Episode 7

Systems, Processes, & Procedures

Jen Henderson joins Joshua Maddux on this weeks episode of In The Bunker to talk about Systems, Processes, & Procedures.

Bio: Jen was born and raised in Amarillo, Texas, and is the youngest of 2 children, both of which are now Professional Engineers. Jen is the proud wife and mother of two wonderful children. Jen was appointed to the Zoning Board of Adjustments in June of 2014 and to the Planning and Zoning Commission in Round Rock in October 2014.

Jen developed an interest in Engineering when she realized her desire to be part of the construction industry. Jens background and experience includes civil and structural detailed design engineering. She is proud of the work she does and all of the projects she is involved in. She also enjoys that everyone can see the impacts of her efforts on the community around her. If you ask Jen, she will tell you that engineering is not just a job, it’s a passion and an exciting career that she enjoys every single day. Jen also likes that her profession allows her to work on projects throughout central Texas and that she is part of a team of professionals that takes a project from the clients idea and makes it into something physical, grand and lasting. Jen currently works in site specific land development. Her current projects include parking lot expansions, water quality pond design, grading, feasibility studies and utility plans for sites in Round Rock, Kyle, Buda, Austin and surrounding areas in Texas.

Links:

  • LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jenhendersonpe/
  • Website: https://hendersonpe.com/
  • LinkedIn Company: https://www.linkedin.com/company/henderson-p-e/

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Transcript
Joshua Maddux:

Welcome back to in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

Every business owner faces challenges, and we love to share an unpack these stories.

Joshua Maddux:

Today, we have Jen Henderson in the bunker with us.

Joshua Maddux:

Jen started her business at the end of 2020, admits a global pandemic and has

Joshua Maddux:

been faced with a handful of challenges.

Joshua Maddux:

Running a business itself is challenging, but doing that in a time where there is.

Joshua Maddux:

All different types of just abnormalities in trying to start and run a

Joshua Maddux:

business is challenging even further.

Joshua Maddux:

I'm so excited to learn and hear from Jen today and super excited

Joshua Maddux:

to just jump into this episode.

Joshua Maddux:

Let's welcome Jen, to the show.

Joshua Maddux:

Good to have you on.

Jen Henderson:

Thank you.

Jen Henderson:

I'm really glad to be here.

Joshua Maddux:

So let's get up to speed on who you are, how'd you get here?

Joshua Maddux:

What do you do?.

Jen Henderson:

I'm Jen Henderson.

Jen Henderson:

I'm the owner of Henderson professional engineers.

Jen Henderson:

We are a civil engineering company just outside of Austin, Texas.

Jen Henderson:

I have been a civil engineer for about 17 years now and I am a mom to two kids.

Jen Henderson:

They both play softball and baseball.

Jen Henderson:

And I'm also a.

Jen Henderson:

And on someone's daughter.

Jen Henderson:

And that, that in itself is a full-time job.

Joshua Maddux:

So you and I connected through tab we're both

Joshua Maddux:

members of different groups in that.

Joshua Maddux:

And I know that has definitely helped shape, both of our businesses.

Joshua Maddux:

Before we hit record, we were talking about some of those

Joshua Maddux:

different challenges that.

Joshua Maddux:

You've been faced with in, in starting a business and just

Joshua Maddux:

everything else going on.

Joshua Maddux:

let's walk through that first.

Joshua Maddux:

One of, starting admits COVID starting in, you said you started

Joshua Maddux:

the business in November of 20.

Jen Henderson:

That's right.

Jen Henderson:

We started in November of 2020 that for frame of reference was when we weren't

Jen Henderson:

sure if we needed to say home or if we could go to the office and do leave

Jen Henderson:

wear masks, do we not wear a mask?

Jen Henderson:

And locally, pretty much everyone was still wearing.

Jen Henderson:

And using hand sanitizer all the time.

Jen Henderson:

My biggest challenge in that was how do I handle the employees, what's okay

Jen Henderson:

to say, and what's not okay to say.

Jen Henderson:

And, do I ask them when the vaccine's available?

Jen Henderson:

Are they going to get it?

Jen Henderson:

Am I even illegally able to ask that?

Jen Henderson:

And Navigating through that.

Jen Henderson:

I think the lesson I learned out of that was just to listen to your people, listen

Jen Henderson:

to their thoughts and their emotions.

Jen Henderson:

And you have to roll as the business owner, which way you go.

Jen Henderson:

But if you don't listen to your employees, then you might have a bigger problem.

Joshua Maddux:

I will say 2020.

Joshua Maddux:

From a business perspective, employees didn't know there was so

Joshua Maddux:

much uncertainty of, businesses that were not essential being closed down.

Joshua Maddux:

Employees didn't know if they were going to have a job or have income next week.

Joshua Maddux:

There was eviction moratoriums that were possibly going to get put in place.

Joshua Maddux:

So people didn't know if they were going to be having housing.

Joshua Maddux:

And so really sometimes having.

Joshua Maddux:

Some stability, even if it's just an office you come into and just some

Joshua Maddux:

stability in knowing that you're going to have a job or knowing that

Joshua Maddux:

you're going to have, something helps just our outlook on life in general.

Joshua Maddux:

I think that's, a big part of that.

Joshua Maddux:

And just hearing what those employees are saying.

Jen Henderson:

You're right.

Jen Henderson:

It's huge.

Jen Henderson:

It was huge.

Jen Henderson:

You didn't know if you are going to have a meal or if you're going to have toilet

Jen Henderson:

paper or if you're going to have a job and you had to just go day by day and

Jen Henderson:

hope that the grocery stores had enough.

Jen Henderson:

And sometimes they didn't.

Joshua Maddux:

That's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Don't wish anybody to ever relive that, that onset at the beginning was.

Joshua Maddux:

What's crazy.

Joshua Maddux:

Obviously as you were starting the business, there's elements where,

Joshua Maddux:

established businesses have processes and systems and procedures, and

Joshua Maddux:

there's this whole strategy and vision direction, that businesses have,

Joshua Maddux:

and obviously starting a business.

Joshua Maddux:

None of that exists.

Joshua Maddux:

It's building all that out.

Joshua Maddux:

What did that process look like for you guys as you

Joshua Maddux:

started to way that foundation?

Jen Henderson:

So when we first started there, there was no system.

Jen Henderson:

There were no processes.

Jen Henderson:

We.

Jen Henderson:

Didn't have anyone to give us direction on how to get that done

Jen Henderson:

and how to get that written in.

Jen Henderson:

For me, that process looked like I applied to be a woman owned

Jen Henderson:

business, so I got the WBE status.

Jen Henderson:

And then inside of that woman owned business, I was accepted into a program

Jen Henderson:

that Wells Fargo that's on, that, that went through the traction book.

Jen Henderson:

And that traction book is really an operating system.

Jen Henderson:

That shows you how to put the structure and the how to write down your fish

Jen Henderson:

and how to get your core values.

Jen Henderson:

And it helps me really write that down on paper and I didn't have to pay the fee

Jen Henderson:

that a lot of people do to get it done.

Jen Henderson:

And so that to my business was a huge profit gain because we now

Jen Henderson:

have this structure, we know.

Jen Henderson:

Where we're going.

Jen Henderson:

We at least that we're where we're going in the next one and three years.

Jen Henderson:

Just picking what system to use and then doing it and making sure I got

Jen Henderson:

all of the processes implemented was a game changer for my business.

Joshua Maddux:

That's awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

It's funny.

Joshua Maddux:

Before we hit record, we were chatting and.

Joshua Maddux:

Jen was mentioning a little bit about the whole process and

Joshua Maddux:

element and developing that.

Joshua Maddux:

And I literally reached behind me on my little shelf to grab that the book

Joshua Maddux:

that Jen's talking about traction I've been reading through it and, having

Joshua Maddux:

a business that's been in business 13 years and we've developed our sort of

Joshua Maddux:

mission, vision values, previously, before, we've gone through this, but.

Joshua Maddux:

Really what a lot of that book talks about is the aspect of

Joshua Maddux:

creating a operational manual.

Joshua Maddux:

That if you, as the business owner, weren't able to be there,

Joshua Maddux:

someone else could potentially pick up and run the business.

Joshua Maddux:

This does two things.

Joshua Maddux:

One, you could take a vacation for we're not talking like a weekend, we're talking.

Joshua Maddux:

A month can you take a month off of your business?

Joshua Maddux:

And the second thing is that makes your business marketable to sell long-term

Joshua Maddux:

because if the business revolves around you as the owner, it's not a business,

Joshua Maddux:

it's just it's your business that you just happen to have helpers in.

Joshua Maddux:

Traction is an incredible tool to help shift that, to make it a business where

Joshua Maddux:

you could step away for, two, three weeks or more, or potentially sell that business

Joshua Maddux:

or bring in someone else to operate it where you step away and do something else,

Joshua Maddux:

whether that's starting another business or, retiring or whatever that looks like.

Joshua Maddux:

And those systems and processes are really.

Jen Henderson:

Yes, they are.

Jen Henderson:

It has been, it's amazing once you do it, you'll be so thankful.

Jen Henderson:

Just writing down everything that's been in my head is it's awesome to, for

Jen Henderson:

other people to be able to read it and ask questions about it means that I can

Jen Henderson:

make it more legible to everyone else.

Joshua Maddux:

I know one of the things for us in our business that is really.

Joshua Maddux:

Ironically helped us refine our process has been hiring interns.

Joshua Maddux:

It's something that is great because the intern who is typically

Joshua Maddux:

a college student is learning a skill that's in the industry.

Joshua Maddux:

For us it's something that actually ends up challenging our staff

Joshua Maddux:

because that intern is asking.

Joshua Maddux:

A hundred questions.

Joshua Maddux:

And then they're also asking questions about why do you guys do it this way?

Joshua Maddux:

Or why is it done that way?

Joshua Maddux:

And it's we do it that way because that's how we've done it for 10 years.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's wouldn't this be faster?

Joshua Maddux:

Or wouldn't this be, more beneficial to the client or, and it's oh yeah, that

Joshua Maddux:

would be more beneficial to the client.

Joshua Maddux:

And it would save about 10 hours.

Joshua Maddux:

On every project.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, we probably should reconsider that.

Joshua Maddux:

Shouldn't wait.

Joshua Maddux:

And so any time you're able to write that process down and have someone

Joshua Maddux:

else review, it is really good.

Joshua Maddux:

It helps you refine.

Joshua Maddux:

It helps you become better.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's hard to run a business and step out of it and take a day off if.

Joshua Maddux:

Everyone's calling you and texting you because they can't

Joshua Maddux:

remember what the next step is.

Jen Henderson:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

So obviously, as you guys are walking through business strategy and

Joshua Maddux:

walking through that it looks at your time as a business owner and you directing,

Joshua Maddux:

the team from a management perspective, obviously, figuring out staffing and

Joshua Maddux:

your time and those boundaries and everything else, is an ongoing challenge

Joshua Maddux:

that I think every company faces.

Joshua Maddux:

What does that look like for you guys?

Jen Henderson:

So right now I've got a system for myself where I have chopped

Jen Henderson:

up my day to focus on specific aspects.

Jen Henderson:

Sometimes.

Jen Henderson:

The business thing sometimes it's the technical pieces and knowing

Jen Henderson:

how to get that process in place was huge of just managing my time.

Jen Henderson:

Managing the expectations I have of myself was huge.

Jen Henderson:

If you can't If you can't meet the expectations you have of yourself,

Jen Henderson:

you can't expect anyone else to meet your expectation either.

Jen Henderson:

So learning that.

Jen Henderson:

Was it a big deal to me.

Jen Henderson:

Once I got that system in place, then I started to see what was lacking and how we

Jen Henderson:

can fix those pieces that are lacking so that the business can function essentially

Jen Henderson:

without me and without the key leaders.

Jen Henderson:

So the work still gets done and no, one's the sticking point.

Jen Henderson:

We can still turn and get stuff done when people have issues or when

Jen Henderson:

life happens or when COVID happened.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

Heaven forbid someone takes a sick day and then everything

Joshua Maddux:

just comes to a screeching halt.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

I know one of the things for me personally, That has been actually really

Joshua Maddux:

eye-opening is there's a desktop software, there's a free version and a paid version.

Joshua Maddux:

It has a windows and a Mac version.

Joshua Maddux:

And then there's a mobile app that works on your phone for both iOS and Android.

Joshua Maddux:

And it's called rescue time.

Joshua Maddux:

And what it does, is it monitors, what programs you're using throughout the day.

Joshua Maddux:

It checks like in your web browser, it watches what websites.

Joshua Maddux:

And then it prioritizes them and it says, okay, gmail.com.

Joshua Maddux:

That's email.

Joshua Maddux:

It's probably pretty productive.

Joshua Maddux:

YouTube, maybe not so productive, Netflix, not productive at all.

Joshua Maddux:

And so it then classifies them.

Joshua Maddux:

And then at the end of the week, Sends you a report and says, this

Joshua Maddux:

is where you're, 40 hours, 50, 60 hours of work went this week.

Joshua Maddux:

And if you're on phone calls on your mobile device, it will import all that.

Joshua Maddux:

And show you how much time you spend on the phone and shows you all those trends.

Joshua Maddux:

So then you can start to, as you start to try to schedule out your day or your

Joshua Maddux:

week, if you're like, man, I cannot figure out why I'm not keeping up on email.

Joshua Maddux:

It's Previously, you would spend, four hours a day on email and you're only

Joshua Maddux:

scheduling an hour a day for email.

Joshua Maddux:

This is a problem.

Joshua Maddux:

And so it's really interesting and I've recommended this to a few business

Joshua Maddux:

owners and I know even my company, my, my team it's cool to be able to see, at

Joshua Maddux:

the end of the day where your time goes and what, what you use your time for.

Jen Henderson:

I would rather be productive.

Jen Henderson:

Just get work done.

Jen Henderson:

And if you need a minute, just get it done.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

So there's some, yeah, there's some cool apps like that, that are out there

Joshua Maddux:

that make it really interesting to start to see if that's something where for

Joshua Maddux:

someone who's listening, who wants to maybe start to figure out developing

Joshua Maddux:

some better time management stuff, start by seeing where your time's going.

Joshua Maddux:

Don't try making any changes, just install something like rescue time.

Joshua Maddux:

And let it run for a week or two before you even start to try to

Joshua Maddux:

figure out where you should readjust.

Joshua Maddux:

You're trying to decide where you should set your end destination on your GPS

Joshua Maddux:

without even knowing where you are yet.

Joshua Maddux:

You need to figure that out first.

Joshua Maddux:

We've covered a ton of stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

I don't know if within, inside of, starting a business in COVID sort of

Joshua Maddux:

business strategy, management challenges.

Joshua Maddux:

I don't know if there's any of those, those sorts of topics that we've

Joshua Maddux:

touched on a little bit, that there was anything else that you felt like you

Joshua Maddux:

wanted to dive a little deeper into.

Joshua Maddux:

That we have covered.

Jen Henderson:

I think with business strategy, I think it's important to

Jen Henderson:

know that there are several different.

Jen Henderson:

Operating systems you can get into, traction's not the only one.

Jen Henderson:

But you know what I, the words of advice I would give someone are

Jen Henderson:

just pick one and stick with it and implement everything you can from that.

Jen Henderson:

And you'll see a huge difference.

Jen Henderson:

If you spend your time trying to figure out which one is right for you, then

Jen Henderson:

you'll never find one that's right for you because they're all different.

Jen Henderson:

But if you just pick one, go with it, implement it.

Jen Henderson:

I think you'd be much happier in the end.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, absolutely.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's what I hear all the time is analysis paralysis.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, there is a hundred different CRM systems or client relationship management.

Joshua Maddux:

You can analyze every single one.

Joshua Maddux:

They have all different price points.

Joshua Maddux:

If you spend the next 12 months demoing them all and doing that,

Joshua Maddux:

you're not actually using one.

Joshua Maddux:

And that was before we hit record, we were chatting about, project management systems

Joshua Maddux:

and the company that I had referenced.

Joshua Maddux:

They spent $20 million trying to fix a project management issue in their company.

Joshua Maddux:

And they figured out that it wasn't about building a custom one or

Joshua Maddux:

finding the right one that fit.

Joshua Maddux:

It was just using.

Joshua Maddux:

It was committing to and using that system on a daily basis.

Joshua Maddux:

And that's what made a actual improvement.

Joshua Maddux:

And yes, the, the project management system, the business management,

Joshua Maddux:

the, whatever the system is that you're using may not be perfect.

Joshua Maddux:

And nine times out of 10, the system isn't perfect.

Joshua Maddux:

There's always going to be a little issue here.

Joshua Maddux:

A little issue there.

Joshua Maddux:

But a system that has some issues and has some bugs that's used, to the fullest

Joshua Maddux:

of its ability is so much better than a system that you just have, but never use.

Jen Henderson:

I completely agree with you.

Joshua Maddux:

I know you've touched on a few takeaways already, but are there

Joshua Maddux:

any takeaways or advice that you would give to someone who's dealing with some

Joshua Maddux:

of these other business challenges.

Jen Henderson:

Just know that you'll get through it.

Jen Henderson:

Tomorrow's a new day and keep trucking forward and don't ever stop because

Jen Henderson:

tomorrow's a brand new day and you'll find the solution to the problems in time.

Jen Henderson:

So just don't stop.

Joshua Maddux:

Yeah, absolutely.

Joshua Maddux:

One of the things I want to bring up real fast is, we connected through, like I

Joshua Maddux:

mentioned, at the beginning of the show, we connected through tab, which is a

Joshua Maddux:

organization called the alternative board.

Joshua Maddux:

It is basically a group of peers who are from other industries.

Joshua Maddux:

You get together and meet and talk business issues

Joshua Maddux:

and solve business problems.

Joshua Maddux:

And have accountability not necessarily saying that you as a listener

Joshua Maddux:

needs to join tabs specifically.

Joshua Maddux:

Although we both found it beneficial and helped our business over the

Joshua Maddux:

years, but having some sort of accountability or some other business,

Joshua Maddux:

and it doesn't need to be someone in.

Joshua Maddux:

You don't need to find someone in your industry, but you need to find another

Joshua Maddux:

business owner who you can sit down and have coffee once a month and talk about

Joshua Maddux:

some of the issues that you're facing.

Joshua Maddux:

And that alone is so beneficial.

Joshua Maddux:

And maybe there isn't a solution.

Joshua Maddux:

We were joking at the beginning of the show about, the issue of paying taxes.

Joshua Maddux:

You're always going to do it.

Joshua Maddux:

You would just have to, it's just a problem, but being able to complaint with

Joshua Maddux:

another business owner about darn taxes are due again is a little relieving.

Joshua Maddux:

And to know that someone else is struggling with and going through the same

Joshua Maddux:

challenges is a little bit reassuring.

Joshua Maddux:

And just to know that you have someone there alongside you on

Joshua Maddux:

this journey, it's really good.

Jen Henderson:

That's very true.

Jen Henderson:

Yeah.

Joshua Maddux:

I appreciate the time today.

Joshua Maddux:

Been awesome having you on there's a ton of stuff that we've talked

Joshua Maddux:

through and really hope that you, as a listener, just processes through

Joshua Maddux:

all this there's so much stuff.

Joshua Maddux:

It doesn't matter if you've been in business for.

Joshua Maddux:

A week or 40 years having systems, processes, procedures, mission, vision,

Joshua Maddux:

and values is super critical to be able to step away from your business.

Joshua Maddux:

Having a solid management team, understanding time management

Joshua Maddux:

is also super critical.

Joshua Maddux:

These are all core elements that it doesn't matter.

Joshua Maddux:

How long you've been in business will help improve your productivity

Joshua Maddux:

profitability really as well.

Joshua Maddux:

And allowing you to potentially maybe even sell the company

Joshua Maddux:

or step away for a vacation.

Joshua Maddux:

So as we wrap up, Jen, what's the best place where people can connect with you.

Jen Henderson:

So that would be my website.

Jen Henderson:

That's www dot Henderson, P e.com.

Jen Henderson:

That's H E N D E R S O N P e.com.

Joshua Maddux:

Awesome.

Joshua Maddux:

And we'll have that, your personal LinkedIn and your company, LinkedIn page

Joshua Maddux:

all in the show notes, along with your bio, appreciate having you on today.

Jen Henderson:

Thank you.

Jen Henderson:

Glad to be here.

Joshua Maddux:

Thanks for listening to this episode of, in the bunker.

Joshua Maddux:

As always we can be found on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter

Joshua Maddux:

at, in the bunker podcast.

Joshua Maddux:

Be sure to share this episode and what you're going to apply from it.

Joshua Maddux:

And how that can affect your business, make sure to tag us in that post so

Joshua Maddux:

we can highlight your journey as well.

Joshua Maddux:

But before you go.

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Joshua Maddux

Joshua Maddux is an entrepreneur who has helped numerous businesses grow and thrive.