The Design Business Show 190: Creating Systems That Help Get Your Ideas to Execution with Kris Ward

Kris Ward is creating a movement where your business supports your life instead of consuming it. Kris is the founder of the Win The Hour, Win the Day philosophy.

After the loss of her husband, Kris returned full-time to her work as a marketing strategist. She was relieved that her business had not only survived her absence but was growing. Now, Kris has completely changed the landscape for entrepreneurs by sharing the successful practices that allowed her absence.

Kris has shared the stage with Jack Canfield – Chicken Soup For The Soul, Kevin Harrington original Shark from Shark Tank, James Malinchak -ABC’s Secret Millionaire, Sharon Lechter – Rich Dad Poor Dad Co Author and Joe Theismann – NFL All star and commentator to name a few. Kris has also featured on award winning podcasts, radio and TV shows.

Kris is an acclaimed podcaster. You can hear Kris on her own podcast – Win The Hour, Win The Day, where she has engaging conversations with dynamic guests covering a variety of business topics so you can get to your next win now!

Here’s what we covered on the episode:

Win The Hour, Win The Day + Creating Systems

I share that Kris and I connected because she had sent me a pitch – I was impressed with her pitch and could relate to her story, which is why I was excited to have her on the podcast
Kris shares that when she first started her business, 12+ years ago, she was working crazy hours the first 2 years
By the end of her first 2 years, Kris was told that she was losing her charm, so she went from working 16 hours a day to 6 hours a day – which didn’t happen overnight
A couple of years later, Kris’s husband was diagnosed with colon cancer, which resulted in her taking a step back for a couple of years
When Kris returned to the business after her husband’s passing, her existing clients had no idea of her absence
Clients started to approach Kris about helping them with time management, productivity, team building, etc. because they didn’t notice her absence; they thought she could help them step back a little to free up their time from their business as well
Kris believes that your business should support your life, not consume it, and is passionate about helping other entrepreneurs achieve that
Kris realized that many entrepreneurs looked good on paper but were working way more hours than people thought they would be in their small business journey, so she had to reach those people, which is why she wrote her book, Win The Hour, Win The Day
20% of Kris’s work is still marketing strategy, and the other 80% is her passion for creating a movement where your business supports your life instead of consuming it
In Kris’s book, she heavily leans into your team, your time, and your toolkits
What Kris means when she says win the hour, win the day is that if you break your day into bite-size pieces by the hour, you can win the hour, you can win the day, you can win the week, you can win the month and so on
Running a business off a to-do list is never going to work; Kris says it adds stress and is a rotating list of emergencies – what you want is systems and processes in place, like our super toolkit that allow you to get ideas to execution
How creatives are not favorable to systems because they probably had a job where procedures and systems were in place that the end-user did not create – but having them in your own business is a game-changer because it allows you freedom
Kris shares how one of her clients was able to implement systems into her business to help manage her time, deliver superior service, and set up boundaries
Most clients get 25 hours a week within the first month of working with Kris and her team

Building a Team + Kris’s Current Offers

Kris believes that your team should manage you – you should not be parenting them
When hiring a team, you need to have the infrastructure to support their talents in place before or be in that process while they’re coming on; otherwise, you’ll be throwing work at them, stressing them out, and it will fall apart
You can have a fantastic team with 1 or 2 people – Kris shares that she has 4 people on her team but works with many large, successful people from all different levels
Why you shouldn’t use email to keep your systems and how it’s important to keep your systems in one place – Kris and her team use Basecamp
Kris believes that you can’t do a whole lot without a team because you’re limited to your capacity and talents
How Kris realized that she could have her team take courses for her
The subject of Kris’s podcast is general business; she shares it could be anything from social media to sales
Kris’s book Win the hour, win the day is offered on Amazon, and her coaching program, Winners Circle, which she’s super passionate about because it allows her to help more small business owners and entrepreneurs
You can have dreams, and it shouldn’t cost you your health, family time, or lifestyle, and business should be fun; otherwise, why did you leave your last job
Kris believes that a book is a very polished business card that gives you authority, which can lead to other opportunities
How Kris’s podcast tends to be a lead generator of connections and how some guests on the show end up working with Kris
You always want to be moving to the next thing – you may be fantastic at what you do, but if your competitors get their ideas executed faster and more consistently than you, they win the game
Kris says you want to have a lean team and says that you can get crazy talented people from around the world for affordable prices
For the Winners Circle, they do find, hire and train people for people in the program
Why design is super important in your business because it helps you present the quality of your brand – it’s not talked about enough, and the impact it has on the consumer to make decisions
The pandemic changed a lot of things for small business owners and entrepreneurs, but those who had the infrastructure in place were able to pivot and change easily
If you’re saying, “once I get caught up, I can..” that should be a red flag, Kris says, because the point is to bring in more business, so you should be busier, and if you can’t keep up now, you never will – which again is why systems are important
Kris says she’s surprised at how useful she finds TikTok – she’s learned more about LinkedIn off TikTok, and it’s changed the content she produces because she realized it had to be quicker, cleaner, less polished sometimes, and heavy on tangible takeaways
How TikTok is big on whatever you did today, you’ll be better tomorrow – it’s more about posting 3 or 4 times, and it’s very forgiving, Kris says
Connect with Kris on TikTok or LinkedIn and go on over to free gift from kris .com to get some gifts from Kris – some are free, and some they still charge for