Do you hurt them like Ben Affleck?

Sam Fender's song Seventeen Going Under is probably one of the most honest songs I have heard for a long time. Always been a fan of Sam and the lyrics of this song in particular depicting his early battles, really gave a snap shot into his previous struggles. So it was much to my surprise when I heard the lyrics

"You hurt them like Ben Affleck" within the song.

I did chuckle slightly and think well that's weird, but quite a good lyric and I'm sure the likes of Gwyneth and Jennifer G would agree that Ben can leave a scar or two.

It was a good few weeks after having the album on constantly that I thought I would just look a bit further into the lyrics. Turns out the actual lyric is " You hurt them like they're nothing". Gwyneth and Jennifer G probably felt the same anyway.

I think the whole world is a lot happier now "Bennifer" are back together, so we'll say sorry Ben and apologies for being mean.

It does go to show though how easy it is to misinterpret communication if it isn't clear and if something doesn't sit right or make sense then we should delve deeper to clarify or set up a system that really keeps all communication relevant and clear.

So how good are you really at communicating?

I've always thought that I am pretty good at communicating, especially when it comes to making sure clients know where things are in pipelines and customers know what is going on, but it isn't always the case!

Recently I found out that even the closest to me can't read my mind and maybe I need to share the logic in my thinking when changing a certain way we do things.

Let me tell you about Slugmageddon!

Twice the kale has been removed from the fridge and twice I have put it back.

The fridge is pretty packed solid and after rearranging the furry duo that we like to call THE RABBITS the kale for the rabbits can be kept in the rabbit food bin with the rest of their munchies.

Good idea right?

Creates more room in the fridge and easily accessible for whoever is feeding the fluffy bunkins. 

Keeping the kale and everything in one place helps with productivity when feeding rabbits and less moaning of “having to get all the stuff” from 14 year old part time rabbit feeder.

All good - or so you would think. 

See the problem with keeping open kale in a sealed bin outside is SLUGS!

It doesn’t matter how tightly shut that bin lid is sealed they still get in - think we have magician slugs in our area as they magically get into the lounge too and go on midnight adventures around the walls leaving their sticky glistening footprints behind them. (Nightmare to get off the walls by the way!)

The slugs in the kale cause Yuck issues with part time rabbit feeder and also can bring all sorts of things that can hurt the consumers of the kale. 

So I brought the Kale inside, went to feed the rabbits in the evening to find kale not in the fridge but back outside. Again the same happened the following day. 

Who was moving it? Surely not the lounge slugs?

It was in fact Mr H!

See Mr H likes to keep the fridge tidy and I had not enlightened him of slugmageddon happening! 

Total lack of communication! Easily done with the room mate that I once married when shift work and life is happening, but lack of communication can cause many an issue as I am sure you are more than aware.

Sometimes we think people are in our heads.

Unless your team members are Derren Brown they do not know what is going on up in that head of yours!

Processes are everywhere, from how you load the dishwasher to what your touch points are in your sales pipeline.

Working solo you might think you don't need to be organised or write down your processes - you are wrong!

Writing down a process will help you figure out if you can automate some of it and if you ever want to grow or take time off you might need to explain to another human how you do things.

It also keeps you organised!

You definitely need to know what the processes are when working with a team!

You should be able to do every single thing in your business or at least have something you can pick up and give to someone to do it for you.

From the invoicing to the filing , to the sales pitches to the social presenting.

Every company, if it be 1 person or 100 people, should have SOPs (standard operating procedures) written down/ mapped out/recorded for every single process, role and person.

If you want a very basic template to get you started in writing your processes you can grab one here .

Now writing down your processes is only the start of communication, and SOPs really are all about your back up, a handy tool for people to refer to and something to develop as you move your business forward.

What really is at the heart and soul of organising you, your people and growing your business is a decent CRM and Project Management piece of software.

A CRM will keep you on track of all your contacts and a Project Management tool will help you organise your and your team To Dos.

A CRM & PM is essential for every business.

Luckily there is one piece of software that offers the functionality of both, is flexible, can be built around your business and offers a whole lot more above and beyond CRM & PM capabilities.

It is of course............

I can't hear you in the back................

You all know what I am going to say ...................

It is of course Airtable!

Forget your HubSpot, your Monday.com, your ClickUp.

Airtable is the best software for small, medium and large businesses.

Here is a cheeky run through of the CRM and PM base I made and use for myself and my clients.

You can also grab the template from the video here . Just click the link and click "Copy Base" in the top righthand corner - be sure to sign up to Airtable first though here .

Not only will Airtable transform the organisation in your business it will improve the communication in your team - keeping everything in relevant places, on topic and clear.

Those that are my closest allies will know that my love for Airtable is bigger than big - possibly even bigger than Calendly (I know shocking right??!!) , if you are looking to move away from having to add layers and pay for software then Airtable 's Free Version has just got even better with even more functionality.

Take a look at it and let me know what you think.

H