Are Goals and Accountability Groups the Keys to Work/Life Balance?

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Can you have your cake and eat it too? So many solopreneurs want a successful business that also allows them to live the life they want to live, but finding that work/life balance can be hard.

Well, today we’re joined by Tanya Alvarez who is on a mission to help people crush it at work and still win at home.

Tanya started her first New York Ad Agency when she was just 25. Without a trust fund or rich uncle, she relied on her credit cards and a truckload of determination. And with that, in just one year, she turned that agency into a million-dollar business.

But that's not all – while building her company, she also traveled to over 42 countries, completed the Boston and NYC Marathons, and even finished a Half Ironman. 

Oh, and did we mention she was dealing with a rare condition that causes brittle bones through all of that?

Pretty impressive.

We invited her on the show to discuss things like:

• How to navigate through distractions when they are everywhere

• Tactics to supercharge daily productivity

• How to structure a practical blueprint to materialize work-life equilibrium through accountability groups

Plus so much more! Be sure to tune in.

Like the show? We'd love it if you'd leave a 5-star review!

Connect with Tanya Alvarez

• Connect with Tanya on LinkedIn and DM her to access the framework!

Favorite Quote About Success:

"Do or do not, there is no try." - Yoda

Being a solopreneur is awesome but it’s not easy. It's hard to get noticed. Most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone...until now. LifeStarr's SoloSuite Starter gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one-person business. 

So, if you are lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, or are having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even just lonely running a company of one, click here to check out SoloSuite Starter!

About Tanya Alvarez

Tanya started her first company at 25 and grew it to over $1 million in revenue in the first year. Since then, she has founded, bootstrapped, sold and invested in five companies. In her spare time she's a runner, and has wondered why, as an entrepreneur, she didn’t have a coach to course-correct her stride and daily touch points to help her feel like she was a part of a bigger community. She wanted to start a company where people could have a team on their side to achieve their dreams.

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Full Episode Transcript

Carly Ries: 00:00

Can you have your cake and eat it too? So many solopreneurs want a successful business that also allows them to live the life they wanna live, but finding that work life balance can be hard. Well, today, we're joined by Tanya Alvarez who is on a mission to help people crush it at work and still win at home. Tanya started her first New York ad agency when she was just 25. Without a trust fund or rich uncle, she relied on her credit cards and a truckload of determination.

Carly Ries: 00:27

And with that, in just 1 year, she turned that agency into a $1,000,000 business. But that's not all. While building her company, she also traveled to over 42 countries, completed the Boston and New York City marathons, and even finished a half Ironman. Oh, and did I mention she was dealing with a rare condition that causes brittle bones through all of that? It's pretty impressive.

Carly Ries: 00:49

We invited her on our show to discuss things like how to navigate through distractions when they are everywhere, tactics to supercharge daily productivity, and how to structure a practical blueprint to materialize work life equilibrium through accountability groups. We discussed this and so much more, so be sure to tune in. You're listening to The Aspiring Solopreneur, the podcast for those just taking the bold step or even just thinking about taking that step into the world of solo entrepreneurship. My name is Carly Ries, and my co host Joe Rando and I are your guides to navigating this crazy, but awesome journey as a company of 1. We take pride in being part of LifeStarr, a digital hub dedicated to all aspects of solopreneurship that has empowered and educated countless solopreneurs looking to build a business that resonates with their life's ambitions.

Carly Ries: 01:41

We help people work to live, not live to work. And if you're looking for a get rich quick scheme, this is not the show for you. So if you're eager to gain valuable insights from industry experts on running a business the right way the first time around, or want to learn from the missteps of solopreneurs who've paved the way before you, then stick around. We've got your back because flying solo in business doesn't mean you're alone. Okay.

Carly Ries: 02:04

So before we jump into this episode, I just have to share this new free offer we have called the SoloSuite Starter. Being a solopreneur is awesome, but it's not easy. It's hard to get noticed and most business advice is for bigger companies, and you're all alone until now. Lifestar's solo suite gives you free education, community, and tools to build a thriving one person business. So if you're lacking direction, having a hard time generating leads, having trouble keeping up with everything you have to do, or even if you're just lonely running a company of 1.

Carly Ries: 02:37

Be sure to check out SoloSuite Starter at LifeStarr.com and click on products and pricing at the top menu. It's the first one in the drop down. Again, it's totally free, so check it out at lifestarr.com Click on products and pricing, and it's the first one in the menu. Hope to see you there.

Carly Ries: 02:54

Oh my gosh. Tanya, welcome to the show.

Tanya Alvarez: 02:56

Thank you for having me. I'm super excited.

Carly Ries: 02:59

I'm so happy you've reached out to us because Tanya sent me this email, and it was like, "I'm a big fan of the show. FYI, you haven't talked about accountability groups and goal prioritization in about 6 months. Just a heads up." And I was like, that is correct. You are absolutely right on that.

Carly Ries: 03:15

We should probably have you on the show. And We don't say yes to everybody that reaches out to us, but after doing my backyard research and all of that I was like, oh, my gosh. Yes. We absolutely wanna have you on the show. And I know you have different methods that address those things, but you kinda came to those because of your unique crazy journey into this world of solopreneurs.

Carly Ries: 03:37

Can you tell our audience about that journey? Because it really just blew my mind everything you went through.

Tanya Alvarez: 03:43

Yeah. I started my first company at 25, I come from an immigrant family, Colombian. And we have no clue. There was no such thing as, like, hey. Be an entrepreneur, it was more of like, go do the safety route, and it's not safe.

Tanya Alvarez: 03:59

Like, go corporate, be a doctor, be a lawyer, whatever safety means in back then for an immigrant. And I went through the whole startup phase and I was like, should I do it? Should I

Tanya Alvarez: 04:10

start my own thing? And my mother was like, yeah. Why wouldn't you do it? And I said, what happens if I fail? And she goes, you'll be exactly where you are now, working for someone.

Tanya Alvarez: 04:19

And they go, well, what happens if they don't hire me? And then she goes, well, you wouldn't wanna work for a company like that. So I went for it. Had nothing to lose. And I think most people really don't have anything to lose, and they should just go for it.

Carly Ries: 04:34

Yes. Absolutely. So I mean, what a great mom, by the way, for encouraging you to keep going. But, I mean, you've had I mean, you're a real go getter and you have a great way of prioritizing business but also prioritizing your personal life and setting real goals goals in your personal life. So I wanted people to have an understanding of the types of things you reach for in business, but the types of things you've also reached for personally all while having, like, a health battle as well if I'm not mistaken.

Carly Ries: 05:04

So can you dive into that a little bit? I just want people to see, you could do it, and your story is very inspirational. And then from there, we'll get

Carly Ries: 05:12

into all of your advice and all that stuff. Yeah. Of course.

Tanya Alvarez: 05:16

So, I have a rare bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta, and it's in a spectrum. I'm in the really good side of the spectrum where some kids start breaking bones in the womb and then die within weeks, and then there's others like my oldest sister who's, gosh, she's broken so many bones, all bones, probably 3 or 4 times, and has been a wheelchair user since she was low. So that's the level. I found out I had it right after I completed, I don't know, done it was one of my big races either Boston or, 72 70.3 Ironman, one of those things where I had no clue until I fractured my hip and they're like, yeah.

Tanya Alvarez: 05:58

You have this thing. But I kept going and doing more sports, and I think it's, it helped me to be who I am today. So there's a number of things I've gone, and, you know, coming from that growth mindset early on, my family put that on me. So I had no clue in the sense of, like, what there was any limitations.

Tanya Alvarez: 06:19

All I thought was possibilities.

Carly Ries: 06:22

I love that. Well and you because of all of this, you said you did Boston you're like one of the big races. Like, you do these all the time, which to me if you do Boston, you're bomb.

Carly Ries: 06:33

But because you've had some adversity and and some obstacles and challenges, your mission is now to help others, like, crush their their work life, but also their personal life. And you say that you do this primarily through goal prioritization. And I just wanna know, like, how can people navigate through the distractions that are just everywhere these days, and if they seem as if they have these obstacles, what advice do you have from a goal setting standpoint?

Tanya Alvarez: 07:02

Yes. I'm gonna bring you back to my first company

Tanya Alvarez: 07:04

when I was 25. I was pretty naive, and we wanted to travel the world. So when I was building this company and I grew it to over 1,000,000 within the 1st year, during that cold journey I traveled over, I think, 42, 43 countries. But why I say I was naive is because I was like, how do I travel? And this is, like, before this is in the early 2000 where, like, it wasn't a big thing, being an entrepreneur, traveling, you know, there was an Internet connection as well.

Tanya Alvarez: 07:30

And I would book a trip for 2 weeks every quarter, and I would and that would force me to be really resourceful. So what I mean by that is I had to hire a team to make sure that the company would survive without me. I had to trust that I had the systems in place for the team to like, it could work. Like, sometimes I was hiking Machu Picchu in Peru or I was in Cuba. No internet connection.

Tanya Alvarez: 07:55

So if things went down, my team need to handle it. And what that helped me do, it helped me really prioritize things. So I think that most people when they start going into entrepreneurship, they're like, I have so much time, and then they have put so many things on your plate. But when you actually have time constraints and you narrow down your focus, you get a lot done and you become really resourceful. Because now I was like, okay.

Tanya Alvarez: 08:19

Well, I have this much time to make sure my team can do this. Alright. Gotta get everything done. And now that's how I was able to travel and then build my company very quickly. And back then, it wasn't as popular, like, to have remote workers.

Tanya Alvarez: 08:35

Right now, it's, popular to get virtual assistant in the Philippines. You go to Upwork, all these places. But I was getting I started I was like, oh, I have an office in New York City, and how the heck am I gonna afford a New York salary for these, like, for all these people that I would hire? That's pretty bracing. New York is one of the most expensive.

Tanya Alvarez: 08:54

So what I did is I found people in Columbia, and I had a CTO. I had all these people that I was bringing it on, and then I had only 2 or 3 people in New York.

Carly Ries: 09:06

And the one thing I really wanna clarify with our audience is you said team, you said workers. This can be contractors. So everybody that listening right now are solopreneurs. Joe, I would consider us a good team. Right?

Carly Ries: 09:18

I think we're a team, but I am not an employee of Joe's. I contract with LifeStarr and I do marketing services for LifeStarr, but I'm not an employee. And so I just really want to say, a team doesn't necessarily mean you're an employer or you work 40 hours a week and all that. It's the people you decide to work with, and it could absolutely be a contractor basis, and we actually encourage solopreneurs to form those contractor, quote, unquote, contractor teams. So just for clarification sake.

Tanya Alvarez: 09:48

I think that's really great. And it also anybody who's starting the solar print, solar for newer journey, I will say the first thing I really, really advise somebody is to hire a virtual assistant as soon as possible. And I think most people don't realize that they're anywhere from 4 to $6 an hour.

Carly Ries: 10:06

Yeah. Yeah. Depending and it's funny because we've had people on here because you can definitely get a VA that's out of the states. And then if you want somebody that's in the states, sometimes you have pay a little bit more, but it just kinda depends, like, if you need somebody that's on your time zone. That's like there's so many things to figure out, but we've heard so many people share that same sentiment.

Carly Ries: 10:24

So I wanna ask a question and it in regards to like so setting your goals like when you say like, oh, I have these ideas and I wanna travel and I have a team in place, sometimes in order to get all of your ducks to run your processes, you need to be super productive in a short amount of time to hit these goals and to delegate and everything. So do you have any if somebody's like, I wanna go to Machu Picchu, I need to hire somebody. What are what are ways that you can really hone in and get their stool stats that they can accomplish these goals, whether it's training for Boston, whether it's traveling or whatever?

Tanya Alvarez: 10:58

It's a great question. So sometimes people think of these huge goals. It's kinda like, running a marathon if you never ride a marathon, and then you're just getting excited. You sign up, and then you're like, what the f? What did I get myself into?

Tanya Alvarez: 11:12

And then you start looking at this huge schedule, and you're like, oh, no. What am I gonna do? But the first thing you need to do is do a bite size, Small little steps, little by little. Now how to focus that goal? I would narrow it down bay I think a lot of people make the mistake that they don't do goals based on their values. They're doing it based on maybe what they see outside, especially in this social media world. Right? So you gotta figure out what really aligns to you because entrepreneurship or any goal is it could be hard. Anyone who tells you the journey's like this is BS.

Tanya Alvarez: 11:44

It's really a roller coaster. And most of the time, you're going through this roller coaster, and sometimes it's going up, but you don't even realize it because you're going down a little, and that down feels really bad. So the first thing I would do is figure out what your values are, and then based on your goals on that. Now once you have the goal and if you have a bunch of goals, figure out why you're doing them, what is what's I have this whole process that I go through because I think goal setting is kind of like typical is more of like, I don't know if people know about the Google OKRs or, the goal is, like, write down your goal and then think of all the steps. But in the entrepreneur world, you could do a perfect strategy, and then you get to interact with your client and that strategy's gone.

Tanya Alvarez: 12:28

I'm just keeping it real guys.

Carly Ries: 12:30

Joe and I are looking at each other like, yep. Yep. That's accurate.

Tanya Alvarez: 12:36

I know I'm not giving you straightforward answer, the one that everybody probably is like, you set this goal, you know, you do these steps. I like to to think of it and be, like, more like a scientist. And what I mean by that is a hypothesis. So, for example, let's say I wanted to write a book. I'm dyslexic.

Tanya Alvarez: 12:52

That would be overwhelming for me, but now I'm like, okay. Well, that's my journey. Now where do I wanna go about it? So first I'm saying, how do I want this book? Why is it aligned?

Tanya Alvarez: 13:00

And what's a bigger purpose? Right? So that gets me kind of moving. The second thing is who do I know my network and do do I need to have a group to keep me motivated because I know it's a big challenge? So I need to find other people who are good writers in that form of group around them.

Tanya Alvarez: 13:17

And then the next thing is, like, what's the hypothesis? How can I build habits that move me forward to that, that I need to do every single day? And that's how I break down my goals, and then I have metrics for that.

Carly Ries: 13:29

Okay. So you just said your people to hold you accountable, and I know that that's another thing that you talk about a lot are the value of accountability groups. And so what is, like, how do you harness these groups? What is a blueprint for people to follow in terms of getting the most out of them, but also finding them?

Tanya Alvarez: 13:50

So avoid your friends and family because they're gonna get you off the hook. Right? So let's say, Carly, I know you, and all of a sudden you have this goal, and then you're like, well, I couldn't I couldn't do this because my husband went to U of M game, and, you know, it's been crazy and I didn't get it done. I'm like, oh, I know how important this is to you, and then I get you off the hook. It's really hard to hold somebody accountable. So what I like to do is see, like, what why are we all driven? Find other people who are driven the same way, and they may be total strangers. That's perfect.

Tanya Alvarez: 14:26

The next thing is after that, you all agree on the consequence. Now if the consequence happens a second time, you gotta go dive deep and find out is it, that you don't have enough knowledge? If there's is there a belief system there, or is there perfectionism? Right? And then you dive deep in kind of solving it and then holding them accountable.

Tanya Alvarez: 14:44

Because no matter how many consequences you do, if you don't go into the root of problem, you're never gonna solve it.

Carly Ries: 14:51

So how have you built your accountability groups? how you said not friends, not family. Can you can they be strangers, but at the same time you don't really want straight like, it's it's weird because it's a fine line because you want somebody that you can trust, but also not somebody that you love you too.

Tanya Alvarez: 15:10

I agree. So it's funny. I've done accountability groups from all the way from having IVF. Like, I had, less than 7% chance of having 1 kid, but now I have 2, so I'm really happy about that. And that was a whole different accountability system.

Tanya Alvarez: 15:25

I had to find people in the same kind of circle, and then people who, weren't kind of I didn't want a session where it's like people complaining. Right? You have to have a certain vibe and values. Because imagine if all of Joe, Carly, and I were all in accountability group, it was like, oh, man. And you get this I email out, and it's like every day the same thing.

Tanya Alvarez: 15:43

You're just like, I don't wanna be your cheerleader. Like, you have to have a same level people. So I would first thing is I'm all about values. Go back to your values. I'll learn that.

Tanya Alvarez: 15:54

Find places where these people would be and ask people. And if you're gonna do a friend, have a friend that doesn't know you so so well. Right? It's a, like, it's a good friend, but not like one that would be like, k. Take Kaye off the hook.

Tanya Alvarez: 16:07

It's really hard to hold somebody accountable.

Carly Ries: 16:09

That is so interesting. So Tanya, you seem to have

Tanya Alvarez: 16:18

I have all process on these things.

Carly Ries: 16:19

Goals in their personal life and achieve goals in their professional life. And I kinda just wanna know more about your business because I feel like this ties into all of that.

Carly Ries: 16:24

So can you explain exactly what you do because it just seems like this is like a full circle part.

Tanya Alvarez: 16:31

Yeah. So what we do with entrepreneurs is we can get them very clear on what they really want to achieve in a quarter. We do it based on quarters, and the goal is to have them grow their business profitably, but also have their time back. Because there's a lot of successful people who don't have life.

Carly Ries: 16:47

Yeah. So with the time back thing, do you have what were you saying? It was like the focus multiplier. What like you have something to make people super productive in a short amount of time.

Tanya Alvarez: 16:57

Yes. It's called of focus booster, and it stands for r a p, rap. So every day, actually write down what you accomplished. Because I know as an entrepreneur, some days I'm kind of like, what the heck did I accomplish? And then I write it down.

Tanya Alvarez: 17:12

I'm like, wow. That's a lot I accomplished. And then sometimes I'm like, this was a day, and then I realized, like, wow. Most of this stuff I shouldn't be doing. But it's that awareness.

Tanya Alvarez: 17:21

Right? He's getting you back to that awareness stage. So just write down everything you're doing. No judging. Just write it down, and then you'll kinda get aware and see your patterns.

Tanya Alvarez: 17:28

A is for assess. 1 through 5, rate your day. Was it of awesome 5? Then say, yeah. 5 and say why.

Tanya Alvarez: 17:36

And the great thing about this is you're gonna have data, so you're gonna start realizing, like, all the days that were fives, there was a pattern. Right? Maybe it was like, I was on a podcast. Those days are awesome. Awesome.

Tanya Alvarez: 17:46

I love being on the podcast, and I did this, this, this. And then you could start creating those days. And then p is prioritize. Prioritize the 3 things. Now here's a catch. I'm sure everyone's heard, like, oh, do 3 things only. I would say prioritize 3 things you can get done in 2 hours. That constraint allows you to be really creative and resourceful.

Joe Rando: 18:07

I just wanna understand that. So you're saying write down 3 things that you can get done in 2 hours in total or 2 hours each?

Tanya Alvarez: 18:14

2 hours in total.

Joe Rando: 18:15

Okay. Just wanna make sure I understand this. So three things, and you're basically creating urgency. Is that correct?

Tanya Alvarez: 18:23

It'll have the avenue really think about, is this the only thing I'm able to do? Right? What can it like, let's say you had a project and it was like, podcasting, and you just need to interview. And some people, like, do the interview, the editing, do the email, all of that, and now you're like, okay. Well, I only have 2 hours.

Tanya Alvarez: 18:39

What is the thing that only I can do right now? And then you start delegating quicker. Because I think a lot of people, especially solopreneurs and just people in small businesses, we focus on we're the only ones who can do this. Right? And then because you have all this time, you can do it, but you can't last that long.

Tanya Alvarez: 18:57

You're at a burnout.

Carly Ries: 18:58

It's funny, Joe. It makes me think we had an event right before this, and there was a part where people were in breakout sessions. So we were just in the waiting room just us. And Joe didn't realize that I had said that I was focusing on something, and I was in the zone. And it was because I knew that I had 20 minutes to get all these names put into a list of, like, just frantically typing and everything and getting everything transferred over.

Carly Ries: 19:22

But it's because I know I had that, like, just that time because I wanted to get an email sent out after the event, and I wanna make sure everything was ready to go. And I was like, gosh, that was so productive. Just because I put a time limit on myself. It's called Parkinson's law.

Joe Rando: 19:36

The task will expand to fill the time allotted.

Tanya Alvarez: 19:39

Yeah. There you go. Yep.

Joe Rando: 19:41

Yep. That's true.

Tanya Alvarez: 19:42

Like a vacation effect. So right before vacation, you're super productive. Right? You're trying to get everything done. Everything's fast, easy, and you're just like, oh, I got this deadline.

Tanya Alvarez: 19:51

Go. And get it all done.

Carly Ries: 19:52

Yeah. Gosh. I Tanya, I feel like you just have so many little tidbits of wisdom and, like, and just so many processes to share. Where if people were to learn more about you, where can they find you? Because I feel like there's just so

Tanya Alvarez: 20:05

much that we can't really fit into this short interview. Yeah. I post a lot on LinkedIn, and I can give everybody how to get 10 hours back, the whole detail on how to go about it. And you can just DM me and then put the host. So it could be Joe Carly, so you could say 10 hours back, Joe Carly, and then I'll DM you, the framework.

Tanya Alvarez: 20:29

Oh, perfect. Okay.

Carly Ries: 20:31

And, Tanya, we totally caught you off guard about this offline earlier, but we ask all of our guests this. What is your favorite quote about success?

Tanya Alvarez: 20:39

Oh, it's Yoda. Do or do not. There is no try.

Carly Ries: 20:44

Perfect, you got it. You nailed it.

Tanya Alvarez: 20:46

I'm going to look at it in Google.

Carly Ries: 20:49

We're going back and forth. Well, Tanya, I feel like this is just the tip of the iceberg for what you could share with our audience. So be sure to check out everything she has to say over on her site, and we just really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you for having me. And listeners, per usual we love providing this helpful information for you.

Carly Ries: 21:10

So if you could leave us a 5 star review, subscribe to the show whether it's on Apple, YouTube, you name it, wherever you follow our show, we would so appreciate it. But other than that, we will see you next time on The Aspiring Solopreneur.

Joe Rando: 21:23

Bye bye.

Carly Ries: 21:26

You may be going solo in business, but that doesn't mean you're alone. In fact, millions of people are in your shoes, running a one person business and figuring it out as they go. So why not connect with them and learn from each other's successes and failures? At LifeStarr, we're creating a one person business community where you can go to meet and get advice from other solopreneurs. Be sure to join in on the conversations at community.lifestarr.com