Sometimes when I’m meeting a business owner for the first time they’ll ask me, “which email marketing platform do you recommend?”
I’ll usually ask what their plans are for it. Sometimes I get an answer. Sometimes I get a blank look followed by, “well, to email my future list.”
Okay, let’s back up.
I’m in the far western suburbs of Chicago (stay with me, I promise this will make sense). If I decide to go to Chicago, I can hop in my car and head east. I’ll probably get there. But which neighborhood? It’s helpful to have a destination and a plan. Technically, I can end up at O’Hare and be IN Chicago, but I’m not going to see Lake Michigan from there.
The tool doesn’t matter as much as the plan.
Before you pick a platform, map out what you actually need it to do. How are you building that list? Is there a funnel, a launch workflow, an onboarding sequence? What needs to happen first, second, third?
When you have the plan, things go faster, are easier to maintain, and you spend a lot less time fixing things that were set up wrong from the start.
What’s one thing you wish you’d mapped out before you started building?
Category: post
Knowing What You Don’t Do
Not every inquiry is the right fit. And being clear about that helps everyone.
A coach reached out to me recently. She had built a course and was looking for someone to create a marketing plan that would generate the sales she wanted.
That’s not what I do.
I’m not the person deciding what you should sell or how you should market it. I’m the person who comes in once the direction is clear and says: “Okay, how do we actually make this happen?”
I build the plan with the details and deadlines and execute on the tech and operations that make it real.
So I referred her to a couple of fractional CMOs I trust and wished her well.
Knowing what you don’t do is just as important as knowing what you do. It makes it easier for the right clients, and the right referral partners, to find you.
Where’s the line for you between what you handle and what you refer out?
It’s Okay If Handing Off Feels Weird
You’re supposed to focus on your clients, your content, and your growth. The work only you can do, while someone else makes sure the back-end is running the way it should.
But for coaches and speakers who have been carrying their entire business in their heads, handing something off and actually not worrying about it might feel… weird.
It’s okay if it does. New paths feel like that sometimes.
Because on the other side of it is relief, confidence, and trust. It’s knowing that it’s handled and you’ll be kept in the loop.
If you’ve never had that in your business, it’s worth knowing it exists.
You Can’t Fit 8 Pounds in a 5 Pound Bag
One of the hardest things to admit as you’re running a growing business is: the bottleneck is you.
You’re not doing anything wrong. You’re not bad at business.
You’re one person trying to run what you’ve built, but now it needs more than one person.
Because you’ve got the running list in your head that stays there, the back-end things that you’re always playing catch-up with, and things falling through the cracks.
This isn’t because you aren’t trying, it’s because you don’t have the capacity anymore.
You can’t fit 8 pounds of potatoes into a 5 pound bag without something falling out (or a seam splitting).
Working “harder” or getting up earlier can’t solve this problem.
It’s time to stop being the only person responsible for making everything work.
If you’re in this place, you’re not failing. You’re ready for the next step.
What “It’s Handled” Actually Means
There’s a specific kind of exhausted that coaches and speakers know well.
It’s not burnout from too many clients.
It’s the exhaustion of being the only person who knows how everything in your business fits together.
The deadlines. The tech. What needs to happen before the speaking gig or the launch, after the enrollment, during the onboarding. You’re holding all of it, all the time, and it’s starting to cost you.
I’m Evie Burke, Right-Hand Operator for fast-growing coaches and speakers. I don’t just execute a task list. I think alongside you, figure out the how, and build the systems that make your vision work in reality.
My clients describe it as finally being able to hand something off and know it’s handled.
If that’s the feeling you’ve been looking for, I’d love to connect.