HireMyMom.com Business Interview: Tim Francis, ProfitFactory.com

Company: ProfitFactory.com
Job Position: President

What’s your company and/or job position?

My consulting company is called ProfitFactory.com and I am the President.  I am also a speaker on the topic of how to streamline and scale your business. We’re basically a managing consulting company for internet businesses, which helps them with systems, procedures, hiring, and gamifying their businesses.

How did you learn about HireMyMom?

I was frustrated – I had tried hiring in the Philippines, India, Jamaica, on eLance, and through many other international contractors and websites.  One night, by chance, I stumbled across HireMyMom.com on a Google search.

What’s your success story with HireMyMom? 

My biggest success story is my own Executive Assistant, Sarah, who I found through HireMyMom.com. She’s been with me for almost 3 years now, and because of how I’ve hired Sarah, how I’ve delegated to her, and because of her commitment, passion, and hard work, I’ve been able to increase my own personal consulting rates all the way up to $500 per hour.

I’ve directly hired for myself and clients – probably around 30-40 candidates from HireMyMom.com.  I developed something called The Perfect Job Posting, which we use every time we go to hire a mom from HireMyMom.com.  It might seem kind of funny because when applicants see the job posting, it asks them to send a specific email to a specific email address with a certain subject line to apply. In the body, one of the paragraphs has to be in red font, 12 point, and “Courier” font, while another has to be blue font, 10 point, “Arial” font.  All these really specific specifications are in place to make sure that we’re attracting applicants that have really good attention to detail.

Because that’s been so successful for me and I’ve talked about the process at live events  and featured podcasts, HireMyMom.com has hundreds of entrpreneurs using the site – and they’re also using this Perfect Job Posting. I once received a screenshot from your team showing the daily email going out to all the moms, and no kidding, of the 12 job postings that I could see, 10 of them were all internet business owners using my Perfect Job Posting.   Literally, most of the subject lines were all along the lines of: “Slightly OCD Tech-Savvy Mom Saught for Internet Marketing Company.”  This felt like a success story for me, as I’ve been able to share and they’ve turned around and used the method. I don’t know exaclty how many people I’ve influenced in this way, but at least 50-100 entrepreneurs have found assistance through HireMyMom.com because of the help that I’ve offered to the world.

What kind of employees were you seeking to hire?

I was seeking an Executive Assistant with great attention to detail, looking to work between 5 and 15 hours per week on a flexible schedule from home.  Something specific that I was looking for and loved was that HireMyMom.com is all Canadian and US moms, which means similar time zones, similar culture, and most likely native english speakers.  Because they’re moms and their #1 passion is to be able to be with their kids, I knew that by helping them build their dream of being home with their kids, that they’d be really committed and passionate about helping me build my dream, which is my business.

What’s your favorite thing about HireMyMom?

First of all, the concentration of my ideal candidates being Canadian and American based, home based workers.  I would say I’ve been delighted, because the name HireMyMom.com it sounds almost folksy and very casual, and I wasn’t expecting the caliber of applicants from there. I’ve had multiple MBAs apply and my own assistant is a former legal assistant.  I was just amazed at the caliber of the talent, especially given the fact that the name of the website is so casual.

How do you feel that HireMyMom is different from other hiring sites?

I am all for multiculturalism in the broader sense, but just based on my experience when talking about work cultures, I found that there are some significant hurdles working with dramatically different work cultures. It was significantly easier to work with someone who is used to the professional American work culture already.  Things got done implicitly without me having to say them, with one being timeliness and a commitment to deadlines, which is a really big deal in corporate america. All the moms I’ve hired have had an implicit understanding of that without me having to explain it.

I’vee been really amazed with the affordability of the assistance that I’ve found on HireMyMom.com as well.  I’ve also been amazed with the “one step at a time” approach. Most of the moms have been okay starting out at only 5-10 hours per week for $15  per hour USD, and that makes it far, far, far easier for smaller businesses to take advantage of the amazing world of virtual executive assistants, instead of having to take on a $40,000 salary right off the bat.  A small business can start paying $300 per month, and by being able to get in the game of the world of having an assistant, the entrepreneur can now start the virtuous cycle of getting a few hours off their plate and onto higher level tasks.  It’s kind of like Google Docs, where you can “find and replace,” so to can an entrepreneur do the same with tasks on their to do list. I watched how I was able to climb from somewhere around $40 per hour all the way up to $500 per hour as a consultant, just because I was able to find and replace those tasks and start small.

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How I Grew my Virtual Business by 50% in 3 Months

In 2013, I boosted sales by 50% in 3 months, while also cutting my stress and workload by about 25%.

Before I get into the details of how to make money online, first you should know about a very special group of 15-year-olds running a Billion-dollar business.

Yes, that’s Billion with a “B”…

Miraculous Billion-Dollar Teens

In their personal lives they can be air-headed and make bad decisions clouded by hormones.

For some of them it’s a miracle they even graduate from high school.

YET…

When they yank on their work uniform suddenly they’re *the* heartbeat of McDonald’s, one of history’s greatest business successes.

Collectively, this teenaged staff (still too young to buy booze) are serving 70 Million people every single day!

…while getting almost ZERO complaints and making a tidal wave of sales… day after day after day… predictably, successfully, profitably.

YET…

You and I – as smart, proud entrepreneurs and salespeople – struggle to manage our load of 20 – 30 active prospects, projects, and customers at any given time.

We follow-up inadequately with new opportunities, we often ignore our best customers, and quickly fall behind on paperwork and filing taxes.

What’s wrong with this picture?

It’s simple.  The solution is SYSTEMS.

Let me use fiery NASCAR driver Danica Patrick to explain…

Tim VS. Danica – It’s ON Like Donkey Kong

Let’s say Danica challenges me to a 1/4 mile drag race – fastest down the strip wins.

She gets to drive her fire-breathing, 750-horsepower NASCAR race car.

Me, a far inferior driver, is allowed to race my everyday, 200-horsepower Mustang.

I would get destroyed.

BUT…

If we swapped cars, I’d crush Danica.  Every. single. time.

How can that be?  After all, she’s *such* a better driver than me!

Well, a car is nothing more than a big system, made up of a bunch of smaller systems: cooling system, fuelling system, steering system, etc.

When I’m driving Danica’s 750-horsepower race car, I’m a fairly average person running a world-class machine – just slam on the gas and keep it pointed straight down the track!

Because the race car’s systems makes it SO easy to go really fast, instantly I’m smoking Danica every single time.

When Danica’s in my (much, much slower) 200-horsepower Mustang, she’s a world-class driver running a fairly average machine.  Even though she could handle so much more, she’s completely limited by the system she’s running.

And *this* is the major difference between entrepreneurs and McDonald’s….

You Are Handicapped By Your Systems

You are like Danica driving an everyday Mustang.  You’re a world-class talent being completely held back by the systems you’re running in your business.

You’ve probably got ho-hum systems to get new customers / clients / investors.

Ineffective systems to complete paperwork and reporting.

Maybe even inefficient systems to produce your product / service.

But McDonald’s?

They’re a bunch of 15-year-olds driving Danica’s 750 Horsepower race car – fairly average workers driving world-class systems, producing world-class business.

The Kids of McDonald’s make Billions while entrepreneurs burn the midnight oil scratching out a living.  Always remember…

Stellar systems, driven by average people,

Will always beat

Stellar people running average systems.

My Path to Systems and Increased Profit

Since 2003 I’d read The E-Myth (Micheal Gerber), Built to Sell (John Warrilow), The 4-Hour Workweek (Tim Ferriss).  All of these books were inspirational but short on details.  I struggled.

My marketing business – Tim Francis Marketing – was growing.  In 2012 it hit a plateau.  I couldn’t possibly take on another stitch of work – I was maxed out.  Or more accurately – my business model was maxed out.

Then in 2012, I read Work the System by Sam Carpenter, which rocked my world.  Best book on small business systems out there.  I immediately took the Work the System Group Coaching, offered by Sam Carpenter and Josh Fonger.

Over the course’s 3 short months I adapted the general lessons they taught – intended for any kind of small business – specifically for my 100% online, virtual business.  I’m sure you’d agree running a business entirely online with staff around the world in multiple time zones is far different than a brick-and-mortar factory or warehouse.

With my first few systems in place, I was now ready to hire staff.  I turned to HireMyMom.com and had two winning applicants working for me within weeks, each executing systems I’d created just a few weeks previous.

In the end, the revenue of my small marketing company soared by 50%, and my work week lightened by about 25% – from around 60 hours to only 45 hours / week.

Today the process continues.  I haven’t reached Tim Ferriss’ 4-Hour Workweek, nor have I reached Sam Carpenter’s 2-Hour Workweek… yet.  But I’ve made some colossal strides forward and sincerely hope I can help you learn how to make money online too.

Onwards and Upwards,

Tim

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Tim Francis teaches How To Systemize Your Virtual Business at http://www.SmoothOnlineSystems.com.  Tim also runs his marketing company, which has clients in CAN, USA, and AUS, spanning from $150K in sales all the way up to $100MM.

Check out these other great articles about home-based business as a work from home professional. Also check out our home-based job descriptions and current job postings for mom professionals.

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