortable with it. They should also set up time periods when the process should be reviewed, and if necessary, updated.
Zsofia also shared that sometimes total automation isn’t the answer for every problem, as in addition to the time spent necessary to get the automation up and running, these tools can frequently cost a fair amount of money as well.
It was a pleasure speaking with someone who is helping solopreneurs build their best lives and businesses and it’s clear that Zsofia has a passion for elimination, automation, and outsourcing.
Key Learning:
- Zsofia shares one of the biggest challenges she faced in starting her business – 2:10
- Zsofia talks about the first thing she focuses on when onboarding a new client – 4:25
- Zsofia emphasizes the importance of clients clearly stating their expectations – 6:08
- Mads notes the importance of onboarding calls as another way to set expectations at the beginning of any working relationship, whether with clients or team members – 16:45
- Zsofia underlines the importance of proactively asking questions of her clients and never assuming anything – 18:15
- Mads gives listeners a tip about outsourcing and documentation – 22:32