Scaling Up Success Podcast

Automating Success: Noelle Peterson's Systems Revolution

• Ryan Van Ornum • Season 1 • Episode 22

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Ryan Van Ornum welcomes Noelle Peterson of Start Smart Systems to the Scaling Up Success podcast for an insightful conversation on business automation, finding your niche, and the power of relationships. Noelle shares how her entrepreneurial journey unexpectedly blossomed from supporting her husband's ministry into launching a thriving business of her own. With a diverse background in government and overseas ministry, she discovered her strength lies in creating efficient systems and helping others do the same. “My skill set is getting things done,” she says, highlighting her drive for productivity and professionalism. This focus has led to impressive growth, doubling her business in the past two years, powered by clear audience targeting and a relationship-based marketing approach. Approximately 90% of her clients come through referrals, especially within the Achieve Systems community, thanks to consistent interactions that build lasting trust.

A key insight Noelle offers is the importance of leveraging your time through effective delegation. “If we could do what we’re really good at most of the time, there’s 80% we don’t need to do, someone else can do it better,” she explains. This mindset has allowed her to scale her operations by building a supportive team, including her own daughter. Noelle advises entrepreneurs to define their ideal client with precision: “You need to be able to speak to your audience; otherwise, you’re speaking too broad and nobody’s going to hear you.” By narrowing their focus, business owners can better connect with those who truly need their services. Interested in streamlining your business so you can focus on what you do best? Visit StartSmartSystems.com to learn how automation can elevate your success.

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Speaker 1:

What's up everybody. This is Ryan Van Ornum, back with you for another Scaling Up Success podcast episode. Today I have Noelle Peterson of Start Smart Systems. Noelle, how are you, my friend?

Speaker 2:

Oh, blessed Ryan. It's been an amazing year. God is so good.

Speaker 1:

I love it, I love to hear that you've been doing some big things and, uh, as as we get into this, uh, I'm gonna, I'm gonna ask all kinds of stuff about it. But first I gotta know this. I gotta know this a little bit how was you, you're? You're all about the NASCAR races, right? How was, how was NASCAR in Texas?

Speaker 2:

It was pretty good. It was a little crazy the drivers I was rooting for didn't do too well, but it was a great time to get away and enjoy some time with my husband.

Speaker 1:

Very cool. Who's your drivers, by the way? Sorry, we could start a fight right now with this, but we'll go into it, I'm all about it.

Speaker 2:

Well, honestly, because we're chaplains at the local track, we vowed not to have favorites.

Speaker 1:

Fair.

Speaker 2:

But I do a NASCAR fantasy team. So every week, my favorite is different.

Speaker 1:

Okay.

Speaker 2:

But we always root for the Fords.

Speaker 1:

Okay, all right, so I just got a full disclosure. I grew up racing sprint cars and being part of a pit crew on my uncle's pit crew. We grew up around the Blaney's, so Ryan Blaney is is one of my favorites, so yeah.

Speaker 2:

Yeah so yeah, he's pretty good.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah, he drives for Penske. He's pretty good. So well, let's, let's just jump into this a little bit more here. So tell me, tell me how you, how did you get your start with Smart Start Systems? You've been picking up steam.

Speaker 2:

but where'd this all begin, gosh Ryan? It goes back so many years. I'm a pastor's wife. We've spent years overseas. We've spent years in ministry. I was in the government, but everything I've ever done has been about helping everybody else, do things faster.

Speaker 2:

So it came to a head a few years ago when a friend of ours was helping us and helping me decipher what am I? Who do I serve best? What do I do best? And it was about systems and helping people put things into place that just make things move smoother. Take that stress off your shoulders.

Speaker 2:

And now I mean my focus is helping the system, businesses automate their systems so they're they can focus on what they enjoy doing. I mean, we all have a niche, we all have things we enjoy. And that back end, like you know, not everybody likes to do, but some people like to do it, but it's not necessarily the best use of their skills and their time. Um, so I I have found that my skill set is getting things done. I want things marked off the the you tick those boxes, get them all done, and I like to do it doesn't mean bad, it doesn't mean poorly, it's done efficiently, efficiently, proficiently, professionally, but quickly. So it's better for you and for me just to have it done and we can move on to what's next on the list and what's more important.

Speaker 1:

I love that, and that's the big thing is being able to increase efficiency for businesses If you're running the backend side of things and and it really takes a lot of stress off of people's plates that they can go and do what they're best at Right.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, it's the book. 10 X is greater than two X. You we all have. We all have things that we love to do, and if we could do what's really good most of the time, there's 80% that we don't need to do, that Somebody can do better 100%.

Speaker 1:

I love that I actually have that book on my shelf back there. It's a good one. It's a great one. So so, since you started Smart Start Systems, how's your business evolved?

Speaker 2:

Well, we have doubled 100X over the last two years just diving in and helping people where they need help. And when you find your niche and the people that love you know you learn who you are. It's just amazing how the universe brings the clients to you because it's who you are and it's nothing different. You're not trying to be somebody different, you're not trying to do something that's not natural. It all just flows together. The energy is just amazing.

Speaker 1:

I love that. So where are you getting your business from? Are you getting referrals? Is it online, Like? Are you cold, cold email, cold calling, Like what? What areas do you focus in?

Speaker 2:

I'm doing a little bit of cold stuff now because I'm just trying. I'm in that trying to scale and grow, but probably 90% of my business comes from referrals and mostly within the Achieve Systems community.

Speaker 1:

Okay, so with that, it sounds like that you're, you're, you're big on relationships, because that's that's where a lot of this stuff is coming from. Talk, to talk to the audience about how you, how you really culture those relationships for me.

Speaker 2:

I don't consider myself a people person, but I love engaging in those that I that know me, that we have a good relationship with. So going to meetings, going to networking, going to conferences is great, but it's that fourth, fifth, sixth time that they see me and we have those conversations and get to know each other. They're like, oh wait, I really could use you, and it's relationships are key. I mean, come from the ministry background.

Speaker 2:

Everything is built on relationships and we have to know who people are in order to even want to engage with them, regardless of what kind of industry we're in. If we don't, I mean there's some things we have to do. You have to pay Excel for your energy, but when you're looking to buy a certain type of product or coaching or something you don't even realize you need, that would help you. It's the relationship with the person who's selling it that's going to make a difference. The guy who walks up to your door to sell you solar isn't going to be as great of a client or referral partner as your friends that you meet and you have coffee with from time to time.

Speaker 1:

I love that. I love that. That's. That's a hundred percent. I would agree with that. And it's those that circle, and how, how you can continue to build those relationships inside that circle, that that really grow, you know. And then sorry, just coughing, I should have used my cough button. I suck at life today, anyways, but no, it's really about that those relationships that foster that really can build it out. So one thing that I can see is like when, when, um, there's ups and downs in every business is can you share a moment? Can I share a moment without coughing? Can you share a moment when things didn't go as planned but it turned out, um, even better, even down the road?

Speaker 2:

I mean, I think that's where my life is. I was a business person and I worked for the state government here in Colorado for nine years and I ended up leaving my job to help my husband in his business and my assumption was I was helping him. I was going to be a writer, I was going to write books and enjoy my skill of creativity, but I was going to be a support. I was going to write books and enjoy my skill of creativity, but I was going to be a support. I was.

Speaker 2:

I was always his back end. I was always his administrative assistant and I just needed to do more so he could do more Right and after university and achieve university, achieve systems, and weeks on end and months of growing these relationships with these people, and weeks on end and months of growing these relationships with these people. It came very clear to everyone around me and later for me myself, that that wasn't my role. I meant to be his assistant. That's all I was trying to do, and now I'm the one who's running a successful business and he's back in ministry because that's where he needs to be.

Speaker 1:

That's cool, that's super cool. You know there's it's so interesting how, like how business progresses in different ways, right, and like it. It seems like just the way that you you may not want it to go in a certain way, for whatever reason, and it flows there anyway, right? So what are you most proud about with this journey right now that you're on? So what are you most proud?

Speaker 2:

about with this journey right now that you're on? That's a good question. It's not something I think about often, that's for sure. I am grateful very much for the position we're in, the ability to grow and the people that we're able to help and being able, I guess, to be proud of where the company is. This month I've actually brought my daughter on as my I'm not going to say assistant, because that's not really the right word I am empowering her to kind of take over parts of this so that I can do more of what I enjoy.

Speaker 2:

You're leveraging, yeah, and she's a stay-at-home mom and so being able to hire my children and give her an income that she enjoys, but yet she can still be at home with her kids, I think that's just an amazing opportunity for both of us.

Speaker 1:

That's awesome. That's awesome, is there? You kind of talked briefly about this with your, with your daughter, maybe a little bit, but has there been any unexpected opportunities that have helped your growth? Because I mean, like I said, you just you're hiring your daughter, you're bringing other people in your business, but maybe it's that one conversation that you, you didn't really expect to have. Then, all of a sudden, you're like, oh my gosh, look what happened.

Speaker 2:

Because of that, so I would say my relationship with a partnered friend is her name is Lila amazing lady, and we learned from her when we first met her. We fired her as a coach a while later and now we're partners. We're offering packages to potential clients to work with both of us, to use the skill sets together and leverage both of us, and it's just been a wonderful relationship of collaboration that's just grown over the last couple of years.

Speaker 1:

Isn't that funny, like you could have one one conversation in a hallway with somebody and then all of a sudden it just fosters into something absolutely amazing that you wouldn't have even thought of during that conversation.

Speaker 2:

It does, and I think that's where our relationship started as well, and I think it's think it's going to flourish to something similar.

Speaker 1:

Right, right, I agree, I agree. And the thing is it really kind of shows, like you know, the value of just being open to new opportunities, because you never know where business can take you.

Speaker 2:

You don't? I mean I'll relate it back to the ministry world, my husband's back in the lead pastor role, because he was able to pause enough in time to hear the still small voice in his head and hear the nudging of where he needs to go. So if we're too busy in life doing what we need to do, we're not going to hear the universe talk to us about what else is out there and those opportunities that collaboration can bring.

Speaker 1:

You know, and that's funny because it's like, if you're so many people, if they're, if they're working and just working to work, work, you know whether they're working a nine to five or they're working in their own business, but they're, they're so like inundated. You may not be present enough to let those even conversations happen. I seen it so many times when, hey, I'm talking to somebody and, oh, I got to take this phone call and then they're out and then they're gone. But you know, you never know in another life that could have had a exponentially huge opportunity. Come, come to that person's way.

Speaker 2:

I mean it's huge. I mean there's so much that can happen if we're, if we're so focused on doing things one way and this is the direction we're focusing on, even bringing our business in this direction we're not even open to what could be over here that could could just blow it up a hundred bucks.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, yeah and it, like I said just little little things along the way, just being present in those conversations is. It's amazing what can happen, because I've had those conversations and then I'm like holy cow, I'm, I'm standing in front of somebody that makes $200 million a year and they're they're having a conversation with me about how we can, we can build together. That's pretty cool.

Speaker 2:

So yeah, be open to what the world has. I got an email today. It says you want to be a part of this book compilation. It's going to be this, this and this and this. I'm like I can't say no to have my name next to that name. I'm in.

Speaker 1:

That that's super cool and best of luck with all of that that you got going on that super, super, really, really cool stuff that you're working on there. So so I know in your business right now you you do a lot of things that involve, you know, touches a lot of different aspects of business. So how do you stay ahead of industry trends right now, because there's so many things that are moving pieces in the in, in what you?

Speaker 2:

do. Honestly, I don't have anything that's outrageously, say it's just moving along with those that come near me. Questions that ask clients that say, hey, can you do this? All right, let's figure out how to do that. People that want AI partnering with people that do AI, because that's not a world I'm going to get into. It's more than I can handle. I've got enough on my plate.

Speaker 2:

This is my niche, I'm not going to go there. But if it's something that, yeah, that we're doing that and that's out there research it. I'm bringing my daughter in for part of that, because that younger generation knows more, can learn better, and there's something we're working on at the church, her and I and my husband, and it's like this is over my head. We need to bring somebody else in because I'm just not getting it.

Speaker 1:

I love that. And the thing is you're kind of staying in your lane right, Like if you have certain things that are going on and the opportunities that you you're getting, but you're like, hey, I may need, I may need help with this, whether it's artificial intelligence or opportunities like that. You know it's like, oh, we have these, we have these people that can definitely help you with that. And then everybody wins because you're you're helping, helping that other company that the other company is going to send you business. It's like a big collaboration, it's awesome.

Speaker 2:

Right, yeah, and that's. We want to help each other, and there's no reason that we can't use the skill sets of each other. You use the word leverage. Take advantage of the different things that we have in this world so we can better each other and help our clients even better have in this world so we can better each other and help our clients even better?

Speaker 1:

Absolutely so. As we kind of look at the scope of how society is kind of changing in business right now, what unique challenges do you feel that business owners face today?

Speaker 2:

There's just a lot to get done. I think we as business owners in general are just overwhelmed with the. I mean, there's so much we can do and we just want to do it all ourselves, and I think that's a fault of ours as human beings. We don't need to do it all. We use the word leverage a lot in Achieve, and here today we use the word leverage a lot in Achieve, and here today is we need to leverage the tools, the systems, the businesses, the friends. It's not that you're hiring out staff or hiring staff on.

Speaker 1:

Take advantage of being a part of a team that can help you be more effective. I couldn't agree more, because what you're good at not you per se, but the business owner is good at is probably not the stuff that they're. They're being tied down on those those little tasks. Like I just as a as a personal reference I suck at paperwork and I suck at admin and I'm like, no, I need, I need certain people to do those roles that are better than me, because I I'm a like a overpaid paperweight basically in the in those regards, because like, nope, somebody else has to do that stuff and get me in front of the potential clients and I'll make those deals happen a hundred percent.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, I'm moving to the same way. I'd rather make the deals and actually do the little work. But there are some things I enjoy doing.

Speaker 1:

And the thing is, you know your value better than anyone else. Would you agree, Right?

Speaker 2:

Yes, a hundred percent. Nobody else is going to be able to put that value on you.

Speaker 1:

Yeah, and you can articulate that value better than anyone else. If you're, if you're running a small business, as as the person that's the face of the company, you can articulate that value.

Speaker 2:

So you've been there the whole time.

Speaker 1:

Exactly, Exactly, Somebody else. It's not somebody else's baby. You're raising this baby up and you can leverage those other pieces and get your time back, so a hundred percent agree with that. What? What advice would you give to someone starting out on their their entrepreneurial journey If they're getting into business for themselves right now?

Speaker 2:

It's, it's overrated. I always put it off and say, yeah, whatever, you need to know who your client is. Who is it that you're working for? Um, your skillset and only way you can communicate to them is to know exactly who they are. If you can tell Susie how you can help her Fix her problem, joe and Tom and Cassie and all are going to understand it as well. But you need to be able to speak to your audience, otherwise you're speaking too broad and nobody's going to hear you.

Speaker 1:

I always kind of feel like I create like two different avatars per se. So, like, give me like the target of who I want to work with, like all right for, for a male demographic, it could be that I'm looking for the 45 year old uh that has has a wife and three kids, that you know he's, he's now taking this business to this level and maybe, like the female avatar is the, the super mom that's trying to. You know, like the, the 32 year old super mom that's trying to build something on her own. You know that you know these, these different avatars like that, if you get very finite about it, you actually what you build on expands, right, what you focus on expands. So it's like I'm going to focus on building those avatars out and then I'm going to create a culture that's going to bring those type of people towards, towards what we're looking for.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, you, you, you can't speak to women in their thirties because nobody's going to hear you, because you're not. You need to be able to say words that connect with them independently and indirectly, so they hear you, otherwise it's just noise right, right.

Speaker 1:

And the other thing, too is like I mean, there is so much I I can't remember the exact number, but there's like hundreds and hundreds of millions of websites there's, you know, like social media, like you just can't keep like there's so much out there, it's all it fades into white noise. So how do you make yourself stand out? You have to get very finite with your demographics on those pieces, but then also be able to cater to whoever came into the opportunities, cater to whoever came into the opportunities. So you know, it's it's kind of like having, like this, this opportunity for these very niche people, but at the same time being able to service anyone that comes along.

Speaker 2:

Yeah, yeah, you can service everybody, but you need to be able to speak to who, you who, who do you enjoy working with? Cause? I can work with lots of people, but I enjoy working with female coaches.

Speaker 2:

They me, they understand, we can have, we have a relationship, we have a, we have a language yeah, yeah you see me at university and lots of people get what I do and can understand and want to want to jump in. The people I enjoy working with are those, uh, empty nest mom, female coaches that want to grow their business. This avatar kind of speaks to it a little bit too.

Speaker 1:

And the the, the thing, the way that I look at it too, is like man, you give me someone that's a hard charger and we will run through walls together, like, like. It doesn't matter if it's male, female, I definitely feel. For me it's probably somebody in their 30s or 40s that I usually see in those demographics. They're trying to leave that legacy for their family. I can resonate with them and, like I said, we'll run through walls together to make it work. So I love that you have your avatars, I love that you have your demographic that you're working with and it and it sets you apart and people want and it resonates with people. That's that's fantastic. So, as you're growing out, start smart systems. What, what's next? What? What's on the horizon for the end of the year?

Speaker 2:

I am writing another book, so I am going to focus on um. I wrote a book called dream life planner years ago and I felt like it never actually fit with what I do. But I think this book is going to tie it all together and help somebody figure out who their niche is, who they are as a person, what their superpower is and how to design that out for them in their life. And I'm really excited I'm like six chapters in, so it's really kind of cool. And then I'm just going to I'm trying to grow StartSmart Systems, so that I'm not doing it.

Speaker 1:

I love it.

Speaker 2:

So leveraging synergists, leveraging my daughter and then pulling me out.

Speaker 1:

Can't beat that. That's awesome stuff. Noelle Peterson, it's been an awesome pleasure to have you on the Scaling Up Success podcast. How can people get a hold of you if not if when they want your business?

Speaker 2:

Startsmartsystemscom is my website, or you can text me at 253. And then the word is to start. So just text anything to that number, or my email is noelle at startsmartsystemscom.

Speaker 1:

That is too easy. Ladies and gentlemen, noelle peterson, start smart systems. Thank you so much for being a part of the scaling up success podcast. We have thoroughly enjoyed having you on the program today. And uh, best of luck with everything happening in 2025. And and and uh, best of luck in your future endeavors and everything moving forward thank you, sir.

Speaker 2:

Thanks for having me here.

Speaker 1:

Absolutely. Once again, ryan Van Ornum, scaling Up Success Podcast powered by Synergist. And have a wonderful day. Everyone Take care.

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