Welcome to Sebo Marketing!
Now that you are hired, the first thing we would like you to work on is understanding our HR policies and our best practices for employees here at Sebo.
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
To Take the Exam:
Schedule a time with the Office Manager (Nia) to take the Sebo Employee Best Practices Exam, which is found at the end of this training page.
Please go over this content:
Fulfillment Manager
Josh Dalley – josh@sebomarketing.com
I am your manager and will help you get through all your training at Sebo Marketing. If you have any questions about training, marketing tasks, or your schedule, please come talk to me.
Office Manager
Nia Sherwood – nia@sebomarketing.com
Hello! Welcome to Sebo! I am happy to help with questions for all things office related.
You will take this exam with me. 🙂
Technical Trainer
Jonny Webb – jonny@sebomarketing.com
I can help with questions for all things data tracking and WordPress related.
If you break a website come to me immediately.
Check my calendar for what days I am in the office. You can schedule meetings with me in-person or virtually.
Monthly Schedule
Each month/every couple of months the Fulfillment Manager will ask for the number of hours you will be working that month.
When planning your hours, if you think you’ll be in between 10:00 and 10:15, ALWAYS say 10:15. Its better to be early than late. The same with clocking out, if you are planning on leaving between 5:00 and 5:30, ALWAYS put 5:00. It’s not good to have your schedule say you are here and you are nowhere to be found.
Always let the Office Manager & Fulfillment Manager know and update your calendar if your schedule changes.
Examples:
- A test comes up and you are going to be late: Call or text the office manager and your supervisor. Update your Google calendar with the time you expect to arrive.
- You are sick or can’t make in to work today: Call or text the office manager and your supervisor. Mark the day off on your Google calendar or mark it as working from home. (Talk to the office manager if you are sick because not all sick days have to be taken as vacation days.)
Google Calendar
Calendars and time management are VERY important parts of working at Sebo. We expect everyone to have their Google Calendar set up to mirror your monthly schedule hours.
Required calendar items:
- In time
- Out time
- Lunch time
- Days off
Highly suggested items:
- Internal employee meetings (ie Fulfillment training time)
- External client meetings
- Phone calls
- Work, no interruption time
- Open time
Reserving Rooms for Meetings on Google Calendar
At the Sebo office, we have several rooms available for meetings and other occasions. These meeting rooms are available to all Sebo employees and are used on a first-come, first-serve reservation basis. We ask that all employees wishing to use the rooms, schedule them by reserving them through Google Calendar. To the right is a video to show you how to add the meeting rooms to your Google Calendar interface, and how to reserve a room for a meeting. For questions, please ask your supervisor or the office manager.
Things to remember and respect about others calendars:
- Try to avoid just popping over to someones desk to ask questions. Set up a time with them to review questions. If it happens often, set up a recurring meeting to resolve questions.
Everyone has 24 hours in a day. Being efficient and planning out your day helps you get more done. We want you to use your Google Calendar as an accurate representation of what your day is looking like. We want to know when you are available to talk, when you are tied up in a meeting, and when you won’t be at the office.
Everyone can make the calendar work for them. Feel free to adjust how it works to meet your needs. Some key principles:
Set Recurring Meetings
- Each week, you likely need to spend time talking to a few different people at Sebo. Coordinate those conversations, and set them up as recurring calendar items
- Do you know what days you will be here long enough to take a lunch? Set up lunches as recurring calendar items
- We have a weekly company meeting. Get that on your calendar as a recurring item!
Schedule Email Times
- If you allow it, you could likely check and recheck and recheck emails and address issues all day
- Don’t handle emails randomly. Let’s say that reading and addressing emails typically takes you 7 hours per week. As an example, you could schedule 30 minutes on your calendar 3 times a day. Schedule a time to check your emails right after your morning planning session. Schedule another time to check your emails right before lunch. Schedule a time to check emails 1 hour before you go home for the day. Once you have established a solid email pattern, don’t check your emails when it’s not on your calendar!
Schedule in Buffer Times
- If you are meeting with a client, schedule time to prep for the meeting
- If you are traveling to the client, schedule driving time
- Once you meet with the client, schedule time to add commitments or tasks to LiquidPlanner
- Schedule in time to think and to plan
Avoid Duplicate Items
- You can’t be in 2 places at once, so your calendar shouldn’t show 2 things at the same time!
Schedule in Personal Times
- This one is optional, but it’s a best practice to not use multiple calendars. For example, Bruce includes his exercise time, his work time, and even his weekly Family Home Evening time on his calendar.
- You can even see when Bruce is going to eat Breakfast any weekday!
Schedule on Calendar Days Off
Make sure that if you are going to take time off in a month, that you mark that time off in your Google Calendar. This is essential for our task management processes and also helps supervisors know how to plan work or fulfillment team to estimate our task hour need. Please mark time off (if it is vacation or extended time, more than one day) ideally the month prior. If not, mark it as soon as you know you need the time off and let Jonny (for ClickUp data) and your immediate supervisor (if applicable) know.
For salaried employees, make sure you also mark your time off inside of Eddy.
Please read through our Employee Handbook.
Here are a few key details that are found in the Employee Handbook but are also here for review:
Sick Procedures:
When you are sick, please don’t come into the office. Instead, let your supervisor know or let the Office Manager know and update your calendar. If you can work remotely, feel free to do so. If you are a salary employee and can not work remotely, you will need to use one of your days off. Reach out the Office Manager with any questions.
Breaks:
Employees working shifts that are 8 hours or more may take 1 break in the morning and 1 break in the afternoon.
Employees working shifts between 4 and 8 hours receive 1 break.
Employees working shifts less than 4 hours receive no breaks.
Lunch Break:
Shifts lasting 5 hours or less do not include a lunch break.
Shifts lasting more than 5 hours include a required 30 minute lunch break.
Computer Usage:
Sebo owns your work computer. Sebo reserves the right to check your computer at any time for any reason.
You may log in to your personal Apple ID on your Sebo computer if desired. That being said, remember that Sebo still owns the computer and reserves the right to check it.
This is a list of other important things for you to know that don’t really fit in another category on this page 🙂
Recurring Meetings:
Depending on what team you are on, you will be invited to a variety of different recurring meetings. In general, these are the main meetings you will likely be invited to:
All Company Meeting: Every 1st and 3rd Thursday at 2:00pm
Fulfillment Team Meeting: Every other Friday at 1:30pm (Subject to change)
Sales/Retention Team Meeting (MCs and MCITs): 2nd and 4th Thursday at 2:00pm
Dress and Grooming Standards:
We are fairly casual in our office. That being said, if a client walked into the office, would you be comfortable with what you are wearing? Please be mindful of what you wear as to make sure that you are creating good impressions for our clients and are respectful of those around you.
If you have specific questions, ask the Office Manager.
Internship Credit:
If you are a BYU student, you can get internship credit for working at Sebo. I (Nia) don’t know the exact process but you can ask Bruce about it if you are interested.
Perks/Benefits:
Any Employee:
- 365 Golf – Talk to Tech Manager to get access info, talk to Office Manager to schedule, Talk to Bruce for orientation
- Snacks and drinks in the office
- Random Sebo activites
Full-Time Employees only:
- Annual Reward Trip
- 401k matching (after working at Sebo for a certain amount of time)
- Health, Vision, Dental, Pet Insurance
Pay Dates:
Each employee gets paid twice a month. Our pay periods are 1-14, paid on the 20th of the month, and 15-31, paid on the 5th of the next month.
Lastpass is our password vault. All passwords for our clients are stored there. Most passwords should auto fill when on the website.
On your first day, you should create a Lastpass account with your Sebo Marketing email address and download the Chrome extension.
Here’s how:
- Go to www.lastpass.com
- Click Get LastPass Free
- You’ll be prompted to add the extension to your browser. Add the extension
- If it doesn’t, then search google for “LastPass chrome extension” and install it
- Create your account with your Sebo email address and a secure master password that you won’t forget.
Password Generator
To generate a password, click on the LastPass extension and then click on “Generator” at the bottom.
From there you can click on advanced options and set the password rules. Sebo recommends you generate all passwords with the following options (unless the website has different requirements):
- Enable all character types (a-z, A-Z, 0-9, ?!#$%)
- Password length is at least 16 characters long
Once you have generated the password you need, copy it to your clipboard (Ctrl + C) to use where you will be creating the account.
Manually Add a Site to LastPass
Save a Site to LastPass
How to Save Client Passwords to LastPass
Please watch the video for some general Click-Up knowledge.
ClickUp is the project management system that Sebo uses to assign client tasks, track monthly progress, and record how much billable time we spend on each client. Jonny will make you an account. Once you begin receiving tasks from the Fulfillment Manager, you’ll use the Client Tasks tab in ClickUp to see your list of assigned tasks and log time spent on each task. Here is what you’ll need to do:
- Read through the description within the task
- Work through and complete the assigned task (new employees: until you’ve passed off certain tasks, you will need to fill out a task plan for each task to send to the Fulfillment Manager to review before you implement your work)
- Log the amount of time you spent on the task
- Mark the task as complete when it is done
- Leave any relevant comments in the comment section of the task for your MC to look over
Talk to the Fulfillment Manager for any ClickUp questions!
Note: In the past, we used a tool called Liquid Planner. If you see mention of this, please let the Office Manager or the Fulfillment Manager know so they can edit it. We have tried to catch it but it is likely we have missed it somewhere.
Having an organized email inbox helps increase productivity and efficiency and ensures that you can easily find client emails when you need them. Here are some best practices for keeping your inbox clean:
- Create separate folders for different categories of emails you receive. This typically includes a folder for each client you work with, as well as folders for Sebo-related meetings and communications. When you receive an email from or regarding a certain client, address the concern in the email and then file the email in the correct folder.
- Your inbox should only have unread and unaddressed emails in it. All “completed” emails should be filed into an appropriate folder.
- Each day, you should read through new emails and address the request or concern within that email. Don’t file the email into a separate folder until you’ve completely taken care of what you need to from that email.
- Please try to address emails as soon as possible so you don’t forget about it.
For hourly paid employees only. Your time tracker is within Eddy. You can treat it like a punch clock where when you get into the office, you clock-in through Eddy and when you leave, you clock out
Please read this Document about our standard operating procedures (SOP) regarding Google Drive.
Bruce Rowe and Steve Elderkin co-founded Sebo in 2005. The name Sebo comes from the initials S(teve) E(lderkin) B(ruce) and an O. They didn’t want to call it SEBR or SEBRO. They started doing Paid Ads, Website Builds, and SEO. Steve had a tech background and wanted Sebo to become a software company. In 2009, Bruce and Steve decided to go different directions, and Bruce bought our Steve’s shares in the company.
Over the years, Sebo has built 1,000+ websites. In 2015, Bruce made the decision to get out of the custom website business and focus solely on SEO and PPC services.
In April of 2024, Bruce was approached by Travis Hansen, the founder of Tesani, about buying Sebo. Lots of conversations took place, and then in August of 2024, Bruce sold Sebo Marketing to Tesani. Currently, Bruce remains as the President and CEO and plans to remain in that position for years to come!
Once the acquisition was finalized, Sebo started building small, templated websites and also added Paid Social to our service offerings for our clients.
According to Jim Collins (author of Good to Great): Vision is simply a combination of a Mission Statement, its timeless and unchanging Core Values, and the big picture goals (which he calls BHAG’s . . . Big Hairy Audacious Goals).
Most entrepreneurs clearly see their vision. The problem is they assume everyone else sees it too. As a result, leaders get frustrated, staff gets confused, and great visions are unrealized. Patrick Lencioni said “If you could get all the people in an organization rowing in the same direction, you could dominate any industry, in any market, against any competition, at any time.”
Unfortunately, according to a popular Harvard Business Review article, “When CEOs Talk Strategy, Is Anyone Listening?” only a fraction of our workforce is really clued in. Even in high-performing companies with “clearly articulated public strategies,” only 29% of their employees can correctly identify their company’s strategy out of six choices.
The purpose of this section is to help every Sebo employee increase their understanding of what Sebo is really all about. Learn more about Sebo’s Mission Statement, Core Values, Company Focus, are more.
Mission Statement
Overview: A mission statement is like a guiding star on the horizon. It’s something you look toward, but you never really arrive. It is the super high level view of what the company is really all about. It’s the organization’s fundamental reason for existence beyond just making money.
Sebo’s Mission Statement: To improve the overall well-being and quality of life of the people and organizations involved with Sebo Marketing by providing accountable Internet Marketing services.
Core Values
Overview:
Core values don’t change. They are the concepts that we believe in at all times. You will see the acronym D.R.I.V.E. used throughout the Sebo office, and these items represent Sebo’s Core Values. They are:
- Do everything possible to do things right and make customers happy
- Reward individual initiative, improvement, and contributions to the company
- Integrity, honesty, and ethics in all aspects of business
- Values and objectives in pursuit of profits and growth
- Expect each employee to work hard, but keep it fun
Sebo’s Core Values:
1. Do everything possible to do things right and make customers happy
While we actually don’t believe that the customer is always right (for example, there have been many really dumb website changes made by clients), it is critically important that we set correct expectations, and strive to make sure that after every interaction, client’s know that we truly have their best interest in mind. And maybe just as important, once a client has expectations that are set, don’t meet those expectations. Exceed their expectations!
2. Reward individual initiative, improvement, and contributions to the company
Sebo is a small company, and we intend to stay that way. As a result, we really need everyone to understand what we are trying to accomplish, and those that assist in the process will get rewarded.
How will rewards come? It varies. Often, an unpaid intern starts with us, and when we see that person taking initiative, it will result in a paid position at Sebo. Maybe a PT Marketing Assistant makes noticeable and regular contributions to the team. Those people will be the first in line to receive FT positions. We also regularly give little gifts or provide fun opportunities for our employees that understand and live by this principle.
3. Integrity, honesty, and ethics in all aspects of business
We strongly believe and honesty and integrity. If you tell a client or co-worker that something will get done, then get it done. If you make a promise with a timeframe, fulfill that promise. Clearly, we should never break any laws, but we should also do the right thing when no one is watching.
4. Values and objectives in pursuit of profits and growth
We are in business to make money, but that’s only because going out of business won’t help anyone. We will always strive to make profits, but never at the expense of the other core values.
5. Expect each employee to work hard, but keep it fun
Work is hard and it’s not always fun. Doing a quick Google search will tell us things like “70% of your employees hate their job” (Forbes), “Only 13% of people like going to work” (Washington Post) and much more. We do think that working hard, getting things done, and truly helping clients is rather fulfilling. But at Sebo, we want to make sure that your job satisfaction is much higher than national averages. Feel free to give suggestions anytime you think we could do things to make your job more fun!
Company Focus
Overview:
Missions and visions are great, but they don’t tell people what the company does. The Company Focus is what the company currently is offering as a product or service to the market. This can actually change over time.
Did you know that before Hewlett Packard made computers they made “a bowling foul-line indicator, a clock drive for a telescope, a thing to make urinals flush automatically, and a shock machine to make people lose weight”? (Good to Great, Jim Collins).
For example, Sebo started out by not building websites. Over time, it became clear that building websites was a service that we should offer. However, over the years the process of building websites had changed so dramatically that in 2015, Sebo again decided to stop building big, custom, complex websites and split the company.
So what’s Sebo’s Company Focus?
Sebo’s Company Focus:
We are Utah’s Google Experts.
We want to work with companies with enough data that we can calculate and be happy with their Profit Per Visitor (PPV). We want to help companies understand their website data and make smart decisions based on what the data tells them. If companies aren’t happy with their PPV, we want to help them implement suggestions to help improve their site and their PPV.
We want to help companies get more website traffic through Search Engine Optimization (SEO) and Pay-Per-Click (PPC) Advertising. We expect noticeable SEO improvements within 2 months.
The Whirlwind – from “The 4 Disciplines of Execution”
Book Overview
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
The 4 Disciplines of Execution is an awesome book about how to be better at accomplishing things throughout your day, week, month, and year. The 4 Disciplines are:
- Focusing on the Wildly Important (Regularly discussing our BHAG’s)
- Acting on the Lead Measures (what actions are you taking that makes a difference?)
- Keeping a Compelling Scoreboard (our Grow dashboards)
- Creating a Cadence of Accountability (our weekly commitments)
The Whirlwind
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
If you haven’t done so yet, please watch the video at the start of this section. The whirlwind are the tasks that make up your day. It’s the normal part of your job. Those tasks will always fill up your day unless you plan otherwise.
These tasks are known as the Whirlwind.
How do you accomplish your Most Important Goals when the Whirlwind takes up your entire day?
Move Your Middle
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
Think of a bell curve. You have a small number of people underperforming on the left side of the curve. Most people are performing well. Then, you have some high performers on the right side of the curve.
How do you make the curve higher, and how do you move the curve to the right?
The WIG Session
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
WIG’s stand for “Wildly Important Goals”. As you have seen at your time at Sebo, we talk about BHAG’s (Big Hairy Audacious Goals) all the time. I would even venture to say you know for sure what our BHAG is for this year.
So what’s a WIG? Each week in our company meeting, we ask you to create a goal or make a key commitment to the rest of the team. In the following week’s meeting, we’ll follow up with your commitment so you are being held accountable.
During a WIG Session (as part of our weekly meeting), we will:
- Restate the BHAG for the Year
- Follow up with your weekly commitment and celebrate successes – and hold people accountable for not accomplishing their commitments
- Review the Scoreboards – this includes the Billing Doc and our Grow dashboards
- We’ll discuss plans and ask for new commitments
Lag and Lead Measures
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
What’s the difference between Lag and Lead Measures?
A simple example is using weight loss. The Lag Measure is your actual weight once you get on the scale. If you don’t like the results, it’s too late to change the result. The Lead Measure is the thing or things that you can do that will effect the result. Eating less calories than you burn is an example of a Lead Measure. Increasing the amount of exercise you do each day is another example.
“The Myth of Multitasking” by Dave Crenshaw
Book Overview
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
Our lives are hectic, and in many cases, people claim that they are good at multitasking as a badge of honor. This short and entertaining book shows why multitasking is a lie that wastes time and costs money.
The book is a fictional case study where the manager of a retail clothing chain wants to improve the time management skills of the employees of the business.
The Cost of Switchtasking
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
So, when you get interrupted, can you really immediately get right back to work where you left off? Obviously, the interruption takes time away from what we are doing, but the time it takes to get back up to speed might surprise you.
- People switched activities at work every 3 minutes, and roughly half of them are self-interruptions.
- 82% of all interrupted work is resumed on the same day. But, it takes an average of 23 minutes to get back to the task. Read more.
3 Simple Steps
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
- Take control over technology
Your cell phone ringer (even on vibrate) doesn’t need to be on all the time. You can turn off email notification on your computer as well. Become master over the nagging beeps and buzzes by creating some silence. - Schedule what you can schedule
Set regular times in the day and week to check your voicemail and email. Let others know that you will be using that schedule so they know when to expect a reply. - Focus on the person
When you switchtask when dealing with a computer, you simply lose efficiency. But if you switchtask on a human being, you additionally damage a relationship. Be present, listen carefully, and make sure everything has been taken care of before moving on.
Learn more about how to be more efficient with your time.
Application of this Principle
At Sebo, if you regularly need to meet with someone on your team, don’t just let the interruptions happen at will. Determine how often you need to talk to that person, and for how long, and then get on both of your schedules.
Essentialism
Book Overview
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
Bruce attended a conference that frankly wasn’t very good. Near the end of the conference, the final Keynote Speaker was a guy Bruce hadn’t heard of named Greg McKeown. Greg got up and started talking to the audience, and within minutes, he had the entire audience completely engaged in his topic.
In fact, Bruce considers this moment in time to be one of the life changing events in his life, because it made him think completely differently about Sebo Marketing. Focusing on what’s essential became a driving thought, and ultimately, it led to selling off the Site Build portion of Sebo Marketing.
Anything less than the disciplined pursuit of the essential will result in the undisciplined pursuit of the non-essential. In other words, you might make a millimeter of progress in a million directions. You can’t do it all. Lots of energy in, but not lots of momentum.
This book will help you choose a small number of important things so you can go higher and faster.
While I want you to read the book, this 11 minute video does an awesome job of helping you understand the book.
Favorite Book Quotes
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
- The wisdom of life consists in the elimination of non-essentials.” Lin Yutang
- The basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
- Only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
- Remember that if you don’t prioritize your life, someone else will.
- The way of the Essentialist is the relentless pursuit of less but better.
- Essentialism is not about how to get more things done; it’s about how to get the right things done. It doesn’t mean just doing less for the sake of less either. It is about making the wisest possible investment of your time and energy in order to operate at our highest point of contribution by doing only what is essential.
- Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, “What do I have to give up?” they ask, “What do I want to go big on?”
- A popular idea in Silicon Valley is “Done is better than perfect.”
- We often think of choice as a thing. But a choice is not a thing. Our options may be things, but a choice—a choice is an action. It is not just something we have but something we do.
- The Paradox of Success can be a catalyst for failure. Put another way, success can distract us from focusing on the essential things that produce success in the first place.
- Someone is successful. So they get more things added to their plate. Now, they have less time to do the things that made them successful in the 1st place, and now are more likely to fail.
- The way of the Essentialist means living by design, not by default. Instead of making choices reactively, the Essentialist deliberately distinguishes the vital few from the trivial many, eliminates the nonessentials, and then removes obstacles so the essential things have clear, smooth passage. In other words, Essentialism is a disciplined, systematic approach for determining where our highest point of contribution lies, then making execution of those things almost effortless.
- This is the basic value proposition of Essentialism: only once you give yourself permission to stop trying to do it all, to stop saying yes to everyone, can you make your highest contribution towards the things that really matter.
Essence
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
What’s the Core Mindset of an Essentialist?
Essentialists CHOOSE
- The ability to choose cannot be taken away or even given away — it can only be forgotten.
- The Essentialist knows that when we surrender our right to choose, we give others not just the power but also the explicit permission to choose for us.
- We can choose the path of our life, or it can be chosen for us by default. If you say yes to something, you by default are saying no to something else. Take the time to figure out what you are giving up by saying yes to someone or something.
- “I have to.” vs. “I choose to.”
Essentialists DISCERN
- “You cannot overestimate the unimportance of practically everything.” John Maxwell
- A Non-essentialists thinks almost everything is essential. An Essentialist thinks almost everything is nonessential.
- Essentialists take more time discerning the good opportunities from the great ones. They actually take more time deciding to weigh all the factors, and they say no to most things.
- Many capable people are kept from getting to the next level of contribution because they can’t let go of the belief that everything is important.
- “It’s all important.” vs. “Only a few things really matter.”
Essentialists TRADE-OFF
-
- As painful as they can sometimes be, trade-offs represent a significant opportunity. By forcing us to weigh both options and strategically select the best one for us, we significantly increase our chance of achieving the outcome we want.
- Essentialists see trade-offs as an inherent part of life, not as an inherently negative part of life. Instead of asking, “What do I have to give up?” they ask, “What do I want to go big on?”
- If I say yes to this, what will I be giving up?
- “I can do both.” vs. “I can do anything but not everything.”
Explore
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
How Can We Discern the TRIVIAL MANY from the VITAL FEW?
Essentialists ESCAPE
- Without great solitude no serious work is possible. — Pablo Picasso
- Here’s another paradox for you: the faster and busier things get, the more we need to build thinking time into our schedule. And the noisier things get, the more we need to build quiet reflection spaces in which we can truly focus.
Essentialists LOOK
- In the chaos of the modern workplace, with so many loud voices all around us pulling us in many directions, it is more important now than ever that we learn to resist the siren song of distraction and keep our eyes and ears peeled for the headlines.
Essentialists PLAY
- “When I examine myself and my methods of thought , I come to the conclusion that the gift of fantasy has meant more to me than my talent for absorbing positive knowledge.” — Albert Einstein
- Play is an antidote to stress, and this is key because stress, in addition to being an enemy of productivity, can actually shut down the creative, inquisitive, exploratory parts of our brain.
Essentialists SLEEP
- The best asset we have for making a contribution to the world is ourselves. If we underinvest in ourselves, and by that I mean our minds, our bodies, and our spirits, we damage the very tool we need to make our highest contribution.
- Our highest priority is to protect our ability to prioritize.
- Sleep will enhance your ability to explore, make connections, and do less but better throughout your waking hours
Essentialists SELECT
- If it isn’t a clear yes, then it’s a clear no.
- Here’s a simple, systematic process you can use to apply selective criteria to opportunities that come your way. First, write down the opportunity. Second, write down a list of three “minimum criteria” the options would need to “pass” in order to be considered. Third, write down a list of three ideal or “extreme criteria” the options would need to “pass” in order to be considered. By definition, if the opportunity doesn’t pass the first set of criteria, the answer is obviously no. But if it also doesn’t pass two of your three extreme criteria, the answer is still no.
The 90-10 model for making decisions. As you evaluate an option, think about the single most important criterion for that decision, and then simply give the option a score between 0 and 100. If you rate it any lower than 90 percent, then automatically change the rating to 0.
Eliminate
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
How Can We Cut Out the TRIVIAL MANY?
Essentialists CLARIFY
- Done right, an essential intent is one decision that settles one thousand later decisions.
- If we could be truly excellent at only one thing, what would it be?
- How will we know when we have succeeded?
Essentialists DARE
- Saying “No” often requires trading popularity for respect.
- “We need to learn the slow ‘yes’ and the quick ‘no.’” — Tom Friel
- When we push back effectively, it shows people that our time is highly valuable. It distinguishes the professional from the amateur.
Essentialists UNCOMMIT
- Don’t ask, “How will I feel if I miss out on this opportunity?” but rather, “If I did not have this opportunity, how much would I be willing to sacrifice in order to obtain it?”
- Only when we admit we have made a mistake in committing to something can we make a mistake a part of our past. When we remain in denial, on the other hand, we continue to circle pointlessly. There should be no shame in admitting to a mistake; after all, we really are only admitting that we are now wiser than we once were.
- If I weren’t already invested in this project, how much would I invest in it now?”
Essentialists EDIT
- A good editor is someone who uses deliberate subtraction to actually add life to the ideas, setting, plot, and characters.
- The Latin root of the word decision — cis or cid — literally means “to cut” or “to kill.”
- You need to put up your fences well in advance, clearly demarcating what’s off limits so you can head off time wasters and boundary pushers at the pass
Essentialists LIMIT
- When people make their problem our problem, we aren’t helping them; we’re enabling them. Once we take their problem for them, all we’re doing is taking away their ability to solve it.
- When we don’t set clear boundaries in our lives we can end up imprisoned by the limits others have set for us. When we have clear boundaries, on the other hand, we are free to select from the whole area — or the whole range of options — that we have deliberately chosen to explore.
- Needs to identify the “Herbie” (slowest hiker): the part of the process that is slower relative to every other part of the process. What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential?
- What obstacles or bottlenecks are holding you back from achieving X, and how can I help remove these?
Execute
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
How Can We Make Doing to the Vital Things Almost Effortless?
Essentialists BUFFER
- Add a 50 percent buffer to the amount of time we estimate it will take to complete a task or project (if 50 percent seems overly generous, consider how frequently things actually do take us 50 percent longer than expected).
- What risks do you face on this project? (2) What is the worst-case scenario? (3) What would the social effects of this be? (4) What would the financial impact of this be? and (5) How can you invest to reduce risks or strengthen financial or social resilience?
Essentialists SUBTRACT
- Essentialists don’t default to Band-Aid solutions. Instead of looking for the most obvious or immediate obstacles, they look for the ones slowing down progress. They ask, “What is getting in the way of achieving what is essential?”
- An Essentialist produces more — brings forth more — by removing more instead of doing more.
- What if we stopped celebrating being busy as a measurement of importance? What if instead we celebrated how much time we had spent listening, pondering, meditating, and enjoying time with the most important people in our lives?
Essentialists PROGRESS
- Instead of trying to accomplish it all — and all at once — and flaring out, the Essentialist starts small and celebrates progress. Instead of going for the big, flashy wins that don’t really matter, the Essentialist pursues small and simple wins in areas that are essential.
- When we start small and reward progress, we end up achieving more than when we set big, lofty, and often impossible goals. And as a bonus, the act of positively reinforcing our successes allows us to reap more enjoyment and satisfaction out of the process.
Essentialists FLOW
- The Essentialist designs a routine that makes achieving what you have identified as essential the default position. Yes, in some instances an Essentialist still has to work hard, but with the right routine in place each effort yields exponentially greater results.
- “In the last 15 years, as we’ve learned how habits work and how they can be changed, scientists have explained that every habit is made up of a cue, a routine, and a reward. The cue is a trigger that tells your brain to go into automatic mode and which habit to use. Then there is the routine — the behavior itself — which can be physical or mental or emotional. Finally, there is a reward, which helps your brain figure out if this particular habit is worth remembering for the future. Over time, this loop — cue, routine, reward; cue, routine, reward — becomes more automatic as the cue and reward become neurologically intertwined.” — Charles Duhigg
- Michael Phelps visualization technique: His coach would say “Put in the tape!”.
- “The tape” was a visualization of the perfect race. In exquisite detail and slow motion Phelps would visualize every moment from his starting position on top of the blocks, through each stroke, until he emerged from the pool victorious.
Essentialists FOCUS
- What we can’t do is concentrate on two things at the same time. When I talk about being present, I’m not talking about doing only one thing at a time. I’m talking about being focused on one thing at a time. Multitasking itself is not the enemy of Essentialism; pretending we can “multifocus” is.
- When faced with so many tasks and obligations that you can’t figure out which to tackle first, stop. Take a deep breath. Get present in the moment and ask yourself what is most important this very second — not what’s most important tomorrow or even an hour from now.
- You can easily do two things at the same time: wash the dishes and listen to the radio. What we can’t do is concentrate on two things at the same time.
Essentialists ARE
- Once you become an Essentialist, you will find that you aren’t like everybody else.
- When other people are saying yes, you will find yourself saying no. When other people are doing, you will find yourself thinking.
- When other people are speaking, you will find yourself listening.
- When other people are in the spotlight, vying for attention, you will find yourself waiting on the sidelines until it is time to shine.
- While other people are padding their résumés and building out their LinkedIn profiles, you will be building a career of meaning.
- While other people are complaining (read: bragging) about how busy they are, you will just be smiling sympathetically, unable to relate.
- While other people are living a life of stress and chaos, you will be living a life of impact and fulfillment.
- In many ways, to live as an Essentialist in our too-many-things-all-the-time society is an act of quiet revolution.
- Think about the pathetically tiny amount of time we have left of our lives. It should challenge you to be even more unreasonably selective about how to use this precious resource.
Sebo Applications
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
What Do Sebo Employees Do Well?
Learn to Say No
You have a lot going on. Bruce comes in and says “Hey, I have a task that really needs to get done. Can you help me?” Typically, the Seboite will say “Sure”, but deep down, they aren’t happy for the interruption. What should you say if you are in this situation?
You should say something like: “Hey Bruce, I would be happy to help if I had the time. Here’s the issue. I have made a commitment to complete XYZ task by 3 pm this afternoon. If I do that task, I might not be able to complete my other task. What do you want me to do?”
Every time you say No, it allows you to say Yes to something even more important. Southwest Airlines became super successful because they said No to a bunch of different flight destinations, they said No to in flight meals, and No to First Class. Warren Buffet is the greatest investor of all time because he says that he says No to 99 of every 100 investment opportunities that cross his path. Sebo doesn’t say No to 99 out of every 100 potential clients
Get Some Sleep!
Many people talk about a lack of sleep as a badge of honor. “I can get by on only 5.5 hours of sleep each night…aren’t you impressed with me?!” It’s not.
“Sleep will enhance your ability to explore, make connections, and do less but better throughout your waking hours.”
Greg refers to a study by the Wall Street Journal: “Sleep is the New Status Symbol for Successful Entrepreneurs” which refers to Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon. Jeff gets 8 hours of sleep a night. Jeff says:
“I’m more alert and I think more clearly. I just feel so much better all day long if I’ve had eight hours.”
How many hours of sleep do you get per night?
If it isn’t a Clear Yes, it’s a Clear No
We often compare many good ideas. Greg has two thoughts.
Opportunity Evaluation
He outlines a simple process when an opportunity comes your way. Should you take on that new potential client?
- Write down the opportunity
- Write down at least 3 minimum items that must be in place before even considering it
- Write down at least 3 extreme items that should be in place
If it doesn’t pass #2, it clearly isn’t a good choice. If it doesn’t pass at least 2 of 3 extreme criteria, the answer is still no.
The 90-10 Model
As you evaluate an option (a client, an employee, an opportunity, etc), think about the single most important criterion for that decision. Give the option a score of 0 to 100. If the score is less than 90, then change the rating all the way down to 0 and feel good about walking away.
Who Has the Monkey?
Book Overview
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
You might have heard people at Sebo say “Who has the monkey?” The first time you heard that, you might have wondered why you work with such crazy people who say such weird things. Here’s the backstory.
Way back when Bruce was only 5 years old (1974), William Oncken and Donald Wass wrote a management article in the Harvard Business Review. They tell about an overburdened manager who has unknowingly taken on the problems of his subordinates…problems that shouldn’t have jumped on his back. If an employee brings up a problem, and then the manager says “Let me think about that and get back to you”, what’s happened? The employee now doesn’t need to do anything about it, and the manager now has an extra task on his plate. The authors suggest the visual that when this type of situation occurs, the monkey has leaped from the employee’s back to the manager’s back.
Then in 1999, Stephen R Covey discussed this work further. Managers can’t just give the monkey back. Employees first need to be empowered to be able to care for the monkey, which is often harder than it sounds.
The Harvard Business Review article was so popular, that the book “Managing Management Time” was written in 1987.
Sebo Application
Last Updated on May 22, 2025
Recognize the Monkeys
When you have conversations, take note of when a task is generated and who is responsible for the next steps. For example, someone pulls you into a meeting, and it’s agreed that a client is going to change their PPC budget from $1,500 per month to $4,500 per month. While it might not be explicitly stated, a task needs to be created in LiquidPlanner to ensure this task gets done in a timely manner.
Who has the monkey? So in this situation, let’s assume that the client tells the MC, and the MC tells a Key Lead to create the task. The Key Lead then assigns the task to a Marketing Assistant. Let’s follow the path of the monkey.
- The monkey was created in the conversation with the client – The MC has the monkey
- The MC tells the Key Lead to create the task – The monkey jumps from the MC to the Key Lead
- The Key Lead assigns the task to a Marketing Assistant – The monkey jumps from the Marketing Assistant
- The Marketing Assistant completes the task. The monkey jumps back to the Key Lead to ensure the task was completed properly.
- The Key Lead approves the task, and let’s the client know the task was completed. Goodbye monkey!
Should the Monkey Make the Jump?
Let’s suppose the a Marketing Assistant notices that a client’s website is down, and Bruce walks by. “Hey Bruce, I just noticed that XYZ.com isn’t working.” The Marketing Assistant might assume the monkey has left her back. But did it? Who’s job is it to address this type of situation? Bruce might think the Assistant is just being observant. It’s important to know who should have the monkey – in this case, it’s Jonny that should receive the monkey. So either the Marketing Assistant should tell Bruce that they will go tell Jonny, or they should ask Bruce if he can go tell Jonny (in which case Bruce carries the monkey to Jonny).
But now let’s suppose that Bruce took the monkey, and Jonny is at a meeting. Now Bruce has a monkey on his back that shouldn’t have been there in the first place.
Make sense?
A better way to handle the situation is the Marketing Assistant notices the site is down and Bruce walks by. “Hey Bruce, I just thought you should know that XYZ site is down. I don’t have the expertise to fix the problem, so I’ll make sure Jonny is aware of the problem.” The monkey never jumps to Bruce, and the Assistant clearly knows that she has the monkey until Jonny is brought up to speed.
Company Meetings and Weekly Commitments
At Sebo, we try to follow the principles of the 4 Disciplines of Execution and these other books above through many ways. One of these is through our company meetings. Every other week, we hold a company meeting, where we gather together as a company to discuss current issues and our goals for the year, quarter and week.
In our individual meetings, we include our Weekly/Monthly Commitments. We use these commitments as an employee’s WIG (wildly important goal) for the week/month, or the most important thing that employee can do to move the needle at Sebo and bring us closer to achieving our quarter, year and ultimate goals. Employees are expected to record their next commitment on the sheet prior to that meeting. Then at the meeting, employees take turns reporting to the team on their commitment for the prior week (what was accomplished and how it went) and states their new commitment for the week. Each employee takes approximately 30 seconds to a minute to complete this process.
The commitment is an important way for us at Sebo to focus on our wildly important goals, the things that help us make the biggest impact to our company and fulfilling our mission. And this system also helps us manage the whirlwind and stay accountable to ourselves and to each other as a team. We invite and ask that all employees participate in the commitment system and hope this instills a lifelong habit of focusing on the things that matter most. For questions regarding commitments, visit with your supervisor.
This section is really just a heads-up. At Sebo, we really value networking. Bruce wanted to be able to connect and work with other marketing agencies in the area and so he started Utah Marketing Group (UMG). They have monthly meetings where marketing agencies (and companies in similar fields) get together to talk about how they can help each other.
You likely won’t be expected to attend (unless you are working toward becoming an MC) but if you would like to, talk with our Head of Partners or office manager and they will help you sign up!
Please follow the instructions on this document to update your default font settings.
Here is a video to help as well.
Schedule an in-person meeting with the Office Manager to go over these questions:
- Show me your Google Calendar – Is your work schedule clear?
- Show me how you access LastPass and how to save a new password.
- Show me how to access your task list in ClickUp and how to log time on a task.
- Show me your email foldering system.
- Show me your default font settings.
- Briefly explain the concept of the Whirlwind.
- What’s the difference between Lead and Lag measures? Give me an example.
- Explain the concept of multitasking or switchtasking?
- Briefly describe the concept of Essentialism.
- What is meant by the phrase “Learn to Say No”?
- Bruce asks you to complete a task that really needs to get done, but you do not have time for it. What’s your response?
- Explain the idea of Who Has the Monkey?
- Sebo has a 5 letter acronym for our Core Values. What’s that Acronym?