Molly Claire 00:45

Hey, everyone, you are going to love today's episode, especially if you like the idea of simplicity in your coaching business, if you like the idea that it could be easier to be organized than you might imagine, and if you also like the idea of having a better return on investment in your business. So these are some of the things we're talking about. I have Tracy Hoth with us today. She is an organizer of 17 years who specifically specializes in helping coaches to organize their business in a simple, simple way. Welcome to the podcast, Tracy. 

Tracy Hoth 01:28

Thanks, Molly. I'm so excited to be here. I love how you emphasized simple, because that's what I think. Like, I try to make it so simple that you think, why haven't I done this? Why haven't I heard this before? 

Molly Claire 01:42

Yes, yes and this is something I am extremely focused on right now in the back end of my business is simplifying because it's almost like I know I'm getting off on a little tangent here but I know a lot of my listeners will relate to this. I have for sure had this block for myself, this idea in my head that I'm not very organized, that I struggle to be organized, that I'm scattered. It's just this interesting thing and I do think that a lot of people that struggle with ADHD to any level, we tend to collect these thoughts but this is what I'm actually realizing. That is actually not true for me and I'm now at a place where I am owning the fact that I actually am capable of being organized and as I step into taking more ownership of what's happening on the back end of my business, simplicity is the answer, simplicity. So I'm all in on this topic and I love that you do this specifically for coaches. 

Tracy Hoth 02:40

Mm-hmm. It's so interesting that you bring that up because all those thoughts that you had about being messy or not being capable of being organized, that's the whole identity thing. And it's thoughts that were given maybe even as kids because we had a messy room or whatever it is. And then we've carried it all this time. And it just takes questioning that. And like you said, you realize that's not even true. But we've believed it the whole time. 

Molly Claire 03:08

Yes. Yes. And I think especially, so with regard to a coaching business, because I know many of you listening relate to this, it's like, okay, we have this passion for coaching, for helping, right? We want to build this business. And then it can be so easy to get overwhelmed with all the skills that we need to learn. And although it's like, it's like we wear so many hats. And I think sometimes we can, in an effort to learn what we need to learn and make everything work, we actually end up over-complicating things. 

Tracy Hoth 03:42

Ooh, for sure. And there's so many good resources and freebies and courses and things that we can download and we're downloading them all at the same time and making a complete mess of our computer. And so yes, totally. I see that all the time. 

Molly Claire 03:58

So, okay, so as we dive into this, so I've told them a little bit about you. So you have a background in organization, you now work with coaches. Tell us a little bit more about that and kind of, and what you love to do with the work you do with coaches. 

Tracy Hoth 04:14

Okay. So I worked in homes and offices, mainly helping people get organized. And then when I got Life Coach certified in 2018, I started working online and I started helping people get organized online. I didn't start helping businesses yet necessarily or entrepreneurs, but I started that and then my own computer and my own processes, like I had to figure it out. It was so different than working in person. And so I'm like, Tracy, you have to get organized yourself. So I went back, used the steps that I've been using for all this time since 2008 and implemented and tested and then started helping people on the back end of their business and saw what really works. And then started putting that into place and packaging that and helping people organize their own business. Because I thought, I believe I am organized. And I thought if I had all this problems and issues and duplicates and can't find stuff and search doesn't work or whatever, I thought, what are people that have never been taught the skill of organization? Like what are they dealing with and how much better could they reach their clients and help and grow their business if they had these things set up? 

Molly Claire 05:26

Yeah, I mean, it's so true, right? Because how many of us are bogged down unnecessarily with just a lack of systems or organization that could be easily implemented, right? How many of us are bogged down and is it keeping us from actually bringing in those clients? Getting the, you know, building the profitable business that we want and helping more people. 

Tracy Hoth 05:49

Yeah. Yeah. And that's what I love is just teaching people that skill, helping them recreate the identity, like you said, that they're completely capable of it. And what I often see, because you had mentioned ADHD or a neurodivergent brain that works a little bit differently, it's like, and I had someone tell me this, Tracy, the way you've made it so simple, I totally can see that. I just never thought of doing that myself. And so they're completely capable of following that system or creating that structure in their business. They just, their brain doesn't work to think of it or put it into place initially, which that's what I think keeps people stuck sometimes is they think that they should be able to get it together. They should be able to figure that out. And it's like, why just get the help you need for that skill and then you totally can maintain the skill and learn that. And then the cool thing is it overflows into the rest of their life. And so now they know the skills of organization. And then I have people telling me like, I'm organizing my linen closet. I'm teaching my kids. Someone just told me this story that their son was telling her mom. Well, grandma knows the spasm step so she can organize that room that she hasn't done yet. And I'm like, your kids are learning this. Like it's so fun. 

Molly Claire 07:11

That is so awesome. That's so awesome. And one of the things I'm going to ask you in a minute about where to start organizing the business to get the biggest return on investment, because I know, you know, a lot of coaches are wanting, we want to make our business as profitable as possible, right? So I'm going to ask you that in just a minute. But before I do, I want to, first of all, I want to bring up again, this word of simple and simplicity, because I think sometimes I know I've experienced this, you know, implementing organization that while intended to make things easier, actually seems to add a layer of complexity. And so as you were talking, I love this idea that the simplicity that you bring is perfect for the creative entrepreneur for the neuro divergent brain, right? However, we categorize ourselves, I think the simplicity and the ease of actually implementing what you're teaching has to be there. 

Tracy Hoth 08:15

Yes. Yes. And also in that, understand that initially it might seem hard because you're learning a new skill, you're training and it's the training of your brain. And so with my five file folders on your computer, it's just training it. It's like a, what's that called a flow chart? It's like a flow chart and over and over, you're just training your brain for that. So initially, you know, that's why I like to think of organization as a project. You're going to set a start and end time. In that period, you're going to really focus on this and get it done and set those structures and simple processes in place. And then you're going to work on the habits of maintaining it. But you know that it's going to start and end and you're really focused on it. So you understand like there's going to be that initial curve of practicing something new, but that's going to stick with you and you're going to train yourself to use it and stay there rather than- I even catch myself. Oh, that app looks so good. Oh, that thing, that's their answer. Oh, maybe I should be using this and you're like jumping all over the place, trying all these things and never sticking with it and then using that as evidence against yourself. Oh, I'm not organized. It's like, no, you've tried 20 things and didn't stick with any of them. So let's keep it so simple. Use what you have and stay there and get good at it. 

Molly Claire 09:40

Yeah, yeah. And so one question I have for you, so in the work that you do with helping coaches get organized, does this go hand in hand with setting up automations and tech kind of stuff and SOPs, or is it slightly different than that? 

Tracy Hoth 09:59

I look at it like in these areas. First your mind, your identity of being an organized person. We kind of start there, but then we're going to build the evidence to prove your new identity true. And then digitally, how do you find things quick? Because organization means to know what you have and be able to find it when you need it. So you're going to look at that on your computer. You need to be able to find assets quickly. Where are all the links that you need? And then we look at time, organizing your time, and then your processes or your SOPs. And in that process, let's define what your process is first and then decide, do I need to improve that? Do I want to improve it? Do I want to automate something in that process? We're not jumping into automation until we know like where would be the most beneficial thing to automate? Where should we start first in that? What are we doing over and over that we could save some time doing? So automations comes at the end of that. Let's look at what your processes are, what you're doing, and let's decide then what we want to automate. 

Molly Claire 11:11

Yeah, yeah. Okay, so where's the best place for someone to start with organizing? 

Tracy Hoth 11:20

There's two areas I love helping people with because they see the biggest, I mean it, it gives them the best evidence that this is worth it. And it's kind of exciting. One of the places is the bookmarks bar. And I just had a client, private client, we share our screens. She's, I'm telling her where to click, what to do. And the whole time she's like, Oh my gosh, Oh my gosh, this, Oh my, I never knew that. Oh, I never realized that I'm going to be able to find everything I needed. And she actually, when we're working, she could close, you know, the 47 tabs she had open because we leave those open. We don't trust that we're going to be able to find it when we need it. And so now she's like closing tabs and she's like, Oh, this feels so good. Tracy, you don't know how long it's been since I closed all my tabs. And so she can find everything she needs on her bookmarks bar. 

Molly Claire 12:13

Maybe what we need to do is we need to post on my Instagram about this episode and we can have a confessional where people will confess the most amount of tabs they've had open at any given time. 

Tracy Hoth 12:25

And what's crazy is I'll see a browser open with like, just the tabs are so tiny, you don't even know what they are. So then they're wasting time clicking into each tab. But then what I don't notice is that they have four more browser tabs open, like windows, separate ones that also have all those tabs open. And I'm like, oh, please just let me help you create something so simple on your bookmarks bar that you know exactly where everything is and you can find it in one click and get to it and close it out because you know it's always going to be there. 

Molly Claire 13:00

Yeah, this feels like this should be like a Christmas gift to someone like your browser bar package or bookmark.

Tracy Hoth 13:11

Yeah, or favorites bar, whatever. Yeah. 

Molly Claire 13:14

Oh my gosh, that's so awesome. I may have a few tabs open right now. 

Tracy Hoth 13:21

And here's the thing I like to compare it to. When I walk into my kitchen, I drop stuff on the bar, like the island area. And that's just, that's okay, because I have to have hands to do stuff right when I walk in. But I know those things that I put there have homes. So we can leave our tabs open because we're in the middle of a project. And sometimes we get distracted and we have to do something else and open a few more tabs. But you can close all those because you have a home for them. You know where they go. So that's kind of the relation, life gets busy and we're in the middle of stuff. So we have tabs open. It's not that I don't, that's not that I don't have tabs open. I do, but I can close them because I know there's a home for them on my bookmarks bar. And I know I can find them and get to them quickly when I need them. 

Molly Claire 14:08

Mm hmm. Yeah. And as you're talking, I'm thinking about there was an episode I did a few weeks ago that if those of you that haven't heard it would be a good one to go back and listen where I'm talking about small moments and small decisions and how, you know, when we think about creating the life that we want the experience we want in our business, I'm thinking about these small moments of decisions, right? We're in where we're intentional, and we take the time. To put the tab away and to then go and find, you know, where it's located. It really is a slowing down and intentional in these small moments that I think it just opens up a lot for us in terms of the experience of our life and business that we want. 

Tracy Hoth 14:57

Yes. And that's why I like to start there because you open your computer every day and you're pulling up your, or opening your browser every day and to have that peace and that calmness. And even the person that I was working with, it was a one, one and a half hour session and we got all that done. And she's like, Tracy, I can go away from here now. She's like, I just want to spend the next hour doing the rest of them that I want up there. And like, she has this structure now and it was one and a half hours of time. That is so worth it. That will save you so much time. So the return on investment in that is huge. And so that's why I like, that's the one of the places I love starting to help people. 

Molly Claire 15:42

Yeah, yeah, because truly, I think especially as coaches, as entrepreneurs, as creatives, our energy and our ability to be clear in our mind is, I mean, that's one of the greatest things that we have. And so to think about being able to clear that mental and emotional space, that's a huge return on investment. It's huge. 

Tracy Hoth 16:05

And the confidence it gives you and that you show up as a CEO versus someone and I had someone making hundreds of thousands of dollars. She just had her biggest launch ever. And she said, the whole time I am scrambling behind the scenes to get my team what they need. I am feeling so much shame and so much embarrassment because the back end of my business is a complete mess. My team is wasting so much time because I don't know where stuff is to get to them. And I'm like, I just want to help her solve that and get this simple structure in place that she can teach her team and everybody can find what they need. It's like that is so valuable. 

Molly Claire 16:48

Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. So that's place number one. What's next in terms of just return on investment, in terms of really the time put into it, right? Spending time getting organized. 

Tracy Hoth 17:02

Yeah. The second place I like to go is your digital files. Because so much time, like I just said, she's spending so much time trying to find what she needs. And this goes back to time too. I think about people that think they're bad at time management because they put an appointment on the calendar and they're like, I'm going to accomplish this, I'm going to create this result in an hour. And then the first 30 minutes, they can't even find what they're needing to get to. And then they shame themselves because they didn't get their task done. They think they're bad at time management. Well, if they could find what they needed, immediately they could get it done. So I think digital files, let's set up a system and train our brain so that we know exactly where everything is on our computer, exactly when we need it and we can find it. 

Molly Claire 17:50

And I know one of the things you talk about is only needing five file folders to organize your digital files. Tell us all about it. 

Tracy Hoth 18:01

So imagine anything coming into your computer. It's like a flow chart. It comes or flow thing funnel comes in from the top and it's either going to go to business or personal. So those are the first two, like, but I'm talking. So then we're in the business. It's a business-related file and there's five folders. So the first one is operations, anything behind the scenes. The second one is marketing, anything outside, forward-facing. The third one is my content, anything I create. And the fourth one is education, anything anybody else creates. That's all your freebies, all your downloads, all your courses and coaching and certifications. And then the fifth one is clients. So operations, marketing, my content, education and clients. 

Molly Claire 18:54

Yeah, I'm like writing these down. I'm processing, I'm taking this through my own filter. So within this, and obviously these are the main folders, right? And then you can have sub boulders underneath that, but this is really gonna help you put them in the right buckets. 

Tracy Hoth 19:12

Right. So it comes in, goes into business. You have one of five places it's going to live. And your brain is not like, oh no, I need to make a new folder. I need you to do this. I need to do this. Where should that live? Is it on my computer? Is it in my Dropbox? Is it in my Google Drive? Have one hub, one place. That's the wonderful one, that concept I teach, that people are coming back saying, oh my gosh, my one place. Now your brain's relieved of deciding where it goes. It's one of five files. You know, it goes into one of those places. It's all of a sudden so simple. Once you get things sorted into those five files, then you go back to each one and you can purge and rename and create the subfolders that you need. I don't like creating a ton of subfolders ahead of time. Let's see what you have in there and see, could I group this into a category to make it easier and you make a subfolder for it. 

Molly Claire 20:10

Yeah, because I know for me, I have more than five in my main Google Drive, right? And so they're sort of, they are in these categories, but I can see where I can group more things together. And it just feels nice to have fewer, I think. 

Tracy Hoth 20:27

Yes. And you open your Google Drive and it's like, they're color coded. I like to put numbers in front of them, so I keep them in that order. One is operations, two is marketing, behind the scenes outward, my stuff, other people, and then clients. So it goes one through five. And here's something. So my podcast is marketing. It's what I use to market. So it goes in file folder two for marketing. But I call it, I name it 2.1 and it lives outside that folder on my Google Drive. And here's why. I go to that folder all of the time. I'm always in my podcast folder and it just makes it easier. But it's still, it follows the structure. I could easily slide it into marketing because I know it lives there because it's 2.1. Yeah. Yeah. But I pull it out because I use it all the time and it sits outside the marketing folder. But I don't do that for a hundred things. I do that for that and the two programs that are in my content for those two programs, I keep them out because I'm in them all the time. That's the only folders that are. 

Molly Claire 21:38

Yeah. Okay, so tell me this. So for people listening, I think I know the answer to this, but I'm going to ask it anyway and see what you say. When is the right time for someone to hire you to help them?

Tracy Hoth 21:54

Well. It's not a matter of if you're going to get organized. It's a matter of when. And so your business is either going to, you'll burn out from like I said in that example, the woman was so stressed and overwhelmed and frustrated and felt so bad about her whole team. She's either going to burn out from that or her business is going to get bottlenecked, which was where it was at. So you're going to eventually have to do that. And I talked to people that I've helped who have very successful businesses and they're like, I wish I would have done this from the very beginning. If I would have had these structures in place, I wouldn't now be scrambling trying to get it set up. So it's not really a matter of if it's like when you decide, I want to learn this skill and I'm ready to implement it and set up my business in a simple, peaceful way that I can then grow it. So, you know, of course I would say the answer is now, I would say set it up now and then go forward from there. 

Molly Claire 23:03

Yeah and I think I'll just speak to this so those of you listening I think that I'm gonna oversimplify this but I see this very often to be true where if we were to lump people into two categories you have the people who they are less likely to slow down to cross the T's to dot the I's to organize they just go for it and then they often find themselves feeling like they need to like okay let me move backwards let me clean up the mess that I've created along the way yeah and then for those people in my experience it is those of you listening that are good at like going for it like you don't hold back you just right it's like a superpower for you then there tend to be people on this other end of the spectrum who are a little more cautious maybe a little you know slower to get going maybe have a little more hesitation and are really careful you know perhaps to a fault in terms of crossing all the T's and dotting all the I's and in my experience first of all what I would say is if you're listening to this and you fall into one of these categories nothing about you is wrong nothing about you is a problem it's just good to know right for the for those of you that just go for it keep that strength keep that ability and ask yourself how can I create some pause how can I slow down enough to implement the things that are going to make it easy for me to keep going at the pace I want to go and for those of you that are on the more the side of like wanting everything to be in place my recommendation for you is lean into that as something that's really positive for you and ask yourself the question what are the ways in which I can challenge myself to move forward even when things aren't all figured out even when things aren't perfect and right alongside that I believe that you need a good mentor business coach whatever you're doing you need to have someone who's going to help you with that because it's not easy it's easier said than done right to say just be okay with moving forward when everything's not perfect but there's a lot more going on under the hood with all of that right yeah so I know that was a little bit of a tangent but I think that it's worth acknowledging that we all operate differently all of you listening are in a different place in your business and have different needs and I do believe that if the timing feels right and you feel called to this like take a minute and get organized because it makes a huge difference

Tracy Hoth 25:45

Yeah. Well, in two things with what you were saying too, that's why I like to look at it like a project because you're looking at your year and you're planning out quarter two. I'm going to focus on getting things organized so that it's now a project that you're going to invest in and get accomplished and move forward. So I just like the thought of looking at it like that. I think it's really helpful. And then the other thing is that I tell people, we're not going to get organized and take up all your time where you're not doing your revenue generating activities. No, you do those first. And this is your project time, carve out a couple hours in your week. However, that looks to focus on this project that you've chosen to focus on and invest in and get that done. But you're not doing it to take up all your time in place of revenue-generating activities. 

Molly Claire 26:42

Absolutely. And I'm going to just add to that I really have a deep conviction that the more ways that you listening can free up your mental and emotional energy will not only feel better, you will be more effective, you will be more effective as a coach, you will be more effective as a business owner. And that energy that you're able to then pour into your business is going to return to you in the best ways tenfold. 

Tracy Hoth 27:15

Yes, that identity, that peace that comes along with you believing that you are an organized CEO.

Molly Claire 27:26

It's possible. It seems more difficult in our minds than it is. 

Tracy Hoth 27:31

Oh, for sure, you make it this huge thing and you look at all the things that are a mess. No, we just start with one, check it off, practice it, feel so great. It saves you time already. Check the next thing off and move forward from there. 

Molly Claire 27:47

Yeah. Okay. As we wrap up in just a minute, I'm going to have you say any final encouragement words, whatever you want to share, and of course where people can find you. So we'll do that in just a minute. But I just want to offer up to all of you as you're listening to this episode, as you're taking it in, notice what are your thoughts about yourself and your ability to be organized, to get organized, and to stay organized. Because the way that we view ourselves and our capabilities in that way, it really does matter. And I am 100% convinced that every single one of us is capable of maintaining simple organization. I am convinced of it. So if you're feeling anything else, I just want you to consider challenging it just a little bit. 

Tracy Hoth 28:41

Yes, question those thoughts that are keeping you from getting to that after point, that organized point. Yeah. Yeah. 

Molly Claire 28:49

Yeah. Okay, Tracy, any final words and also will you share with everyone where they can find you? 

Tracy Hoth 28:55

In the final words, just be encouraged like Molly was saying, be encouraged and know that it's possible and that it's a skill that is going to benefit you in so many different areas besides just your digital files or your systems or whatever. It's going to bleed into all of your life and be such a great skill to learn. You can find me at Simply Squared Away, that's the Organized Coach podcast. I talk about organizing all of it, your life, your business, your home, even I have some episodes on that too.

Molly Claire 29:35

Awesome. I love it. And it's just been so nice to have this conversation with you, love being connected with you. And I'm definitely encouraged. And I'm like on a good track with a lot of these things. And there's always more we can learn too, right? Yeah. Amazing. All right. Thank you, Tracy. Thanks everyone for being here. And I'll talk with you next week.