This week’s episode of Good Girls Get Rich is brought to you by Uplevel Media CEO and LinkedIn expert, Karen Yankovich. In this episode, guest Donna Miller shares with Karen her advice to budding entrepreneurs.
Donna Miller, the president and founder of C3Workplace, is a business and community leader, speaker, educator, and entrepreneur who is passionate about seeing small businesses thrive.
#GoodGirlsGetRich
We want to hear your thoughts on this episode! Leave us a message on Speakpipe or email us at info@karenyankovich.com.
About the Episode:
The COVID-19 pandemic has made life more difficult in many ways, and it can make it even more confusing for a budding entrepreneur to know where to begin.
Donna recommends that all entrepreneurs start with a business plan. She also recommends that, from day one, entrepreneurs shouldn’t charge as if they are the only ones doing the work, but rather as though they were paying someone else to do the work for them.
Every decision the entrepreneur makes should be data-driven, but it should also be filled with intuition. Yes, the two can go hand-in-hand! It’s also important that entrepreneurs surround themselves with a group of people who will support them – this doesn’t mean telling them what they want to hear but rather what they need to hear.
Don’t let Covid hold you back from achieving your dreams. Hear more from Donna by listening to this episode!
Episode Spotlights:
- Where to find everything for this week’s episode: karenyankovich.com/146
- Introducing this episode’s guest, Donna Miller (1:53)
- C3Workspace (3:23)
- Shift mindset of productivity (11:40)
- What do you want your life to look like? (13:47)
- Donna’s story (14:44)
- Donna’s advice for budding entrepreneurs (17:29)
- Make data-driven decisions with intuition (20:09)
- Build your tribe of people who will support you (24:50)
- How Covid has shifted things for Donna (29:12)
- What’s next for Donna and C3Workspace (31:28)
- Where you can find Donna (32:45)
Resources Mentioned in the Episode:
- Where you can find Donna Miller
- Sign up for the She’s LinkedUp Masterclass
- Join my free Facebook Group if you have any questions about today’s episode
- hermillionairenetwork.com
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Read the Transcript
Karen Yankovich 0:00
You’re listening to the good girls get rich podcast episode 146.
Intro 0:06
Welcome to the good girls get rich podcast with your host, Karen Yankovich. This is where we embrace how good you are girl, stop being the best kept secret in town, learn how to use simple LinkedIn and social media strategies and make the big bucks.
Karen Yankovich 0:23
Hello, I’m your host, Karen Yankovich. And this is Episode 146 of the good girls get rich podcast and this podcast is brought to you by she’s linked up where we teach simple relationship and heart based LinkedIn marketing to women that gets you on the phone consistently with your perfect people, people who will change your business, your life and your bank account for forever. So I’m really looking forward to for you to hear today’s episode with Donna Miller, Donna and I have known each other for a few years now. And we live in the same state we’ve run into each other at networking events and got to know each other and did a couple of events during this pandemic world some virtual events and we realized how even though we went to completely very different businesses, there’s a lot of similarities in what we do. And I really wanted you to hear Donna’s point of view on how COVID and is affecting local businesses and just all the all the things that she’s been able to do to grow and really thrive her business, even in these challenging times. So if you listen before, or if you love what you hear today, you know, we love to hear from you. So make sure that you leave us a review or share on social media that you’re listening, take a quick screenshot of this episode, tag me tagged on all of our links are in the show notes for this episode at Karen Yankovich comm slash 146. And I look forward to seeing them because then I can give you a shout out to my audience. And that’s how we all win. Right. So buckle up and listen in to Donna Miller. So we are here today with Donna Miller, who is president and founder of the C three workplace. She’s a business and community leaders speaker, educator, and an entrepreneur who’s passionate about seeing small businesses thrive. She’s helped thousands of companies to start and grow by providing office space, virtual assistants, bookkeeping, educational programs and advisory services. She believes that company should be a force for good and very much believes in the power of collaboration. She’s the recipient of numerous awards and is a sought after speaker and author. And I’m grateful to be a servant leader in many volunteer and pro bono roles. And Donna and I know each other personally because we don’t live far from each other. And we’ve we’ve been at same the same conferences many times. Donna, it’s so good to have you here today.
Donna Miller 2:37
Thank you, Karen, I am delighted to be here to share whatever parts of my story might help one of your listeners.
Karen Yankovich 2:45
Yeah. So Donna and I met I where I used to live, I was a member of a chamber of commerce in northern New Jersey. And I still do a lot of work with that chamber where whenever I’m called to and I love working with local business owners. And I remember when I first met you, Don, I was impressed. And I want you to tell everybody a little bit about what c three workplace is. But I remember looking at that thinking, oh boy, do I need one of those down here where I live now and Oh, God, read there are none. By the way. If you’re looking to expand, there are none. And there might be good business reasons for that. But I’m still you know, I’m still harping on please somebody open something down here like that. So tell everybody a little bit about what you do. And what c three workplaces?
Donna Miller 3:23
Sure. So at C three workplace, as you mentioned earlier, we help companies start and grow. And really how we’re doing that is by giving them a place where they can focus on driving their business forward, and a resource to help them stay focused on that which drives the business forward. And that’s a long way of saying we offer co working and flexible office space. I’m sure some of you have heard of we work or Regis, but our differentiating factors that we’ve built a community around people who believe what we believe. So we provide office space, we provide virtual assistants, we provide bookkeeping, and the place where I spend most of my time these days is around business coaching and consulting. And to as best I can tie all that together. The C three stands for Connect collaborate community, I really believe in the power of collaboration. And we model that behavior for our clients. And we teach them that once they identify those things that drive their business forward, we’re sure that collaboration is a smart thing for everyone. We model that and we teach them how to do it. And at the end of the day, the goal is to help people build businesses that provide them with the work life balance that they’re looking for. Give them away if they want to to build an organization that they do not have to be involved in in the day to day and I’m doing all of that because that’s what I’ve done. I started out I often say I’m recovered micromanager but I’ve grown into a multi location organization that runs without me and now it’s beginning to grow Without me, which is a very exciting thing for any entrepreneur. So I take what I’ve learned through my own experience, and I help others to do the same.
Karen Yankovich 5:10
Yeah. So you know, in the role that I’m in now is always been kind of like a work from home type environment. And I do, you know, occasionally rent conference rooms are like, Did pre COVID, I was renting conference rooms, when I would work privately with clients and clients would fly in from wherever and wherever they or I’d fly to them, or I go to them and you know, or if I was going to be traveling somewhere, sometimes I’d be like, Hey, I’m going to be in Phoenix, who you know, who’s ready for summit one on one strategy knows, I could segment my list that way. And I would use you know, we work Regis all those places you just mentioned, and I, I love it. And even here where I live now, there’s nothing really all that close to me. And while I love working from home, I mean, I do I’m blessed to be able to do that. I’ve you know, I love this setup that I have so much so that I’m I like to think of myself as you know, like have the laptop lifestyle, but I really kind of miss when I’m not at my desk with all the all the you know, fast internet and the best computer and all that I do really miss the people, right like the water cooler type stuff. And you know, when you’re home, no matter how focused you try to be, your doorbell rings, your laundry calls you you know, something happens when you need to do like I, I realized, when I bought this house, I was getting a lot of work done on the house. And I would go to a local coffee shop where you can’t really talk to a lot of calls there. But I was getting so much work done just in like four hours at a coffee shop, that I thought I would love to have something close by that I could just go to it a few times a week even to just get more focused work done so that my work life balance is a little bit more organized than it is now. And so that’s what I love about what you offer.
Donna Miller 6:50
Yeah, and I think the truth is, Karen, that working at home is great. And of course we’re all doing it more than ever before. But what I find is there comes a point. And it could be full time, it could be part time, as you talked about where productivity becomes an issue or as you’re growing your business, there also comes a point where getting dressed and going to an office gives you some some credibility. And I don’t mean that externally. I mean, internally, you get your own buy in, you get your own buying on the the legitimacy of your business, it can be hard to do that if you’re sitting on your bed with a laptop. So you know, what we seek to do is offer this flexible program where you can keep your fixed overhead as low as possible for as long as possible. So it could start with a virtual office, you just use the mailing address so that your home address stays private and, and you can use what you need and grow. And that’s what we’ve done is we’ve created a suite of services that you can almost walk up a ladder to the place where you’re trying to get to.
Karen Yankovich 7:54
That’s amazing. And it’s so important for as you’re building your business, right. as entrepreneurs, we feel very often like we are alone in this and many online communities to support entrepreneurs, it’s you still have to reach out and find those places, right? Whereas if you’re going someplace even again, even just having the you know, somebody to bat things around, and I love that you offer offer additional services to go with it. That’s amazing.
Donna Miller 8:23
Absolutely. Well, you know, the truth is you mentioned before watercooler and I often say there really is there’s nothing small about small talk. And you know, I’m sure we’ll we’ll talk about our current environment. And I think work at home is sustainable to a certain point. But I think that we are missing out on that watercooler connection. And that’s really what it is, as humans, we’re meant to work in community work to live work and worship and community. And so I think that these, we I believe we are well positioned for the future in offering this flexible space. And as you said, also offering other ways to help companies whether it’s, you know, email management, or CRM implementation, or project management, all those things that are probably not things that the typical business owner has in their skill set. And what I find is that sometimes business owners because they bootstrapped it, and I really respect that and I get it, and I did the same thing. But there comes a point where it no longer makes sense for you to be the person to figure something out. You know, you’ve got to find a way to delegate and outsource and, you know, we bring a level of expertise to the table that gets it done fast gets it done, right. And helps you to then take the next step with your business.
Karen Yankovich 9:39
Yes, and you know, we feel like often, you know, I know that I’ve done this myself many times, like I feel like because I can balance my checkbook, I should balance my checkbook, but that’s not true. You know, because I should be growing my business. I should be doing the things that I do best not just because I can do it. And every minute that I spend doing things like balancing myself checkbook is a minute that I’m not growing my business or spending time with my family. Right? So I agree with you 100% on the you know, in the beginning, we’re bootstrapping whatever we can. But the sooner the sooner you can have the bravery and it takes bravery. It takes guts to hire your first virtual assistant or your bookkeeper, whatever. As soon as you can hire that. And then literally, I mean, and until then, it also comes down to like, maybe it’s a housecleaner. Right, like, right, like, if you, you know, like, it’s whatever you need to do to that you are spending your time productively growing your business is money that’s well spent. And that takes guts to do that in the beginning. And then once you start doing it, that’s just how you leverage and grow. And having you know, what I love about what you offer is is also trusted, right? Because, you know, if I said, Okay, you know, if I talk to somebody today and said, Okay, let’s, we need to get you a bookkeeper. And of course, I know some, but I’m gonna pretend I don’t how do you find a bookkeeper? Now you got to interview them? And it takes less time to do your stinking checkbook than die or somebody? Right? But you could they can go to you and say, okay, Donna, who do we? Who do we use for this? Right, and they know that you’ve already vetted it, and that, you know, and trust it.
Donna Miller 11:16
That’s a really good point, Karen, because you can certainly hire many bookkeepers, many virtual assistants, what we bring to the table is a team approach. So you’re getting not only are you getting back up, you know, we’re never off because there’s always someone there, but you’re getting the collective wisdom of the team. And for me, our team, they’re highly credentialed. They’re You know, they’re QuickBooks certified pro advisors, they’re tyshee Pro advisors. But you know, the other thing is, you know, you talked about balancing your own checkbook. And I think that sometimes business owners as they’re growing can get stuck in being busy versus being productive. And I think we often have to shift our mindset of what being productive really is. So if, for instance, you can outsource your bookkeeping and save, I don’t know, four hours a month, if you took those four hours and did some creative, strategic planning, or created some content, or made some biz dev calls, you are absolutely, and this is what we talk about new clients, what we talk with new clients about is, okay, if you’re going to get this off of your plate, well, how are you going to spend that time so that, you know, you’re going to get an ROI on this investment that you’re going to make? So there’s a whole continuum. And so when we’re working with clients, on Office rental, or virtual assistants, or bookkeeping, we’re taking that business owner approach of the bigger picture, not just the task, but what does that mean to the bigger picture and, and I think that’s where, you know, my team does an amazing job of really helping to move companies forward.
Karen Yankovich 12:48
That’s amazing. That’s awesome. And that’s so important. It’s so important, you know, again, because, you know, you help businesses feel less alone, as they’re growing their business. And, and also, you know, what, sometimes when you see other, it’s easy to get, like, you know, they talk about the the statistic, you’re the sum of the three people you spend the most time with, right? So if you’re if people are coming in there, and they’re seeing businesses that are thriving, because they’re starting to invest a little bit, and getting some of the support, or in spending more time on business development, rather than the busy work, then they can start to model that and grow their own business instead of being in the house. And, and right, you know, and rightfully so, because a lot of the people in our lives don’t understand entrepreneurs, right? And they’re like, you know, what are you doing, like, you’re paying somebody to do what, you know, I can do that for you. Right? They don’t get it. So you’ve got to get, you’ve got to have a community of people that understand about growing an entrepreneurial endeavor.
Donna Miller 13:47
I agree. And I think that, you know, as, as I work with business owners over the years, I often say bigger isn’t always better, I think part of what every business owner needs to do is decide, you know, what they want their life to look like. And if you want to become an organization that that runs without you, and there’s some scaling involved in that. And that’s not necessarily right for everyone. But if that’s something you want to do, if you want to become an organization, you really need to think like an organization before you can act like an organization, as one of the challenges is, you know, sometimes business owners wait too long to delegate. And then they end up on a hamster wheel. And it’s really hard to get off because it’s going to take them 60 minutes to explain something that takes them 10 minutes to do and they’re like, Oh, that’s gonna take me too much time. But that’s the thinking that keeps them on the hamster wheel.
Karen Yankovich 14:41
Right? Right. So let’s take a step back. I want to hear a little bit about your story who and what inspired you to to move into this direction in your career?
Donna Miller 14:50
Great question. I think it’s more of a a what than a who, for me, for me was necessity. I I’ve had see three workplace. I was 26 years, just recent. And prior to that I worked for another very small share facility. For seven years. That was my way of learning the trade. I recommend that to anyone before they open a company. And I was supposed to buy the business from him. It didn’t work out, I had two children, a 10 year old and a seven year old. And I number one wanted to be a present Mom, I wanted work life balance before anybody was talking about work life balance, I needed to make a certain living. And so I wrote a business plan. I did what I have done, maybe a million times since then I figured it out. I wrote a business plan. I raised money. And I opened 1.2 miles from where my prior employer was located. And I have surrounded myself with, you know, smart people who could help me accomplish the things that I didn’t know how to accomplish. But for me, I it was really, it has always been about having a business that funds the life of my dreams. I am not into working 80 hours a week, I never have. So for me, it was always about work life integration.
Karen Yankovich 16:07
Awesome. Awesome. That’s amazing. That’s amazing. And but you know what, then? So as you started to do that, what brought you to? I mean, I would imagine at some point, you had to invest in a facility to do this, right? So
Donna Miller 16:20
Oh, yeah. Oh, I had to invest from the get go. Yeah. So.
Karen Yankovich 16:23
So once you just saw the business model, because you had worked in the field?
Donna Miller 16:27
Yes. Well, I said, good question. I saw the business model because I worked in the field. But I worked in the field, because the very first position I had, was in a building that had a shared office facility, probably the first in New Jersey, and I just saw what they were doing. And I thought, how logical doctors and lawyers have been sharing the cost of all that administrative, why not business owners and entrepreneurs. So I just thought it was completely logical. And when I went to work for that gentleman, I had a low salary and a percentage of profit. And when I filled up the business, it filled up the facility, like, Okay, how am I going to make more money and that truthfully, again, necessity, that’s how I ended up making more money was I did what smart business owners do, which is okay, how can I collect more money from the same client for the half?
Karen Yankovich 17:16
My guy? Exactly, exactly. high value, just more value.
Donna Miller 17:21
And so that was the groundwork for the differentiating factor that that we have come to represent.
Karen Yankovich 17:27
Yeah. So I know. I mean, listen, we both live in New Jersey, we both do a lot of speaking. So that’s where we run into each other a lot. So I’m sure that there’s a lot of people that see you and admire you, not just me, right? So what would you advise people that are kind of especially young people that are looking, because you know, we’re living in these uncertain times, and entrepreneur, people are looking more and more towards entrepreneurial endeavors, and successfully accomplishing it? Right? People that have always just had a paycheck? Or like looking at people like you and going, how do you do this? Right? What do you do by it? What do you tell them?
Donna Miller 18:06
Well, there are so many things that I would tell them. But I think and again, I always share from a perspective of what’s worked for me. So what I would say is number one, you You must, must must must have a written business plan that needs to include you know, your marketing strategy, your financial strategy, your operations, and that you need that business plan, even if you are starting up a solo business from your house. Because the truth is, it costs money to be in business, whether it’s your time, whether it’s hiring outside resources, it costs money, and you need to know what you’re going to invest in this new venture to, to decide, does it make sense so, so number one, have a business plan, because the other part of a business plan is, it’s great to have passion about what you do. But you have to have a plan to monetize the passion. And that’s where the finances come in. And my point on top of that is you must charge as if you were hiring someone else to do the work from day one. All of that is probably
Karen Yankovich 19:17
high fiving you from across on that? Oh my gosh, yeah.
Donna Miller 19:21
Right. So So the truth is, you need a business plan, and you need to continually update that data. That’s number two. So business plan leads to data. And data is not only what do I charge, but ultimately data is what’s my most profitable service product or product offering so that that’s where I spend my marketing and advertising dollars. So to me, the key piece is that business planning and you know what, financial literacy is not optional if you’re a business owner, and it’s okay if you don’t have it, because many people you know, it is overwhelming. There’s a lot of volunteer, it’s not just a p&l and a balance sheets, all kinds of things. You can hire that so you know whether it’s c three workplace or Whomever that financial literacy is a superpower that every business owner either needs to have or buy. So you know, I mean, there’s so much that I could say, but that business plan and then data and making data driven decisions that you combine with your intuition. Now we’re talking lightyears ahead.
Karen Yankovich 20:20
Mm hmm. Tell us a little bit about that. Let’s dive that. Let’s dive down.
Donna Miller 20:24
That’s really good. So So I’ve always said that, you know, I think that okay, and I’ll back it up a little bit. So the other thing I think is really important is that I think it’s important, this is also part of your business plan, is that every person get clear on their mission? What do they do their values? What do they stand for? And their vision? Where are they going? Okay, mission values vision. And I think that, once you get clear, especially on your values, and you start to live them out loud, it amplifies your intuition, I believe, we all have the voice of something greater than us inside of us. Some people recognize their intuition because they get a churning in the gut, and they know something is wrong. Well, I believe you can increase your muscle of intuition, I believe it’s like a muscle that you know, increases, I think you can increase your intuition to make positive decisions. And if you combine that intuition with data, Oh, my gosh, it’s really kind of unbelievable. So I never disregard my intuition. There was a time when I always felt I had to be able to articulate it. But having worked that muscle over the years, I simply trust it.
Karen Yankovich 21:44
Wow. So for me, I love that. And I agree with that completely. And the biggest challenge that I had around that was listening to it, listen to that, listening to it, listening for it. Mm hmm. So you know, I have this left brain that just takes off. And it’s just running all the time. And, you know, I’ve had to almost trick it into being quiet enough for me to hear my intuition, right, because it’s so incredible. And sometimes, I’ll hear things that I’m like, really, alright, I’ll do it. You know, but there’s always a reason for it. Like, I remember distinctly because for me, like, you know, I like to start my mornings, intentionally, right, kind of a little with a little bit of quiet time and a little bit of like, introspection around what the day is bringing whatever. And so meditation is a part of that. But I was experimenting with meditation. And one of the things that works really well for me is to just kind of sit quietly and say, What do I need to hear? Like, what am I What did I not hear yesterday? What did I What do I? What do I need to hear? Like, and then I just whatever it is, I write it down? You know, and sometimes it’s things like, you know, go to the beach, and like, go to the beach. Like, okay, I love the happy to do that. But sometimes really what that does is like, you just need to get out of your you need to get clear your head, you know? So it doesn’t your intuition. My intuition doesn’t always tell me why I need to do these things. I’ve learned to listen for them. Because there’s always a good reason for it, even if I don’t understand the reason when it’s coming up, if that makes sense. You know, because when I don’t do that, that is when things start to slip. Absolutely, we are so much smarter than we even know. And we absolutely I think we don’t give ourselves credit. In fact, I don’t even know if you know this, but in my my shoes linked up accelerator program, our strategy program that we offer, there’s a mindset video in every single module, because I think it’s really important not just to do the things, but to be the person that you want to be to be able to achieve these things. And you have to start to be that person today, or these per store to sort to shine a light on that person and start to beam out the energy of that person. So that other people, when they’re connecting with you start to see you as that person. And that’s how you can start to grow. Because if you just think about all the things you used to do, then you just kind of get stuck there. Right? So you need to listen a little bit to be able to be able to move into the future. I love that you incorporate that in all of your, you know, left brain stuff that you build in some of the right brain stuff as well.
Donna Miller 24:22
Absolutely. And I think the other thing that’s really important, and I agree, I have a morning, I have a morning routine, and I’ve been doing it for years, and I get up at 5am. And, you know, I happen to be a Christian. So it’s scripture, and it’s, you know, be still and, and I have to spend time doing that. And I have to say that, you know, we’re we’re broadcasting, I don’t know, we’ll be eight or nine months into COVID. But I have to say that during this season, I found it a little bit harder to quiet my mind. And so I have to do new things. And I’ll tell you what I’m doing in a minute. But the other thing that I think is really important in this process of building your business is yes, you have to listen to your intuition and you have to develop that muscle. But you also have to build your tribe of people that are going to support you in this walk. So, you know, we can’t do an isolation, we already mentioned that. And I think it’s really important to surround yourself with people who tell you what you need to hear, not what you want to hear. And oh my god, they all of that, because one of the things that I am now doing is I have decided, in the middle of all of this, that I only want to work a three day workweek, I want a four day weekend, this is me stepping into what my future is going to be. And it’s allowing me to spend more time in that quiet place so that my three days are super, super productive. And, you know, it allows me more time to be present, to be mindful to work on the things that are important. And that idea came to me from a group of people that I mastermind with on a regular basis, it was such a simple idea. And the way it came about, I wouldn’t have seen it because we all have blind spots. And we have to create structure to be able to address our own blind spots. No one I I’ve been in business for 26 years, I have had a business coach or a mastermind for the entire 26 years. I am completely self taught completely self made. I know my intuition, I trust my intuition. But I also trust the opinion of valued people that are that are more successful than me and further along in the process. So it’s all in that comes back to community. And collaborating.
Karen Yankovich 26:32
Yeah, yeah. Oh, my gosh, that’s such good advice. That’s such good advice. Same, I have had moments where I haven’t and I every time I don’t have that I miss it and regret. Yeah, and I don’t live with regrets. But I understand the value, the value of it, and, and it and it requires you to think bigger to write back to that, back to that, you know, thinking bigger, like making sure that you’re when you create your pricing that you’re building all that in, right, you’ve got to build that. And that’s all part of what you do. And and that’s that’s the first mindset hurdle that I think many, many, at least one I feel like, and this is probably an unfair thing to say but local entrepreneurs, right. Like, I feel like when entrepreneur groups that I’m in that are that are virtual, seem to have more support around that. But I think with a were like just using examples of like, doctor’s office, yoga teachers, things like that, like, you know, well I How can I charge? You know, more than $75 for massage? That’s an hour, it’s an hour set? $75 an hour? I’m like, No, it’s not. Right. Like, no, it’s not you have there’s many, many hours that go into you being able to stand over that massage table. Right? It’s not $75 an hour and that. And that’s why you know, and listen, that build like imagine. It’s funny, like when I speak to groups like that, where I feel like there’s a lot of mindset like that, often I get asked like, what is the one piece of advice you would give and I would say double your double your prices. And they’re like, why I’m like, I’m not looking for you to double your prices for what you do. Like, think about if you’re charging $100. Now think about how amazing it would be to have $200 and all the cool things you can now offer. Because now you can over deliver and you’re coming from a space of over delivering not a place of well, I can’t do this because there’s not enough in the budget. Right? Like, and that’s just an amazing place to run your business from. And that’s who I want to work with. Right? I don’t work with people that are over delivering to me.
Donna Miller 28:27
Absolutely. And, and you know, the truth is, especially, you know, ideal, largely in a b2b professional services firm. And I always say to people, what you really hire the least expensive lawyer, the least expensive accountant. No, you’re not price shopping, when you come to advice. So when it comes to getting support for your company or LinkedIn guidance, are you really going to hire the least expensive person? No. And also, I will tell you this, if you don’t price, and I know you know this, Karen, if you don’t price yourself appropriately, you’re actually attracting the wrong people. Yeah. Right. So I completely agree. And it needs to become a value proposition. How are you delivering more value than the next person? That’s really what it becomes?
Karen Yankovich 29:08
Yes, Yep. Yep, absolutely, absolutely. So tell me a little bit about how things have shifted for you. In this crazy new world we’re finding ourselves in right now.
Donna Miller 29:19
You know, I’ve spoken a lot in the past several months on leading remote teams and work life balance in this new norm. And, and what I’ve often said is that nothing is the same and everything is the same. I’ve been leading a remote team for a long time. I believe the key to leading a remote team is communication, communication, communication. And now in this current environment, I think communication becomes really simple checking in with your people and saying, Hey, how are you today? Do you feel okay, is there anything I can do? I think as leaders, we all have to be aware that the next wave is going to be mental health people are stressed out. So I think that One of the things I’m doing differently internally is i’m i’m looking less of productivity and more mental health of my people, just kind of you know, because if I know if they’re okay, they’ll be productive. And like everyone else, we took a good hard look at everything we were doing, and what needed to stay what needed to go. One of the things we’re doing differently. And this, this is an idea that came from my team wasn’t mine, we have created what we’re calling a family share office, we’ve got a lot of couples that are working at home, and they have children. And so we have people who are renting offices that they can alternate use of the office, because our offices if they’re full time, or 24, seven, but also, we’ve put in small deaths in the offices, and if they have a child who’s seven years or older, they can bring that child in and the kids are loving it. And the families are loving it. So we took when we may saying that, yeah, I mean, we’ve always been a family friendly. I mean, I brought my kids, I have tenants who have brought their kids. That’s who we are. So I think and again, when you get that quiet time, and you you that’s where the great ideas come from, I bet everyone who’s listening to this podcast will say they get great ideas at like 3am, or in the shower, wait, we have to find more of the 3am in the shower time. So we come up with the great ideas. But so some things are very different, many things are the same. And I believe that in every challenging situation, there’s opportunity. And that’s what we have to find as business owners.
Karen Yankovich 31:26
Amazing. Amazing. So what’s next? Or c three? And four? Donna?
Donna Miller 31:31
Well, that’s a great question. What’s next for Donna is as I step further and further away from the company, I am raising up my leadership team. And that’s why I mentioned before that this is a company that’s beginning to grow without me. So now my life is way more advisory and day to day, which I love some. And so I will shift and I will work more in my consulting capacity. And I have a few companies that I work with. And I’m building a little portfolio that I kind of like as well, I am not the retiring type, I just want to do what I do from anywhere. And I’m pretty much already there. And the future of C three is helping, I want to I want to be able to say that I helped 10,000 companies to start and grow. And that’s the legacy that I want to leave to this world. And it is about legacy. And that’s one of my values is really about creating impact. And so that’s what we’re always looking to do is how can we create impact and you know, now more than ever a small business is what is driving this country forward. And I believe it’s more important than ever. And so I’m on a mission to help as many businesses as I can.
Karen Yankovich 32:42
Amazing, amazing. So Donna, how can people find more out about you? And if you’re in New Jersey, and you’re looking for something like Donna’s location you can do you can check out c three but you want with people everywhere, right?
Donna Miller 32:54
Yeah, we do we work. In fact, really, at this point, we probably have about 250 clients and maybe 25 of those are office rentals. So the vast majority of my our business is the bookkeeping and the virtual assistants and the coaching. So we do that anywhere. So they can visit our website, see three workplace Comm. You’ll see we do events, we are always trying to equip and empower and all my contact is on there. But you know, I’m on Facebook, I’m on LinkedIn, I’m on Instagram, and Donna at sea three replaced calm is my email. And I
Karen Yankovich 33:26
will get linked to all those places in the show notes
Donna Miller 33:28
beautiful, beautiful, beautiful and and that’s Yeah, that’s that’s
Karen Yankovich 33:32
awesome. Well, thank you so much for being here. It was good to catch up, Donna and I in the beginning of this whole COVID thing I co hosted a luncheon, learn for a couple of sessions for a local Chamber of Commerce. And it was so fun. I wanted to have her on the show because there was just a lot of synergy, I think in mapping not even what we do as much as how we do it right and how we approach it. And I just think that I love that you come from a place of service. And I think that that serves the New Jersey community really well. So thank you for doing that.
Donna Miller 34:01
Well, I love what you’re doing as well. And you’re really helping women especially to be more successful. And LinkedIn is just so important to all of us now.
Karen Yankovich 34:10
Yeah, yeah. All right. Well, thanks for being here and check out Donna’s stuff. You definitely want to follow and follow her journey because it’s very inspiring. Thanks for being here, Donna.
Donna Miller 34:20
Thanks, Karen.
Karen Yankovich 34:21
I hope you enjoyed Donna as much as I do. I love showcasing the really smart, successful women in my world with you and just take a page from Donna’s notebook man I have I love when she talked about how she’s created a business that not just survives while she’s not around but thrives and grows. And that is what we should all be striving for. Right. I know that that was really an impactful statement to me. So I’m certainly going to be paying attention to that. If you are looking for some support and helping your business thrive and grow. You know I’m always here for you. We are offering complimentary consultations, complimentary breakthrough calls to anyone that really wants to chat about whether LinkedIn is the place for you to be to take your business to the next level in the next few months in the next year. And I’d love to chat with you. So just schedule a call at Karen Yankovich comm slash call schedule a breakthrough call. We’ll chat with you. We’ll talk about what’s working in your business. Most importantly, we’ll talk about where you want to go in your business in the next few months. And if we think that LinkedIn is a place that can help you get there, we’ll tell you what that looks like. And one way or the other that we want you to get serious value from these calls. It is it is our favorite thing to do is get on these breakthrough calls with you. So get in on this while we’re still offering them Karen Yankovich comm slash call gets you on our calendar. I look forward to seeing you on the calendar. And I hope to see you back here next week. We have a really special episode next week. I don’t say this very often, but I’m going to get a little vulnerable next week on our show next week, but you got to listen in to hear what it’s all about. So check it out. subscribe so you don’t miss it. And we’ll see you back here next week on the good girls get rich podcast