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Many aspiring entrepreneurs are often told that resilience is a key personality trait necessary for success. This journey is challenging, filled with numerous ups and downs. However, these tough experiences can significantly shape your business, helping you transform your passion into profit.
In this YouTube video, I’ll share my personal journey, emphasizing why I’m so passionate about efficiency, productivity, and automation in business.
This drive stems not only from my own experiences but also from a desire to empower women to create sustainable, self-reliant businesses.
From Immigrant to Business Owner
In 2007, I immigrated to the United States. While it may sound like a brave adventure, in reality, I was fleeing something—details of which could fill an entire podcast episode. Moving across the ocean with just two suitcases and my dog was not as difficult as facing what was behind me. Unfortunately, due to some misplaced trust, I became an undocumented immigrant despite my initial legal entry. This harsh reality dawned on me that building a stable life in my beloved new country would take immense effort, significant time, and a lot of money.
New Beginnings
My journey ignited a passion for building a business that would offer me, and others, freedom and stability. The vision for Ask Yvi began to take shape when I met Pete and started dabbling in online media. I initially worked as a social media manager and then ventured into video production and web design. This was a phase of continuous learning and development, punctuated by a significant personal challenge.
The Battle with Cancer: A Turning Point
In 2012, Pete was diagnosed with stage 4B squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck, an HPV-based cancer. Despite its highly curable nature when detected early, his late-stage diagnosis meant two years dedicated to his treatment. This period saw me losing my business as I couldn’t maintain my client base. My business model at the time was heavily reliant on my constant presence and efforts, which was unsustainable as I focused on Pete’s care.
After Pete passed away in 2014, I found myself at a crossroads. I realized the necessity of building a business that could thrive without being entirely dependent on me. This realization fueled my pursuit of automation and efficiency. I wanted to ensure that my business could withstand personal crises and continue to generate income and provide stability regardless of my personal situation.
The Passion for Efficiency and Automation
My experiences highlighted the importance of financial independence. Too often, women find themselves making decisions based on their bank balances. I aspired to change this for myself and for others. The goal was to build a business model that is efficient, automated, and capable of providing residual income. This model can empower women by giving them the freedom of choice and freeing them from the constraints of a business that demands their constant attention.
Automation became my mantra. If a task has been done more than once, it should be automated. If email templates can be standardized, they should be automated. If data entry can be streamlined, it should be optimized and automated. These processes free up significant time and mental energy, allowing business owners the flexibility to focus on growth or personal life.
Transforming Chaos into Order
Many business owners feel their operations are too custom to be systematized. However, I firmly believe that what appears as chaos to many can be transformed into repeatable systems and processes. Automation and efficiency are not luxuries; they are essentials for creating businesses that offer true freedom and can support you through life’s unpredictable challenges.
Identify Repeatable Tasks: Recognize tasks and processes that are performed repetitively. These could include email responses, data entry, social media updates, etc.
Implement Systems: Use software tools to automate these repeatable tasks. For email automation, tools like Mailchimp or ConvertKit are excellent. For social media, consider platforms like Hootsuite or Buffer.
Create Templates: Develop templates for recurring communication. Whether it’s client proposals, follow-up emails, or project updates, templates save time and ensure consistency.
Outsource Strategically: Not everything can be automated. Some tasks may require human intervention but can still be systematized through outsourcing. Virtual assistants can handle tasks like customer service, appointment scheduling, and more.
Building Resilience through Automation
The core lesson from my journey is that resilience in business is crucial, and automation plays a vital role in building this resilience. By setting up repeatable systems and automating everyday tasks, you can ensure that your business supports you, even when life throws unexpected challenges your way. This approach not only helps in maintaining the business but also empowers you with the freedom to enjoy life and take care of personal affairs.
In this community, we aim to support each other in achieving seamless business operations and the freedom we deserve. If you’re ready to make your business more efficient and create a system that works for you, I’m here to help. Let’s build resilient, passion-driven businesses together.
Video Transcription:
Yvonne Heimann [00:00:00]:
So many tell you that when you are an entrepreneur, when you want to run your own business, that resilience is a personality trait that you can’t miss, that you need to have. That is at the core of being an entrepreneur. So today I want to share with you just how tough this journey can be yet, how these tough journeys we as entrepreneurs go through can completely change your business and get you on a path that turns your passion into profit. I’m also going to tell you why I am so obsessed with efficiency, productivity and automating your business. Today I invite you to come along as I share my personal ups and downs, how I found new beginnings over and over, and why automation is the key to real freedom and business success. If you’re ready to see how turning your passion into profit is totally doable, let’s dive in. And if you’re new here and don’t know me yet, I’m Yvonne Heimann, aka Yvi, from AskYvi.com, a business alignment and efficiency mentor. I am one, to quote, live the american dream.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:19]:
I immigrated to the states in 2007, and it sounds so fancy. Oh, my God. She went over the big ocean. No, actually, I was running away from something that is a whole nother story and could fill a whole hour podcast. We might just do that. Believe me, when you’re running away from something, moving into another country is actually quite easy with two suitcases and a dog, because it the unknown of the forward is easier than all what’s lurking back there. And this journey of running away from something, coming to a point where I actually became an undocumented immigrant in the states.
Yvonne Heimann [00:01:58]:
I came to the states legally, but I overstayed my visa. I trusted somebody that deep down, I knew I shouldn’t have trusted. And now suddenly, there was, in a country that I love, that I want to be at legally not being allowed to. Fortunately, we got all of this cleaned up, and now I’m actually a dual citizen holder. It is not as easy as some social media makes it out to be. It took me years and a good chunk of money to make this happen, which leads us to my new beginning. And where Ask Yvi. And this change and this realization of wanting to build a passion driven business and help women create freedom of choice, which means putting money into your pockets, lady.
Yvonne Heimann [00:02:51]:
Money equals freedom of choice. This journey happened when I met Pete. That is where I started dabbling in online media, where I initially worked as a social media manager, then started video production. I did web design, all kinds of things. And that’s also where I got hit over the head yet again. In 2012, Pete got diagnosed with squamous cell carcinoma of the head and neck. Neck. An hpv based cancer.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:23]:
Now, hpv is around everywhere, and this cancer actually is highly curable if diagnosed earlier. He was diagnosed at stage four B. There is no five. Even in this stage, it is a highly curable cancer. So I’m like, cool, let’s do this. And I spent two years just doing the thing, losing my business, losing clients. I didn’t. I didn’t lose clients.
Yvonne Heimann [00:03:51]:
I handed clients off because it wasn’t fair. I could not determine. And I didn’t have a schedule. It was medications, taking care of Pete, getting him to treatments. It was a full time job. We had a lot of angels in our life through those two years. Fortunately. Well, I don’t know if I would be here, because my business wasn’t set up as it is right now.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:12]:
My business wasn’t automated. My business fully relied on me. That was two years of not having a business. We made ends meet before that, but now, honestly, it went so bad that for two years, we didn’t pay rent. We had an amazing landlord that didn’t kick us out. They could have kicked us out. We had donations. The town rallied for us.
Yvonne Heimann [00:04:35]:
All the things. We had so many angels on our life. And that’s where, when Pete passed away in 2014. I can’t do this again. I can not do this again. I want to build a business for myself that is not reliant on me, that can function without me, that is automated, that produces residual income. And not only that, how often are we women in a situation where we need to make decisions based on our bank account? I had to make decisions based on the bank account. I didn’t have a bank account in those two years really.
Yvonne Heimann [00:05:13]:
I want to give women power back. And that’s exactly what started to happen in 2014. I realized I wasn’t just building websites. I was completely coaching and consulting people on how to run their business the most efficient way, because that’s how my brain works. It took a couple of years to really flush out what that looks like, and then it really flushed out. After ending up in another abusive relationship for four years before I moved to San Diego, where I realized money might not make us happy, but God damn, it gives us the freedom of choice, and I want women to have the freedom of choice. That’s where my passion is, and that’s where these years of chaos and lies and letdown and sickness have fueled my passion and have built my business and this is where we come to today. And this is the lesson of why you need resilience in your business and why building a business on your passion is not a bad thing.
Yvonne Heimann [00:06:25]:
I’m not talking about, I’m like, oh yeah, I like to beat, and then in a week I’m tired of it. No, I’m talking about these internal subconscious passion that just lights you up, that gets you out of bed in the morning. We women are passionate, and you can make a profit off of your passion and supporting others along the way. To do so, and to be able to stay in the flow and to receive all of those messages that if it’s a gut reaction, if it’s a download, whatever you want to call it, your business needs to be able to run on its own. If your business is 100% reliant on you showing up and being there, you are always going to be functioning out of a energy, of a low energy energy level of need and fear. So how do we do this? Actually, quite simple. Automation is the first key right here where you automate those areas of your business that you do over and over and over and over again. If you wrote this email twice, it should be automated. And a template.
Yvonne Heimann [00:07:28]:
If you copied that data and plugged it over there, that should be automated. If you ran this process two times, three times, four times, that should be systemized, optimized and automated. You should not be stuck in your everyday admin B’s. You should be able to walk away from your business and go on a two and a half week vacation in Germany, and your team can keep doing and nothing goes up in flames. Your business should support you through all your personal challenges, should allow you to spend time with your loved ones. Simply taking a break and taking two days off because you’re at the height of your cycle and your body is just like, I’m taking a break. That’s what your business should be doing for you. And if it does not do that, let’s talk.
Yvonne Heimann [00:08:22]:
Because you really want to systemize, optimize and automate your business so that it can support you. And God forbid life smacks you over the head like it has me. You are never ever again in a situation that I was in where I had to choose between making money and taking care of my loved ones. It is all about setting up repeatable systems that can handle this day to day and give you the time to do the things you want to do. And believe me, “I’ve heard it so often, but I can’t do repeatable systems”. “This is all custom”. Let’s talk. I see systems where other people see chaos.
Yvonne Heimann [00:09:02]:
I promise you, everything is possible to put into repeatable processes. Having gone through this much, there is even more. Again, we can. We can fill a whole podcast. On my 1st 40 years of life, I understand the importance of self sustainable businesses that support you, your life and your dreams, not the other way around. Automation is not just a luxury, it is essential for building your business that offers you to freedom. If you’re ready to make your business more efficient and create a system that works for you, not the other way around, I’d love to help you. Please like and subscribe and share your thoughts in the comments.
Yvonne Heimann [00:09:45]:
There’s a lot of resources that I can give you even already here on this free YouTube channel to help us build this community where we support each other in making our businesses run seamless and achieving the freedom we all deserve and the freedom we started our business for to build. And if you are rebuilding or starting your business now, go check out this video over here where I share a few habits that have helped me grow my business and stay sane while doing it. Thanks for joining me. I look forward to connecting with you in the comments.
