Episode Eighteen | Seasons of Business: A Back-to-School Reset
Hosted by Ruth Ann Janson and Special Guest Jodie Hastings
INtroduction and Slate Co-Working Space
Ruth Ann Janson
Hi, everyone. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
Hi. [laughs]
Ruth Ann Janson
I'm Ruth Ann Janson, and I am with The Dove Agency, and we are here for another episode of TopBranch. And this is...
Jodie Hastings
Jodie Hastings. Nice to meet you.
Ruth Ann Janson
And Jodie, tell us a little bit about yourself and this wonderful business that you have and how we are affiliated with that. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
I know. I got to, like, dive into, like, the, like, the actual work of one of our members and clients today. I'm in the office of a building that I manage-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yay.
Jodie Hastings
... called The Slate. It's a co-working space with a design, sorry, with a design... I said design studio. [laughs]
Ruth Ann Janson
That's okay. That's okay.
Jodie Hastings
With a studio that allows people to do production work. And I get to see... I never really know as much about the businesses that are here, because I'm not part of the underlying business, but I'm part of the management of it, of where they stay. So-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes, it's fabulous
Jodie Hastings
... I'm here today.
Ruth Ann Janson
And we love this space. The Dove Agency, gosh, we were part of this from almost-
Jodie Hastings
Yes
Ruth Ann Janson
... the onset.
Jodie Hastings
Yes. Y'all came-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes
Jodie Hastings
... we were, like, within the 1st 2 years, one of our 1st members-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
... and tenants. Yep.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes. And we love it here. So we just, once in a while, have a guest on, and we thought it would be fun today to speak with Jodie.
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Back-to-School Season and Business Resets
Ruth Ann Janson
We are going to talk about this topic that is probably hitting a lot of businesses and homes right now, which is back to school, kind of the reset after the summer, whether you do or don't have kids. It's more just the idea of summer's coming to a close, and with summer is kind of the end of the kind of more possibly loosey-goosey office hours and just a little bit of a slower pace and kind of back into hitting the ground running and that kind of a routine. And so, you know, what does it look like for you personally and for The Slate kind of in this season of reset, if you will?
Jodie Hastings
Well, it's funny because, you know, I really am like you. I'm just a small business that houses other small businesses. So I watch all these patterns of our various members-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm
Jodie Hastings
... and summer is slower. Summer is slower for everyone. Doesn't mean it's slow.
Ruth Ann Janson
Cor- correct. Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
Slower. [laughs]
Ruth Ann Janson
[laughs]
Jodie Hastings
It's a very different thing. And so I, I do think people go to the office less. I do think people have, like, the grace of knowing that some of their vendors, their own clients, are on vacation too.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
But I think everyone's, like, right now there's, like... The, the white knuckles are kind of-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yep.
Jodie Hastings
... we're all bracing ourselves for-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
... "Here we go. It's time for fall." And I personally have 2 kids that have to go back to school, and that's okay. They're going to...
Ruth Ann Janson
They're going to slide on back-
Jodie Hastings
And then you can-
Ruth Ann Janson
... and everything's going to be ready.
Jodie Hastings
And then you can focus, and I think we all tell ourselves that, right? You know, I can take the next week and a half to get my personal life organized-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... because my business life is going to take the forefront when my kids head back-
Ruth Ann Janson
Exactly.
Jodie Hastings
... to the classroom.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yep, exactly.
Jodie Hastings
So-
Ruth Ann Janson
And I know at The Dove Agency, as a women-owned-
Jodie Hastings
Uh-huh.
Ruth Ann Janson
... and operated business, we have a lot of moms on our team that are-
Jodie Hastings
We do.
Ruth Ann Janson
... kind of juggling with the childcare and obviously wanting to be at the back-to-school events.
Jodie Hastings
Yes.
Ruth Ann Janson
And so, there is grace and kind of give and take. And I know that we do have a lot of structuring with our onboarding that we have to really be cognizant of in the summer and even in these couple of months into back-to-school, which in Texas is quite early.
Jodie Hastings
It is very early.
Ruth Ann Janson
Not like our clients that are all over the country that aren't even thinking about school yet. So this is a little advanced warning for those, those people. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
Yeah. And there, it's a stagger. Like, the East Coast people, I'm sure you have clients in Texas-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
...they start showing up later. But boots on the ground, Dallas, Texas, people are headed back next week.
Re-energizing Teams and Fall Meetings
Ruth Ann Janson
Yep. I know. It's time. So what... Do you have anything, like maybe just even planned as a business or just individually for your team to kind of reenergize and sort of, kind of set the, set the ground to get that business back and launching for keeping up?
Jodie Hastings
I do think... Yeah. You, you just have to have meetings. I know everyone, you know... At the end of the day, we do like to get in a room together.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
Phone calls are great. Phone calls enable all of us to travel, to, to be at swim meets-
Ruth Ann Janson
Correct.
Jodie Hastings
... and not in, not at your desk. But it is... Like, I do think people have to huddle, and I think they actually want to.
Ruth Ann Janson
I agree.
Jodie Hastings
I think by October 15th-
Ruth Ann Janson
You're kind of yearning.
Jodie Hastings
... September 1st, like, can we... Everything... I've been sprawled. Everyone's sprawling, pulling from everywhere all the time. Everyone's happy to sit around the same desk.
Q4 Planning, Budgeting, and Fee Increases
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes. I agree with that. And we are actually on that... With that note, we're planning-
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
... kind of an all-hands for early September. Everybody's back from vacation. We've got an all-hands meeting, and just kind of reflect on what we've done so far and what we're ready to do for the end of '26. And actually, it's kind of startling to think that we are entering-
Jodie Hastings
[laughs]
Ruth Ann Janson
... the end of 2026, which, I mean, guys, it's time to start those budgeting and forecasting meetings. Get those set up-
Jodie Hastings
And that's what I'm saying.
Ruth Ann Janson
... at The Dove Agency. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
God bless your accountant and your bookkeeper because they keep... I do think the bite-sized quarters help every small business not get overwhelmed.
Ruth Ann Janson
Right.
Jodie Hastings
Every- Most businesses are run by people with lots of ideas and lots of vision, but those things can go 3 and 4 years in the future. Sometimes you really do just need to look at 3 months.
Ruth Ann Janson
You do. Yes.
Jodie Hastings
And your team can... We... That's digestible. It's a bite-sized thing. It's a bite-sized part of the year. And I think the beauty of coming back to September is, like, what's Q4?
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes. And that we're already telling, or that's going to be our big, kind of push starting probably August one, like I said-
Jodie Hastings
Mm-hmm.
Ruth Ann Janson
... is to get those budgeting and forecasting meetings set, think about who you're going to have to be 1099ing-
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
... for 2020, for the year of 2026. And really, just as a business owner, like you said, it's, you're always thinking about what's next and looking forward. It's never... It's really not too early to be kicking around the 2027, whether you're thinking about increasing your fees or-
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
... your rates at The Slate, whatever those pieces are. And like we were talking about before-
Jodie Hastings
Mm-hmm.
Ruth Ann Janson
... you mentioned, which is, was such a good point, that fee increases are such a sign of a growing-
Jodie Hastings
Yep.
Ruth Ann Janson
... and booming business. So maybe, like, add to that a little bit.
Jodie Hastings
Well-
Ruth Ann Janson
I love that comment.
Jodie Hastings
I'm, I was very hesitant. They are very much a Q4. I think people expect them in Q4. I think most people do follow a fiscal year that mimics either the calendar year-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... or it's kind of an October one.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
People expect it. And I, I was always so timid about a fee increase until I realized any, everyone else that's running a business too is, is doing the same thing. And it does show that I'm evaluating my fees. I am, I am putting thought to them.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
I am increasing them only at this time, and I'm giving you fair warning.
Ruth Ann Janson
Right.
Jodie Hastings
Um, so we can talk about it if it's, if it's something that doesn't feel right to the client. But, you're growing. You have to-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
... you have to keep assessing how to give the best value to your clients.
Ruth Ann Janson
Right.
Jodie Hastings
And, and if you start-
Ruth Ann Janson
And weave in more services and pay your people more. There's so many pieces of it. Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
There's so many pieces of it.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jode Hastings
Yeah.
Legal Housekeeping and Contract Audits
Ruth Ann Janson
I love that. Well, the other thing I love that I wanted to touch on is we were laughing about this before, is that you have dubbed yourself the people's GC, which I think is hilarious. So, like, expand on that a little more. And with that title, what's a little, maybe housekeeping tip you could-
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
... push out in your, with your lawyer, ex-lawyer hat on to, to our listeners specifically?
Jodie Hastings
So I was a lawyer. I did commercial litigation for 15 years in Dallas-
Ruth Ann Janson
Okay.
Jodie Hastings
... before my sister and I opened The Slate. And I did love being a lawyer. The truth is, I love pushing everyone to just talk to lawyers. I feel like lawyers actually are creative, and they, and they have-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... seen a lot of things go very wrong.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
So, they often can help you identify. They won't have the answer necessarily, but they can tell you, "I would look for this," or, "Be wary of that."
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
I think it's always good to audit your contracts. Sounds silly. Quite frankly, you don't need to be a lawyer for this. But your subscriptions-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... are killing you somewhere. There's some website that you have a subscription to that you're not using the plugin anymore. You know, just audit your... It, it... I think Q4 is a good time to audit-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
... contracts.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
And it goes with the fee increases too sometimes, because you realize, "Oh, the subscriptions we need to power our website are now twice as expensive, so I can't give the same-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
... fee structure to my clients for that reason." And, and, and it, it's, it's all building on one another. But I feel like lawyers we ask a lot of questions. It's okay. Make Q4, like, a question-focused time.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
Dig down deep. I feel like January is for the energy and, like, the vision of the year. I feel like the middle of the year is for maintenance.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
And then you have to kind of do your homework.
Ruth Ann Janson
That's a great way to say it. I think that that's, that's what I was going to-
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
... expand upon in terms of your fees and all those designers out there that are thinking about wh- whether it's your design fee or your product fee, is do the homework necessary to be able to kind of... I don't want to say defend. That's a little bit too strong of a word, but be able to easily explain the value of what you're bringing to the client and why that fee is what it is, and there's a whole bunch of easy ways to do that. Market research, we can always help with that too.
Jodie Hastings
Well, and you may also... I mean, we all have competitors.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
And, and, and if you've got a client that's choosing between you and a competitor that has got a cut-rate deal, you may say, "But I'm factoring the following 15 things into this fee," and you need to make sure that the other competitor is doing the same thing. Because all that's going to be-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yep.
Jodie Hastings
... is hidden cost for the, for your ultimate client later down the road.
Ruth Ann Janson
Down the road. Yes, that's correct. Well, just with that, is there anything you can think of just after being at The Slate this many years and your, you know-
Delegation, Operations, and Creating Systems
Jodie Hastings
Mm-hmm.
Ruth Ann Janson
... career prior to that, what is, like, one kind of business or even maybe, like, personal tip that you wish, something you wish you would've been doing sooner to make you more productive or make things go smoother in your life? Just big general question.
Jodie Hastings
I do think those of us that love our small businesses-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
... we're able to do it in our heads for a very long time.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
Toodle.
Ruth Ann Janson
[laughs]
Jodie Hastings
Toodle. And the more you're relying on other people, the, quite frankly, are better at Excel and Google Docs than you are.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes, all the things. Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
Always. Just the more you know that you can lean on a, a wider team. I wish I had made basically a manual for our business-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... much sooner.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
It does take time to, to pull that together. But the, the sooner you can get a few things on paper-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm
Jodie Hastings
... the more... And it sounds very strange, but the more you realize you are somewhat dispensable. You are the owner. You care more about it than anyone else.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
But there are a few things. You can't tell what those things are that you can delegate-
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
... until you've written them down for someone else.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
And so, if you do that, you'll be on a fast path to implementing other people within your team to help you keep-
Ruth Ann Janson
To keep scale.
Jodie Hastings
... doing what, what are the highest-
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
... and best uses?
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah. Scaling- ... for, to scale, you have to have repeatable processes, and you have to have talented people that, that can actually complete the tasks that are repeatable.
Jodie Hastings
Well, and some of your tasks, I'm sure for, like, for what you do in a creative industry, while you have all of the details in line too, it is a creative place. Some people are going to be crushed by some tasks within and some people will be energized by them.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
So you just have to assess.
Ruth Ann Janson
Have to figure that out.
Jodie Hastings
Mm-hmm.
Business Seasonality and Industry Cycles
Ruth Ann Janson
Figure that out. Perfect. Well, I think the only other thing that we wanted to kind of maybe elaborate on a little bit is you had said something interesting about your dad being a dentist.
Jodie Hastings
Yep. Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
And how his season... Like, the... Every business has a season. We're talking about this being kind of a season of reset.
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
But that's not... doesn't coincide with every small business owner that might be listening to this. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
We were, we were... We're friends, so we were chatting before this, and we were talking about-
Ruth Ann Janson
We were prepping. We're working so hard on the prep. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
We were... You know, I was telling Ruth Ann that my dad was a dentist and had got very despondent, wait for it, every October.
Ruth Ann Janson
It's a random time for me. Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
Well, it's not if you're a dentist.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yeah.
Jodie Hastings
Because, right, everybody, every mom is rushed to get her kids in before school and won't be back until February. And October is when, like, really, like, the majority of people that want to try, like, people that aren't confined to a school schedule. Anyway, the point is, he was despondent.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
My mother had to tell him, "It's okay. This is every October. This is every October."
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
"This is every..." And I, I just think we all have to remember, like, there's... Just look around the corner a little bit.
Ruth Ann Janson
Mm-hmm.
Jodie Hastings
Take a look. And, and you're growing when some of your s- slower seasons do have just even a li- slight uptick.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
Because we all are seasonal businesses. We just-
Ruth Ann Janson
We have to figure those seasons out.
Jodie Hastings
... because we have different seasons.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
Our clients have different seasons.
Ruth Ann Janson
Right.
Jodie Hastings
So don't be despondent.
Ruth Ann Janson
Don't be despondent. And I do think for designers and for The Dove Agency, we're about to get pretty busy.
Jodie Hastings
Yes, we are.
Ruth Ann Janson
People come back kind of guns a-blazing. And then I think designers also forget that it gets very slow, almost crickets after maybe the 1st week of December, maybe even before that, because some people it's more like Thanksgiving-ish. And then people get very nervous. And then, like, January 10th, it's like, "Oh my gosh." [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
I've been staring at these walls.
Ruth Ann Janson
"Look at all these walls."
Jodie Hastings
And I don't like these walls anymore.
Ruth Ann Janson
"I don't like these walls." [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
I want something on these walls. And I... You know.
Ruth Ann Janson
Exactly.
Jodie Hastings
I feel like not until the kids leave is there even time for-
Ruth Ann Janson
To even look at all these things.
Jodie Hastings
... moms to make all the calls.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yes.
Jodie Hastings
They know that they want to implement all these new design changes, but they just don't have the bandwidth.
Ruth Ann Janson
They, they have to... Yes.
Jodie Hastings
You guys have to-
Connecting with The Slate and Closing Thoughts
Ruth Ann Janson
They have to have all their things. Well, this has been so great. We like to make things short and sweet on TopBranch. Tell us again how we can find The Slate on social media, physically.
Jodie Hastings
We are theslateproperties.com, and it's Slate2403 on Instagram. Just get yourself down Farrington Street and come-
Ruth Ann Janson
That's right.
Jodie Hastings
... and come see us. Actually, it's a very welcoming place.
Ruth Ann Janson
Walk on in.
Jodie Hastings
We have 10 private offices, one of which is The Dove Agency. And there's just a lot of synergies between the people that come here, just even for coffee.
Ruth Ann Janson
I was going to say good coffee. You took the words before. [laughs]
Jodie Hastings
We do have good coffee, but I've watched a lot of people make a lot of good professional and personal connections here by being members, just visiting, and everyone's welcome to come in.
Ruth Ann Janson
And attending events.
Jodie Hastings
Yes.
Ruth Ann Janson
And attending your great events.
Jodie Hastings
And we have some events coming. We've got a really fun one coming October, bringing speakers. My sister and I like to plan... My sister is the other owner. We like to plan things we would actually attend ourselves.
Ruth Ann Janson
That's good.
Jodie Hastings
So, great.
Ruth Ann Janson
That's a good little... That's a good tip.
Jodie Hastings
Yeah. So it's a little of both.
Ruth Ann Janson
Yay. Well, I always like to end with a little quote that's kind of just... It's a little bit cheesy, but I like to do it, and we have one today that ties into our topic, which is from Arthur Ashe. You were saying how much you liked him too.
Jodie Hastings
Definitely.
Ruth Ann Janson
And it is a very simple one. "Start where you are, use what you have, and do what you can." So here's to the season of reset.
Jodie Hastings
Yeah.
Ruth Ann Janson
And let's hit 2026 and get ready for 2027.
Jodie Hastings
Appreciate it.
Ruth Ann Janson
Thanks, everybody.
Jodie Hastings
Thank you.