This week on Smart Business Moves Chris Schwab joins Tom and Liz to bring his expertise in running a business remotely.
Chris lives in London and runs a cleaning business in the United States. Watch this episode of Smart Business Moves to learn how Chris handles his business from across the world including handling how employees run his business while he's so far away. Chris goes into great detail as to how he is able to do so. He has been on Smart Business Moves before, and I highly recommend watching those episodes to learn how he is able to be successful while running a business remotely.
Episode Highlights
COVID vaccine and markets (11:00–12:25). Tom said the day's dominant news was Pfizer's announcement of about 90% vaccine efficacy, far above the roughly 50% threshold that was expected to be acceptable. He said a full rollout would probably take a year or more. On the markets, he said investors were buying Disney and cruise lines and selling Zoom and other "COVID stocks." He reported the Nasdaq closed down that day while the Dow rose more than 1,000 points. These are Tom's figures from the transcript, not checked against market data.
Who is Chris Schwab?. Chris runs a cleaning company in Washington, D.C., while living in London. He joined at about 10 p.m. his time. He opened with personal news, saying he and his partner had officially married through a mail-in process and were working through visa paperwork to be together by early 2021. He also said COVID cases in the UK were higher but deaths were about one-tenth of the earlier rate, and that he personally considered the lockdown measures somewhat extreme.
Recap of parts one and two. Part one was a three-piece personal productivity system. First, rank every task A through E with the ABCDE method. Second, batch the smaller C, D, and E tasks into set blocks. His company uses 9–10 a.m. and 4–5 p.m. for tasks like charging cards, sending next-day schedules, and calling that day's customers. Third, keep a to-do list split into Do, Batch, and Watch. Part two was simple systems of two to five steps each, with five or six core ones covering hiring, retention, sales, and marketing. Chris argued that the "30 systems your business needs" freebies are overkill and that over-automation costs money in software. He added that most bad reviews get resolved by a conversation, not an automated discount offer.
Part three is delegation. Chris assumed the owner already has a manager or VA in place and skipped hiring, which he called step 2.5. He also skipped a fourth step for time.
Three conversations to have before going remote. These are the core framework of the segment.
- What will I handle, and what will you handle? Chris warned against hiring a manager and dumping everything on them within two weeks. In his business, he still adjusts Facebook ads, Thumbtack templates, and the AdWords budget, while his manager follows up with leads, books them, and runs the sales process. The manager never touches the budget.
- How do we each communicate best? Chris described an early VA who was eager to please and never raised problems, so unfinished tasks quietly piled up. His team now writes issues down and goes through them bluntly, even when it's awkward.
- How should tough situations be handled? Chris calls this the "Uh-Oh Protocol." It means discussing worst cases in advance, such as pulling a team from a home, a customer claim, or other emergencies, so the manager has permission to act. His personal test is whether the manager can resolve it, even at some cost, without contacting him.
The fix-it fund. Chris gives his managers roughly $250–$300 a week to resolve issues without telling him, such as refunding a difficult customer. He used a cruder name for it on air and said he might switch to Liz's term, "fix-it fund." He treats the amount as a rough guide, not a hard cap, and said a conversation is only needed if spending consistently runs into the thousands per month. Liz said her fix-it fund is $500 per incident rather than per week.
Safety is the exception. Liz asked where safety fits. Chris said safety issues come to him immediately. He told of a cleaner who was being propositioned by clients and texted that she felt unsafe. His manager, only a couple of months into the role, alerted him within minutes, and he said that was the right call. He said only a long-tenured manager should handle situations like that alone. Tom added that anything involving potential litigation or legal risk should reach the owner before "the certified letter shows up." Chris summed it up as "when in doubt, tell the owner."
Trial runs before going remote. Chris admitted he went remote only days after hiring his management team and called that a mistake that happened to work out. He advised training the manager on one task at a time until quality is acceptable. After that, the owner should take a one-week trip far enough away that returning isn't practical, then extend it to a month, then three months. He warned that managers who say "go enjoy yourself" often feel unsure on day one.
Meeting cadence. Chris recommended at least two meetings a week for the first 6–12 weeks with an established manager. With a new manager, he recommended three or four short check-ins a week for the first few months. After that, the owner can drop to weekly once the manager shows consistency without supervision. He cautioned that some managers rate five out of five with the owner present and two out of five remotely, which may mean more training, added support, or replacing them.
Communication setup. Chris's company uses Slack across his businesses and three WhatsApp groups. The first includes the whole company and is rarely used. The second, for managers and cleaners, carries most day-to-day traffic. The third is between Chris and his managers, for quick replies within about five minutes. His cleaners go straight from home to their first job, so the group chat also serves company culture. He admitted the weekly meeting is the piece he does least well.
Hidden danger of going remote. Chris warned that owners who have been running their businesses for 10–20 years can disconnect too far and struggle to re-engage. When that happens, small problems grow because the owner no longer cares enough to fix them. His advice was to stay 5–10% switched on so you can ramp back up when needed.
Audience Q&A. Asked how to keep managers long-term, Chris said hiring for fit matters more than grooming. His ideal profile is a college-educated person between 35 and 65 who wants part-time hours but is comfortable being reachable throughout the day. Many of his hires are educated stay-at-home parents. He noted that his VA agency finds and trains managers for other owners. On pay, he said VAs typically work on monthly hour packages or an agreed hourly rate with time tracking, while office managers are paid around the state average. Tom recommended looking up local wage ranges on the Department of Labor site. Chris added that a VA might cost $25 an hour but work only two or three hours a day, which can be cheaper than a $20-an-hour employee working full days.
