Welcome back to the Daily Mastermind, George Wright III with your daily dose of inspiration, motivation, and education. And I'm excited here today to be with Cameron Linford, who's the CEO and founder of Yoke Staff. Cameron, how are you doing today? Doing great. How are you doing? Good, good. We got a chance to visit for a little while, and I know that we do some things together. And so I really wanted to take this opportunity to get you on the show for a couple of reasons, But before I do, I want everybody to know kind of who you are. So let me give you a quick intro. As I mentioned, Cameron is the CEO and founder of Yoke Staff. And I think he's kind of basically a strategic workforce architect. And we'll talk a little bit about that. He's also a growth strategist for your business. But MBA trained operator, you know, he's a former athlete, passionate about helping people to not only reclaim their time, but create leverage and grow and sustain their business. So Cameron, you've got a very good background around this topic. So let's kind of start with Yolk Staff. Why did you start Yolk Staff? What was the purpose behind it? Because it wasn't just from what we talked about, just a cool tool for businesses. What was the reason that made you want to start this thing? Yeah, really, it started back several years ago. My wife and I were hired by an entrepreneurial man who wanted to start a bookkeeping service for small businesses. He'd had the vision, but he doesn't have any background directly with bookkeeping. But he wanted some people to basically he'd fund getting the business going and we'd build it. And there's some reasons he was interested in working with us. I'll fully admit probably the strongest and best reason is my wife, who is an accountant. But she's also originally from the Philippines. And so she got her education over there, has great connections with great accountants over there. And the idea that we could build a business to help businesses here, but then also help people over there as well, because we have a special place in our heart for the people over there with our connections there and her family there and everything. Amazing people over there. And so we started it primarily with the bookkeeping. and then we moved into after a while the benefits of being able to learn all the what it takes to start a company and what works what doesn't work and not have as much pressure because we weren't the ones you know yeah funding it right so it was a real blessing actually because you know i've got an mba and i've got that entrepreneurial spirit but it's a fun way to start a business rather than the traditional route. Yeah, it actually gives you something a lot of businesses don't have, which is you could focus on creating the systems and delivery without all the other stress. And sometimes people can't do both and that's why they fail. So yeah, keep going. Yeah, it was awesome. And this entrepreneurial guy, it was even more beneficial because he has multiple companies. And so basically we were able to even do the service for his companies, you know, and work out all the kinks. And so then we eventually decided why leave it at just bookkeeping. We've got connections with all kinds of great talented people over there that can do a lot of different things that can help a business. And so we started our own company, Yoke Staff, and expanded on it and brought all the lessons that we had learned and everything and expanded it to where pretty much anything a business needs nowadays, you can do almost anything virtually. You know, after COVID, it's amazing what we learned as a society. But these people that we're connected with, they're amazing. I mean, they've got multiple degrees, they can speak multiple languages, they've got tons of experience working with various companies as VAs. And it was very helpful to them because, you know, things shut down quite a bit here in the US with COVID, but on a whole other level it was shut down in the Philippines so they just needed opportunities and so we we expanded it to that and now we can provide just about anything like I said that they might need beyond bookkeeping but they can also if they need somebody that's really good at social media management or just special projects graphic design really you name it we can provide that to them well that's a great thing to kind of to now segue into because I think most people nowadays a few years ago it wasn't the case, but most people know what virtual assistants are, and I think they have a certain idea of what that means, and I want to talk to you about both to expand their vision of what it is, but also expand what it can do for their business, because most people just think, oh, I can get really inexpensive cost of goods or labor out there. They don't understand the degree of specialization and knowledge and skills and degrees and things like that, but they also do it from a simple standpoint of saving money, whereas they don't realize the benefits of leverage and duplicating your efforts and allowing you to focus more on what you're doing and not have to manage a staff. So talk to me a little bit about the type of VAs that are available and what the real benefits are to business besides just spending less money, which is obviously huge. Yeah, you're 100% right. Usually anybody that's looking for a VA, their first thought is save money. And while that is, you know, I'm the biggest proponent my whole life of how do I find the best deal? So I totally relate to that. But in the long term when you thinking about hiring anyone on staff if you can save money but then also make money because of them it a way better situation right What do you mean by that Tell me what you mean by make money with them Yeah so if you hire somebody that you go with the cheapest option and they're just going to do tedious little tasks, and you have to micromanage them quite a bit, and they do a decent job, but you're just getting some things done, maybe a little bit off your plate, and you're maintaining, and maybe have a little more free time, which is awesome. but if you bring someone in that is let's say your mentality is i want somebody to help me build my business we had a recent client for example this is one of the more high-end ones but he's a engineer and he wants to build his business and he was struggling finding people here locally that would stick around and actually be reliable he was going through multiple ones spending a lot of money to pay him and then he was having to redo their work anyway right because they were only okay at what they did we found him a very good engineer fully you know he who has experience working all over the world and so now he's got somebody on staff that is doing a lot of the engineering part for him he's able to go out and work one-on-one with his clients have more time for that and instead of coming home and realizing after all his meetings that day now i have to do the real work of the engineering he's got a staff that is doing a great job for him he only has to manage it and make sure that it's being done you know up to his standards and now he's because he's got so much demand with projects he can actually accept those extra jobs and boy he's his wife is probably the happiest person in the world because he's actually home at night instead of working. Yeah, that's a big part. And I want to just kind of reemphasize that for people that are listening. Look, virtual assistants, the reason so many very successful businesses use them is obviously as a cost benefit. But they when you really recognize the education and talent and skills, that's all good. The next level of understanding for VAs, in my opinion, and from my experience is when you identify and see the passion and commitment and the level of commitment that a lot of these individuals in the Philippines and outside of the U.S. let's say specifically have, you will be blown away. But the final level is when it's a strategic decision and you know that you're making a decision that allows you to go from having a VA to a true talent in your business, whether they help you to make more money or it frees up your time for you, there is an actual strategic growth decision happening there. It's not just a cost decision. That's at least been my experience. Would you agree with that? Yeah, 100%. Another example of that, exactly what you just described, we have a client, she approached us, she owns a dance studio. And like so many dance studios out there, they are just working like crazy, because they're trying to do it all. They don't really have a front desk person, they're teaching classes, they're trying to hire their staff, all kinds of things. She finally said, I need to try a VA. And she started out just a part-time thing to help run her go high level CRM and different things like that. And in the year and a half that we've worked with her, they've moved it into a completely a full-time position. And she's now moving, getting ready to move into a whole new facility that's much bigger because it's grown so much. And this VA is her, I mean, we stay very involved throughout the process. And so I get to have the joy of following their daily conversations of different strategic things. And they're like best friends. I mean, it's like different projects that they're doing and bouncing ideas off of each other. And this VA is communicating with all of their clients and making sure that they're getting their answers done. And now this business owner is able to focus on what she loves and that's teaching dance. And then when she has these business thoughts, She just sends them over to her VA and says, please work on this and let's get this done, right? And so it really is just so much fun to be involved in things like that for a business. Yeah, but you just articulated very well the next thing I wanted to kind of segue into, and that is I have been through the process before of finding VAs. And look, there's a lot of resources out there, but it's like anything else. It takes time and attention, and you have to learn your lessons on how to deal with VAs and things. So one of the reasons why a company would come to you is because you are the architect of the staff or staffing or whatever it is that people want to do. And so when I mentioned intro to you in the beginning, I talked to you about a strategic architect for the business because you adopt a bit. Not only do you help to coordinate that, which is a great service, but you help to construct. And you feel, at least this is one of the reasons why I wanted to talk with you, you feel it's not as simple as just getting a VA. You like a tailored approach. You like to find the needs of the business, not just find like we're doing a job interview. So explain to me why you feel it's so important to tailor to the business and what your process is to do that. Because I feel like that benefit is huge and still costs less than trying to bring on your own employees. So tell me about your process. Yeah, we really believe in the fact that when you're hiring a VA, it's almost no different than hiring someone in-house. There's going to be different systems. I mean, the communication and different things like that. But overall, if you want to bring someone in on your staff, then you want them to be part of your team, part of your family. And so if we can find people that match that for you as a business owner it going to be so much better It not just this nameless faceless person on the other side of the world It's we want them to become your right-hand man. We want them to feel valued. Well, I like your term where you said matched, right? So the point is you don't just have a need. They need to match your company and you, correct? Yeah, we had a person approach us. She owns a travel agency and she needed some help getting some things off her plate. We happened to have somebody that went to school to be a travel agent and lost her job through COVID because in the Philippines there was no tourism at all during that. But she has a passion for travel agencies and working in that industry. So she knows it left and right. And so now what a great pair, right? I mean, to hire someone to just do, you know, tasks is one thing, but hire someone that can, that has a passion for your business. Yeah. Total game changer. And it's a fairly quick process, right? I mean, you have the connections there. Like you said, your wife's from the Philippines. You match a company fairly quickly. It's not like it's a long process, right? Yeah. It doesn't take too, typically it doesn't take too long at all. Depending on the, like I mentioned the engineer earlier, we actually went through, that's the longest one that we've had because it's so important to find that perfect match. And that took probably about a month as we did different trial projects and different things to find that right match. But typically, if somebody's looking for, let's say, somebody to help them handle their CRM and their social media, we can have somebody within a week or so that works with what they're needing. I also have found, because I've worked with so many business owners, that there's a couple things, if you're listening to this, you've got to keep in mind. One is your business evolves, right? The minute you put a resource in that helps you scale, the job they might be doing will change in 30, 60, 90, 100, 20 days. So you have to – one of the reasons Cameron's got this success happening is because you've got to strategically look at where your business is going. And instead of just saying, hey, I need someone to do my social media, it could be someone that also has design skills to help you with your web or to service your clients. It could be something that can morph into that. So this idea of matching is not as simple as like I have a high-level account. and I need somebody to execute, or I have video production or whatever, you've got to be able to really strategically look at where your business is going and then fit those needs. And so I've seen that, I've known that's happened. And so that is not to be underestimated, the skill and the need for that strategy. Would you agree? Yes. I appreciate you mentioning all that because if you've got somebody that comes onto your staff that first of all, can meet what your current needs are, but you also see potential in them that they're going to grow with your company and your company is going to grow because of what they can continue to. So much better than, you know, okay, I've hired this person, but now they've got a ceiling that's quite low. But if I hire this person and their ceiling's quite high, I can actually grow with them, give them more things as I learn to work with them and learn what their strengths are and everything. And then vice versa. They love getting to know. I mean, they're like anyone else. They've got a family back home. They have goals to, you know, improve on their careers. And they want to have a job where, you know, they're appreciated and they can grow with that company. You know, it's no different than anybody else you'd be hiring. They don't want something short term. Usually they're looking for. Yeah, usually they're very committed long-term and want to go out of their way. But there are nuances that I think you found. I found that over time it helps to have those SOPs and things like this. Okay, so there's a big value in leverage and getting your time back and things with VAs. I think there's a huge value in being strategic about it and really crafting that. But you chose to go a little bit further, and we don't have to get into the details of it, but you have another company as well that actually creates coaching, training, and things for VAs and for companies. What made you see the need for that? Was that to make sure that the effectiveness in a certain niche or a certain type of VA was there? Or why did you decide to add this coaching business of being able to help specifically the VAs grow and develop? Yeah, one thing that's very common with just with a lot of companies is the turnover is tough in a lot of industries. You're constantly, especially like, say, a front desk type person, a customer service representative, front desk person. that's a hard job and it's not usually appreciated all that much and there's not a lot of opportunity for those people to it's not like you go to college to become a customer service representative there's not opportunities like that and so if you're good at it it's either because it comes naturally or you've really committed yourself to learn on your own yeah plus businesses hate the idea of on the job training when it comes to customer service right like last thing i want to do is practice on my customers. Yeah, exactly. So it's a tough thing. So as we're working with all these companies and we work with not only that, but a lot of these VAs that we work with that have a tremendous amount of experience, say 20 years of customer service representative type experience, they've seen everything. And so we've realized that a lot of these companies, they don't want the turnover and they want to provide their employees with ongoing education to make it so they enjoy their job better, that they're better at their job, and everybody wins. Because if they're better at their job as the face of the company the company going to do monumentally much better And so we saw this And it hard for a company if you trying to get more time to invest back in your VA and training and development, right? But that's a key that you're saying you're fitting that need of. Yeah, exactly. So if we can provide training for your current staff or somebody that you want to bring in, coach them up to be really good at what they do, and then provide means in which they can continue to practice without doing it on an actual client, but like AI mock calls to where those give instant feedback and you can practice as much as you need to. And then as a business owner, you can also monitor that. I mean, you can find out, are they doing a good job for me? You know, I've invested a lot into paying them. Are they treating my customers or potential clients the way I want them to be treated? Or do I need to train this person a little bit better? yeah i'm gonna i'm gonna put some i was gonna say sorry to interrupt you i'm gonna put some links in our show notes because we don't have time to cover it now but one of the things i was going to mention is you guys really are on the cutting edge i mean you even have ai tools and ai agents that will call your reps and have them work through so if you're listening to this and you're like man i don't know if i want to train my train these guys up on my clients that's one of the reasons that these guys are doing so well as they've even got ai agents that will call and interact with the reps and train them through. So it's pretty cutting edge what you're doing right now. It's pretty exciting. Yeah, we really enjoy it. And we were able to build that program out with one of our staff members that's from the Philippines. He's a coder and he built this amazing program for us to do that. So it's pretty fun. It's fun to build this stuff. Yeah. Well, let's do this. Before we take off, if somebody is interested in getting into overall expanding into VAs and things, what would be a recommendation or something you would say to them to keep in mind if they're going to go down this path? What would be your advice, recommendations, or whatever of where to start? Yeah, you know, just try and get a clear picture of what it is that you're at least initially wanting the VA to do. It's so overwhelming being a business owner. You've got so many things going on. You've got the things that you enjoy doing, and then you've got things that have to be done. If bookkeeping is something you just don't enjoy doing, you can't avoid it. It needs to be done for a business. But if that's one of the things that you want off your plate, then make sure that's what you're trying to find. If you feel like you got to get on social media and keep content every day, posting things, engaging with people on social media, if that's one of the things you want off your plate, then be clear about that as you start looking for somebody that can come in and fill that role. You know, it doesn't have to be someone in the Philippines. I mean, I've got a special place in my heart for that, but there's a lot of great VAs right here in the United States. You know, I mean, there's people that are going to be very good at it, but you've got to have a clear picture of what you want them to do and then be ready to treat them, you know, like a new employee that you're going to be willing to take the time to onboard them, get them very comfortable with what they're doing. you're going to need to be patient with them depending on the role but if you're committed to that then it's more than likely going to be successful but you've got to take that initial time you know at the beginning to figure out exactly what it is you want them to do be ready to onboard them just like you know your next door neighbor if you were to hire them yeah i agree and you know if you put that little bit of commitment in the leverage will be a major upside all right Well, Cameron, I appreciate you being here. What's the best way for people to connect with you? Where's the best place to go? And I can put these in the show notes as well. What's the best way to connect with you? Yeah, with the two things that we've got primarily, you can always contact us on our website and learn more about it, yokedstaff.com, so Y-O-K-E-D, staff.com. And then the other company that is, it's newer that we mentioned with the coaching, but we're so excited about it. We think it has the ability to be a total game changer, especially for companies in the home services industries. But that's ensiocoaching.com, E-N-S-I-O coaching.com. And we will respond pretty quickly if you just go there and find the contact information. Yeah, you guys have been very willing. And so I appreciate you spending time today. I know you got a lot of things going on as well. But I think this is a topic that with the Daily Mastermind, if you're listening to this, The reason I started is it's all about helping you to create more clarity, discipline, and focus so you can grow your business and create your best life. I believe it's never too late to start, you know, creating and living the life that you're meant to live. But you've got to get strategic with some of your decisions. And I think VAs and leverage and strategy around architecting your company is a super important topic. So I appreciate you guys listening today. Do me a favor and share this show. Hit us up on the Daily Mastermind on Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, pretty much every handle. And let us know what you're working on. Let's celebrate some wins. Also tell us what you're dealing with. I know a lot of you are struggling with burnout and stress and anxiety. This is the type of topics that drove why we brought on VAs. So have an amazing day. Once again, my name is George Wright III. You've been here today with Cameron Linford, and we'll talk with you soon. Have a great day. .
