Today, I’m chatting with the one and only Sarah Noked, founder of Sarah Noked OBM and OBM School. Sarah has trained thousands of aspiring online business managers, and guided them with a proven framework to confidently and successfully transition into the online service space. Her mission is simple: to empower online entrepreneurs and online service providers to build thriving, profitable businesses with the help of streamlined systems, marketing automation, and a winning team.
We talk about hiring an OBM for your business, including red flags she’s learned to watch out for. She’ll help listeners identify whether they might be ready for an OBM in their business and she offers a challenge to help entrepreneurs move forward in the next transition phase.
Sarah is a leading authority and online educator, sharing valuable resources and programs that support and train online service professionals with actionable tools to leverage their skills and translate their talents into profitable and meaningful businesses.
She shares the kickoff of her OBM School, the program that trains you to become an online business manager. Make sure to check out her links below if you’re ready to learn more about the community she’s created with OBM School.
We also have a little fun chatting about our definition of success, and sharing prime watermelon content and secret smoothie ingredients. This one is such a fun and empowering episode! I know you’ll love it!
Her templated SOP freebie, directory for hiring, and other amazing resources are linked below.
Highlights from this Episode
We talk about:
- Her experiences in online entrepreneurship and empowering others for over the last decade. and the benefits of working as an online service provider after leaving her corporate position.
- The flexibility and opportunities offered through online entrepreneurship.
- All things OBM- How we work with teams to help structure, manage, and scale a business, and take project management and operations off her client CEO/Founders’ plates in a judgement free zone.
- How OBMs make your team connect, your systems, work, and your business environment one that people grow and thrive in a unique and customized way
- The commitment entrepreneurs should be ready to make to an OBM so they can help you work through the growing pains of scaling a business.
- The different kinds of roles of an OBM. How to capture the processes of your business so an OBM can run with it and build it into SOPs and Branding Documents so your virtual teams can rock their zone of genius.
- Knowing how to hire the right fit, and how building in your emotional intelligence and healthy boundaries during the hiring process plays such a vital role to virtual entrepreneurship.
- Her powerful program offers to continue building a strong community of successful OBMS, and how to build that trust factor.
Captivating Quotes from this Episode:
6:18 – The gift of being able to make an impact through the landscape today
“I feel privileged to be able to have this impact on people and I don’t take it lightly. And I feel like what I’m doing is a service to women who otherwise would feel that they didn’t necessarily have an alternative. Now, you knew there was an alternative, that’s for sure. But it’s just a fantastic online space. And I feel really lucky to be living in the times we live in.”
10:23 – What to have in place first before bringing on an OBM
“A business that needs an OBM must have a proven business model…There also needs to be consistent revenue coming into the business. Now, obviously, there are months that are better months that are worse, but the average of those months needs to be at least $10,000 in revenue. That’s the starting point. And the entrepreneur needs to really have a mindset for delegation… I find that there’s a lot of entrepreneurs in our space that, well, they would benefit from working with an OBM, they’re still very much guarding, like a dog with a bone, all small bits and pieces in their business and they’re not really ready they’re maybe they’re not ready to give a relinquish control. That’s not exactly a great place to hire an OBM, if you feel like you’re still the only one who can do all the things in your business. But if you’ve gotten over that, or you’ve realized that, okay, well, maybe someone else can come in and do it better , then hiring an online business manager can really expedite your growth, your scalability, and basically give you back your life.”
24:15 – OBMS help you embrace change and get peace of mind
“So there’s also that piece and looking at some of these systems…when you look in the mirror you have that harsh reality of , Okay, wait a second, Yes, I’ve been onboarding clients like this my entire career. But yes, I see that it’s probably not the best way of doing it and just being open minded to change because change is a really great thing. And you’re human, our human body is trying to keep us in the same place even though it’s much better when we have someone helping us. So ultimately, yes, it is hard, especially the first three months but I think once you pass that three month mark then you can really look at smoother sailing and the ability to sort of stand on that solid foundation you’ve created. And you’ll be like, okay, now we have a solid foundation. Now we can launch that podcast. Now I can build that program. Now I can actually take that holiday weekend, probably the first thing most of these clients should do.”
30:53 – Taking the business out of reactionary mode prior to hiring an OBM
“It’s like a gift to give yourself to be proactive, right? To get that business, that’s our main intention, right to take the business out of reactionary mode. So when you can start to be proactive about hiring, or at least sort of creating this nice little cozy place for that OBM. To nestle into as they start to really deep-dive into your business, it can be very beneficial if you’re scaling, but not really at that point where you have the revenue to legit bring on an OBM because the thing I tell most entrepreneurs is like, yes, you can benefit from project based work with an OBM, but if you really want to take your business to the next level, you’re looking at an ongoing retainer, for a minimum of like three to six months, really to get any kind of traction, because it takes time to learn the business and to streamline and then and then you can start to scale.”
41:34 – Battling scarcity mindset and embracing “dating” to find a mutually good fit
“We’re big advocates for the dating project before you get into the retainer as well because I think it gives people who maybe haven’t had the experience of working with an OBM a better understanding of what that could look like before you go kind of all the way with that OBM or with that client.I mean it’s when you get jazzed up on a conversation with the client like there’s nothing more magical than that feeling that is a high that you get on when you get off that call and that’s how you know in your gut like I’m like into our intuition does not lie like you know, you know if the clients a good fit like if you’re not gonna if you’re getting into a relationship where you know off the bat or you’re coming at it from that place of scarcity or that mindset of fear and so oh my god I have to take this client because I’m never going to get another client like you know you’re going to be in a really dark place at some point that it’s going to take you time and energy to get out of that it’s just not worth it.”
1:03:55 – Parting Words: Not waiting to hire or to have the flexible life you will love.
“I feel like for those clients who are looking to hire an OBM, if you are thinking, Oh, this looks and sounds really good. I really invite you to engage with an OBM and get on a discovery call and see what it’s all about and see if that’s a good fit for you. I find that too often. And I know Julie would agree with me, that people wait too long to hire and build their teams. And it’s such a shame because yes, there are growing pains like we spoke about in today’s episode that come along with building your business, but it really will pay off in the end.”
“And for those of you who are thinking about leaving corporate, like you might be listening to your podcast, or listening to this podcast while you’re at your corporate desk or you’re thinking to yourself, you know, do I have what it takes? Can I do this? I would just invite you to just make a micro small commitment to taking one step in that direction whether you are going to OBM school, come and sign up for a call with me to talk more about the program or you start to think about your plan to leave corporate so that you can start that business. I just feel like I waited too long. And I see too many women wait too long, and be afraid that they are going to fail at this. And the thing that I know now in retrospect is there’s nothing more natural than working in this job, because it’s really my natural talent that I get to help other people. And I get to have a flexible life, which is what I want for everybody.”
Connect
Website: www.sarahnoked.com
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sarahnoked
Facebook: www.facebook.com/sarahnokedobm
Facebook group for VAs + OBMs:
www.facebook.com/groups/confidentobm
LinkedIn: https://il.linkedin.com/company/sarahnoked
Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/SarahnokedOBM/
Links
SOP Kit Freebie: https://obmschool.ontralink.com/t?orid=14753&opid=66
OBM School Free Info Session: https://obmschool.ontralink.com/t?orid=14753&opid=55
OBM School Tier 1 Registration Page: https://obmschool.ontralink.com/t?orid=14753&opid=59
OBM School Tier 3 Registration Page: https://obmschool.ontralink.com/t?orid=14753&opid=61
My YouTube Episode with Sarah: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lwmPkpQIA9c
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