Is Your Team or Family Prepared if Something Happens to You? with MaryBeth Simon

[00:00:00] Amber Hawley: Business owners are increasingly being pulled in so many directions, feeling like they aren't reaching their full potential in business and life despite their type A ways. With my background as a therapist, entrepreneur, and as a.com dropout with adhd, I interview and coach high achieving business owners like you who wanna stop struggling for.

[00:00:21] Amber Hawley: By using psychological systems strategies and the occasional care confrontation, this is the easily distracted entrepreneur, your place to slay, overwhelm, perfectionism, and shiny object syndrome so that you can get done what matters most to you.

[00:00:40] Amber Hawley: Hello, hello. My focus Seeking Friends. I want to say welcome to any new listeners to the podcast, and I want to send a big thank you to all of you longtime listeners who are coming back for more nuggets and fun, . In today's episode, I interview Mary Beth Simone, who is the c e O of Niche Partnership Consulting, and she has created a very unique and amazing business where she helps entrepreneurs and professionals create their contingency plans that prepare them and their teams for unexpected or extended vacations.

[00:01:22] Amber Hawley: So you know, everything from being taken out for a little bit or. You know, if the worst case scenario happens, uh, I am a client of Mary Beth's and I have to say, I so appreciate her thoroughness and the sense of peace that you get when you have all of these things in place so that your loved ones and your team are not having to scramble while you're dealing with what you're dealing with.

[00:01:53] Amber Hawley: Mm-hmm. , before we get into the interview with Mary Beth, I want. Remind you that the incubator is starting this Monday, February 6th. There's still time to sign up and join us, and I would love to have you. The incubator is a small group hybrid coaching program where I think I take all the best things that I've ever done with clients and combine them into.

[00:02:21] Amber Hawley: Amazing package. It's a six month program where you get both one-on-one coaching, group coaching every month, and I think the key that helps distinguish it is the weekly, monthly, and quarterly planning workshops and planning sessions. You get a high level of support. Every single week throughout the week for everything from mindset to systems and planning so that you can execute easily, feel super focused, and work less.

[00:02:56] Amber Hawley: I mean, what is better than that? There is so much in the program that I would be talking forever if I tried to list it all. So head on over to amber holly.com/incubator to find out more information and get all the dets, and I really encourage you if you're thinking about it. , there's a link to schedule a call with me if you have any questions or if you're just ready, you're like, yeah, I'm ready to crush it in 2023 and achieve these big goals, then head on over there and sign up and grab your spot.

[00:03:27] Amber Hawley: That way you can join us for Friday's, designing your Perfect Work Week workshop that is included when you joined the incubator, and now to the interview with Mary. Hello, Mary Beth. Welcome to the podcast. Thank you, Amber. I'm so excited to be here. Yes, I'm excited to have this conversation. I know that I think it was, uh, kind of in maybe like April or June of 2020, you and I did, I did like a series of lives like coping in Covid.

[00:04:04] Amber Hawley: Uh, I had no plan for them, . I didn't know what I was doing. It was just to do it, to be helpful and to have something to. And we did have this conversation a little bit then, but recently we were talking and I was like, oh, I think you need to come on the podcast. And officially we need to talk about the good work that you do.

[00:04:24] Amber Hawley: So, uh, yeah, I'm excited for today and, uh, the conversation, but why don't you briefly tell people a little bit more about you and what you do Sure. Before we start ? 

[00:04:34] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. Yeah. So my name's Mary Beth Simone, and. I'm the founder of Niche Partnership Consulting and I primarily work with business owners to guide them through creating their contingency plans, uh, for their personal life and their business so that they can take more time off and deal with the business owner burnout that so many people are experiencing or be better prepared for an emergency or the unexpected.

[00:05:03] Amber Hawley: Yeah, that was. Definitely what was coming up in, you know, we're thinking all the way back to the beginning of the pandemic and I was like, this is so important. Like this is the time for people to get on top of that because a lot of the work you do helps people set up so that. If for some reason you're incapacitated or you know, or worse , right, that that also, so your loved ones and everyone around you or people in your business, you know, know what to do and are able to kind of take care, care of things, right?

[00:05:39] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. And you know, so often, I mean, our minds will go to like something catastrophic has happened, but we saw even during the early days of Covid, how business owners. We're getting, you know, hospitalized with Covid. So they were out of the business for maybe two weeks or a month. And uh, that really turns people's worlds upside down when the people who want to support them don't have the tools to do it.

[00:06:08] Amber Hawley: Yes, I know. And it's. I don't know. I, it's something I still see probably because I'm, you know, also do therapy work, like seeing so many people where either, like you said, somebody's hospitalized for a while or um, or if somebody has passed and that like the upheaval that comes and so like people don't even have time to, the loved ones don't even have time to like focus on either the grieving or showing up at the hospital because they're trying to figure out what the.

[00:06:39] Amber Hawley: Is going on and they don't know anything. They have no clue. Oh, anything is set up. They don't know any passwords. They don't know anything. Right. And, uh, I, I just see it so much and this just came up, uh, again for another client where somebody was really healthy and just passed away suddenly. And you're like, wow.

[00:06:57] Amber Hawley: It's just, You know, then it's like they're trying to make decisions. Like does the business go on? Like who gets the business? All of it. It's just so crazy. And I think as business owners, we know there's so many things to do and take care of and this isn't one we usually think about. But I think it's really important, you know, for everyone and for, like you said, if it's like you're hospitalized for a month, but then you wanna come back and you don't wanna have, have everything have crumbled, right.

[00:07:26] MaryBeth Simon: Right, right. You want to be able to. Processes in place so that the people who are working for you continue to operate. They continue to get paid. They know how to keep the lights on. They know how to do the basics. And when something like that happens, and people are, the people who are there to support are not prepared.

[00:07:48] MaryBeth Simon: They, they feel badly, they feel, you know, ashamed that they didn't think about it before. Like all these emotions come up and. It's really something that, you know, we all divide and conquer when it comes to responsibilities, whether it's in our personal life or in our business. So there's no need to feel embarrassed that we don't already know how somebody else does something.

[00:08:13] MaryBeth Simon: We don't already know how to support them. We have to have those difficult conversations and talk about, you know, My husband has an auto repair business, and so I say to him, you know, what do you want to happen if you're out for one month, three months, or indefinitely? You know, like, so we've had to go through those conversations and that's what I like to do with business owners.

[00:08:35] MaryBeth Simon: Facilitate those, those ideas and those conversations. 

[00:08:40] Amber Hawley: Yeah. And you, you had talked about like what got you started in this business the last time that we talked, but, uh, if you could share that, that experience, cause I think it's, you know, I think it's, uh, good for people to hear those kinds of stories, but it also speaks a lot to why you're so passionate about this work.

[00:08:59] Amber Hawley: Yeah, 

[00:09:00] MaryBeth Simon: so I worked at Vanguard Investments for over 30 years, and I had kind of set a target date for when I was going to retire, and after I had decided on that date, soon after that, one of my close friends who I had worked with and she had retired before me, she was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer and she.

[00:09:23] MaryBeth Simon: Me, if she didn't survive, would I be willing to help her husband navigate the finances? Because he was 13 years older than her. Didn't use a computer, didn't use a cell phone. She managed all of the finances, she did all the investing, and we were both tech managers. And so I said, of course, I would help.

[00:09:46] MaryBeth Simon: And I asked her if she could show me what was going on, uh, in their, you. Financial life, like what I needed to know. And I think that was a step too far. Considering her diagnosis, I think it would've made it too real. And so that conversation never happened and she did pass away and I ended up spending three months working intensively with her husband while I was working full-time.

[00:10:15] MaryBeth Simon: To help him get through the bulk of the information that we needed to pull together. And it was really challenging. You know, it was, uh, it was a little aggravating because I was really sad about losing my friend and I had all this work to do. 

[00:10:31] Amber Hawley: Yeah, 

[00:10:31] MaryBeth Simon: so it felt like I had to just postpone the grieving process until this was done.

[00:10:37] MaryBeth Simon: But really the whole process took a year and I would come home from, you know, helping her husband and say to my husband, I hope. I don't go first because this is a real mess, cuz I do the same thing here. I handle the finances and the investing. I have retiree benefits now that he is, that my husband is, uh, eligible to use.

[00:11:01] MaryBeth Simon: And it's complicated. And he said to me, he's like, you have to put something in place because who is gonna help me? And I said, I don't know. I don't know. So that's kind of how it started and I started putting my process together. And while I was doing that, I realized that we all could do a better job, uh, preparing for the unexpected and then knowing that I was gonna be opening my business.

[00:11:25] MaryBeth Simon: And my husband has a business, and I started out really focusing on small business owners and my local community because, you know, I care about them and. We have a lot of small, small, uh, team shops and I wanted to make sure that they were prepared. 

[00:11:45] Amber Hawley: Yeah. I, and like you said, it's, it's so sad because it's so hard to, as you say, postpone your grief and it can be such a long process if things aren't put together ahead of time.

[00:11:58] Amber Hawley: Right. It can take, it can take years for people to get through all of that and, and, ah, It's, it's unnecessary and it's one of those things that we often, for many reasons, don't prioritize. Right? Like, cuz we're so busy, we're already stretched thin and it's like, oh yeah, I'll do that, I'll do that, I'll do that.

[00:12:19] Amber Hawley: And also, like you said, even if you don't have a diagnosis right now, so many people don't like thinking about worst case scenarios. It feels very anxiety provoking for them. 

[00:12:30] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. And I think, you know, for business owners, Often when I work with business owners, they'll have had such good luck in the way that they have operated their business pr, uh, especially before the pandemic, right?

[00:12:45] MaryBeth Simon: The pandemic put everybody, you know, caught everybody off guard. But before the pandemic, I worked with people who have just, you know, had. , you know, no health issues pretty much along the way. Everything has gone pretty well. Um, so it was still hard for them to conceive of something going wrong or when would they ever need to use this.

[00:13:07] Amber Hawley: Mm-hmm. . 

[00:13:08] MaryBeth Simon: So the, one of the blessings of the pandemic is that we now see a great example of why, as a business owner, we need to be prepared to, you know, have our team members be able to jump in and play. That they maybe don't play on a regular basis. Right. 

[00:13:26] Amber Hawley: Yeah, it's true. And I think about so many business owners I work with who say like they don't have, uh, health insurance, and they're like, well, I never get sick and I never go to the doctors.

[00:13:38] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. So, or my family, we've always been healthy. We don't have any diseases in my family. 

[00:13:43] Amber Hawley: I hear so you're like, oh yeah. Ends . But it's true though. It's, it is hard though. It's hard to prioritize those things. You know, especially if you're in the place where so many people are, where they're like, I'm just trying to keep my head above water.

[00:13:59] Amber Hawley: I'm, I need to, like, income is, you know, number one, right? It's like making money is king, right? And so that's what gets focused on and there's all of these other things that, that we don't. Find time for, because at the time they don't seem important until they go wrong. And then we're like, oh fuck. Like

[00:14:19] Amber Hawley: Yeah. Now we're, now we're in the weeds. Well like legal stuff, like backup for tech stuff and then stuff like this where it's like, can people take over and keep things running? Right, right. Like 

[00:14:31] MaryBeth Simon: I can't tell you how many business owners I work with where even the SOPs are not documented in the business.

[00:14:39] MaryBeth Simon: So, You know, the owner does. The owner kind of can operate in a black box where the owner does what the owner does and nobody really knows how they do what they do, or exactly when they do it or what they do, right? But all the procedures for everybody else are documented because that's how we onboard, you know, team members.

[00:15:00] MaryBeth Simon: But there. Big, you know, hole or gap in the s o p documentation when it comes to the business owner . And then if something happens, or even if the, if the owner has to take care of a family member, you know, and be out of the business, then uh, there's really, there's no guide for the, the supporting actors to follow.

[00:15:20] Amber Hawley: Absolutely. And you know, it makes me think about, you know, and I've said it too, it's like it's all up here. Like all that info is right up here. And I always say I want the technology where I could just like wear like a headband and it could transcribe my brain , because especially being neurodivergent, it's so hard sometimes to articulate the things that we just inherently know.

[00:15:42] Amber Hawley: But it's so important And just, just for anybody out there who. Doesn't know. S o P is standard operating procedures, so that's having, you know, everything that you do, all of your processes, the ways that you handle things, everything documented so that somebody else could come in and read that document and be able to execute whatever said thing needs to be done.

[00:16:04] Amber Hawley: Right. 

[00:16:04] MaryBeth Simon: Right, right. Yeah, so there are some techniques that I, uh, use when I'm working with people and I actually created a course that I'm gonna make available to your listeners that they can just go through and see the techniques that I recommend for easily documenting your procedures because it can be a pains you wanna maximize when you're doing something.

[00:16:27] MaryBeth Simon: You wanna maximize that time and, you know, get the ball rolling on getting your, so, Uh, in place, even if it's by video and maybe having a transcription of it, of the audio file, that kind of thing to speed it up. 

[00:16:42] Amber Hawley: Oh, absolutely. Yeah, there are, there are many tips and tricks, so that's awesome that you're gonna be sharing that with people.

[00:16:49] Amber Hawley: I know that in 2020, I did your, I, I don't know if you wanna call it a program or process or, I have these giant books. ? Yeah. Or the binders folder. Yeah. Binders. I mean binders. Yes. . And you know, I think your approach. Because you've already done all the groundwork. Cuz we don't know what we don't know. Like we don't, there's so many things we don't think about.

[00:17:12] Amber Hawley: Right. . Right? And 

[00:17:13] MaryBeth Simon: that's, that's the only reason that people don't already have a plan in place is because you can't Google, how do I put my contingency plan in place? , you'll, you'll get like this array of, you know, odd results, but the key is in the process. So that is what? , I guide my clients through the process and, um, keep them accountable to show up on a weekly basis and to hit these milestones.

[00:17:42] MaryBeth Simon: So since we work together in 2020, I've even further refined the process. And, uh, so now, and there's three different kinds of plans that I work with people on creating. Yeah. And so we meet on a weekly basis. To keep that ball rolling. And then there's homework that they have to get it done. But once it's done, it's done.

[00:18:03] MaryBeth Simon: And then it only takes a few hours to update it once a year. 

[00:18:06] Amber Hawley: Yes. No, that, and that's the thing, right? Once you get to that point and you. And yeah, you still have to update it. Cuz I even think about that, even going back through as um, you know, even my membership and I'm going through pieces and I like go back in modules and reread stuff.

[00:18:23] Amber Hawley: I'm like, oh crap, that's not the same anymore. , oh, now we have to rerecord a different loom video because you know, like the thi the technology we use changed. Right, right. . So you're always needing to do that. But I could see where the accountability on the week to week basis, cuz I think that's the thing.

[00:18:39] Amber Hawley: It's just scheduling it, right? That's right. I mean it's knowing the process and then scheduling it. 

[00:18:43] MaryBeth Simon: That's right. That's right. And so, I mean, because it can seem very overwhelming when you think about the entire process. So the key is to be able to, what I do as I chunk it out and only give people, you know, so much work to do each week.

[00:19:02] MaryBeth Simon: Honestly, when the binders show up, they are a little overwhelmed. They're like, oh, what did I get myself into ? Um, but yeah, so we just go, we just chunk it out and go through piece by piece each week until, so it takes four weeks for each type of plan to get completed. 

[00:19:19] Amber Hawley: Okay. What are, so what are the 

[00:19:21] MaryBeth Simon: different plans, 

[00:19:22] Amber Hawley: I guess?

[00:19:23] Amber Hawley: Yeah, 

[00:19:23] MaryBeth Simon: so the first one I always recommend. For all business owners to have a personal contingency plan in place. Uh, so that's where I like to begin with them. Some people already have a plan in place that they've worked with financial planners and insurance people, so we might just start with a review of that.

[00:19:42] MaryBeth Simon: Otherwise, we put. , uh, we use my process and create a personal contingency plan, which is everything about your personal life. That's really the foundation of your estate plan. And then the next step is your business contingency plan. So we go through all the same information for your business. And then for therapists, that would include their professional will goes in, Uh, binder.

[00:20:07] MaryBeth Simon: And then the third plan is the Business Continuance Playbook, and that is where I interview business owners and I document all of their SOPs for them. Oh, wow. Yeah. So the, the work is kind of front loaded for the, for the client in the. Personal and business contingency plan. And then when we get to the business continuance playbook, I'm doing the majority of the work.

[00:20:32] MaryBeth Simon: I just interview them and then once they're done with that meeting, they go away and I do all the work. Yeah. 

[00:20:38] Amber Hawley: Ugh, that sounds awesome. . That's like the cherry on top. Yeah, exactly. It's true though, cuz like you said, It's, you know, whenever I have somebody or I've had an assistant and they're setting up stuff, I always have them document the SOPs so that, you know, that way that's great.

[00:20:56] Amber Hawley: If I even have to go in to do something that they do, I know how to do it. Right. Right. But, but we often don't think about those things that we ourselves just take care of. Right, 

[00:21:06] MaryBeth Simon: right. Yeah. You know, like most business owners are handling the payroll themselves and you know, onboarding new team members and different compliance type things depending on their line of work, 

[00:21:20] Amber Hawley: right?

[00:21:20] Amber Hawley: Yeah. So what is, like if somebody was thinking, okay, I need, okay, this makes sense. I need to have this thing so that if something happens, somebody can come in, make, yeah. Payroll still happen or. Even like, I guess if they don't even have passwords to get into a computer, you wouldn't even know who to cancel.

[00:21:42] Amber Hawley: Like for, I think about the solopreneurs who don't even have assistance and maybe even the assistant doesn't have access to their, like, personal calendar. Right. Like I could imagine. Yeah. What do you They won't, don't even know how to get into their email. Right? Yeah. And 

[00:21:57] MaryBeth Simon: then that, at that, in that scenario, and that's kind of the scenario that I was in with my friend, um, after she passed, was it was.

[00:22:06] MaryBeth Simon: Mostly managing, putting out fires. 

[00:22:09] Amber Hawley: Yeah. 

[00:22:09] MaryBeth Simon: Waiting for things to happen and pop up and then dealing with it then. Yeah. So that is challenging when you are shorthanded, you know, for whatever reason. And hopefully not in a grieving situation. But yeah, it can get really complicated very quickly. 

[00:22:30] Amber Hawley: So if people were gonna start.

[00:22:32] Amber Hawley: If they are thinking, okay, I need to start figuring out ways in which, yeah, if something happens that someone else could step in for me. What, where is like the, the base level would, you would tell people that feels manageable for them to start with? 

[00:22:50] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah, so there are three things that I recommend that people start thinking about and.

[00:22:57] MaryBeth Simon: Figuring out, you know, what approach they would prefer. And these three areas, you can do that before working with anybody on a contingency plan. And this is what we, what we all need to do. One is to have your passwords documented so, If you are open to ha using a system like I like LastPass, and there are other password specific systems to use, that is a good place to start.

[00:23:23] MaryBeth Simon: You can identify an emergency backup in LastPass who they would get notified. If, or they They would, they would be, they would have access. So my emergency backup can say I want access to her passwords. If I don't say no within a given period of time that I specify, then that person automatically gets access.

[00:23:46] MaryBeth Simon: So if I have a window of like 24 hours that I can decline the request and I don't decline it, they automatically get access and then they have 

[00:23:54] Amber Hawley: access 

[00:23:55] MaryBeth Simon: to everything. 

[00:23:56] Amber Hawley: That really, that beats my version that I was thinking I would have. I use, uh, one. Because I lost my master last pass password. They tell you not to lose that.

[00:24:06] Amber Hawley: And I did. Yeah. So I was like, I put it in a little box and I would lock it up somewhere and then I would have like this thing where they would have to go and like read something and then find it. That way they, they wouldn't know where it is. So that version is way easier than my very complex, like I definitely read the Da Vinci code too many times.

[00:24:26] Amber Hawley: I was like, they'll get a lockbox, you know, and they'll open it up and there'll be a letter that says, Here's, here's the magic box with my password . It sounds like a treasure hunt. . Exactly. It totally is. Yeah. 

[00:24:39] MaryBeth Simon: That is way more helpful, . 

[00:24:41] Amber Hawley: Yeah. 

[00:24:42] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah, so, so you could use a paper password. Uh, record. I have one on my website.

[00:24:48] MaryBeth Simon: If you, if you look at my website, there's a free contingency plan and it gives you instructions on how to create the paper book that I create for my clients. For some people that works best, but really coming up with a system. A reliable system, secure system for your passwords is, is one of the top things.

[00:25:07] MaryBeth Simon: The second thing is to identify who is your second in command and who is this person that you trust with your financial information, your passwords, who you trust to step in for you. And that might be two different people, one for whom, one for business, or it may be the same person, but really think about.

[00:25:30] MaryBeth Simon: Who those, that person or those persons could be. And maybe make a list of names of who they are. And the thing is, you just have to trust them completely to have access to like be, it's like the kind of person who would be your power of attorney who would be able to sell your. Investments, sell your house.

[00:25:51] MaryBeth Simon: Anything you can do right, you trust them that much. And then the third thing is to get your legal documents in order. So the majority of Americans do not have a will in place, and the percentage for the people who do not have it in place. Gets higher as people get older, which is counterintuitive, right?

[00:26:14] MaryBeth Simon: Millennials are doing a great job getting their estate plans in place, which is, you know, amazing that they are. Boomers are not doing such a good, good job with that. So, . That's really foundational. Every human over 18 needs to have a basic will, at least, and most of us need something more than that. You know, maybe a more in-depth estate plan.

[00:26:39] MaryBeth Simon: So your power of attorney, your healthcare directive, and your your will. 

[00:26:45] Amber Hawley: Yeah, and it's, well, this just, just happened. And, uh, with a client whose, uh, stepparent passed away and didn't, has a big, big, big, very successful business. No will, and like you said, it was their boomer, but and they didn't have a will.

[00:27:04] Amber Hawley: And it's, I mean, there's so much. That that impacts besides just the chaos of it all and not knowing it's, you know, I guess I've listened to a lot of those. Lawyers that have like radio shows and they talk about, I can't remember his name, but we would always listen to him when we were like driving to Tahoe or something and hear the horror stories of like, they lose huge percentages of their, of their estate because, because it's like the state takes it over because nobody has been named as the like the beneficiary.

[00:27:38] Amber Hawley: You know, like things like that. And it creates so much chaos. 

[00:27:43] MaryBeth Simon: That's exactly right. So I always like to say that when you don't have a will in place, you're saying to the state where you live that they know better than you do. As to who should get your assets. Hmm. And it may not be, it may not follow the logic that you think it does 

[00:28:05] Amber Hawley: Well, really?

[00:28:06] Amber Hawley: Because I always felt government was super logical. . Right, exactly. I think all elected officials make right decisions. Exactly. 

[00:28:15] MaryBeth Simon: So it's state by state and it's, you know, it's basically the prince situation. So, Died without a will. And he was surrounded by attorneys, you know, he was always, uh, fighting for the rights to his music.

[00:28:30] MaryBeth Simon: And he was, he had a huge legal team and he passed without a will. And it took until this year or last year for his estate to be, um, settled. And what happens is it really makes attorneys. These situations. Mm. You know, and some of the people, some of his beneficiaries, like they passed away during the whole estate resolution process.

[00:28:56] MaryBeth Simon: Right. They didn't, not only that, 

[00:28:58] Amber Hawley: you know it already. I mean, even when you have a will, like sometimes people behave very badly after someone passes, within families. Again, being a therapist, I see that . Uh, and having been through that with my own family, uh, yeah, long ago. But if there's also like now there's no delineation and they have to fight for it.

[00:29:18] Amber Hawley: I mean, it can really destroy families too. So like that part too, I just think of the emotional impact. 

[00:29:25] MaryBeth Simon: Absolutely. And you know, and then like you're saying, like businesses are involved. Like there's just, that really complicates it. And some people have a fear of attorneys. And I would say, I mean, I have had such great experiences with attorneys and even I find attorneys for my clients across the country and there are just some really wonderful one.

[00:29:48] MaryBeth Simon: Available. So if you don't find one that meshes with you, just, you know, interview them like you would interview anybody who you're gonna work with because you want it to be a long-term relationship. There are, and law changes all the time. Yeah. Uh, inheritance law changes all the time, you know, at a federal level and state level.

[00:30:08] MaryBeth Simon: So it's important that you have somebody that you can trust and work with and they have some great techniques. In our estate plan, it says that if anybody contests it, they will. Anybody who's in the will contest it, they'll be written out of the Will . I'm like, I love that . 

[00:30:24] Amber Hawley: That's great. Like I love that one.

[00:30:28] Amber Hawley: That's a great one. How about that? That is pretty damn good. But yeah, I agree with you. I know so many amazing lawyers and, and yeah, it's about finding those people. I mean, it makes me think Prince is a Prince's lawyers. Like I feel like they should be. Trouble for a, like, ethical violations. Like how ethically do you not tell your client to do that?

[00:30:50] Amber Hawley: Like, that's such a big deal, you know? So it's sad. Right. And 

[00:30:54] MaryBeth Simon: you know, I guess there are attorneys that don't have their rules in place too, right? Well, that is, I mean, that's, at the end of the day, we're all, we're all just human beings and people think, you know, they think it's age-based and it isn. 

[00:31:06] Amber Hawley: No.

[00:31:07] Amber Hawley: Exactly, exactly. Yeah. And I, I know, um, so I guess the episode probably came out in 2020 cuz I, during that whole like, coping with Covid series that I did, I did interview, um, a friend who's a lawyer in California and uh, I'll have to link it in the show notes to that episode where she talks a little bit about that.

[00:31:29] Amber Hawley: And what was really eye-opening too was when she talked about. Like, just because you have a will and stuff like you, there's other things, like if you have children that you have to designate or they can, your kids can be like, put in foster care until like things are resolved or, you know, so the, there's so many parts to this, right.

[00:31:47] Amber Hawley: But Right. You know, so 

[00:31:49] MaryBeth Simon: like you have to have the guardianship figured out, you know, identified and like legally, um, set. And so to that point, Amber, that's why I. I encourage people to work with an attorney rather than to go on to Le Legal Zoom and try and figure out everything that they need because it's a little more complicated than just self-provisioning.

[00:32:10] MaryBeth Simon: Oh, absolutely. And it can matter if your, if the guardian for your children or your power of attorney lives in another 

[00:32:16] Amber Hawley: state. Yeah, that's what she was talking about. So then if your guardian, like if you know, are they had to come and travel, then what do your kids do until that person can get there? Right?

[00:32:28] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. Right. So I mean, it's worth talking through your individual scenario with an attorney to get the best plan in place. 

[00:32:38] Amber Hawley: Yes. I know. I'm gonna say as the person who's like, , let's make things manageable and sustainable. Right. I totally agree. And after working with you, we did contact an attorneys to get, you know, cuz we had stuff set up in California, but then we moved to North Carolina.

[00:32:54] Amber Hawley: So it was like, you need to take care of all of that stuff. And I would say, even if like you're like, okay, I don't have time for that right now. Uh, I'm gonna schedule it for, I don't know, three months, six months from now. Although, I will tell you the last time I said, oh, this new computer, I'll back it up during my maternity leave, and then the effing thing fried and I lost everything.

[00:33:17] Amber Hawley: It was horrible. It was a random fluke, but, so I always think of that, but again, not, I'm not trying to scare people, but. I think even doing something like legal zoom or something that's really basic and easy, like I know there are things, templates out there. At least having something and then getting that notarized until you're ready to do the whole thing.

[00:33:38] Amber Hawley: Um, that's true. I would say something is better than nothing. Right. 

[00:33:42] MaryBeth Simon: That's true and I have, I did work with a client who HA was a large business owner, had no will and was traveling to Italy and so I connected them with an attorney and she put in place just a basic will for them before they traveled to Italy.

[00:34:00] MaryBeth Simon: Nothing, you know, nothing went wrong. And so they came back and then they worked on their full, uh, estate plan after that. So, yeah. That's smart. It is worthwhile. That's 

[00:34:09] Amber Hawley: so, so break it out into things that feel manageable for you. So that's why I like that you shared those first three steps, you know, that can, that you can take care of on your own and then start building upon it because it can feel overwhelming.

[00:34:22] Amber Hawley: There is a lot of stuff right. and, and even, you know, when you and I talked, I remember like had I not really thought it out, I would've been like, oh yeah, my husband. But then like as soon as I gave it any thought, I was like, he is not technical at all. Like I am the IT department in our HO household. So like, from the business standpoint, from the personal standpoint, like he knows, you know, the finances and all this stuff too.

[00:34:49] Amber Hawley: Like you said, I thought, oh, this is my sister. She's somebody who's very like practical and smart and she knows technology and she's, you know, she's up on stuff. So I felt like that would be the person who would be my second in command, right? Yes. In lieu of having somebody in my business who would be that person.

[00:35:08] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. And that, that is a common thinking process. Um, so clients often say like, oh, it should be. My spouse, it should be my oldest. It should be, you know, but then you have to really think through, are they able to handle. a lot of moving parts at the same time as handling something emotional, right? So if you don't have say a resounding yes to that, then that's not the person and that's not, that's not saying something bad about them.

[00:35:39] MaryBeth Simon: No. But think about who is who. Who is that person who could be, you know, like in the middle of emergency, an emergency and stay really? 

[00:35:50] Amber Hawley: Yeah. And not only that, like that's one, uh, uh, good, great quality. My husband has, he is, he's very calm. Like he's, I'm not the calm one. He's the calm one, but, I thought about it and I was like, even if I was just hospitalized, first of all, he has to take care of three kids.

[00:36:07] Amber Hawley: Yes. And I wouldn't want him to have to deal with all of that other stuff. And he, he wouldn't be good at it. , he, he can't. Right. He has, he has a, he has the very distractable type of A D H D and like he can get a little overwhelmed by sometimes even just the stuff I throw at him in the morning can be a lot, you know, like, I can't imagine.

[00:36:27] Amber Hawley: But I also wouldn't wanna put him through. Right to have to worry about that stuff. 

[00:36:31] MaryBeth Simon: And 

[00:36:31] Amber Hawley: that's 

[00:36:31] MaryBeth Simon: not to say that he won't have a ton of decisions to make, so he, he will be most likely the dec like the, the final decision maker on anything that's gonna happen. Right. Your sister would be doing all of the, all of the work to.

[00:36:51] MaryBeth Simon: Information together and to raise up like decisions that need to be made and she will most likely bring it to him for the decision. So he'll still have a key piece in the process, but just not have to deal with all of the messy details. Yeah. 

[00:37:07] Amber Hawley: So when you're working with people then, cuz you did talk about these different scenarios when, let's say it's you're, you end up in the hospital for some reason and you.

[00:37:19] Amber Hawley: You know, well, one, even if you're, even if you're conscious, you might not be able to make the decisions or deal with the overwhelm of that stuff. Are there ways that you, or setups you would have to empower employees to take care of things, or would you always have that? Would you have that person, like say it was my sister who's not in my business, she would be the person that would coordinate that, or how, how would, what would your suggestion to be for people like at like what levels do you bring in these other people?

[00:37:51] MaryBeth Simon: So the, when it comes to running the business while the owner is out, it will, it will depend on the legal documents that empower somebody to either transact on accounts. So some people have, like their accountant is listed as a, an authorized signer on the bank accounts, so they can do anything anytime.

[00:38:14] MaryBeth Simon: If that's not the case, then it may go back to your power of a. Document. Um, so if your power of attorney in your estate plan authorizes your spouse, partner, somebody to do something in your business while you are alive but unable to act in that capacity or you're out of the country or something like that, then that is how they will be authorized.

[00:38:42] MaryBeth Simon: Otherwise, they need to be on the accounts. 

[00:38:46] Amber Hawley: Yeah, I know. I, and I, uh, I was thinking about when, um, my son had his drowning accident and we thought we were going to lose him. They told us to say goodbye, but we were in the hospital with him and I, you know, didn't leave his side for a couple weeks. Well, we were only in for two weeks, but we thought it was gonna be a lot longer.

[00:39:08] Amber Hawley: We got very lucky, but during that time, like I was. I, it didn't need to go to the legal level. I still had to submit payroll. Right. But cuz I didn't have anything set up right. But Right. I, my, like every, my team, like everyone was able to kind of take care of everything else. And luckily I had somebody who, uh, my.

[00:39:32] Amber Hawley: You know, who was able to call all my clients and and cancel and let them know cuz she could see my schedule. Yeah. And deal with all of that stuff. And then the rest of the stuff, like she already ran the day-to-day so I was lucky to be really removed from a lot of stuff. And then, you know, the other therapists who worked for me just were amazing and everyone kind of banded together and you know, there was a lot of support.

[00:39:55] Amber Hawley: But I still think like I got really lucky ends. The shitty part about my kind of work is like we, I lost all my income from, you know, from me being able to see clients. So that's a whole different thing. But, but yeah, I, I, I think that, like you're saying, it's not always just like, oh, I died , you know? Right.

[00:40:14] Amber Hawley: It's not only this thing, but there's so many scenarios. There was, I couldn't deal with anything. I mean, I, I literally was just, You know, waiting, thinking, oh my God, am I gonna lose my baby? You know? 

[00:40:27] MaryBeth Simon: Right, right. And quite often it's a scenario that is just like life interrupted. Mm-hmm. That happens much more frequently than we would like to admit, you know?

[00:40:42] MaryBeth Simon: And that is what really impacts businesses and the operations. 

[00:40:48] Amber Hawley: It makes me think about, so we're recording this in December, um, but it'll be coming out in January, but I just today the, or I'm sorry. Yesterday, the episode I did with Casey Groomer where her and I did a two-part series on Yes. Going through divorce while being entre I, entrepreneur.

[00:41:07] Amber Hawley: Mm-hmm. . Yeah. It's that same thing of even she talked. Not having the full capacity. Yes. Not being able to be at full capacity because of, and she said she felt like hers was kind of a best case scenario. And still it's just so much that comes up that you're unexpected. So I think. What you're saying is true.

[00:41:29] Amber Hawley: It's like, it's all that emotional stuff that impacts us that can take us out from being able to make decisions or run things or take care of things much more frequently. Or as one of my therapists put it, oh, you mean life happened, . 

[00:41:44] MaryBeth Simon: Exactly. And you know, when we're making our schedule and we're making commitments, we're always imagining the best case scenario.

[00:41:52] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. 

[00:41:52] Amber Hawley: Always. That's, that's where our brains work against us, right? It's called optimism bias. And all of our brains do that. N not just neurodivergent ones, , all of our brains. We always think everything was gonna go smoothly. Like best case scenario, yes, we'll be able to deliver and yeah, it's, it can be quite the gut punch when reality sets in, right?

[00:42:14] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. So really like the smaller the business, the smaller the team, the more important that there are systems in place that will. Someone else access to what is happening to your day-to-day. You know, who are your clients that you're meeting with, what is going on? Where are they in the process? What money is in that, you know, you haven't delivered the services yet, that kind of thing.

[00:42:39] Amber Hawley: Right, right. No, that's so helpful and I think. You know, we were talking before we started recording that, you know, being that this is the start of the year, this can be a great time. We are all, we have a little more energy to kind of like start a new and, you know, set our intentions for this next year and.

[00:42:59] Amber Hawley: I think even, even if you are working up to working with someone like you who can help, you know, obviously like speed up the process because there is one, like even taking those little baby steps like uh, signing up for your free course or downloading the templates that you have just to start maybe an hour a month until you're really ready to deal with it.

[00:43:23] Amber Hawley: I think that would be, to me it's all about finding a sustainable way. 

[00:43:28] MaryBeth Simon: Right, and it's like it's a matter of it being on your radar. So now you know. What we've experienced the last couple of years. We all know that there is a need, but we still, we still might like, push that into the background, but making sure that it stays on your radar, that you put it on your to-do list, to get your estate plan, in order to get your, to manage your passwords.

[00:43:53] MaryBeth Simon: That can be time consuming. Like, you know, commit to those things as a, it's a great way to, 

[00:44:01] Amber Hawley: That's wonderful. Yeah. So now that you've listened to this episode, you know they say, when you know better, you do better . That's right. So now it's on your radar and uh, but don't overwhelm yourself. Just take it little baby steps.

[00:44:15] Amber Hawley: And where should they go to get this free course, which obviously seems like the logical first. 

[00:44:23] MaryBeth Simon: Yeah. Yeah. So the course is going to help business owners document their standard operating procedures, and you can go to niche partnership consulting.net/distracted. Wonderful. 

[00:44:37] Amber Hawley: Well, thank you so much Mary Beth for coming on and talking about this.

[00:44:42] Amber Hawley: I know it's a, it's, it's one of those things like that is so important and it's also hard for us to like look at, you know, for all the reasons we said. Um, but if there's one last piece of advice or, or thought for, you know, business owners aren't there, who are like, oh wow, I have nothing in place, what would you say to them?

[00:45:02] MaryBeth Simon: So what I would say is, That after business owners put their contingency plans in place, their businesses take off, and for whatever reason that is, they seem to. Rise to new heights in their business. They put new things on their plate that they always wanted to achieve, and I think it's because they're relieved of the stress that is there in the background nagging at them.

[00:45:33] MaryBeth Simon: Hmm. That they're not. You know, ready for the unexpected. And once they have that in place, they can take more vacations. They can test out the process by leaving work and leaving their team in charge and see how it goes. Yeah. So it's really a freeing, uh, thing to get your plans in place. 

[00:45:52] Amber Hawley: I love that.

[00:45:53] Amber Hawley: That's awesome. Oh, that's really cool. And I can, yeah, that's, it's those things in the back of our mind that, that take up so much more energy than. Than we really think, you know, then I think we don't understand the impact of that stuff. And that's why I love talking about the emotional side of business because it, it definitely impacts us 

[00:46:14] MaryBeth Simon: for sure.

[00:46:15] Amber Hawley: Thank you so much for coming on and, uh, sharing your wisdom and everyone head on out. So head on out to the, uh, link that she shared and it will be in the show notes as well as links to all the other things we talked about. Thank you so much, Mary Beth. Thanks so much, Amber. Another perk of joining the incubator is that every month I'll be bringing in sought after guest experts who will be sharing their knowledge and wisdom with everyone there.

[00:46:43] Amber Hawley: This month I have a very special treat for both the incubator members and members of the Inner Circle. We'll be having the wonderful Lexi Solis come in. To do a 90 minute workshop on February 7th where she will be helping us align our mind. In addition to all the shit you'll be getting done in the incubator, the way you think and feel will be key to attaining your 2023 goals.

[00:47:10] Amber Hawley: Join Lexi and all the other fellow incubator and inner circle members. For a special bonus workshop where you will discover a new way of seeing yourself in your work so that even when challenges arise, you'll be sure to move beyond them. And finally, reach that next level again. For more information, head on over to amber holly.com/incubator.