Secret Ops

Karina Mikhli is a Fractional COO and Workflow Consultant. She is also the Founder of Fractionals United – a fast-growing online community for all current and wannabe fractional professionals. She has had a fascinating journey into operations, from the days of being a creative writing teacher, to a production assistant in publishing, and so much more in between. In this episode we discuss:Why being a generalist helps you succeedLearning systems thinking through TrelloUsing no-code or low-code toolsWhat the difference is between fractional leaders vs consultantsBuilding the community ‘Fractionals United’You can find Karina on LinkedIn.You can join the Fractionals United community. Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]! Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

John Quayle is graphic designer turned operations specialist with over 13 years of experience in marketing, business operations, and entrepreneurship. He is currently the Chief of Staff for an industrial automation robotics company, Four Growers. As a self-proclaimed “catch-all generalist that gets things done”, it was fascinating to learn more about his journey to operations.In this episode we discuss:Technical tools for process management Applying entrepreneurship to operationsJohn’s playbook for logistics and shipping processesThe role of technical knowledge and automation in operationsManaging the complexities of roboticsYou can find John on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]! Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

In this episode we flip the script. I am the guest and Joey Cofone, the CEO of Baronfig, designer, author of The Laws of Creativity (and my husband!) is the interviewer. We reflect on what led me to operations and running my own business. From acting, backpacking to working at a gym – operations was threading throughout my career. Tune in as we talk about my different job roles, working in male-dominated environments, what is a fractional COO, at what (tipping) point companies need operational support – and a tale from my ‘karate days’. You can connected with me on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]! Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

Mickey Pearson, Operations Manager, approaches ops through the unique lens of both recruitment and operations, having wore both hats within the industry. In this episode, we delve into using the right data to inform decision-making, auditing the best tools and platforms to use, bringing your secondary and tertiary skills to work – and why not all people in operations are Type-A.I loved hearing how Mickey draws the parallel between operations and camping: “leave it better than you found it”.You can find Mickey on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]! Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

As someone who never connected with the title ‘Human Resources’, Hannah loves her role as People Business Partner – where she gets to do the people-side of operations and come up with strategies to implement change. In this episode we discuss more about what the role entails, the power of understanding P&L statements, the performative nature of hospitality, and what it was like working for a Michelin Star restaurant. I loved hearing Hannah’s take on driving change: “when you have people fully engaged and bought in – that’s what makes change successful”. It always starts with the people! You can find Hannah on LinkedIn. Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

Blocknative is a Web3 infrastructure company, enabling dynamic user experiences and better decisions via pre-chain insights. Tune in as we unpack influences from Sean’s education technology background, demystifying Web3, asynchronous work and Blocknative’s process from onboarding team members. It was refreshing to hear his thoughts on perfectionism: “the business is changing so rapidly, so I’ve learnt to be okay with ‘good enough’ and not spend too much time future-proofing”. We all need to remind ourselves about this, as the less you get things out the door and test, the less you learn. You can find Sean on Twitter or at his website seanoconn.org. Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On this episode of Secret Ops, we go behind the scenes with Jay Desai, COO of Baronfig, to uncover his unique journey from aerospace engineering to operations in the world of ecommerce and physical product creation. Learn how Jay applies his engineering background to drive success in business operations and discover the key principles that guide his approach to successful execution.What stood out to me was how he applies his background in engineering to his work: "Part of operations is planning for the worst and hoping for the best – so everybody knows what to do". It's a great reminder to have those things in place, so if or when something does go down, you have a manual at the ready to know what needs to be done.You can find Jay on LinkedIn or at his website jaydesaibuilds.com.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Produced by Fina CharlesonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, we talk with Carmeanna Eberly, Director of Operations at Refine Labs, about how to think about operations strategically to minimize reactivity and maximize proactive preparedness.  From technology glow-ups to the actual benefits of engagement surveys, we discuss different approaches to supporting businesses in building out their operations from the ground up.Carmeanna has a wealth of knowledge, but it was this simple piece of advice that stuck out to me—  "Understand what is the ideal state we want to get to and work back from there." In operations, at times, it's hard to know where to begin, but if you can articulate where we want to go, you'll have a north star to guide your efforts, resources, and time.You can find Carmeanna on LinkedIn  and checkout Refine Lab's Talent Destination Podcast.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Mixed & Edited by John BalderstonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, Chelsey Firor, walks us through all of the operational components that go into getting a product to market as the Head of Operations. Starting with R&D through to manufacturing into distribution, each phase has its own challenges that change from day to day and sometimes minute to minute.Like many of us in operations, Chelsey captured perfectly what keeps us coming back to this field of work — "The fact that it's always changing. Your job is never the same, week to week or month to month. I feel like I've been doing operations 8 or 9 years and I have a different job every few months, since it's in constant flux." Every day is a new day in the world of operations.You can find Chelsey on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Mixed & Edited by John BalderstonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, we talk with James Mazza, Chief of Emergency Medical Services of the Montclair Ambulance Unit, to bring to light all of the operational logistics and vital decision-making that go into supporting first responders. For over 15 years, he has worked in Emergency Medical Services, starting as a volunteer, to now becoming the Chief, managing everything from scheduling to payroll to fundraising. In business, we often talk about the importance of making data-driven decisions, but for James, this is not a nice to have, it's a necessity— "The thing that we do is medicine and science driven, so as these studies come out, the field changes every couple of years." Evolve or die is not just a saying in the world of Emergency Medical Services,If you can, please donate to the Montclair EMS or your local EMS teams.You can find and connect with James Mazza on LinkedIn  or email at [email protected].  Or check out his blog, whatifhistory.comLearn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Mixed & Edited by John BalderstonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, we hop into the brain of Tom Andrews, Director of Systems & Insights at Pavilion, to learn about what Revenue Operations actually is and the importance of implementing the right technology, in order to make your sales strategy come to life. We also dive into what it means to truly make data driven decisions where insights come from the data instead of reinforcing already established opinions. As Tom said,  "Shifting the mindset to looking at the data first and then having your opinions, which is being truly data driven... I think it's gonna take a very long time. But, I think it's up to everyone in revenue operations to permanently and only speak from that point of view because that's what we should be all building towards." We all know habits are hard to break, but this one, in particular, is worth the effort.You can find and connect with  Tom Andrews on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Mixed & Edited by John BalderstonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, we unpack the ever-evolving world of marketing operations with Joanna Lin, B2B Marketing Consultant, who for over 15 years has been at the center of the shift from physical marketing into the world of digital advertising.  Starting at Time Inc, we are taken along her journey, learning how operations has laid the groundwork for change to occur globally across industries.Joanna is a joy to learn from, but one important reminder I personally took away was, "Ops, to me, is actually super creative in a way that you are problem solving and you can come up with different ideas and different ways of doing things." We may not be painting on canvases, but our creativity as operators manifests in how we work and our approach to solving problems. You can find Joanna Lin on her website at the Primary Marketing Collective, on Twitter at @joannaleelin, or drop  her a line at [email protected] more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!Mixed & Edited by John BalderstonFrom our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, Al Chen, Solutions Architect at Coda, teaches us how leveraging tools, like Excel and Coda, can be a game changer for solving business problems. Over the years, he's gone from being an excel master (Check out his Skillshare courses) to evolving his toolbox using Coda, to help support teams to evolve their ways of working.Al connected so many dots for me during our chat, but  a key takeaway was— "If you can't convince and persuade the stakeholder, the champion, to fall in love with this process and  be passionate about this process, then that solution, it's not gonna go anywhere." That's definitely a lesson I've learned the hard way and always a good reminder.You can find Al on LinkedIn, Twitter, or on his own podcast Dear Analyst.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!From our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig

On today's episode, we dive into the world of operations through the lens of data science with Marc Jansen, Senior Data Scientist at Amazon. Marc's journey is rich with stories of his time spent in supply chain operations and he generously shares the lessons he's gathered by applying data science within businesses. There's a ton I learned from Marc, but one of my favorites was this key piece of life advice for all of us— "Find something that energizes you. Find something that you bring to the table. And marry the two up the best you can." I think I'll go do just that.You can find Marc Jansen on LinkedIn.Learn more about my work at arianacofone.com or drop me a line at [email protected]!From our sponsor: Unlock your creativity with Baronfig! Use code SECRET20 for 20% off your entire order. Minimum purchase of $50.00 required. Open to all customers with no usage limits. This exclusive offer is active today.https://secret-ops.captivate.fm/baronfig  

Our first season launches November 2022!Until then, check out more details at www.secret-ops.com and follow us where you get your podcasts.